Harry Potter and the Berserker

Chapter 43

Disclaimer- Harry Potter is owned by J.K. Rowling and Berserk is owned by Kentaro Miura. I own nothing.

"All hands, report!" Roderick commanded from the helm of the Sea Horse. The Lith warship slowed its pace in these new, unfamiliar waters.

"We're all clear below deck, Captain," the quartermaster reported.

"Aye, her hull is perfectly intact," Roderick's first mate further elaborated. "Not one leak to be found."

Roderick gave a curt nod. He pulled a spyglass from the inner pocket of his sea coat, directing it toward the other ship that was anchored close to the pebble-covered shore. He gave no further command for the moment, trusting his crew enough that he knew that they knew what they were doing.

"Do you recognize the sail?" Serpico more or less floated up to the helm.

Roderick handed the spyglass around. "Never seen it before in my life. The design is too western to be Kushan, and it certainly isn't from Lith or Midland. Chuder mainly keeps to warships, and I didn't spot enough cannon's for on the deck for that to be the case. That leaves the option for pirate ship open, but... they would at least have someone on board, walking the deck."

"Let's fire a cannonball at it!" Isidro offered, climbing down from the mast.

"Matten down the hatches," Puck said, a mix of humor and confusion.

Roderick still kept his eye trained on the other ships billowing flags. "No need to go making enemies with what looks to be a luxury cargo ship." He turned to his first mate. "Do make sure we have hands manning the port side cannons, just to play it safe."

"Aye, Captain!" the first mate nodded. He was a man of at least fifty with long, grey and grizzled sideburns that came down to his chin. To Harry, the first mate looked how a typical navy man would look.

"What do you plan on doing?" Serpico asked. "Are we to make contact somehow?"

"Frankly, I don't think anyone is on that boat, not at the moment, anyway." Roderick still observed the other ship. "They have no men walking the deck and no lookout in the crow's-nest. If I was a betting man, and I am, I would say that whoever that boat belongs to must be up in that castle at the moment."

"Yes, but whose castle?" Magnifico wiped some spittle from the corner of his mouth. The third Vandimion had not taken to the lurch of energy well.

"There is a small fishing village and outpost on an isolated island, but we shouldn't have come across it at three days out to sea. And that castle is beyond anything they could afford."

"I don't think we are at sea anymore," Harry chimed in. "I don't know if anyone else got a faceful of that splash, but it sure didn't taste like salt water."

Roderick ran a hand through his partly wet hair, taking a sniff to see if it was true. "Holy – well, color me stumped."

Farnese was equally confused as all of them. "Teachers, do you suppose that whatever that white wave was, that it was the source of our being... well, here?"

"It was magical in nature, no doubt about that," affirmed Schierke. "Surely we all felt a sensation as it passed over us."

"Yeah," Guts winced slightly as he walked over. He was still a bit stiff after getting zapped by Ganishka. "It almost felt like when you pull me out of my armor."

Serpico nodded. "I thought it was just in my head, but, it felt like the sylphs in my blade and cloak acted up in some fashion, almost like they became stronger in some fashion."