The Girl With the Dragon Eyes

Chapter 5- The Hunt

Michael sat there, his back straight up against the booth's back. He stood up, walking over to her side, then sat next to her. He scooted over, placing his arm around her.

She turned, burying her face into his chest and hugging him. She continued crying as he stroked her head. He kissed her head, then hugged her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~elsewhere~~~~~~

As the storm raged on, it was far worse out at sea.

"Raise the sails!" Joash commanded his men. "Keep them from tearing!"

The huge waves tossed the boat around, and the heavy rain beat down on the men.

Girth was helping pull the main sail up, struggling against the wind and rain. As he did so, one of Rick's thugs, on top of the mast, got a wicked idea. He was a wiry sort of man, almost looked like a boy in his mid teens, but in reality, he was thirty years old, and in bad need of a healthy diet. He was informed of their need to begin picking off Joash's men, seeing as how they would hinder their goal to kill Iris. He crawled along the sail's timber, then began hacking at one of the supports with his axe. The support broke, causing the timber to swing down.

It was too late when Girth saw the timber swinging down at him. It cracked him in he side of his head, shattering his skull. The blow threw him at the boat's rail, which broke under his weight and the force with which he was thrown.

"Man overboard!!" one of Joash's men yelled.

Joash, his men, and a few of Rick's thugs ran to the boat's rail that was still intact. The wind and waves died down a little bit.

Joash looked at the beam, then at the deck, seeing several drops of blood. "There's nothing we can do for him in this blasted weather. Besides..." he took one last look out to sea before walking away. "He was dead before he hit the water."

After he walked away, the fellow who had killed Girth looked over at Rick, who was leaning against the stairs that led up to the boat's wheel. The thug boss nodded at the goon as if to say, "well done."

The goon smiled, then re-holstered his axe.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They finally reached land, coming across the large, jungle island.

"The Island of the Accursed..." one of Joash's men stammered.

"What? Forget you're big boy pants back home?" Rick mocked the cabin boy, then he and the thugs closest to him began to laugh. Rick's was more of a cackle.

They lowered two longboats out. One full of Joash and some of his men men, and the other, Rick and his thugs. They stepped ashore, walking up to the jungle's edge. Rick stepped ahead of everyone.

"Oh yes... She definitely came here. Jungle's so thick, it makes it easy for an Enderling to hide in here..." He and his thugs stepped forward, then he turned around. "Are you coming? Are do you fear the cocoa nuts too much?" Rick grinned, and several of his men began to laugh.

As they set off into the jungle, Joash urged his men, "it's all right fellas. You see any demons, just sacrifice the thugs to them." This caused his men to grin weakly, and find the courage to follow their fearless leader into the dark jungle.

They soon reached the jungle temple that Iris and Michael had found. They saw the doors that Michael had placed ripped off their hinges, lying on the ground. Several blocks of Iris' obsidian were still intact. Some appeared damaged, but very few had been destroyed.

"Well now, Iris, what were you doing in there?" Rick stepped inside, squeezing between the obsidian blocks that had been blocking the entrance.

Rick looked around at the scene. Even though the jungle was dark, there were still patches of sun that found there way down to the jungle floor. Some even illuminated the inside of the temple.