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It was around midnight when it started.
A loud movement and thunderous sounds woke them up. Archie fell on all fours from the top of the bunk, and Hisirdoux would have ended up in the same situation, had it not been for his quick instincts that made him react in time to grab onto the bars of the bunk. Zoe was not so lucky in the room across the corridor, and along with a few suitcases, ended up on the cabin floor. The girl was mentally thankful she had taken the bottom of the bunk when her roommate poked her head out of her bed, asking her what the hell had happened. Ha, right, as if she knew what the hell had happened.
She heard some rustling coming from the hallway, and didn't hesitate for a second to open the door to see what was going on. She was a little surprised to see a few curious passengers doing the same as she was, whispering amongst themselves for information. Some were calm, and others were panicking. Douxie opened the door to his own cabin, sapphires met ambers. Casperan motioned to her with his eyes, and Zoe indicated that she had no idea what was going on either.
The calm lasted about 47 more seconds, before a couple of boys appeared running down the hallway, howling in panic that their quarters were filling up with water.
That had to be a joke, right?
/It was no joke./
It took a few minutes for them to realize that their own rooms were filling up with water, and a few more for crew members to approach them in a - not so subtle - way to ask them - demand them - to get dressed and put on their life jackets
They banged on doors, kicked in others, and threw the vests at them without explanation, as they ran up and down the aisles and lifted the few remaining sleeping passengers. Archie wondered if they gave the same treatment to first and second class.
Zoe approached his door with a dismayed expression.
"Do you think something's going on with the ship?"
Archie was a familiar, he could feel Douxie's emotions in his head. He felt the moment when Hisirdoux smiled at the girl, and the fear he felt in his chest when he lied to him in a soft tone saying:
"No, I'm sure it's just a drill."
When Archivald saw a couple of rats scurry down the hallway to the nearest stairs, he knew something was very wrong, and when they gathered them all in the common room, a part of his heart grew small at the sight of so many crying children.
"Archie, you'd better hide" Douxie whispered to him picking him up off the floor, and hiding him inside his coat. Archie took the opportunity to transform into a rodent and hide in his pocket.
A couple of staff members came over to ask the women and children to come forward, and subsequently took 28 of them elsewhere.
Hisirdoux began to do a mental calculation, he didn't know how much time the ship had, nor what was happening, but if they had to rely on lifeboats- 20 boats, with a capacity 65 people in total- 1300.
There would only be room to save 1300.
Hisirdoux was no fool, he knew there were at least 2,000 passengers on board-which meant not all would be saved.
Women and children first, that was more than obvious from the safety protocols.
Then first and second class males.
He didn't want to set his expectations low, but Hisirdoux knew that everything around him was pointing to the fact that he wouldn't make it onto the boats.
Zoe and Archie, however-
They had other possibilities.
"It's over," the witch blurted, rising from her seat. "I don't plan on waiting to be told what's going on," the girl said in an ancient dialect, which Douxie recognized perfectly.
"Then use your magic to find out what's going on," Merlin's apprentice told her, opening his jacket and extracting Archivald from it. "I'm going to sneak into the cauldrons. We're more likely to find out what's going on from the people who control the lower part of the ship, than from the bastards serving food between the corridors."
That said, he walked to a service door, evading other passengers and the insistence of donning a life jacket.
====
Douxie didn't know what to expect as he stepped into the boilers. But certainly not in his wildest dreams was the thought of seeing the water flooding the area.
The sudden shock of cold and heat made the air in his lungs ache like daggers, and that he hadn't even touched the water. He could not imagine how freezing it must have been, nor what the members working in the boiler felt at that moment, who were barely moving with that melting ice over their abdomens and knees. Hisirdoux could see them from afar, the way the boys were running through the flooded corridors, trying to reach the door of the corridor he could see from the stairway where he was. The airtight doors were lowered at will, a pair of red lights together with a siren made the atmosphere tense and heavy, as if the excess of smoke and charcoal were not enough to do the job.
A man near one of the doors was shouting orders -Douxie guessed he was the boss of those workers- he demanded them to go to the extraction areas and pass the doors. Casperan wasn't smart, but his one neuron told him that the way he had come was definitely one of the available extraction zones, so he stepped aside, allowing the workers to climb the ladder and escape the terrible situation.
The "watertight" doors were about to close in an attempt to stop the water from passing through, but shit, there were still guys on the other side of it. Hisirdoux ran down the stairs and filled his feet with that terrible freezing water, he got as close as he could to the chief on guard and didn't care if they saw him use his magic, he cast a spell to stop the hatches for a few seconds. A light blue aura wrapped around the door as soon as Hisirdoux's hands touched it, and applying upward pressure he stopped it for as long as possible. The chief pulled 3 more men on the other side of the hatch before the magic was interrupted and the door finally closed. There were no words to explain the appreciation of these men, rather than actions. They pushed Douxie down the hallway to the stairs where he had come from, even with the doors closed the water was still seeping in.
"How much time do we have?" he heard one of the workers shout as they were extracted from the boilers and entered the service corridors between the rooms.
"If we're lucky-less than two hours."
===
When Zoe found Casperan again, the boy was soaking wet. His breathing was ragged and his clothes were dripping with freezing water, his hands and face were covered in, what she assumed was, charcoal, and he made his way through other crew members who shared a similar state to his own.
Ashidril rushed to his side and grabbed him by the face in concern, brushing a few strands out of his face to inspect him.
"But what the fuck happened to you?"
"Zoe, we have to get out of here," He told her in a desperate tone. "We have to get upstairs. The boilers are flooded, the water is leaking-"
"What are you saying?" Archie poked his head out of the witch's pocket.
/"The ship is sinking." /
Hisirdoux raised his head trying to look for more Staff members, someone to point them to where they could find an open staircase, whatever, to get to the deck. Or at least, to second class.
But no matter how hard he looked, he couldn't find anyone. Where were the damn white-clad fellows when he needed them?
"There are no more maids or servants" Zoe whispered to him, "they said to wait, they would be back soon".
The anguish and despair only grew in the jet-haired man's eyes.
"No, no. You don't understand" he shook her by the shoulders "There is no time".
Hisirdoux took her hand, and subsequently approached who he recognized as his roommate and a few other people. He also got the attention of as many people as he could, and convinced them to send the waiting requests to hell.
"We need to go to the stairs" he instructed them, so they could find a way. And so they did.
They left behind money, souvenirs, and belongings, and carrying nothing but their coats and the clothes they were wearing at the time, they ran to the nearest stairs.
To their misfortune, more people were already crowded together when they arrived. The hallway was crowded with people who looked annoyed, and stagnant. Because of his stature, Hisirdoux was able to see what was going on up ahead.
"It's locked," he whispered overwhelmed, "they locked the damn door with key and chain" he cursed in his mother tongue.
A couple of guards were shouting orders from the other side, demanding that people disperse. It was clear that no one was obeying.
But they had no time for that, Hisirdoux decided to move.
They kept moving forward, they ran between the corridors and labyrinthine hallways. They had to find another way out, damn it!
The service doors! Yes! That was it!
Douxie conjured on the way something that would allow him to pick the lock. As soon as he found the first service door, he opened it without thinking and stepped through. It was only a few steps before he realized this was a terrible idea: he could see the water rising in the distance, /the ship was flooding fast./
He turned around and avoided Zoe's entry.
"It's full of water," he told her as they moved forward "we must find another way out."
And then, another conglomeration of people on other stairs. There weren't as many people as at the previous door, but there weren't any guards with whips banging on the grille either.
They went up the stairs and got as close to the grating as they could. Hisirdoux was tempted to trigger the lock with another spell, but Zoe stopped him instantly.
"No, save it. You need to save your strength, you might need them later."
Douxie was going to dispute, but he didn't have that luxury. He watched as in the distance a couple of men pulled an armchair that seemed to be embedded in the opposite wall. What the hell did those men want an armchair for? He looked at the grille, and then at the force with which they were moving the object. They were going to break down the door.
Hisirdoux turned away from Zoe and shouted for her to move away, while he joined the group of unknown brothers, to help them with the work of lifting the bench. It took them a few tries, but they succeeded. Zoe understood the plan instantly and instructed the people to move away.
Between 7 men they lifted the chair and carried the object up the stairs. Their improvised weapon slammed into the door, once, twice, three, four times, before committing its pledge and knocking down the grille that prevented them from an exit.
As soon as it was open, those present looked for the exit. Women, children, and men with families rushed upstairs, juggling to jump over the debris of the grating and climb to the next floor of the building.
By the time they made it into the "second class" section, the corridors had begun to slope. The floor was not flat as usual, and people were moving as fast as they could to the surface.
Someone grabbed Douxie by the shoulder. The apprentice turned his head sharply, ready to slap anyone who got in his way, but lowered his fists when he realized it was his roommate.
The brown boy raised his hands in surrender, and once Hisirdoux calmed down, the boy reached a hand into his pocket, and from it he extracted something. A small and cubic metal bottle that he uncorked with a quick movement.
"Here," he said holding out the object, "it will help you with the cold." He pointed to his wet clothes and then grabbed him by the shoulder in thanks for guiding him to an exit.
That was the last time Hisirdoux saw the man.
Douxie didn't know what he was thinking, but he drank half of the contents inside the object, alcohol had always disgusted him, but he didn't have a choice to refuse either. Not when he lacked clothes to change into, or another way to warm his body. He held out the rest of the bottle to Zoe, and once empty they threw it on the floor.
They were witches, their system was strong and would digest the alcohol faster. Hisirdoux knew that he would have to drink an immense amount of that liquid to really give him a favorable result, maybe later he would search. For now, he was limited to finding a way out.
Hours -perhaps only minutes- passed inside that section of the ship. It was so labyrinthine that it was easy to get lost among the people. He felt sorry for those strangers that did not speak English who were trying to understand the advice others were giving them, or to read the signs to find a way out, he wanted to stop, he wanted to guide them, but even he had no idea where he was. Besides, they could not waste time, he knew very well that, if he stopped to help any individual in need, they would not get out of there alive.
Desperation began to grow in his body as he felt his feet getting wet. The hallway was flooding.
He looked both ways, water was pouring down the stairs like hell, and the door at the far end of the hallway was leaking water from all its extensions, it looked almost as if it was about to burst.
"Come on, come on, come on," he pushed Zoe in the opposite direction. "We have to go to the Stern."
As they ran down the corridor, Hisirdoux heard the wood creaking and cracking behind them, they kept running, and for a moment, just a brief moment, he looked back. As he had expected, the water was running rampant, filling the corridor they had narrowly taken, had they not turned back, they would be underwater at that moment.
They kept running, as fast as the increasing slope of the ground would allow.
They didn't know when they reached first class, but it was easy to distinguish themselves from the diners in extravagant, splendidly warm, fur and plush coats who strutted in panic as if leaving without their bags was the most terrible thing in the world.
Hisirdoux took Zoe by the hand, and when they finally reached the deck, she felt the air finally return to her lungs.
They had made it. They had really made it.
The excitement lasted him about 4 seconds before he lost himself in the shouting and squeezing that the rich men provoked, to get into a boat. The uniformed men shouted, had guns in their hands, and demanded orders as they selected those who would get off. It was in their hands to decide who would live and who would die.
Hisirdoux felt his body squeezed between the people, in one part people lined up to get on to a safe future, and in others, people screamed in panic. Douxie looked at the bow-the tip of the ship was completely sunk.
Still, he got as close to the boats as he could, keeping Zoe as close to himself as the others would allow.
"Excuse me, excuse me"; he blurted out low as he moved people around.
A part of his heart saddened the instant he heard violins and a cello playing a ballad. The ship's band had gathered and in a vain attempt to calm the diners, they were giving a free concert. Zoe felt her hand being squeezed by Casperan as they passed the instruments, but at no point did Douxie stop, they kept moving forward.
"Women and children, only," He heard one of the uniformed men say. "Women, and children."
"Here's one!" Hisirdoux shouted at the top of his lungs, raising his hand.
Zoe's eyes widened like saucers.
The witch let go of the boy's grip, and slapped him.
"What, no! What do you think you're doing?" Zoe backed up a few steps, yanking Hisirdoux by his coat. "Don't even think I'm leaving without you."
"Zoe, look around you," Douxie waved a hand, "the ship is sinking. There aren't enough boats to go around. You have to go while there's still time." The familiar poked his head out of the lady's pocket.
"Don't- don't even think that-"
"Archie, look after her for me, will you?" Douxie stroked his dragon with his thumb. "I'll just be a few minutes. I'll find a way to get on another boat.
Deep in his heart, Archivald knew his mage was lying. But before either of them had time to respond, Hisirdoux bent down, and in one swift movement lifted the girl off the ground with one arm.
"Douxie! What the fuck are you doing, put me down!"
"You are going to get into that boat, even if it is the last thing I do".
After that, Hisirdoux began to scream.
"Here's a girl! A lady, excuse me, let her through!" The wizard shouted making his way through the people. Slowly he reached the front, and amidst kicking blows and grumbling from Zoe, Hisirdoux reached the edge. "She has to go, now."
Was the last thing the boy said dropping the girl into the boat. Then he quickly kissed her knuckles and walked away. The arms of the rest of the passengers inside the lifeboat held her down to keep her from moving.
And finally, the boat began to descend.
When they were at a decent height, near the balconies of the lower floors of the boat, Zoe tried to get up. She tried to jump back to the ship, but as soon as she wanted to move she realized that her feet were stuck to the ground. Archibald had his paws glued to Ashidril's coat and they both looked with an anguished expression at Douxie, who was still waving goodbye from the edge of the boat. /He had bewitched them./
He had put a spell on them not to move, not to do something foolish, and make it out of there alive.
"Damn you, Hisirdoux Casperan," Zoe whispered to herself, shedding a couple of tears as the lifeboat finally hit the water.
"Row," she heard shouting behind her back. "Row;" the command was repeated as the small sailboat pulled away.
Casperan's silhouette gradually grew smaller and smaller until it was lost in the crowd.
What they could not leave behind, on the other hand, were the cries for help and distress from those still aboard.
Once the ship was far enough away, Douxie moved away from the edge on deck and directed his pace to the stern. By this time, the tilting of the ship was becoming more and more imminent, and the panic of the people was only increasing. Before long they would start killing each other for places in the boats, that was more than certain.
Hisirdoux saw in the distance a blond boy with a knife in his hands, by the way he was climbing between the ropes, Douxie knew he had experience in what he was doing. Once he gained height he began to cut the ropes, he seemed to be helping to release the remaining lifeboats.
What he didn't expect was that the cables holding the chimney pipes straight would come loose at that moment. One by one, they snapped, causing the first gigantic smokestack to fall headlong, taking everyone nearby with it. When the wave of drops finally ceased and Hisirdoux was able to see again, there was nothing left but a corpse to remember the boy by.
With two of the four chimneys down, the sinking process only increased. The windows on the sides of the deck gave way to the pressure and broke, sucking the poor unfortunate souls nearby inside. To his misfortune, Hidirdoux was one of them.
He managed to hold on to the wall with one hand, and with the other grabbed a bar that once served as a balcony. He used all his strength to propel himself out of the hole he once had called a window, and hold on as it sank and the suction pressure dropped.
If something as small as that had caused a whirlpool that almost led to his death, he didn't want to imagine the suction that would cause the ship to sink.
A pair of hands helped him up to the next section of the deck, pulling him between the bars out of the water. Hisirdoux did not even have time to see the person's face, but after getting back on his feet, he was pushed to continue walking.
People screamed and shouted as they went as fast as they could to the stern, the inclination of the ship increased every second more and more, it was like climbing a mountain, but without stones, just a huge and smooth slope that became more and more dangerous.
He kept moving forward, as fast as his feet would let him until he saw a corpse on the ground. Hisirdoux didn't know what he was thinking as he bent down to unbuckle his life preserver, and put it in place, "he doesn't need it anymore" thought the adrenaline in his body as he buckled the straps back on his own body.
That's when the lights went out. The crowd screamed in panic, the engine room was down, and with no artificial light, everything was now in darkness.
No.
Pitch Black.
He wasn't even able to see his feet, but that didn't stop him from moving forward.
A few people slipped and fell to the ground, sliding across the vast expanse of deck unable to slow their pace.
Hisirdoux reached the edge of the ship.
By this time his breathing was heavy, the fear in his body was clouding his judgment, and he did not hesitate a moment to grab hold of whatever he could find around him. A table-a chair-he had no idea what it was, but it was embedded in the floor, surely that would do.
===
Zoe's heart stopped when they heard that creaking sound. The 46 people on the lifeboat stopped their progress and looked in horror at what was left of the Titanic. The immense ship was in darkness, and the inclination was so great that the structure of the ship was not resisting it.
Another creak, and another.
Little by little, the center of the ship began to dismantle until it could no longer support it. /The ship broke in half/. People holding onto the ends of the ship fell into the ocean as the stern plummeted free-falling into the water, and more people who were floating under it, as that happened, were brutally crushed by the human-built metal titan.
Zoe clenched her fists, and Archie prayed to Merlin's tomb that Douxie had not been one of those unlucky ones.
====
Hisirdoux hit his head on the ground as the stern cracked. And with that, the third and fourth funnels collapsed. He was able to hear over the screams of the crowd as water began to fill the interior of the - now broken - ship.
It took the metal titan long and extended minutes to reach a 45° tilt, but it was only a matter of seconds before gravity brought it back to 0°. Casperan barely had time to react when the beast began to rise again. He could feel a warm liquid running down his face. Was it blood, was it coming from his nose or forehead? Of that he had no idea, what he did know was that the table he was holding onto had a circular base, lacked legs, and was supported by a cylinder- A damn cylinder!
No, he had no way to hold on. The puddle and crimson squirting between his hands didn't do much help in that regard either, and the fact that there was no lighting made the situation 10 times worse.
That's when it started. The boat hadn't split completely. No, there was still a part of it attached to the section that was already on the bottom. You didn't have to be very smart to understand that that piece of the boat would drag with it the stern that was still floating.
It was only a matter of time before it happened.
Or in his case.
/ Seconds ./
10°
15°
35°
People began to collapse, after the fall of the stern, those who were not securely fastened to some object let go, and now their bodies were falling into the ocean because of the inclination of the ship.
40°
45°
Hisirdoux began to slip, his bloody hands were unable to hold on to the table, he tried to climb a little, to hold on or to lean on the cylinder, but the liquid made the task impossible. The idea of sticking to the table with magic was instantly discarded, it would be counterproductive once the ship was completely underwater. And to flower? No, he couldn't save himself alone and leave the rest of the people to their fate.
He managed to grab hold of the edge, and grunting with all his might he clung to it. He would make it, he really wouldn't fall.
Then a woman on the edge of the stern collapsed.
50°
55°
That woman had tried to grab hold of the bars at the end of the ship, but her hands were not strong enough to hold her and she ended up falling downhill. Her body collided with the table on which Hisirdoux was standing, and the blow caused both the sorcerer and the woman to fall.
60°
Archie squeezed into the witch's pocket a few miles away, and Zoe continued to stare in horror at the ship.
The Dragon felt that. /Something had happened to his familiar./
===
Douxie's body slammed against a metal staircase, he heard his back creaking against its white bars. He looked around, but there was no sign of the woman. He didn't want to poke his head behind the ladder to confirm his whereabouts.
More people were clinging to the bars of the staircase leading to a small balcony. He looked to his side, and a few feet away he spotted the adjoining staircase, he couldn't quite make out because of the darkness, but it seemed to make a silhouette in a similar position to his own, or at least, it seemed that way.
No, the silhouette was moving.
65°
70°
Douxie looked down, (or a head?), at that moment he didn't know, but two other individuals with whom he shared shelter on those steps were trying to move back, almost as if they wanted to sit on the peralts of the stairs.
75°
Douxie's body began to move to do the same as those strangers, it seemed a good technique. They were preparing for what was coming.
80°
A man at his side bent down to hold a boy who was clinging to the bars. The wizard's body trembled with fear, and he closed his eyes in panic.
85°
Zoe covered her mouth with her hands, stifling a scream.
And finally-
90°
It was all too fast.
The ship reached 90°, a perfect and impossible vertical.
Something Douxie never thought in his 800 years of life he would ever see, or live through. The ship remained still, not moving, and because of the position, more people began to slowly lose their grip.
Hisirdoux tried to keep still, not to move. He was sitting perfectly still now, there was no need for him to hold on, but he still did it. He did it because of the bodies that began to descend from the sky. He did it for the way the sacks of flesh bumped sharply against the structure he was on, and how the bars of the ladder shook with each body that attached itself to it. Douxie closed his eyes and embedded his hands to the bars at his sides, he felt the tears run down his face and the way his body trembled, but at this point, he didn't know if it was from the cold or the fear.
And it was then when /he began to pray./
To Merlin.
To Excalibur.
To nature, the stars, or some omnipotent god that existed, whoever would help him at that moment, and prevent some person from falling from the sky and crushing his head.
/But that was not the end./
No, that was only the beginning of the next stage: the sinking.
Slowly, the ship began to descend, the air cabins roared and screamed as the ship sank, from the pressure, the few remaining intact windows cracked, releasing gusts of wind and water as if they were geysers of ice.
The water came closer and closer, and the metal beast roared furiously as it entered the sea. A last geyser exploded under his feet, a few meters from the ladder where he stood, and it was then that he knew that, in the next few seconds, his body would be submerged in the ice-cold water.
Maybe it was instinct his motive, maybe he heard someone shouting the action, but Hisirdoux took a big last gasp of air as soon as his feet sank into the melting ice.
/Now he would go down with the Titanic./
===
He doesn't remember how long he was underwater. It could have been minutes or seconds, but his theories about the sinking were true. As the ship plunged into the ocean it dragged everything around it with it.
He felt the air bubbles follow a path he could not reach. He felt waves and gusts of underwater pressure, and perhaps swallowed a few gallons of liquid along the way. But most of all, he felt despair.
Despair at not being able to breathe.
For not being able to reach the surface.
And by the insatiable need of his body, which demanded air.
It was then that he managed to pull his head out of the water. Hisirdoux was about to give up, but he did not.
The water was freezing cold, to say that his body was chattering from the low temperature would be an understatement. Hisirdoux felt as if a million needles were embedding themselves into his body every second. It was so cold /it burned/, his skin and intestines were squeezing painfully, and the water he had consumed during the sinking didn't do him much good.
/ Screams./
That is the first memory he has of that night.
The screams of the people, and the way desperation consumed the castaways in misery. The few traces of humanity that remained went down with the metal titan, and now people behaved like animals. Panic-stricken, they kicked, screamed, and cried for divine intervention to save them. Others struggled and grabbed other people's bodies as an impetus to keep floating, sinking and drowning innocents along the way.
Hisirdoux could not stay close to so many people, he knew that, if he did, sooner or later they would sink him, and he was not willing to swallow more saltwater, he simply could not.
So he moved his arms and legs as much as he could, but the freezing water made that task almost impossible. The wizard didn't manage to get too far away, the needles in his skin hurt too much, the water in his chest made it hard to breathe, and the still pounding blood loss had left him out of place.
He found a piece of wood, something to hold on to. It looked like a chair, or was part of a table perhaps, he couldn't identify it, but the object floated, and he no longer had the strength to keep moving away from people. So he held on to it, and prayed that it would be enough.
That night, Hisirdoux learned that body temperature drops 25 times faster in water than in wind. That after only two minutes submerged at a temperature of -2° C, blood begins to clot, his body could shake so much that it could easily be mistaken for an epileptic seizure, and Archie was the most important creature in his life.
===
They did not allow the boats to approach.
"We will be sunk by people" Explained the captain of that small ship. "Out of desperation, as soon as we get close they'll try to get on, and we'll end up like them. We can't risk that happening."
Zoe wanted to scream, wanted to force them back and force people to find a way to save as many people as they could, but she could barely even remember how to breathe properly. She had lived through the war up close, she knew how devastating death could be when it was right next to you, she had lived for 8 centuries, escaped Salem, and yet she never felt as terrified as she did at that moment.
She was alive.
She was healthy.
But in the distance, she could hear all those people screaming.
All those people suffering.
/And she knew Hisirdoux was among them./
Archie felt the cold tears stain his fur, and he curled into a ball between his little paws trying vainly to calm the anguish his body felt. Hisirdoux was between them, his familiar was in the water, he could feel a fraction of the cold his human was feeling at that moment. Archie closed his eyes and concentrated on finding him, on finding a way to get Douxie out of there, without putting himself in danger.
They were hiding for a reason, they kept their heads down without drawing attention to themselves for something, it had been centuries since Hisirdoux had shown his magic in public, and he didn't show his true form to the world for a good reason. And that day would be no exception.
"We have to go back" Zoe heard inside her head over and over again, "we have to go back, we have to go back. we have to go back!" she reached into her pocket and patted the head of the familiar that kept intruding into her thoughts.
"I'm sorry," the voice whispered this time as Archie snuggled between her fingers.
"I know, I understand. But how?"
Neither was willing to leave that wizard in the water. At least, not for long.
Unfortunately, that decision was not in the hands - or paws - of either of them. And now, there was nothing left but to swallow the terrible emotions in their stomachs and pray that one of the people who had control over the boats, would decide once and for all to do a good deed.
"Please," he regaled in his mind, "please Merlin, let him stay alive."
===
After 15 minutes of touching the water, Hisirdoux stopped feeling his legs. His hands were shaking so badly that it was almost impossible for him to maintain his grip on the wooden object, and his fingers were so cold, that, if he were able to shine a light on them, he would have noticed that they were turning black.
By 20 minutes, the crowd was now a hush. What had so recently been a sea of screams and splashing water was now the slow cries and extended gasps of the few castaways still alive.
A sob escaped his lips, making a cloud of smoke in front of his mouth. His body no longer trembled, the needles had become a part of him and he was unable to feel the sting of his frozen skin. It was a good thing, wasn't it?
Was it that his body had finally gotten used to the temperature of the water? Or was it the fact that his blood vessels were slowly closing up?
He had no idea, but his head felt heavy. Everything was spinning and it was impossible for him to keep his eyes open. However, he refused to close them. No, he couldn't, it was almost as if his pupils had frozen open, and the ice prevented him from blinking properly.
"Archie-," he whispered one last time the name of his familiar.
His only family, and friend.
The creature who would keep his possessions.
And from whom he wished to apologize for not having been strong enough.
Twenty-five minutes and Hisirdoux had finally passed out. The pain in his head and the little blood still left in his body forced him to close his eyes.
How long had it been?
Hisirdoux had lived about 812 years, but that day it felt like a full century had passed.
Thirty minutes.
A light forces him to open his eyes.
It's hard to blink when your eyelashes are coated with ice.
By that time, the wizard's skin turned from a pale white to a purple lilac. His nose, cheeks, and ears had turned blue from the ice, and the strands of hair that fell across his forehead had crystallized into ice stalactites.
His head throbbed with every tiny movement he made, and his chest ached so much that he was barely able to breathe.
"Is anyone here alive?" Someone shouted.
It was a firm, concerned voice. But Hisirdoux wasn't able to understand what it was saying.
"Can you hear me, is anyone there, hello?"
Douxie slowly turned his head to the left, he heard the wood creak as soon as he peeled his face away from it.
The light-
There was a light-
"Is anyone here alive?" That voice kept repeating, slowly bringing that little artificial sun closer.
No, that- that was a lighthouse-
And that voice came from-
A boat.
A boat.
They had come back for them.
/They had come back./
Hisirdoux looked around. The bodies floating near his were silent and still, he hadn't noticed it before, but it seemed that no one there was still alive.
The wizard's stomach churned, and he looked again at the boat.
The small boat moved strategically among the corpses, trying not to hit or sink any of them, giving the greatest respect to all those who did not survive. However, they kept moving forward, and while 4 men were rowing, the captain kept shouting for survivors.
"Is anyone here alive, can anyone hear me, hello?"
Hisirdoux tried to speak, to answer the call of those people, but he realized that his vocal cords were not responding. His throat burned and his chest ached.
"He- Hey" He was barely able to mumble between coughs.
"Hey- " he repeated a second time with more force. But nothing.
The boat kept coming closer.
"Hey!" Douxie shouted as loud as his lungs would allow, but being honest, even next to him someone wouldn't be able to hear it.
He moved his hands, released his grip on the piece of wood, and began to wave it in the air.
"Hey," icy tears spilled out. "Please-" he cried already without hope. The boat was going to leave him.
But it seemed that his prayers were answered because the next thing he remembers is a pair of hands grabbing his back.
And then-
He was no longer in the water.
"Quick, pass me some blankets!"
"Wrap him up."
"He's frozen."
Hundreds of voices could be heard around him, and a pair of hands rubbed his body to make him warm.
Hisirdoux couldn't stay awake for much longer after that.
And with a last sigh, he closed his eyes.
====
Zoe doesn't know how many hours they spent in the boats, until another ship arrived. It was small, with a single smokestack on deck, and its size did not compare to the size of the titan in which they had previously traveled, but it was a refuge. A refuge they would gladly take.
One by one, the lifeboat passengers were brought aboard, separated again by class. The rich were given rooms and comforts. And those of the third class were left homeless, on deck. Blankets and towels became makeshift beds, stretched across the deck. There were people taking the names of the new passengers on board, and a few other employees were handing out blankets and food to the new arrivals.
Zoe looked around, but there was no sign of Douxie.
At least not until the last boat arrived.
The witch heard the last five members of the Titanic's crew talking to the captains on board.
Their boat had returned in search of survivors.
And of the more than 1,200 bodies they had found -
Only 13 were taken aboard.
13 people made it out of the water alive
Ashidril's heart stopped when he heard the number.
They brought up the bodies.
Some of them were still awake and alert. Others were unconscious.
The medics aboard came over to attend to them, and as they were being taken inside for a proper check-up, Archie found him. He was being carried between two men, and his hair was covered with ice, but it was him.
The feline jumped out of Zoe's bag and the witch ran after him, pushing past guards and people trying to stop her.
"Let me through!" the witch insisted, "he's my husband."
===
The next time Douxie opened her eyes, she felt like she had swallowed half an ocean. Her chest ached, breathing was costly, and from the bucket beside the bed, she guessed she must have vomited before she regained consciousness, at least a couple of times.
In his belly he felt warm, a small ball of black fur was snuggled against the covers, bringing comfort to his person. To the right, there was Zoe-
The witch lay asleep next to him, her hands clasped in his, and the red circles under her eyes betrayed her crying.
Finally, the little wooden piece of furniture at her side- it was carved, clawed, and slashed, but they had made a pentagram on its side. Hisirdoux recognized the runes instantly, and his heartfelt instantly warm. They were health runes-
Oh, Zoe-
She tightened her grip on his hands.
Almost instantly, the witch jumped and lifted her head without thinking. Sapphires met amber, and the tears on the girl's face were not long in coming. Archie awoke as the covers were pulled back from the bed, and turning to look, he was not surprised to find the witch squeezing his familiar in an embrace.
"Don't ever leave me like that again-"
"Never-"