Lords of the Manor- Part 4

The sun shone brightly across the glistening blue sea. It was hard to believe that only 5hours earlier that this was the same ocean that had thrown waves so high and so fierce that they had swamped the large cargo ship that had been carrying the imprisoned group of men, who were now floating aimlessly on a large broken piece of their former ship. There were just seven men remaining. Seven extremely lucky men! It had been by pure chance that the boat had been smashed into two, breaking them out of their cells in the stricken boat’s hold. All the crew, the prison ship’s guards, the captain and the captain’s beautiful daughter had disappeared. Gone down with the ship. Only the debris and wrecked pieces of cargo such as barrels and smaller parcels remained, along with the seven now-freed men. The storm had struck in the middle of the night while only a watchman was awake and, by chance the prisoners in the hold who had been emptying their heavy, desperate ball sacs over the teasing face of Miss Masters, the Captain’s beautiful, yet slutty daughter. This had given them a fighting chance against all the slumbering sailors as the storm had struck so quickly and so unexpectedly. Two thirds of the twenty-one prisoners had drowned and only the shamed noblemen, Lord Edmund Edwardson, Sir Kieran Valender, Lord Edgar and his younger brother Matthias Lovemore survived, along with their new companions Lord Luther Letchly, Sir Marcus Duke and Lord Tobias Tugger. Now they looked anything but noble! Floating into a great blue nothingness, with most of the food ruined and little fresh drinking water salvaged, they were now worse off than they had been when imprisoned in the cargo ship. ‘If we just keep rowing, according to the sun rising we should be heading Westward’ Lord Edmund said, attempting to sound positive. ‘What will we find Westward?’ Asked Matthias, a faint glimmer of hope spreading across his exhausted face. ‘Nothing!’ Muttered Sir Kieran, before Edmund was able to answer. ‘The ship was blown miles off course. No ship will find us. They don’t venture anywhere near here. They believe there are all sorts of sea creatures, the storms are notorious here, my father has lost thousands in cargo from ignorant sailors straying too far off course. Besides there are no island, no ports around here. We’re dead.’ ‘How do you know Kieran? You cannot say where we are’ retorted Edgar. ‘I have studied shipping maps. I knew where we are heading, this area is notorious for storms and ship wrecking. I don’t know exactly where we are, but I have a better idea than you.’ Kieran answered bitterly. His bruises were now very apparent from the previous night’s attack at the hands of his now dead cell mates. ‘Don’t start arguing now, can you not put your differences behind you?’ Lord Edmund sighed. ‘We are all in peril now, I for one would rather try surviving this ordeal rather than bickering amongst ourselves.’
For a whole three days they floated, taking turns amongst one another to row, occasionally just allowing the big raft to drift. Night came, they could not fight the urge of sleeping. Fortunately, the storm did not return. A gentle breeze blew them South West. The sun began to rise, warm on the backs of the wrecked men as they slept. ‘LAND!! LAND HO, LAND HO!!’ Luther yelled, opening his eyes and sighting a hazy mass becoming larger and clearer.