The Archman

Chapter 14 - A Feral Passenger

Eira clutches the pillow under her head, suddenly as far from sleep as physically possible. She waits for a few seconds in the darkness, laying on the bed in complete stillness. Just when she's certain the silence has returned to a state of permanency, a savage roar tears through the tranquility once again, setting Eira even further on edge.

Whatever was producing this noise was clearly not going away anytime soon. This put Eira in a challenging situation. If there was some kind of feral entity lurking about, her first impulse was to remain put and hope it doesn't come across her. Then again, if this creature did somehow find her, she would be completely trapped in this pitch black room. If she left, she might be able to find some way to flee or defend herself, but she would be more likely to come across the ferocious being.

In this ambiguous place of danger, Eira's innate thirst for knowledge becomes the final deciding factor that tipped the scales. She steps out of the bed slowly, still navigating around the room primarily with her hands. Though her eyes have adapted to the darkness quite well by now, there is hardly any light entering the room, just a few stray beams of moonlight peering through the cracks between the woodwork. She is able to just see the outline of the door leading into the room, trudging slowly towards it.

The sounds of chains rattling against the hardwood floor snaps Eira's attention away from the door, to the metal brace above her collarbone. She'd been so comfortable in the bed that she'd nearly forgotten about the shackle secured firmly around her neck.

She turns back towards the bed, holding the chain attached to the collar in her hand, using it to guide her back to the place where it is locked. She kneels down, feeling the chain wrapped around the foot of the bed, held in place with the padlock. There clearly isn't any way to break the chain or the lock; if there had been, she would have certainly done so by now.

There is one clear flaw with this set up, however. If she can lift the foot of the bed up high enough, she can simply pull the chain out from underneath. It seems like an amateurish oversight on the Archman's part, though it is understandable given how expediently he brought her here and left. With all the monstrous sounds ringing out, he must certainly have something else on his mind.

That is something else Eira hadn't considered: if she can find the Archman, then she will certainly be safer in his company. The irony of the safest place on the ship being with the predacious Archman is lost of her for a brief moment.

The Archman did, however, put her in this room for a specific reason. Perhaps it is for her safety, or simply to keep her from intervening. Regardless, Eira can't possibly remain in this room and feel safe at the same time. If she knows what exactly is screeching into the air, she can have some peace of mind. She just hopes she will discover it before it discovered her.

Eira clasps both her hands around the corner of the bed frame, preparing to exert herself to the best of her ability. She lifts it with all her might, slowly bringing up the corner of the bed off the ground.

She wasn't sure what to expect, but it was certainly heavier than she thought. It was manageable, though, so long as she finished freeing the chain as fast as she could, while her muscles were still cooperating.

She hauls upwards slightly more, gritting her teeth and closing her eyes, since they aren't providing much use anyways. She shifts her foot slightly, stepping down on the chain and pulling it out from under the foot of the bed. She exhales and lets the bed down instantly, creating a loud thud on the floor.

Nearly half a second after the thud from the bed, another vicious howl comes from some unknown location, filling the dead night air. Eira freezes, not sure if the bellow is a response to the noise she'd made, or if it is simply coincidental.