Someone Else's Kingdom, BOOK I - Chapter 72

As the arrow struck the skies almost instantly turned dark and cloudy, and before Essen, the young boy and the ship's pilot could even begin to take stock of what Essen had just done, a light rain began to fall. Sensing a quickly approaching storm they started heading back to camp, trying to discuss the events as they went. Yet, as the light rain that hit their skin morphed into a heavy downpour all talk of the strange happenstance was made impossible, and they began fleeing. Running for cover. First through the wet, rain-pummelled poppies, then on through the relative shelter of the jungle canopy. By the time they finally arrived at camp, soaked through and exhausted, all thought of remaining on land had evaporated. The muddy and semi-flooded ground oozing beneath their feet as they reached the shoreline; slipping and sliding in the hammering rain towards the beach front. With difficulty they found their way back to the Arbowlan, to join the other two crew members for the night, as the continuing rain lashed and rocked the ship on the ever swelling waves.

"How did he get there?" asked the younger crew member to Essen, as they arrived back on deck. Still wondering how a prince from the mainland had ended up here, wherever here was, so far from the world they once knew back home. It went unheard though, as the problems now posed on ship by the storm completely outweighed any such concerns. The four older shipmen instantly perceiving the graveness of the situation much more acutely than the optimistic young boy. As he fetched a bucket to help out, the onrushing rain continued to flood the deck, and the violent swells and winds increasingly tossed the ship around on the ocean top. Even under anchor it swirled and listed like a leaf on a breeze. The heavy black storm clouds creating an ominous mood, as its occupants struggled to maintain some sense of order; the wind-lashed hail stinging their bare skin as they tried. As they laboured to fight this losing battle they contemplated giving up the ghost and heading below deck, to hunker down and hope for the best. They could then assess the damage once the storm had passed. But, alas, the ferocity of the weather gave them little option but to keep going. The danger being there'd be little left to assess when - and if - they returned from their shelter.

Finally, with the wind ever-growing in violence, the ship ripped from its anchor; the vessel casting headlong into chaos. Further and further from the coast. Veering and turning on the large waves that endlessly washed across the deck.

As the tempest increased it became impossible to see beyond the swarming waters of the drowning sky. Panic. The force of the gales ripped through the ship. Cracking the wet wood. Essen, blinded in the flood, clung to the ship's wheel. Hopelessly trying against all reason to hold the ship steady. Even the voices of his fellow shipmates now lost to the wind. The noise of the all-conquering tumult overpowering his senses. The ship filled with water - a flash, a lightning strike - the hull ripped open, but it still felt light upon the waves. As it listed heavily once more the weight of the fall nearly pulled Essen from the wheel, but he somehow held on. Then the vessel lilted too far. The mast and her heavy sails plunging to the water. The ship went under. Darkness.