A Deadly Bite

23 || Let Go

There are four casualties of our ship brawl. Two dead by Edita's hand, two by mine. Each of them is thrown overboard. I watch their bodies hit the water with my arms resting on the rail's middle bar, sword dangling listlessly from one hand, fingers drumming in time to the broken rhythm of my thoughts.

The last to fall is the man with the yellow teeth -- the ship's captain, as it turns out. A scarlet halo fans out around him, lingering at the water's disturbed surface as he sinks beneath it as if the sea itself is wounded. The waves gently break it apart, washing away the temporary scar. Glassy eyes vanish into dark depths they can no longer haunt me from.

The ship rocks, lurching along with my stomach. Elbows digging into the rail's smooth metal, I stare determinedly out at the endless horizon, focusing on taking in breath steadily through my nose. My lips remain sealed firmly shut.

"I get the sense you do not like the water very much."

Edita's voice brushes against my left ear, though I don't turn to face her. "Not really." I lean my forehead against the rail in an attempt to quell the ache building in my temples, eyes squeezed shut. A sigh battles free. "It all looked so promising from afar."

I'm not only speaking of the sea. Everything I encounter these days seems to follow that trend: a hope built in advance steadily crumbled into horror and dread. I'm sick of it. The feeling is a simmering, passive kind of irritation, painted over the steadier thrum of despair, itching at the hollow parts inside. It's somewhat different to the darker, guilty feelings that usually pool in my chest. Their aim is to drag me down. This sensation merely throws me off balance, buzzing away just out of view.

A cold hand lays on my shoulder. "I know this is likely not what you want to hear, but you must keep it hidden. If these people sense weakness, they may choose to attack again."

Reluctantly pulling myself straight, I nod. My gaze drifts to her. The afternoon daylight cast over her face leaks an almost lifelike hue into her cheeks, though the scraps of skin visible through the rip in her tunic remain a dull, shaded grey. Yet unbroken. Swallowing hard, I turn back to the sea. "You can heal." The question doesn't have enough energy to spring upwards.

"As much a surprise to me as it is to you." Her shrug breaches the edge of my vision as she leans in beside me. "Albeit a pleasant one. I am enjoying my new lease of life." I'm drawn to look again by the flash of her smile. "Thank you for your nice vengeance act, though."

It's strange how flat and empty my thoughts feel. There isn't enough buried within the grey mist of my mind to formulate a response. I simply hum lowly, chewing at my tongue.

"At least my arising from the dead gave them cause to back down." Her dark eyes roam over me, trailing to my downturned sword and back again. "Though I suppose you freaked them out a little, too. You have some, ah..."

She taps at her cheek. I reach to touch the mirrored spot on myself, wiping over my cold-nipped skin until my fingertips come away streaked with blood. I wipe it carelessly on my side, adding another stain to my borrowed silver shirt. It hardly matters. Both of our clothes are spattered with blood not our own, drying into stains of mud and grass. Perhaps it would be worth taking a dive off the ship's side just for a wash.

I recoil from the notion, dizziness washing over me. Edita lands a pat on my arm. "Hang in there," she murmurs. "We will be back on land soon."

The promise means very little, but I nod anyway. At least this one might come true.

- ⋆⋅♛⋅⋆ -

Night closes its jaws over the world, and the weather worsens. Rain lashes at the ship in a torrent of arrows, an army marching within the gloom of the rolling clouds. It seems to infuriate the sea; the waves become snarling beasts, snapping at the falling droplets, their endless, writhing fury sending us tipping in all directions until I barely know which way is up. Chaos rules. I've spent many nights admiring the stars or marvelling in the darkened beauty the moonlight brings, yet that seems so distant now that I can barely believe it. I can only hunker into the back of the ship, soaked through and shivering and sick to my stomach, waiting for the nightmare to be over.