Chapter Five

July 30, 1580

I awoke to the burning hot sun blazing down on me. My eyes water as I open them, I blink a few times as my eyes adjust to the light. Every bone in my body cracks as I sit up.I let out a low moan in pain.

“What happened?” I mumble, still in a daze. I look around to see a blue cloudy sky above, and a sandy shore below me. I see scraps from the wreck around the shore, along with a few members of the crew. It all comes back to me.

I find the strength to scramble to my feet and walk over to the nearest crew member, Maximilian. I gently shake him awake. "W-Weyln? Where are we?" He asks as he sits up and looks around the shore?

"We we're in a crash, and I'm afraid that the ocean took ahold of the Thisbe. She's long gone…"

"Let's check for other survivors, we need to stick together." I nod in response, before grabbing his hand, and pulling him up.

Maximilian and I scather the beach looking for other members of the crew. By the end of our search we had found a total of six other survivors, making the group a total of eight. The survivors were Maximilian, Henry, Francois, Jack, Davy, Cutler, Rowan, and of course me.

n After everyone is gathered together, we decide that the best course of action is to gather enough supplies to get through the night, then come up with a game plan in the mornin'.

Henry, and Davy were sent off to gather parts of the boat that had washed up on shore with us in hopes to build some sort of shelter. Maximilian was in charge of building a fire. Francois was in charge of collecting firewood. And finally Cutler, Rowan, and I set off into the jungle-like terrain in hopes of finding anything edible.

We walked through the jungle till the sun had begun to set. Having gathered a number of strange fruits, and nuts for supper, we decided to head back to camp, but sometime during our search Rowan had separated from Cutler, and I.

“Ight, we should probably start heading back now. This should be enough to last us the night.” Culter says.

“Wait, where is Rowan?” I ask, looking around, but he is nowhere to be seen.

“He probably wandered off. Rowan is a big boy, he'll find his way back.” He says. “Come on, he’s fine. I don't wanna stay out here any longer, it's getting cold.”

“Yea, you're right.” I reluctantly agree. Cutler and I make our way back to the beach.

Henry and Davy set up a makeshift hut next to the large fire pit that Maximilian and Francois had set up. The six of us sit by the fire, and eat most of what Cutler and I had collected. By the time Rowan returns to camp the sun had already set.

“Where’d you go?” I ask Rowan as he walks up to the fire.

He places a bundle of yellow fruit next to the others. “I found a tree that was growing these. I called out to you guys before I had left, you must've not heard me.” Rowan responds, shifting around nervously.

I could sense that he was lying, but I chose not to pry. “Glad you made it back alright.” I say, giving him a closed eye smile.

That would not be the last time Rowan acted suspiciously.