Passage

“Where are we even headed?” asked Brother Bec as he rubbed his hands together, trying to keep warm.

“Just need to see our hearing!” barked Conrad, the captain of this insane venture. Their new search for the Northwest Passage had been a brutal battle against both the elements and themselves.

Now the Captain and Brother Bec, the missionary on this mission, were in a small dingy checking their next heading. It was early, much of the crew was still asleep. Loyal officers remained on deck.

Day was perpetual in this realm of ice and water. The sun glowed dull in a halo of cascading colours, like pillars of a rainbow.

Their galley sat a few hundred yards back, waiting in a bay between two huge mountainous icebergs.

Brother Bec blew into his shivering gloves.

They searched through the next few streams of perfectly black water. The Captain scaled a huge and dangerous mound of ice until he saw the next route. He cackled with triumph and slid back into the boat. The dingy rocked, the monk grimaced at the Captain’s adventurous frivolity. 

“We’ve found it! We’ve found it!” cackled Conrad. “This realm shall be ours.”

Bec turned back at the sound of a ringing bell.

Conrad’s face dropped. “No!”

They rushed back towards the boat, paddling furiously. When they turned a corner back into the bay, the ship was gone.

“Those… Those Traitors!” roared the Captain.

Bec had been sure of the loyalty of the remaining officers.

Conrad’s popularity amongst the crew had run low, but not this low. That’s what Bec thought, then he looked down.

“Lord protect us.”

Conrad’s roaring died.

Below the boat, in the deep black water was the huge face of a woman. At least fifty-feet across with glistening green skin and black speckles down her cheeks. A huge smile grew across her face with thousands of jagged teeth. Her hair, like tentacles, reached up through the surface of the water.

The men screamed.

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Inspired by Shary Boyle’s Sea Change