Jared paced back to the port, books in tow. He noticed the crew hurry and that Natalia was injured. His only thought was; "We're being chased? Better hurry" and he caught up to them and stayed at the back of the group.
Natalia was the first one down to the dock, and she lowered herself into the rowboat, and slumped. This small vessel was a new design she had been working on, and in her foggy mind, she grinned. The boat rowed by itself, with oars connected to gears and machinery, like a clock. All it needed was a few preparations. She started to spin a pulley with one hand, while the other one desperately held onto the wound. It had stained her white blouse red, and her face was a sickly pale. She waited until everyone got into the boat, and then pushed off. The tiny ship's mechanism sprang into action, and they moved through the water, leaving Bainslough behind. Natalia tried to clear her head, but everything was moving so... slowly. She felt the slightest tick of annoyance, but even that was smothered. "Listen," Natalia said, trying to sit up. "I believe that I am going to faint in a few moments." While she spoke, she took her sleeve of her shirt and ripped it off, giving her a nice long piece of cloth to use. "If that happens, when we get to the ship, I need you to get Jack to direct us towards Urela-" she cut out, with a gasp of pain as she tied the cloth around her waist, forming a sort of temporary bandage. "Apparently there is some sort of lost treasure, worth the gold of seven worlds. Urela is where we start." She slumped, and her eyelids fluttered. "I appreciate.." she trailed off as she fainted, her dark hair cradling her face as her head went limp. * * * Jade watched Natalia with worry. She loved her, in her own way, and it pained her to see the Captain like this.
"Treasure?" Cobiah thought. "Getting my hands on that would surely be great for the business." He turned to face Jade. "The Captain will be fine. I'm sure she's survived much worse. Just focus on rowing."
Jade nodded, and made a few adjustments to the rowboat. It took her a moment to realize that she was shaking. * * * When the rowboat was reloaded into the ship, Jack strode over with a wide grin. "How did it go?" he asked cheerily. His face froze as he saw Natalia. "What.." he gasped. He shook his head "Sierra, Damien, Bella!" he shouted to the medics. "I need you!" He picked her up, and ran down the stairs two at a time, entering the infirmary.
Jared watched as Natalia was taken down to the infirmary. He approached Cobiah. "What happened?..." He seemed very concerned.
"Not sure. Captain didn't tell us. However, there were quite a few nasty cuts in her side." He sighed. "She'll be okay, we have some of the best damned medics in the world."
Avice nodded, crossing her arms. "I'm sure we don't need to worry too much. She'll be better soon. I have no doubt."
Jade was quiet, as she nervously cracked her knuckles. Thoughts were flowing through her head rapidly, and she squeezed the bridge of her nose to try to get rid of the headache that was occurring. Ellis spoke up. "We should start heading towards Urela, right? Should Jack even be down there? He's not even a medic; the most he could be doing down there right now is stressing out the medics."
Jared sighed. "I hope she gets better soon..." He pauses. "If you need me I'll be in my kitchen." He turned and slowly walked down the stairs, coughing, his books under his arm.
Avice chucked lightly, taking a few steps forwards. "I'll go get Jack. Natalia did tell us to tell him to get the ship moving to Urela, right?" She said, before heading down to the infirmary calmly.
Inside the infirmary, it was quite as Ellia had expected. Jack was pacing around, barking at the medics frantically. "Will she be okay?" he kept asking, tugging on one of his dark brown curls. "We don't know, sir," said Bella, a dark skinned, petite young medic. "We think so, but these wounds will keep her out of commission for a while." She stitched up the wounds with a practiced hand, while Damien injected Natalia with a clear, jelly-like serum. They all looked annoyed. Jack looked utterly distressed. He kept pacing, looking like he wanted to help, but was unable to do anything. (@AzureBlitz )
Avice felt somewhat sympathetic as she lightly put a hand on Jack's shoulder, and attempted to give a warm smile. "Hey... I'm sure she'll be okay. You shouldn't worry. Besides, we need you up there on the deck.."
He looked up, the worry evident in his eyes, but he nodded. "You're right. Thank you." With one last glance at Natalia, he climbed the stairs with Avice. "I think she was intending for us to go to that sandy town, but I don't know if she wanted to leave immediately."
"Yeah, she said to go to Urela for some treasure. As for leaving, we actually might want to be quick about that. I mean, someone must have done that to her and maybe they were chasing her. The Corps, perhaps."
He nodded, glad for something to do. "You're right. Thank you, Avice. Truly." He swung up the ropes to the main deck, his calloused hands finding the knots easily. He climbed to the wheel, and, hand over hand, he turned the ship south, trying his hardest not to think of Natalia's wounds. * * * Natalia's brain was fuzzy, and she didn't like it. She opened her eyes, and she saw the white, starchy cloth of the sheets. She tried to sit up, but groaned as a sharp pain went through her side. "God damn it, Knox," she muttered. "There, there, Captain," Bella said, gently pushing Natalia back down. "You need to rest." "No..." Natalia said, trying to sit up again. "Hit her with another dose of morphine..." she heard them say. She struggled, pushing back the sheets, but another injection came, and she returned to a drug induced sleep.
Avice let out a small whoop and a laugh. She turned to the nearest random sailor, put her arm on their shoulder, and looked in the distance with a large grin. "I bet you're feeling pretty insignificant!"
The sailor grumbled, and pushed her off his shoulder. Her happiness, it seemed, wasn't contagious. Jade sat on the edge of the ship, her feet dangling over the water. She hated this feeling in her gut, but the medics had said Natalia would get better, so she had no choice but to believe them. (I'm going to be PMing you guys individually, so we can create more events that don't just pertain to my characters. You can opt out, if you wish!)
Jared sat down on a stool and pulled out one of the books he bought; Myths and legends. "Mermaids are sometimes associated with perilous events such as floods, storms, shipwrecks and drownings? Wow... I thought they were only associated with love and such..."
(I'm going to give them a couple hours of peace. Or, attempted peace. Urela isn't too far away - they can probably be there by nightfall.) Natalia woke up in the empty infirmary. She sat up, and threw back her sheets, ignoring the pain in her side. She pulled up her blouse to look at her side. A clean bandage circled her abdomen, and she nodded in satisfaction. She slid off the bed, and groaned. Her legs trembled, but she stood, holding her hand on the wall. Damn it. This hurt. She took a deep breath, and got to the doorway. The steps got easier, but it still hurt like a bugger. She bit her lip in concentration, and pulled her hair back in a tight ponytail to get it out of her face. She opened the door, and squinted in the early evening sunlight. With one hand on her side, and the other one drumming on the grain of the wood, she wondered how often she forgot to look at sundown. It was a shame, really.
Jared heard someone go up the stairs and he went to look. He saw it was Natalia and hurried over. "Captain! Are you sure you should be out of bed? Let's get you to your quarters." He went to put Natalia's arm round his shoulder.
