becalmed - a landscape

Most of the ships were lost on the tenth day at sea, engulfed in a maelstrom of angry waves. Ours was spared and two others beside. The first made off into the night and the second sank shortly thereafter. We heard their cries.

Our mast and rudder lay shattered beyond repair. 

Becalmed as the skies darkened around us we watched the moon dragged down beneath the waves. There was an occasional trace of white spume then nothing. We slept fitfully.

There was no sense of time.  Many lost hold of their senses and threw themselves overboard. Anything to escape the maddening black silence.

It came eventually. A purple dawn surfing across the face of the water. We were lost souls, our ship gone too. All that remained was to watch the final black wave ride toward us.

Colour drained, the landscape dissolved.