"Is our communications equipment really this lousy?"
Elsa almost laughed in anger. How far could a ship travel in twenty minutes?
Ten nautical miles? Twenty?
And that included the distance traveled underwater from beneath the Hearthfire District out of Saint Clair.
Lost? All the ship had to do was surface. At this distance, it would be visible to the naked eye.
Even if they really had encountered an enemy, the sounds of combat would carry this far.
So Elsa did not think there could be any serious trouble at all. She only thought something had gone wrong with the communications equipment.
She patted the crow on her shoulder. "Dorothea, what's happening aboard the ship? Come back first if you have to. I'll have the crowd disperse-"
Returning after just twenty minutes at sea would be a little embarrassing, but that was better than having something happen once they were too far away to return.
Yet the crow gave no answer.
Elsa frowned, took the crow off her shoulder, and cupped her in both hands to examine her.
Miss Crow's eyes were vacant as she stared blankly back at her. No matter how Elsa shook her, she did not respond.
It was as though she had frozen.
Then, before Elsa's shocked eyes, bloody fluid began seeping from the crow's eyes and mouth.
Aboard the ship.
"Dorothea, open a mirror first."
"Open a mirror? Now? Is the situation really that bad?"
Dorothea muttered.
The ship had run into some trouble just after setting out to sea: communications with shore had been cut off.
This was not a major problem. They had not traveled very far yet, having only just left the waters near the Imperial Capital and reached the edge of the Far Sea.
The engineers had already gone to make emergency