Lai laughed and climbed back up next to him, sitting down on the platform, rubbing his hands on his jerkin. “It’s better to have gloves on so you don’t tear up your hands.”
“Sorry,” Shi’chen said, glancing down at the gloves Lai had loaned him as he sat down next to him.
Lai shook his head. “I’ve been doing this so long, I hardly feel it anymore.”
Shi’chen was starting to appreciate how much work went into sailing a ship and bringing its cargo and crew safely into port. “When we get back to the palace, I’ll get to brag a little more.”
“About what?” Lai asked, brushing a few strands of blond hair out of his eyes.
Shi’chen gave him a grin. “Your skills may be on rope, but mine are on the ground. I’ve been fighting with a spear since I was a kid. What I did to Jaa’jen was nothing.”
Lai smirked. “Nothing, huh?”
“I’m not exactly trying to show off my training,” Shi’chen replied, rolling his eyes. “You already guessed I was military from a few strikes. But I’m one of the youngest Captains to ever be recruited to the palace guards.”
“How old were you?” Lai asked curiously.
“Seventeen,” Shi’chen said, trying hard not to preen but not quite succeeding.
Lai let out a soft whistle. “And you’re how old now?”
“Nineteen. Wait…” Shi’chen frowned. His sense of time had left him since he had been on the ship, each day running into the next. “What day is it?”
“Fifth day of the third season.”
Shi’chen sighed and rubbed at his eyes. “The third day was my birthday. So, I’m twenty.” The age at which he would be considered a full adult in goblin society. The age that En’shea would be to take the throne from the Regent if he had not killed him. If Shi’chen had been at the palace with his brother, there would have been a massive celebration held for them. He took a deep breath that shuddered more than he meant it to. He hadn’t even remembered the date for the sake of his brother.
Lai rested a hand on his shoulder, giving it a light squeeze. “You’re pretty mature, even though you’re barely an adult. And you’ve had to deal with a whole lot of shit in a short time. Just because you’re young doesn’t mean you haven’t worked your ass off to get where you are.”
Shi’chen lifted his eyes to give Lai a small smile. “I know my brother and I have had more opportunities than most. My Father always reminded us that we have to use that to benefit our people. Unfortunately, that lesson got lost on our Cousin.”
“Some people are just bad people,” Lai said with a shrug. “No matter what you do, they will never be good.”
Shi’chen opened his mouth to respond, but a sudden huge crash from somewhere below deck shook the ship all the way up to where they sat. “Shit,” Lai said, leaping up. “Come on.” He hurried down the rope ladder and was almost to the bottom before Shi’chen was on his feet. There was chaos on the deck below him as people rushed toward the entrance of the cargo hold from all directions. Shi’chen followed Lai down, being careful not to go faster than his experience would allow. He jumped the last few feet onto the deck and took off after Lai.
The assembled crew was murmuring, and Shi’chen caught words in Hanen and Cserethian that several large crates had fallen, trapping crew members underneath them. He couldn’t see Lai and nudged his way through the crowd to the darkened stairwell. Suddenly, Deana’nen came sprinting up the stairs, her mismatched eyes casting around the assembled crew before pointing to Shi’chen and a female elf standing nearby. “You two, come with me.”
Shi’chen quickly followed on her heels down the dark stairs. Deana’nen talked as she went, almost tripping over her words from speaking so quickly. “Crates fell, there’s three crew members trapped behind them. I need you two to get under them to help from the inside.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Shi’chen and the elf said as they hit the bottom of the stairs and entered the cargo hold. The massive crates had snapped the ropes securing them to the wall, and two of them had fallen into another stack, sending multiple pallets toppling. Several of the boxes were split open, the scent of tea and spices making the air thick. The fallen boxes leaned precariously against one another, taller than any of the crew members by a good two feet, but he quickly realized that the crew could not go up and over because of how unbalanced the boxes were, which could cause the entire stack to collapse. Behind the wall of wood and iron, he could hear someone moaning in pain. He glanced around and spotted Lai with a group of sailors nearby, working to secure the crates that were in danger of falling into the space behind the pile-up, where the trapped crew members were.
Deana’nen grabbed a lantern and held it up so they could see better. There were a few gaps between boxes where corners jutted and balanced against other boxes, looking more than a little unsteady. “Someone is trapped, but we don’t know how bad,” she said, turning to Shi’chen and the elf. “They need help getting him loose and getting all of them out of the way of these boxes in case they fall.”
“Yes, ma’am,” the elf said. She was maybe an inch shorter than Shi’chen, with chestnut hair in a coiled braid across her head. She turned to Shi’chen and pointed to one of the openings. “This looks like the best way to get in.”
“Agreed,” Shi’chen said. His heart was racing in his chest, so loud it almost overpowered the shouts of the crew around them. He pulled off Lai’s gloves and set them aside.
The elf got down on her stomach and began to inch her way under the box corner. She barely fit, pushing herself along with her booted toes and her arms until the light from Deana’nen’s lantern no longer hit her. Then, Shi’chen heard her call, “I’m in, watch that corner at the end!”
He got down and pushed himself into the small space, sending up a prayer to any gods who might be watching to not let the boxes unbalance and crush him. The sounds around him were muffled as he got entirely under the oversize crate, pulling himself along with his forearms, more than a little glad they did this in training on the sand. At least the wood beneath him was solid. Deana’nen had definitely chosen him and the elven girl because of how slight they were; anyone bigger than him would not be able to get through the small spaces created by the fallen cargo.
Something creaked, and he braced himself for the box to fall, but it didn’t. He let out a breath and dragged himself forward. As he reached under the other side, the girl grabbed his hand and gave him a tug to assist him, helping him to narrowly miss the broken board with nails that was hanging right over the edge, one of the nails snagging his shirt and ripping it just a little. He got to his feet and surveyed the area.
There were three crew members penned in by fallen boxes. The two standing were a half-goblin woman with locs and an elven man with dark hair. The woman had blood running from a cut on her forehead over her eye, and the man had a few cuts and rips in his shirt, but they seemed to be all right. Shi’chen turned to check the person on the ground and found himself face to face with Jaa’jen. The big goblin was lying on his back, and Shi’chen quickly realized why the man had been moaning. One of the crates had landed on his left leg and crushed it beneath its weight. One of the boxes that made up the tunnel they had used was propped against it at a precarious angle.
“Shit,” he muttered softly, looking around. The other crates seemed relatively stable for now.
The elf girl turned to him. “Should we get the other two out of here first?”
