The end...? (Ranger's apprentice/ Brotherband fan-fiction)

Chapter 15

Captain McGraig frowned, as he was informed about the current situation. It was very unlike the other two captain to not stick to the plan. The three of them had decided to pursue the Skandians, for no other reason than to break the plainness of the everyday. The plan was simple, but cunning: the other two ships would stay within sight of the Skandians, whereas the Wily, McGraig's ship, would follow unnoticed, just over the horizon. This was an easy plan: McGraig made sure that he stayed as far behind the other two ships in front of him, but could still see them. The Heron, the schip they had made their target, would be unable to spot the Wily this way. The Skandians would meet their maker on their precious Skorghijl. The expression on the captain's face turned sour at the thought of having to miss out on this. He was aware of the fact that his ship was best equipped to give the final blow, but staying behind was pretty boring.
One of the other two captain's would give a signal once they had trapped the Heron in Skorghijl. The Wily would then cover the last few miles and the Skandians would have no chance of escaping their fate. The only problem was that McGraig had not yet received such a signal, even though the other ships must have reached Skorghijl by then. There was a possibility the Skandians would not stop on Skorghijl, but McGraig did not think of this.
"We'll wait for another hour," he announced to his impatient first mate. "If they haven't sent us some kind of signal by then, we'll go after them." The man nodded.
"Got it!" was all he said, before turning around to shout some orders at the crew. McGraig shook his head, a feeling of dread washing over him. This was either treason from the side of his comrades, or something else was going on without him knowing about it. His powerlessness frustrated him, which then angered him.

During the most part of the doomed hour, the captain was pacing the deck of his fearsome warship, putting his crew on edge. He hated being left in the dark about what was going on. His eyes were gleaming dangerously, which kept even his most trusted men on a safe distance from him. They all knew the stories of his unpredictable outbursts of anger. Nothing disrupted the calmness of the sea in that hour. No horns being blown, no row boat coming towards the big ship. The signal did not come.

Fuming with rage, captain McGraig ordered his crew to get the hell to Skorghijl. He spent the next two hours staring uninterrupted at the horizon, where the silhouette of Skorghijl eventually made an appearance. They arrived just in time to see the little ship with triangular sails heading out onto sea.

Hal felt utterly happy. They had lost the pursuers, nobody was badly wounded and they were finally getting back on track to Skandia, to home. The same happiness radiated from the other Herons, Will and Evanlyn. Everyone was relieved. Guilt nibbled on the edge of Hal's mind, thinking of all the destruction he had caused to the huts of Skorghijl. He decided he would personally help with the reconstruction.
Now they were no longer fleeing, he figured he could allow for some rest, instead of sailing through the night. Since their rushed retreat from Araluen they had been forced to keep sailing every night, which was the reason they had reached Skorghijl this quickly in the first place. Everyone aboard the ship could use a good night's rest and some calmness. He looked up at the horizon, where the silhouette of his homeland would show up sometime in the next couple of days. A strange feeling arose inside him. He couldn't put his finger on what it was exactly, but his mood got more and more gloomy by the second. He watched as Jesper was telling some sort of exaggerated story to Thorn and Will. He enthusiastically told them about all kinds of heroic deeds, gesturing wildly to support his story, from time to time thinking what to say next. It took Hal a while to realize that he was telling a version of their journal to retrieve the Andomal. Jesper had exaggerated and bended some truths so much that Hal barely recognized their adventure. He chuckled softly before focussing on the horizon again.
All of a sudden he realized what his strange feeling that had ruined his good mood meant: it was homesickness; he longed to be home. He tried to shrug it off, surprised. He had never felt homesick before, especially on the way back. De decided he needed some distraction and forced himself to focus on Jesper's tales. Will had raised an eyebrow, which Hal had got to interpret as either a sign of surprise - or in this case, disbelief. Thorn on the other hand gladly helped Jesper, filling in some even more flattering details that Hal did not remember as part of their adventure. It had got to Hal's attention that Will and Thorn were getting along much better. They had not completely set aside their suspicions towards each other yet, but at least they were no longer attacking each other every time they ran into each other anymore.