Aqueous Passage. Krystyna Faroe

replied as she looked at him with narrowed eyes, he returned the look with a glint in his own.

      “That’s fine because I plan on making your life very difficult,” he responded. “In fact the more grief I can give you the happier you will make me.”

      “Well then, it looks like we’ll get along very well because I plan on making your life as miserable as possible too. We shall be a well matched couple.”

      The roar of laughter that came from him was unexpected and she couldn’t help but laugh herself.

      “I knew I liked you the moment I saw you contemplate grabbing your sword and gutting Gisburn.”

      Fern gave a small smile herself at the memory. “Actually if I’d known you better then, I would have thought about gutting you instead.”

      His laugh rocked the boat slightly as his body moved with the effort. “I’ll most certainly let you get to know me better, you’ll learn more than you really want to.” His voice held a brazen tone.

      “No doubt but then I already know a lot about you that I don’t want to.”

      Both Madden and Gisburn gave spurts of laughter until Laroche’s ominous voice cut through.

      “No one will be doing anything without my say and I can guarantee you my dear that the only person that will make your life hell will be me.” He paused to emphasize the severity of the situation as further words grated out from the depths of his anger. “I have suffered the loss of my ship and crew because of you, and I will make sure you go through much more misery than I have, because I believe that you should always give worse than you get.”

      His face was sinister and foreboding, the bloodshot eyes were opened wide presenting a look of psychosis and everyone aboard could not help but hear it in his voice. The boat became silent except for the splash of the oars in and out of the water. Even Simone’s eyes held a look of alarm as she turned away from the twisted face of Laroche and stared down at the small swells created. Fern kept quiet, surprisingly out of all of them Laroche was the most frightening and yet to all appearances he seemed the most benign.

      She realized his jealousy and resentment knew no bound, she didn’t doubt for a moment that he would be exceedingly cruel to her and noted that this would probably be the most jovial time she would see with this group. Once away from the risks of being caught he would begin his tirade as master over them all and none of them would be spared his malice. She began to count the oar strokes to take her mind off the harsh words and thoughts that invaded her head as she stared at the floor of the boat. She concentrated on listening to its creaks and groans; inwardly she was doing the same.

      Once she was bored with counting she turned her head behind her to look in the direction they were going. It was then she saw that they were approaching the massive concrete walls. Turning back she saw Laroche put up a hand and both Madden and Gisburn turned to see how much further they needed to go. Assessing the few strokes required they continued until they were beside the towering concrete wall.

      Fern looked behind her once more to see what their destination was and caught sight of a narrow metal ladder leading up to the top of the smooth grey wall. The final pinions at the top held a platform that was surrounded with barriers. The nearest barrier jutted out over the water allowing the climber access through a gap in front of it to step onto the platform. She couldn’t see how far the stand projected back the angle was now making it more difficult to see as they approached. After the final splash Madden leaned forward and grabbed hold of the ladder.

      Her attention was pulled away when she heard Simone’s whining voice. “You want me to climb up there in these shoes!”

      She pulled up her dress to show her narrow heeled shoes, a slim pretty ankle joined her slim calf. It had no muscle tone and Fern couldn’t help but stare in surprise. How was Simone going to handle the walk they had ahead of them when she obviously had never walked any distance other than the length of the ship and perhaps a short walk on the land?

      Laroche patted her hand suddenly chivalrous and doting once more.

      “Don’t worry my dear, we will help you.”

      He smiled encouragingly at her as she gave a small smile back in response. She didn’t look convinced and Fern had to hide a smirk as she saw Laroche go up ahead of her and not turn back to give her a hand. She watched Simone struggle to follow stumbling and rocking the boat even though Madden attempted to keep it steady. Grabbing her dress in front she made a huge knot and carefully placed her foot on the narrow metal rung. Her foot slipped but her heel caught as it hit the rung and she gave another whine. Madden’s hands landed upon her behind as he pushed her up, the face she turned toward him was one of a cat spitting in anger but the only effect it had was to widen Madden’s grin. Fern suppressed a laugh as she followed Madden who had stepped into stride after Simone. Gisburn was behind Fern but he made no attempt to place a hand upon her and she was glad she didn’t need to kick him off the ladder as it would have complicated things too much.

      Laroche was at the top long before the rest of them. Simone had to stop many times to adjust her dress and whine some more about how the rungs were scratching the heels on her shoes. Madden always rewarded her with a hefty push on her backside with one hand and she would let out a scream to which Laroche would angrily tell her to shut up. She would try to continue to complain but Laroche’s demanding “No more” was enough to keep her quiet for the rest of the climb. Fern smiled the whole way up. Madden had gone up in her esteem for the moment.

      Getting Simone onto the platform turned into a farce, the girl had no sense of balance or agility and her dress seemed to catch on everything. She could hear Laroche guiding her in an ominous soft voice and wondered if Simone was shaking in her pretty shoes knowing that one push and she would be in the water and left to drown. Laroche kept surprisingly calm and patient until finally he was guiding her along the platform. Madden quickly disappeared next and Fern followed.

      As she stepped over the crest of the wall she was greeted with the most magnificent view of undulating hills filled with bright green vegetation and she felt a roll of home sickness sweep over her. She didn’t stop because Gisburn was behind her but she absorbed the air and vision before her with relish. Taking deep breaths she scanned left and right to see how far the vegetation extended it seemed to continue to infinity both ways.

      Holding the barriers she came to the end of the platform and turned around to descend the same type of ladder on the opposite side. She could hear Simone whining about having to do it all over again and wondered how long Laroche would be able to deal with her. Right now Fern was ready to give her a push off so they could all have some peace and quiet.

      Eventually after more fussing and huffing from Simone they made it to the ground. Fern, Madden and Gisburn couldn’t help but stare at her and wonder what Laroche was thinking in bringing her with them.

      She gave them all a pout. “What are you all looking at? Just because I’m the only pretty one here doesn’t mean you have the right to gawk at me.

      No comments were made as they all knew they didn’t care about how she looked and they didn’t want to annoy Laroche further by telling her what they really thought of her.

      They all looked to Laroche in expectation. He turned his head one way to the direction the Genoa had travelled from and then the other to the direction of where the Aqueous Passage was going to. He stroked his chin for a while and then smiled at them all.

      “They will assume that we will either go back or as far away from the Aqueous Passage as we can.”

      Eyebrows were raised momentarily.

      “But we will follow the route they are taking instead.”

      There were more wriggling eyebrows of curiosity.

      “We will travel away from the Aqueous Passage but she is so large and seemingly ubiquitous we’ll be able to see her from quite a distance. We’ll maintain that distance to keep her just within our sight.”

      Gisburn looked confused and nudged Madden.

      “Ubi