"Try to stay well rested." The Archman stands up from the table, Eira following beside him. "Also, no solid food or alcohol for the next twenty-four hours."
"Quoi?!" Jacob balls his fists on the table. He would be standing up to confront the Archman at eye level, if it wasn't completely exhausting to do so.
"You want a safe procedure? No food, no alcohol." The Archman reiterates, turning to head towards the door.
"Where are you going?!" Jacob calls out to the Archman, lifting himself out of his chair slightly, with tremendous effort.
"To prepare for tomorrow. I'll be back shortly."
"Attendez!" Jacob bellows, drawing Eira and the Archman's attention back to him. "Don't take this the wrong way, but I have little trust in you, Archomme. I won't have you just slipping away from us."
"I can keep an oeil on him." Fiona suggests, moving slowly into the Archman's personal space.
Jacob pauses, looking back and forth between Fiona and the Archman. "Mm...d'accord." He sits back down curtly.
"Great!" Fiona joins the Archman and Eira as they leave the inn. "Allons-y!"
~
The Archman, Eira, and Fiona sit in the dinghy as it makes its way through the bay, towards the Archman's ship.
"Magnifique..." Fiona looks up at the massive vessel as they approach the stern, craning her neck upwards to get a better look.
"Where's your crew?" Fiona turns to the Archman, who is preoccupied with rowing.
"You're looking at it." The Archman replies with a neutral tone.
The dinghy comes to a stop below the upper decks of the ship, the Archman securing the three dangling ropes to the three rings on the dinghy, then pulling the small watercraft up to the platform jutting out.
The Archman locks the pulley mechanism above them and steps out first. He turns back to the dinghy and reaches a hand out to help Eira out of the small boat. She takes his hand and steps out carefully this time, making sure to watch the gap between the platform and the dinghy.
"Can I get a hand?"
Eira and the Archman turn back to Fiona, who is standing the dinghy, reaching a hand out to the Archman.
"You're a Raeburn. You don't need it." The Archman says bluntly.
"Merde. My reputation betrays me." Fiona huffs with an exaggerated irritation. She hops out of the dinghy with alacrity, landing gracefully on the platform.
~
The Archman walks through the dim corridors with Eira and Fiona in tow. Fiona marvels at her surroundings the whole way along.
"Did you build all of this toi-même?" Fiona says with astonishment, running a hand across the glossy woodwork.
"For the most part." The Archman replies.
Eira is finding it difficult to keep up with what Fiona is saying. Her odd accent is manageable enough, but the interspersed French in her syntax makes it quite challenging to fully comprehend her. It doesn't help that the Archman appears to completely understand everything she is saying.
They walk down a staircase into the lowest level of decks, then stop outside the combined laboratory-slaughterhouse.
"Do me a favour." The Archman turns to Fiona, holding out the bundle of chains towards her. "Keep an eye on her for a while." He indicates towards Eira with a nod of his head.
YOU ARE READING
The Archman
RomanceWhile departing for London to meet with her fiancé, Eira Pryce finds herself taken captive by a living legend, the fabled pirate known only as the Archman. As it turns out, the fables may not have been so accurate in their portrayal of this mythic f...
