On The Way To Healing

The ship smelled, it was the most obvious thing about it other than the cheap nature of it (you would think a ship setting sail for a magical healing spring would have better conditions, you would think deadly wrong). But the smell was ever present. It was on the bodies of the dying, it was in every room and central location, and even on the deck it smelled like death and decay. As a person not actually dying it was almost unbearable.

I admit I should have clued in this was not the boat for me on the smell alone, but the fact that there didn't seem to be disproportionate number of men with guns should have been clue number two. I mean they were in theory they said "They are there to protect the physically weak." But these guys didn't look like they protected anything but a bottom line (hired mercenaries are entirely different from people that while armed are there to help you, its in the eyes which for these guys was all I could see over their medical masks). So much like seeing a train wreck about to happen I could tell shit was about to go wrong when we got to the Island.

I do have to say at least my seasickness has abided over the centuries. I hardly throw up anymore, perhaps its the new steam ships. Perhaps its all the various trips on the ocean I've made, but the only time I vomitted on this trip was when the smell got to be too overwhelming. Eventually we pulled into port where more armed men met us and we were introduced to the "Director" of the healing spring. It felt weird there would be a director, but I had paid enough money to be there, so I figured at least someone was directing things and that made me feel slightly better. Until of course bad things happened, because of course bad things happened.