Pirates Again

Between the barrel and the mast, Katerina’s body protested with every movement she made. But she had slightly more pressing matters at hand to worry about. For starters, she had no idea where the ship was ultimately heading, and it could be taking her far away from where she needed to be. She had to find a way to reach Alanada and commence her search for Cedric. Secondly, she understood now that she was almost assuredly in the hands of pirates. Two days tied to a mast with nothing else to do had given her far too much time to think, and since her father was a merchant he had griped plenty about pirates, and she couldn’t imagine who else would’ve hijacked The Mystic. Why on earth Captain Notley would pilfer this little trade ship she had no idea, though she wasn’t overly concerned with that so much as where the hell he was taking her.

And as if all that weren’t enough, now she was handed off to some strange man, like a pet he’d brought home. She regarded Rhys warily as the captain and that utterly foul Mr. Taylor walked away, seeming pleased with themselves. She didn’t know what to make of him. He had snuck her bread and water, but maybe it was all part of some trick. She shuffled back, keeping distance between them and her arms wrapped protectively around herself. The ropes she’d been tied with had chafed her wrists and hadn’t felt all that great on her sides either. Mr. Taylor had seemed to relish tying her up and keeping her on display. She should’ve kicked him harder.

Rhys didn’t look much happier about this strange turn of events than she was. He turned to her with a faint sigh, noticing the way she tensed and scooted even further back.

“Listen, I’m not going to hurt you,” he said. “I know it’s not much, but you should eat your bread.”

Katerina had almost forgotten that she still had the roll of bread in her hand, she’d been so distracted by the arrival of Captain Notley. She reluctantly unfolded her arms and nibbled at it, still watching Rhys with suspicious eyes. He didn’t make any move toward her.

“This isn’t some kind of trick, is it?” she asked finally. “A ploy to win my trust and make me think no one is going to kill me before tying me to an anchor or cutting my throat?”

Rhys’s eyes widened slightly. “No. God. Why would I do anything like that?”

“This is, I’m quite sure, a pirate crew,” Katerina said. “And pirates are not exactly known for being the nicest people.”

“I’m not a pirate. I joined the day before we set sail.” He paused. “If they really are pirates, what could they possibly want with a ship like this?”

“I don’t know. Why don’t we go knock on Notley’s door and ask him? He seems like a reasonable guy.” She finished her bread and went back to hugging herself and trying to figure out what the hell she was going to do now.

“Pirates,” she muttered. “Bloody, damn, pirates. They could’ve stolen any ship in the harbor and they pick the one I happen to sneak onto.”

“Why did you sneak onto the ship?”

She narrowed her eyes. “I didn’t tell the captain why I’m here, and I’m not going to tell you either.”

He held his hands up. “Okay, I’m sorry. You don’t need to tell me.” He glanced down at her wrists, which were raw and a little bloody; the right one sported a fading bruise from when Mr. Taylor had grabbed her. Katerina hurriedly pulled her sleeves down to cover them. The chilly nip in the air was making them sting.

“You should clean and bandage those,” Rhys said. “There’s some things in the kitchen you can use.”

He sighed again when she didn’t move. “Okay, wait here.”

He disappeared and returned a few minutes later with some cloth and a small bowl of water. He held everything out to her slowly and she hesitated before taking it. She immediately stepped back again, as if he might suddenly attack her. He held his hands up again and took a step back.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” he said again. Katerina sat down on the deck, gently scrubbing the thin lines of dried blood off her wrists before tearing a strip of cloth in half and wrapping the smaller strips around her wrists. Rhys then handed her another water flask. She took a few sips.

“It’s late, you should get some rest,” he said.

“I’m fine,” Katerina said, jutting her chin out. She was still sitting down and she scooted back to rest her back against the side of the ship, her knees drawn up. “I’m not going down into the sleeping quarters with a bunch of strange men.”

“No,” he said quickly. “Of course not. I wasn’t going to suggest that. I, uh, I actually sleep up here. So you can stay up here, too. Uh. Sorry it’s kind of cold. I have a coat if you want-“

“I said I’m fine. I’m not cold and I’m not tired.”

She hadn’t had a proper night’s sleep since she found out Cedric was missing and the most primal part of her brain scolded her for the lie and told her to go to sleep. But she was worried about her brother and worried about her current predicament, and she felt very exposed and vulnerable on the deck of the ship. Even if she was tired, she didn’t want to sleep. Rhys seemed to gather that he wasn’t going to make any progress with convincing her to lie down and rest, so he moved off to the corner of the deck where she assumed he must always sleep.

Katerina just sat where she was, with her knees hugged against her chest, taking a few deep breaths. She shivered from the chill and felt a few tears try to creep out of the corners of her gritty eyes. She furiously wiped them away. Even if Notley couldn’t see her right now, like hell was she giving him the satisfaction of making her break down. She had to keep it together and figure out how to get out of this mess with her life and limbs intact. She tried to distract herself by keeping an eye on Rhys, who appeared to be asleep now. He didn’t seem very piratey. He seemed soft spoken and had curly hair and some freckles smattered on his cheeks. But then, Katerina hadn’t actually met any pirates that she knew of, until now. She scrunched down more, trying to make herself as small as possible. It was going to be a long night.