She let out a pent up breath. Her mistress had ordered her to do this, even though she knew it had a high chance of killing her. She was so far out to sea she couldn't remember how long since she had seen land. Summoning every source of strength she had available to her, the Priestess began her long and lengthy ritual.
Hours later, with sweat completely pouring off her entire body, her head pounding, heart feeling like it would explode any minute, rain and wind battering and buffering her raw, her eyes continued flashing behind nearly closed lids as the storm whipped up around her. Damn magic stretching between parallel worlds, used far too much energy. Darkness was closing in on her and she felt a sudden sense of peace. She was pushing her abilities too far and now she was going to die, her short life flashed before her eyes. She had so much to live for... but she didn't care anymore. She was just too too tired.
Her eyes caught a glimpse of colour and she struggled against unconsciousness. It was A SHIP! It was different to the ones she knew. She recalled her father being lost at sea, and the familiar pain welled up once more. She wished she could just go home. Frantic she realised too late that her focus had completely slipped from the complex spell and she had no idea what affect it would have. She uttered frantically in the tongue of the Old Religion, but the ever worsening weather and her ever decreasing consciusness battled against her. As her spell finally concluded, the weather was atrocious and with a blood-curdling scream, she vanished in an explosion of light as the storm targeted the ship.
"Hold on boys!," he called. His eyes scanned the sea for the next breaker. It was unfortunately coming from behind him. The storm was worse than any one he had ever experienced in his long experience. He called to his first mate to prepare to abandon ship if need be. He was pretty unshakeable but this storm, having blown for so long already had unnerved him. He was on edge and his confidence was slipping away. And then a wave hit unexpectedly, sending the ship rolling precariously to the side.
It seemed like open ocean as far as the eye could see and he seemed to have lost his bearings, not a good thing for any captain to do ever. "Land ahead!," called the lookout. The captain quickly glanced at the lookout and followed his gaze. "Alright, boys. We indeed have some land ahead. Be ready for battle, half arm yourselves with your personal gear (in case we need to swim to shore) and weapons and shields, while the rest bail and keep the ship running at top speed for the shore. She's badly damaged and won't last much longer! 6 men on the oars at all times at double time and cook, break out some of the rations liberally, we might as well have slightly full bellies as we land. I do NOT need people fainting - it's been days since a substantial meal. DO IT NOW!," he yelled.
The crew hastened to carry out his instructions. His first mate came to stand beside him for a moment, and they looked out at the land together. "Well, Chief. It seems we have discovered a new land. My great aunt Margie knows a bit about exploring." The Captain shot him a baleful look. "Shut up! I need to concentrate and you have too many great aunts," he snapped gruffly. He returned his attention to the steering oars.
"Wish the Herons were here, unfortunately they don't have a ship now...," he murmured. A thinker like that ships Skirl would have been priceless - he could have fully repaired the ship with the right equipment and set up some good defences. He now considered how good an idea it was to mount a giant crossbow in the bow of the ship. If there were hostile people on this land they were aiming for, and it was definitely possible, his men were not in fighting shape. For days they had battled this storm and barely had any opportunity to eat or sleep.
He cursed to himself as his woolgathering cost him a collision with a submerged rock. "Gorlog's bent and broken bones and teeth," he swore vociferously as he bellowed instructions to his men to push off the rock with the oars and start bailing. They were already stretched to the limits of their endurance as it was.
Refocusing his attention back to the present, he used all of his experience to get the ship moving towards the ever closer coastline as fast as possible. He knew that it was a matter of time before the ship would collapse and begin to sink faster than she already was and when that happened they would be in trouble. He hoped to get it to shore before then. As he estimated the distance once again, he had one final thought before turning himself completely to the mission of getting to shore as fast as possible: I wish the Rangers were here.
Hal Mikkelson still couldn't get over the loss of his ship. He had built every spar and rope and pin. Sad as he was, he was getting plenty of new ideas to make a second ship. At least he had his Brotherband to help him. As he sat deep in thought in his mam's kitchen, Stig came running into the room. "Hal! We have lost our Oberjarl! He went off for a short cruise up the lake to see for himself but according to one of the sentries on watch at the time, he didn't even make it to the inland river, and was instead caught by a freak storm and carried out of the known world most likely!"
Hal's eyes widened at that. Erak was among the best seafarers he had ever seen and he had a good crew, but all that given, it was still very difficult to handle such a freak storm. He and his crew had once been blown for days on end on a similar storm and discovered a new land. he couldn't help wondering if that is what had happened to the Oberjarl.
"Well, as surprising as that is, Stig, what can we do about it?," he asked rhetorically. Stig shrugged. "Just felt you should know, Hal," he said after a moment. "Well, there is one thing that we should do soon. We need a new ship and fast. I want to have a new one built far better than before before Erak sends word about where he is. I'm curious to see who will be Oberjarl. Come, Stig, let's go to my workshop. I want to test something out."
The next few days was a flurry of activity in Hallasholm and for the Herons in particular. Hal actually had gone to ask Rolond's crew to help him with construction, giving him an extra 30 hands, totalling roughly 40. "Alright, boys, our Oberjarl has gone missing, as you've probably heard. I plan to set out after him if he's gone for too long, or be ready to when he sends word how to find him. I bet he's taken thorough sailing notes. But I have some experiments to do and I need a new ship. I want you all to help. I need a LOT of fabrics of different kinds. And every kind of wood you can think of. I need to see how each will react for different purposes...," he continued issuing orders. When everyone present had a duty to attend to, he began working in earnest.
He created frames by tying, welding, hammering pieces of wood together in various ways. This was a good chance for him to learn and while it was fairly pricey in terms of resources, it would pay off. He spent days on end labouring over archetypes and blueprints, numbers swimming before his eyes. He knew he was very innovative and resourceful, and wanted to push his limits to build this new ship, starting with the features he wanted it to have.
Hal barely ate or slept for days on end in his workshop, deep in his inventing fervor. He was also aware that someone needed to go to Araluen to inform King Duncan and the Ranger Core of Erak's disappearance. They might be willing to help. After a couple of days of help from the Brotherbands, Hal ordered them to gather materials for the ship, which he listed for them explicitly, then relax until the next phase of construction was ready to begin.
As far as the leader of Skandia went, Thorn and Gundarr Hardstriker and a number of others became joint Oberjarl, balancing their duties with keeping the country running as best as they could manage. Hal spoke to Thorn and managed to get some funding towards his inventing spree. His mind was swimming with new ideas and he was looking forward to using them.
Where is Erak and what will he find when he reaches shore? What groundbreaking inventions does Hal have in mind? Stay tuned!
