[Multiple Challenges] Original Fiction: 'Cursed Silence'

[but_can_i_be_trusted]

Title: 'Cursed Silence'
Author: but_can_i_be_trusted
Fandom: Original Fiction
Rating: G
Warnings: None
Notes: Using Challenge #22: Steampunk AU, Challenge #29: Decade-Specific AU, and Challenge #47: Coffee Shop & All Variants AU. Crossposted to genprompt_bingo.
Summary: "So. They finally took an assistant for me, did they," I heard a voice mutter.

From the reasonably well-lit deck, I was dragged below, into a more dim space. There, I was unceremoniously dumped atop a sack of potatoes, before heavy boots stomped back out of the room.

"So. They finally took an assistant for me, did they," I heard a voice mutter. It was a woman's voice, weary, and just a touch bitter. "I'm glad they finally searched for one; I've been asking long enough. Well, you're not much good to me in your current state. Stand up and turn around."

Dazed, I did as I was told. Soon, I felt a knife sawing away at the ropes that were holding my hands behind me. With some effort, the rope fell away, freeing me again.

"That's better," the voice stated. "You can turn around now, girl. And there's nothing to fear. You're among friends. That is, if you can see a stranger in that light."

I turned back around, rubbing at the ligature marks marring my wrists. "Are you sure about that," I whispered, gazing around the chamber, which looked to be a galley or a scullery room. "I'm not here willingly."

The woman who'd cut me loose smiled thinly. "Of course not. No more am I; nevertheless, here we are. Those pirates...they can't help being what they are. They take whatever they need, indiscriminately. That goes as well for people, if they can put them to use. Well, girl, we'd best get to work. Once this airship is aloft, the crew'll be hungry. Are you any good at chopping fruits or vegetables?"

"Fair enough at it, I suppose," I responded, taking the knife she held out to me.

"That's good enough," she decided. She turned her attention to braising some strips of meat. "Luckily, they're not too particular, as long as they're fed on time."

I set to work, peeling a few carrots, before chopping them. It was pure luck that kept my fear from making me tremble too much to cut. "How long have you been on this airship," I asked quietly.

"Let's see," she murmured, her eyes firmly on the pan before her. "It's...what year is it, now? 1876? That means I've been here for about eight years, I believe. I was working in a tavern, and a handsome gentleman kept watching me, winking at me over his tankard of spirits. Before he left, he took me aside--fortunately for him, no one was paying attention--and offered to take me away from the life I was leading. He offered endless excitement, new places...what was I to do," she asked, shrugging. "What naïve girl wouldn't say yes to an offer like that?" The meat being adequately prepared, she moved it into a bowl and began to spice it. "I've regretted it ever since. Instead of the wonders that were promised to me, I've been stranded here belowdecks ever since. How did they find you, then?"

Picking up a few apples, I began to pare them. "Far less pleasantly. I was working in a coffee house, and had finished for the night. I was taking a shortcut home through an alley behind the coffee house, when I was suddenly swept into a dark doorway. There was no time to scream for help, and I must have been too shocked to make a sound; the one who grabbed me only saw fit to bind, without silencing me."

My new acquaintance nodded. "A gentle infiltration of the will takes more effort than a quick abduction. I'm not surprised that the methods have changed. Well, then. We're equally trapped."

I proceeded to cut the apples into thin slices, sprinkling a bit of sugar on them. "Is there never an opportunity to escape," I asked.

She laughed, the sound harsh and filled with grief. "Escape? No chance of it. I've longed to, for years. But the crew only berths to resupply, to either steal what they need, or to trade, if they think they can get away with trading stolen goods. Whenever that takes place, I'm locked in here. Chained," she added, motioning to a few sets of shackles that were bolted to one of the scullery walls, "to keep the temptation at bay. You'll get used to it, soon enough," she added in response to the sight of my alarmed shudder. "At least now I'll have someone to converse with, the next time."

Overwhelmed, I stared at the scarred countertop in front of me. "Are you that resigned to never being free again," I whispered, contemplating the nightmare that stretched before me. My heart couldn't find the will to be as calm as my companion sounded.

Nodding, she heaved a sigh. "As I said, I believe I've been here for eight years. It's too late to remember how to hope. But the danger's less than you might expect; criminals they might be, but the crew are respectful. In all that time, I've never been harmed. The only true danger is of falling--if, that is, I was ever on the deck. Which I haven't been since I was lured here. You'll find that they're as decent to you--"

The sound of heavy boots was heard again, stomping down to where we were. A man stood in the doorway, a look of aggravation on his face.

"You should see the filth, the drivel, that I saw nailed to every post in town," he declared, waving a sheet of paper in my companion's face. "It was all we could do to get out; we were tagged almost on sight for what we were!" He slammed the sheet down on a rickety table, which creaked in protest. "The local law enforcement, desperate to influence the locals, have placed these everywhere, like the germs of some disease," he continued. "How desperate they must be to arrest the lot of us."

"Calm yourself," my companion responded, a hand held up placatingly. "You got back safely; that's what counts. It merely means that we can't go back for a while."

"Several months, at least," he agreed. "And you can thank the stars that your helper, here was so cooperative when we abducted her. The slightest noise from her, and it'd be a different story."

Satisfied that his irritation had been sufficiently voiced, he marched back out again, leaving us alone.

I stared at the door that he'd just gone through, shaking. The slightest noise...

A hand touched my arm. Her hand.

"You're cursing yourself for not screaming," she murmured. "Don't. Yes, you might have avoided being dragged here, might have caused the arrest of many of the crew, whoever went down to the surface. But they would have slit your throat before the authorities arrived. Rather that, than let a witness live to identify them to the court."

"I don't care," I whispered shakily. "I will curse my silence until the day I die. I'd rather have had my throat slit, than be here now, knowing that I'll never get away. You've no room to speak, when you told me that you regret listening to the honeyed words that brought you here."

She nodded, sorrow darkening her eyes. "I agree," she whispered. "Go on, then; I take back what I said. Curse your silence, the same way that I curse the ears that listened to the man who brought me to this miserable existence. Now that I'm no longer alone," she added, her voice gaining some strength, "I'd consider poisoning this meal; but it takes more than two people to make this airship land, even to cause a crash landing."

"Then we'd be best off hoping that, eventually, more people are captured, as I was," I replied quietly. "Perhaps then we'd stand a chance."

"Perhaps," she agreed.