Walk the Plank: Part Four

      "L-lake?!" Darkwing felt like hitting himself in the forehead with a baguette. Had those mirages actually been... real? "Argh!!" He let out an exasperated sigh.

      The Shoyru stared. "...Okaaaay," he said, thinking his new friend was quite strange. He led Darkwing in the direction of his home.

      After they got back to the Shoyru's house, the Shoyru, whose name was Eynon, made Darkwing a small meal. Darkwing ate voraciously, happy to be satiating his empty and growling stomach. Afterwards, Eynon showed him the guest room and Darkwing fell asleep, exhausted from walking in the hot desert for hours.

      Darkwing woke up many times during the night, but each time he'd wake up, the same dream would replay. His dreams were horrible. Again, the scene of the Pteri kicking him off the ship played. In his sleep, he tossed violently back and forth and yelled, waking Eynon many times.

      The next morning, Eynon looked very tired, while Darkwing felt very much energized. "So," said Eynon, starting to pour himself some cereal, "how did you sleep last night?" The Shoyru gritted his teeth.

      "Horrible," admitted Darkwing, "but I be feelin' very much refreshed!"

      "Greeaaat..."

      "Arr, I be needin' to find myself into a town. Ye see, me ship was stolen by a scurvy seadog, and I be needin' it back!"

      Eynon stared in confusion for a few seconds as he tried to comprehend what Darkwing had just said. "Well, if you need to go into town, we'll have to walk nearly all day. You see, this house is out in the middle of the desert, and I don't get out much. I haven't had company here in years!"

      "How about flyin' there, then?" grunted Darkwing.

      "Oh, I really don't--" Darkwing ran out of the house, and Eynon followed. Darkwing tried to fly into the air. As a large wave of sand hit him, causing him to fall to the ground, Eynon said, "-suggest that..."

      Darkwing rubbed his eyes, which now had sand in them. "Sorry about that, Darkwing. I tried to warn you. The sand storms here are often and sudden. You'd almost definitely run into several of them if you tried to fly to town. At least if you're walking, you can shield yourself a little."

      So, the two set out on their journey across the large, empty, and sandy desert. After several hours of walking in one direction, Darkwing said, "Are ye sure we're goin' in th' right direction, mate?"

      "Of course I am! I live here, after all. See, all you have to look for is...umm..." Eynon looked around the desert scenery frantically. "...Anyway, I'm sure this is the right way." By the time the sun set, Darkwing wasn't so sure that Eynon was right. Because they had no tent, they had to keep walking through the night. By the time sketchy views of a town came into view, the sun was starting to rise again. "See? I told you this was the right way!" Darkwing rolled his eyes.

     ***

      "Arr, so I really be needin' to get me ship back from the scoundrel!" Darkwing received many blank stares. All at once the pets he was talking to broke out in excited chatter in some foreign language. "Wha?"

      Eynon handed him a small pocket dictionary. "You might be needing this. I used to have to use it all the time when I went into town! Finally I just learned their language."

      "Why? How?"

      "Ha, I live in the middle of the desert! What else do you think I'd do in my spare time? Count grains of sand?"

      As Darkwing flipped through the pages of the book, he whispered to Eynon. "Arr, this may be a bit embarrassin' on my part, but I don't seem t' have much skill in readin'..." Eynon stifled a laugh. Darkwing glared back in response before throwing the dictionary into the sand and stalking across the town. His eyes gleamed as a beautiful cargo ship sailed into the harbor. Quickly he climbed aboard the ship, forcing off all of its passengers. "Arr, I be needin' this ship more than you!" Down on the dock, the ex-passengers complained and shook their fists.

      Darkwing sailed out onto the open sea and hummed a tune. Once he realized what he was doing, he stopped, realizing what his crew would have said had they been there. Humming was not a very pirate-like thing to do. Ah, but his crew! What would he do without his terrific crew? A captain is nothing without the crew of his ship. And currently the crew...his crew, the crew he had practically picked out of the gutter- okay, maybe that was an exaggeration- was now under the control of that diabolic Pteri. He'd have to get them back!

      He sailed along for hours, not realizing until later one of his worst obstacles. He had no idea where he was! How would he sail to Krawk Island if he didn't know what direction it was in? In his mad rush to the ship, he hadn't thought to ask anyone where he had been. Rummaging around, he found a few maps scattered around, but none of them marked his location, and he wasn't sure which direction he had sailed anyway. The coastline hadn't been in view for hours. Darkwing groaned as he realized he was lost at sea. Could things go any MORE wrong?

      Diran himself was thinking the same thing. Not only was he experiencing all the bad things Darkwing was, but he was still trapped in his body! Lately he hadn't seemed to mind it, though. It was almost as if Darkwing and him had meshed into one body, one personality, one person.

      The sun was starting to go down, so Darkwing curled up on the deck to sleep. Perhaps things would be better when he awoke.

      He would have slept great that night, considering that the weather was warm and dry, however, Darkwing's streak of bad luck continued. Not two hours after he lay down to sleep, a horrible storm started, much like the one that had occurred on his own boat what seemed like ages ago. In seconds, Darkwing was soaked from head to toe from the torrential downpour of the rain. Dangerously the ship rocked back and forth.

      Darkwing got to his knees and looked up at the sky silently, wondering why he was caught in such a streak of bad luck. As a big wave came by, several boxes of the cargo, possibly containing food, bounced off the deck of the ship and into the dark water. Darkwing had had enough. Realizing that he had hit rock bottom, he started to cry, not caring whether crying was a very menacing or pirate-like thing to do. But in rare occasions such as this, even the toughest pirates must cry. Since Darkwing had lost his own ship and was lost on the ocean hopelessly without a crew, he thought this qualified as one of those occasions. Suddenly, he turned around suddenly. To his great surprise and shock, a light faerie was standing there. He howled. Now, not only was he lost and alone, but he was hallucinating! ...Again.

      As he stared at her, she walked forward a few steps. The sound of footsteps reached Darkwing's ear, and he sighed in relief. She was real.

      His reaction was to growl at her. He had already assumed she was there to ask him to find some stupid quest item for her. What was he supposed to do? It wasn't like he could run across the ocean to land and buy one from a shop!

      "The Light Faerie wants you to get-Oh nevermind!" she said, walking over to one of the few crates still remaining on the ship. "I'll get it myself!" After lifting out a single tube of lipstick, she turned back to him. "Since you don't appear to be in much need of any strength points at the moment, I will give you one wish."

      Darkwing was excited by this. What would he wish for? A turkey dinner? Companionship? "Make this storm stopppp..." he whined immediately. Instantly, the rain stopped, and the light faerie was gone. He instantly felt very stupid. Once he got off this cursed ship, he'd have to learn not to be so impulsive. Of all the things he could have wished for, he wished to change the weather? And of all times, when he was lost at sea! Since the rain was stopped, he figured he should probably take advantage of this time by sleeping. Curling up into a ball on the deck, he fell asleep for the second time.

      When he awoke the next morning, the sun was just starting to come up. Momentarily he stared out on the water at the beautiful sunrise, forgetting all about his problems and bad luck. He turned to look over the opposite end of the ship and jumped in joy. Coming into view on the slightly hazy horizon was land!

To be continued...