Dwellers of the New World Chapter Twelve ( Pt 4 ) The Voyage Begins

Bracus stood on deck watching as people waved and cheered. The figurehead of the Flying Fish mascot sat proudly on the prow. The snags with their heads held high, turned out to sea, pulling the ship further into deeper water.

Once the sails were raised, the small boats sailed out to where the snags were waiting, the creatures then bent their heads ready to be released, their job now done. It wasn't long before the ship was out of sight of the beach and all that could be heard were the sounds of the men blowing their horns.

The fog was still thick, as the ship followed the sound of the wailing Snags. Bracus watched as his men scrambled down the masts eager for food, It had been a while since they had eaten, they wanted to fill their empty bellies while they could, not knowing when they would eat another warm meal. Peco was below deck ready to serve out the stew. All the crew and children had a wooden bowl which was filled with the nourishing food. “This will be your last hot meal,” he announced, “so you'd better make sure you enjoy it.” He had no idea how long this voyage would take, but it was impossible to cook on the ship, so once the stew was gone, they would need to rely on the bread, cold meat and fruit that had been collected from the plantation.

The children lined up in the dimly lit room below, while some of the crew were already rubbing their hands together as they clambered down the steps that led below deck. Bracus on the other hand had his food sent to his quarters, where Varden inhaled the flavours of the stew, his mouth watered as he was told to wait until Bracus had finished, before he could eat. Bracus dipped his bread into the stew, the grease covering his mouth, while the boy waited his turn, the big man's rotting, black teeth chewing on the meat and vegetables

Poor Varden could hardly contain himself he was so hungry. He watched as the steam rose from the dish and licked his lips in anticipation. Finally Bracus finished and the boy was finally able to eat his stew, though it was lukewarm by the time he came to taste it.

“Eat up boy and enjoy...we gotta long journey ahead and you need to keep up yer energy.” Bracus had no idea just how long it would take to get to the island, due to the fact of the weather and rough seas, he hoped they would have a fairly easy crossing, but was sceptic knowing what lay beneath the ocean.

Below deck Cinnamon was comforting one of the young boys, he was crying and kept demanding to go home. “But you don't have a family...that's why you're here isn't it?”

The boy clung to Cinnamon's arm. “I do have a family, but I...I was kidnapped by Bracus and his men, now I don't know how to get home.” The boy began to cry into the girls arm.

Cinnamon didn't understand, she'd thought that all the children had been orphaned and saved by Bracus. “You mean to tell me you were taken from your parents and brought down here?”

The boy looked up in to the girls eyes and nodded, seeing the disbelief in her eyes he started to explain. “Yes...I was playing hide and seek with some friends in the forest, when this man came at me from behind, he put a sack over my head, I tried to scream, but he just held his hand over my mouth, then I tried to bite his hand, but he was too quick for me and pulled away.” The boy wiped the tears from his eyes as he continued to explain. “By this time it was too late, we were so far away, there wasn't a sign of any friendly faces, just this man and his friend who dumped me in a cart, I was tied up and taken away with some other boys.”

Cinnamon was in shock and put her arm around the boy. “What's your name?” she said as she dried his eyes.

“My names Will and I'm very cold, hungry and tired, and I don't want to be here.” He started to sob again.

“My name's Cinnamon and you will be safe with me. Here...give me your dish and I'll get you some stew.” The girl stood up and fell into line with the others thinking to herself, 'if only my parents knew about these children, they would be so upset.' Cinnamon had never realised that they might have families that would be worried for them. Some how...some way she was going to help these children get back to their families if it was the last thing she did.

As they all sat eating...little did they know what was waiting in the ocean for them, as the fog disappeared. The Snags wailing had been a warning of a swarm of flying killer sea ants that were heading their way, one bite would kill. The Snags dived down to avoid the swarm. Things were not going to be as plain sailing as Bracus had anticipated.

Dwellers of the New World Chapter Twelve ( Pt 5 ) The Wait | ABCtales