Chapter 101

You Don't Need to Put my Name in There

BarnacleEyes

Thanks to my efforts and my Thrush costume, I’d been successfully scaring goblins from the woods on a daily basis. It was most effective at night, but I didn’t mind being clever about it during the day.

Since It was much too hot today, I just sat in my own sweat as the sea breeze swept over me. The sea shone brightly, and the orc and goblin ships peacefully bobbed at sea.

A little too peacefully.

I watched the ships for at least an hour before something tragic happened. One of the ships was sinking quite a bit faster than the others. I strained to see. There wasn’t much bailing. Not a lot of goblins on deck when they should be bailing.

“Oh no,” I muttered. “This is going to be a disaster!”

It was. The captain was about to lose their ship, their hoard, and all their goblin followers. It riled me up and I ground my teeth in frustration. How could the captain let something like that happen? What a dummy!

The ship suddenly tipped back and sunk halfway, spilling goblins out to sea. Dozens of bailing buckets floated out. Goblins screamed. Neighboring ships began slowly turning in to help.

There was a strong current that carried goblins out to sea. Buckets too. Debris. Over 50 goblin spit beer barrels!

I was up on my feet, panicking and pacing. Helplessly watching the disaster unfold. I wanted to help, but I had no boat to paddle out in!

I gripped a tree with both hands and repeatedly kicked the base of it in frustration. Then I slumped down and watched the outcome in horror.

Goblins clutched onto buoyed barrels as they bobbed down the coast. From here, I could see their chins tilt up as they wailed for help. The current was too strong.

After the ship sank, all that remained was floating debris that didn’t do much to hold the goblins that held on for dear life. The only goblins not floundering were the ones who’d managed to find a barrel. Some even rode the barrels and paddled toward other ships.

“They’re… …riding… …barrels,” I realized.

I knew the guy that made barrels!

What a day! Good luck freebooter goblins! The first thing I needed to do was ask Hawkin to make some barrels. Right away.

By the time I found Hawkin, I was out of breath. I’d searched everywhere, not thinking to check his cabin first.

“What,” Hawkin said, a bit panicky. “BarnacleEyes! Talk to me what-what’s wrong? Are we being attacked? What’s going on? Are you ok?”

I forced my thoughts out but it was gibberish. Hawkin sprinted to the firepit and retrieved his axe. I still couldn’t catch my breath so I started madly pointing the way I came—How did he not know what I was trying to say?

“That way,” he said.

I nodded and followed after him.

Once more, I was racing through the trees, lagging behind, perpetually out of breath. My side hurt enough that I started limping. Hawkin often stopped to ask me directions and I just responded by emphatically pointing.

I caught up to Hawkin at the coast, gasping for air, and I gave him a thumbs up. He made a tight flat smile and waited patiently for me to finally catch my breath. I explained my whole idea to him.

“BarnacleEyes,” he said. “I thought you were in danger or something bad happened.”

“No,” I said. “Just the barrels.”

“Alright,” he said with a sigh. “I’ll cooper some barrels for you. Give me some time to make that happen. How many do you want?”

I told him in detail how I wanted to tie the barrels together and he nodded throughout most of my explanation. We rolled out some barrels in the brewery, lay them next to each other, and I hopped up on one while Hawkin kept them from rolling beneath me.

“Do you want to start with four?” He said.

“I’m going to want more, so I can make my boat as big as possible. You have to remember, when it comes to goblin ships, there are two rules.”

“Two rules hunh? This oughta be good.”

“The first rule is that you need to build your boat as fast as you can.”

“Is that a fact?”

“The second rule,” I continued, “is that you need to keep adding things until it floats.”

“Oh BarnacleEyes,” Hawkin said. “That’s a horrible set of rules.”

“You’re not a goblin building goblin ships. How would you know?”

“Didn’t you just tell me that one of the goblin ships sank earlier?

“You’re not a goblin,” I said, crossing my arms.

“How about this? I’ll cooper four barrels to start with. We'll take our time lashing them together, give you a paddle, and see how you feel about it.”

“I’m listening,” I said.

“Well that’s it,” Hawkin said. “If you like it, we can talk about making it bigger. If we’re careful with what we’re doing, you’re never going to have to worry about a sinking ship—for the most part.”

“Are you sure?” I said.

“If my idea doesn’t work, we’ll do it your way, ok?”

In half a week, Hawkin finished coopering all four barrels. The staves were swollen, tight, and there was no bunghole. Using cordage, we lashed the barrels together in a grid. They were roll proof.

Hawkin helped me drag them into the cove and I leapt aboard, paddle in hand. I paddled out to sea on another hot day until Hawkin was but a speck on land. Then I turned back and muscled my way over choppy waters and into the cove.

“What do you think?” Hawkin said.

“My arms are out of shape,” I said. “It’s not the comfiest boat, but it floats really well! I don’t understand.” I scratched my head.

“What’s the problem?”

“We didn’t follow the two ship-building rules. I don’t understand how it’s floating. Do you think I should carry a bailing bucket, just in case? What about a mast? I got pretty tired out there. I need a sail, don’t I? Do you think that rabbit pelt will make a good sail? Should I—hmm—what should I do? I could-”

“Slow down there. You’ve officially got a boat now. Doesn’t that make you a bonafide captain?”

I gasped.

“Are you going to name it,” Hawkin asked.

“Name it?”

“Well sure. Do goblins not name their boats?”

“GloomGlower named his harpoons. Can I name my boat?”

“BarnacleEyes, you can do whatever you want. Your life is yours to live!”

“How about HawkinEyes?”

“You don’t need to put my name in there,” he said.

In a small voice, I said, “but. I want to. You said that we’re friends.”

“If it’ll make you happy, then ok, but what about Hawk-eyes instead? Like the bird.”

“Oh that’s good. Ok. I’m naming my boat Hawk-eyes!”

“We should break a bottle of beer on your ship for goodluck,” Hawkin said.

“Good luck? Yea, I’d like some of that! Let’s do it!”