For the Sky (DISCONTINUED)

9 - A Scavenger's Eye

I awoke to a cold, empty space beside me. For a moment, I blinked sleep from my eyes and searched the space for a sign of any familiar faces. Everything seemed empty.

From the lull of voices and the slow, steady tempo of the ocean waves, I could only assume that the rest of the crew, as well as my company, were relaxing on deck. As relaxed as those who manned an active vessel could ever be.

I looked around again, getting to my feet and carefully stretching and folding my wings, abruptly got a feeling that perhaps I should stay down here a bit longer.

The rooms beneath the deck were vast - there was a kitchen, there were many bedrooms, and there were many storage rooms. The guilt that I had felt for taking Oskar's hospitality for granted must have subsided because I stuck my nose through each passageway that was unlocked. In most instances, I was met with nothing more than inconspicuous sacks, troves of weapons and armor, and various supplies that one would need for a quick repair of the ship.

I peeked into the kitchen again, only to come eye to eye with a colt a bit younger than Raul. He had a startlingly white coat, but he wasn't a kelpie. His eyes were dark and somewhat mournful. He seemed quite appalled that a stranger would enter this room.
"Hey, kid," I offered him a smile. "What's your name?"

He opened his mouth and then closed it again. He blinked a few times and then shook his head, his sparse mane flailing left and right. He huffed loudly through his nose and took a step back, giving me a few clicks of his small, young teeth.

"It's alright, I'm not here to cause trouble," I offered him a smile and lowered my head. I slowly unfolded my wings and moved forward as to let him expect one, a gesture I had learned from my mother's etiquette lessons. An extension of your largest feather is the greatest vulnerability of all, she had said.

His eyes grew wide and he looked at the wing and then back at me in rapid succession. He took a tiny step forward and extended his short neck to sniff at the feathering curiously, his ears perked so far forward it strained his skin.

I shivered, and he flinched, stepping back. He then sped off across the kitchen to somewhere out of sight. "Hey, come back!" I exclaimed, and absentmindedly trotted after him, careful not to knock anything over. The smell of various spices and ingredients made my head spin, combined with the constant tilting of the ship this way and that, I had completely lost sense of where I was going.

What was a kitchen soon turned into a seemingly impossible maze of crates, sacks, and barrels. What was in them, I hadn't a clue, but as the scents that had once overwhelmed my nose had retreated, I was free to pursue the young colt. I had seemed to transform into a completely different creature - something of a fox, or a ferret, my wings pressed tightly against my back and clambering over obstacles, now taking note of every scratch I saw on a barrel's rims or foreign words I recognized on a sack's surface. It felt like I had entered a second nature, and for a moment I was daydreaming about how things were when I perused the burned castle for things of value to sell to Chief in exchange for food and a place by the dining hall's fire. A comfortable, yet unsatisfying tense routine that I was now excited to pursue once again...

I heard the clatter of hooves. A childish gasp from ahead, and I raised my eyes. I had come to some kind of abandoned corner of the ship - it was incredibly dark, and it oddly smelled like something of a forest fire, more than it did wet wood and ocean breeze. Before me was the little white colt, frozen in fear as he stood on guard in front of something.

"You must excuse the boy, your highness, for he is just a mute," a thin, raspy voice sounded from the darkness. "Stand aside, Tiri, it's alright..."
The colt looked from me and then to the darkness behind him and very slowly stepped aside. I squinted to try and make out the features of who that strange voice belonged to. He remained shrouded in darkness in the corner.
"My, my, it's nice to see a fresh face around these parts now and again..." the voice said, approaching. I heard the scraping of chains against the wooden floor and I nearly jumped out of my skin as sparks flashed in front of me. They briefly lit a clearly malnourished hide with ribs to count, sporting a winter fur that had never been given the time of day. Another spark appeared to my left and for a brief moment I saw a tangled, mottled, and dreaded mane, long and black. Another spark and I was taking hurried steps backward because I met his eyes - black like the shadow that shrouded him, yet the irises were a bright, fiery orange-yellow, like some kind of monstrous bird of prey.