Chapter 84: Two Weeks
Marix and Eilownia entered the bedroom. It was a medium sized room made with mismatched pieces of wood. Pushed against a wall in the corner was a small bed that looked like it was being held together with fishing net. The wood of the frame was made up of different sizes of lumber.
As soon as Marix saw the bed, his body suddenly felt like lead and pulled him downwards. Eilownia grabbed him with a loud gasp.
"Marix?!"
He shook his head and wrapped an arm around her shoulders.
"Don’t worry, I just need some rest."
As she helped him stumble towards the bed, she stared at him with knitted eyebrows as his eyes were already beginning to close.
He rolled into the bed with a loud creak as particles of dust flew up from the tattered quilt.
Eilownia and Marix let out a few coughs as Eilownia waved her hand, trying to bat the dust away before letting out a sneeze.
"I guess his staff don’t take care of this room. There’s probably no reason to, I assume he probably doesn’t get many visitors."
She rubbed her nose and blinked a few times, trying to chase away the urge to sneeze again as she waited for Marix to respond.
When he didn’t, she looked down at him.
"Marix?"
His head was lulled to the side and he remained in the same position that he’d rolled into the bed with.
"Marix?" She called out again, gently shaking him, but there was no response.
Her heart stammered in his chest as she covered her mouth, her eyes wide with tears.
She grabbed his wrist and raised it, wiggling it.
"Mar-" Her voice cracked as her chin crumbled and her bottom lip quivered.
When she let go of his arm, it fell straight to his side.
Tears rolled down her face as she clutched her chest, struggling to breathe when he let out a loud snore.
She let out a sharp exhale as she blinked back her tears, her body relaxing.
Eilownia gently smacked his shoulder and smiled wide, "Jerk~ Let’s rest now~"
She kissed the top of his head before carefully climbing over him into the bed, squishing herself between him and the wall.
There wasn’t much room in the bed, it either wasn’t measured properly or wasn’t intended for two people.
Regardless, she felt nice and cozy as she rested her head and hand on Marix’s chest as her eyelids fell.
She hadn’t realized how much tension her body had held the past few days until she knew they’d made a deal for their security. She felt herself melt into the bed and Marix’s warmth as she drifted into sleep.
About an hour later, Captain Deka looked through the halls to find which bedroom they’d taken refuge in. When he knocked on their door, and there was no answer or even a single sound of movement within the room, she was surprised to find them sleeping there.
"Dinner is served. Are you two going to wake up?"
When they didn’t answer, he walked over to make sure they were breathing. When he confirmed they were, he shook his head and left the room.
"Slackers. I could take care of them so easily right now If I wanted to." He chuckled as he left to eat his meal.
Back on the Viraaz ship, Whimble took another sip of the water from his invention underneath the twinkling stars.
His eyes widened as a large, crooked smile spread across his lips.
"It’ssss....slrrrrrp.....drinkable!" He whispered loudly as he stared into the cup, his eyes twinkling like the stars above.
"IT’SSSS DRINKABLE.....SLRRRP!" He exclaimed as he turned to soldiers and crew, holding the cup up high in the sky.
"Whimble. We don’t need that anymore. We can go and get water from Vasis thanks to the crew." Nascor said as he leaned against a few empty crates, waving a hand of dismissal in the air.
The rest of the group started to laugh, "Yeah. Why did you waste all your time on that? We don’t need to worry about supplies like that now. You should’ve given up on it when we got the new barrels!"
"General Marixsssss...slrrrpp...asked me to invent sssssomething...slrrrp...for water." He explained.
They just continued to laugh and shake their heads.
"That was before we could get supplies!" Etil shouted while snickering with Nascor.
Whimble’s already curved shoulders slumped as he continued to drink the water from the invention he’d worked so hard on.
Tryde side-eyed the group as he sipped on the broth Jinya and Dr. Lein had made him. It was bland and lacked color, but it was a meal that warmed his stomach and helped him feel energized. At least in terms of the soul.
"Do you want him to go against General’s orders? If General Marix told him to do that, shouldn’t we commend him for it? Are you all tossing General’s orders to the wind now that he’s not around? Quick to turn are we?"
Tryde said, sipping on the broth with a quiet slurp. He was feeling better now and slowly regaining his strength and that included regaining his confidence and voice as well.
The group went quiet.
"It’s not that, Tryde, come on. You know that. It’s just that. If General Marix were here, he’d probably tell Whimble that we don’t need the thing now. It just takes up extra space that we could use is all." Nascor said with a shrug.
Tryde shook his head, "Right. I’m sure."
Whimble wasn’t paying attention to the conversation anymore, already sulking in the lower deck.
The Captain of the ship crew approached Vos and clasped his hands behind his back.
"Have you given it anymore thought as to when you will give up on General Marix’s return?"
Vos rubbed his mouth with his hand as he looked out at the horizon before resting his elbows on the side of the ship.
"It’s a tough call."
"Most of them tend to be." The Captain replied.
"I suppose...two weeks. I’ll give them two weeks."
The Captain nodded firmly, "Then when that time comes we’ll start making accommodations."
The following afternoon, Vos paced back and forth, as he had been doing all day. The other soldiers sat around playing cards, counting sea life that jumped out of the water, or playing a new game they’d invented by flicking rocks and debris across a specific plank of wood.
"CAPTAIN! WE HAVE A PROBLEM!" The lookout called down from the crow’s nest.
The Captain jumped to his feet and headed over.
"Where?!"
"STARBOARD CAPTAIN!"
The Captain turned to the right to see three giant ships blazing towards them with their sails waving high in the sky.
Red flags with skulls on them.
"IZKA! IT’S THE IZKA PIRATES!" The Captain relayed to everyone.
They quickly scrambled to their feet and looked around frantically.
Vos gritted his teeth. He knew they couldn’t defend properly against the pirates, especially not three ships full of them.
"Everyone! Your goal is to make it through this alive! Let them take whatever they want! Try to avoid a fight! Your job is survival!"
The soldiers looked around at each other, panic written all over their faces.
He didn’t want them to fight? How bad were their chances?!
Everyone held their breath as a plank was established between their ship and the bigger of the Izka ships, allowing access between the two.
A few pirates headed over, smirking at the crew and soldiers menacingly. The soldier’s bodies tensed.
To their surprise, Eilownia was next to walk over with the help of Captain Deka.
"MISS EILOWNIA!" They burst into cheers, but it was quickly quieted down when they realized Marix was not following her.
They looked between Eilownia and Captain Deka with confusion.
"Everyone! Marix and I are doing fine! He went through an ordeal and is still asleep. He’s exhausted! The Izka Pirates are going to help us fight against Sola. They’re giving us their help!"
The soldiers let out sharp cheers of joy as tears stung their eyes.
"They’ve given us some more supplies as well! We can depart towards Norain!"
Eilownia began to clap, leading everyone else to follow suit.
Although it quickly died down as unease settled in.
"How do we know for sure General is with you guys? How do we know this isn’t some sort of ploy?" Vos spoke up, crossing his arms as his eyebrows furrowed.
Eilownia searched the crowd then smiled as she saw Dr. Lein.
She pointed at him, "Dr. Lein! Come with me! Marix suffered an injury. Please come check him."
Dr. Lein came forward before Eilownia looked at the rest of the crowd.
"Once Dr. Lein returns with confirmation, you will believe me then, right?"
The group debated for a bit, their silent whispers filling the air, not quite audible enough to pick out what anyone was saying.
Finally, they gave her a nod of approval and Eilownia held her hand out for Dr. Lein as they headed back to the other ship to check on Marix.
