Haf drew out his spyglass to look first at the ship, then past it. His face turned confused, and then grim. He handed the device to Roland to look as well.
"Debris. Shipwreck." He spoke the monotone words and then ordered the signal for all three ships to slow their progression.
Soon, wooden planks, floating crates, and the various remains of a Cetoan ship were around them in all directions. Rowboats were lowered, and a search for clues as to what had happened began.
Roland couldn't tell from the amount of smashed wood whether only one ship, or all three unaccounted for Cetoan ships, were floating around them in pieces. It was startling to see so much destruction floating aimlessly about.
He had a brief memory come forward of when the wave from the lake crashed into Klain and almost swept him away with so many others. He shuddered. Death in the water seemed a horrible way to leave this life.
"I see no bodies," He observed, a little hopefully.
"Depending on how long it's been, they could have been long eaten." Haf replied grimly.
Roland blinked. What a sad thing for their families, having no closure. He hung his head a moment in grief for any men lost in the wreck.
The boats picked through the debris, pulling out anything useful to bring back aboard. Although they had been fully stocked when they left port, it would be wasteful to leave much behind if it could be used.
The debris field stretched on, and Roland became sincerely worried that it was made up of more than one smashed vessel. A portion of a bow plank was located and handed aboard. It was brought to Haf, who silently assessed it.
"WAVE SK" was painted in large, black letters across its broken surface.
"The Wave Skimmer. One of the vessels Edmar commandeered." Haf closed his eyes.
"So we're on the right track," Roland's eyebrows rose. After being gone a few days already, he had begun to wonder in the back of his mind if they were even going in the proper direction. The world was seemingly endless, and there was no guarantee Edmar and his ships were even in it.
"Yes, it would seem so," Haf nodded.
A commotion at the port side of the ship drew their attention. One of the rowboats had drawn alongside a small length of intact deck with a crumpled mess of canvas on it, but the canvas had begun to move!
A single, lonely sailor woke from a deep slumber to the shouts of his countrymen. He was overcome with emotion, sobbing with relief, though no tears came. He was lifted aboard the boat and brought up onto the ship with a rope, being too weak to move under his own efforts.
Water was quickly given to the severely dehydrated man, a bit at a time, to prevent him vomiting it back up. His lips were cracked and his eyes wild and sunken.
"Commodore," His voice was hoarse and he fell to his knees before his leader. A chair was brought for the sailor, and a little more water.
"Take your time," Haf comforted. "You have been through much. As you are able, please tell me what happened."
He clearly hated to press the man, but depending on what had occurred, time could be of the essence. Roland knew the man would receive the best care possible once more was known.
"Edmar…" The man coughed and took another sip of water, "said we would go to another world. He had something that could summon Leviathan."
"Did he do so?" Haf asked with a catch in his voice.
"Yes… but also brought whales. Attacked, ship crushed. I fell into the water, climbed on debris. Leviathan came and other two ships roped it. They left together, leaving us. The whales…"
He coughed again and drank a little more. "Smashed. Killed. As if insane. I never gave up, kept hiding… this is the third day since then. No water, no food."
Haf pinched the bridge of his nose. "You did well. Take him below and let him rest, take a little food, and more water."
As the sailor was taken below, Roland watched Haf straighten his shoulders, putting on the mantle of strong leader despite the grief for the tragedy his son had wrought.
"We must follow," He said resolutely after a moment. "Get the nets."
"Uncle," Roland had been trying out the more familiar term, and it seemed appropriate to do so now, "There was a whale attack last time the herbs were used, was there not?"
He had heard about the terrifying creatures and the damage they could do.
"Yes. There may very well be one again. But fear not, Roland. I chose these ships because of their strength, and have reinforced them with the hide and scales of the mast-fish." A line creased between Haf's eyebrows as he began shouting orders of preparation, and a signalman used flags to communicate the orders to the other ships.
Roland closed his eyes for a quiet moment.
'Gwen… if you can hear me, I'm about to leave this world. If you can still see and hear me in the place we go, please help us all survive. If you can't… please take care of Finn for me. And the babies. I don't care if it's in the Sorcerer's Will or not, I need you to do this for me in case I can't. Also, I'd love to come back in one piece if that's within your capabilities. Thank you.'
He sighed. It felt slightly silly, but it helped calm him. He could face what was to come bravely if he knew that Finn and the babies would be all right. No matter what came next, he would overcome it.
Or perish trying, he supposed, but he would really rather ignore that option and focus on what he could control. He listened as Haf completed his series of intricate instructions to the crew.
"What am I to do, Uncle?" He asked.
"Find that weird little friend of yours, and let him know his expertise may be needed soon." Haf ran his hand over his beard as the crew scattered about in a well-organized frenzy of activity.
Roland nodded and ran off. He first searched the sleeping area, then the holds, ducking his head into nooks and crannies where he thought Jimmy might be able to fit. The search was a bit fruitless; When Jimmy didn't want to be found, it seemed he couldn't be.
"Come on, Jimmy. Can't you stop hiding and come talk to me like a man?" Roland muttered in frustration as he turned to leave the room where the barrels of drinking water were kept.
"I am a man." Jimmy's voice rang out in annoyance.
"Then why have you been hiding? Can't you come out and talk to me?" The Rhone prince whirled and glared into the darkness as Jimmy emerged from a corner.
"You ain't never asked. Just started nosing around as if I should be easy to find." Jimmy shrugged.
"Do you know what's going on up there?" Roland pointed up towards the deck.
"Sure, I got ears. You all confirmed what I said from the beginning. We gotta go to that other world." Despite his irritated tone, Jimmy's eyes gleamed with anticipation. "I been wantin' to see it for days, only you people take your good sweet time. Let's get going!"
His knapsack was still close at his side, not a bit less empty for the days at sea. Probably not food in it, then, or it would be slimmer. Jimmy also didn't seem to have changed clothes at all.
The quarter-halfing pushed by Roland without another word, escorting himself up to Haf's place near the stern. No one tried to stop the strange little man, perhaps because his bluster was such an overstated affair that people would rather watch the Commodore himself chastise him.
But that was not to be. Haf awarded Jimmy's appearance with a tolerant smile as Roland watched.
Jimmy said not a word, choosing to stand near the Commodore without even greeting the man.
While Roland had been looking for him, the ships had drawn as closely together as they could without risking collision. The flagship they were on had taken the center position, guarded on either side by the other vessels to minimize exposure to attack.
From the ongoing preparations at the bow of each ship, Roland guessed that the plan was to try and get all three ships through at the same time. It was a risky strategy, but if successful, would give them a distinct advantage over Edmar…
If they even wound up in the same world he had.
The risks of this plan were many, and yet, seemed necessary regardless. At least with the Leviathan bait, they could quickly, as Roland understood it, come back to their own world.
"Jimmy, can you make a portal to get us home from there if we need it?" Roland suddenly asked. Was that what Haf was wanting him to be available for?
"From land… mebbe. From sea, definitely not." The little man shrugged. "To make a portal big enough, you'd have to practically make a whole ship out of treated wood."