Boom!

The ship shook violently as an explosion sounded. The screams of women were heard from the ground beneath Deertes’ feet. The female prisoners that were trapped downstairs began to desperately pray, calling out God’s name.

“Get out of here! Run!”

She could hear the door opening with an urgent cry, followed by the sound of running, rolling, and the pushing of each other to go up and to safety as soon as possible. Deertes nudged her door open with a squeak. There, people were dashing up and through the open door like madmen.

‘What am I supposed to do in this situation?’

Baboom!

Then, the hull of the ship shook violently once more. This time, it was different from the sound she had heard a while ago. The sound she had heard previously was of a cannon firing. However, the one she heard now was of…

“The outer wall is broken!”

“Ready more cannons! Come on!”

“Water is coming in!”

Slowly, the body of the huge ship started to tilt. The small squeaking sound now rang throughout the entire ship. Items and objects that had been lightly fixed onto the chest of drawers rolled down to the floor. The ship was leaning to one side.

Deertes glanced upwards. On the deck, sailors were scrambling around, shouting to quickly run away. The sound of artillery fire was heard again and another shock was delivered throughout the ship. Deertes, who rolled on the floor with a “thud”, got up from her seat with a veil and opened the door. This was not the time for her to be lost in her thoughts. ‘If you stay here, you will die.’ Her instincts were shouting at her.

An empty passageway was in front of her eyes as she opened the door. Where would she even escape to? No matter how much she searched around she could not formulate an answer. After all, she was on a ship in the middle of the sea. The path to safety is either blocked or bent so much even before she could start taking ten steps in.

Does she have to resort to jumping into the sea?

Anyone else would have easily decided to jump into the sea without another moment’s hesitation, but this was an option that she could not decide on.

One of the few things that her family wanted to desperately hide was the fact that she was indeed born with the blood of a forest fairy.

With it came natural abilities but she also had a couple of weaknesses. One of which was how saltwater kills trees. So jumping into the sea was a terrible idea. Moreover, when she was young, after going out into the sea as a result of her satiating her curiosity, her father banned her from ever going near the sea.

Whilst she was hesitating which place she would go, someone grabbed a hold of her wrist.

“Who…!”

“Come this way!”

It was the captain who had grabbed her wrist. It was truly unimaginable for a man to touch her body in such a way but since now is not the time to worry about such traditions, Deertes followed him without uttering a single word.

“Come on, hurry up!”

The captain led her to a small boat where the crew members were working hard to untie the rope off. Soon, the boat fell into the sea with a splash and everyone grabbed hold of the rope and went down. Some crew members had simply jumped into the sea before climbing into the boat.

“I…”

“If you want to survive then hurry up!”

Far away, boats can be seen being lowered from the ship that had attacked. If they were in need of supplies, there would be no need to follow them anymore as it will be more profitable to pick up more items from the ship than go for the small boat filled with fleeing crew members.

The fact that they were going after them…

The captain’s eyes quickly turned back to Deertes. For a moment, he contemplated throwing her into the sea but he shook his head, clearing away such thoughts. She was worth it to leave behind all the supplies in order to chase the attackers away. Her presence was also important to the captain. Even if he were to lose everything right now, the safe arrival of Deertes at Bernst would allow him to easily replenish all that he was losing right now.

“Faster! Faster!”

The captain, who was shouting in such a loud manner, was in a frantic mode as he picked up the rowing paddle and began to paddle vigorously. Deertes shivered in the middle of the boat, looking around her surroundings, at those who were pursuing them.

‘Who is it? Why are they doing this?’

Seawater splashed onto Deertes and before long, the feeling of nausea poured into her. Even though it was not enough to kill her, it was still painful for her to endure.

The ground got closer and closer. Despite being in a hazy consciousness, she was still able to tell that they were soon approaching land due to the huge dune of sand. It overlapped with the desert biome and landscape that she had seen in a book. Even though they were still on the sea, she chewed on the sand as the wind blew due to all the sand that was flying from there.

“Hurry up! If we do well, we’ll be able to escape from it!”

From where they were, the seabed was visible under the clear blue water due to the now lowered depth of water. Soon, the boat got caught in the sand piled up high in the sea and could not move forward anymore. There was no one who was in the first place as the sailors all jumped into the sea and made their way towards land.

“What are you doing? Come on!”

The captain shouted to Deertes, who was now the only one left on the boat.

“I can enter the sea by…Ack!”

The captain roughly yanked on her clothes, likely annoyed by her hesitation. Deertes struggled as the cold water soon engulfed her whole body.

“N-no! Huek!”

Water suddenly entered her mouth and down her throat like a fireball. Deertes struggled, she felt as if she were firewood being thrown into a campfire. As she continued to struggle as if she were experiencing a seizure, the captain grabbed her and dragged her towards the land. Fortunately, the land was not very far away. Placing her down, the captain shouted.

“Run if you want to live!”

Upon hearing those words, Deertes pushed herself up, vomiting the seawater as she started to move. The captain’s words seemed to be both right and wrong.

If they are still coming after them, then their purpose must be either Deertes, the forest fairy of Ramedes, or Deertes, the bride of Governor Bernst.

If it were the former, she will more likely be kept alive. However, if it were the latter, she will be more likely to end up dead. Knowing that neither of the sides would treat her nicely, Deertes forced strength to her shaky legs. Fortunately, the pain from the saltwater disappeared quicker as compared to when she was younger.

“Forest. If there was a forest…”

Deertes glanced at her surroundings. It would be safer if there were a forest nearby. The forest always treats her kindly and helped her to rest. However, there was no sight of any greenery to be seen.

‘I might be able to spot one from up there.’

The captain did mention that this location was not far from Bernst. If she were to head up that sand dune, she will likely either see Bernst or a forest closeby.

Once she made up her mind, Deertes rushed towards said sand dune. Her shoes having already been peeled off in some areas and disappeared as she had left the ship in a hurry. The sand made her feet sink so deeply that it was hard to take a single step, much less run with ease. At a pace that was slower than what she had expected, Deertes finally reached the peak fo the dune as she proceeded to lie face down.

It was extremely hard to breathe due to the wet veil and the clothes that were stuck to her body and could not move. The sand stuck to her skin, and it was itchy and annoying but this was not the time for her to be worrying about such things. The moment she reached the top of the dune while following the sailors that had made their way up first. She was at a loss for words whilst witnessing the unfamiliar scenery that was spread out in front of her.

The sand dunes were endless. Stretching as far as the horizon, where the eye could reach.

Deertes sat down, watching the scene before her slowly unfold in front of her very eyes. If this scenery were to be captured in a picture, one would have thought it was amazing how such a vast land was covered solely by a single colour. The scene which she would have never imagined before, now gave her a greater sense of fear as compared to awe.

This was Deertes’ first impression and look of Saul.

“What about Bernst?”

A sailor on the dune softly muttered. The captain’s face was no less drained of colour as were the others. Along the way to Saul, there had been a storm which led to it diverting from the original course. Clearly, something went wrong with the calculations.

“No…way… There’s only sand dunes around us…”

The captain’s growing murmurs spread despair amongst everyone present. She had thought that she would be safe as long as she could find and see Bernst, yet, rather than Bernst, all that could be found and seen was a single ant in this wasteland.

“Oh my god, it must be this woman’s fault!”

“Let go!”

Deertes, who was caught by the hair and the veil, pushed the sailor away with all her might. She was not very strong, but the sailor’s body, whose centre of gravity was already unbalanced, shook as he was standing atop a sand dune. It was during then when…

Bang!

Blood splattered with the fire of a single shot. The sailor’s body instantly stumbled and knees buckled as it fell to the floor like a bag of leather with a hole.

“Escape!”

“Go down the dune!”

But a few more shots rang loudly before the sailors could make it over the dune. Blood splashed over the dry sand, coating it as the sailors slowly collapsed. Deertes curled up into a ball, screaming. After a few more gunshots were heard, silence encompassed the area.

Even after a long time, Deertes was unable to move, still suppressing her urge to cry until a group of strangers approached her.