Raw Winter

Chapter 23: Wires

One moment Rawintr cowered, hiding away from those on the ship, waiting for Hades to send her away again, give her to someone else or take her back to the black cove market where she still had dreams of Xerxes' ship sinking. She hadn't had them for a while, but they were often now she was back out on the sea. She also had dreams of drowning and being told she would never drown for as long as she lived, no matter how deep or irretrievable she may be. They assured her many times about how there would always be something that would have her if she should sink, and she was never sure if it was a threat or a promise.

The next, she was on the deck, walking amongst the pirates as if they were the same, as if she were never a woman at all, or as if their superstitions were false. And they were. She knew them inherently, and she knew better than to doubt her place here. The wood under her feet was akin to soil, and the mast was like the godliest tree she had long since searched for. She knew the crew by name and knew each rope, pulley, and bowel the ship had. Nothing was a secret to her here, and Hades seemed to take delight in her. She had a feeling he always had, but also felt he thought it was a necessity to not keep her. She had to believe that. On the days she didn't, the noise in her head was worse. It would pop like firecrackers, and Yulsylus could do little to placate her. She gripped the eye tightly, remembering the expression Hades wore when he handed her over, when he promised her he would be the reason for all of her misfortunes.

Lately, Nagyra wasn't so close to Hades. Hades talked with her more than him, and it made Nagyra simmer. The entire ship whispered, laughed, and threatened knowing the man had lost an important handhold since Rawintr Wlyfric arrived.

"Listen, Wlyfric," Marcal barked when she walked in one morning, a frown on his face as he looked around as if he expected someone to crawl out of a crevice like a snake. Rawintr, in reaction, was looking around as well, her fists clenched. She could imagine eyes looking down on her, metallic hands grasping her throat until there was no breath left in her lungs. "Look," he said again, aware she was caught in some world far removed from their own, "don't you dare turn your back on that stick thin bastard with the snake eyes. You'll be the first one to go missing if you give him the time of day. Do you hear me? Are you here, Wlyfric?"

"I could have told you that," she said, her heart still beating a little too fast for where she was and who she was talking to, her temper rising as she wanted nothing more than to retreat to her room and cover herself while Yulsylus attempted to comfort her even if she didn't understand the words he was saying.

Marcal lifted his ladle as if he intended to crack it across her head, but resisted. He didn't need to be a doctor like Yulsylus to see the madness that swirled in the depths of that dark eye like a sea monster churning up the sea. He tapped it against the counter instead and said, "I don't need the help of a madwoman, but if you're ready to settle in and help me, that's good and fine."

She shook her head. He was right. Everything in her blood buzzed like electricity as she retreated from the kitchen. After she left—but not quite out of earshot—he cracked his ladle harder on the counter to release the tension he was holding in.

It was so early the world was dark and still, as still as a ship could ever be on the open sea or otherwise, and she could feel the hairs on her arms standing on end. She cast her sight about and saw nothing, frustration bubbling in her stomach with the knowledge of how much it prevented her from seeing. She made her way back and heard a snap that was almost inaudible, but audible enough for someone as hyper alert as her. The expectation was that when she felt the wire looping around her neck she would pull forward, desperate to get away, but the first thing that came to mind was to snap her head back, hard and fast, and it cracked against the head of her assailant.

The wire loosened, but she knew that would last for only as long as it dazed them, and she had no intention of trying to slip away. Instead, she whipped around and bit into their face, and they let out a sharp hiss. It sounded like a muted scream and her wrath only grew as she tore into them again, and tried to bite their torso and then shoulder. The man desperately shoved her away. She wasn't the Winter that was thrown over the cliff side into the waters below, weak and fragile from a risky surgery that should have left her dead. She was Rawintr Wlyfric—well fed, paranoid and angry, and it took the man all he could just to prevent her from gripping him and tearing him to pieces. He got away, but she knew at sea there was nowhere to escape to. She didn't pursue him even as her nostrils flared. Her mouth tasted coppery of the blood that wasn't hers.

She rubbed her neck and slinked back to her room with her teeth bared. Yulsylus was waiting for her, sitting in a chair in the corner with a book in his hand as he looked up. He had considered going to check on her, but he expected she was in the kitchen.

The first thing he noticed was the red line around her neck, but stayed where he was, noticing her stance and the way her good eye cast about the room, though she seemed to have looked at him a few times and seemed unbothered by his presence. He had made sure of it, and not merely assumed she had seen him, even if that was easier.

"Are you alright?" He asked in a tone that suggested it didn't worry him or was asking how her day was, despite very much sitting forward to get a better look at her.

She knew he was waiting for her permission to approach her and she gave a curt nod. She growled low as even that was painful, but she doubted it would be long before the culprit was dealt with. She sat down on the bed as the doctor stood and was there beside her in less than a second, looking it over and muttering softly.

"Not too deep," he concluded, going to get bandages for her. She lifted her head for him to make it easier, though she wondered if there was a better way to hold her head so it wouldn't be uncomfortable when she put her head back down again.

"I will be sure to greet him when I speak to Hades today," Rawintr said. "I wanted to know; do you think there's a chance that Hades will get rid of me soon?"

"Getting rid of you?" Yulsylus scoffed. "I don't think anyone on this ship would let him."

"I know one person who would, and would insist upon it," Rawintr replied.

"Do you know who it was then?" Yulsylus asked her, though it didn't take a sharp mind to guess.

"Even if I didn't, my teeth marks on his face should say it easily enough, assuming he doesn't have some miraculous way to hide it," she responded.

Yulsylus would need to be satisfied with that, as she had little more to say about it. She intended to wrap everything up neatly and she didn't need him to know outright what she intended. She gave the lightest smiles, as if as a response or maybe even to let him know she was unbothered. There was plenty of time to come unhinged later in the evening.

She didn't come out that day. She didn't want too many people to see how her neck was wrapped up or risk losing the satisfaction of showing how little he hurt her. That was until later on, when Hades called on her to eat with him.

Hades, when she sat down across from him, grinned at her, though his face reddened when he noticed the cloth bandages enwrapping her neck. "What's that you've got there?" He asked, wrapping his hand lightly around his own neck.

"It's my new eye," she told him. It was the first she had looked at him directly or talked to him so easily since she had gotten it and he grinned wider, looking into it. He was somewhere between amused and annoyed.

He said, "I meant around your neck, but it really is a fine eye you've made. It's nothing I've seen before. Unnerving as I would have expected if I knew what to expect at all. But I want to know about your neck."

She didn't have to look to know Nagyra was sitting on the side of the table, the far side, because otherwise he would be right by Hades' as expected, and according to any crew member that had an ear willing to hear them complain about it. She could feel his eyes on her, and this time she didn't merely glance at him, but returned his look.

Upon looking at him, her head tilted to favor her right eye so she could see him better. His eyes narrowed, but he appeared afraid. All she could see were his eyes as he had covered his mouth and nose with fabric. She could see a bit of red peeking through, but hardly enough to show an injury.

"It must be hard for you, to have so little ability to speak. I can't imagine it was easy to wrap that shoulder yourself," she said before turning back to Hades. "It's really nothing to worry about. It will heal quickly enough."

Hades leaned in and still smiled, but it was quizzical and curious. He wasn't yet aware of what she was implying as he told her, "you should take care of that."