“I thank you for this, truly,” Balsam spoke slowly, in the dim cell it was hard to tell if it was Curie and Jerico or the other two Witches. He lifted his head, staring at the silhouettes. ‘They never did introduce themselves’ Balsam realised belatedly, then mentally shrugged. ‘Guess there'd be no point in it.’
“Don't mention it,” Curie said, she brought bowls of food. A fish of some sort, grilled and drizzled in lemon juice with herbs stuffed along slices in the skin. Balsam took it gratefully, passing a bowl to Hercule and setting one aside for when Y’vette would awaken.
Hercule stirred, crust in his eyes and a bruise on the side of his face from many hours trying to find sleep without getting on his back. He took the bowl without comment and smiled, lips cracked.
Balsam took a spoonful, measuring it out slowly on his tongue.
Looking at Jerico idling at the cages entrance, Balsam winced as the lemon juice burned on his lips, forcing him to swallow and suck them in. It was good though, and he greedily ate more, chewing loudly and trying to talk to the pair.
“I heard about what happened to you’s folks' town.” he said tentatively “Know I didn't believe you when you told me back then. But I heard a report of it when I came down to Khisset.”
“If I’d known, you know-” Balsam stuttered, the smell of smoke catching him off guard.
“Curie, Jerico, lock up we need you” they heard, Armistic’s half shout making Balsam jump.
His skin crawled, her voice putting him on edge. “Be seeing you,” he offered the now empty bowl back.
“Take care of her, and Hercule.” Curie said, hoping her voice didn’t quaver as such as she glanced up the dim corridor, equally put off by that voice as Balsam was.
Jerico pulled the cage door closed as they both left. Sharing a nod with Balsam, he felt Curie’s hand reach for him. And they made their way to the ladder hand in hand.
Jerico leading the charge with a call when about half way up Armistice slammed the hatch open and pulled him scruff first up to the top, roughly setting him onto the deck and reaching down to do the same to Curie.
Curie slapped her hand away though, ducking so she couldn’t grab her, “what the hell are you doing?”
“It is an emergency!” she shouted glaring at her as she climbed up the last few rails, pointing to the front of the boat.
Curie shuffled forward, trying to get a look at what she pointed at, Jerico going to talk to Canipto who was rapidly slamming a butchers knife into the amberjack, cutting the uneaten remnants into equal chunks.
She gasped as she saw what lay before them.
The water swirled like a giant foamy whirlpool of destruction, the mast still peaked above the waves, the flag of Porchimor’ drooping in the wet disgrace of a lie found out.
“A lie it was”, Canipto admonished, heading up “using a flag like that, quite ballsy of them.”having finished preparing the fish for use.
Armistice had grabbed the head and a few remaining bones, quickly packing them into a soggy ball of meat between her fingers and in a flash of witch smoke mouldering it all, until a few crumbs of bread and other detritus fell from between her fingers.
Flicking the remains away she stalked to the edge of the boat, eyeing Curie as she wrapped a rope around her shoulder.
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“Why have you called us up here?” Curie asked
Jerico joined her, walking up to stare in morbid fascination down at the swirling pile of wreckage below them, sharing a glance before Armistice jumped off the front into the swirling water, the rope unravelling with a crack.
“Please join us, I know you're not used to Mouldering but the more eyes we have down there the better chance we can help any survivors.” Canipto asked. His dark eyes bore into the two of them, the hand that gripped Jerico’s shoulder shaking, Jerico knew not what with.
Swallowing, Jerico nodded, “fine. Okay.” he studied the half eaten corpse of the amberjack Canipto handed to him.
“Ready to breathe water?” Curie asked
“No?” his throat crawled as he sucked in the magic, “what tell me, I’ll get gills?”
“That’s what’ll happen” Curie, didn’t look particularly happy, taking her lump of flesh with a scowl, “no, not gills but it’ll be a strange sensation certainly.”
Canipto readied himself, smoke snorting out his nostrils with a cough. Jerico watched him jump off into the dark water, following the trail of rope as he swan dived.
he took a deep breath, feeling the damp chill of the sea air bite at his skin as he watched Canipto disappear into the depths. The swirling water below seemed to beckon, a churning maw ready to consume anything that dared approach. He glanced at Curie, her face pale and tense, the amberjack flesh still clutched in her hand.
“Don’t think about it too much,” he murmured, his voice barely above a whisper. “Just… let it happen.”
As the chunk of flesh shrunk and bubbled between his fingers he stopped breathing, letting it out with a sigh.
“We’re made for this, magic will do as magic does,” he said as he consumed the last of it,
Curie scoffed, Mouldering her chunk in turn, “that’s my line.”
“Seemed like you needed to hear your own words,” Jerico smiled, taking another peak at the edge “see you down there,” he said as he plunged into the icy water.
And all of a sudden it was clear, the wreckage of the ship blooming into view backlit by a light he couldn't place. His eyes bulged as he took in a breath expecting pain and the urge to wretch but it was the sweetest thing, the cold water flowed past his teeth and his lungs felt heavy, solid. weighted down like he was being sat on, it felt like the pleasurable weight of another person pressing down onto you.
He grinned as he glanced up at Curie, still standing on the boat. A puzzled look crossed her features at his smouldering expression. He blew her a kiss and turned back to business.
Flickers of motion registered themselves in his lizard brain as he began to sink. Following the rope line armistice had drawn through one of the smashed windows.
A blood cloud mantled the ripped edges of a sail, the body underneath jerking slightly as a school of carnivorous fish pressed together in a frenzy under the sheet, Jerico descended further unable to stop grinning at how damn familiar this feeling in his chest felt.
He pushed some air out of his nose, feeling the bubbles drift upward, shimmering like spilled vennam in the dim light. Jerico adjusted his balance, letting the water cradle him as he drifted closer to the wreckage. The sensation of breathing surreal, the feeling growing only stranger as he sank.
The sound of splashing interrupted his tepid exploration, Curie finally mustering up the courage to join him underwater.
Armistice pushed her way through the water at speed, using the ship as a sort of underwater climbing course to make her navigation faster. She was pointing towards a section of the hull that had collapsed inward, revealing the dark interior of the ship.
The rope she had been working on was now secured to a beam, creating a makeshift path into the wreckage and as she swam up to join them, she pulled along the body of a woman.
pulling himself along the same track of handholds he saw her using. The rope twanged as he entered the cave.
Jerico’s eyes struggled to adjust to the interior, the sound of shouting could be heard, it was some sort of air pocket above him which he swam towards, and as he looked up to try and see where the voices were coming from. Canipto’s body dropped into the water, flying past Jerico as another man dived in next to him.
Miniature green scales raised like hackles along a massive hairless arm plunged past him, grabbing Canipto’s collar. The man was bald an expression of fury on his face, seams of jade green flecks where his face contorted in anger, he slammed Canipto into a floating barrel of something, twisting as they fought in the dark water, the man gripping a dagger plunged to the hilt in canipto’s gut.