#unknown lands

Indeed I am one of thoses mythical worth creature in the foreing and unspoken land of France….We fleed to avoid experiments and too watchful gazes with our fairy wings. You mustn’t tell anyone…For our kind will be Harlem yet again.

OCR04665: Final Fantasy VII: Flight of the Cosmonauts - Emunator feat. Shea's Violin

[Cosmo Canyon; Unknown Lands (FFV)]

from OverClocked ReMix; more by the artists linked below

song credits:

We Finally Sight Land

Looking out from the crow’s nest of the good ship Azure Queen, seaman third class Jackson Goodfellow could see nothing but mountains from horizon to horizon.  The land he had sighted looked completely unfamiliar.

They had been lost in a dense fog for days, and this was the first it had cleared.  He could see craggy peaks covered in snow against a clear blue sky, foreboding and empty.

He imagined he could hear the groan of overburdened stone, creaking and cracking above the emerald green sea.  There were fish jumping and sparkling in the bright sunlight among the rocks near the shoreline.  Seabirds cried as they flew overhead.  Perfect spot for mermaids, he thought, chuckling to himself.

Rocks.  Rocks!  Directly in front of the ship, and getting closer!  He bellowed at the top of his lungs.

“Rocks sighted off the port bow!  Three-hundred yards and closing fast!”

He could hear the deck officer yell for hard rudder to starboard.  As the ship rolled, the crow’s nest shifted underneath him, leaning over dangerously.  Suddenly, there was nothing to see but frothing waves sixty feet below!  He grabbed the rigging and held on for dear life.

Slowly the ship came back to rights, turning away from the shoreline, having missed the rocks by mere yards.  He could hear bare feet pounding as men spilled out from all over the ship.  Looking down, he saw a figure climbing up the rigging directly beneath him.  In a few minutes, he was joined by the first mate, Mr. Coates.

“Good God man!  Were you asleep?  We almost ran aground!  I say yer cut off of grog for a week!”

As the ship came back round to port they could see the rocks they had just narrowly missed.  They climbed down and joined the rest of the crew on deck.  Some of the men gave him a dirty look.  His friend, Redman O’Conner just winked and smiled.

Second in command, Mr. Hadfield, shouted, “All hands attention!  Make it quick!”

Captain Martaine emerged from his cabin looking both stern and unamused.  He was well respected by all, and held command as a natural leader.  This was due, it was said, to having been at sea for most of his adult life.

Phineas Martaine had begun his illustrious career many years ago, serving as a young cabin boy, sailing aboard the ill fated ship Calcutta, out of Portsmouth under Captain Rutherford.  Martaine had been one of the few survivors of the Calcutta’s last unfortunate voyage, making him all the more famous and popular.

We felt lucky to have him as our Captain.  There were sailors among the crew who whispered horrific stories about other ships who’s captains thought nothing of picking out an unlucky sailor at random, calling for him to be tied to the mast, and then laughing as the man was whipped twenty lashes.

All for keeping the men in line, of course.  Nothing like a good thrashing to keep a sailor’s nose to the ropes, as it were, and out of mutinous mischief.  Jackson thought to himself that this made a captain weaker, and was obviously immoral.  Fortunately, he had served under Captain Martaine for these last several years, and with minor exceptions, had steadily worked his way up the ranks.  Now he was feeling the excitement of a new turn of events.

The captain was speaking.

“Gentlemen, we are now off the coast of land unknown to me.  We need water and food badly.  I want volunteers to accompany Mr. Hadfield and Mr. Coates on a trip ashore for exploration.  And you Mr. Goodfellow, will be going along whether you volunteer or no.  Let us see if you can look more lively this time, eh?”

Some of the men snickered, but he felt better when one of those who shouted out was Redmond O’Conner.

“I volunteer, sir!”

That meant they’d be going together as row mates.  However, where they were going was yet to be discovered.

I drew something of @toherrys