The Mariner Read Online Free PDF Page B

cast judgement, hadn’t he just killed a women in cold blood? Didn’t he have demons of his own?
    He leaned forward, deciding to put his trust in Absinth. “I’m searching for an island. It’s protected, ringed by defences. Somewhere on that island is the truth. The truth to why the world’s falling apart, the secrets that we have all forgotten.”
    “An Oracle?”
    “I suppose it could be. I don’t know myself, I just know the answers are to be found there.”
    “Contained within an island?”
    “Yes, the island is ‘protected’. Whatever that means.”
    The Mariner passed back the cigarette, which Absinth toked deep upon, trying to hide his racing mind and soaring excitement. “How do you know all this?”
    He shrugged. “I don’t know. I just... do.”
    Absinth threw the butt into the fire and clapped his hands. His agitated guest recoiled as if struck. “Well isn’t this a turn up for the books?”
    “What is?”
    “Over the past year I’ve been speaking to sailors, not like yourself, these were pirates and all sorts of scum-bags. Time and again I would hear a rumour. Sometimes it got silly, the usual storyteller fluff, but ultimately the same core facts again an’ again. An island, ringed by coral, upon which a woman lives. A woman who knows
everything
.”
    “Everything?”
    “That’s what I said, yeah! Everything! An Oracle!”
    All uncertainty, shock and vulnerability fell from the Mariner in that moment. So much so it scared Absinth a little.
    “Where?”
    “East of here,” Absinth babbled. “Somewhere east. I don’t know. You have to keep going. It’s a long voyage.”
    “Then I must begin now.” The Mariner stood, gathering purpose.
    “Wait! Where are your crew?”
    The Mariner’s paused, confused at the suggestion. “I don’t have a crew. Well, just one, she’s outside.” Having remembered his ward, he called for her.
    “Only one crew member?” Absinth was amazed. That couldn’t be true! How on earth did he sail such an enormous ship? “Then I should come with you. I’m good at putting a crew together. Several places to recruit from. You supply the ship, I’ll supply the men. How does that sound?”
    “I’d be glad,” the Mariner lied, thinking to himself that he’d rather have no more crew than two. A soft pattering of feet announced their third. “I want you to meet my friend. Grace.”
    The devil edged in, looking about the room for a possible trap. Her snout was doing the most work and she let out a snarl when she found the old man’s scent,
    Absinth leaped to his feet with a jolt, backing away.
    “What the fuck is that?”
    “Isabel said she’s a tazzy devil.”
    “I can see it’s a Tasmanian devil, I mean what the fuck’s it doin’ here?”
    The Mariner looked from devil to the man and back again. “I told you. She’s my crew.”
    Absinth shook his head. “I’m not boarding your ship with one of those things. Can’t fucking stand dogs. Leave it ‘ere.”
    Grace’s brown eyes turned up as if to ask the Mariner if he were considering such an outrageous notion. Her front paws fidgeted in the gloom.
    “I’m sorry, Mr. Alcott. Her place is not up for negotiation.”
    Absinth’s face turned to a snarl. The change was bestial in its ferocity. “What the fuck’s wrong with you? You prick! You tellin’ me that fuckin’ rat is better than me?” Even accounting for the orange glare of the flames, the old man’s cheeks had gone bright red from humiliated rage.
    “No. But she was first.”
    “Get the fuck out of here, you murderer!” Absinth tensed as if ready for a fight. “You’re not welcome. Not you, not your rat, nor your fuckin’ ship neither!”
    The Mariner didn’t need to be told twice, he had no stomach for a second death that night. He left, and the further they got from the wolf and widow’s house, the happier Grace became.

    5
THE THIRD NIGHT OF OUR TALE
     
    T HE M ARINER SCREAMED AND TORE at his ears, and yet still the visions