Between the Devil and the Deep Sea

9.0

The Grave Keepers

Dampé, with the help of Gonzo, loads the last body onto the boat. A lithe thing, maybe female or a child, he does not know. The bodies are all wrapped in cloth, tied up with twine, ready to be carted out to sea for disposal like rotten meat. Despite the cool winter winds drifting through the island, sweat pools at the back of his neck and on his forehead. He swipes a hand at his forehead to catch the perspiration before it rolls down to his eyes and turns to the pirate. "Thanks, mate," he says, stretching out a hand.

Gonzo, stepping back, holds both his hands up. "No offense, yeah?"

"Ah, right," the gravedigger chuckles. "I understand."

Gonzo peers out on the horizon. "I'll bet you we'll have another half a dozen more by the morrow," he says.

The gravedigger hums to himself, turning to stare out at the horizon as well. It's kind of ironic now to call him a gravedigger when he has no more room to dig graves. His hands have calloused significantly, his back aches when he wakes, but the work is never ending it seems. Dampé tries to think back when he last had a day off, but cannot think of when that was. He sees now how the islanders flit about aimlessly. Cut off from the rest of the world, they are wasting away on the island. They meet in groups, faces covered and sometimes not, to gossip and clean. Sometimes they sit around and just drink. The boats that leave the island go to fish, or else they don't come back. He has to double check each morning what day it is, because the days have gotten so long.

Dampé steps carefully into the boat. It rocks dangerously, but he's used to it. He settles in, and he takes hold of the oars. The pirate tosses Dampé the rope that tethered him to the island, and Dampé begins to row slowly out to sea.

"Gonzo!" The pirate turns away from the sea, spotting Miss Tetra coming down to the docks, running towards them at top speed. "Stop him!" she cries as her feet meet the docks' wooden planks.

"OI! Dampé!"

The gravedigger stops rowing. He waits expectantly as the captain skitters to a stop at the end of the docks. She huffs for air, chest heaving. "Have you seen ships?" she asks in between breaths.

"I see lots of ships."

"No- no! I mean…" Miss Tetra sighs heavily, and straightens up. Still panting slightly, she says, "Have you seen anything circling the island?" with a hand waving circles in the air to emphasize her point.

Dampé scratches at his chin. "Hm," he hums. "I have seen similar ships off the coast, but I can't say they've been circling the island."

"Would you keep an eye out?" she asks him. "Let Gonzo know."

He shrugs, gripping the oars again. The oars slip into the water, and he starts to push the boat away. "Sure, why not?" he calls. "I'll let you know."

Gonzo looks to Tetra. "There are ships circling the island?" he asks her.

"Link seems to think so," she says, still with her back to him. "He says he came across a steamship."

"To keep us contained, yeah?"

"What other reason could there be?"

He shifts from foot to foot and crosses his arms. "Anything else I should know?" he asks her. She glances back at him briefly, and his eyebrows raise.

"I'm going to leave with him," she admits. She rounds on him. "You can't tell anybody, got it?"

"Yeah?" he half laughs. "Not even the crew?" Gonzo's lumbering form steps up next to her as she straightens back to look out on the sea. His shadow eats hers. "So that's why you're concerned," he mumbles to himself when she doesn't answer.

His heavy paw rests on her shoulder. "Miss Tetra, what're you about to do?"

"We'll come back," she says with conviction, turning to him. Her eyes are wide, brow straight. "I won't leave you."

Though she can't see it through the mask, he smiles at her. His eyes crinkle, and underneath the fabric, his cheeks grow rounder. He pats her shoulder, telling her not to worry.

Gonzo leaves his captain on the docks to begin his day of rounds with the two doctors. Today he is running rounds with Nudge. The two wait just inside the office's entrance for the doctors. "Mako's been trying to learn signing with Zuko," says Nudge, leaning on the upright, collapsed stretcher they'll be taking with them.

Gonzo laughs. "Is he?" He sighs, "Good for him."

Nudge says, "I can barely get a handle on the island talk."

The two pirates chuckle lowly until Shad appears with the doctors in tow. "Ready?" asks Shad, pushing his spectacles up his nose. The pirates nod, and Gonzo shows the way out.

Their first patient of the day is an older gentleman. The man's face has swollen, and he complains almost the entire visit about the pain in his back. His wife hovers uncomfortably in the doorway as she observes the doctors and the assistant work. Occasionally, she casts a glance at the pirates standing guard outside the room. Eventually, she starts to speak in that rhythmic chatter of the island to the man, and his complaints start to cease. Shad dutifully scribbles down notes for the doctors, and soon enough, they wrap the examination.

The next is a young girl whose mother Gonzo has to forcibly remove from the room. On the way out, Gonzo kicks a dead mouse from the steps of the lānai.

As they move from one patient to the next, the islanders scatter. They gather in groups and whisper amongst themselves.

The fourth patient has expired before their arrival. The doctors spend their time looking over the body, but finding nothing unusual about it from the others, release it to the pirates. The pirates wrap the body using the bed sheet as a shroud and place it on the stretcher. "We'll catch up on the next one, yeah?" Gonzo asks the doctors as they leave.

Sturgeon nods. "This one's not much of a fighter," he says.

They carry the body off. The islanders that huddled in groups suddenly become interested, but cautious. The groups disperse into lines as they watch the pirates pass, eyes glued to the figure on the stretcher. The islanders part the way for Gonzo and Nudge. The two drop the body off at Dampé's intake. The gravedigger has not returned yet from the looks of it.

The rest of the day is much the same.

That is until they finish their second drop for the day. "Aloha 'auinalā!" Link calls to them. "Pehea 'olua?"

"As good as we can be," Gonzo says, and Nudge nods in agreement.

Nudge asks, "How you say that again?"

"Maika'i no au," says Link. "I'm fine."

The pirates try to slowly emulate the sounds. Link laughs, and repeats the phrase slower for them. Gonzo waves it off, having long since given up on trying to understand the islanders much to Link's humor, but Nudge still tries.

Gonzo glances sidelong at Nudge. "Hey, go on without me, yeah?" he says to Nudge. "I need to talk to Link."

Link's eyebrow cocks. "Me?" he says with surprise.

"Aye," Nudge replies to Gonzo, the two pirate ignoring Link. "I'll let them know you're on your way."

Gonzo waves Link to follow. Once Gonzo is sure they're out of earshot of any curious ears, he stops, plopping himself down on a good sized rock. With a wave of his hand the burly man says, "Sit, mate."

Link shakes his head. "Sorry, can't." He feels a tugging at the corner of his mouth when Gonzo's low chuckle sounds.

"Too on edge, yeah?"

Link nods, and he begins to pace. He rips the mask from his face.

"Miss Tetra's worried about ships off the coast. Says they're circling the island."

Link's steps falter, and his eyes dart to Tetra's first mate. "Yeah? She said that to you, huh?" he mumbles.

"Link, I don't know what you're about to do," the pirate says seriously, hands on his knees, which makes Link stand still, "but there will be hell for you to pay if you don't bring her back in one piece." Gonzo straightens, and his chin is raised.

The young man sighs and kicks at the dirt underfoot. "We're going to the Forest Haven." Gonzo waits patiently for any elaboration. "There's… Great Fish Isle has caught a fever similar to ours, or it may be the same thing, who knows?"

"How'd you hear about this?"

"From Dr. Borville's assistants," Link says wearily. "We're able to still have some communication with Windfall; just enough to receive orders."

Gonzo nods. "When I get up at dawn, I see that one Rito coming close to shore sometimes, but he keeps his distance.

"What're you 'bout to do, lad?"

Link's eyes flit to Gonzo briefly. The small curve shy smile lifts his mouth. "I was uh…" and he laughs again. He scratches the back of his neck. As he seats himself on the ground near Gonzo, Link says, "I was going to see Ilia, actually."

"Ah."

Though awkward, the two men chuckle to themselves. It crescendos into hoots, that they quickly stifle.

"I don't think I need to now," Link says, still fighting the bubbling in his chest.

Gonzo leans over and nudges Link's shoulder. "What do ya think of her?"

"She's- she's nice," Link stumbles.

Gonzo throws himself back laughing. "Just 'nice'?" he cries. Link licks his lips, rubbing his chin, and he tries to keep his eyes averted from the pirate. "Oh lad, you'll be in trouble."

"Mahalo, mate."

Gonzo drags himself up from his seat on the rock. "Listen, lad. I gotta get back to work," he says, the good humor never leaving his voice. He leans and ruffles Link's hair, who gives a strangled cry of protest. "Good talk, yeah? You should come 'round more at the inn. We don't bite… much."

"Yeah, yeah," Link grumbles. He struggles to put his cowlicks back in place. "Aloha 'oe!" he calls back to Gonzo.

When Gonzo catches up to the doctors on rounds, they eye him with curiosity but know better than to ask. This next patient passed during the night, and upon seeing Gonzo approach, the hysterical widow tries to claw her way in. Nudge holds her off. Gonzo sighs and hurries his pace.

Together, Gonzo and Nudge try to calm the woman down long enough to let the doctors and Shad slip in to take a look at the body. By the time Shad sticks his head out of room to tell them to take the body back to the office for further examination, the widow is at Gonzo's feet in a pool of fabric, wailing.

Gonzo sighs again.

This isn't even the last patient on the list.


I didn't have my interview. I caught a cold, which I'm still wishing I could take another day in bed for, but I spent all weekend doing just that already. So, sorry about the late update, but I really do appreciate the comments left in the meantime! Truly. I hope this chapter is a nice break away from being so Link-centered.

For now, I'm just gonna go sink into my hoodie and hope that nobody notices I'm basically absent today.

Shhhh.

Dx