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Chapter
16: Alien Shore
When I
awoke, my head was throbbing and the rocking of the boat had stopped. I slowly
opened my eyes, staring up at the sky and wondering what had hit me. A splash of
water hit my feet and I quickly sat up, feeling slightly dizzy as I did. I was
on a beach, the endless blue stretched out before me with no boats in sight. I
unsteadily got to my feet and looked around. It looked like I was on an island,
the top of a small mountain could be seen poking over the trees the surrounded
it. Other than that, it appeared to be void of anything. People, animals... no
sign of life anywhere. That's when I remembered.
"Barbarius!"
I shouted, stumbling along the coast. "Schimmel! Bryenn!" I walked along the
shore, looking for someone, anyone. Maybe even the- "Ship!" I yelled, spotting
the ship we had been aboard washed halfway up onto the sand. There was a rather
large hole in the lower hull, but other than that it seemed to be in good
condition considering what it had gone though.
I climbed
in through the hole and found nobody in the lower areas. The deck was deserted
as well. Either everyone was washed overboard in the storm, or anyone that was
left had gone out to explore the island. I sat down on the stairs leading up to
the deck to rest. Anyone else that made it would probably come to search the
ship as well.
I looked
around the hold. Torn hammocks, broken barrels and a pile of crates by the
staircase. The crash did a lot of damage to what I could see, but I hoped a few
of the supplies survived... there was no telling how long I'd be stuck here and
if there was anything edible growing on the island. I was thinking about taking
a look around outside, then a faint groan came from the pile of crates. I
hesitated, it sounded like a person, but it might have just been the wood about
to break. I got up and knocked a crate off the pile, revealing the person
underneath.
"Schimmel!"
I cried in shock, quickly pulling another crate off the pile. There was a gash
on his forehead, and his left arm was badly wounded, but he was very much alive.
"Ugh...
Nem? What happened?" He mumbled as I helped him up.
"I was
hoping you could tell me. I don't remember anything after Barbarius got knocked
overboard." I said, leading him over to one of the two undamaged hammocks and
using a healing spell on his injuries.
"Oh,
right... I remember now... that storm. It came out of nowhere, not even Captain
Rathys could tell it was coming until it was too late. He was thrown overboard
by a wave shortly before you got on deck. You saw what happened to Barbarius,
another wave swept the ship and when it passed you were gone too. Bryenn ran for
the edge you and Barbarius vanished by while I hurried toward the door below
deck. When I got there the whole ship jolted and the last thing I remember is
falling below deck." Schimmel explained.
"I see...
well, if we survived, there's hope for Bryenn and Barbarius. They were probably
washed up on this island too. I'll go look for them, you stay here and rest." I
said, walking over to the hole and looking out across the beach.
"No, I'm
well enough to help search for them." Schimmel said stubbornly, slowly walking
over to join me.
"What if
one of them comes here while we're both gone? One of us should wait here just in
case, and I'm in better condition than you."
Schimmel
stared at me for a moment, then began walking back to the hammock. "All right,
I'll wait here. Don't be long though, we don't know what's out there."
I nodded
and jumped out of the hole, falling to my knees when I landed. My head was still
throbbing, but I couldn't let that stop me. This whole mess was my fault, I had
to find Bryenn and Barbarius and get us all off this rock.
I trudged
across the sand to the edge of the forest, keeping an eye on the coast for any
footprints. I found nothing apart from the occasional mudcrab. The shoreline
ended at the mountain, which stretched out a few feet into the ocean. I followed
the base through the forest, coming to a door after a couple minutes. I peered
inside and was greeted by endless darkness. Nobody would be stupid enough to go
in there without a torch. I closed it and continued on my way, eventually coming
to the coast again. I followed along it until I found myself back at the wrecked
ship.
Depressed
about not finding anyone, I started to climb back into the ship to tell Schimmel,
when someone grabbed my arm and pulled me inside. I looked up to see a familiar
face grinning back at me.
"Schimmel
said you'd be back soon, but that was twenty minutes ago! What kept you?" Bryenn
asked with a laugh.
"I was
looking for you! Are you okay?"
"Been
better, but I could be a lot worse off too. Guess I showed up here a little
after you left."
"Any sign
of Barbarius?" Schimmel asked from his hammock.
"Not
unless he turned into a mudcrab." I muttered.
"Damn...
well, we found a few supplies that weren't ruined. Let's have a quick bite to
eat and then search this island top to bottom." Bryenn said.
"Right..." I mumbled, worried about Barbarius. It would be just my luck to
recruit someone and then accidentally kill him.
After
eating enough to regain some of our energy, the three of us left the ship to
search for Barbarius. The beach, the forest, he was nowhere to be found. We
scoured that island for almost four hours, until the only place we hadn't
checked was whatever was cloaked in darkness beyond the mountainside door.
Making a quick stop by the ship to pick up some torches and food, we made our
way to the door. It opened with a creak, and Bryenn used a fire spell to light
the torches. The door closed with an unsettling click behind us, and we headed
into the abyss.
The
tunnel twisted and turned, leading us into the depths below the island. No
monsters, no traps, not even a sound aside from our footsteps echoing in the
darkness. Eventually the tunnel ended at a door, we pushed it open and an
unusual sight met our eyes. It appeared to be some sort of small hideout, set up
for at least four people. There was a table in the middle of the room, and
bedrolls off to the side by some barrels and crates. A few travel lanterns lined
the walls, all of them lit. We cautiously searched the hideout, and heard a
voice coming from deeper within.
Following
a tunnel a little farther down, we came across a door that was slightly ajar.
Two voices were coming from behind it.
"I...
don't... KNOW! Can't you get that through your head?!" Someone yelled.
"Damn it.
I should have grabbed the robed guy instead. He probably wouldn't be as useless
as you!" The second voice snapped.
"It's not
my fault you're an idiot!"
"You must
know something, and you'll get no peace until I find out what!"
"That
sounds like... Barbarius." Schimmel whispered.
"Let's
try taking them by sur-" I began, but was cut off as Bryenn gave the door a hard
kick, breaking it off the hinges and knocking it to the ground with a loud
crash.
"Leave
him alone!" Bryenn shouted, dashing over the fallen door and readying his sword.
Schimmel
and I quickly followed suit. It may not have been what I had in mind by a
surprise, but it worked in its own way. Though I did make a mental note to teach
Bryenn the meaning of the word subtlety once this was all over.
I nocked
an arrow and took aim at the person standing beside Barbarius, who was firmly
tied to a chair. I hesitated after seeing the interrogator's face. "What the
hell? ...Captain Rathys?"
"I'm
amazed..." Rathys muttered, shaking his head. "...amazed you were all stupid
enough to come here." He unsheathed the sabre on his belt and pointed it at us.
"This is where you die."
"Why..."
"Behind
you!" Barbarius yelled.
I barely
started to turn when I heard the clash of metal behind me. Two people had dashed
in behind us, one wielding a spear, the other an axe. Schimmel must have heard
them, since he was already facing off the spearman, Bryenn was lucky he stepped
to the side before turning, since he almost had his arm cleaved off by the axe
wielder's first swing.
Taking
the obvious next step, I faced Rathys again and took a quick shot at him as he
charged. He dodged the arrow easily, taking a swing at me once he was close
enough. I ducked under the blade and ran toward Barbarius. Removing the dagger
from my sleeve, I began cutting the ropes binding him. I hadn't even gotten
halfway through one when I heard Rathys running up behind me.
Dropping
my dagger, I dove sideways as Rathys made a thrust at where I had been standing.
Rolling to a stop, I took out an arrow and tried to aim at Rathys. He was too
quick for me, he had already gotten within striking distance. I adjusted my aim
and fired a second before his sabre connected with my bow, knocking it out of my
hand. I crawled backwards along the ground away from him as he approached until
my back bumped into the wall.
Rathys
pointed his sabre at my chest and grinned. "It ends here."
"Yes it
does." I chuckled.
Rathys'
confused expression at my comment quickly changed to one of agony. His sword
dropped at my feet, followed shortly by his corpse, my dagger planted firmly in
his back.
"Excellent timing, Barbarius." I said, looking up at him with a grin.
"You're
nuts. What if that had hit me?!" Barbarius yelled, pointing back at the chair he
had been tied to. An arrow was stuck in the side of it, the severed rope on the
ground.
"My aim
isn't that bad. Though honestly, I was more worried I wouldn't hit the rope in
the right spot than hitting you at all. I was aiming low enough it wouldn't have
been fatal if it had hit anyway."
"Oh yeah,
that's comforting." Barbarius muttered sarcastically.
"If you
two are done talking, any idea how we're supposed to get off this island?"
Bryenn asked, walking over with Schimmel. The two people that were helping
Rathys were already dead on the ground as well.
"That's
easy. I heard them talking about getting a boat ready, it should be back there."
Barbarius pointed out a door in the far corner of the room.
"Not
another ship..." Schimmel sighed.
"We
probably won't run into a storm again. Besides, a ship's the only option, unless
you want to try swimming back." Bryenn laughed.
"I don't
know about you, Schimmel, but I'd take a ship over slaughterfish any day." I
chuckled.
"Yeah,
yeah." Schimmel muttered. "At least we'll have an idea of how to work it since
Rathys made us help him on the way out here. Let's get going."
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