|🌴| Shipwrecked Princess |🌺| A Novel |🌺| Complete |🌴|

🌴 Chapter Thirty-Two 🌴

An hour or so later, Jayme groaned, slowly opening his eyes. The spot on his head where he had been hit throbbed. He placed his hand on his head and felt a slight bump but also tried blood. "Great, just what I need." He mumbled, sitting up and looking around.

Rain was steadily falling, his back and hair were drenched with water. Any of the blood from his wound was washed away, save for a few dried spots of blood on his temple and bridge of his nose. The thunder rolled across the sky, lightning illuminated his surroundings and he could see the rolling waves gradually grow bigger as time passed.

For a brief moment, he didn't know why he was here but it soon came to him. "Oh! Essa!" He remembered she had been taken away in a fishy manner by the pirates. "How could I forget!" He stood up abruptly, stumbling a few steps before holding onto a pole.

He looked out to the choppy water, the lightning once again rolled across the sky silently, before the rumbles quickly flowed. He tried to push off again but he wasn't ready and couched the pole once again. He tried to ignore the pounding in his head and his slightly blurry vision. "Goodness, why." He mumbled, placing his hand on his head.

He needed to push past the pain and maintain his balance. He was focused on telling William what happened. Essa was in grave danger. "They must have had a head start already. No one leaves port when a storm like this is brewing." He mumbled and began to make his way towards the palace, stumbling as if he was drunk.

He knew that Wiliam would know exactly what to do. His mind was too jumbled to attempt to set sail on the rough sea. Plus, he knew he had a concussion, and the chances of him passing out and perishing at sea were high. So, he needed someone, like William, to help them catch up to the pirates.

He got looks from the townspeople who were last-minute boarding up the windows of their houses before it got any worse. They probably thought he was drunk and would talk about it the next day, however that was the least of his worries. Thankfully the rain wasn't obscuring his vision and he could clearly see the path, his vision also had cleared up.

Once to the palace, he pushed open the entrance for the palace staff. He didn't want to enter through the front considering William's room was nowhere close to that way. He followed the stairwell up to the upper floors and walked down the hallway, ending up in front of William's door. He knocked rapidly on the door for a brief moment before barging in. "William!" He called out tripping over whatever was laying on the ground. "Ouch."

William flicked on the oil lamp on his nightstand and rubbed his eyes. "Jayme? It's the middle of the night." He rubbed his eyes and sat up, his covers slipping off his shirtless chest. He swung his feet off the side of the bed and his feet felt for his slippers. "Are you okay?" He asked, seeing his friend hastily getting up off the floor.

Jayme brushed himself off and used his foot to scoot William's shoes out of his way and looked up at his half-sleepy friend. "I'm fine, but Essa's the farthest from being fine." He moved closer so he could glance in the mirror. He used his sleep to wipe the few dried spots of blood which only smeared it faintly.

William was pulled out of his groggy state at the mention of her name. "Essa? What do you mean? Isn't she sleeping in the greenhouse waiting to have us see her off tomorrow?" He didn't understand what he meant. She was safe. Why would he think she wasn't? Perhaps the greenhouse had some damage? No, he wouldn't leave her there to get him.

Jayme could see his friend was drumming up ideas in his head. "No. She was sneakily taken out by the pirates a few hours ago! I believed they drugged her or something because how they were handling her and her animal family was quite rough. Besides, when I tried to see someone hit me in the back of the head with a rock! I lost consciousness and just recently woke back up." He explained, making various hand gestures.