Island Dream [a Damian Priest fantasy story]

17 Land in sight

The days passed them by like the sea and the waves. With every hour that went by and every mile they moved away from the remains of Kekepania, Sanja seemed to grow sadder. And not only her. Of course, the loss of their home also affected Paya and Garro.

And it also hurt Damian. Even though he had spent so much less time there, it had quickly become a home to him. So much so that he no longer knew what to expect from his old home. Surely, after so long, everyone assumed he must be dead. No one would expect him to return now.

Sighing, Damian stood at the railing and held the rope with the net tightly. He let his mind wander for a moment. But then it was time to haul in the net. Hopefully they had caught a few fish. They could all do with something like that. The depression was weighing too heavily on them.

It was good that Sanja was finally asleep. That had been rare in the last few days. She said she was afraid to close her eyes. And Damian could understand that. After all, he had seen for himself how much the nightmares had tormented her before. He didn't want to imagine how bad they must be now.

His heart was heavy to see his beloved so devastated. She was only a shadow of her former self. Sanja hardly ate anything and he regularly had to persuade her to take in fluids. By now she had dark shadows under her eyes, her cheeks were hollow and there was nothing left of the sparkle in her eyes. The fire in them had burned out as the island sank into the sea.

Damian pulled the catch on board and was more than satisfied. There would be enough for everyone, everyone would be well fed. It was only a small thing, but he hoped it would lift their spirits. Especially Sanja's, of course.

With skillful movements, he got the fish ready to cook before making his way up to the bridge.

"I'll take over for you. You should try to get some sleep too." he said to Garro.

"Thank you. That sounds like a good idea. How long do you think it will take us to sight land?" he wanted to know as he stepped back a little.

"If the wind stays on our side... Maybe another two days." Damian replied.

"That's good..." Garro said quietly. He sounded so tired.

"Go to sleep. We all have to pace with our strength." Damian then replied.

"That's true. I'll take over later so you can eat." he yawned.

He tried to fight back the tiredness and especially the mental exhaustion, but it was no use. Slowly, he went to get some much-needed sleep.

And so it became quiet. The only thing that could be heard were the waves breaking against the hull of the ship. Night fell over them and the moon was high in the sky. But this time without the blood-red glow.

Damian held the ship's wheel firmly in his hands when someone suddenly snuggled up to him from behind.

Sanja was wrapped in a warm blanket as she wrapped her arms around her mate. She rested her cheek against his back and took a deep breath. She simply needed him close, that was why she had woken up.

"Hey beloved... how did you sleep?" he asked her gently.

"It was fine... At least I was able to sleep. Are you tired? Shall I take over?" she replied softly.

"No.. Get some rest. That's the best thing you can do for me." he replied and Sanja could hear a small sigh and a smile of relief in his voice.

She knew only too well how worried he was about her. He would have loved to take all her pain away from her and drown it in the sea.

"I can rest better in your presence," she then said.

"Then come here." Damian replied and took a step back.

Sanja placed herself between Damian and the ship's wheel. She wrapped her arms around his middle so that they were now both wrapped tightly in the warming blanket. Damian pressed a kiss to her hair as he put one hand back on the wheel and embraced Sanja with the other.

It wasn't ideal, but he couldn't deny how good the closeness of the other did them both.

That was how the night passed. And so did the next few days. It was already noon and the sun was burning down on their heads when they suddenly heard Garro's voice calling out something they had been longing for.

"Land in sight!" he called.