Temple of The Tiger

Part Two: A calling of Warriors

Chapter Three: All at sea

For the first five days the weather had been beautiful and the sea calm, now the black clouds gathered and the wind whipped the waves, the cage that he was in rocked back and forth with the motion of the ship, but he did not flinch he just lay there, waiting.
He had gained a friend these past few days, one who was risking a beating to bring him food and fresh water on a night when the watch was slackened, the better food and the water had made him regain much strength and he knew that very soon the time would be here that he would be free, and so he waited patiently as the storm gathered power and the ship rocked and groaned and pitched upon the angry sea.

Keelagh watched the blackening clouds stood at the helm of the ship as she had so much in the past few days, hopefully this storm would not blow them off course though the Captain of the ship had said that it would hasten their journey if the winds stayed as they were. It was a sturdy ship and he had boastfully told them how many of these storms she had ridden out, he quietly told them that he was a master at this and as they had the magic of a Dragon to boot then nothing would befall them but a swifter passage to their destination. Bryntich of course had gone all bashful and shy but was inwardly beaming at the fact that these people seemed to believe him to be something wonderful and magical
“Which you are,” Keelagh told him
“Even I have no mastery over storms Keelagh” He had replied smiling
“I hope the ship that Wraith is on is as sturdy as this one” she said gazing out at the churning sea.
“We will find him Keelagh” a voice had said beside her, Paidrech had joined them, silently as always, just suddenly there when she had thought him somewhere else, “He is bound to you and Bryn just as surely as that little one appears to be bound to Yailith and Gilbert” He had continued pointing to where Agradon was attempting to lay it’s large head on Yailith’s knee as he sat on a pile of ropes attempting to eat a fruit. The Dragon was but six months old and already a third of the size of Bryntich,
“I was surprised to find Agradon with Yailith, Paidrech, I thought that he was with Gilbert?” She had answered him
“Well apparently Gilbert and Kearth had a task to do for some maiden and it was across the sea, he didn’t want to test Agradon with the journey so Yailith was the second watcher and he stayed with him, waste of time really as we are now away over the sea and we have to take him with us anyway” he said laughingly
“A maidens task” she laughed “ I might have known, I take it then they are somewhere around where we are going?”
“They are and are awaiting our arrival, Eagles are handy things to have around” he said as she raised her eyebrows sceptically. She laughed she had forgotten that he had the Eagles passing messages for him.
“Hopefully we wont keep them waiting long” she said as she turned back to watch the storm.

As the light of day gave way to the Dark of night the storm gathered momentum, the ship pitched high and then dropped, each time it dropped the cage slid further towards the edge, he made no sound, they had lashed many of the boxes down that were on the deck, but the lashings had not held and some of the boxes had already disappeared into the angry sea. His Friend had not visited him as of yet, but there was much running about and shouting, these creatures had not yet learnt that the storm would have it’s own way no matter how much shouting or fist clenching they did.

The sky lit up as the lightning that had been on the horizon much of the day finally reached them, flashing above and around them, causing the activity to become even more frenzied. Water fell from the sky in a great deluge and the sea heaved over the side of the ship trying to wash away all that was on the deck. His cage kept him safe from the waters that fell from above but not from the sea that came in through the bars on the front, soon his fur was wet and he shivered from the cold, but still he lay quiet.

A huge wave washed over the ship filling his cage with salty water and making him cough, as it receded it took the cage with it to the edge of the opening in the side of the ship, the cage slid part over the edge, the front of the cage looked into the ship, some saw that the cage was hanging on the edge but they were too busy trying to save their own lives to worry about his. Then his friend was there, somehow he had got the key to the cage and he was desperately trying to unlock it before it fell into the churning water, he talked to him, in words he did not understand, but he understood the meaning, if caught he would be badly hurt but it mattered not anymore. As the door opened he sprang from the cage and turned straight to the man that risked his life to save him, in one movement he turned, leaped and they both went flying over the side of the ship into the water below. As they sailed through the air down into the waves two huge bolts of lightning hit the ship, breaking the main mast and causing shocks to travel from port to stern, the ship was awash with water and the combination of this and the lightning soon wiped the ship of most of its crew.

He had thought that the Huge Wolf had turned on him as he fell down towards the water, but he soon realised that he had saved his life not tried to take it, he had thrown him with his push towards boxes floating in the sea, and as he grabbed one and hung on for dear life he saw the ship light up as though it was on fire, which it now was minutes later, those that had survived the lightning bolts were throwing themselves into the sea to escape the flames. He could not see the Wolf, and all he could do was cling to the floating debris and hope that he had found a way to survive too.
Hours later when the storm had abated, there was no sign of the ship, or the men that had leapt from the embrace of the fire, and still no sign of the White Wolf or land, he hoped that the tide would carry him to the harbour safely for he had neither food nor water and he knew not how far it would be.

“The captain say’s we should see land by daylight” she said to Bryn as he landed on the bow of the ship, “This storm has made the crossing faster, is something wrong?” she finished looking at his face as he folded his huge wings.
“I can find no sign of another ship Keely” he said quietly “I have flown far and wide, and can find nothing” he lowered his head
“Tis dark Bryn, you may have missed it” She answered him, knowing that his dragon sight would not have missed it even in the dark, but hoping. “Or it may have already harboured”
“No Keely, it was only hours in front of us, not days, and we have seen no sign of an inlet where we could harbour so neither have they”
“Perhaps they have blown off course?”
Bryntich sighed “Perhaps, I will look again at daylight” he said not wanting to completely disillusion her.
“He is alive Bryn, I don’t know how I know I just do, if he were not I would feel it, here” she said touching her heart.
“Yes, you are right, you would know, as would I” he nodded his large head “ I will look again, we will find him,” he said gently.
“If we only knew why they had taken him,” she mused, “We may know better where to look”
“I don’t think they will keep hold of him Keely, he is a feisty one, he will escape the second there is an opportunity to do so”
“But will that be better or worse? “ She said looking out to sea, “At least on the ship he will get to land, what if he escapes and the only way to go is the Sea?”
“Keelagh, you know that the fates will decide, we know he is still alive somewhere, keep faith that what there is between the three of us will enable us to find him” He did not add in time, though he thought it, who knows what damage would be done to him before he escaped or was rescued. They had known him for such a short time and though he was in many ways not the average wolf he was still flesh and blood and flesh and blood could be hurt beyond measure.

He was fading, he knew he could not hold on much longer, his mouth was parched despite the sea, his lips were cracked and stinging with the salt, the sun had come up with a vengeance it seemed, and it burned his back and his arms, when the sea touched him as it seemed to be doing more and more as the debris he held on to sank a little lower, it stung where the sun had made his flesh tender. He knew not where the tide was taking him, he saw blurry outlines on the horizon, but then they were gone and he thought it was an illusion. He would close his eyes and open them to find the sun had moved, and that he had slipped and he would scramble back up the debris to find he was sinking a little further.
And then he was too tired to hold on anymore, his hands were numb his fingers refused to grip, and he began to slide, slowly his legs became submerged and his body began to feel heavier, he was resigned to his fate and as he began to let go to allow himself to fully slide from his wooden box he felt something touch him, push at his legs, he froze in terror believing that the sharp toothed monsters from the deep had seen him, he did not want to die that way! He felt his legs being lifted and he opened his eyes to look, he saw fur, very wet fur, but not a sharp toothed monster, it was the white one and he was pushing him back on to the crate, he scrambled finding a new strength and he gripped the edges, the crate began to move faster and he knew that he was being pushed towards what he had believed to be an illusion but which in fact was land and he thanked the fates for sending him the White one for now he was sure that he would make it to shore at least alive.

He circled in the sky, he had seen wreckage, boxes, planks, part of a mast, floating on the tide. He had scouted for a while but a mist had come down and even his Dragon eyes could not penetrate it, he knew that they were nearing land he could see the outline on the horizon. He flew above the mist and circled again, he felt something that he could not explain, a pulling, but the mist was too thick, he could fly in to it but Keelagh would be fretting if he stayed away too long, she had lost one guardian, for now and he did not want to put her through more pain. He sighed, turned and headed back to the ship, he could smell the spices of the land and knew it would only be a few more hours before they were safe in the harbour. Still there was that pulling and again he was tempted to enter the mist “getting fanciful in your old age, Bryn” he admonished himself and wheeled away towards the ship and Keelagh.

She waited on the bow of the ship for his return and he landed gracefully beside her, she looked at him expectantly, he shook his head.
“The ship is gone Keely” he said quietly “I found wreckage”
“It may not have been his ship,” she answered
“But we know it is, we also know that whatever happened he is still alive, somewhere” the Dragon replied
“But where Bryn? How could he survive out there alone tis hours to shore” she lowered her head, she knew he was alive or was it just wishful thinking that kept him so in her heart and her mind
“We will find him Keely” Bryn said quietly placing his huge head next to hers, trying to comfort her, she placed her arms round his neck and laid her head on him “I am so scared I am just keeping him alive in my mind through wishing, Bryn”
“No Keelagh, we would know, what we have to do now is concentrate on what lies ahead and place our faith in whatever the fates have planned for us, as we did before”
“You are right Bryn, land fast approaches and we have a call to answer”

The mist had descended swiftly, he didn’t mind, it was cooler than the sun that had been burning him, he clung to the wreckage with renewed strength, he could smell the shore, the White one had stopped at one point and had been looking up at the sky as though he could hear something and was looking for it in the sky. Then he had resumed pushing him and the wreckage towards the shore, he was tiring though and he knew that he would have to start helping him, he began to push against the water with his hands as though they were oars and he began to move a little faster. They would be there soon, he hoped, for the White one was coming to the end of his strength, twice he had sunk and then come back, spluttering, he had moved so he could come on the wreckage but he stayed in the water. He was pretty sure it would sink if the White one got on too, but it was a chance he was willing to take, but one the White one wasn’t. Just a little while longer and they would be there.

Then his movement slowed, he turned his head and the White one had gone, he shouted, nothing, he called and called, but there was no sign of him, tears flowed down his cheeks, he was exhausted, he was hungry and now he had lost the one that had saved him, not once but twice. He laid his head down on the wreckage and gave himself up to the fates.