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Chapter
3
Karina yelled to
the crew who were already trying to bring the ship to its right side. That
rolling wave came had them hard rolling the ship to its side. The wind was
still rocking it but at least they had righted. It was just to maintain that.
The mountain range
was too close for comfort as well. Simon was working feverishly to get the air
ship to come to life. How she wished she had that thing fixed. They would have
a fighting chance to fly away. They would have to use their wits.
Silver Fox came
rushing up to her. “Simon and I are going to try a manual steer. Not sure it
will work but it could get rough.”
Karina nodded. “Do
what you have to do. We will prepare to hang on.”
She could see
the mountains in clearer view now and she did not want to crash land there. She
recognized it as the land of Troves. They were an unfriendly lot, almost more
dangerous than pirates. She only hoped Simon and Silver Fox acted fast.
The first wave
of hit, the ship jerked ahead. Karina hung on to the rope as another wave hit.
The ship groaned and moaned as if complaining about being forced to move ahead.
But this time they moved away from the mountains
which relieved Karina.
They were making
progress now. But the storm was not finished with them yet and over the stormy
clouds Karina caught an ominous sight.
The Bear of
terror was flying over the clouds with ease. His ship called The Sea Jewel
never wavered in the storm. He was a scavenger and when he saw ships in trouble
he relieved them of their troubled ships, by force generally. The bear did not
care.
Karina yelled
out a warning. The ship took one more jerk ahead and this time another wave of
cloud hit them shoving them towards the mountain instead of away. Karina was
now fighting two battles. The storm and the incoming attacker-the bear.
Of course he
spotted them and it was coming straight for them. Karina could see the bear was
shouting to his crew and pointing at them.
And to add to
the trouble she could see Trove creatures lining the edge of the mountain
watching the whole thing. The storm didn’t bother them one bit. She had to act
fast before they boarded her ship.
Falklan was holding
the ships mast from collapsing as little Kit ran up the pole to fasten line to
keep it in place. Kit was half cat, half elf. She was nimble. Silver Fox spied
the ship. She sent out one of her flaming arrows as a warning to the ship.
The old bear
laughed and caught the arrow in his large fists. He shook the arrow at them as
he came for them.
The crew of The
Sea Jewel poured over the sides of the ship like spiders. They relished the
storm. Karina knew it would only a few more moment before her ship would be
invested with the intruders. She took out her sword and ran to the back of the
ship where they were ready to climb aboard. She swung hard at each one. Flakan
was grabbing them by his bare hands as they were climbing over the rail. He
tossed them into the storm clouds. Kit was running along the rail biting and scratching
each one of them that made the attempt.
However some of
them made it over and started fighting. Simon was still trying to manual steer
the ship. Karina could see the one that made it over was heading toward Simon.
She knew if it got to him, the ship would be doomed. Karina ran after the
attacker.
She yelled out
to Simon as a warning. He flung a heavy rope with part of a broken piece of the
mast tied to it. It nailed the attacker and flung him out into the wind. Karina
helped Simon with the steering and together they managed to get away from the
mountain.
The fighting was
still going on. The bear was now on deck and he was still holding the flaming
arrow. Karina had to get that from him. He would destroy her ship with it.
The Silver fox
knew that to and she aimed another arrow at him hitting his hand knocking the
flaming arrow out in the gust of wind. The flame could be seen heading toward
the mountain.
The bear roared.
Now the Silver Fox aimed another flaming arrow at his own ship. He seen her and
laughed. “Try little fox, your flame will not make it.”
She let the
arrow fly and one of the Sea Jewel crew member tried to grab it but missed. It
was going to hit their sails. Karina hoped anyway.
It hit and the
sails of The Sea Jewel burst into flames. The bear growled running for Karina.
She had her sword ready. The rain had come back and now was coming down hard
making it hard to even see. The bear shook himself and she looked up at Simon
to swing the rope again. He took it but the wind snatched it out of his hands
but when it came back Simon ducked and so did Karina. It nailed the bear taking
him off the ship and into the pouring rain storm.
Karina ran to
the back as the roar from the bear carried in the wind. What crew where on the
ship flung themselves into the wind to catch their captain.
The sail that
the Silver fox had hit was all in flame. They now had to help their crew save their
own ship and get out of the pouring rain that was shoving them done.
Simon and the
Silver fox got the ships sails up and the wind grabbed and flung them straight
ahead, clear of the mountains. They managed to get to safety and take shelter
inside another canopy of large trees to wait out the storm.
They were safe.
It was would be
a rough rest of the night. They had to assess damage and fix what they could.
They were now a wounded ship and vulnerable to more attacks. Karina knew the
news of what they carried-the sapphire ice would be sought after.
They had to make
haste to the Orox Mountain Region. She had no choice but take a short cut where
even more danger lied.
***
The next morning
the storm and winds cleared away to bright sunshine. The crew was a bit
battered but they sailed out and got the good breezes and were sailing for the
shortcut through the mountains.
Karina was relieved
and felt good. Everyone would be able to have a rest while the winds carried
them on their journey.
Little did she
know that a certain ship was following her at a safe distance. The flag that
waved on the ship was The Trove.
TIP JAR;
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