The Wisterian

Chapter 30: Drowning

The stench resettled in overnight, pungent and fishy. It was the first thing that greeted Rowan West as she crept down the stairs before the sun had fully risen. The rumbling in her stomach finally outweighed the trepidation of leaving her room.

Beryl Krill, the barkeep, gives her a toothy smile and suggests something called 'cackle fruits' for breakfast.

Rowan considers the shell in her pocket, running her fingers over the smooth whorls. She slides it over the bar top hoping it might be enough to cover whatever that...is.

Payment accepted, and a plate of green lumpy goo glides across the bar. Rowan carries it reverently to the corner table. Poking thoughtfully at the glop, she takes a hesitant bite, hoping it might be eggs, but she's been wrong before. As she chews the mixture, not half bad actually, the door swings open.

Sunlight streams into the darkened space. A chorus of groans arises as the light hits the bowed heads of those still passed out from the night before.

The open door is a welcome change in the air. Rowan observes in interest as two women enter the bar, stooping to pass under the low entryway. Each a perfect study in Finrossian grace. Over six feet tall, with short sleeveless tunics showing off the bulk of their arms and the barest hint of abs.

She chokes on the last bite as their penetrating gaze swings her way.

It must be time. Her summons to meet with Bryony.

If the women weren't so intimidating, she might be jealous of their haircuts, wheat blonde hair piled high in a single braid down the center of their heads and shaved on either side. Identically formidable in every way.

She thought Bryony herself would fetch her in the morning, dangerous to assume the actions of a Pirate Queen, she supposes. Surely the captain has better things to do than babysit a wayward archer.

The pair stomp over to the low, uneven table, one positioned on either side of her chair. They wrap a massive hand under each of her armpits and yank her upright. Definitely time to go. She knows a summons when she sees one, or at least when it's trying to tear her arms clean off.

"Hey now, watch it!" Rowan coughs up a bite of goo, unable to quell the pathetic yelp she emits whilst dangling a few inches off the floor. She would have gone willingly if they had bothered to ask first.

"Where are you taking me?" She grumps, twisting to gawp at one impassive face and then the next. "Did Bryony send you?"

Her questions fall flat, unanswered. She hears only the sawing snores of still-sleeping patrons and the skidding of her boots over the filthy bar floor. Beryl waves to them cheerily as the women wrench Rowan through the doorway. At least someone finds this amusing.

Her boots make two long lines all the way from Glut, down the long sanded alley between the shipwrecked buildings, and onto the shore, all the way until her heels hit the dock. Rowan is frankly impressed at the way the twins heft her so easily. Sure her bulk is softer and squishier than theirs, but dang, she isn't exactly light.

Clouds brew on the horizon, green and purple as a bruise. Heavy with rain. The air feels fresh and tangy with a strong salty breeze. She recognizes the appeal of life on the coast. The endless sunny days at sea, crisp breezes to rock you to sleep. Tide pools to wade in and sand to warm your feet. No roots or branches to poke and prod your body while you sleep.

But where do you hide when the storm finally rolls in? She can see the exact line where the white-capped waves meet the swollen, cloud skudded sky. Stretching forever to an endless, lonely horizon.

And she hates it.

Hates feeling exposed. Hates the salt crusting her sunburned skin. Hates the sand in what feels like every crevice. Hates the sinking pit of despair in her gut as twin number two deadlifts her into a rowboat and unties it from the dock. Hates the nauseating brine sloshing its way up her throat as twin number one begins to row. But most of all, she hates this creeping dread, the unknowable fear of a summons by the Pirate Queen, she assumes, they never did mention where they were taking her.