===========================
Saving the World Again
Chapter 10: Ship Lost, Ship Found

Started by Thomas Wilde
This Chapter 
by Freedom Colberg

Formatted by Steven Scougall
===========================

Our heros were gathered in the castle courtyard. They had came here to make 
absolutely sure that Princess Catherine would make it back safely to the 
castle. (Or maybe they were more worried about whether she would actually 
go back to the castle at all).

Julian and Arica were standing side by side, she leaned slightly against 
him.

Hans was on his knees, wishing a fond farewell to the young princess. The 
sight of the huge man sobbing and embracing the little girl who barely came 
up to his chest even with him kneeling was amusing. So much so that Darrow 
couldn't help but chuckle.

This earned him a stern glance from Aquila who was, like he, standing apart 
from the group. As if they both would sprint for freedom the second they 
were allowed to.

"But I don't want to go home", Catherine cried, "I want to go on more 
adventures with Miss Aquila and you all. I'm useful! She can tell you I'm 
useful! I helped lots."

"I don't doubt you, but it is simply too dangerous. You will have your 
chance to be a heroine in your own right some day if you keep practicing. 
But this is our quest. Besides, your father was annoyed enough we let you 
go to Bazaar, he might very well send the royal navy after us as kidnappers 
if you came along." Julian said.

"Daddy wouldn't do that, he probably wouldn't even notice I was gone. He 
wouldn't have known about our other adventure if you hadn't have squealed 
on me."

"It iz beink all right, little one", Hans said. "Zhere are always more 
adventures to be had."

"Promise?" Catherine asked, her sniffling quieting.

"Promise." Hans replied.

Julian watched Catherine walk away, Mewly perched upon her shoulder, before 
speaking.

"It looks like we got rid of two problems at once. Maybe this adventure is 
going to take a happy turn for a bit."

"Maybe for you love," Arica said, "Myself however, I think it will turn 
sour if I have to go back to the ship and do nothing. Escorted by that 
woman no less. I still don't know if we can trust her."

"I've already told you, it was her who completed our quest while Hans and 
myself returned you to Mercant. Without her we'd be stuck here for even 
longer. With Catherine. And Mewly."

"I know but..."

"Besides, you're hardly strong enough to walk unaided, you need rest. Hans, 
Darrow and I can handle resupplying. Aquila has to go back to the ship so 
she can prepare to sail anyways. Her escorting you is just a way to make 
sure you are safe and assure we can get on with our quest sooner."

"Does this mean we can get on with buying supplies?" Darrow asked. 
"Aquila's crew showed me some great places to buy reagents for my potions."

"And ze fact dat dey are also bars haz nothink to do vith you vantink to go 
there?" Hans chuckled loudly.

"No, that has *everything* to do with me wanting to go there." Darrow 
grinned back.

"I don't think we have time for that boys", Aquila said, "That girl is 
devious, and unless I'm about to be proven wrong, my instincts say we're in 
for trouble if we don't get out of town fast."

==========

"I think that's everything" Julian said. "Let's do a quick check to make 
sure".

Julian and Darrow started doing inventory as Hans stood there stoically 
allowing them to rummage through the items strapped to his back.

"Vait!" Hans suddenly proclaimed.

"What, what did we forget? We have the food, the drink, fresh clothes, 
tools, spices."  Julian said.

"Beer, herbs, chemicals." Darrow added.

"Look at dat sword over der! It's de best I've zeen. It's perfect!!!"

"But Hans, you just bought a new bigger and better sword in Plot.", Darrow 
said.

"Yes, but dis one iz better! Look at de blade it iz vonderful!"

"It does appear to be of higher quality than our friends older sword.", 
Julain said.

"It had better be, it has a price tag three times as high!", Darrow said.

"Julian can ve get it? Can ve?"

"Of course Hans, you deserve it."

"Why is it that in every town we get to that lout need to buy a new 
'better' sword?", Darrow mumbled, "I guess I should be happy he doesn't 
wear armor."

==========

Aquila and Arica walked side by side in uneasy silence. Occasionally Aquila 
would start to say something just to break the silence, but the 
contemptuous look Arica seemed to have constantly fixed on her put a quick 
end to that.

In her defense, even if Arica were inclined to speak to Aquila, which she 
wasn't, she was far too weak. Recovering from the Morpheus dust and the 
exorcism was going to take a few days. It took all of her strength just to 
try to keep focused on walking, Aquila's occaisional attempts at 
conversations were more annoying than pleasant. Though she was being a bit 
rude, and if Julian found out she'd hear no end of that. So maybe when 
she'd gotten bunked in and taken a nap she should appoligize to her 
companion... maybe.

If Aquila weren't more worried with not annoying her idol's wife, and if 
Arica were just a little more rested, they should have effortlessly avoided 
the trap. But that was not to be.

While it wasn't a soundless transition, it was a quiet one. One moment the 
women were walking down a fairly uncrowded path to the dock where the Aqua 
Terror was kept. Then a quick scuffle of feet and over 30 soldiers came out 
from behind various obstructions and cut off any easy chance at escape.

"Excuse me ladies", someone spoke. "I am Severn. Perhaps you remember me 
from the Hero's Guild Mrs. Llewellyn? The guild whos' rules you have so 
casually cast aside in your quest for power? I am afraid it is my job to 
stop you before you can go any further."

"Arica, RUN!", Aquila shouted, drawing her sword before she even finished 
turning around to see what she was up against. "If you make it to the ship, 
my men will keep you safe."

"Ms Clearwater I presume?", Severn asked, "I have heard much of your 
supposed skill with the blade. Tell you what, as I am a curious man I will 
let your friend have a headstart. As long a duel between the two of us 
lasts, my men will not persue her. Agreed? Of course it is, since you have 
no choice."

Aquila simply snarled as she drew his weapon.

"Ah good, it is agreed then, show me what you can do".

Aquila took in Severn's stance. He was good, she could tell that in his 
confidence, his grip, the way his motions were so fluid. However he was 
standing in a purely defensive stance. This seemed odd, since he should 
want to win as quickly as possible so as to capture Arica before she 
reached safety. She could play that game too, after all if she was able to 
stall without exhausting herself, she stood a better chance of escaping 
unharmed as well.

"You bore me my lady, are you going to attack or did I misunderstand and I 
should tell my men to run your friend down?"

A quick glance backwards showed Arica making slow progress, she seemed 
winded already after running only a few hundred feet. It appeared she would 
have to try harder to keep his interest, so she tried a few feints which 
were parried effortlessly.

"Is that ALL? Goodness, I expected so much better, I'll give you one more 
chance then it's my turn to counterstrike."

So that was his game. Maybe he was an amateur after all. He must be hoping 
she'd exhaust herself quickly, or give into his taunts and make a mistake. 
Either of which would allow him, fully rested to beat her effortlessly. And 
either of which anyone who had a right to carry a sword would know better 
than to fall for. She fell back into a mostly defensive stance to prepare 
for whatever he might do, only launching a few probes to keep him assured 
she was on the offense.

"Ok, here it comes! My most powerful strike that none can stand against... 
MEN GET HER!"

Aquila had barely enough time to register confusion before she was borne to 
the ground by heavily weighted nets and beat into unconciousness with 
bludgeons.

Arica fared little better, though they didn't feel the need to hurt her .

==========

"Are you sure this is a good idea?", Catherine asked.

"Of course!", Mewly replied. "That's how I got here in the first place."

"But it looks kind of cramped, and wet, and cold."

"Don't worry, after a few hours we can get out and sneak around the boat. 
It will be fun!"

"I guess", Catherine sounded unsure for what may have been the first time 
in her life.

The pair selected an opened barrel of salted fish. Mewly wanted to go for a 
water barrel, but Catherine has ponted out that unlike Mewly, she needed to 
breath. After scooping out enough fish so they could fit, they crawled in. 
Then out again to scoop out more fish so they could move. Then in again. 
Then out again, because Mewly was very tickly in such close quarters. More 
fish removed and in again. This continued until the barrel was devoid of 
all but the smell of fish. Finally comfortable Catherine and Mewly snuggled 
in for a nap.

==========


Cochran was in a bit of a pinch. He knew Aquila would be furious with him 
if he surrendered the Aqua Terror to the army. He also knew she would be 
dead if he didn't. He looked at the uniformed men standing next to the 
boat. He looked at the crew, standing with weapons ready. He swallowed. 
What would Aquila do here? Well other than lie in a bruised pile. What 
would she do if it was him. He didn't know, so he decided he'd try to sort 
it out later.

"Drop your weapons men, we'll fight another day."

Severn smiled, waiting for the clatter of dropped swords to quiet before he 
spoke. "A wise decision. Ok men, take them hostage too, confine them below 
deck. I think we'll be setting sail."

"Sir is that really wise? We have hardly enough crew to be man both ships. 
And what of Kestrel?", Seargent Krislen asked.

"That is exactly why we will be taking the Aqua Terror. If we leave it 
Kestrel can use it to catch us too easily. It is a small swift ship, and 
finding crew in a port town would be easy for someone of his reputation. As 
to waiting here for him, we already took enough of a risk with our ambush. 
The king here is unfriendly with the Hero's Guild, he believes its' 
regulations take too much profit from him. I can't risk a full confronation 
with a unit this small. Kestrel will chase us, we will set an ambush 
outside of Mercant's borders, and we will return home to many rewards."

==========

Private Clough had had a rough couple of weeks. Ever since he had guessed 
wrong as to how Aquila would treat the heros they were chasing he had been 
on grunt detail. Long watches, loading and unloading cargo, latrine duty. 
If it was unpleasant he had done it recently. At least twice.

It was because of this he found himself loading barrels onto the Aqua 
Terror. Alone. All the other soldiers having finished their assignments had 
gone drinking, but he had ended up by some Ôaccident' being assigned two 
work-loads with no assistance. At least he was down to that last few 
barrels.

As he lifted one barrel from the last cluster he noticed a pile of fish on 
the ground. Great, just what he needed, a burst barrel. He started tapping 
them to see where the loose or rotted boards were.

*TAP TAP* nothing.

*TAP TAP* nothing.

*TAP TAP* *giggle*.

Giggle?

"Who's in there?", Clough asked.

"Umm would you believe nobody?", a high pitched voice replied.

"No, I would not, come out."

"I told you it wouldn't work.", Catherine said to Mewly as she climbed out 
of the barrel.

Clough was a bit worried, they were barely allowed to dock for supplies in 
this country, and here he was with a witness who had seen him in uniform. 
At least she was a little girl and unlikely to realize what that meant...

"Wow", Mewly said, "he's dressed just like those men that tried to capture 
Julian and Arica!"

... or maybe she was.

"I'm sorry little girl, but I think I'm going to have to take you with me, 
and the fluffball. I don't know what will happen if someone finds out we've 
captured Arica Llewellyn, but I don't want to be responsible if it happens. 
Please don't make this difficult."

Catherine though fast. "But I'm here for fun, I just want to ride on a real 
ship." She batted her eyelashes, "if you let me hide in the barrel 'til we 
get to the next town I'll never tell anyone anything."

Clough thought about it. Less paperwork, less explaining. And the way 
things had been lately, that was good. He helped her reseal the barrel and 
finished loading.

==========

"I only think it's fair. You let Hans buy a new sword, so we should at 
least make a quick stop at a bar." Darrow said.

"I'm not sure," Julian said, "do you really think we have enough time?"

"Arica needs her rest, I'm sure she won't notice an extra hour."

"Well...", Julian started to speak but notice he no longer had an audience 
as Hans and Darrow had already turned and were halfway to a bar across the 
street.

Julian hurried after them.

"Wait you two, we're on a quest here. We've had plenty of time for 
recreation over the last few days. In fact, we've had too much recreation, 
if not for your barhopping we'd have already gotten supplies and set sail. 
Now let's get back to the Aqua Terror."

A drunken man staggered out of the bar as Julian spoke. He seemed to focus 
on Julian and staggered up to him. "The Aqua Terror you said? Why she's 
already set sail."

"She's WHAT?!" Julian said, grabbing Hans and Darrow and literally pulling 
them along as he hurried towards the docks.

==========

Princess Catherine had a plan. It was a brilliant plan. It was the type of 
plan that would convince her companions to finally view her as the budding 
hero she was instead of as a spoiled brat. She would rescue Arica. Then, 
together they would take over the ship! As she saw it, all she had to do 
was sneak past a few guards, and find where she was being held.

Sneaking past the guards would be the easy part. She knew from unauthorized 
excursions  that guards are by breed a lazy lot. It seemed the helms they 
wear prevent them from hearing anything at all, and the hooded lanterns 
they prefered only cast light in a small beam to their front. Add to this 
the tendancy to retrace the same beat in a predicatable and timely manner 
(though the really elite guards did turn around occasionally as if they 
knew someone would be creeping behind them), and it almost seemed there was 
no reason to hire them at all.

Finding the cell would be a different matter entirely, but once again her 
experience told her that guards seemed unwilling to chase anyone through a 
door, almost as if they were afraid of the consequences of the unknown more 
than that of a poor job done. With this in mind, she figured all she had to 
do was check every berth and hold. If Arica was being treated with the 
respect she deserved, and even the worst of evil-doers always seemed to be 
respectful in all the legends she had heard, she would probably be being 
held in the Captain's quarters, so she'd start her search there.

==========

Three figures on horseback galloped along the beach, keeping the two ships 
in sight. The lead figure was Julian, riding like a madman. Hans followed 
close behind, while Darrow lagged a bit further back. So focused was the 
trio on the ships that they didn't notice the rockslide blocking the road 
until they were almost upon it.

Julian dismounted and glanced at obstacles. As if taunting them, a huge 
boulder spanning twice his height seemed to have landed smack dab in the 
middle of the road they had been following. Smaller boulders and loose 
rocks surrounded it, making the idea of riding the horses over it seem 
difficult at best and most likely suicidal. Large steep cliffs stood 
alongside the road on one side, while the ocean itself was to the other.

"Well what do we do now?", Julian asked. "We cant backtrack and take 
another route or we'll lose the ships. We can't climb the clifts. Our 
horses would break a leg trying to go over the rubble."

The young hero sunk to the ground.

"It seems hopeless, as if destiny itself is against us. Why did I think 
things would look up? I was just tempting fate."

"Umm guys, I am zinkink..." Hans started to say but was cut off by Darrow.

"Don't fear, my alchemy is made just for situations like this. Give me a 
few minutes to mix up an explosive and I will have the offending pebbles 
removed in no time."

Darrow started rummaging through his back, pulling out various vials and 
powders.

"Let's see, I mix this clear blue liquid with the dark orange root extract. 
Add a little of this stir. Ok let that sit, now where is my powdered 
fireweed? Ah here it is."
Darrow sprinkled the powder on the mixture, then coated the largest 
boulder with it.

"Back away, this can get a bit exciting."

Darrow lit a torch and threw it at the boulder, then dove to the ground 
covering his head and ears just as the mixture ignited blowing the largest 
boulder and some of the smaller ones to bits. Julian was blown back a few 
feet and knocked on his rear. Hans just stood staring obliviously at the 
explosion as rubble rained down upon his head. 

When the smoke had cleared, Julian looked around then said, "I'm sorry to 
say this Darrow but other than spooking the horses, you haven't 
accomplished much at all."

He spoke truely, for now instead of huge boulders blocking the path, there 
were many smaller jagged rocks, possibly more impossible to travel over.

"Guys, I am ztill dinkink..."

"Not now Hans," Julian dismissed, "we're going to have to clear this by 
hand. Get to work Darrow."

Neither Julian nor Darrow notice Hans splashing off with the horses until 
he was on the other side of the rubble.

"Guys, I am *ztill* dinkink..."

"Hans! I said not now, wait how did you get over there?"

"I vaz tryink to tell you, I am zinkink it vould be easier to valk around 
zince de water is zo shallow here."

==========

Severn smiled.

"I think that I see the perfect place to hide out while we set up our 
ambush. Seargent, have the men set a heading for that cave. I'll be in my 
quarters, let me know when we have arrived."

Seargent Krislen saluted and set off to notify the men.

==========

Two men in white coats were standing near a telescope in a tower on the 
coast above a cave entrance into a supposably hidden cove. The smaller of 
them was busy checking various devices of unfanthomable purpose while the 
other observed the sea with the telescope. He watched the Aqua Terror, 
followed by it's captor ship sail into a small sea cave.

"Professor, I think you should take a look a this."

"What is it Harold?" spoke the smaller man.

"Well it appears a small ship, a privateer maybe has just sailed into your 
secret sea lab."

"I'm sure the security devices will... wait you said a small ship? Does it 
meet the specifications?"

"Yes Professor, it does, perfectly."

"Excellent, it appears that I will be able to revolutionize the world with 
my science! Start the preparations."

==========

Author's Notes:

Well, umm, this chapter more or less wrote itself. As always some ideas 
were dropped to make for a more streamlined story. (Yes, this *IS* 
streamlined).

My scenes seem a bit short to me, maybe a flaw in my writing style, more 
likely due to not devoting enough time to writing my chapter. Any advice on 
how to flesh out scenes without just rambling on would be appreciated and 
would probably improve my chapters.

The final bit is based on a comment a friend of mine made about mid-game 
modifications to boats... what the Prof is up to? Nobody knows, maybe a 
sub, maybe rocket power, maybe a starship... whatever it is, the Aqua 
Terror is perfect.

Of course, the party can always escape, or maybe he'll follow them a bit 
before striking...

Or maybe he's friendly...who knows?

BTW, I really wanted to work something in about the King of Mercant 
visiting the temple of St Gideon, but well I had zero ideas there... oh 
well, sorry Stephen.

I hope ya'll enjoy.

-Freedom (freedom@rio.com)
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