Chapter 17

Ash woke up after a good sleep, or so he had thought when he looked out from the small round window in his quarter he saw that it was still dark. It didn't make sense he was sure he had been sleeping for a long time. Then there were loud knocks on his door. He opened and an alarmed Murk was panting in the doorway.

"We can't see anything, nothing at all" he panted.

"What? Why not?" asked Ash.

"Fog, every where," he said, and then the ship hit something and they almost fell.

"What was that?" asked Ash balancing himself.

"Rocks, we can't steer the ship, we can't see anything," Murk said.

It was clear their problems weren't over still. They ran back up to the deck and Ash saw for himself the never-ending fog that was surrounding them. He took the steering wheel from Ryla just as the ship another rock.

"How are you going to steer, you can't see anything," she said.

"I have practice, empty the lowest decks, and keep the lifeboats ready," he said focusing ahead "Now leave me I need to focus and tell everyone not to move around too much or make too much noise".

"Okay, best of luck," she said and left.

It wasn't the first time he had steered blindly, it was a common thing most veteran sailors have to do, the trick was, since you can't see you'll have to feel the movement of the ship itself and the vibrations caused by the water hitting the boat. He had to listen to his surroundings. It was not a perfect solution, and the ship would take only a certain amount of damage so he had to prepare the lifeboats if the hull broke.

A few hours went by the fog was still thick, the ship had taken another dozen hits, the last one really brutal. It could give away any second; he had to do something else. He had to focus. Focus! He remembered Kuln's words about the Knight's technique. Would it work here? Would he even be able to use it on his own? he thought. But he had to give it a try. He remembered back onto the feeling that had come over him after he had absorbed the blood. It was somewhere between having a dream or being really drunk. He concentrated and tried to remember the feeling. After some minutes, he felt something was happening it was weaker than before but it was something. He definitely could feel the vibrations of the boat better. He let his mind create an imaginary path and steered the boat in that direction. It was exhaustive work. The technique was taking a lot out of him. He had no idea how long it had been; for him, it felt like an eternity. He was sweating hard, his head was aching badly and his throat was sore. He couldn't take anymore, and his legs gave out, and he fell unconscious to the floor.

"Why is he not waking up?" he heard someone speak near him, he was lying in his bed now and he felt better.

"So I take it, we didn't die?" he asked the room at large. They were relieved to see him up, he looked outside, and it wasn't dark anymore.

"What happened?" he asked sitting up.

"We heard a thud in the cabin and we found you unconscious, we got you here and Flora treated you, Ryla took the wheel but the fog started thinning soon; you got us out of the worst" explained Murk.

"What happened to you, Flora said you fainted with a lack of food," Ryla asked.

"Ah, must have focused too much and exhausted my food supplies," he said jokingly.

"Whatever, but still you should get ready quickly, Raeya says we are there," said Ryla to Ash's astonishment. He gulped down some fruit and bread and hurried up the deck. The wind was strong, the sea felt even more silent than before for some reason. Either it was because of the place or because of the hours he had spent splitting his brain. Everyone was at the front of the deck taking turns looking through the scopes.

"What are we looking at?" he asked as he came beside the group.

"It looks normal" commented Murk.

"Except for the giant ass ship," said Lucy, and Ash hurried to see that indeed over the sandy shore was Knox's giant ship, its cannons and the flag depicting his company symbol all ugly looking. The shore was covered with his men carrying boxes and drums and some carrying weapons.

"It's like he is planning to live here" commented Ryla.

"Release the anchor," said Ash to Murk.

"Why?" asked everyone.

"Well, we have a huge problem to deal with, don't we? Knox anyways is a bad man, out here he won't think for a second before attacking us if we come between him and his gold, and we are outnumbered we need a proper plan" he explained.

"Won't they have already seen us?" asked Flora apprehensively.

"No the sun is behind us, he can't see us, but we can see him so we'll use it to our advantage, he hasn't found the flower yet or he would have been out of here, so we'll sneak in there and see what's going on," said Ash "the real mission starts now" he finished under his breath with determination, which was then reflected in the rest of their eyes.