Chapter 19. One Good Thing

he gravity of their situation finally percolated through Lemony’s unflappable calm as the three of them were led down into the musky darkness of a ship’s hold and made to sit against its bowed splintery walls.  There were loops of iron arrayed around its perimeter, the mark of a slaver.  Today they were the only illicit cargo.  One by one they were locked in place, their soles and palms pressed to the deck and knees drawn up nearly level with their chins. 

“Calm down, Lem, it will be alright,” Uriel soothed despite all evidence to the contrary.  The small woman tugged furiously against the irons, her teeth flashing as she thrashed in panic.  They sat in a miserable row, Pendaran to her left while Lemony struggled to her right.  Their captors abandoned them and the rope ladder was hauled up followed by the inexorable slam of the hatch.  Blackness descended upon them.

“I’m scared,” Lemony wept.

“Shut up, please,” Pendaran growled.

“I’m here, Lem,” Uriel said as gently as she could, half wishing she could kick Pendaran for his cruelty.  She had known Lemony since they were teenagers and she recalled another such incident in which the two of them had wandered into an abandoned mine shaft.  The poor thing was terrified of dark enclosed spaces and had not outgrown that fear.  Yet she could do nothing but listen as the monk struggled and panted, her cries filling the darkness like a bird trapped in a box.

“Lemony!” Uriel cried, trying to reach past the irrational terror.

“I don’t want to die,” Lemony sobbed.

“You’re going to if you don’t shut up!” Pendaran snarled his own nerves now frayed beyond control as the curse leaked through his shattered composure. 

“Hold your tongue, Mesmer!” Uriel snapped.

“Or what?” he roared, “I can liquefy that muddled lump of cheese that passes for a brain with a single word.”

“Not while we’re in irons!  Keep your idle threats to yourself,” Uriel screamed at him.  Lemony keened in misery, her head thumping the planks behind her as she cried out for her mother.

“Lem, don’t do that, sweetheart,” Uriel pleaded, her own eyes overflowing with tears.  They should never have taken Pendaran with them.

“This is your fault!” Uriel shouted at Pendaran.

“Mine?” he snarled, swearing at her as rage flooded from him.

“Stop it!” Lemony mewed, “Please.”

Oddly, the two of them grew silent, though both of them fumed, their breaths coming hard and fast.  Uriel leaned her head back against the planks and stared into the darkness, remembering another time she had been imprisoned.  Pendaran’s elbow brushed hers as he tested his bonds and swore. 

“Lem, lean toward my voice,” she said as the monk sniffled quietly beside her.  She pressed right until their shoulders touched and Lemony leaned gratefully against her.

“I’m scared, Uriel,” she wept, stating the obvious again as she trembled.

“I know, but there must be something good, yes?”

“I’m lost,” the little monk moaned, “I can’t take this.”

“Come on, Lem, you’re letting me down.  One good thing.”

“Death only happens once,” Pendaran offered bitterly.