They caught up to the Dueglesteiner’s ship easily enough, although a couple of hundred feet away from it were two more.
Luke cursed, drawing his sword. “Now or never or we’ll be overrun.”
Adalene had climbed to the top of the crow’s nest, ready for her distraction.
They pulled up next to the Dueglesteiner’s ship, and Luke shouted, “Now!”
Adalene jumped from the crow’s nest, stabbed the Dueglesteiner’s sail with her swords, and slowed her fall onto the Dueglesteiner’s ship.
The soldier who’d taken Helen came up from below deck on the Dueglesteiner’s ship running towards Adalene. Adalene cut him down in an instant and began to search the ship.
Adalene came back up, shouting to them, “Nothing! It’s empty.”
“Empty?” Richard exclaimed, “How can it be empty?”
“She must be in one of those ships,” Peter observed, pointing to the other two.
Adalene swung over to The Bowen, landing on her feet.
“So…which boat?” Luke asked.
Richard looked at the two boats, then said, “The left one.”
“How would you know which one?” Ruby asked.
Richard scratched the back of his neck. “This might sound crazy, but a voice told me.”
“A voice?” Adalene asked, curious.
Peter and Luke exchanged a look, and Alice remembered an incident when a voice told her what to do as well. It was before her family had left to go to Bellona, a female voice said, You will find your friends soon, Alice. But you must be prepared to lose everything first. You will be afraid for some time, but you must understand this is necessary.
Alice had not understood it at the time, although she had associated it with the loss of her family and felt guilty about it ever since.
Maybe if she had warned them not to go she could’ve saved them. But then she wouldn’t be on this quest.
“Well I have no idea what’s going on,” Ruby said, unsheathing her sword, “The left one it is, I guess.”
…
This time they decided to attack the ship at the same time, as they saw Dueglesteiners running around the ship, much more than the last one.
Pulling up next to the ship, Luke decided that it was best to pretend to be better equipped than them.
“Hand over our friend and we might not fill you with arrows,” Ruby threatened, even though the only arrows they had were Ruby’s, and there wasn’t enough to fill all the Dueglesteiners with them.
“Here’s my deal for you,” one of the Dueglesteiners shouted back, “Hand yourselves over or we’ll throw her overboard.” The Dueglesteiner snapped his fingers and two soldiers brought Helen out, as she tried to kick their feet and bite their hands, struggling despite being severely overpowered.
Richard rushed to the railing of the ship and shouted, “Helen! Are you alright? Did they hurt you?”
Helen stopped struggling long enough to look at Richard. Hope filled her eyes and a smile reached her face. “Richard,” she whispered. “I’m alright!” she shouted back, “Other than a bump on my head and a really bad headache I’m fine!”
Richard breathed a sigh of relief, his shoulders hunching as he breathed out the breath he was holding.
“Hand yourselves over or we will throw her over the ship!” the Dueglesteiner shouted again, and the soldiers holding Helen shoved her towards the edge of the ship, preparing to push her.
“Zey von’t kill her,” Adalene said, trying to calm Richard’s growing panic, “Zey need you alive, remember?”
“I am going to count to ten,” shouted the soldier once again, “If you do not surrender in that time, she’ll be thrown overboard.”
“Ten…”
“What should we do?” Richard asked, “He seems pretty serious.”
“Seven…”
“I told you, zey von’t kill her. She is just as valuable as you are.”
“Four…”
“How do we know they won’t still push her over the side of the ship?” Alice asked, the fear growing in her chest as the Dueglesteiner continued to count down.
“Two…”
“I think he’s serious,” Luke said as the Dueglesteiner held up one finger.
“One. Throw her over the side of the ship!”
Helen was pushed by the soldiers and screamed as she fell into the water below.
“Helen!” Richard shouted and jumped over the side of The Bowen, swimming over to Helen and pulling her up to the surface of the water.
“You were saying?” Peter asked Adalene, whose face was pale.
Luke threw a rope over The Bowen, and Richard, who was holding Helen, began to climb up, tying the end of the rope to Helen’s waist.
They got up over the railing, both dripping wet from their clothes and hair, shivering in the wind.
As Peter began to steer the ship around, headed North, Alice noticed something happening on the Dueglesteiner’s ship.
“Uh…guys?” Alice said, pointing to what was happening, “I don’t think they want us to come out of this battle still breathing.”
Everyone looked to where she was pointing. Windows of light opened up and black shapes rolled up to the windows. Cannons.
Richard cursed.
Everyone went to the oars, trying desperately to row away as fast as they could...
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