Come Away

Chapter 12 - Passageway

I hurry to tighten the flap on my pack and follow after him. Sailors are moving around the deck, calling orders and nearly running me over as I trail behind Darren's dark head of hair visible above his huge pack. There's a gathering of creatures near a smaller boat, and I see Darren standing beside Cináed and move toward them. Cináed's face is back to normal as he instructs his crew.

"Only the five of us will be going ashore tonight. The rest of you will replenish our supplies for our next voyage. My reprieve will not be long, as I am only escorting the mortals to safety before rejoining you."

The creature with the bull's head and the green goblin nod, so I assume they're the ones who will make up the last two members of our group. Darren still seems distant, not looking anyone in the eye as we move to the side of the ship.

"Hoist her over, lads." Bull-head says, and the crew lifts the small boat over the side of the ship so it hangs in the air above the water. Bull-head hands the ropes that are keeping the boat elevated to a larger version of the green goblin, only this creature's skin has a yellowish tint, and its soiled loin cloth is dangerously loose around its middle. I cringe and turn away.

"We move now, Roisín." Cináed is saying to me, and I realize that bull-head, green goblin, and Darren are already sitting inside the boat.

Cináed offers his hand as I climb over the ship's side and down into the boat. As soon as my feet touch the bottom, he quickly lets me go. Like Darren, he's also not making eye contact with me. He leaps down and settles beside the goblin, who's sitting beside Darren. That leaves me standing in the middle with no other choice than to share the opposite bench with huge, hairy bull-head.

"Hasten, Roisín. They will not lower the boat until both sides are evenly weighted." Cináed says.

So I obediently sit down, wary of the large cow ears and black horns jutting out the side of my seating-partner's face.

"Well isn't this fun." I say under my breath, and then immediately regret it when I remember that Cináed has super-sensitive hearing. Meaning that the rest of these creatures probably do too.

The boat jerks downward slowly at first, and then in quick staggered drops, and we fall the last few feet into the ocean. Despite my grip on the bench, I still slip sideways and tilt the flimsy boat enough to take on some water. Bull-head makes a noise sounding like a mooing heifer, but I guess that's its version of a groan. I try to look anywhere but at the other group members as I cup water into my hands, attempting to ladle the puddle out from around our now soggy feet.

Thankfully, Cináed orders bull-head and goblin to start paddling, and the attention is pulled from me to the nearing cliffs. They stand like dark, jagged soldiers to guard the island from intruders. The sunset glitters on the water, turning it shades of pink and orange.

The cliffs are taller than the highest sail on Cináed's ship, and as I watch waves roll in and collapse against their rocky face, I doubt our small boat will be able sail very close without being splintered into a box of toothpicks.

I don't want to be the first one to voice the obvious concern, however, so I glance at Darren's wide eyes and hope that he'll be the reasonable one to point out this bad idea. But Darren is silent.

The creatures battle on against the tumbling waves that launch towards us after rebounding off the rocks, and I'm left to seriously consider this as possibly my last moments living.

"Through there." Cináed says above the roar of the ocean, pointing ahead at what I hope is another way to reach the island besides scaling the cliff face.

With what's left of the sunlight, I think I see a divot cut through the cliffs. And surely, as they paddle closer, the cliffs split to reveal a passageway large enough to allow a boat like ours to pass through, but at an angle where the waves can't come crashing in. The second we enter the passageway, we're shadowed from any remaining daylight and a deep chill settles in the crisp air, swirling with ocean spray. I untie my jacket from my waist and tug it over my arms, and I smile when I notice that Darren is doing the same. Once again I glimpse how his eyes are shining like small lanterns. They don't compare to Cináed's eerily green glow, but they're still unnerving.