Someone Else's Kingdom, BOOK I - Chapter 62

As the Arbowlan sailed beyond the estuary that branched out from the long channel; the long channel that had taken them through the fiery, and once-thought impassable desert; they caught the slightest glimpse of Outer Tunida. Through the scratched and smudged looking glass they could see the dim outline of its north-western coast. A faint grey outcrop in the distance. Just above the pale sea. Fortunately no one from the island had spotted them in response, and the two vessels they'd espied the day before had not been seen again. Their quiet course under the starry night helping them to peacefully evade detection. Still, all wasn't so well aboard ship, and Acalee, having fallen into a deep fever from his rotting wound in the days preceding, was much worse for wear. Still in an unconscious and feverish slumber, that made Essen fear the worst.

Adding to this misfortune, one of the other crew members was now sick and had taken to bed too. The long journey on the briny sea finally taking its toll upon the crew's health. Leaving just five men to struggle with the ship's operation. One of whom being the ship's pilot, who never ceased from insisting that they turn back and surrender themselves to the Tunidan forces.

"Ships patrol the perimeter day and night," he reiterated to Essen, not for the first time, nor for the last. "So, even if someone actually crossed the desert itself, which is impossible besides, they would get picked up. So it's pointless pressing on. The only other option you have is to sail off into the wide open ocean beyond, which even as far as we can tell is just endless ocean and nothing more. So that would mean an even more certain death."

"We were told that about the 'endless' desert," retorted Essen, earnestly. He then looked out into the infinite blue, as if to contemplate the proposition.

"Yes, but that time we were lying," laughed the ship's pilot. He then waited for a reply, but didn't get one. Tired of the games Essen didn't attempt to second guess the pilot, and just kept the ship steady as it glided its parallel course along the coast. By now they'd already sailed a fair deal. So much so that the beautiful green vegetation that had hemmed the estuary was now replaced once again by shifting desert. Essen, seeing this change, considered heading below deck, to etch in this latest bit of geography on Acalee's sea charts. Yet more terra nova to add to the ever-growing artistry. Yet his lack of technical ability, along with his general lack of energy, put him off the idea. His thoughts then hung wholly upon Acalee himself, down below in bunk, hovering close to death. It suddenly all seemed quite hopeless. They had sailed further than any Brynnyfirdian had ever sailed. To the very edge of the world. Finding truths that would've seemed inconceivable just a few shorts weeks earlier. But, it would all be worthless. The unimaginable discoveries disappearing on these strange outlying waves. Snuffed out by death and their inability to return home. Briefly the idea of turning back returned to his mind, but the journey home, a journey as long as the journey that had taken them here, now felt too epic to undertake. Perhaps turning themselves in would save their lives - maybe that would be the wise thing to do - but even that would completely snuff out the fire they had stolen. Their knowledge kept prisoner, as they would be.

Finally, he thought of the war back home, and his people fighting unflinchingly against the onslaught from the mainland kingdoms - all much richer and bigger than the little island he'd come from. He thought about how little he'd helped the actual cause with this pointless endeavour. For all he knew, his people had been conquered and put to rout by now. Chained under the yolk of the same people that now pursued him through these concealed seas. That he'd broken free and into these uncanny waters brought a fleeting moment of satisfaction, but it was instantly drowned in the wider gloom. As he hit the bottom of this woe the young boy, who was the one person aboard the Arbowlan still brimming with vigour, came out on deck.

"Acalee is dead."

As Essen rushed below, on the heels of this fateful news, the young boy took the wheel of the ship. Like Essen, he too now wondered what fate would hold for them, in this strange uncharted netherworld.