Dwellers of the New World Chapter Fifteen ( Pt 6 ) Blundering Consequences

Leaving Bracus's camp in Clear Wing Valley and making her way down Harebell Passage towards the docking bay with her two protectors, Liora hadn't seen a single man, woman or child, not even Gibor the fire bearer was to be seen on his rounds of lighting the beacons, though they had been freshly lit recently, so she thought! He couldn't be too far away and probably would know what was going on.

Placing her torch between two rocks, Liora and her men Jomei and Avner discussed their next move, deciding the only way they were going to discover anything was to go onto Bracus's ship, the Flying Fish. She doubted they'd get in trouble if any of leader's men caught them, they'd just say they were looking for Bracus himself.

They crept aboard quietly, slinking across the deck, goosebumps appeared on the woman's skin as she shivered but not with cold, it was like a ghost ship, there wasn't a soul to be seen.

Liora gave the order to spread out. “I'll head down below with Jomei...Avner you search up top.” It was so quiet she felt the need to whisper, though she had no idea why.

Lifting the heavy door to the hull which creaked open, they descended the steps down below. There was a stale, musty smell that left the woman wishing she'd never had to enter this dark, dingy area, but there was no choice if she was going to get to the bottom of what had happened back at the camp.

It was so dark the woman couldn't see a thing, it occurred to her that if anyone were to attack now, she had no spear or other weapon to protect herself. Turning to Jomei who followed close behind her, she remembered her flame. “Quick...go get my torch Jomei, it's too dark down here.”

It was clear to the man from the start that they were without weapons, but he never said a word, it wasn't in his nature to voice his opinion, especially not to Liora. He climbed back up the steps nodding in agreement, leaving the woman to think.

As she waited, staring around at cooking pots and empty plates and dishes, a sudden movement at the entrance to the steps made her jump, but it was only Avner. “No sign of anyone up top,” he announced. “Can't see a single man on any of the other ships either, it's all very strange.”

“Quick...come down, keep me company my friend.” Liora didn't feel comfortable alone without a flame.

As they stood discussing the days events and what their next move would be, Jomei appeared once again, this time with three torch lights.

“You're a life saver my friend,” declared the woman smiling. “let's see if we can find anything of interest down here.”

Creeping through the hold and keeping an eye out for any movement, there was only the sound of the ship as it rocked, but her senses told her they weren't alone. They made their way to the stern where all the goods were stored and stopped in her tracks, putting her hand up she halted her men, then placed her finger to her lips. “Shh! Do you hear that?” She whispered. Jomei and Avner heard nothing but the moaning of the ship and shrugged their shoulders in answer to her question.

“Listen...there's a faint sound coming from over there by some of the wooden crates.” The woman crouched down so as not to be seen, edging her way slowly towards the noise which sounded like breathing. Then in the torchlight she saw one of the bear furs moving. It could have been an animal, but she didn't think there would be any creatures here on the ship. No! The woman knew instantly someone was asleep. Carefully she moved the fur back and was surprised to see the face of Briggs who seemed to be sleeping like a baby. Without hesitation she began prodding him. “Brigs! Wake up.”

The man took a breath of air in through his open mouth, which came out as a snore of sorts. He started to moan, he'd been dreaming and wasn't happy at being disturbed. Opening his eyes, his forehead creased as he strained to see the person in the torchlight that had woken him.

“Brigs...it's me Liora. What's going on? Where is everyone?”

At that moment he wasn't sure he knew himself, being woken from his slumbers was more than he'd bargained for. Stretching and sitting up yawning, he suddenly remembered what he'd done the previous day and why he was down here sleeping, it had all come back to him in a moment.

Liora was just about to grab his shoulders and give him a shake, when Brigs called out, “okay! Enough, just let me come round.” Then all of a sudden some other bodies started to move, further back.

Wiping his eyes Brigs pulled the bear skin back and climbed out.

“There's been a few problems while you've been away. We came down here to get some sleep.” Brigs knew this moment would come, but wished it had been later when he was more with it.

The woman was now in a state of disbelief and came to standing. “What kind of problems? What's going on?”

As she spoke, through the gloom other bodies moved and faces appeared, eyes staring through slits, dazed, caught between slumber and waking. It felt like night time in the concealment of the hull, with only the torches casting shadows and the three figures standing before them.

Brigs rubbed his legs a tingling feeling of pins and needles pricked his skin, they felt like two led weights where the bear skin had lay heavily on top of them. Eventually after some vigorous massage he was able to come to standing and stretched again. There was no easy way to say what the woman wanted to hear, so he just came out with it. “I'm afraid Bracus and his men are dead...I don't know what I put in their drinks, but it's killed them.” He paused before continuing. “We've been down here sleeping after spending yesterday and most of the night taking the bodies down to the catacombs.”

Liora was horrified, she came over numb, an overwhelming feeling of murder washed over the woman. Being a healer she detested any thoughts of killing for no reason. “I thought I could trust you...leave you to take care of Bracus, but not like this...what did you give him?”

She turned and paced up and down, still holding the torch which began to feel heavy, a sick feeling in her stomach left her wanting to wrench.

“I can show you,” replied Brigs, shaking his legs once again and making his way over to the large chest.

“Please do,” said Liora, struggling to come to terms with the predicament of the situation.

The other men now fully awake watched as Brigs made his way over to the medical chest. Lifting the lid, he fingered through the boxes until he found the one he was looking for and gave it to Liora. The woman looked inside and immediately knew what she was seeing.”This is mandrake root and henbane, it's an anesthetic and supposed to be inhaled, you should never have given it internally...I thought you knew what you were doing.”

Brigs bit his lip and felt a panic of sweat across his forehead appear. Taking a deep breath he replied. “Look! The main thing is, Bracus is no longer here, which means I now have charge of the ship, which I thought was what you wanted.”

Liora placed the box back in the chest and then turned to Brigs. “You full...all I wanted was for him to be a prisoner, so that we could have a trial to decide what to do with him, it should be the people that decide his fate. Now you've committed a crime I'll have to take you prisoner.”

Brigs couldn't believe what he was hearing, back on the mainland they never had these laws, it would just be up to Gregor to decide a man's fate. He wasn't about to let this woman treat him like convict, not without putting up a fight.

Dwellers of the New World Chapter Fifteen ( Pt 7 ) A Quiet Word | ABCtales