Chapter 9: The Black Malheur
Shensé felt the sudden warmth as soon as he opened the door. The sound of the sea and seagulls caused Shensé to become partially upset. It was a beautiful day, however. The perfect blue skies blended away forever into the blue-green sea. Ganadella extended her arms and took in a deep breath of air while walking toward the side of the ship. Shensé noticed that Thom was no where in sight. Shensé would have looked over the side of the ship, but he could barely stand correctly—so fearful of falling over and rolling away off the ship. It was sad, really. He was fine when it came to being inside the ship and barbering. Perhaps it was because of the sudden rocking he could feel.
“The wind has seemed to pick up a tad…” Ganadella said, facing the rolling sea.
“What does that mean? Should we stop sailing?” Shensé asked, almost begging.
Ganadella turned her head around to him.
“You do realize we have stopped sailing for a while now?”
Shensé looked around and noticed a small deck holding a rope. Hills rested far beyond it with small homes sprinkled here and there. He also took notice of the small sailor’s ship barely rocking next to the deck. The words, “S.S. Mayflower” were written on it.
“I…I was not aware.”
“Standing like you went on yourself will not help anythin’.”
“Mais…I will fall over…”
“Ugh…”
Ganadella turned around and rested her hands on her hips.
“See? I am just fine. Surely, you will not die—now straighten up and walk around normally!”
Oh, the expression on his face when he attempted to pull his legs together. Ganadella only shook her head and turned back around, where she helped Thom back up onto the ship. He had something within his hand, tucked away beside him. It looked like a black, marble box.
“I want you to have this, Barber Shensé.”
Thom opened the box revealing what looked to be a large black diamond. The sunlight seemed to be sucked right away into it.
“Along one of my posts during the war, I stumbled across this very gem that was protected by this tribe. They lived on a small island worshipping the darn thing, so I thought it must have held some kind of value.”
“…oh, so was it given to you?”
Thom’s slits could not have squinted any further.
“I just want you to have it. It meant a lot to me…”
Something in those words did not seem so sincere to Shensé. In fact, he felt an uneasiness about it. A black diamond from an unknown tribe…how ominous…
“What did the tribe call it?” Ganadella asked.
“Ehm…it was something like…the Black…Mal-her—something other worldly.”
Black Malheur…?! , Shensé thought.
“Interesting…well, I am sure Shensé will love to accept your gift.”
Shensé tossed a worried face to Ganadella then Thom who firmly held the humming box against Shensé’s hand. After a nudge from Ganadella, he finally took it and smiled.
“Merci, Monsieur Locke.”
“Thank you! This cut will be the talk of the shores, son.”
Thom left as quickly as he had arrived while Shensé stood trembling to keep composed. He had not forgotten about being on sea.
“What is with that face, hm?” Ganadella inquired, sweeping the small shop inside.
“…Is there not something odd about…Monsieur Locke’s exit?”
“No. He had somewhere to be. Like we do.”
“Well, it was odd that—you mean returning home??” Shensé had rushed inside the shop, desperation all over his face.
“Please tell me that is what you meant, Ganadella!”
“Yes, yes. Calm down! The journey was long coming here.”
“It did not seem to be so.”
“You weren’t awake to know so, boy. Remember who steered the ship for three days, 2 nights!”
“Oh, right…”
“Anyway, it will be a moment getting back, if the seas will allow, however.”
He looked down with a boyish charm in his smile and gently tossed the box back and forth in his hands.
“Finally…off this dreadful sea.”
Ganadella just dismissed his comment and placed the broom aside.
“Here. Let me see that.”
Shensé held it out to her before spotting something in the corner of his eye. Ganadella had taken the box and stared into it while slowly waltzing out on deck. Shensé stood in the doorway, not sure at what he had seen by the rail. Was it Thom? Had he forgotten something and returned for it? It was possible that Shensé was only seeing things, so he brought his attention back to Ganadella. She looked to be studying the diamond just as hard as he was. Her hair tossed in the wind across her concentrated face…beautiful, he randomly thought. Then from his peripheral, a dark swaying movement was there…lingering. Shensé faced that direction, but nothing was there.
“There truly is something different about this gem, lad.”
Shensé bravely inched his way to the rail and looked out… He had not noticed the huge contrast of color in the sea ahead before…neither its paced movement.
“..oh…no….” he whispered.
“I notice that whenever I put it directly into the light--”
Shensé slowly turned to face her. She had her back to him at first, but soon had turned to face him.
“It does not glisten, however…whenever I tilt it on it’s side…I see something… Shensé?”
Watching his face morph into something awful as his eyes went up made her skin crawl…especially the looming shadow creeping over her.
No comments:
Post a Comment