Seafarer Vol.5

Confusion overwhelmed his mind as he stared from one woman to the next wondering what any of this meant. Would he find himself a slave for years on end? What sort of slave did these women require? Obviously they needed no protector with the large Captain here on the island. Something shifted in his mind and he realized that perhaps all three women had not been demanding him to choose but instead offering the answer to his questions. Could it be he could choose in what capacity he served? Could he choose the length of his servitude? Could it be that making a choice proves better in all situations than choosing to do nothing?

The seafarer stared over at the Captain and wondered who he would have chosen. The thought stirred his emotions and he corrected it. Who had he chosen? He looked again at the three women before him giving consideration to each. He knelt before the spinning wheel on which sat Lady Fate. "I choose then to serve you Lady Fate." He stated. "I choose to serve as an emissary that I may continue to travel the world." He continued. "And I choose to serve as long as I am able to perform my duties." He finished. Lady Luck pouted at the proclamation and Miss Fortune rolled her eyes realizing the mariner had figured it out.

"Very well, then know you are mine swallow." Said Lady Fate with a certain finality that gave the seafarer an uneasy feeling. "However, you have trespassed on the Isle of Destiny." Said Miss Fortune. "A toll of toil must be paid." Said Lady Luck. Sighing at her sisters demands, Lady luck looked at the mariner with sad eyes. "They are correct my swallow, you must serve them each for a time to pay respectful restitution for your trespass here." The mariner wondered what she meant by serve them, he also found the term "for a time" unsettling. "Ten years on the Plateau." Stated Lady Luck, "We have not heard a musician for centuries." Lady Fate nodded to her sister agreeing to the toll. "Ten years on the Ship" claimed Miss Fortune with an evil grin.

At Miss Fortunes demand the Lady Fate cringed and the Captain turned and headed toward the women. "Ten years on my ship!" He spat. "You know any who sail on the Dark Prince for seven years be cursed for all eternity!" Howled the Captain. "My sister had claimed her toll Captain, and so it shall come to pass." Said Lady Fate. "My swallow, enjoy your time here on the plateau. For the first ten years will be blissful in comparison to the second half of the toll." She continued. The mariner stood in shock, he shuddered at the thought that he would serve twenty years before the service he agreed to would even begin.

Life on the plateau proved blissful indeed, he played songs upon his flute by day and danced on the soft grass of the meadow. He found inspiration not only in each of the beautiful women, but in the sea Captain as well. He composed many songs over the years, noting to himself how not only the Captain and the ladies did not age. On most nights the stars would shine brilliantly in the sky and every constellation passed in its own time. The Captain remained with them on those starry nights, but on occasion cloud banks encircled the isle and the mariner noted that the Captain always disappeared on those stormy nights.

All to quickly his toll to Lady Luck came to an end, and on the first day of the eleventh year since the seafarer had made his choice the Captain came to him carrying a short cutlass and a long tailed coat or dark leather. "Bid the Ladies farewell lad, and curse the sun that shines, for today you set sail with the damned." Said the Captain with an edge of sadness in his voice. The mariner glanced toward the women and bowed his head to Lady Fate. Her warm smile comforted him though her eyes cried out with grief.

The Captain led him to a long wooden pier on the east side of the isle where a huge familiar looking warship was docked. The aged wooden planks creaked with every step as they walked slowly toward the gang plank. Thick barnacle coated the hull of the ship where it met the waterline, the chalky salted substance contrasting to the black wood of the ship itself. As he climbed on to the deck he caught sight of the first of the crewmen, a ghostly apparition of a sailor whose thin beard and mustache failed to hide the rotten teeth in his mouth. More ghosts meandered about the deck carrying on with their duties in death just as they would if they were still alive.