Chapter 10 – Abraham’s Voyage, Part Two

992 words – I drew the short straw, but it makes a total of 2282 words with  part one,  so I got that going for me, which is nice…I guess.
It’ll be great if this enormous journey is continued, so don’t shy away from taking the next chapter (Miss A, I’m looking at you, yes I am) I hope that this continuation of yesterday’s chapter works well enough for whatever is to come!
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We took cover in the wheelhouse, fearing the bombarded sea might rise to drown us if the fire didn’t burn through the metal and destroy the ship first. The attack had been quick, but everything quaked, or so it seemed as we subdued to the sensation of full mayhem; the Jezebel groaned, floating unstable and we so did we, clutching to each other for support.  Jezebel herself roared wildly and pushed away her servant at the wheel and flexed her muscles to steer the thing straight. The strenuous expression grotesquely covering her beautiful features spoke that something was wrong and Zedekiah jumped to his feet, helping her unjam the stuck wheel.

Before I could join in their effort a sudden pull halted me at my step. As if a stronger feeling than self-preservation took over me – there was no fear, there had never been. Only an ultimate invincibility and the means to perform its miraculous effect on myself. A familiar throb pulsated at my temples, but this time the pure light that blinded the periphery of my vision and threatened a quick-tempered reaction spread throughout my entire body, engaging the same brutal fury as before, but with a purpose. I turned around and ran back outside neglecting Zedekiah’s choked shouts and curses.

The Jezebel was intact. Whatever mass had shaken her so vigorously had seemingly done so only to disturb her course and slow us down. But there was fire somewhere, an intense blaze that warmed the air to humidity and I smelled it through my flared nostrils. I looked over my shoulder and saw that the enormous fleet following us so closely had been half-submerged if not engulfed in flames; they had been cut off from us, dangerously far now. We floated ahead alone.

And something floated towards us.  Its presence, even though yet unknown, was certain and I walked cautious to the ship’s bow, watching, waiting. Above my head, Jezebel’s sphinx flag flapped restless against the light wind. Then it stopped and slumped on its pole.

I looked down, catching my shadow briefly looming along with me. The sea surface vibrated gently, but I couldn’t hear the splash of water, a sound that had become a constant companion, as familiar as my own heartbeat. The murky waters stirred heavily, ruptures growing in size and density.  The gloom dispersed, blurred shapes coalescing into shapes, then one shape, then a full visage of a long and narrow giant carved from the whitest material and carrying the harshest carven godlike creatures along its front. It was a single mast ship, but thrice the size of the Zebedee and twice that of the Jezebel.

Beginnings Chapter 10 – Abraham’s Voyage, Part One

1293 words, and just on part one of chapter 10! By the way, Cindy here (though it says so), visiting from the other pond, basically sneaking my way in Mark’s blog. Cool, innit? (I was given permission…)

Mark wrote an amazingly beautiful and magical chapter 9, which was incredibly hard to top, and I won’t pretend I even attempted to top it (perhaps a little), but it was a great inspiration for setting chapter 10. Thanks, Mark!

Check out all the previous chapters here, you wouldn’t want to miss on anything!
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Abraham, Jezebel and Zedekiah both started addressing me, and the crew saw fit to not even speak to me, but took their gazes to the floor when they passed me. I was aware, as I sat convincing myself that the warm and foul breeze of the realm was refreshing, that Jezebel’s eyes were on me at all times, and she either looked at me as if seeing someone else but me, someone she knew, or she squinted them to a slice of obsidian judging me, making me feel see-through. Zedekiah was not so direct – he watched me out of the corner of his ever vigilant eye, measuring me in my new person.

And I, I stared at Luna above, a partial body from which I had taken some and then given much more. I asked her wordlessly why choose me. The adrenaline coursing through my body and the urgency to be efficient and to finish this ancient task consumed me. It had started so very long ago, and I could feel the enormous gravitas, the unshakable sensation of it. It excited me as much as it scared me, and I bit my tongue to speak out again, lest I challenge Jezebel’s scolding trait and remind everyone I was barely ready for what was soon to happen.

Almost by some mental coping mannerism I tried to return my thoughts to my previous self, to withdraw a sense of realism from a point there in the past, where I was Steve in my absolute, and when I knew little of this world; when I was just a man who, on a whim had taken a job on a ship with a sympathetic old man.

But I found nothing behind closed eyelids, no memory of Steve’s to return to other then a blurry, hectic set of death images that startled me and made me snap out of the slumber. I blinked once, twice, clearing away the disturbing imagery of my death, imprinted as if in my soul. Abraham’s soul was intact, I thought. There was a new me and he had a clean start – he had no past to haunt him, just a future to fulfil and a presence to prepare in. I carried his history, all the previous incarnations, and I could learn from them and their mistakes. Make none of mine, finish what was started. Save everything, save everyone.

A sudden hard grip on my neck took me further away from grim and heroic thoughts. Zedekiah loomed over my sat figure, a new cigar smoldering between his parched lips. His free hand itched at a spot on his chest, the same where Jezebel’s rebounding lightning had struck. The bold must have shook the old one, I thought. I felt sorry for him. My swollen hand fished in my pocket and my fingers instinctively found the coin there.