Aqueous Passage. Krystyna Faroe

grinned. “We do have good appetites. Let’s see how much I can deplete your gin supplies.”

      Captain Rumello turned, his head half cocked. “Please leave some for me.”

      **********

      Oak was walking the room with Jackson and Blackthorn watching him. Every now and then they gave one another a look and then resumed their watch over him. He knew what they were thinking and he almost reprimanded them but thought what was the point? Yes, he was acting like a child that hadn’t got his way. He couldn’t shake off the tension he was feeling, he’d even tried some breathing exercise but he was wired, bound tighter than a cocoon.

      Every now and then he would stop and try to access Denver’s thoughts but he couldn’t reach them. Earlier he had had a muffled one of waltzing and feeling tingly and Oak had panicked thinking he was losing his mind reading skills. When he had a vision of Captain Rumello he felt better but he still had no idea what was happening. He’d struggled to reach out, had seen a corridor, doors that were passed, heard the quiet voice of Captain Rumello but couldn’t understand the words. The noise was more like a buzzing insect to him, there was no word definition and he knew Denver was purposefully blocking him from reading anything. His last sight was of Rancor, that was when he started walking the cabin; that was when he really started to panic and Blackthorn and Jackson had started to study him with a wariness. He hadn’t had a vision since and had repeatedly taken long strides to cross the room back and forth losing track of time.

      “Oak, it’s getting late we should rest.” Blackthorn’s words sounded as if spoken from a closed box, they were distant and muffled. “Oak!” he insisted. “Please take a blanket and sleep.”

      Oak stopped his pacing. “How late is it?”

      “It’s well into the night.” Blackthorn looked at his other companion. “Jackson do you know?”

      Jackson looked at an old battered watch on his arm. The glass was scratched but the face was still easily visible, showing the arms to be at twelve and one. “It’s five minutes after twelve; we get up in six hours.”

      Oak nodded. “Give me a blanket then and I’ll take the floor.”

      Jackson pulled a frayed blanket from the cupboard drawer and passed it to Oak who said thank you. Waiting for Blackthorn and Jackson to get into their cots because there was little space to move around in the room Oak waited and laid down upon the floor, he pulled up the blanket and lay wide eyed. Jackson flicked the switch next to his cot and the room became flooded with darkness. Oak lay blinking, nothing was visible in the blackness of the room, and raising his hand toward his face he couldn’t see it. He stared into nothing thinking, his mind was bright with light even if the room was not.

      Chapter 8

      Willow walked within the sanctuary that was hers, breathing the smell of calming scents, surrounded by drapes of subdued coloured cloths that gave her room a feeling of peace. A faux charade to how she really felt. She could not dismiss the disquiet, the feelings that had disturbed her for a long time, even before Oak had left, before the camp had become troubled. She had tried to push her unsettled feelings aside, had shown the clan her serenity and hidden her fear. She’d momentarily broken down in Fern’s presence but had pulled the falling pieces of doubt back and returned to being the spiritual calm of the clan. She couldn’t keep up the pretence anymore, she couldn’t guide the Woodlanders and balm their worries at the loss of their leader without facing the fear that had bothered her for so long.

      Her eyes swept the room and stopped at the door. She blinked several times in quick succession and bit her lower lip. Her mind was undecided but her body was not. She walked toward the outside door. Her hand stayed for a while hovering before she opened it wide to face the multitude of colours that swam through the air. It should have been black, dark as the moonless night is normally but it was not. Orbs of light floated through swirls of colours, muted colours not bright, not red nor yellow, mixed hues of brown and purple; male and female energies, blue and black with rainbows of green that showed sorrow, death and trepidation. The souls of the dark matter were telling her she needed to fear, that pain and grief were to come. It was time for her to find out why.

      They left her abode of harmony and calm, drew her into the darkness, and obediently she trailed behind them. Wandering through Elanclose forest following the orbs she left behind the camp of the Woodlanders. She drifted a brief gaze over her shoulder as the camp receded into the lightless evening. Her body was trembling, her anxiety was overwhelming, her lips quivered, tears were sprinkling her cheeks at her dread of what was to come but she kept on. A light within a purple eddy weaved around her and she felt her distresses subdued, another light swirling within a vapour of brown wrapped about her pulling her upright before it left leaving her feeling resilient and determined.

      She smiled, they were helping her, they were not here to hurt her. Her step was more pronounced now, eager to get to the spot she was being enticed toward. One after the other her feet moved upon the ground, the crack of breaking twigs created tremors that tore through the night air and she wondered why she was not afraid of the beasts. The beasts that would have sensed her, smelled and heard her a long time ago, where were they in this dark evening? The night was perfect for them to find a kill, her perfect for them to attack, susceptible and helpless for the creatures to prey upon.

      She listened for them but everything was quiet, all she could hear was the swish of her dress as she moved. It was as if she was not upon the planet itself anymore but floating in the dark matter with the particles that were drawing her with them. They were all she could see, everything else was blurred. She should have felt dizzy, her focus always on the movement before her but she wasn’t, her head was clear, like the sky above her. In a dreamlike state she followed until the colours wavered before her and she realized it was time for her to stop.

      She gazed about her, noting that the auras had surrounded her, that they had expanded above her as well as in front and behind. Slowly turning her head she took in all of the colours. The lights were gliding through one another, through the trees. They were dark matter and not subject to solidity, they moved freely and travelled anywhere. She watched the colours mash together and separate, the manifestation of light swirled through bushes and the bark of trees. The colours enveloped the objects they passed through giving them the illusion of movement and animated life. Her mind was in awe of what she saw, surprised. She felt privileged, proud that she had been chosen for communication, that she was special and should be thankful to them.

      She knelt down and sat back upon her calves. Sweeping her head slowly around her she softly mouthed, “Thank you.”

      The lights halted in their movement and descended upon her. The barrage upon her body was deafening, even though no sound dispersed the quiet of the night. Transcending through her from her centre up through to the top of her head they all flowed as her body went into spasms again and again. Her heart rocked against her ribcage as if it were being pulled up and out. Her mouth was wide to scream but no cries were emitted. Her organs jolted everywhere to the point she felt sure they were no longer in the place they should be. It was then she became aware that her physical body was not important and she left it, her soul moving with the orbs. As floating particles they all moved together swimming in an ocean apart from the earth’s crust.

      She could see her body still upright sat in the same position, her head thrown back and her hair flowing behind as if the wind were carrying it but there was no wind. The apparitions were still moving into her, jarring her body momentarily as they passed through, her hair constantly caught in their perpetual movement.

      She didn’t feel shocked, afraid or concerned, she felt serene and happy, free of the ties that solidity carries. In fact how could she feel? She wasn’t flesh and blood anymore. How wonderful to move unhindered by anything, constantly surrounded by…by what? Other souls? She was smiling, how could she? How could it be when she wasn’t physical anymore? She could sense a multitude of smiles around her as they garnered her feeling of happiness and she felt the turmoil and troubles drift away like broken branches flowing downstream. With exhilaration and joy she soared higher above the trees into the dark, the orbs following her as a comet’s