The Queen of the Waves

2: Bound Hand and Foot

Mara's eyes flew open with a whimper as she found her body screaming in pain. Once her eyes opened the panic rose again in her soul, there was darkness enclosed around her.

Struggling, Mara realised that her hands were bound to her ankle and she could feel a rope digging into her middle. Ciaran, he had done this to her. The fire burned in her chest as she let out a muffled scream through the filthy material in her mouth.

The pain in her head was magnified with every movement and her eyelids were thick and heavy with the dried blood from the cut to her chest. Mara suspected it was nighttime but truthfully there was nothing she had to base this off, her instincts were the only compass she had.

"Help." She began to scream but it was so muffled and dull that she gave up in a hopeless sob because she realised that it was futile, that no one would hear her, that she was in the belly of the ship with nothing but the rats to keep her company.

The muscles in her arms and back burned and ached as they were stretched from the ropes bound around her limbs.

"Please, help me." The whimper is heard only by Mara as she tries to shake free of the binds, Mara was stubborn and she had no intention of staying where Ciaran wanted her to stay. She would break out of these ropes or she would die trying.

The burning in her head made her thoughts feel heavy and fogged with confusion. The last thing that Mara could remember was the feeling of her head being slammed into that stone wall, after that everything was gone.

Terrifyingly, Mara didn't know what Ciaran had done to her unconscious body and she felt sick.

Deciding that her body was too weak from the head wound to do anything at that moment, Mara let her head land on her leg. Or rather she tried to let her head land on her lap, the ropes around her middle prevented that bend. She was trapped stretched upwards as her arm was dragged down to her feet. All she could feel was agony in her body, in her heart and in her soul.

When Mara's thoughts woke her up once more a shaft of light reached her face. Startled, she threw her gaze upwards and noticed a section of the wood had been cut away in a small rectangle. She assumed it was for ventilation but for her it meant hope.

Fulled with a new sense of determination, Mara began to wriggle against the bounds on her waist, tugging at the metal ring she could now see in her tiny corner.

Despite all her determination, Mara wasn't moving an inch. She wanted to scream in anger and desperation, there was finally an opportunity to be saved and she couldn't move her body across a few inches to reach the sliver of space.

It was her chance to escape but what was the point, she couldn't reach it.

By this point, Mara's tears have soaked through to her gag filling her mouth with the taste of her own blood and tears.

"Ciaran please, I'm sorry if I did anything please." Her voice is so muffled thats the words disappear into one another but the sentiments of her pleas are the same.

The thunder of footsteps above her make Mara jolt in fear. Deafening laughter and voices surround her and all that's left in Mara's head is confusion and fear.

Suddenly, Mara realised that even if she did capture the attention of someone above board, it may not mean she would be safe. They could throw her overboard as a stowaway, whether she was willing or not it would probably be seen as her fault.

When a barrel was moved Mara jumped and pushed her body further into her corner, the rope around her waist would allow that, just not the proximity to the sliver of freedom.

"Hello Mara my dear." Ciaran's voice drawled as his face appeared in view of her eyes.

Anger took hold of her and she screamed in fury, in rage and began to shake and thrash with very little freedom of movement.

"Now now, don't be like that. It's strictly business."

Mara's brain began to tick over his words, she couldn't understand. How is her capture strictly business?

"You see Mara, you're a pleasant enough face, but your body is something special and there are many men I'm sure would pay a pretty penny to get a hold of you. Hell maybe even the Captain once we land, he looks like a man lonely of attention.

Mara's face damped with her tears again as she realised exactly what her so called lover had planned for her future.

"Pweasse." She begged, carefully announcing her word so that he could understand what he was saying.

"Oh come on Mara, you know there's nothing you can say to change what's done. Just stay here and shut up, I'll be back tonight with some food."

"Aghhhhh!" She screamed as the frustration and fury bubbled over. She was a demon with a promise of revenge for Ciaran.

He chuckled dryly at her anger and pain as he ducked his head back behind the barrels and pulled it closed again.

Even though Mara was burning with fury she let out a sigh of relief, in his delight at taunting her he had failed to notice the shaft of light that Mara was certain would be her way out of Ciaran's plot for her future.

Mara's exhaustion had beaten the pain in her body and she let her head hang down even though it would make her neck ache. The sounds of the ship above frightened her, she could tell just by the noise that there were many men on board this ship and she was almost certain that she would be the only woman on the ocean with them.

If that didn't terrify her to the core then Ciaran's plan to sell her to the Captain certainly did.

The sleep was heavy with pain, fear and discomfort but at least it gave Mara a break from her overwhelming thoughts.

All she wanted was to open her eyes and realise that she was wrong, that she was still in bed with Ciaran and that he hadn't betrayed her. But if there was only thing that Mara had learned throughout the course of her life was that fate was rarely so kind.

A stamping of boots directly above her head made her jolt back to consciousness with a jar to her neck and a tremble to her chest. She was frightened, more frightened than she'd ever been in her life before.

She shifted slightly, as far as the binds would allow her and then she felt something else. She felt more freedom in her breathing, the ropes around her stomach must have loosened as she slept on them. It appeared as though her body weight straining on the ropes had unloosened the knots around her middle. Now she had a chance to get help.

Shuffling closer to the bar of light was a more difficult feat than Mara had anticipated. The binds around her ankle and wrist held fast so she was still trapped in an awkward and restrictive position that shot fire down her muscles.

Gritting her teeth, Mara pressed her face as close to cut out bit of the boards as she could. Then she began to scream, it was a risk, she knew that. If Ciaran heard her he would come down and inflict a punishment worse than slavery but if someone else did then maybe there could be a chance.

She screamed until her voice was nearly giving up on her, she had nearly given up on her until she heard a man's voice answering her prayers

"Do you hear that?" The gruff voice asked, his feet were just by the gap in the wood, he was so close so Mara screamed again and this time she knew he'd heard her.

"I can't hear anything." Another voice replied making Mara's chest ache with desperation.

"Trust me Bas, I know every sound on this ship and that shouldn't be there."

With one last desperate attempt to be heard before her voice gave out on her, Mara screamed and begged in the loudest voice she could muster.

A thud sounded above her, louder than a footfall and it made her jump back slightly in surprise. Seconds later an eye appeared at the gap and peered in at her. She squealed in fear and then began to sob and let out muffled sobs as the eye locked in at her.

"Shit," the voice cursed before the eye disappeared. "Bas, come with me. We have a stowaway."