Water splashed on deck and over Jaden. The violent jostle of water in between the two boats caused the derelict to shift out towards the bay. He looked back to see the ensuing conclave of violence - the bearer of the arrow ran out to the deck but was caught short by a javelin. He somersaulted into the water. The beasts behind him were in the heat of battle, more Hellsman appearing and outnumbering the townspeople and hares. Curtains of rain poured out as if the heavens opened their floodgates, as if tears for the fallen. Lightning flashed and thunder boomed in time with the chaos.

Jaden stumbled around with the mast until he untwisted the problem - the sail became undone, and the bottom ropes were lashed around the front ties for the mast. But a problem became evidently clear - the main sail billowed out prematurely as he tried to set the heavy thing in its centerplate. He grumbled as he decided to fight against the wind - and surprisingly succeeded. Lucky for him the rigging wasn't tightened, so the main sail wasn't trimmed.

He then set to the jigsail. He unraveled the twine holding the jig down, and pulled on the cord running from tack of the jib sheet. He tied it around its appropriate anchor on the boat's deck. The jib fluttered lifelessly in the wind. He set to the mainsail and trimmed it; he tightened up the boom to get a feel for the wind, and he had to pull hard - gusts pulled sharply at the now tightened mainsail. The boat, as result, swayed out into the water aimlessly - but at the least away from dock.

He set the boom as to where he remembered Gregshaw showed him - that certain angle, and he tended the rudder. He glanced down at the babe - it was crying midst its swadling clothes, quickly becoming soaked in water. The rain spit sharply in Jaden's face, the stench of fish and wood being blown away in the wind. The sloop design of sails was quickly brough to use - he adjusted the the rudder to point the boat leeward, and the boat caught the wind as if it was a hand and was propelled out into the bay. Judging from the length of the keel when he caught sight of it over by the boat, he took notice to how close he was to the southerly land. He was far enough away, though. Even if he did close, he would most likely not run into shallows for a time - Jaden recalled how Gregshaw had always loved the waters by Portstown. They were deep, as he said, perfect for stowing a sea-vessel.

He reached down and took the babe up. The clothes were becoming soaked. He shoved the babe under the fold of his cloak and said, as if the babe could understand him through the howling wind and sheeting rain, in the matter of the late Gregshaw - "Ye best be gettin'..."

Jaden fought hard with the rudder. Since the derelict was just enough for one man to handle, it was all he could do with one strong arm to keep the rudder in the appropriate angle to the wind, and with the other shield the babe from the wind. It stopped wailing. He patted the bulge underneath his clothing and sighed, glancing back at the bay. The edges of the dock dwindled away with the street as it molded into the inhospitable, rocky outcropping that jutted out shortly. Sooner than he knew it, he was out at sea.

Jaden took a last glance at Mossflower. Slight panges of disbelief shuttered through his spine - he was leaving his home out for the unknown, with a badger babe in his possesion. With starboard facing north, he looked - and noticed very faint orange glow through the slicing rain.

Fire! The King had been advancing much sooner than he had expected, and had done so in his regularity - burn that which grows out of the ground, and kill off what feeds from it. How typical. He faced the rain again as it whipped in his face - more glowing revealed itself slowly. Must be perspective of the beach...

He sighed aloud and opened his cloak to peer down. Wind whipped around into his cloak, jostling the silky down of the dibbun. The dibbun blinked and wined softly as it swirled about. He placed the hand through his cloak and felt for the babe - stroked his forehead with a finger. He yelled into the wind.

"It's going to be all right! ...All right."

Yes. All right. Any navigation tools must be in that chest, along with the sword and the Tapestry.

He then grunted. Stupid thing. It's locked. I guess I'll just navigate by the sky...

He recalled quickly how he learned to adapt to the wild in his wanderings. He had taken to getting to know the different faces of the skies in its different seasons, partly in combination with his horde training and what Gregshaw offered in a brief space of time in his infrequent visits with the otters. He sighed and continued to fight with the rudder as it sped out into the water. The seas were become rough, as water lapped over the sides of the boat. Jaden quickly felt humbled, and miniscule in the great hands of the sea - the boat rocking in rhythm with the waves, he having to fight between direction of the waves, the wind, and how he had set the sails.

Lightnight flashed overhead. A stray arm of it struck the waternearby, boomed an ear-wrenching sound across the face of the waters, despite the swirling masses of wind and water. The babe started to cry and he tightened up his cloak around the form on his lap.

Direction... he thought. Westward. Westward, to the unknown... away from my home... Our home.

He caught the brief glimmer of light far off. But it was marred and a shattering visage of bent and tattered hope - far off and glistening through the rains. He quickly equated the distant and bleak light to fact: alone, and possibly lost at sea. Keep an eye on those waves and how the wind blows in the sails! But the wind seemed to be come from many directions at once - He cursed out loud as his plight was made moot. Quickly realizing it may not be a good idea to keep the sails up in storm, he slipped off his cloak - carefully with the babe - and secured the bundle underneath the plank he anchored his feet against. The rudder he tied in place with rope, and set to unlashing the ropes. The sails he stowed on the boom and jib boom, and

In the face of this though, he took heart. Better taking chances out here than suffering under the thumb of the King. No doubt the King would have him killed.

Jaden set back down and resettled the badger babe in his lap under his cloak. He untied the rudder and took to steering the craft. "Westward! Westward we will go, you and I my little badger friend."