Alone in the Dark

A Long Way Up

She felt ready to drown, and it was only his cajoling that encouraged her to drag her dead limbs from the water and pull herself forward. Always forward. Always still reaching and not quite achieving.

Even as the sun rose overhead and warmed the day, the chill temperature of the water kept Nerini's body struggling against the cold as much as her exhaustion and injuries. She could barely lift her head high enough to breathe in water, fighting the growing realization that she was about to drown. Nerini wanted to give up, wanted to just stop moving and sink beneath the waves, making the world's noise and expectations fade from her notice.

But she didn't.

Nerini held on to that stubborn kernel of hope that whispered quietly for her to continue going. To reach one more time and push her aching limbs to keep her afloat and moving forward. Tears were streaming down her face, only differentiated from the water soaking her skin in that they were warm for a brief moment.

Aupan grinned down to her, his expression gentle and relieved. "You're here."

Nerini's next stroke hit wood, and she looked up to see a couple stories of ship towering above her. "That's good."

But the next challenge was already there. The Sellexun ship was gigantic, and the rest of it disappeared into the fog. If lookouts had not seen her yet, they would not notice her down near the hull. "Only to drown with no way up. They can't see me."

Aupan just grinned and pointed to the anchor chain beside him. "Nah, you just gotta climb."

Nerini wanted to scream at him, to tell him that she didn't have the energy to climb, that she had spent everything she had getting to this dead end. Instead, she cursed and grabbed onto the chain, clinging to it as she struggled to catch her breath before responding. "Yeah, climb. That's not so hard, with a body that's been thrown around, buried alive, and slashed up. Easy as pie after swimming several hours through the ocean in the middle of winter. Can't you just lift me up there?"

Aupan paused for a moment, narrowing his eyes as he focused on her for a long while. Finally, he shook his head with a sigh. "No, it appears I lost my gift when I died."

"Of course, you did, nothing is ever easy." Nerini closed her eyes for a moment, contenting herself to hang off the chain and breathe.

Then Nerini nodded to herself and grabbed the first link, groaning with the effort to pull her body upwards. Her arms screamed at her, her hands slipping on the metal as she struggled to make them respond to her command. Then she reached up to the next link and hoisted, hooking her foot into one and pushing upwards. She gasped as she lifted completely into the open air, which was nowhere near warm enough to help return some heat to her.

Despite the shock, she continued upward link by link. There were moments when she would have to stop for several breaths, feeling as if she could not continue. But, unsure how safe it would be to hang on an anchor chain, or how long she could maintain her grip, she forced herself onward.

After what seemed like days of endless climbing, she mumbled to Aupan, her teeth chattering from the cold, words slurring. "They haven't seen me yet?"

Aupan, her constant companion, disappeared for a moment, before returning to her side. "No. They're all looking out to land, I guess you didn't tell them you'd be climbing up the anchor chain?"

"No, I guess I forgot." She grumbled, though she felt a grin forming on her lips from the rare hint of humour from the man.

The chain swayed as the ship moved in the waves of the water, sometimes causing her to cling tenuously to the metal with hands that were chewed raw from the sharp barnacles. Other times she forced herself to continue up, ignoring the ever sharpening pain from every injury she had. Without the cold numbing of the water, she felt the sting of salt water in her wounds and the ache of joints and muscles that were far beyond their capacity.