The Mariner Read Online Free Page B

was close to the surface now. If he threw himself away from the boat, they could be close enough to touch. Water, broken by collision with the hull, soaked his flesh, and for a moment he paused, afraid that if he lowered himself any further he could become lost in the depths. To reassure himself he looked over his shoulder to view the women once more and see that the surface of the ocean was strong.
    It held their weight, surely it should hold his?
    The brunette had propped herself up whilst still enjoying the attention performed below. Steadying herself with one arm, she used the other to part her lover’s legs further, drawing her knees up to allow greater access. Up and down, the brunette slid her finger along her lover’s lips, drawing moisture. The Mariner watched in fascination, fingers numb, limbs gone blue. And with a sigh from all parties, she slid her finger down between the cleft of her partner’s buttocks.
    Not being able to see the penetration he imagined, spurred the Mariner on. Regardless of any danger, he had to have them.
    He reached the bottom rung and placed a foot into the ocean. The icy world upon which he travelled but never entered, reared up to claim him, passing above his ankle and scaling his shin. He was not deterred, his feet were already numb from the cold, and discomfort was far from his mind.
    The pain, moments later, penetrated that numbness. It all happened within the space of a second or so. Almost the very instant he placed his feet into the water, the women, just as the previous night, lost all form, and fell into the sea. The splash drenched the Mariner, who felt such frustration he screamed, his hoarse voice carrying across the waves. They were gone, his promised lovers, reclaimed as if they’d never existed at all.
    His scream died as it birthed. A sudden sharp, violent pain that erupted around his submerged foot, cutting off sound, paralysing his voice box, leaving him expelling air from his lungs in a silent hiss. He lifted it from the dark water, afraid and confused.
    He was bleeding, blood issuing from a wound in his lower-calf.
    Something had bitten him.
    Suddenly realising his vulnerability, naked, hanging off the side of a boat in a gathering storm, blood freely flowing into the water inches below, the Mariner began to panic. Just what the fuck was happening?
    Before he could move, however, he saw his attacker, the beast that had tasted his flesh. It rose out of the depths, a huge eel, flesh brown and gnarled. Its head was at least eight inches wide, and its mouth opened revealing lines of sharp, bacteria-laced, yellow teeth. The creature’s sickly flesh reminded the Mariner of a moray eel, but he’d never seen one in open water like this. Nor one so bold in its attack.
    He pulled his legs up, knees reaching his chin. The jaws of the sea serpent snapped at the space below, far louder than the crashing of the waves beneath the hull. Having missed its prey, the eel fell gracefully back into the water, presumably to gather its strength for a second attempt.
    With tearing of muscles and quaking limbs he hauled himself up by the arms; legs useless to his endeavour. He refused to look back, not even when he heard another splash from below.
    With little grace, the Mariner pulled himself onto the decking, hitting his chin upon the boards. There he lay, blood leaking from his wound and from his mouth.
    The leg would need treating, but he had no energy to tackle it. Breaths entered and escaped his lungs in great haggard gasps whilst his body shook from the bitter cold.
    The women had been created by the eel. He had no doubt about that. They’d been given substance to lure him down, and then dropped like a puppet show when it went for the kill. How had he been so stupid? To be lured down by such an obvious fantasy?
    He would have to be on his guard from now on. The
eel
was fishing for
him
.

    4
BEFORE. THE WOLF AND THE WIDOW
     
    A BSINTH A LCOTT SQUATTED ON THE filthy carpet and