Strange Noises Fiction by Rachel Greenham

The following morning we are all more than rested and starting to understand what ‘cabin fever’ means. Lotan… Dave had managed to spear a couple of fairly large fish with a boat harpoon in the night, so we had one of them barbecued for breakfast, which Jalese managed to make into something interesting with the dried fruit and some tangy spices and sweet potato she found in the small food store. It was delicious, and we were hungry. I was very hungry. I’d missed out on the sausages.

So after breakfast I head up on deck with Lee and James while Dave crashes out on his bunk after sitting the night watch, and Jalese starts the process of filleting and curing the other fish. I get to play captain, this time, yelling out instructions to the other two to raise the gaff and open the sail, get the anchor up and the sail unfurled and… about halfway through I find I’ve switched to Jeodine because I can explain what I want better, and they get on and do it, and within a few minutes we’re under way. We have to sail quite close to the wind for this gaff rig. The feeling as the sail suddenly fills and the rigging takes up the strain and the whole vessel tightens and banks, making us dive to the other side of the cockpit to counterbalance it, is exhilarating. I can almost feel the patterns of air pressure sucking our little boat forward. I can see it in Samila’s and Kerilas’s faces too. Samila – Lee looks the happiest I’ve seen her since we came here, enjoying the speed and the wind in her hair. I show her the ropes – literally – letting her have the tiller and the boom line or whatever it’s called in English so she can feel how the boat handles. I don’t think she has any residual memory of sailing a boat the way I have, so this is new. I look at Samila’s face again; ethnically, she’s not of Jeodin, I can recognise now: She’s a mainlander.

“How do you know which direction to go?” she yells in my ear.

“I’m not sure,” I reply honestly. “I just do. I know we have to go South-South-West. We might miss some of the islands in the Tail, but we’ll hit the central archipelago no problem.”

“But there’s no compass or maps or anything!”

“I know. I can just tell. North is…” I close my eyes a moment and point. “That way.” I open my eyes. I’m pointing off the starboard stern.

“Bloody sea elves,” she says, disconcertingly with Lee’s usual grin.

“Let the line out a little, you’re heading too far to starboard. Just ease it out a bit.”

She obeys, getting the feel of it. “Yeah, I see.”

“This is a good wind,” I declare. I wonder how long our luck is going to last. I watch Kerilas for a while, satisfied that Samila’s keeping course. Kerilas stands at the bow, disdaining any hand-hold, which seems reckless to me, but he seems the embodiment of grace and poise. I consider that he may be testing precisely that.