Chapter 54

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       Zerai and Cedric were powering the ship forward a few feet at a time. It was excruciatingly slow, but they were moving nevertheless. The ship behind them was gaining on them, but one part of the bow was set on fire, and the ends of two oars had been burnt off.

       Ara' Sei sent a spear of flame, trying to burn a third oar off. The spear was a few feet off, and turned into an explosion of steam as it hit the water. As she sent another, a third oar was snapped off with the sheer force of the burning spear. Ara' Sei watched as the ship teetered further and further off course, but it was still gaining on them. Cedric looked behind him and saw the ship gaining, even if it was slightly off course.

       "Ara' Sei, switch places with me, I'll make sure that ship sinks." Cedric said. Ara' Sei ran towards the sails and Cedric ran towards the stern. He looked at the fire and closed his eyes. He could still see the flames licking at the bow of the other ship. He could feel the flame's warmth, its hunger. Cedric began muttering, whispering to the flame. He beckoned the flame to grow, to devour the ship, to become more than it was. The crackling of the flame began to grow in volume.

       The voices of the guards on the ship could be heard now.

       "Catch them!"

       "Fire! Fire! Fire on the ship!"

       "Can we even put it out?!"

       "Do we have long range weaponry?"

       Cedric continued his incantation. He felt the lurching of the ship forward every now and then, he smelled the smoke of the fire in his nose. He heard the faint sound of waves. He continued muttering, continued growing the flame. If he had more powerful magic, he could have grown the flame faster, but this would more than suffice. As Cedric opened his eyes, he saw that the whole bow of the ship was covered in flames. The ship was only about twenty feet away. But the distance slowly grew as the crew of the other ship focused on abandoning ship as quickly as possible.

       When Cedric was confident that there was no chance the ship would continue its pursuit, he joined Ara' Sei and Zerai at the sails. The ship was now moving more quickly, now that three people were using their magic to move the ship forward. Ella looked for the ship's anchor, and was quickly able to find it.

       The group sailed for around two hours, until they had made it to the other side of the island that Duskholme lay upon. They decided to lower the anchor, and rest for the coming day. Thankfully, they had stolen a ship that had more than enough room for everyone aboard in its chambers.

       Finally, the group and everyone aboard managed to find rest after one of the most stressful days of their lives. As they woke up the next day, they were stronger, far stronger than they were before. It was that feeling they had when they left Cresselbrooke, they had done something. They had done something very illegal and very absurd, but they had done it. They had done it for the greater good. As the sun began to rise, Zerai stared out at the horizon with a smile, for he had finally lived his dream.

Author's Note: In this chapter, the party are now level 7, and thus have access to 4th level spells, or far stronger features than they did before.  

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