Page 32 of Hooked By a Hero
He could not control the water or the sky, but he could see a safe path through it for them all. As long as he concentrated, kept his breathing even, and let the salt water splash over the sides of the boat and wet him, he could guide the boats in ways that their occupants would never know.
“Has he fallen asleep?” Ruby asked at one point.
“He’s sitting upright,” one of the other passengers said.
“Caspian, are you well?” Elias called out to him.
Caspian opened his eyes, momentarily breaking his concentration, and grinned at Elias. “One day, my sweet, you will stop asking me that question.”
Elias laughed wildly and pulled hard on the oar again.
Caspian closed his eyes and returned his concentration to where it was needed. He could feel the course of the water, sense its currents and the direction of the tide. They rowed close to the other three lifeboats, and as soon as they were clustered together, rising and falling over the waves, Caspian gave everything he had to pointing them in the right direction.
“It’s an island!” someone from one of the other boats called out. “We’re heading straight for an island.”
“Did anyone see it before now?” a female voice asked.
“I saw it,” someone answered. A few others had, too.
“It’s closer than I could have imagined,” someone else said.
The island was close enough that within an hour of sustained effort, the hull of each lifeboat scraped across sand under the watery surface. Only then did Caspian feel it was safe enough to open his eyes and let go of what little control he was able to manage.
His efforts left him exhausted, and when some of the men began leaping out of the boats and into the shallow waves so that they could pull the boats closer to the shore, he sagged and leaned heavily against the side of the boat.
“I’m not going to ask it,” Elias said, an ironic touch of humor in his voice as he stood and prepared to jump into the water to help with the efforts.
Caspian opened his eyes, met Elias’s, and laughed tiredly. “I am well,” he answered, pushing himself to sit straight. “Better than I have been in quite some time. Anyone would be exhausted after what we’ve just been through.”
“True,” Elias said, smiling.
It was a relief to see him smile. It meant his efforts had not been for nothing. They were safe for the time being, or at least as safe as they could be.
Caspian gave himself a few more seconds to rest before joining the others to drag the boat up onto the beach they’d rowed to. Even Ruby insisted on getting out and grabbing hold of the rope that had been coiled in the bow of the boat to pull it up to safety. Caspian saw that men from the other three boats had done the same, and in a short time, as the rain began to let up entirely, they had all four boats beached and the passengers evacuated.
“Look!” Ruby called out as the survivors huddled together on a wide stretch of sand. She pointed back toward theFortune, which was visible half a mile or so out in the water.
Caspian could tell at once what Ruby was pointing out. The storm had mostly blown itself out where they were, but the sea continued to undulate angrily. Waves rose up, crested, and crashed in the space between the island and theFortune, but the ship seemed oddly stationary in their midst. It listed sharply to one side, but seemed to hold its position firmly.
“It’s gone aground,” the seaman said, shoving a hand through his hair in disbelief. “It’s hit a shoal or something of the like and is stuck hard.”
“So it has,” another of the crewmen said. “It’ll sink before long, though.”
“Will it?” Elias asked, turning first to the sailors, then to Caspian. “It’s not an old-fashioned ship. Its hull is clad in metal. Could that mean it might survive intact like that?”
“Perhaps,” the seaman answered. Caspian was glad he did, since he himself knew very little about the ships of Englishmen. “It won’t hold out forever, though.”
“How long do we have?” Ruby asked, coming up to join their group along with Hunt. “How much of a chance to we have tosave the ship so that we can continue our journey instead of being stuck here?”
Caspian couldn’t answer. Instead, he glanced to Elias, taking his hand and holding it firmly, in case Elias felt the same sort of worry Ruby did.
Because to a degree, Ruby was right to worry. TheFortunewas no longer seaworthy. They had only four lifeboats with them and no room on those boats for the amount of supplies they would need to take them to any great landmasses. For all intents and purposes, they were stranded on the island where they now found themselves unless someone sailed past to rescue them.
Eleven
The rain continued for a few more hours, and by that time night had fallen, so the survivors of theFortunedid little except for seek out shelter and safe places to sleep for the night. Elias wanted nothing more than to find an accommodating bush that he could lie under through the night, preferably with Caspian, but as the survivors clustered together at the top of the beach, assessing the island’s vegetation and what might provide enough cover for the night, he quickly noted that anyone from theFortunewith any rank or position was gone.
“All of the ship’s officers have perished,” Brunning pointed out as he, Elias, Caspian, and Hunt, along with Ruby, stood watching the others collapse into whatever beds they’d been able to make for the night. “The only people remaining with anything close to authority are Dr. Hunt here and you, sir,” he nodded to Elias.
