[Edward]

“Raleigh, I need to know right now, where does the river meet the sea.?” My heart thumps loudly in my chest. If Raleigh can spot the river mouth in the next half an hour, we will be able to sail through the mountain before the tide reverses and leaves us stranded in the glass wasteland.

… “Just down the beach a way.”

“How far?”

“We will make it… maybe.”

“RUN.”

Back down the glassy dune we scramble, as fast as we can go. Occasionally one of us slips and slides down before picking ourselves up and continuing. The trip up the dune lasted almost a quarter hour. The trip down the hill lasts less than five minutes. When we finally reach our ship, it takes another ten minutes to dislodge it from the beach and turn it around. Raleigh and I push the ship out into deeper water while Garfil unfurls a ladder. Quickly Raleigh and I swim around to the ladder on the port side of the ship. In under a minute, we are both standing soaked on the deck of the ship.

“Quickly, Garfil you unfurl and trim the sails, Raleigh, In the crows nest, keep an eye out for the river mouth. When you see it, make some noise.”

“Aye aye captain,” Says Raleigh unenthusiastically.

Our ship makes slow progress as it travels across the wind, the square sails do not help with this dilemma. Time ticks by painfully slowly as we search for the mouth of the creek. As each second piles upon the last I feel our chances of catching the thief slip away.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“Raleigh?”

“Nothing.”

“I wish this ship would go just a bit damn fa-”

“THERE IT IS, Hard to port!” Shouts Raleigh, unable to keep the excitement from his voice.

I throw the wheel hard and the ship begins to slow down as it turns into the waves. As the waves line up with our ship and the wind fills our sails we speed up, it looks like we will make it into the creek.

“Trim harder, Garfil!”

“I'm trying!”

“BRACE” yells Raleigh from the crows nest.

Suddenly all of us are thrown forward, My chest smashes into the wheel but I manage to maintain my grip. Upon looking up in search of my crew, Garfil and Raleigh both hunkered down in time to be spared from the violent crash that I endured. Lucky them.

Casting my eyes behind us, I search in confusion for the cause of our trouble. Almost hidden from view is a sand bank that is starting to break the surface of the water where the creek meets the sea. This means that the tide is going out and that we barely made it into the creek on time.

“That's the easy part.”

“We barely made it!” Says Raleigh with a smile.

I might be imagining it but through his thick beard I think I see Garfil smiling.

“Edward! Port!”

Without thinking I pivot, grab the wheel and spin it as hard as I can to port (left).

“Raleigh the current is picking up,” Grumbles Garfil.

I am tempted to look over my shoulder at whatever obstacle we just avoided but I have learnt my lesson.

“What manner of obstacle did we just avoid back there?”

“A boulder just under the water. It was good spotting by Raleigh. If you hadn’t turned we would've had a nasty gash along the hull for sure.”

“Thanks Ray,” I say.