Curse of the High Seas

May 25, 2012
GIMP

"Mommy, is Daddy gonna be here soon?"

Captain Ida looked away from her spyglass and down into the large blue eyes of her daughter Lyra, who was standing at her elbow. "Oh hunny, you're supposed to be asleep," she sighed, stroking Lyra's hair.

"I couldn't sleep. Where's Daddy?"

"He'll be here soon, baby," Ida murmured as she scanned the horizon again for any sign of her husband's ship. Nothing. But then again, the fog that morning was so thick that the golden glow from the lantern increased visibility by a few inches at best.

"Daddy said that he was gonna bring back treasures this time for sure," Lyra said. "Do you think Daddy's bringing treasure back, Mommy? Gold coins and jewels--red ones, and blue, and green, and purple..."

"Yes, Lyra, of course. Lots of treasure." Damn it, Dennis, Ida thought. Why couldn't you just retire like I did when Lyra was born? Take a respectable job, buy a nice little cottage in the country... At first, Dennis wouldn't hear of it. He had salt water in his veins and an eye for gold--particularly gold in someone else's possession. But after the death of Dennis's best friend in a battle against British privateers, he finally agreed to leave behind that life to raise Lyra like a normal little girl...just after this last mission. That was six months ago.

"...And we could give Grandma some blue jewels. Blue is Grandma's favorite color, did you know that, Mommy? Oh, oh, Mommy, look there!" Lyra pulled on Ida's sleeve, pointing to something in the fog. "Mommy! Mommy! Look!"

"Lyra, hunny, Mommy's a little busy right now," Ida ignored the little hands on her coat.

"But Mommy, there's something in the water, right over there! Just look!"

"OK, Lyra, Mommy's looking. See?" Ida raised the spyglass to her eye. Wait, that dark shape in the fog--was it a ship? Was it Dennis's ship?

"No, Mommy, not over there, over there, by the rocks! Something shiny!" Lyra dragged Ida along the shore. Lyra was right; the early morning sunlight glinted off something bobbing in the water just offshore. Ida looked over her shoulder where the dark shape had been, but it was gone. Just my imagination, she thought.

Ida waded into the water and picked up the object. It was a glass bottle, with paper inside. She tucked the spyglass under her arm and uncorked the bottle.

The papers inside the bottle were damp. The larger paper was a map; an old vellum map marked with the faded outlines of several small islands and part of a continent dominated by a large black X. The smaller paper was torn from a captain's log book. On it were three hastily scribbled words:

Help me, Ida

For *mizzd-stock's Curse of the High Seas Contest [link]

I know literature isn't allowed in the contest, but the story is just to help explain how the image illustrates "curse of the seven seas" My idea is that Captain Dennis and his crew have been taken by the curse, and they're on a ghost ship (that's what Captain Ida saw in the fog), but Dennis put the map and note in a bottle for Ida and Lyra to find so they could come rescue him and the crew. It makes more sense in my head. Does it sound too much like the Pirates of the Caribbean movies? I never managed to watch them all, only bits and pieces.

CREDITS:
Pirate Captain and Child Pack 2
Post Wrapped in Rope Stock
Pirate Ship
Stock Object 45 (Lantern and Anchor)
Message in a Bottle
20 Grunge Textures
Mist Brushes
Misty Morning Lake

Comments and constructive critiques (on the story as well as the photomanipulation) are welcome!