Chapter 30

CHAPTER THIRTY

“ P lease tell me Crosby is chained in the bottom deck,” I all but begged, staring at all the crew with wide eyes. I was trying to think positive thoughts, but it wasn’t working.

“He’s not,” Hammond whispered in a small voice, his eyes just as wide and fearful as mine. “He said he was hungry, so I unchained him earlier to get some fruit.”

“Where is he now?”

My question was answered with deafening silence.

“He must still be on the island,” he murmured, his voice low and barely audible, sounding ashamed.

“How could this have happened?” I groaned, pressing my face into my hands to muffle the panicked shout. “How could we have left one of us behind like this? They’re going to eat him alive!”

“We’ll figure something out,” Viktor tried to assure me, but his words didn’t do much. Not when I knew Crosby was up against an island full of cannibals. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were already planning how to eat him.

“Don’t get so worked up over this, Astrid,” Laurence said, looking as troubled as I felt. “It’s only Crosby. Maybe this is the punishment that we were holding out for?”

“That’s a terrible way of looking at it,” I groaned.

“I agree with Astrid,” Hammond frowned deeply. “This isn’t right. We have to go back for him.”

“Are you crazy?” Latham exclaimed. “We can’t go back for him! We’ll be walking ourselves into the lion’s den!”

“There’s no point getting all us all killed for just one person,” Gustav sided with Latham. “I know it sounds horrible, but we must be realistic.”

“And it’s Crosby!” Odin reasoned as if that was a good enough excuse in itself. It wasn’t, but I didn’t blame him for feeling that way. If Canne weren’t an island full of cannibals, I would have celebrated leaving Crosby behind. “It’s not like he’s a saint worthy of being saved.”

“But does he deserve to be turned into breakfast?” Viktor groaned.

“What are you suggesting? That we turn around and get him?” Garth asked. “You’re Captain. Whatever you choose, we’ll stand by you and honour your decision.”

Viktor groaned lowly and pressed his hand to his forehead, looking truly tormented. “As bad as I feel for Crosby, we can’t risk all of our lives for just one person. I hate to say it, but Crosby isn’t worth it.”

“Viktor?” I turned to face him, begging him for something I knew he couldn’t give me. Not without risking all our lives.

When he sighed and shook his head just slightly, a pitiful look on his face, I moved over to the rail. Islanders were lined along the shore, all angered and cursing us for escaping their greedy clutches.

I sincerely hoped that after they finished working their way through the pile of bodies they already had piled up, they wouldn’t get their hands on any more sailors and then eventually die of starvation. That was the least of what they deserved after killing and eating so many people.

Eating humans. Imagine!

Despite Crosby’s attempt to kill me not long ago, at this moment, I really felt sorry for him. How could I not when we had practically signed his death certificate by leaving him behind? Albeit accidentally.

No one deserved such a horrendous fate. Not even Crosby.

I closed my eyes and clasped my hands together, praying for him. I prayed that regardless of how he was killed, whether they yanked his teeth out, skinned him, or tried to cook him alive, he would die quickly and not feel any pain.

The notion of Crosby suffering and living through it all made me sick to my stomach.

When I opened my eyes after praying, I blinked several times to ensure I wasn’t seeing things.

Had my prayer already been answered?

“Is that…” Hammond’s voice trailed off in question from beside me, unable to believe his eyes just as I was.

“It is,” I gulped and nodded my head frantically. “It’s Crosby!” I turned around to whisper harshly to the crew, not wanting to give him up to the cannibals in case the wind carried the sound of my voice.

A series of questions, denials and exclamations sounded aloud as everyone rushed over to the rail to look at the dead man walking. Well, it was more like running.

Crosby had a large sack hanging over either shoulder. I had no idea how he could run so fast with them.

The cannibals hadn’t spotted him yet, as he was still a reasonable distance away from them, but he couldn’t keep running along the shore. If he did, he would end up running into them, and there was no way he would make it out of that crowd alive. Or with all his teeth.

As if he could sense our thoughts, Crosby veered off to the water and dived into it, making a considerable effort to swim toward us while still carrying the sacks. He was still far away from the group of cannibals that had gathered where the ship had been docked, but they all turned their heads at the sound of someone diving into the water.

“We need to help him!” I called over my shoulder, but Viktor and Jerrik had already sprung into action. They were already on the rowboat and halfway down the ship as Hammond and Odin turned the mechanical wheel as fast as they could.

My heart hammered painfully in my chest as I watched them reach the water and row toward Crosby, who was struggling with the two sacks he was trying to carry with him. I was in the right mind to scream at him to leave them, as making it out of the water alive was the most important thing right now, but he wouldn’t be able to hear me. We were too far away.

“They have to make it,” I murmured to myself as my eyes continuously flitted between Crosby swimming and Jerrik and Viktor rowing toward him at an exponential rate. All the while, we sailed away from them all, as well as the few cannibals who were brave enough to dive into the water and attempt to get to Crosby before Viktor and Jerrik did.

I could already tell they wouldn’t make it as they had fumbled around too much initially and wasted precious time. There was now too much distance between them and Crosby, and by the time Crosby was finally pulled onto the boat–as well as at the two large mystery sacks he had stubbornly refused to leave behind–there was still so much distance between them and the rowboat.

Viktor and Jerrik were fast and had already turned the rowboat around to row back to us. I could imagine how exhausted they were, but they gritted their teeth and pushed on. The fear of being eaten alive was enough for Crosby to grab the third oar and help row despite resembling a drowned rat.

They were moving slightly faster now, but it wasn’t enough for them to catch up to us fast enough.

Everyone on board held their breath as we watched the island called Canne fade into the background, taking their swimming cannibals with them. Caspian stopped the ship to allow Jerrik, Viktor and Crosby to catch up to us.

The entire time, I kept my gaze trained in the distance, fearful that in the meantime, the cannibals would catch up to us, but thankfully, I didn’t spot anything or anyone.

I threw myself at Viktor before he could get off the boat. This time, no one laughed. Instead, we all released the breaths we had been holding, and Caspian quickly started sailing the ship again.

For cannibals who ate sailors, they were terrible at anything to do with the water. They could have gotten onto one of their ships and sailed after us if they wanted. They probably would have been able to catch up to us as well, but it appeared that they were more concerned with eating the people of the sea than learning the way of the sea.

It was too bad for them, but it worked out in our favour.