Chereads / Mauri's Tale / Chapter 5 - Off Course

Chapter 5 - Off Course

Mauri wakes up with Gary saying.

"hey it's morning, if you don't want to wait another day, we need to leave now."

Mauri responds while she yawns.

"oh alright, lets go then"

they both leave the house star carrying the supplies from the carriage to the docks, and after finishing loading up, Gary asks.

"is there anything else you need before we head out?"

she responds.

"no let's go."

Mauri and Gary then climb aboard his sailboat and set off to sea, after a few hours of sailing through the ocean, Mauri stares out to the horizon and thinks to herself.

"Cirdain and Aruwen would have enjoyed this beautiful view."

she pauses and stops herself from crying, and says to herself.

"stop torturing yourself, If I don't pull myself together, I won't be able to avenge their deaths."

Gary notices and asks.

"you okay, are you feeling sea sick?"

Mauri shakes her head and says.

"no, I'm just enjoying the view."

Gary couldn't help but smile as he says.

"yeah I can relate, because no matter how many times I sail, the view of the ocean is breathtaking."

he pauses and says with sentiment.

"I used to take my wife and son out here close to the coast, they enjoyed the view as well."

Mauri was confused when he said that because she didn't see either his wife or son when she went to his house, she then asks.

"I didn't see them at to your house, what happened to them?"

he replies with sadness his voice.

"I lost both of them to a crazy mob when we were visiting Grezia, things back there were crazy

the city was full of chaos as people were hunting down elves and hybrids."

his voice breaks a little and stops talking, but Mauri couldn't help but ask.

"was your wife an elf and your son a hybrid?"

he nodded as he doesn't say a word, she then says with sorrow in her voice.

"my family were also hunted down, both my husband and daughter."

Gary then asks.

"is that why you want to head towards the Dragonoids continent?"

She nods and replies.

"yeah I want to leave everything behind me and start a new life."

Mauri didn't want to tell him exactly why she wants to go, but right now she is just hoping that once she gets there, that maybe she can regain her lost strength and return back to enact her revenge, and so a week passes by and Gary says.

"we should be getting close to leviathan territory."

Mauri then asks.

"how do you know that?"

Gary gestures at Mauri to follow him, he leads her to the side of the boat, and then as he points at the water, he asks her.

"do you see that?"

she doesn't see anything in the water, she then says

"I don't see anything."

Gary then grabs a pole with a hook at the end of it, he then carefully puts it in the water, like if he was fishing for something, and after of few minutes of waiting he says.

"I got it."

he pulls back the pole and carefully lifts up what looks like a portion of a large skin casing, and then he says.

"you see this, Leviathans shed their skin and leave these casings behind that float to the surface of the water."

Mauri looks at it in amazement and then she says.

"wow I knew leviathans are large creatures, but seeing the skin casing up close, really helps put in perspective on how huge they really are."

and in the moment of admiring the skin casing, the water starts to violently shake the boat, Gary looks at Mauri in fear as he says.

"shit there is a Leviathan nearby."

Mauri quietly whisper to Gary.

"so what do we do?"

he replies softly.

"for now we just wait it out, hopefully it's just passing by."

as both of them sit idly by, Mauri says.

"Don't worry if that thing attacks I'll do everything in my power to kill it."

Gary looks at Mauri like if she is crazy and he replies.

"are you insane, who do you think you are, no one stands a chance against these Leviathans."

Mauri smirks as she says.

"let me formally introduce myself, my name is Mauri."

before Gary got to respond, a large shadow loomed over them, they are both staring at a Leviathan who has its head sticking out of the water, it lets out a ear rattling screech that rings through the air and the force of it's screech breaks the sail of the sailboat, Gary then shouts in horror.

"we are going to die!"

and while Gary is cowering, Mauri stares down the leviathan and chants.

"Conjuration holy spears!"

and then she yells.

"fire!"

multiple spears easily pierce through the leviathans scaly surface, it then roars in pain, wriggling around making huge waves, Mauri then thinks to herself.

"they might be the same size as dragons, but they are not built as tough as one."

the leviathan retreats back into the ocean, making a huge wave, and the sailboat gets dragged along with the current, Mauri yells at Gary.

"hold on for your life!"

they both hold on to the railings of the boat, and after hours of holding on to dear life, Mauri heads over to Gary and asks.

"so without a sail what is going to happen?"

Gary replies.

"the leviathan made us go completely off course with the waves it caused, and from the looks of it we are drifting along the northern currents."

Mauri then asks.

"does that mean we are getting dragged to the northern tundra?"

he replies with concern.

"yeah and there is not much we can do about it."

Mauri then thinks to herself.

"the northern tundra huh, it will be hard to survive at a harsh, cold and desolate place."

from what Mauri remembers about the northern tundra is that no living being resides in it, it is a place shrouded in mystery and evil.