A Mirage Of Milk And Honey

Chapter 26 - A Croynp Dinner

Honey couldn't breathe. Her lungs were paralysed as her chest constricted under her breast bone. All around her there was laughing. Boisterous and booming, it echoed throughout the boat, engulfing her.

"What do you mean destroyed?" She whispered.

Her wispy, vacant eyes stared at The Captain, and he seemed taken aback by her expression. In fact, the entire group of captives seemed to have had the rug tugged from under their feet.

"The Quarter Peaks were destroyed four moons ago." He said cautiously, "I would have assumed this common knowledge to you, considering the company you keep." The Captain's voice had suddenly turned venomous, and he thrust his sword in the direction of Chip.

"It was The Dark Witches that destroyed the Quarter Peaks."

A stunned expression fell on Chip's face, his sullen eyes suddenly wide as his lips parted in shock.

Honey looked to her left, "What is he talking about?" She whispered, feeling hollow, but before Honey could get any answers, the four were being dragged to their feet and thrown below deck.

Copper let out a pitiful squawk as Honey passed her, the woman behind her gave her a shove through the creaking hallways of the ship, and suddenly she was being thrown into an iron barred cell.

There was a small part of her that whispered that, if she wanted to, she could escape easily.

She could break the bars.

She could fetch Copper.

She could run.

But there was another part that thought, where would she go? The Quarter Peaks had been destroyed, she'd find no answers there. She couldn't leave the others either, and an emptiness so endless—so consuming—had begun to fill her, and that little flame of life she'd been kindling ever since they'd left Nileau was doused into smoke.

*

It took four days before Honey was being pulled out of her cell.

Four days where she'd been alone, save for those of the crew who passed her cell. Four days in which she hadn't had a shower. Four days in which she'd spoken, and those four days had felt like a fleeting eternity. Quick but slow.

Forever, but never.

The first few days she'd been alright—aside from the vacant feeling in her chest. She'd eaten little of the meals she'd been given, but was always sure to eat as much as possible, no matter how unappetizing the food was—or perhaps it was simply the thought of eating. Nevertheless, it was when night fell and a storm struck that the boat began to rock back and forth, over and over again. The necessary movement, as though they'd entered the bowels of a storm, had Honey's stomach rolling around inside of her, flushing with heat and filling her mouth with acidic saliva until she was emptying the contents of her stomach.

That was the night before Honey was pulled from her cell by the brunette and redhead women—Ma'Tali and Me'Liah, they introduced themselves.

They were both pretty, nearing their third decade, with sun kissed skin and mischievous glints in their eyes.

"Where are my friends?" Honey asked monotonously as the two women led her through the creaking bowels of the ship and into a warm, candle lit room.

"Don't worry about them." Me'Liah replied, her tone genuine.

"You're with us now." Ma'Tali drawled out.

Still, Honey frowned. She was so stuck in thought as the two women began to fiddle with her flight suit that it wasn't until the harness cinched firmly around her waist loosened that she realised what the two were doing.