"Left rudder 10 degrees! 10 degrees! No, no, no, just 8 degrees, that's too much, turn it back!"
The fog echoed with Yacharin's shrill screams, and Lorraine could see no one but the sailors who followed the sound of the transmission, carefully adjusting the position of the helm wheel and placing their full trust in Yacharin's eyes.
They were traveling over a broad band of reefs.
Dense reefs spread out over the surface of the sea, either hidden or visible, hidden in the fog. Those on board could only occasionally see one or two that were exposed to the surface of the water, and they were all close to the hull of the ship, rubbing against the side.
Such a voyage makes every spirit tense.
They were dancing with death, and at the nearest point the knife-edge reef had almost touched the hull.
Lorraine reassigned Hina to the lookout.
In the fog, the lookout couldn't see anything, and they only hoped that there would be an occasional drop in the fog that would give them a chance to see farther, once in a while.
Because they're not far from the island.
Reefs are mountains in the sea, and continuous reefs are only likely to be found in shallow seas, which in turn are only found near land.
It's a simple deduction, and every sailor knows this by heart.
Nervous, expectant, waiting ...
They know that they are going in the right direction.
Vitality arrives!
"Fifteen degrees right rudder!"
Lorraine bit her lip and gave her full attention, clicking and pivoting the rudder wheel as soon as she heard Acharin's shout.
The Buttercup tilted over her hull, slowly avoiding a jutting reef, and was halfway across the line when there was a sudden jolt!
Boom!
The starboard side touched down in a submerged position, and the whole ship was lifted and angled. Lorraine jerked the steering wheel in a hurry to avoid it, and faintly heard a cry of alarm, followed by a crash of water.
Someone overboard?
Before he could make sense of the situation, the sailor on deck had yelled, "Lookout overboard! Lady Ysra overboard on the starboard side!"
Lorraine's face changed and she immediately shouted, "Pierce, take the helm!"
He locked the tiller sharply, ran to starboard in a few giant strides, and, without thinking, leaped up.
Poof!
The cold seawater wrapped around his body and Lorraine opened his eyes.
The water was running fast.
The turbulent currents churned beneath the surface, making the waters in this area rough and murky, but with the help of his compound lids, Lorraine could still make out nearly a hundred meters, far more than the visibility at the surface.
Stupid ... How come they never thought of launching a pilot before?
He shook his head, first seeing the wrecked hull of the Buttercup.
There was a broken reef tucked away about a meter underwater, making a big diagonal long hole in the hull on the starboard side.
The hole continued for about two watertight compartments, but there was no more debris in the vicinity than the debris from the ship's hull.
The only watertight compartments without clutter on the ship were the ones that were actively filled with water, so unfortunately, the Buttercup didn't gush in more water, and through the emergency evasion just now, it had been completely detached from the reef.
Lorraine slid her body to look around and soon found Hina again in the distance.
She was flung into the water from a height of more than twenty meters, not having time to do anything to protect herself, and was knocked out straight away by the hard surface of the sea.
She was sinking, her eyes closed tightly, her bubbles fine, her slender limbs stretched out motionless, and she was drifting farther and farther down the current.
The distance between the two sides was about fifty to sixty meters.
Gritting his teeth once, Lorraine rose to the surface and shouted toward the blurry black shadow of the Buttercup, "Pierce!"
"Brother! I'm in! What do we do!"
"The touchdown is in the water-filled compartment, the ship won't sink for a while!" Lorraine took a deep breath, "You take the helm, follow Yacharin's command and continue to cut across the circulation. The ship should not stop! The annular current is too fast, forcing the anchor down will push it out sideways and you will continue to reef!"
"What about you?"
"I found Hina, now go rescue her! I'll see you in Herbasi!"
After saying this, Lorraine plunged back under the water. He swung his leg along the current, swimming like a fish swooping in Hina's direction.
Only a moment later, Hina reappeared in his field of vision, still looking unconscious, the bubble at her lips nearly non-existent.
Swimming faster and faster, Lorraine scurried up, hugged her, stepped on the water and floated up quickly, drilling out of the water with a crash.
With a sea of milky fog all around, the Buttercup was lost, and Lorraine took a few long breaths and swam to a nearby reef with Haina's head in her hands, sinking down from time to time to recognize the direction and make sure she hadn't swum off course.
He propped Haina up on the reef, stripped off her wet, heavy smock, rolled it up and padded the back of her neck, tilted her head back, lifted her chin, and carefully cleaned the debris out of her mouth and nose.
Immediately afterward, he pinched Hina's nose, opened his mouth, leaned in close, wrapped his own lips around Hina's, and blew rapidly.
Hina's lips were soft, cool, and when Lorraine took a breath, she let go of the hand pinching her nose to let the gas out, five times in a row.
Five times later, he felt along Hina's ribs to the protrusion of the sword, two horizontal fingers up, and pressed it with his palm.
He folded his hands into a cross, arms taut and pressed down vertically.
Pressing a little, he shouted, "Hina, wake up!"
Pressing a little, he shouted again, "Hina, wake up!"
Twelve presses, five breaths, three rounds in a row, week after week.
Hina coughed out violently, and there was clear water coming out of her mouth and nose.
Lorraine was overjoyed and rushed to one knee to pick Hina up and gently place her on her own bent-knee thighs, patting her back gently so that the water in her airway and stomach could flow out smoothly.
After a minute, Hina finally regained consciousness.
She lay weakly in Lorraine's arms, opened her eyes, and whispered, "I ... drowned?"
"You fell off the lookout, got knocked out by the sea water straight away, and accidentally took a few extra sips of water, which doesn't count as drowning."
"Is that right ..." she looked confused into the haze, "Where's the Buttercup?"
"She couldn't stop in the Reef Belt, I sent them to Herbasi first."
"Where's Herbasi?"
Lorraine raised her hand and pointed in a direction, "Don't worry, I'll swim you over."
"Uh-huh."
The two cuddled together quietly and rested on the reef for over half an hour.
Feeling some of her strength returning, Hina tugged on Lorraine's sleeve, "I'm good to go."
Lorraine helped her to her feet and the two of them jumped back into the water, paddling their arms gently.
Hina asked, "How far is Herbasi?"
"I don't know."
"In case ..."
"We'll find it." Lorraine interrupted Heena with a wide grin, "Niord told me it's in the center of the fog, and we're about to meet it."
Hina stopped talking and took out the sling she had with her and handed it to Lorraine, who used it to tie a knot around Hina's waist, leaving two meters, and wrapped it tightly around her own waist.
"Ready?"
"Well ..."
The two swam up toward the depths of the fog, Lorraine in the front and Haina in the back, with a thin sling attached in between, cutting across the lagoon like a buttercup ship, and swam for more than an hour in a row before finally breaking out of the reef belt.
The sea suddenly warmed up, the fog began to thin out, and the currents grew weaker.
Lorraine finally saw the stars.
Turns out ... is already nighttime.
He paused in the middle of the water, dragging Hina for long periods of time, fighting the rapids that had left him so drained and dizzy that even his swimming position had become awkward.
Hina looked at him worriedly.
Lorraine reached out and patted Hina's face with a sardonic smile, "Look, we're through the fog zone. If I had an octant at this point, I could figure out the latitude of this place."
"Let me swim by myself ..."
"About to meet Herbasi. I promised I'd swim you ashore."