It had been awhile since they set off, and Worthy was tired. He felt like he was going to faint. The boat was horrible. He hated water and sailing was the worst part of it. He was on a wooden prison surrounded by water and mysterious creatures. To make things worse, Smasher was mostly out on the boat, so Worthy couldn't talk to Chief Ugo without feeling scared. He hated admitting he was scared but two things scared him: rhinos, as he'd found out last week, and water. Today Worthy was somehow up on deck. Two younger sailors were laughing at the side of the boat. He wandered over to them.

"Hey guys" he said. They were about his age. One was a girl and the other was a boy, both from Nilo. The boy was skinny, with short hair. The girl reminded him of Abeke. She had braided hair and wore similar clothing. The memory of his friend sent a pang through his heart. Then Chief Ugo came up. Smasher followed. The boat lurched.

"Hi, I'm Abe..." Worthy passed out.

Next thing he knew the girl was standing over him. He could hear voices but couldn't make out words. "Are you ok?" asked the girl. Worthy groaned in response.

"What happened?" said Chief Ugo, rushing over with the boy.

"Did you say your name was Abeke?" asked Worthy, ignoring the chief's question.

No, I wish" said the girl. "No wonder you fainted if you thought I was Abeke." Worthy managed a weak nod. "I'm Abetha" said the girl, "and this is my brother Cantya." Worthy looked at them both, then tried to stand up. His legs felt wobbly and he collapsed on the floor again. Abetha extended her hand to help him up and so did Chief Ugo. Cantya ran ahead to Worthy's bedroom door, pulling it open as they helped him walk to it. Abetha asked "Have you heard every story of Abeke, like the one where she saved Erdas by firing an arrow at a bell?" Worthy knew that story all too well. He'd been crippled on the floor in pain. His brother had backed away from him, scared, and just before Abeke loaded her bow, his good friend Shadow had had the life sucked out of her by the Wyrm.

When Worthy opened his eyes again he was lying in bed. The twins were sitting nearby. He sat up. "Oh, you're awake, what happened?" they asked curiously. Worthy sighed.

"It wasn't your fault, but I was there that day. I saw a good friend die to the Wyrm. I felt my body collapse in on me. I couldn't figure out what I was, human or cat? The pain was unbearable. My brother looked scared of me. But you didn't know." 

"I'm so sorry" she said. She looked shocked. He smiled.

"Let me tell you a story about Abeke that no no one's heard yet." She sat forward and beckoned her brother over. "Me and Abeke were in a forest. I did a back flip. I could tell she was impressed and I could see she thought she could do better, but she knew she couldn't so didn't try."

"I bet she was just being modest" butted in Cantya.

"Maybe, but this is my story so shut up. Anyway, later we came to a river. I offered to cut down a tree for her to cross, but she jumped it and offered the same thing from the other side. I was impressed but I knew I could do better, so I climbed and did a triple backflip over the river." He went on to tell them the whole story, leaving out the parts that made him look bad and amplifying the good ones.

It had been too long since Chief Ugo had left the boat. Worthy was ready with a small boat. He'd just lowered it into the water when comotion started on the beach. Worthy saw his friends attacking Song and the Oathbound, and there he saw Conor fighting with a strength he'd never seen in the boy before. Meilin was skilled as usual and Rollan was, well, just being Rollan. Then he saw Abeke break from the group and run. He wanted to cheer them on, but he needed cover. He pulled into the caves and collapsed on the floor.

"Thank Rumfuss, land" he whispered, then he heard a grunt. He looked up to see Uraza staring down at him. "Erm, you're not going to tell anyone about that are you?" he said getting up. Then he heard footsteps.

"URAZA!" called Abeke. She rounded the corner. "Oh, Uraza there you are." Then she looked at Worthy. "You" she said. Worthy smiled. "I thought I'd never see you again, are you..." she trailed off and reached out. She placed her hand on his face. He flinched away, but she hugged him. "Worthy, you are alive" she said. Worthy blushed.

"I wasn't expecting to meet you here or else I'd have dressed up" he joked.

"I don't need you to dress up even if you were back to Devin again. I'm just so happy to see you." Worthy looked at her. Something wasn't right. "I thought I'd lost all my Redcloak friends" she said. That was it.

"Shane?" asked Worthy. Abeke nodded. He smiled. "I know what will cheer you up."

"what" asked Abeke.

"I met two chidren who were big fans of you!" Abeke blushed.

"Oh come on, I don't think so."

"They knew every story about you, and one of them even dressed like you" stated Worthy as they started walking.

"And let me guess" said Abeke. "You wish they were fans of you?" It was Worthy's turn to blush. He looked away.

"You got me" he said. Abeke stepped on his tail. It wasn't hard, but it just showed she knew his secret.

"I sure did" she said. "Now let's free my friends."

"Erm, excuse me, I think you'll find there our  friends" said Worthy, running after her. 

Meilin had hugged him and Conor and Rollan had shown genuine affection. Maybe he should have become Worthy sooner. People liked Worthy, unlike Devin, but the Trunswick boy was behind him. Now, as he watched Abeke hold off the soldiers, tears stung his eyes as she was dragged under. He thought of all the fun he'd had with her. He looked at the nobles and tried to stop the tears, but they came as all tears did when you lose a friend. Then he saw the crazy old man jump in to save Abeke. What chance would he have? He just needed to hope.

"Worthy, you alright, mate?" called one of the soldiers as they heaved the boat up to Chief Ugo's one.

"Yeah, just needing some rest" he sed, heading for his room. The others let him go. What had he achieved, abandoning Abeke and the crazy old man, leaving Conor and Reilin to get lost in a labyrinth of dangerous corridors. He collapsed onto his bed and cried soaking the pillow with his tears.

"Worthy?" asked a small voice from the doorway.

"What?" grunted Worthy.

"Are you ok, man?" said Jolt's voice.

"Jolt!" He looked up to see two Redcloaks standing there.

"We've been searching for you" said the girl. He couldn't tell who she was, for her hood was pulled up, shadowing her mask.

"Yeah man, you had us scared" said Jolt, tussling Worthy's hair like he was a small kid. Worthy pushed him away.

"I've missed you" said the girl. She lowered her hood and removed her mask.

"Shadow?" asked Worthy. The girl smiled.

"Thank you for what you did then." Worthy remembered climbing down to a ledge where Shadow lay to retrieve her. He'd given her to the medics, but with the destruction of the Wyrm and the small morsul of life left in her, she must have survived. Worthy hugged her and she hugged him back.

"Woah, woah, woah, ok there you two lovebirds" Jolt said. Shadow pulled away from Worthy.

"I don't love him" she protested. "I mean like sure, I love him as a friend, but, well,not any other way." Worthy rolled his eyes. Then a huge wave rocked the boat. Jolt fell on top of Shadow, while Worthy collapsed on the bed.

"Who's the lovebirds now?" he teased.

"Yeah, yeah, very funny, man, but we gotta see what caused that wave." Shadow nodded.

"I'll make sure the prisoners are ok" she said, rushing down the hall.

Worthy and Jolt fought with the wheel of the ship, pulling it hard, trying not to get capsized. Whenever a big wave struck they'd steer towards the main point of impact to prevent them from drowning. A huge wave washed over Worthy and he screamed. Jolt laughed next to him.

"You alright, man?" he asked.

"Ok, I admit it, I'm terrified of water." The two soldiers came running up on deck with Shadow. Worthy swapped places with them, but Jolt stayed.

"Jolt!" called Worthy. He shook his head.

"What if another wave hits? You can't get wet." Jolt suddenly collapsed on the floor. Shadow picked him up. 

"It's the rain" said Worthy. She nodded. They rushed inside. Worthy dried himself off while Shadow tended to Jolt.

"Do you think he'll be ok?" she asked.

"I dunno, you're the one treating him!" remarked Worthy.

"I want to cry but tears are water." Worthy pulled her over to a bed at the other side of the room. The young woman let her tears flow while he treated his friend.

"Worthy, man, is that you?" asked Jolt.

"Jolt, you're ok! I was so worried" said Worthy.

"I am NOT going back up there again" said Jolt.

"Me neither" said Worthy

"Oh, come on boys, don't be scaredy cats" said Shadow "Think of King. What would he have done?"

"Kissed Abeke?" offered Jolt. Shadow cringed, and Worthy laughed.

"Yeah, probably something like that" he said.

"Do you guys feel that?" asked Shadow.

"No, what?"

"Exactly, the boats stopped rocking."

"The storm's over?" asked Jolt.

"Our friends won!" exclaimed Worthy.

"Yeah, woo! Go Greencloaks!" yelled Jolt.

"And redcloacks. don't forget about yourself!" sed worthy with a laugh. Chief Ugo entered the room. Smasher followed. Worthy flinched and stepped behind Jolt.

"Worthy, you're not scared of rhinos are you?" asked Shadow teasingly.

"N -n -no" stuttered Worthy. "Ok fine, I am."

"Scaredy cat, literally" said Jolt. Worthy rolled his eyes.

"So how are you?" asked Ugo.

"I am NEVER going to be a sailor again!" stated Worthy. The Chief rolled his eyes.

"One day till we set sail."

"One day! I have to spend one whole day on the boat."

"With us" said Shadow.

"That's supposed to help?" said Worthy, grinning.

"No" replied Shadow. She was smiling too.

"If the others want me, I'll be here" said Worthy. Ugo nodded, then walked off, taking his monster with him.

sorry to all of u who red the bad vesion i wasent looking at thwat i pasted from the google docs XD so there was a small bit of a difrent chapter sorry