2023 Story Collection

The Isle of Dragons and The Land of Giants III

They arrived right on time. The navy fleet sat just off the coast of the sandy shores. It was a large fleet that was quite impressive for the small kingdom it had just hours before belonged to. Though the ships were not bejeweled and covered in gold as one might expect. No, they were a dark wood, that at night almost made them invisible to other ships. Knox had spent all his yearly allowance on the fleet, designed the ships himself and even helped build them.

Knox and his men quickly transferred all the goods and people into the ships.

Just as Knox took his last step off land, a man rode over the sandy hills. He was obviously a servant of his brother James. Most likely checking to make sure they had followed the new Kings orders.

"You cannot take the army and navy with you!" The man commanded Knox. "It is not yours to take."

"I did not take these men and their ships," Knox corrects. "I simply told them of my exile, they decided to join me of their own accord."

"The ships do not belong to them!"

"Yes, they do." Knox corrects "The ships belong to the men who built them, which includes myself. You can check the documents. They are in my desk in the second drawer on the left." The man appears to be frazzled, unable to come up with a response to Knox's words.

"You will all be exiled, unable to ever return," the man shouts in fury.

"We are prepared for that!" A man shouts, and the other men follow.

"You will not get away with this," the man says. "The king will know of this!"

"By the time the King knows we will be gone."

"He will come after you," the man snarls.

"With what army? On what ships?" At that, Knox turns and walks away, commanding his fleet to raise the anchors and head out. He hears the man screaming behind him but ignores him.

There was nothing else within an hours ride of where they were at. Even if the man rode hard and fast trading his tired horse for a new horse as soon as the previous tired, Knox and his men would be long gone before the message got anywhere near his brother. And even if his brother wanted to hunt him down, James now had nothing.

---

They sailed for days on the open sea. They stopped a few times at some small Islands to collect some fruit and fresh water but never for long. They had to get as much distance between them and The Kingdom of Gold as fast as possible, just in case his brother pulled in a favor or two of a neighboring kingdom. They had to go somewhere no one else would be crazy enough to follow.

They would travel to The Isle of Dragons and The Land of Giants.

He must find the old queen, the only one that might welcome him and his people and help him with his revenge.

After all, she owed him her kingdom.

---

"According to my calculations," a tall thin man with white eyes said, "we should reach the edge of The Isle of Dragons in about an hour."

He was an old blind pirate know as Blind Pete. He had been taken as a slave and freed by Knox in a neighboring kingdom. The old pirate swore his loyalty to Knox. So Knox made him his navy captain. Many called him a fool for trusting such a man.

There was no man that knows the seas better than blind Pete. He was famous for his ship being the only one to survive multiple storms and was the only man to survive a trip throw the siren seas.

Yes, he was blind but that didn't hinder the half siren pirate. He used his mother's gift to help him navigate and win the hearts of all kinds of sailors.