Darkness. It collected below the deck of the ship, comforting in its obscurity, its quiet. The oil lamp on the bolted desk flickered in vain against the soft shadows that had overtaken the bunk hold, and the passenger’s shadow trembled on the wall as an effect. Sitting upon her assigned bed, Anisse slowly pulled the hood down from around her face, then rolled her head against the hold’s wall. She wondered how long the ship would sail before it reached its destination, if all ships followed the same path as the Captain’s. Gerty, the dwarf cook of the Seawolf’s ‘merchant’ ship, had secured passage for her on this particular vessel. Thinking that she couldn’t wait for the Captain to make his rounds, she had quickly boarded the small cargo ship.
Anything to get away from the city.
The rowdy sailors on deck made her trip a restless one, and Anisse found herself trying yet again to numb herself to the sounds of obnoxious laughter, of glass bottles smashing against the hull of the ship. She concentrated on the gentle rocking as it rode the waves, her arms relaxing as her body followed in motion. Her eyes slid over to the golden oil lamp, its fire flickering weakly. Images, flashes of memory played in her head, ringing around the lamp’s soft light. The stern face of the woman she once called mother danced in the fire, amber eyes like two points of the flame gleaming up at her. Anna rolled her head away from the oil lamp, trying to dissuade the images, but only more seemed to seep into her foggy mind.
The far off sound of gulls calling washed over her, riding the cold winds off the cliffsides. Raining. Always raining. Droplets hit the window pane hard as she pressed her small hands against it. The torchlight flickered at the stables beyond her reach. Just as it always rained, Quint and Mother always fought. Except now they did it outside. The muffled sounds of their yells was ended when Lady Handhour struck him, slapping the young man hard enough to make him veer back a bit. He’d really done it now. She quickly clamored away from the window as Mother shot back to the doors of the manor. The heavy oak doors slammed against the manor walls as she entered, making the windows shudder.
“Anna! Back to the study with you girl! NOW!” Her Mother’s voice trembled with an anger that was not directed at her, but it still sent her quickly to where she was ordered.
Anisse drew her knees up closer to her body, as if fighting to keep warm. Brother. Sister. Mother. The words seemed alien to her, though her memories seemed to reflect the fact that she had experienced them. The tumult of emotion these thoughts evoked made her stomach turn with unease. She stole the fire of the oil lamp, stole its life--punishment for provoking her. Again, she rocked with the ship as it sailed, trying to find comfort in the rolling waves. Trying to blot out everything in the sound of the ocean.
The sound of Quint‘s voice filtered in and out of her mind among the waves.
Sail…
Her heart felt sick and she hated him for it.
Sail…
It was easier to feel nothing at all...
Sail…
The glinting edge of her scalpel was her ‘affection‘.
In the early morning, just before twilight, Anisse emerged from the bunk hold. Her small boots crunched upon broken bottle pieces, the sailors laying around in inebriated heaps around her. The quiet rolls of enlivened shadow followed just behind, the void walker blanketing the deck in a dark fog. Looking over the railing of the vessel, she beckoned her demonic servant forward. The body of the dead sailor swirled around within the demon’s abyssal bulk, and in one soft order, he was released to the ocean. The calm that she’d retained from the kill filled her as the body sunk below the waves, a job well-done.
The drunkard’s fate was sealed when he’d mistakenly tried to climb into her bunk. And it was exactly what she needed. His heart floated gently in one of her jars below deck now, and none upon the ship were any wiser. By the time they would go looking for the sailor, she surmised that she would be long off the ship. Peering over the ocean, she noticed the sun began to paint the water orange where it began to rise. It would be time to eat soon for the crew.
Luckily, she’d came across very fresh meat for her meatpies. She certainly hoped they would be hungry.
No comments:
Post a Comment