Luke would periodically check behind him, making sure they weren’t being followed. But they were. When Luke looked up, he saw the sky had begun to darken, storm clouds forming.
“Great,” Richard said, annoyed. “As if this day could get any worse.”
But it did.
They heard a boom and one of the cannons fired, missing The Bowen barely.
They heard more cannon fire, but it continued to miss The Bowen.
“Just keep rowing!” Luke shouted as raindrops began to fall.
The rain picked up, and soon they were all soaking wet. Luke had to constantly wipe the water out of his eyes just to see in front of him, but that didn’t help because of how dark the sky had become.
Lightning struck in the distance.
“You had to say it, did you?” Luke asked Richard.
“I didn’t think it’d do this!”
The winds picked up, and their sails began to fill, pushing The Bowen forward.
“Ha!” Richard laughed, “See what it did?”
“It won’t last us very long,” Ruby responded, then pointed to the ship behind them. “They’ll have the wind as well.”
The wind blew harder now, pushing everybody out of their seats.
Luke gripped a rope and yelled, “Hang onto something!” Although he doubted he could be heard over the roaring wind.
Everyone held on tight, however, and as Luke felt his feet lift the ground, his head began to spin.
He heard a faint boom before he passed out, not knowing what had just happened.
…
Luke slowly woke up, groaning as he rubbed his head. He looked at The Bowen’s sails, ripped and torn. There were pieces of the ship’s woodworking that were missing, splintering where they had been ripped apart from the wind.
Luke slowly got up, squinting as the light hurt his eyes. He looked at the sky, a dull gray like it looked after a storm. Why had he passed out, though? And what was that boom?
He groaned again, as a few of the others began to wake up as well.
Luke looked at the side of the ship in horror. There was a hole blasted into it, the cannonball that had been the culprit laying on the floor, rolling every so often as a wave hit. Richard lay on the ground, trapped under a piece of wood.
Luke ran over to Richard, freeing him, and rolled Richard on his back.
To his horror, Luke saw the left side of Richard’s face. It was cut and burned, his eye squeezed shut and puffy.
“Somebody get the medical supplies!” Luke shouted to nobody in particular.
Adalene came running forward, carrying some bandages and a healing salve.
Luke hurriedly dripped the healing salve on Richard’s face, then covered it in the bandages, including his eye. Luke could see Richard breathing and tried to wake him up.
Helen ran over to Luke, her mouth open in fear and surprise. “What…what happened?” she asked, covering her mouth with her hand.
“The Dueglesteiners shot The Bowen, and the debris must’ve cut Richard’s face,” Luke explained, swallowing the lump in his throat. He was glad Richard was alive, not knowing why he had been so scared for him in the first place. Although he was annoyed with Richard sometimes, Luke still thought of him as a brother. And he felt guilty for healing Peter with the last of the magic water.
Richard slowly woke up, groaning and rubbing his head. “What happened?” he asked groggily, then panicked. “Uh…why can’t I see? Guys, I can’t see anything!”
Luke put a hand on Richard’s shoulder, not wanting to tell Richard. “You…got injured. We’ve got bandages over that side of your face right now. That’s why you can’t see.”
Richard began to relax and gently touched the bandage around his face. “How…how bad is it?” he asked.
“Uh…” Luke said, running a hand through his hair, “It could be worse…I mean…at least the other side of your face is okay…”
“It’s bad…isn’t it?” Richard asked, unamused.
“It’ll heal in time,” Luke said, trying his best to seem comforting. “For now, we need to figure out where we are.”
“I know,” Adalene said, “And you’re not going to like it.”
“Hit me,” Luke challenged, “I probably won’t be surprised.”
“You vill,” Adalene assured, “Zat storm must’ve pushed us far to ze North, because look!” Adalene pointed to the North, where a dark line was becoming visible. “Ve are in Thuron."
ns 172.70.39.203da2
