Mark of the Ranger

XXXVIII. A Quick Sailing Trip

As we loaded an unconscious Jeff onto the barracks of our brand-new, stolen fair and square ship, I looked back at the island that I had worked at for merely a week. It was now time for us to go, and eventually make it back to the grand council meeting. I dreamed of such days, when our mission was complete, but there was still a while to go. We weren't out of the woods yet--in fact, once we made it back to the coast of the Highlands, we would be going to the Woodlands next. I waved to Toxiclaw, who had recently healed enough to stand, roared in response. I hoped that we lived to see that young dragon again.

"I hope Jeff is alright," Oscar said to me with mild concern. He made me jump as he always did, for he snuck behind without a sound, and spoke with no warning. I nodded. Going from all that earth magic to having none at all couldn't be good for a human's core. "What is the name of this boat?" I asked Oscar, for lack of anything else to say. He looked overboard for a moment, and in that moment, I was tempted to push him over.

"It's called the Goat's Hoof," he told me. It was a strange name, definitely. I wondered about what had caused the original owners to name their ship such a name. I decided to ask another question. "Do you know where we're supposed to be going?" Oscar nodded, and I felt myself sigh with relief. "I can turn us to be on course right now. In fact, that's just what I'll do!" He then left to turn the ship toward the location we were supposed to go: the port that was nearest to us, the one in the Highlands.

*****

Jeff woke up, displeased that the first thing he saw was a wood ceiling. He lifted himself up as well as he could, groaning in pain at a sting in his stomach. He turned to see Karen sitting on a stool, reading a book with a terribly torn cover. "You woke up pretty quickly," Karen congratulated, not so much as looking up from her book, which was obviously enthralling, as she refused to blink while reading it. Jeff tried to say something, but there was another sting, this one near his core--it seemed that he had used too much magic.

"You'll be fine," Karen assured him, this time closing her book to actually look at him. "Isabel said that the drastic change in mana won't damage you permanently, but you'll be hurting for a few days. Just relax." Jeff did relax, and fell back down on where he was sleeping. It turned out that it was a hammock, one of Jeff's favorite things to sleep in, although there were many. He did his best to get comfortable, which was easy in one of his favorite things to sleep in. He tried to speak to Karen again, and this time he was successful.

"What ship are we on?" He asked his childhood friend.

"Lion says it's called the Goat's Hoof," she answered, back to being absorbed into her book. Weird name, Jeff thought to himself. He looked around at the room, being careful not to move too much, as he would just get another sting again. There was practically nothing in the room he was in, save for quite a few barrels, which he assumed were full of fruit. The only other logical thing they could be would be supplies the previous owners had brought for the journey, such as limes and oranges for preventing scurvy.

As Jeff didn't really want to do anything, especially since there was nothing for him really to do, he went to sleep for a bit. It was a sensical thing for him to do, too, as he would most likely need rest after his fight with the Aeromancer. He thought sleepy thoughts to himself--where the pirates had put his hammer, how he had defeated Rayjay with absolute excellence, and the dragon he had seen on the beach. Maybe that was Toxiclaw, he thought to himself, drifting off slowly. I knew he was especially dragony.

*****

I yawned, the sun creeping in through the cabin I had taken for myself. By my pocket watch and Oscar's amazing sense of time, I now knew that we had been sailing for about two days. I stepped up onto the deck of my cabin after donning my Ranger Gear and my crow's head mask. Isabel, with a fedora and the outfit she had worn the first day of our adventure, was waiting. She was seated on a chair, trying to merge a crystal and a long length of wood with the power of sheer force and determination.

"I'm not sure that's going to work," I quipped, making her look up. "Maybe you should try adhesive?" Isabel glared at me. "You're hilarious," she grumbled, then went back to hitting the crystal and the piece of wood together. After another three tries, the crystal and piece of wood glowed for a second, then pulled back apart. Isabel cursed in some ancient language, then continued to try. Sparks began to fly, then the piece of wood caught fire.

Isabel cursed some more, then threw the stick into the ocean. "What are you even doing?" I asked her, still idly standing there. Isabel gave me a look that made me regret asking. "I'm trying to make another staff one I can use until I get a new one. However, this crystal doesn't seem to be cooperating." She pulled another piece of wood, which seemed to be made of birch, and started hitting that with the crystal. I simply watched her frustrations, right before the staff began to glow. Isabel grinned, then held the new merged objects in front of her, the crystal at the very top of the staff.

I covered my eyes in preparation for a large flash. Two seconds later, I lowered my hands and saw Isabel holding her new staff, which was just a mana crystal with a birch rod. "See, all it needs is a little finesse," she told me, twirling around the staff. Right then, Oscar called out, "LAND HO!" From the crow's nest. We looked out onto the horizon. There, I saw the port of the Highlands, with some jumping figure standing there. It almost looked like Marrow.

Land Ho, indeed.