The Battle of The Black Isles

War is Forged

Benedict had awoken, floating on a piece of broken ship. The top half of David's body had managed to find a door, but the bottom half was still freezing in the cold water. Matt was nowhere in sight.
Behind Benedict was the wreckage of the ship still sinking slowly. He couldn't see any other survivors. The rowers and defenders were hit first and even then most of them couldn't take the pebbles and splinters flying around them. The council members were in the lower decks they had no where to go, they were trapped.
Benedict mustered up his strength and paddled toward the door David was hanging onto. Benedict grabbed David's arm and shook it hoping to wake him up. David's eyes fluttered up and down at a rapid speed. Benedict picked up David's legs than moved them on the door so he wouldn't be as cold.
"Ben...Bene...Benedict" stuttered David, "c..co...cold"
"I know you are, but I have to find Matt I just know he is alive." Benedict announced as David shivered.
Benedict pushed away from David and started paddling towards the wreckage. He saw the mattresses floating and soaked. Benedict turned his head and out of the corner of his eye, he saw a body and turned towards it. The body had a bear fur coat and shirt. It was Matt, was Matt really dead? Thought Benedict. He kept paddling towards Matt .
He had arrived where Matt had been lying. He was barely floating. He was laying in his back only a quarter of which was on plywood. Benedict studied Matt, he noticed he was holding the NPU flag on his heart. He also noticed in the center of it was a purple thorn. It resembled that of a Kalohn Thorn a poisonous specimen of the dragon flower. Benedict reached for the flag. He attempted taking it from his grasp but it was stuck on something. Benedict pulled on the object resembling the thorn and it released it's grasp on his chest. He noticed from the pink tip that it was a Kalohn Thorn.
In panic, Benedict dropped the thorn and lifted Matt onto his piece of boat. Benedict paddled furiously out of the wreckage and found his way to David once again. David was a awake and staring at the sunrise. Benedict had assumed the storm diverted or had died off since they seemed not to have been hit by a storm.
David had been floating on the door to the captains dorm so it was large enought to fit 3 gnomes. Benedict loaded Matt and himself on to the door David was on. Benedict and David nodded at each other then screamed:
"HELP!"
"HELP US!"
They screamed and screamed and screamed. They had been on a shipping route so they have to witness a ship coming by at one point. They kept screaming through the day. Later, over the horizon there was a boat. David saw the boat and punched Benedict on the shoulder making him alert of the boat. Both of them stared at each other smiling.
"OI! HELP! HELP US!" yelled David cupping his hands around his mouth and yelling in the direction of the boat. Then Benedict chimed in yelling the same loop.
After fifteen minutes of yelling the boat finally came around to pick them up. Two men in blue uniforms loaded Benedict, David, and Matt on the Gnomen boat.
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Benedict had awoken in a cot underneath a beige tent. He looked around the tent and he saw David putting on his brown leather boots, then folding the top of them over his shin.
It had been three weeks since the attack, war had begun between both Morina and Forland. The war was completely based around naval battles in the sea. Their had been no land attacks because both Morina and Forland had been on lockdown meaning high security on the coast.
Benedict got up, he nodded his head at David saying hello without moving his mouth. Benedict walked through the camp they were in, passing all of the barracks until he made it to the tents for the sick and injured. The camp was on the coast of Morina near Imon, a city in Morina.
In the tents for sick and injured there were five cots, only one was occupied. In that cot lay Matt still recovering from the thorn that had been in his chest. A side effect of being pricked by the thorn is a sickness that controls the body, since the thorn can only be found on flowers in the Demon Realm of Darkon. Matt hadn't shown the symptoms of the cursed sickness, eyes glowing purple, ancient markings coving his skin and even those glow purple.
The purple glow comes from the bioluminescence that Demons are made up of, they glow when enraged.
Matt shifted his head facing Benedict, he stared for a long amount of time before shutting his eyes and relaxing.
"The doctor says...I am well enough to get out of this bloody tent in a day or two at minimum." said Matt slowly breathing between phrases.
"Well then...that is good isn't it?" Benedict replied softly not tying to sound to harsh.
Matt sat up in his cot, the blanket peeling away the farther he went up revealing a large band over his bare chest.
"Help me up." said Matt softly, but Benedict didn't move, "I said help me up!"
Benedict grabbed Matt's arm and pulled him out his cot, the blanket covering him now sprawled across the floor. Matt gaining his feet started toward the tent opening.
"Where do you think you are going? You shouldn't be out and about until tomorrow." said Benedict, sounding quite annoyed even though he honestly wasn't.
"I am going home." said Matt leaning up against the post in the middle of the opening. "I miss my family and my friends. I have spent three weeks in this camp and I don't want to spend another moment in it."
Matt found his dried off bear fur coat. He waddled over toward it and draped it over his shoulder. He made his way out of the tent and down the path out of the camp.
Suddenly, the whistle of a projectile broke through the air. Benedict looked out towards the water. How was it possible that the lookout didn't see the blockade of Forlandian ships on the coast? Benedict looked at the lookout posts. the lookouts were nowhere to be seen. Just then a wide stream of blackness rose from the ship and into the air. They were being shot at by archers he had to warn everybody.
"Archers!Archers on the coast!" yelled Benedict pointing at the blockade.
The defenders of the camps ran from their station of which they were resting, to their catapults, but it was too late. By that time the arrows were falling towards the camp. There had to be hundreds of them. At a closer perspective Benedict could see the flames bursting on the arrowheads. The arrows struck the crates and tents sending them up into flames. Only one of the defenders didn't receive a fatal blow, the arrow nearly skimmed his arm.
Benedict ran to the defender in need of help. He grabbed his arm and helped him up. It would be only moments before the next strike.
"C'mon let's move!" Demanded Benedict to the wounded defender.
The defender trailed behind him but he soon caught up to Benedict. Benedict had passed the tent David was hanging around in,the sight was unbearable. It brought tears to Benedict's eyes.