Exiled

The "Excalibur" was a stolen pirate vessel with an old mast, some rigging and sails. We holed up cozily in the hold of the ship among the rum barrels and gunpowder.

The kids often became sea-sick, it was not a smooth ride for any of us.

Right somewhere in the North Sea we were caught in a ferocious storm, I thought that would be the end of the Excalibur but somehow she survived and so did we.

After a gruelling 2 weeks we finally reached Hamburg.

"Au revoir Richard Greenwood!"

That was the last I ever heard from David, I later found that he survived the disease but died from a cow sitting on him.

Hamburg was a market town usually sprawling with activity was now completely empty because of the plague. We looked around for hours before we saw a person.

We approached him slowly and carefully, lest this be a senile old maniac. It was some pale German fellow.

"Guten Tag Fruend, wo gehen Sie?"

He spoke German, none of us did.

"I'm from London, I don't understand what you are saying"

"Oh, you are Englisch, what are you doing here?"

"We want to go to Poland, my mother and father are dead, I am responsible for my brothers and sisters now."

"Oh, such a big responsibility for a young man like you"

"I know much younger people with bigger responsibilities"

"So you do"

"Is there anyway to get to Poland from here?"

I inquired.

"No, I'm afraid I do not know"

Said the stranger.

"Ok, farewell thee then"

Just as I said it we walked past him and he grabbed one of my siblings and tried to bite him... yes bite him. I stopped him with a swift blow to the head.

"Please let me have one, please I beg you"

"You ungodly creature what is wrong with you?!"

"It's him, he won't stop, please give me one of them please I beg of you"

Seeing this man has clearly gone insane, I picked up a rock and bashed his head in like ending the misery of an injured dog doomed to die.

"Are you hurt Jeremiah?"

"No Richie I got lucky there, thanks"

"Hey, I'm your big brother here I will never let anything happen to any of youse"

"How are we going to get out of here Richie?"

"I.... I... We just have to keep moving Jem, we just have to keep moving"

..and we did, we didn't stop walking for an entire day, without a drop of water nor a bite of bread... we just kept going... I thought this would surely be the end... only to see something in the distance.. it felt like a mirage, like finding an oasis in the middle of an empty desert... it couldn't be... I wasn't able to believe what I was seeing.