Meanwhile, down beneath the towering cliff, Mari awoke and found herself snuggled close to Gabriel. He had fallen asleep at some point, but she could still feel his warmth. Fear made her tremble initially, but then the warm words that had been whispered into her ear floated into her mind, and she felt safe once again. She was still afraid of what the future would have in store for her, she still had no hope. But here, in this moment, as she rested in the embrace of this man she had only seen once before, she felt that everything was going to be okay.
The echoes of the voices calling out Gabriel's name shook her back into a fright and she now sat trembling once more. Her sudden jerk awoke Gabriel, and his first instinct was to hold Mari and tell her that everything was going to be fine. This served to calm her down, and her breathing became less erratic.
Gabriel could hear his name being called out from every direction, and he could no longer ignore it.
"Listen, Mari," he said as he held her face in his hands, "This island is not safe for you. If you trust in me, I will take you back to my ship and provide you with food and shelter, but you must promise me to stay hidden."
Mari had no other choice, so she just nodded her head slowly. Gabriel gave a slight smile.
"For now, I will need you to remain here until sundown, after which I shall get a boat here to take you back to the ship, do you understand?"
Mari nodded once more.
"Good, keep this knife with you for protection." He handed her the knife and proceeded to search around in his deep pockets, "And here's some cigarettes."
Mari stared at them with a confused look. She had never seen cigarettes before. Gabriel took out a dry match from a gold container and scraped it over the rock, lighting a fire. Mari jumped backwards at this, nearly falling off the rock, but Gabriel gripped her hand. He moved the lit match to the cigarette and sucked deep, and then passed it to Mari.
She looked closely as Gabriel used it, then took a hold of the cigarette with both her hands, lining it up to her mouth; she breathed inwards and could not help but cough. Gabriel laughed, and for the first time since a very long time, Mari let out a chuckle. It was the first time I've seen her smile, he thought.
"You have a beautiful smile, Mari."
Mari did not expect this, "T-Thank you", she stuttered in her broken Tartessian dialect.
"I'm Gabriel, by the way," he said as he carefully showed her once more how to properly use the cigarette.
Mari nodded, "T-Thank you, Jibrīl."
Gabriel smiled warmly, he hadn't heard this pronunciation of his name for a very long time.
YOU ARE READING
Gehenna
Mystery / ThrillerA race of human beings with horrific ancestry, an Empire's conquest of a faraway island, a man's search for divinity. Here lies Gehenna, here lie the damned. ***This novel contains mentions of violence, murder, rape & suicide -- Reader Discretion Ad...
