Eehi The Surf Raider: Eehi Meets the Queen

Chapter Six

        The elders had sent more water and food to my ship for her along with their blessings for a safe journey. They must have agreed to whatever it was she had asked or if not at least they were not upset about it. She still had a smile upon her face and hummed quietly to herself so I assumed all was well. We prepared for our next trek and set sail just before dark.

        We spent a few hours below the sea but the night was so still, and clear above that I wished to see the stars. I surfaced and let the Orahu's sails take over for me. I brought Terh up on deck and pointed out the constellations I knew and how I used them to navigate.

        I tried to reason with myself the closer we came to the edge of the Crystal sea that the strange creatures we had seen flying overhead were from the forest and that it was because I had never been this far on this side of the sea to see such things. But still, I grew uneasy. The sea shifted eerily and new sounds startled me. Terh seemed on edge as well, only adding to my discomfort.

        I squinted out into the darkness as a large shadow caught my attention. I pointed it out to Terh, but she could not identify it either. It moved across the Crystal sea towards us at an accelerated speed, the likes of which I had never seen. My ship was the fastest known to sail this sea and yet this thing easily bested my Orahu. In the total darkness of the night I could see purple light glinting from whatever this thing was.

"The Skeksis! They have found me and are trying to stop me," She said in a panicked rush.

My brows furrowed. Why would they want to stop her? And how could they find her if they never left the castle? She ran circles around the deck unsure of what to do prompting me to act. I hurried her below deck and dropped my sails. By the time I was able to regain full control of my ship the creature was upon us. It slammed into my vessel, rocking us violently. Pieces of my vessel shattered but nothing that I could not fix. I dove deep into the sea hoping to lose it this way, but it soon followed.

I out maneuvered the beast and headed back for the surface. With any luck I had lost it in the crystals and it would not be able to find its way back up. We were not far from the bank and only needed to out run it just long enough to reach the edge. Once there we would be able to hide in the woods, or at least I hoped. I had never been in the woods before and would not know where to hide, but she had to.

Not long after reemerging a massive ball shot up out of the crystals. We watched it roll along the surface of the crystal sea before seeming to find its footing once more. The purple light it emitted fixed on us, sending chills up my spine. What was this thing!?! It rushed towards us once again.

Her voice shrilled, hurting my ears with its piercing pitch. I grunted with all my force as I pulled on my wheel. My vessel strained to obey my command, sending crystals in every direction to rain back down upon us like thousands of tiny daggers. Several penetrated through the weaving and slashed at our skin. She spun towards me trying to shield her face from the onslaught of crystals.

I looked up just in time to see one slice through her cheek. A thin red line appeared first then a droplet beaded from it and rolled down her chin. I nearly panicked then. I did not want to die! And I surely did not want to die like this, but for the first time in my life I worried that the Gelfling standing next to me was going to suffer this fate with me.

I heard the unmistakable sound of the breath being knocked out of her as we collided. I quickly wrapped myself around her to protect her from the coming crash. My vessel hit the edge of the Crystal Sea and shattered. We catapulted through the air with bone and crystal fragments flying in every direction. The only blessing in this was that the pieces ripped through the creature chasing us, killing it, but at the time I did not know this. I only remember the consuming fear of the coming landing.

When I was a young child I had climbed to the top of my father's crow's nest. I had been so proud of myself for having made the climb all by myself until my mother came on deck and screamed at the sight of me up so high alone. The unexpected sound had startled me and I tripped over my own feet. I had been lucky enough to land in a pile of tarps and linens recently brought aboard.

This landing we were headed for was not going to be that lucky. Our bodies were traveling at a much greater speed and there was only the cold, hard ground stretching out before us. This Gelfling, Terh, she was so small and fragile that I had no doubt, she would not survive it. With that horrid thought running rampant through my brain, I clung to her tightly and braced for impact. My world went black.