Warrior Priest of Dmon-Li: The Morcyth Saga Book Three (5 page)

Once the ship is away from the docks, the
captain hollers to the crew up in the masts and the sails come down
about halfway before they’re tied off. The wind fills the half
sails and the ship lurches as it quickly picks up speed.

Huddled in their room under the steering
house, they begin to feel the effects of the constant swaying of
the ship upon the waves. James’ stomach begins to rebel and he
says, “I’m going out to get some fresh air.”

“But you’ll get soaked,” Miko says from
where he’s swaying in the hammock.

He looks down at himself and replies, “I’m
already wet.” He opens the door and a gust of rain comes in before
he manages to close it behind him.

Outside along the deck, he sees guidelines
are now tied from bow to stern to help the sailors remain aboard in
the storm. Grabbing onto one, he makes his way over to the rail and
puts his face into the wind, which helps to settle his protesting
stomach. Never been seasick before, but then, he’s never been out
in this kind of storm before either.

As they continue out to open sea, he
searches for other vessels that’ve braved such a storm but doesn’t
see any. He looks around to the crew, but they don’t seem too
worried, so he stops his worrying about the weather. If the
professionals see nothing wrong, then he shouldn’t either.

The captain is standing up by the helmsmen.
Using the guide ropes to keep his footing, he makes it to the
stairs and begins to climb up to reach him.

When the captain sees him climbing the
stairs up to him, he asks, “Everything okay?”

Nodding, he climbs the last few steps and
comes to stand next to him, holding onto the rail. “Just out for
some air, is all.”

“Stomach bothering you?” the captain asks,
grinning.

“A little,” he replies, “but the fresh air
seems to be helping.”

The captain just nods at that.

“There doesn’t seem to be too many other
ships out in this,” he mentions to the captain.

“Most don’t want or need to be out in this,
so they don’t,” he explains. “But, if we just sailed in fair
weather, we wouldn’t get too far.”

“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.

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 begin 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.