"Sail on the port side" Jesper called.
Hal quickly looked up from his map and ran to port, sure enough there was a sail but he couldn't make out whose sail it was. "Thorn" Hal called.
"I'm here" Thorn said next to him. "But that sail's not Skandian"
"Whose is it?" Hal asked.
"Nothing I've ever seen." Thorn replied, "But that thing's bigger than the Raven."
"Up port sail" Hal called as he sat back in the tiller. "Let's go meet 'em."
The Heron made a smooth turn to port and glided over the waves toward the other ship. Hal saw a commotion on board, when the Heron came up on its port side they figured out why. There was a huge hole in the starboard side. It must have been over a meter in diameter.
"Gorlog's beard, that must've taken a huge rock to make that hole." Stig said.
"Whatever it was we gotta help them" Hal said.
"But if that thing goes down we'll go with it" Stig protested.
Hal ignored the protest and called for grapple hooks.
"Damn it" Stig cursed before running toward the side.
The grapple hooks bit into the wood and the crew of the Heron swarmed over the rail. They saw a catastrophic scene, dead men everywhere they looked but most were wounded by sword wounds. There were people running around and Hal only ten.
"Who the hell are you?" Someone asked. Hal turned to see a man approach them his sword drawn. However from how he held the sword and how he stood that he was no swordsman.
"I think that's our question to ask not yours," Stig replied, "You're in the ones in Skandian waters.
"Skandians, so we did make it," He said sheathing his sword, "Come on we need help."
Everyone was so shocked none of them moved until Hal finally jolted into action.
"What do you need us to do?" Hal asked.
"I'll ask Leonus, hold on." He said turning around. He ran towards an older man and spoke a few words to him. The man looked at the crew and started walking towards them.
"In all my days I never thought I'd be happy to see a foreigner, but you might have just saved all our lives. Now do you have room for ten more?" He asked.
"Of course but what about your boat?" Hal asked.
"It's too late for her but at least we can save some people." Leonus said.
"Alright everyone back to the boat!" Hal called and everyone started running toward the Heron. As soon as everyone was on board they cut the grapple hooks and sailed away. While staring back at the boat Hal noticed that Stig had come up next to him.
"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Hal asked
"Yep that boat could have been saved." Stig replied.
"It seems we have some very interesting passengers with us." Hal said.