The Queen of the Waves

4: the Admission of Guilt

Mara sat upright on the bed as the Captain carefully propped her up on pillow after pillow until the muscles in her core were no longer needed and she could relax.

The Captain settled down on the edge of the bed close to Mara, a bowl of water and a cloth in his hand.

"I'm going to wash the blood off your face so that I can see where the cuts are, ok?"

"Yes." Mara replied in a hoarse voice.

The Captain shifted on the bed to get closer to Mara. As he lifted his hand to brush the hair from her eyes Mara hesitated for a second as if deciding whether or not to run or scream. It was a tiny, imperceptible motion but the Captain noticed it and frowned sadly.

"My name is Bayen, you can call me that if you want Mara." Bayen spoke to her softly as he began to wipe away the dried blood from her eyes. She winced as the cloth scratched at her skin slightly but it felt good that the stench of old blood was being removed from her skin.

"Mara," Bayen paused for a second and soaked the cloth in the water again, wringing out the blood, "can you tell me how you ended up where you did?"

Mara opened her mouth to explain and then she paused as she realised that she would have to admit that she was planning on stowing away. It would be an admission of guilt.

"Ummm..." Mara looked around desperately to think of an excuse or something to hide her guilt but her brain is still fogged with injury and exhaustion so no creative lies emerged.

"Mara, I'm not going to be mad about your answer, you're a victim."

"So you-you won't throw me overboard?" She asked, just for an extra hint of safety and clarification before she spoke. She hated how pathetic it made her sound, but pathetic and helpless was what was needed in this situation.

"I'm not in the habit of throwing defenceless women overboard, so no I won't do that." His voice was light with a laugh but inside his stomach was clenched with the guilt that she felt like that. That she had to ask him that because in her heart she was afraid.

"The sickness started to come for women," Bayen nodded along with her as she spoke, "and I didn't want to die. Ciaran said he'd found a way to get me on the ship so I would be safe in Andonia."

Mara bit her lip and looked up at the Captain's face as he focussed in on the gash to her forehead, it was angry with blood and bruises. Bayen didn't care that Mara had planned to sneak on board his boat, he knew that women in Zauros were treated badly, even without the sickness he wouldn't have blamed her. Who can be blamed for wanting a better life?

"Go on Mara, I told you you were safe here regardless and I meant it."

"We left the flat a few hours before the ship was due to leave but before we reached the ship Ciaran... he... he slammed my head against a wall and then it all went dark."

"Is that the last thing you can remember before I found you?"

"No," Mara winced as Bayen began to wind a bandage around her forehead to stop the blood pouring from the gash, "before you found me Ciaran came to see me, he told me his plans for me."

Bayen clenched his jaw in anger as he wiped the last drops of blood from Mara's face. When he looked at her he could see a young, frightened girl who had been betrayed by a man who should have protected her. But more than that, as Bayen looked at her demeanour and could see she carried more sadness than just the events of the last few days.

"What were his plans for you?" He gritted out as he moved his attention to her wrists which had angry bite marks from the ropes.

"He-he was going to sell me to someone who wanted my body." Mara chocked out, her distress and anguish wasn't false or forced, she was overwhelmed with the disgust of what her future could have held.