A Scribe's Work

As promised here is a little peek at one of my new short stories that is coming in my next short story book.  I don't really remember how I came up with the idea for this, but once I did I liked it so I ran with it.  It took me a long time to get this one ironed out.  It seemed that my brain wanted to take this in several different directions and stupid me let my brain do this. 

Anyway, the story centers around a warship that is sailing to investigate the disappearance of trading ships.  The lone survivor told a tale of that no one could believe, so the crew brought with them a mage to investigate the more fantastic parts of the survivors account. 

I really enjoyed working on this one, even though it gave me a headache on more than one occasion.  Below is a piece of it that I thought you might enjoy. 

Spread the word about my blog and my work!  I would love to see more people enjoying my work and hearing back from you.

The Isle of Cascade was used as a way station for years.  Ships stopped there often to restock their food and water supplies; it also gave a place for weary crews to rest and relax.  A sudden, short war changed all of that.  The enemy attacked the Isle in a sudden strike.  Only one ship was stationed at the isle to protect it.  The way station was destroyed and the ship disappeared.  It was presumably sunk; though wreckage was ever found.  The war ended soon after with the enemy being easily defeated.  That was when the trouble started at the isle.  The admiralty sent ships to rebuild the way station, they promptly vanished.  More ships were sent, they too vanished.  For a time it was thought that pirates or maybe a privateer were to blame.  Then ships that were passing near the Isle began to disappear.  After a time things quieted down, and the admiralty lost interest in the isle, until a few months ago when yet another ship was attacked.  This time however, there was a survivor, another ship that was traveling a few hours behind rescued the lone sailor from the wreckage.  He told a terrifying tale of a ship whose hull was full of holes, but it would not sink.  The sails were rags, but they harnessed the wind as though they were perfect condition, but that was not the worst part.  The worst part was that none of the crew that the sailor saw was alive, yet they were not dead either.  That was why Adiel was here.  He was to investigate the more fantastic parts of the sailor’s story.  Captain Gagen was here to investigate the rest of the sailor’s story; which Gagen thought odd, because all of it was a fantastic tale.