An Adventurer's Voyage I

## An Adventurer's Voyage

"An Adventurer's Voyage" is a fictional adventure written by a novelist born in Umbraton. It tells the story of a young man who sets out to sea with his kingdom's navy, encountering all manner of monsters and mysteries, eventually finding a legendary treasure and defending his kingdom from a monster from the depths. There are many chapters in the story, but only the following are left in the first volume.

## Introduction

The kingdom summons its champions to explore new islands in the sea. The third chapter, titled "The Storm", tells the story of the royal navy's encounter with a vicious storm, and how young Colin earns the respect of his peers through his bravery.

## Volume I: The Storm (III)

The men aboard the Grand Parrot were brave warriors from across the kingdom, as revealed by their demeanor and the names with which they greeted one another. Wanting to stir up some entertainment aboard the ship, they stared and sniggered at young Colin, who gazed out at the calm seas as if in a trance.

"What manner of person is this, among the greatest heroes of the land? Has he never laid eyes on the sea before?" Some of the men began to laugh audibly.

"I hear he's the son of a local fisherman," someone said.

"By the looks o' him, he ain't ever read a nautical chart or been out to sea even once, much less fought for his life. All he knows is fish! The fishermen 'round these parts never go out past the reefs, so they just catch whatever half-dead chum that floats into their nets."

"What good is he for finding treasure, then? Will he cast a net or two for it? Ah, at least he'll be able to bring some shrimp or seaweed home for dinner!"

By now, the whole deck was roaring with laughter, and the kingdom's greatest heroes took to calling the boy "Captain Colin".

Ignoring the jeers of the others, Colin retired to his quarters to rest for the coming adventure.

He was stirred from his slumber by the sound of someone shouting, "Storm ahead!" Half-asleep, he realized that the Parrot was violently rocking to and fro, like a sapling in the wind.

He stumbled up to the deck to see what was happening, only to be nearly thrown overboard by the howling winds. As he was tossed across the deck, he instinctively reached out and grabbed hold of whatever he could. Luckily, it happened to be a length of rope that was tied to the mast.

The captain, a tall, thin man with a wealth of experience sailing the high seas, prided himself on his ability to sense the coming of a storm through his knee joints. On this day, however, he had enjoyed a glass or two of the finest wine, courtesy of a nobleman's son, and his prophetic knees were rendered wobbly and utterly oblivious to impending disaster. Holding on for dear life, he commanded his new crew to lower the sails. Awkwardly, a number of the mighty heroes of the land attempted to find their feet aboard the careening ship, only to be swept out to sea by a gargantuan wave that crashed on the deck with devastating force.

In the torrential rain, Colin coughed and gor spurted. Regaining his senses, he realized that the wave had knocked him out but fortunately had not sent him down to a watery grave. Vaguely, he remembered hearing the captain scream at them to lower the sails before the wave hit. In the aftermath, Colin noticed that no one had heeded his orders.

The captain had been rendered unconscious by his injuries, as well. The rest of the crew were either wounded, drowned, or resigned to their fates at the hands of Mother Nature.

Steeling himself, Colin tied the rope around his waist and began to climb up the mast. As he attempted to lower the mast by himself, he shouted down to the men, "So long as the ship survives, we will survive with it!"

A few of the men below, stirred by Colin's words and actions and not wishing to die in vain, followed the boy's example. Tying ropes around themselves, they clambered onto the deck and lent Colin their support, his words ringing true in their ears. With the ship as their sword, they cut through the tempest and survived their first encounter with death on their voyage.

In the calm following the storm, one of the men approached Colin and asked for his name. Word of his heroics spread quickly throughout the ship, reaching the ears of every survivor and the captain himself, who had since regained consciousness. He was acknowledged by every one of the remaining men as a hero. The man who had mockingly dubbed him "Captain Colin" apologized, and thereafter took to calling him "Colin the Brave".

Their woes, however, were far from over. The storm left the sails in tatters, and the captain warned that without sails to direct their course, they were bound to either float on aimlessly or crash into their demise. It was then that Colin the Brave hatched yet another idea: turning to the crew, he suggested that they sew their blankets and other fabrics into the torn sails.

"Leave everything to me," Colin reassured them. "I am the son of a fisherman, after all."

He began unraveling a length of rope to make a thread and, taking out a needle made from a fishbone, he set himself to the herculean task of fashioning new sails entirely by hand.

After hours and hours of toil, the Grand Parrot raised its new, makeshift sails, and came aground without further incident.