Warrior Priest of Dmon-Li - Brian Pratt [14]
“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
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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