As I said last week, I’ve actually published over 200 articles on Medium now. The milestone crept up on me when I wasn’t paying attention.
A lot of them have been based on prompts that I’ve found in various publications. They have been either a word or a picture, designed to set an author’s imagination going.
I’m a bit busy, with little time to write new content. I thought I’d show you a couple of my favourites.
This short story is based on a picture prompt from May this year. Thanks to Jessica’s Quill
Francis was just a girl, working in the tavern on the quay at Port-au-Royal. There she waited on tables, clearing empty flagons and plates and listening to the sailor’s talk of foreign lands. She found the odd coin, or gold nugget, on the rough wooden floor and kept them, along with her wages. Once she had enough, she planned to get away on a ship and seek her fortune.
The innkeeper and his wife were kind to her. They had taken her in when her mother had died in childbirth. Her father’s name was never known, or if it was, it was never mentioned.
Francis was outside when she heard the conversation, through one of the open windows. It concerned Captain Adolphus Gruen, known as the finest mariner in all the Islands.
“The Mandrake sails on the tide,” one voice said.
“Gruen off to visit another of his ladies?” said a second.
The first laughed, “Oh yes, the Captain has one in every port.”
“Except here,” said a third voice. “Why is that? Are the girls not as pretty here?”
“He had one here, but she died. Worse than that, her brat’s around the place somewhere. She works in this very tavern. If you know what’s good for you, you’ll never mention it where he can hear you.”
“Why is that?”
“He hates the child. She killed her mother in childbirth. Her mother was the only woman Gruen had ever truly loved. The brat took her away from him.”
Francis stopped what she was doing and burst into tears as what she had heard sank in. All her life, she’d wondered who her father was. She’d seen Gruen and thought he was a fine man. The sort of father that a daughter could be proud of. The Mandrake had even been her first choice for her plan for a new life.
What she had just heard made her angry. It wasn’t as if she was unknown to Gruen. They had exchanged more than a few words. She had served him food and rum, he had thanked her by name.
She was angry that her father had known who she was and had never acknowledged her. Angry that she had believed he was a good man. Angry that he blamed her for her mother’s death. She looked up at the cloudless sky. The moon was full, bright enough to throw shadows.
‘I will get my revenge on you, Captain Gruen, for abandoning me‘, she swore.
And somewhere in amongst all that starlight, the universe heard her.
The ebb was beginning as the Mandrake let go her lines and swung her bow to the East. With Gruen shouting commands, her sails were quickly unfurled, till the ship resembled a towering white cloud, catching every breath of the light breeze. Her speed increasing, she passed the breakwater, watched by a waving crowd, including Francis.
“Go, and never come back,” she whispered as she watched the ship grow smaller.
Suddenly, the wind increased, and black clouds, sparkling with lightning, raced across the sky in the direction of the Mandrake. The waves whipped up, spray lashed the ship and it rolled heavily to one side, the sails dipping almost to the water. She could hear the sailor’s screams. Gruen bellowed orders, but it was too late to save the Mandrake from a watery embrace.
Francis turned away from the unfolding tragedy and faced the winds. There was a contented smile on her face. She wondered if Gruen had ever known that her mother had been Fae, able to command the winds and the waters.
If he had, he would have known that the ability would be passed on to her daughter.
I hope you enjoyed that. If you subscribe to Medium, you can find me, and the rest of my stories, here.
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