[OL-FB3] The Man from the King's Court-Part 3

[Franco Clarke]

Erwin stood aboard the deck of the Colombe, lazily watching the view. He had prepared the crew so they would be ready to leave the bay in 5 minutes, so that as soon as they received the instructions, they would be able to act upon them. However despite having waited 5 days, he had received no more word from the agent. Perhaps he had missed the signal and the agent had failed their mission due to the lack of assistance? Or perhaps the agent had successfully retrieved the document on their own, and he was destined to wait for the rest of time for a signal that would never come.

His thoughts were interrupted by a thump as an arrow buried itself in the deck between his feet. Erwin jumped up and away from the still quivering arrow. He looked in the direction from which it must of been shot, but he couldn't see the archer anywhere among the forest of masts. He turned his attention back to the arrow which had a scrap of paper tied around it. He picked the paper up and unrolled it, to see a map of the coast near Londa bay. A certain boatshed had been circled and beside it was scrawled

'4.30am be there'

The Colombe sat at anchor in the waters a little way from the boat shed as the note had requested. Erwin watched the entrance to the building which was bathed in orange light from a torch or something inside of it. Then a dinghy appeared and paddled towards the shed. There were three silhouettes in the dark vessel, one rowing and two sitting in the rear. The little boat nosed toward the entrance of the boatshed and then disappeared inside.

10 minutes elapsed, and then the dinghy left the shed, however this time there were only two people in it. Once the dinghy had rounded a headland and passed out of sight Erwin lowered his telescope. He signalled to the crew which had been patiently waiting.

'Quickly, lower the boat, we need to investigate that shed, the rest of you get the Colombe ready for action'

They paddled across the bay and into the shed, which was lit by the light from a burning torch. The sad prow of a rotted boat stuck out from the water, and the entire shed looked derelict as if it hadn't been used in years.

Erwin stepped out of the boat onto the decking inside the building. Next to a barrel lay an overturned chair with a coil of rope tangled around it. Atop the barrel was a note which Erwin picked up and opened.

'I am sorry that I could not tell you in person but having retrieved the document, I felt it wise to return it to Oleon before anyone else tries to steal it.

With the document secured, our job here is almost done. However, those which did seek to rob it are still at large. Having left me here, they made off with what they think is the document to their ship, which is anchored in the next bay. I trust you will be able to deal with them.

You may also like to know that this barrel contains a bomb, which is probably about to go off.'

Erwin threw the note aside and yanked the lid off the barrel. Sure enough there was a smouldering fuse and enough bags of gunpowder to blow the boatshed out of existence. With no time to do anything fancy, Erwin kicked the barrel into the water. It sank into the murky depths, and the fuse was extinguished.

Erwin turned back to the dinghy where the rest of the crew were looking at him with a mix of slightly confused expressions.

'Did you take a disliking to that barrel sir?' asked Collins.

Erwin nodded and replied 'it was shoddy workmanship, not fit for purpose. Now enough about the barrel, let's get back to the Colombe, we have some thieves to catch!'

Once again I attempted to do some night-time photographs. I think they were slightly better than the last ones, any opinions would be greatly appreciated!

The boatshed was great fun to build since I actually did it from the roof down. The roof could use a little work perhaps? I hope you liked the story and the final part should be out tomorrow.

[blackdeathgr]

I like all your stories a lot and the boatshed is good looking too. Regarding night photo, i would still like some more light. Regardless, as far as the boatshed is concerned, some more daytime photos would be nice :-)

[Franco Clarke]

Thank you for the feedback, I will try and get more light in if I do more night photographs. Also here are a few more shots of the boatshed.

[Bregir]

Really cool boatshed, and while I am in danger of repeating myself, I am going to mention the great story. I think these nightshots are really nice and dramatic, but agree that a bit more light would be nice. What is your photography setup?

I think I might build my own boatshed at some point.

[Franco Clarke]

I'll look forward to seeing your boatshed, I'm sure you'll do a really good job of it. As to my set up it's simply a blue sheet draped over a radiator for a 'sky' and then various torches and lamps to light it.

[Bregir]

What about camera? And do you use a stand or tripod? Longer exposure might help :)

[TitusV]

Interesting take on dark pictures, I think the First Works very well, but the second could use soms more lighting

[Franco Clarke]

Thank you, one of the problems I have is making the photos look like night, most of the time they end up looking like daytime, hence I have to use low sensitivity settings to make them less bright. It seems an awkward balance...