Changeling Encounter: A Bonny Castaway

Encounter: A Bonny Castaway

Mikala Ash

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Copyright ©2016 Mikala Ash

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A Bonny Castaway

"Get off me!"

I had awoken a few moments before the hands began rifling through my clothes. I had been face down in the sun baked sand, suddenly aware of the spear points of pain which pricked and pierced my body. No limb or joint was spared, and I had been sliding in and out of fevered dreams for what seemed a lifetime -- dreams of a Siren with flaming red hair.

Wakefulness finally solidified as I was rolled over, and rough hands ripped apart my shirt and probed my broken ribs.

I opened crusty eyelids and was blinded by an impossibly bright sky. Somehow I summoned up the strength and pushed away the shadowy figure. That it was a pirate I was sure, one of the scum who had attacked and destroyed the ship. I reached for the dagger I wore at my belt, but it was gone.

Pain and fatigue defeated me and I flopped back onto the sand, and like a helpless lamb waited for slaughter.

"I thought you were dead."

Though deep, and coarse, the voice was a woman's, and vaguely familiar. "Well, I ain't," I said irritably, but my voice was weak and thick. My swollen tongue lay heavy in my mouth like a fat slug. My throat was parched. I'd had nothing to drink for days, baking under the sun, drifting aimlessly like so much flotsam. I shielded my eyes from the glare. She sat on her haunches gazing at me in a curious manner. She was bedraggled, her dress shredded, her forehead bloodied by a jagged gash. Her most remarkable feature was the brilliant crown of scarlet hair which glinted warmly in the sun like a ruby coronet.

She held up her hands. In one she held my missing dagger. "Peace."

I twisted my head and surveyed the stretch of beach which curved to a coral point from which a solitary palm tree swayed against the deep blue sky. Wreckage was strewn across the small bay including some twisted and bloated bodies. I surmised we were the only living souls in sight.

"Where are we?"

"I cannot say," she replied. "After we were separated, I clung to a plank for a day, pushing off sharks, until I washed up on the other side of the point."

Separated? I remembered the attack, and the explosion that had destroyed the ship. I'd been cast off the deck as if by the careless sweep of some giant's hand. Plunging into the water, I had struggled for my life as my boots filled and dragged me down to the deep. I'd surfaced with a lung full of salt, and in my desperate floundering found a splintered hatch cover to lie on.

"You saved me," she said.

I nodded as more images returned. A body had floated beside me, a woman, not an enemy. With difficulty, as I was grievously wounded, I had clumsily hoisted her aboard my flimsy vessel, and weakly slapped her face to see if life persisted. Her eyes fluttered open just as I fell into a deep and dark place.

"You needed saving," I mumbled.

"As now you do." She said something else, but I couldn't make it out as I once again descended into the shadowy depths.

I awoke to find myself beneath a makeshift shelter; four spindly poles with some ship's canvas fluttering above my head. I was surrounded by barrels and bits of wood and coiled lengths of rope. A wooden bowl of water lay within reach. I felt better, though my body ached like the devil. I could move, a little, so I hoisted myself onto my elbows. The water was cool and fresh, and I gulped down the contents until the bowl was dry.

"That's a good sign,"

Dettagli