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((im gettin good at keepin my promises aren't i? lol))


Chapter 20: Land Again

The same motion that put us to sleep was what ironically woke us up. The ship tipped and rocked to alarming amount. Ashley told me to go up and check it out which was intention anyway. I took my arrows and slinked along the wall as I made my way up.

“The crew was hard at work, which only made relax a little. “Status?” I called out to them.

One of them working a sail at the time, answered with a shout, “Not a demon in sight! Choppy waters and heavy to foretell a storm!”

“A storm?” I repeated looking into the skies. Th eastern sky was smeared n ashy, dismal gray while overhead, the sky was its normal blue. “Can we beat it?” I asked after the pause.

“If these winds persist, then surely we can beat it to shore!” he said with a nod.

“Good! Keep me updated! I’ll help if needed. Just call!” I told him, and he acknowledged me with another nod and continued his work. Upon my return, Ashley was now in my bed, under my covers.

“So? What is it?” she asked. The worry in her voice was heavily present, as always in times like these.

I sat on the edge of the bed next to her and repeated what I had been told. “Not a demon the eye can see. Just choppy waters and heavy winds to warn of a storm.”

“What a storm?” she whined.

“Calm down!” I told her before she could start. “If the wind keeps up, we can beat the storm to shore!” I repeated again.

She let a sigh of relief pass her lips and lifted the covers. “Get in!” she ordered with a childish smile on her face. She scooted over to make room as I slid in after throwing my shoes by the door. We lay there on our sides, staring at each other for a while in complete silence.

“What?” I asked breaking the silence.

“Remember when we used to do this when we were kids and it rained?” she answered with her own question.

“Yeah and you always fell asleep on me!” I said with a smile. “We wanted to go outside and play but Kimi was always babysitting so she wouldn’t let us!” I reminisced.

“Right!” she laughed. She sighed and played with her sleeve as we lay there and finally dozed off. I’m a naturally light sleeper, so the crash of raging thunder woke me easily. Especially in questionable sturdiness of the ship if lightning happened to strike it. That thought aside, I went up to upper deck once again. My eyes widened when I saw that I could actually see the dock and not just the shoreline it was connected to!

“Full speed ahead! We’re beating this storm to shore!” I shouted with pure we elation in my heart.

“Aye, aye sir!!” was the crew’s hearty reply. My joy must’ve gotten to them because they shifted into an over drive that set the ship at an even faster speed than expected. Within the next twenty minutes, we were in the dock and unloading our things.

“Thanks guys!” Ashley thanked. The all waved and cheered us on as we headed down the path. We got off the beach and onto the dirt path with forestation on both sides of it. The rain began to fall and we threw on our jackets and pulled up our hoods. “How much farther?” Ashley asked as we jogged. This question was in reference to the 2/3 mark.

“Actually getting to the plains will take about 3, maybe four days at the most. I can’t really say how long getting halfway through the plains will take right now. We shaved off about 5 days with our shortcut.

“Nice! Well I hope Lamis is pissed right now!” she giggled.

“And I hope Kratias is ok,” I added. With that said, we quickened our pace in hopes of catching up. In about the next half hour, the storm had passed. It was early evening and the clouds had made a smooth gray across the sky. In the distance ahead, I saw gray smoke clouds rising. “Kratias?” I asked myself, though I said it out loud. I hoped it was Kratias so we could catch up.

“Maybe, but I doubt it though. The smoke isn’t the right shade of gray,” Ashley observed.

“Isn’t the right shade of gray?” I asked skeptically. “How the hell can you tell which gray is coming from what?” I’d never heard anything like that before. But then again, I’m not one a Mage, am I?

“Yeah, our fire a darker, thicker smoke. But you never know! I could be wrong. I mean, it’s thick, but the color is a little off. But like I said, I could be wrong.” Ashley linked her arm through mine as we walked and with her free hand lit the way with a fire ring.

A few hours later, we decided to set up camp for the night. The smoke was now faint, yet you could still see the characteristics that had been given to it. We were close.