Samurai and Other Stories by William Meikle

Author:William Meikle [Meikle, William]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Literature & Fiction, Genre Fiction, Horror, Occult, Short Stories
ISBN: 9780992218270
Google: okf0nQEACAAJ
Amazon: B00HZRCI0G
Publisher: Crystal Lake Publishing
Published: 2014-01-15T07:00:00+00:00

* * *

The First Mate roused the remaining crew, all save Stumpy Jack who was so far gone in stupor that Gabriel’s Horn itself is unlikely to have called him out of sleep.

Our first thought, nay, our only thought, was to raise anchor and head for open water, but we were denied even that chance. In less time than the blink of an eye a storm blew up, a wind so cold it would have frozen us to the deck if we hadn’t had the foresight to wear our winter furs. Even at that, the cold bit at my nose so hard it felt like a nip from an excited dog.

“Up anchor,” the First Mate shouted, but too late.

The sea had frozen solid around us.

We were stuck hard in place. Old timbers creaked and moaned as the ice gripped tight.

“Will she hold?” I asked the Mate.

“She held together when the ice was three feet thick off Newfoundland two years back,” he said. “She’ll hold now.”

But I was starting to believe that it was colder yet than that day. I had to keep shifting from foot to foot; otherwise my soles would have frozen to the deck. By now snow fell so thick that I could no longer see the buildings of the colony beyond the dock.

“What purpose does it serve?” I said. I thought I had merely spoken to myself, but the Mate heard.

“The pastor used to say that everything, good or evil, was God’s will, all part of a scheme of things, and that we would only ever understand when we were risen up on the Day of Judgment, and the veils would fall from our eyes.”

“Then I wish the Day of Judgment would hurry upon us,” I replied. “For I am sore perplexed, and have long since tired of this mummery.”

“Be careful what you wish for, Cap’n,” the Mate said. “Be very careful what you wish for.”

Jim Crawford came up beside us on deck, musket in his hand. It fell unused to the deck when he saw what faced us across on the dock. Stout fellow though he was, Jim Crawford fell to his knees, struck down in terror.

“We’re done for,” he squealed.

The First Mate raised him to his feet.

“Not if we stand together as men,” he said. “For truly that is the only way we will see home again. Cap’n... do I have your permission to break out the powder?”

“You have a plan?”

“More of an idea, but mayhap it will come to something.”

“Then have at it man, have at it.”

The Mate went below, while Crawford and I stood and watched the figures on the dockside.

They did not move. Their stares did not wander from where we stood. The snow got heavier yet, and still they did not stir.

“What do they want from us, Cap’n,” Crawford wailed beside me. “What do they want?”

In truth, I could not answer him, for fear had taken hold deep within me. It would not be shifted, no matter how many prayers I uttered up to the most high.

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