Wicked Runaway: A Mark Cannidor Adventure

Chapter Seven

Mark had found himself walking down a long, dark corridor with faded brown walls lined with portraits of his ancestors. He held in his hand a green wand, stolen from his father’s work room, which he used as his source of light. Young Mark Cannidor tried with all his might not to make any noise, as any disturbances may wake his family who were trying to sleep merrily and peacefully in their rooms.

Mark was nervous as he arrived outside his parent’s door. He was shaking, reluctantly cooperating with the task at hand. Yet, he knew this had to be done. He had to be careful not to wake them, otherwise the rest of his family would catch him.

‘Extinguisha,’ Mark whispered. As instructed, the light from his wand went out.

He then slowly opened the door to his parent’s bedroom.

Inside, Mark found that his mother and father were fast asleep. Peacefully dreaming. Not a care in the world. Happy and innocent. Comfortable. The lantern on his father’s side of the bed was still lit. Mark figured that his dad must have forgotten to put the light out before he went to sleep.

It had to be done.

Feeling thirteen years’ worth of rage, Mark crept towards the bed where his parents lay peacefully, being as careful as he possibly could to remain silent. Then raised his wand.

Edward and Hazel Cannidor woke up with a start. Seeing his son stood there with his wand pointing towards him and Hazel, he sat up in fear for his life.

‘Son…please…,’ Edward pleaded, panicking. His mother grabbed onto his father’s arm, sobbing with fear, pleading for her son to stop what he was doing.

Their son ignored their screaming and pleading for mercy.

‘I’m sorry, father,’ young Mark responded emotionally. ‘You’ve given me no other choice’.

Slowly, Mark Cannidor lifted his wand up to his father’s face, green from the light of his enchantment.

There were screams and a flash of green light…

SPLASH!

Then Mark woke up with a start. He was drenched in water once more. He sat up in his new bed, trying to catch his breath like he was emerging from under water. Then, observing his surroundings, he noticed there was a girl stood in front of him. She had brown hair and wore a brown, ragged dress. She was also holding a bucket.

It was the same girl who gave him a cup of water yesterday. The girl with brown hair, a ragged dress, and an innocent expression. Mark noted the same kindness in her face, except this time she looked a little more playful.

It didn’t help his situation one little bit.

‘You,’ Mark panted, wiping the water from his eyes. ‘What the…what the bleeding heck are you doing?’

‘I had to wake you up somehow, didn’t I?’ the girl responded. ‘Come on, let’s go’.

Then the girl left, still chuckling.

Had Mark seriously had a dream that he had killed his own parents? It was all confusing, yet he thought he had used magic to kill them. It wasn’t possible. Using magic to kill his parents…Mark had no magical powers to do any such thing. At least, he didn’t think he had.

He couldn’t help but notice that the house in the dream wasn’t theirs. There were portraits of people he did not know. He dreamed that some other family members lived in the same household. Which couldn’t be true. The only family members he knew of were his Grandma Irene who lived in Germany, and his Uncle Elliott who owned a factory somewhere in Scotland.

It couldn’t have been real.

Then there was a word he had heard before Sophie splashed him with water. It sounded like some sort of incantation. Something he had never heard before. The weird thing was the fact the Mark felt as though he had stuttered the word himself. It was all so real, yet it felt surreal at the same time. Whatever it was, it emitted a green spark. It had some sort of meaning. And the worse thought was the fact that Mark had performed some sort of action himself.

Almost like magic.

Was Mark Cannidor actually a wizard?

He found himself perplexed at this rather odd encounter with Sophie. Annoyed, in fact, that he was drenched once again. Nonetheless, his main worry at that point was to dry himself off. Captain McGough didn’t provide any towels, and that annoyed Mark even more, so his only way of drying off was to stand upstairs on the main deck in the sun.

The only problem he had with that it was raining when he reached the main deck. Crap, thought Mark. Maybe this just wasn’t his day.

‘Alas, my boy!’ announced Captain McGough as he noticed Mark. Captain McGough beckoned him to join them. ‘Come here, my good fellow’.

Mark felt awkward. Embarrassed, even. He didn’t want to approach Captain McGough, but the captain was rather insistent. He forcefully beckoned the young lad over to him.

‘How are you this morning?’ Captain McGough asked, a little too cheerfully for Mark’s liking. ‘Did you sleep well during the night? Oh my, yer soaked to the bone, lad’. Captain McGough had only just realised that Mark was drenched in water.

‘Well, you can ask her why, can’t you?’ Mark replied listlessly, nodding his head towards the girl who threw water at him this morning. The girl was chatting merrily to a couple of older crew members.

‘Aha! Our Sophie,’ Captain McGough exclaimed gleefully. ‘Wee little prankster, is that one!’ He winked at Sophie in a congratulatory sort of way. Mark wasn’t impressed at this and scowled up towards the captain. The captain, however, was rather dismissive of this.

A polite little wakeup call is all that was needed. Why did everyone he knew have a habit of splashing water at him to wake him up? His father, Sophie…it wouldn’t surprise him if the captain decided to throw a bucket of water in his face tomorrow morning. Then again, Mark figured that if he tried that, he would not hesitate to escape once again.

‘We will be arriving at our destination soon, as you know already,’ Captain McGough explained, checking a golden pocket watch he had stashed away in his inside coat pocket. ‘I would say…hmm…in approximately fifteen hours’ time’.

At that point, Mark diverted his attention away from the girl called Sophie. He was confused.

‘Sorry,’ said Mark. He followed Captain McGough up to the observation deck. ‘Exactly where are we going?’

From the observation deck, Captain McGough whipped a small pocket telescope from the inside of another coat pocket. It was gold, with royal blue writing on the side saying Sellina. Mark was sure that he had seen one of those before. His father used one of those telescopes every time they went sailing. Maybe his parents had some connection with Captain McGough? Or maybe they were once part of the crew of the Sellina? Whatever it was, it was beautiful. And the captain seemed to be quite proud to own such an item.

‘Fancy, eh?’ Captain McGough said proudly, noticing how Mark was observing his telescope. ‘There are seventeen of these in the world. I think it was your parents who gave this to me as a thank you gift. Not entirely sure why, though…’

The captain trailed off.

Mark wanted to talk about the telescope. But he knew there were more important conversations to have with the captain.

‘Where…sorry…where are we going?’ he asked again.

‘I thought that was pretty much obvious. We’re heading for the port capital of Alliva,’ Captain McGough replied. ‘The city of Gold-by-the-Sea, to be precise’.

Personally, Mark had never heard of such a place. He didn’t feel that he wanted to travel to a land that he had never been to before in his life. However, at that moment, he felt rather guilty. The whole point of escaping from the Lady Sinatra was so Mark could return to England. They were so close, having crossed the north of Scotland only a day before. He had been trying to reach his home for two weeks. He was out at sea, on his own in the boiling hot sun, desperately finding his way. It was a hopeless encounter. They were so close, yet now they were so far away once again. He wished more than anything else to be reunited with his parents. There was nothing that Mark wanted more than anything else than to head back home.

Yet, at that moment, he had considered another plan. Maybe…what if he was able to reach his Grandma Irene in Germany? Surely, the crew of the Sellina couldn’t be that far from continental Europe. All Mark had to do was reach the nearest port in Europe and find a way to his grandma. That could potentially work. If only he could persuade the captain? He had an inkling that his grandma lived somewhere in the Black Forest of Germany. He had seen so much of the area on maps, he felt confident in making his own way. Now, he had never visited Germany before in his life. But surely, it couldn’t be that hard to find her?

Then again, he had to remember that he had never met his grandma before. At least, not from what his memory served. Perhaps it wasn’t such a good idea after all. He didn’t want to put himself into that much danger. He thought dismally that maybe sticking with the crew of the Sellina was the best option he had.

Until he found another way.

‘Cheer up, lad,’ Captain McGough said, trying to be encouraging, noticing that Mark was glumly looking toward the sea ahead of them. ‘There’s plenty of things to do in Alliva. I would recommend the zoo personally. Some of the animals there are next to none. Then there are the Ports of Gold, they offer some grand sights. Alliva also has a history of Dark Magic. It still exists in Alliva, but many Allivans have fought against Dark Magic for centuries. It’s one of the most punishable crimes in the country to be in possession of Dark Magic’.

Dark magic? How could such a thing exist in the world?

‘Exactly why are we going to Alliva?’ Mark asked, suddenly curious. Captain McGough seemed taken aback by Mark’s change in enthusiasm.

‘You’ll soon find out,’ Captain McGough replied, chuckling. The captain continued to use the telescope to observe his surroundings. It was a rather rough day at sea. The water sloshed up onto the main deck, and the waves forced the ship to turn sideways, sending the crew in one direction.

This could not have been a good day to travel by any means. Mark felt motion sickness in the pit of his stomach. And he wanted to get off the ship. Now. The ship swayed from side to side, and it took young Mark all his might not to land on the ground. It was a difficult feat, but he didn’t know how much more of this he could take.

The storm was coming in from the west. And it looked as though they were going to sail right into it.

‘I don’t think this is a good idea, you know,’ Mark said nervously, fearing for the captain’s reaction. However, it didn’t seem as though the captain was listening to him. He watched the oncoming storm blending in from the west.

Mark was rather oblivious to this situation. But if they didn’t steer away soon, they were done for.

‘Perhaps if we were to use a little bit of magic, sir, we could fly the ship to Alliva and reach our destination much sooner,’ explained one of the crew members. ‘Then maybe we can avoid this nasty storm, sir’.

‘Nonsense, man,’ Captain McGough responded. ‘We’ll travel westbound. We’ll need to steer west anyway. Gold is in the south of the country, and the only way to enter by boat is by passing Western Alliva and turning left. Make sure that you steer clear of the storm if you don’t mind. Then we should be on course to arrive by morning’.

‘I shouldn’t think so,’ said Mark. ‘That storm looks like it’s heading straight towards us. I think that man is right. Maybe we should steer the opposite direction. Travel down east, then pass the storm when we reach the south’.

He had no idea what he was talking about, let alone had he any clue about where they were supposed to be travelling to, but Captain McGough looked impressed. He observed the storm in the distance, studying the correct approach to take. Then he patted Mark on the back.

‘Good plan,’ Captain McGough replied. ‘How d’you fancy training to be my Navigator?’

‘You mean you haven’t got one already?’ Mark asked suspiciously.

‘I am technically the Navigator,’ Captain McGough replied uncertainly. ‘However, I could do with a break. And I’m…ahem…not quite sure what to do myself, if I’m honest with you’.

The captain didn’t seem very suitable for the role if he had no sense of direction. But Mark had to admit to himself that he wasn’t sure what to do either. He had sailed to Cuba and back with his family on one occasion. That was only because they had been invited by a rich uncle of Mark’s who wanted to take them on a break from the farm. On that trip, which they took when he was 10 years old, they were caught in the middle of a horrendous hurricane. Whichever way he and his parents were lucky enough to have escaped the storm, but Mark couldn’t tell how that was possible. Still, they hadn’t travelled since then. He slept heavily throughout the entire journey. He was only told about the encounter when he woke up in Cuba. Even then, he thought it was all a falsified story created to amuse him.

Not this time, though. He had to think of a plan and quick.

‘I’m going to need a map,’ Mark said. ‘You’re the captain, right? Surely you know what a map is?’

Captain McGough was rather offended by this remark. Nevertheless, he reached into his coat and pulled out a folded map.

‘It’s a few years out of date, mind,’ Captain McGough told him bitterly. ‘But hopefully it’ll do the job nicely’.

Mark studied the map carefully before looking up to observe the oncoming storm.

‘Steer left,’ Mark commanded.

‘Do what the boy says Quinte,’ Captain McGough advised. ‘Left’.

‘Can we not just magic ourselves out of this one?’ Quinte asked. ‘If you ask me, this one looks lethal’.

‘Left’.

‘Surely, just a bit of magic won’t…’

‘LEFT!’

‘CAPTAIN, I DON’T THINK YOU UNDERSTAND…’

‘NOW!’

Quinte grunted.

Mark had to admit that he actually felt quite unsure himself. He continued to study the map, concentrating with all his might. Yet, he couldn’t figure it out. In fact, the country of Alliva didn’t even exist on this map. Their ship – the Sellina - could be anywhere in the world. And right now, they were in danger.

Quinte was right. They needed a bit of magic.

‘How do I…?’ Mark began to ask.

‘Just ask it to do what you want it to do,’ Captain McGough instructed.

Mark looked down once again at the map. Thinking outside of the box. Yet, he did not know what he wanted the map to do. He wasn’t sure exactly what he needed to see, or how he was going to ask the map what he wanted.

He thought for a few moments about this. Then it became apparent to him that there was only one way for it.

He wanted to see the island country of this place called Alliva. There was only one thing he could ask the map to do.

‘Show me,’ Mark whispered to the map.

Nothing happened. Perhaps it was because he did not know what Alliva looked like. However, Mark figured that his instructions were perfectly clear. He tried again several more times. Yet, it still didn’t work.

‘It’s not working,’ Mark noted to the captain, confused.

‘Don’t be silly,’ the captain said. ‘Try again’.

So, in fact, Mark did try again.

Once again, nothing happened.

Keep trying, Mark thought. Just keep trying – you know you can do this.

It continued to fail. The details just would not reveal themselves. He had let himself down. For a brief moment, he thought he had the answer to the problem. He thought for once that he could be in command and save lives.

It just wasn’t to be.

‘Alas, there we are’.

Captain McGough pointed towards the map.

As luck would have it, after several exhausting moments of intense concentration, Mark’s thoughts had finally flooded onto the map. The island of Alliva appeared just near the north-east coast of Portugal. Just above Alliva, there was a dark grey bubble, representing the storm. Then, a red figure representing a pirate ship. The Sellina.

Mark thought about it carefully. Surely, that had nothing to do with him. Then again, the captain certainly didn’t think so. He peered over Marks shoulder, amassed at the sight in front of him.

‘How on earth did you manage that?’ Captain McGough asked, stunned.

For the first time since he left England, Mark smiled. He was finally starting to believe in himself.

‘You’ll see,’ he replied, grinning. The captain didn’t seem too impressed. It looked like some form of wicked trickery which Mark had performed. His thoughts had spilled onto the page. And every question Mark had were answered. This was incredibly exciting. Whatever it was, Captain Stephen McGough was on a losing streak, and it annoyed him.

He was happy. Mark Cannidor had the answer to saving a pirate ship from a nasty storm.

At least, he thought he did.

His thoughts were starting to fade quickly from the map.

‘Show me again,’ Mark whispered quickly into the map. Again, the island, the storm and the ship were back in their places. This was Mark’s time to concentrate with all his might. The map showed the storm quickly approaching the Sellina. Wavy blue lines represented the size of the waves, and they were getting bigger.

Then, without warning, the shop tipped upwards. Crew members fell to the floor, whilst Mark tried with all his might to concentrate hard on the map whilst keeping his balance.

‘It’s no use, mate!’ Quinte shouted. ‘We need to fly to Alliva’.

‘Hold on,’ Mark responded. ‘I have an idea’.

Mark didn’t want to do this, but he had no choice. Eyes on the map, he secretly reached into his pocket for Malcheffi’s wand.

Except it wasn’t there. Mark’s hand scuffled around his pockets, but the wand was nowhere to be found. As he started panicking, the images from the map were starting to fade. Mark brought his attention back to the map, yet somehow without the wand, his magic might not be any use to him.

‘Well?’ Quinte asked.

Mark stood still for a moment, searching his brain for a solution.

Then it happened.

A wave crashed into the side of the Sellina and soaked the entire crew on deck. It took a moment for Mark to recover from the turbulence of the waves. Soon afterwards, his predicament had gone from bad to worse. The map was drenched, and it had ripped into two.

‘Give me the wheel!’ Mark shouted.

He jumped towards the wheel, knocking Quinte out of the way.

‘Are you an i***t, boy!’ Quinte shouted.

Mark ignored Quinte. He grasped the wheel with both hands and closed his eyes tightly.

If he really wanted to bring the Sellina to their destination safely, then he needed his concentration to do it. And he needed to take control.

As he studied the map, he realised the storm was heading towards the north-west tip of Alliva. If Mark wanted to steer clear of the storm, then they had to steer behind the storm to reach safety. It would take longer to reach Gold-by-the-Sea, but it was their only other option.

Mark steered the ship right. The Sellina tilted, throwing men and women to one side.

‘Are you mad, boy?’ Captain McGough barked. ‘You could get us all killed!’

‘Trust me,’ Mark shouted. And, surely enough, as the storm neared the Sellina, Mark did the unthinkable. He steered the ship behind the storm. Once again, huge waves crashed into the side of the ship. This time, it was worse. The ship could have sunk with the amount of sea water that came crashing into the ship. At the wheel, Mark lost consciousness and fell to the ground.

‘It should not take this long to get there!’ Mark could hear Quinte shouting. ‘Give me the wheel. Give me the b****y wheel!’

This is it, he thought. I’ve let down an entire crew. This is all my fault.

But then, without warning, the tides were changing.

Mark lay there, on the floor, out of breath, head spinning and unable to feel a bone in his body. It was like all that sea water had washed the life right out of him. He felt like he was going to die, but he couldn’t bring himself to reach the light in front of him. Every bone in his body ached. Every muscle was numb. He was not aware of his surroundings. Not aware of his nervous system. Unable to feel anything.

He had witnessed death many times during his 13 years having lived and worked on a farm, but he did not believe it would be anything like this. Most certainly, it didn’t feel like this either. If he was dying, then why did he suddenly feel hot? He was sweating, but at the same time, he was shivering.

Then there was the screaming of his name.

‘Mark! Mark, wake up! Mate! We’ve arrived’.

Mark struggled to open his eyes. There was a bright light shining on him.

‘I don’t think he’s made it, you know,’ said a worried girl. Was that Sophie?

‘Too much for the boy if you ask me,’ Mark could hear Quinte moaning somewhere nearby. ‘I told you, didn’t I? USE MAGIC! But does anyone listen to old Q? Oho, no! No one uses magic when Quinte’s around!’

‘Shut up, Quinte,’ the captain snarled. Quinte simply scoffed and walked away.

Mark had enough of hearing Quinte moaning. It wasn’t like anyone died around here. He slowly started to stir.

‘Mark!’ Captain McGough shouted, bending down to assist him. ‘He’s alive! That’s enough now, Quinte. You can quit with the lecture. Everything will be fine, mate. Can anyone fetch some food? Something to drink, too?

‘How are you feeling, lad?’ Captain McGough asked as Mark was slowly beginning to regain consciousness.

‘I…I don’t know…’ Mark responded. ‘It…I mean, it all happened so…so quickly…’

‘Save yourself the explanation, kid,’ Captain McGough said. ‘I would never have put a young lad like yourself in that position. Never. I blame myself. I should never have let you take on such a big task as that’.

‘N-no,’ Mark said, startled. ‘Don’t. You weren’t to know…’

Mark stopped as Sophie came over with a bowl filled with fruit.

‘They didn’t have any eggs,’ Sophie explained. ‘Sorry. Hope you’re okay’.

‘He will be just fine once everyone DISEMBARKS FROM MY SHIP!’ Captain McGough shouted. His voice carried throughout the entire ship. All the excited chatter which surrounded Mark stopped abruptly. Fearing the worst, the entire crew of the Sellina made their way to starboard to disembark.

As Captain McGough left to clear the ship, another familiar voice approached Mark.

‘I saw what you did there’. Mark looked up to find Elizabeth smiling down at him. She had her purple hair sleek and straight this time, and she was wearing black dress.

Mark was lost for words.

‘I…didn’t…’ he began. At that moment, Elizabeth lifted Mark up to his feet. It was a struggle for him to keep his balance, but Elizabeth managed to keep him upright.

‘Trust me, you were great,’ she said. Then she did the unexpected, and kissed Mark on the forehead. As her lips connected with the skin on Mark’s forehead, all the weakness inside his body turned into warmth and strength. He felt completely energised now. It was exactly what he needed at that moment. Where he was shaking moments before, he now had the energy to stand properly without hesitation.

‘Where were you?’ Mark asked out of curiosity.

‘Below decks,’ Elizabeth replied, smiling. At that moment, Mark noticed a sharp fang on the top set of her teeth. How strange. What exactly was that thing?

He was led towards the plank where they disembarked. The sight before him was overwhelming. It was there. A bustling port with ships, buildings, crowds of people, steam funnels, and a golden sunset in the background.

This was the port capital of Gold, Alliva.