Deepwater's Daughter

Chapter 10

Ysara felt a chill through her scales as she descended the steps to the lowest level of the airship's hull. A single, gloomy corridor ran the length of the keel, barely wide enough for two people to squeeze past one another. This did not prove a problem, as Ysara found herself completely alone. The flickering yellow light of a single gas lamp and the mournful sigh of the wind beyond the hull conjured thoughts of ghosts, and she wondered if any of the missing crew members' spirits had followed their companions back to the Black Rose.

"Geffen?" she called out, her voice squeaking a little.

"Ysara?" the young satyr's voice called back in surprise.

"Where are you?" she asked, feeling a little better now.

"Down here!" Geffen called, and she saw his arm reach through the gaps of one of the barred cells lining the corridor. He waved, and she waved back with her free hand, immediately feeling a bit silly as it was plain that he could not see her from within the cell.

The hall's floor proved narrower than its width at shoulder level, only about the span of one of the ceiling beams above. It must have been sufficient for the dainty-hooved satyrs, but for a naga, with her serpent's tail, it proved a bit of a challenge. Ysara had to brace her free hand against the bars as she coiled her tail between the sharply-slanted baseboards that formed the thresholds of each cell.

Most of the cells were stacked, floor to ceiling, with crates and barrels, and she saw no living occupants when she glanced inside. She had half-expected cages full of miserable prisoners and a half dozen sullen jailers watching over them. This was nothing at all like the time she had been arrested.

At last she reached Geffen's cell, which was only half full of cargo, leaving a bit of pacing room and a makeshift bunk for its single, grinning, occupant.

"Come inside!" Geffen greeted her warmly as he swung open his cage door to allow her coils to spill over the threshold.

Ysara nodded gratefully and then gave him and the unlocked cell door a confused look.

"Where else am I going to go?" Geffen said with a shrug. He wore his jacket against the chill, but his shirt hung open beneath, red cloth against white fur.

"I brought you something," Ysara said, quickly passing him the basket that Billi had packed for her.

"Thank you," Geffen said, lifting the cloth to reveal the oat bread and dried fruit within.

"There's pudding too, underneath," Ysara said, "for dessert."

"Thank you," he said again, gesturing toward his neatly made bunk, "Care to join me?"

Ysara stared down at the bunk, moving her jaw wordlessly.

"It's the only place to sit," he chuckled nervously.

"Oh... of course!" she laughed back, flushed with embarrassment.

She shifted her coils into place across the foot of Geffen's bed and crossed her now empty hands over the bottom button of her doctor's uniform coat.

"I see you found some new clothes," Geffen noted.

Ysara nodded. "The captain said I could wear them," she said, "since... well, you know."

"It looks good on you!" he said, reaching out to touch her hand.

She smiled her thanks.

Geffen sat the basket on the olive crate that served as his nightstand and pulled a piece of bread from it. "Will you have some?" he offered.

"No, thank you," she answered, "I've already eaten."

"And how are you feeling?" he asked, lifting his finger toward the plaster that still covered Ysara's scalp where the creature had scratched her, just above her right ear.