The Inferno Slayer: Book Two- Charm

FIVE: John's Encounter

John knew he had to leave.
The pirate cove was getting too complicated, and he needed to warn Sam of the visions. He somehow knew Sam was having them too, and wondered if they were somehow connected to the Inferno. But he had realized it was something else entirely, and had realized, from childhood memories, that it was somewhere in the Hemlock Wood.
He hoped that Sam had realized that as well, from all his hunting in the forest.

John had thought about leaving as soon as he had returned to the cove. All of his friends, mainly the Lords, were busy in their own Pirate Lordship, and the only one he really saw once a week- a rare occasion, usually once in three weeks- was Roland, and he had seen him yesterday for about thirty seconds, so he would be gone for a long while.
The boys and instructors in his Year were all fools and bastards. John was ready for the world. He needed to get out.
He had to find a way, though.
The cargo ship, the Prophet, would be busy for the next few days. John would need to find another ship. The Galleon was in maintenance, the actual passenger ship for the new arrivals.
That left the Marina's Barge, Skipper's old ship.
It was the ship that was used for taking over other ships, because of its size. The actual pirate ship. It would leave on a mission today, only an hour from now.
He would be expected to be a crew member for his field experience.
John thought about how he would do it.
He would assume the position of a mate, and then, while the fun was happening on the other ship, he would cut his wrist and wipe the blood on himself and the deck, then swim away to shore, claimed to be dead when the blood was found and they identified his blood (the pirates had ancient runes from a sea treasure that allowed them to trace the identity of a person through blood or fingerprints).
John nodded. Then he would ask for the school, which he knew had something to do with a guy named Ambers, or Amgrove, or something like that. Then John would find Sam, and take him out to the forest to look for the thing. Simple and easy plan.
Then why was John so nervous?
He snuggled in his hammock, which he, using the class from yesterday, had woven from rope and hung between two pillars on the porch in the back side of the building, where nobody went. It was his Saturday nap.

One hour later, John woke up to the sound of, well, nothing.
That was exactly the point. No sound of pirates running to the ship, readying for a plunder.
John opened his eyes. He wasn't in his hammock anymore. He was floating on a raft of ship wreckage.
How he had gotten there, he didn't know. A lone seagull roosted on the wood, pecking at its wing feathers. John just stared at it and the gentle swell of the waves, asking himself what in the name of the Kraken had happened.
He turned his head. He wasn't far from land. He began paddling the raft in that direction with his hands, like his Survival teacher had explained, and some time later, the raft crunched ashore.

John was on an empty beach. No Port Texurn, or Vorbotar Harbor. No people or ships in sight.
He was definitely in Riptide. White sand, perfect temperature. Not too hot or too cold. North or south coast? He had no idea.
He slowly dragged himself up the sand, to some palm trees, which provided at least some shade.
John plucked some stolen crackers he took from the Swashbuckler snack bar out of his shirt, and broke off a small piece, sticking it in his mouth and sucking. He would have to ration provisions until he knew where he was.
John moved out of the shade and began to walk up some hills, directing himself inland. The palm trees swayed, a gentle breeze swishing through as if nothing had happened.
He walked for hours, hungry and thirsty and ignorant to anything that had happened between now and when he had shut his eyes in the hammock.
When he finished the last chunk of cracker, he slumped against a tree, knowing he would die. As the last of his energy left him, he began to close his eyes, and through the smallest slit, he could see figures moving, approaching him.
Apes. Here to eat me. What else?
Then the canteen hit his mouth.

John drank eagerly, but the hand holding the canteen didn't let him overcome his sense of rations. Whoever they were, they weren't home, either.
He finally opened his eyes and saw a furry face next to him. Apes. That give people water.
Then the face disappeared and a human face took its place, a woman with beautiful features but barely lined with age. Nearing forty, maybe. She had been wearing a fur hood.
Then his vision finally cleared. And John almost passed out again.
Queen Mayrelle, dressed in patched up furs and out in the wilderness, was giving a retired pirate of the age of fourteen-and-a-half water.
She smiled, and John felt himself giving in to sleep again, despite the fact that he had slept in a hammock only a few hours before. But he had rowed to shore with his hands, and had walked for hours, not a feat you complete in a hanmock.

"Wha-" he began, but Mayrelle quieted him.
"Shh, shh. You need to rest. I'll answer questions after you eat something. Please."
He nodded, and she handed him a hunk of bread. He wolfed it down.
"Why are you here?" he asked, with a hint of suspicion.
Mayrelle sighed.
"Ellon was taken over by the Rowyn Army. Stallion faked a battlefield so he could directly attack the capital. My husband was too late. He had been at the battlefield, and had been delayed for some reason after he had found out that Stallion had cheated him. I used a secret escape route just as they breached the castle walls. I went camoflauge, and came here, to the beach where the two extraordinary storms hit, where I knew there would be no people."

John had heard of the war between the two kingdoms. And of the strange random oceanic earthquakes that had spawned the brother storms. If it had ties to his visions, the person behind all of this was testing his power in an uninhabited area. To hit a populated city...
He gasped.
"Maybe your husband was double-crossed, but Stallion himself has been triple-crossed. Ellon is in danger, including Stallion's army. We need to evacuate the city. Now."
Mayrelle frowned.
"Who are you?"
John looked at her.
"John Argon, Pirate and Knight of Riptide. You yourself said it."
While he left Mayrelle pondering about him, John headed a little deeper into the underbrush jungle. If this man had power over nature, including all of Skrimonn's seasons, he could do more damage than the Necromancer with power over all the elements, and the equivalent of the force of fifty thousand wizards working together to achieve his goals.

John would contact his parents after getting Sam. To tell them they were safe, after everything that was happening.
It would be a rough week for him.