Blood and Water | Neteyam

The Distance and the Time Between Us ∼ 38

Tcelia was clambering upside down beneath a red, construction-like beam that spanned from one wall of the ship to another. It had been Lo'ak's idea and Tcelia had to admit that it had been pretty smart – this way they could move around the ship without anyone noticing, except of course, if people were to look up. Then they'd be screwed, though Tcelia chose not to think about that possibility too much.

Lo'ak had climbed up first, gesturing for Neteyam and her to follow him. As Tcelia had placed her hands on the beam, Neteyam had stopped her, lookin at her wrists with an alarmed expression and asked her if they should find another way. Tcelia had rolled her eyes at him, insisting that she'd be just fine, then promptly forced herself up and towards Lo'ak. At first, the pain had been bearable, but as soon as they had reached the ceiling of the ship and the beam had twisted into a 90-degree angle, Tcelia had almost thrown up from the pain of carrying her entire body weight with her arms. Though her legs were squeezed securely around the beam, the pain from having to stay leveled, tore through her wrists and sent her into spells of dizziness. But there wasn't much to do other than take a deep breath and follow after Lo'ak who had already scuttled off and was hanging onto the beam 12 meters over the floor of the ship.

Through her haze of nausea, she forced herself to focus on releasing her hand and grabbing the beam further in front of her. Then she let go with her other hand and moved that one in front of the other. It was a grueling process, and she wasn't able to focus on much else as she scuttled along the beam. Having to bite down as hard as she could to prevent letting out a yelp of pain, she made her way along the beam quickly, following right behind Lo'ak. She was sure that if she slowed down, she would never be able to make it. She just had to get it over with. Her movements became almost mechanical - let go, one hand in front of the other, shuffle her legs, let go, one hand in front of the other and repeat.

Beneath her she was vaguely aware of soldiers moving around and yelling instructions to each other. Tcelia couldn't quite distinguish what was being said through her nauseating fog, but she got the gist of it: the ship was sinking, and everyone needed to evacuate.

Someone wrapped their fingers around her ankle gently, and Tcelia startled, twisting to see Neteyam looking at her, his hair dangling freely. He let go of her and gestured for her to look forwards. Tcelia furrowed her brow and turned her head so that she could see what Neteyam had been pointing at.

Having been so focused on just keeping herself moving, she had completely missed that Lo'ak had clambered atop the red beam. Tcelia gritted her teeth as she twisted her body so that she could place both of her hands on the same side of the beam and heave herself up. Lo'ak quickly got on his knees and lowered his body over the beam so that he could wrap an arm around Tcelia's torso, helping her up. Tcelia was incredibly grateful for the fact that Lo'ak hadn't taken her by the hands and pulled her up - She'd definitely have fainted from the pain if that had happened.

From the top of the beam, they were able to heave themselves on top of a narrow, yellow structure close to the ceiling that spanned in different directions. Slowly, the nauseating haze started to dissipate as her wrists were given a break and she was finally able to notice what was going on around her. Beneath them she could hear voices, specifically one voice that was snapping at someone saying that he knew how a breathing mask worked. 

From their vantage point, Tcelia spotted Spider walking between a bunch of guards that were undoubtedly steering him towards a lifeboat.

Tcelia and the two brothers crouched, slowly making their way along the structure. Both Neteyam and Lo'ak were in front of her, following Spider closely with their eyes, weapons at the ready. Tcelia felt incredibly exposed as she followed behind the boys. She felt almost naked without her bow amongst these enemies, and not even a knife in her hand to defend herself with.