Llyr and the Pirates - Day 16
Day 16: Marooned
For @amonthofwhump‘s Water Whump May, where I write a part of this story every day according to the prompt. Looking forward to the next part I’m about to write because, unlike the past days, I will not be stretching the prompt to actually make it work lol.
Tag list: @spiffythespook, @castielamigos-whump-side-blog, @insanitywishes, @whumpingonarainyday Content warnings: suspension over water, dislocated joint
Slowly and carefully, so as not to injure himself, he started working the rope between his hands back up, leaning against the figurehead and trying his best to make an escape.
It was bearable at first. But what kind of slow, agonizing torture wasn’t?
The small ledge that Ray’s feet were balanced on gave him leverage to push up, trying to reach far enough to dislodge the rope. He figured it should have been easier, considering how smoothly and painlessly it had slipped over when Gawain put him here, but then again his feet hadn’t been tied back at that point.
After the first few attempts, he felt the strain burning in his core, his wrists sore and chafed from every time he lifted his weight, only to fall right back down, the rope pulling on his wrists and nestling in that notch that seemed made just for it.
The more Ray tried, the more exhausted he became, and every muscle in his body burned from how tense he’d been. It wasn’t working. He hadn’t even gotten close to getting it off, and he was doubting escape was even possible at this point. He rocked back and forth in his bindings, shifting and trying to ease the pressure on each wrist and keep the blood flowing. The last thing he needed right now was for the circulation to get cut off.
It was when he was moving the rope from side to side, though, that he noticed something. When he leaned to the left and rocked forward at just the right angle, he felt a pressure at the middle of the rope, and the sound of fibers tearing. He did it again a few times just to make sure he wasn’t going insane already, but he knew he was right.
It was tearing through the fibers of the rope. With renewed vigor, Ray rubbed at the rope and sawed as quickly as he could. The sun was already coming up, and he wasn’t sure how long he’d have before other people woke up for the day. It was a long, arduous process and he felt his muscles shaking and less precise the longer he went at it. He switched between propelling with his feet, then with his torso, then with his arms, and all the way back down again. Rinse and repeat.
He couldn’t have guessed how long it took, but the sun was already rising in the sky as his shaking, aching muscles gave out. He fell, his weight held entirely by his wrists and feet, and he wondered if this was what Llyr had felt like earlier. Or when Hugh had tormented him just hours before that. The poor kid couldn’t get a break, but he hoped that he was alright now. Ray had made a deal. He had to be okay.
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Llyr didn’t sleep for the rest of the night. He knew he should have. He knew Ray had given itself up for him to have this opportunity. He knew he was so, so tired.
But his arm was still out of place and it hurt so badly no matter which way he laid on it. He needed to fix it. He couldn’t let it stay out like that.
He tried to remember what Ray had done the first time but he’d been so scared and so much had happened since then that he couldn’t get the movements right, only succeeding in hurting his arm further the more he messed with it. His hands were kept too close to the ground and there wasn’t enough room to move his arm around the right way anyway.
He didn’t know how long it had been since he’d given up on trying to fix it. Everything was a dull haze of pain, and he occasionally slipped down into darkness only to resurface what felt like seconds later. But eventually, the door clicked open and he blinked, pushing himself up to see who it was.
Gawain bent by his side, a small key in hand which it used to unlock a shackle around his wrist. It was the reverse motion from when he’d been put down there, now threading the chain back through and locking it so Llyr could leave the small loop on the floor.
“My arm, please i can’t, it hurts please fix my arm-!” he said, breathless as he was pulled swiftly to his feet.
“Not now. We’re going to visit your friend, now. I wonder how he fared through the rest of the night…” it said, starting the walk back out and down the hallway.
Those words shouldn’t have sent such a pang through Llyr’s chest. What did it mean? How bad had that punishment been? Ray had volunteered: he should be blaming it for that, but at the same time… it had been for him, right? It would be his fault that someone else got hurt.
But Ray was just some human. He didn’t need to care about its well being because it shouldn’t mean anything to him. Didn’t mean anything to him.
They emerged onto the deck and Gawain herded him up stairs to the bow of the ship, but when they reached the top, there was nobody there. He could see just a barely perceptible flash of anger in the man’s eyes, and watched as it leaned over the edge to examine the figurehead, then the water below.
“He’s gone,” it mumbled, and Llyr didn’t hear much else after that. He heard everything that was happening, mostly just Gawain shouting furiously, trying to round up a group to search for the missing captive and figure out how in the hell it had made it out without anyone noticing. But he could only think of one thing.
It abandoned me.
It wasn’t Ray’s duty to stay with him and he didn’t even trust it with his life, but he suddenly felt so alone. The ship was filled with people who followed Gawain, and Gawain wanted to hurt him, so the people wouldn’t hesitate to either. Even Hugh would be eager to hurt him again, he was sure.
He’d been abandoned, marooned on this island far too populated with cruel humans, and he couldn’t bear to think about what would happen now.
Next part
