“True,” James replies. Then he looks down and sees Miko making his way along the guidelines. He hollers down to him until he gets his attention and then watches as he makes his way up to where he and the captain are standing.
When he reaches the steerage deck, James notices he’s a little green. “Just take some deep breathes, that should help,” he advises.
Miko goes over to the railing and tries to do just that, but his stomach rebels. Bending over the railing, he loses the contents of his stomach as he retches into the water below. When it’s over, he feels slightly better.
From overhead, a sailor cries out, “Captain! Sails!”
“Where away?” he hollers back.
The sailor points off to the left of the ship and hollers down, “To the port!”
They all look and see a ship out there, heading in their general direction. “Empirical warship,” the captain says, not too concerned.
“Is that a problem?” James asks.
“Unlikely,” the captain replies. “It’s most likely just on patrol.”
James doesn’t share the captain’s nonchalance about sighting a warship.
“Think it’s looking for us?” Miko whispers as he leans close to James.
“I hope not,” he replies as he continues watching the warship.
As time passes, the warship continues to close the distance between them, heightening James worries.
Suddenly, James hears the captain swear. “What?” he asks.
Gesturing to the warship, the captain says, “They want us to furl our sails and be prepared to be boarded.”
“Is that bad?” James asks as he looks over to the warship. He can see a sailor on the other ship signaling with two flags.
“Bad?” cries the captain. “With the waves crashing as they are, it’s unlikely we’d survive. Our ships would be smashed together.”
“Then why would they want to?” he asks.
The captain gives him an inquisitive look and says, “Why indeed?”
James turns to Miko and says, “Go get Jiron.”
When Miko has left, the captain says, “They know it to be suicide to link ships in this weather. They must want something, or someone real bad and are willing to risk their ship to get it.”
James just stands there silently, as he glances between the approaching ship and the captain.
“Is there something I should know?” the captain asks.
“They want us,” James tells him.
“I thought so,” Captain Caril says. “I’m not going to endanger my crew or my ship. You understand that?”
Nodding, James says, “Yes, captain, I do.”
Just then, Miko returns with Jiron and James says, “The warship means to board, and the captain here says that would most likely damage if not destroy his ship.”
“Why do they mean to board?” Miko asks. When he sees the look on James’ face, he says, “Oh, us.”
James nods his head.
“What do you mean to do?” Jiron asks the captain.
“I have to think of the safety of my ship first,” he explains. “You have to get off my ship.”
“What? In this storm?” he asks incredulously.
“I’ve got no choice,” the captain tells him. “If you’re gone, they’ll leave us alone.”
James looks over to the choppy seas and says, “That’s a death sentence!”
“We can lower you down in our dinghy,” the captain says. “At least that would give you some chance.”
“But what about the warship!” Miko cries out, realizing they’d be easy pickings sitting in a small boat.
Looking sad, but resigned to the situation, the captain says, “Not my concern, lad.”
“Alright, captain,” says James. “Lower us in the dinghy.”
“James, are you crazy?” Miko exclaims. “We’ll die!”
Turning on Miko, James yells, “If we stay, they’ll all die with us! I’ll not have innocent blood on my hands.” Then softly, as if to himself he says, “I already have enough as it is.”
The captain hollers to a crewmember standing nearby and he goes over to the dinghy and with the help of two others, gets it ready to be lowered overboard.
“Good luck to you boys,” the captain says.
“Sorry to have endangered your vessel,” James says to him. The captain just nods his head.
Grabbing a very unhappy Miko, he makes his way down to the main deck where the dinghy is already on the other side of the rail, ready to be lowered.
Coming to the rail, he climbs over into the waiting dinghy. Once he’s in, he turns back and helps Miko. Jiron climbs in after Miko and when they’re all settled in on the seats, the sailors begin to slowly lower them to the choppy water below. A sailor comes to the railing and tosses their packs down to them.
Once the dinghy is resting upon the water, James and Jiron release the ropes and the sea begins to drag them away from the ship.
The sea quickly takes them, and pulls them away from the ship. Waves crash over the sides of the dinghy as the wind pummels them with rain and spray. James looks back to the ship as the gap between them widens rapidly and sees the captain watching them as they drift further away.
The warship must’ve noticed them there in the dinghy for it changes its course slightly as it begins bearing down upon them.
Chapter Three
The dinghy rocks in the waves, all three holding on and praying they don’t tip over. A large wave crashes into them, causing the dinghy to pitch precariously. Miko screams as the edge of the dinghy dips into the water, but then the wave passes by and it once again rights itself. The amount of water in the bottom is growing by the minute.
“We’re not going to last much longer!” Jiron hollers over the roar of the storm.
“What are we going to do?” Miko cries out. He cups his hands and tries to bail out the water collecting in the bottom of the boat but is having little effect.
“Just shut up for a minute!” James hollers at them. He gazes at the approaching warship and then to the rising level of water in the bottom. Glancing over to Jiron, he says, “Don’t let me fall out.”
Realizing what James is about to do, he nods his head.
Miko sits there as he watches the Foam Breaker moving further and further away. Then his attention comes back to what’s happening in the dinghy as Jiron moves next to James. His eyes dart toward James and watches as he closes his eyes and becomes still.
James concentrates on the storm above and suddenly, a large bolt of lightning flashes down from the clouds toward the ship.
A gasp escapes Miko as he watches the bolt seem to be deflected away from the ship before it even reaches it.
James’ eyes fly open and he cries out, “They have a mage on board!”
“Can you deal with him?” Jiron asks as he watches the warship move ever closer.
“I’m not sure,” he replies. “He feels somewhat different than the others.”
“Different?” asks Jiron. “How so?”
“I don’t know,” explains James. “It just feels different somehow.”
“You better do something fast,” he says. “That warship is getting close.” Another wave crashes over them and Jiron holds tight to James, keeping him from being washed overboard.
Closing his eyes again, this time he searches beneath the waves until he finds what he’s looking for. With a little coaxing, he gets it moving toward the surface.
Suddenly, one of those whale-like creatures they’d seen the day before, lurches out of the water next to the warship. As it comes back down, it slams into the side of the warship and boards are ripped away, creating a large hole just at the water line.
“Yeah!” Miko yells as the creature sinks back into the depths.
James begins to feel the prickling of someone else doing magic. He looks to the warship and sees someone in armor standing at the rail with arms raised. Suddenly, the dinghy begins to crack as the boards holding it together beg
in to break apart.
“James!” cries Jiron as the dinghy begins to rapidly fill with water. “Do something!”
Thinking fast, he attempts to place a magical seal across the broken boards but it doesn’t stop the leak, just slows it.
“The warship!” Miko cries out.
Turning to look, James sees it’s listing slightly off center. On the deck, he can see the man in armor arguing with a sailor as the ship begins to turn and heads back the way it had come.
“They must be sinking!” Miko cries out jubilantly.
“Looks like it,” agrees Jiron.
James continues to look toward the men arguing on the deck. Suddenly a decision must’ve been reached, the sailor turns away and the man in armor again stares at them as the warship begins to sail away.
Then, the prickling returns again as the man in armor raises his hands once more. With a loud crack, the dinghy completely breaks in two as if it was pulled apart.
“James!” Miko cries as he falls out of the dinghy, into the raging water.
Reaching out to him from where he still floats within half of the dinghy, James almost gets a hold of his hand before a wave crashes into them and knocks him backward out of the remains of the dinghy. The force of the wave pushes him beneath the water and by the time he again regains the surface, Miko has already been pushed away by the crashing waves.
He watches helplessly as Miko is dragged ever further away. He tries to swim toward him but waves continue smashing into him, thrusting him beneath the water. Each time he gains the surface, Miko is further away. Jiron had managed somehow to cling onto a piece of the dinghy, and is desperately trying to stay on it while at the same time move in his direction.
“Miko!” he cries out as another wave crashes into him, pushing him beneath the water. When he regains the surface, Miko is nowhere to be seen upon the churning waters. “Miko!” he screams as loud as he can. Desperately looking around, he begins to fear for his friend when he still is unable to find him.
Jiron is almost out of sight as well where he’s still clinging to what’s left of the dinghy.
Doing his best, he tries to remain above the surface as wave after wave crashes into him. Gasping for air as he fights to stay afloat, he’s repeatedly being pushed under the water by the incessant crashing of the waves.
In a moment’s respite, he looks around and realizes Jiron is no longer visible upon the waves. The warship has disappeared in the storm as well. Alone, frightened, he tries to summon the magic to help stay afloat, but the constant fight simply to remain above the surface makes it impossible for him to focus enough for the magic to work.
He looks up as another wave rolls into him, taking a deep breath, he braces for the impact.
The sound of the surf crashing on the beach wakes him up. Lifting his head, he realizes that he’s somehow been washed ashore. Soaked and miserable, he comes to his feet as the wind continues whipping the rain into him. His arms and legs are leaden and he barely has the strength to move, the effort to stay afloat had sapped all he had.
Moving slowly, he goes further up the beach away from the water and then turns to look out over the waves crashing upon the beach. “Miko! Jiron!” he hollers. Even if they replied, it’s unlike he’d be able to hear anything over the sound of wind and surf.
He looks around at just where he’d been deposited. Many waterways drain into the ocean, stunted trees and grass cover almost every exposed piece of land. Kind of reminds him of a swamp.
Not willing to give the others up for lost, he moves further away from the beach into the vegetation. After searching around for a few minutes, he finally locates what he’s been looking for.
Kneeling down next to the small pool of water, he concentrates on Miko, willing the image of his surroundings to appear upon the water. In his exhausted state, he’s almost unable to focus enough to call forth the magic.
The image wavers and then suddenly comes into clarity. He sees Miko lying upon the beach, unconscious, with the waves crashing over him.
In a panic that he might be washed back out to sea, he quickly forms one of his seeker bubbles and gets up to follow it. The bubble moves back toward the beach and then follows the coastline to the left.
Moving as quickly as his wobbly legs will carry him, he makes his way along the coast as he follows the bubble. After ten minutes, he sees a form lying in the surf, far down the beach. Canceling the spell, he breaks into a run and races to Miko’s side. He’s lying face down and doesn’t look to be breathing.
When he reaches his side, he turns him on his back and discovers in relief that he is, in fact, still breathing. Grabbing him under the arms, he begins to pull him up the beach away from the pounding surf.
Laying him in a relative safe spot, he kneels down next to him as he tries to bring him back to consciousness. He tries shaking him and calling his name but that fails to work. Striking him hard across the face twice causes his eyes to snap open. He suddenly begins coughing and then starts vomiting up seawater.
Leaning him on his side, he pats him on the back until the vomiting fit is over. James then helps him to sit up as he continues coughing until his lungs clear.
Through red eyes, he looks around at their surrounding and between coughs asks, “Where are we?”
Shaking his head, James replies, “I don’t know. There doesn’t seem to be any sign of people around here.”
Looking around, Miko asks, “Jiron?”
“I don’t know,” James tells him, “haven’t found him yet.” He then looks into Miko’s eyes as he says, “I was too worried about you.”
“Thanks,” he says just as another coughing fit strikes him. When it’s over, he asks, “Think he made it here like we did?”
Shrugging, James answers, “Hope so.” Getting up, he looks around until he locates another clear pool he can use to find Jiron the way he’d found Miko.
Kneeling down again, he concentrates on Jiron, the magic coming a little easier than it had earlier. Having a brief rest, even so short a one has made a difference.
Miko comes over and sits across from him as he watches the water. The image shifts and then they see Jiron. He has his knives in hand and is fighting off three other people who’re attacking him with spears.
James ends the spell and stands up abruptly. The seeker bubble forms and begins to float away from them, back the way he’d come when he had been searching for Miko. He moves to follow it.
“Is he close?” Miko asks as he joins James in following the bubble.
“Don’t know,” James replies as he hurries, almost running as he follows the fast moving bubble. His begins panting as he starts using up what reserve of strength he has left. “But the area he was in looks to be similar to what is here, the same trees and grass anyway,” he explains. “If we’re lucky, he shouldn’t be too far away.”
Running along beside James, he says, “Let’s hope not.”
As they run along the beach after the bubble, they suddenly hear a crashing sound from further inland. They come to a halt when a large lizard-like creature the size of a rhinoceros lurches out onto the beach in front of them.
“What the hell is that?” Miko cries out.
The creature must’ve heard him, it turns its head in their direction and lets out a roar. It pauses only a moment before charging toward them. An answering roar comes from behind them as another of the creatures comes out from within the vegetation.
James takes out one of his slugs from the belt around his waist and propels it at the one in front of them with a touch of magic. It strikes the creature in the foreleg and lodges itself beneath the skin.
Crying out in pain, the creature stumbles slightly and then resumes its course toward them.
“You’re going to have to do better than that!” Miko yells to James when he sees the slug did little to slow it down.
Reaching down, he picks up a stone off the beach the size of a baseball and throws it at the creature, tripling the amount of
magic he usually uses with the spell.
This time when the stone hits, it strikes the creature in the chest and blasts out the back, spraying bone and gore.
At the sight of what happened to that one, the creature behind them roars and doubles its speed toward them.
James doesn’t have time before it’s upon them to do anything. They jump to the side but the creature grabs his leg with his mouth, teeth sinking into his calf as it lifts him off the ground.
Crying out in pain, James reflexively lets loose a blast of magic that burns into the creature’s side. Roaring in pain, it lets go of his leg.
As he falls back to the ground, he rolls away from the creature, blood welling quickly from the wounds the creature’s teeth had inflicted. He comes to a stop then begins scooting backward along the ground away from the creature, his leg unable to support him enough to get to his feet.
Miko throws sticks and rocks at it to try to divert its attention from James to no avail. It looks around and sees him there on the ground. With another roar, it charges forward, slowed only slightly by the wound in its side.
James takes out another slug and throws it at the charging creature. In panic, he calls forth a tremendous surge of magic which leaves him gasping and dazed. The slug strikes the creature where its neck leaves the main body, and the incredible force of the impact almost completely severs its head from the rest of its body. Attached only by a thin layer of skin and muscle, its head lolls to the side as it falls to the ground, blood spraying forth upon the sand.
Miko rushes around the dead creature to where James is lying with blood pouring out of his leg. “James!” he cries as he comes and kneels down next to him.
“Miko,” he gasps through the pain throbbing in his leg, “give me your shirt.”
Taking off his shirt, he hands it to him. Wrapping the shirt around his wounded leg, he ties it as tightly as he can to stop as much of the blood from escaping as possible.
“We can’t stay here,” he tells him. Gesturing over to the trees, he says, “See if you can find me a walking stick, large enough to help support me. We’ve got to get out of here before the smell of blood draws others.”
Warrior priest of Dmon-Li ms-3 Page 4