Elemental Thief Part I : Child of Calamity

Prisoner Ship

Treasa sat on the deck of the ship, in her tiny parcel of real estate, shivering as the cold salt water sprayed over her damp, clammy skin. It was springtime, but the ocean was still grey and angry. The sailors muttered about the winter storms not yet being done for the season as the ship raced through the choppy waters.

She didn't feel steady, but she wasn't as ill as most of the other prisoners, most of whom refused to come above deck, spending most of their time getting sick from the comfort of their cramped cots. The human suffering down there pulled at Treasa, but she didn't dare try to help, knowing that it was mainly just the illness from the motion of the seas.

It was warm down there and mostly dry, if you didn't count getting sloshed with human sick-up as the boat rocked back and forth. But she could deal with the cold and wet, for the sake of fresh air and sunshine, for the freedom from chains for as long as they would let her stay on deck. She was chilled to the bone and damp, her skin itching from the salt water that stung in the cuts and chafes she had picked up along the way.

They had left land four nights ago and had been sailing towards the sunrise ever since. It was the only way she could stay on top of which direction they were going, sunrise, and a little to the right.

South and east, the sailors told her.

Treasa liked the sailors. If she sat where they told her to sit and didn't cause any trouble, they were relatively nice, if usually preoccupied and very busy stringing ropes and climbing masts. Listening to the called out orders from the captain. And they even told her where she could sit to stay out of the notice of the ship's security, who had been trying to keep all the passengers below deck. Treasa was happy that the sailors had allowed her to remain, if only by loudly telling her to sit off to the side and stay out of trouble and enjoy the view. And Treasa wasn't about to start trouble. Even if she wanted to start trouble, there was not much to start.

The most she could do was jump overboard and hope for a quick drowning.

She couldn't swim. If pressed, she could manage to stay afloat in an emergency, but not in a way that could allow her to escape.

"You're going to catch your death out here, child." The woman beside her said after several long hours of mutual silence between the two of them.

Glenora was a big woman, rough mannered in the way of a commoner. Seemed caring, though she had enough of an anger streak in her that it was rumoured that she had killed her husband. But no one in the work party spoke about what their crimes were, at least around Treasa. She had heard people talking in the jail, but onboard the ship, people had become quiet. Everyone was sullen, afraid, and prepared to die across the ocean.

What did their pasts matter to their sealed fates?

But Glenora had stuck to her side since they came on board, sharing their scant meals and providing a surprising companionship that Treasa knew she shouldn't trust. Kethan could have paid the woman to keep tabs on her, though a small part of her felt like the woman was alright. That the mothering care she was being shown was genuine, and besides, Treasa didn't know why she was so afraid. If Glenora was working for Kethan, all the woman could do was kill her.

It wasn't like one prisoner could kidnap another.

Treasa didn't want to die, but she knew that there were ways of dying that she would prefer to avoid. And the woman provided comfort after Treasa's whole life had fallen apart. So she found herself building a friendship with her.

"So are you, then." Treasa said finally, glancing to the other woman, running her fingers through her hair. "It beats breathing in the smell of vomit all day."