Battle Scars | Book 1 (DISCONTINUED)

Ch. 3: Fallen

The wooden ship sailed silently across the ocean in the dead of the night, the only noise was the sound of the waves and the loud snores of the men below deck. Brenna stood quietly, staring out at the black horizon.

She stood there for another 3 minutes, before sighing and going to the bottom floor of the ship. There the crew members lied asleep in their extremely cramped beds that aligned along the walls. This ship was simply a fishing boat, so there wasn't very much space to sleep. Brenna would've taken one of the battleships, however her father feared that might draw suspicion to them once they reached their destination.

The Alrynian heir walked down the hallway, the faint sound of her feet tapping against the wooden floor echoing through the room. A few of the boys stirred in their sleep, but none of them awoke. She passed by the captured rider's dragon, the Deadly Nadder fast asleep until it picked up the sound of Brenna's footsteps. It opened one of its bright yellow eyes and sent a glare her way but didn't bare make a sound, fearing the consequences she might face if she showed these humans any sign of aggression. She went back to sleep, ignoring the slight pain from the bruises and scratches covering her body.

Brenna reached the end of the hallway, where Alice slept on the bed closest to the floor. She knelt down, lightly shaking Alice's shoulder and ordering her to get up. The sleeping girl groaned, turning her head and opening on eye to see who was trying to wake her. She sighed when she was met with Brenna's face, knowing exactly why the other girl was there.

"It's your turn on patrol duty," Brenna said in a dull tone before getting up and disappearing into her room that lied at the end of the hall. Groaning again, Alice rolled out of the small hole in the wall she was supposed to call a bed, causing a loud thud when she hit the floor and awaking some of the other kids around her.

"Shut the hell up," a few of them muttered angrily before going straight back to sleep. Alice rolled her eyes before getting up, groggily making her way to the deck. The only other thing up there was the dragon rider, who was asleep and still tied to the mast. She didn't bat him an eye, walking right past him to grab her sword from the weapon rack.
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Tap, tap, tap

Gael's eyes fluttered open when he heard footsteps. His heart jumped for a second, his first thought being that someone had come to save him, but frowned when he realized it was just the girl who threatened him with a broom from earlier. Looking up at the star speckled sky, he realized he'd fallen asleep while trying to come up with an escape plan. Remembering he still didn't have a single clue how to get out of this mess, he once again frowned and let out a quiet sigh.

He looked down at the floor, knowing that Scatterspine was just below him, and if he could only cut these ropes he could get to her. He began looking again, for anything like a knife or a sharp piece of wood to try and break them, but the deck was clean of anything useful. Grumbling to himself, he looked back down at the floor and struggled against the ropes again in frustration.

"You're awake?" Gael looked up to see the blonde girl looking at him, who seemed slightly surprised and probably a bit annoyed as well. He looked away, not wanting to answer. She huffed, then turned her gaze back towards the sea. For about an hour, there was silence, with the blonde-haired girl occasionally walking around the deck and gazing out onto the empty horizon. Gael was confused by this, but decided not to ask until the girl walked past him for the fourth time.

"What are you doing?"

The girl looked down at him. "Patrol. Why?"

"There's literally nothing out here for miles." Gael pointed out.

"And how do you know that?"

"I've been to this part of the archipelago! There's only rocks and sea until you reach the ship graveyard along the border."