The North's Galleon

Chapter 6: Cast and Crew

Gunther was roaring.

"I get it! Shut up!"

"You--" he wheezed-- "you hit Jackal with the door?"

"Shut up! I didn't hear him!"

Gunther wheezed again.

"Breathe a little, Gunther, yer face is almost as red as your hair." Sebastian chuckled.

Gunther wiped a tear out of his eye. "Oh goodness, that's the best thing I've ever heard!"

"Yeah, until you realize Jackal is the most likely to snitch just to get us in trouble." Lawrence reached across the table to smack Gunther upside the head.

"Relax, he won't snitch unless he thinks it'll be funnier than watching us struggle." Gunther waved it off.

Possum tapped Gunther on the shoulder to get his attention before signing, how are we supposed to hide her for a week when you couldn't even hide her for a day?

"Hopefully, she can stay quiet enough in the hole. No one goes down there but you, so as long as no one hears her, she'll be fine." Gunther replied.

Possum gave him a look.

"Okay, where else are we supposed to hide her? Everyone raids the storeroom for booze and food, we're walking over the hole all day, and there's no other hiding spot."

Crow's nest.

"Oh yeah? How are you getting her up there without anyone seeing?"

Possum didn't respond to that.

"That's what I thought. Lawrence told her to be quiet, hopefully she understands how important that is. Just don't hit anyone with the door while you're going in and out." Gunther stifled another laugh.

Lawrence glared at him. "One time. I screw up one time."

Gunther wheezed. "And it was glorious!"

The door to the dining room slammed open, and in walked Paul, the Captain's best friend, and one of the biggest men on the ship, holding Denise in the air by her hands. "Someone start explaining before I go tell the Captain."

"No!"

"No no no!" Gunther and Lawrence shot out of their chairs, tripping over each other to get to Paul.

"Let us explain--"

--"We're just getting her to the next port--"

--"She needed help getting away from someone--"

"We figured it's only one week--"

--"Y'know, what harm could it be--"

--"Please don't tell the Captain!"

Paul blinked slowly. "I've never seen you two actually agree on something, let alone whatever that was."

"Tell me about it." Sebastian remarked. "They ate breakfast together this morning, Paul. And Gunther tried to cover Lawrence's ass."

"So I'm guessing this is pretty important to the two of you?" Paul eyed Lawrence and Gunther up.

"On what little honor I have left."

"Swear to Darren."

Paul looked at Sebastian. Sebastian simply shrugged. "She's just a girl, Paul. Ain't none of us who believe that bad omen crap. What harm could it be to take one girl to safety?"

Paul sighed. "If this goes bad, you two are taking the fall."

"Fine."

Paul leaned out the door. "You hear that boys? The girl belongs to the first and second mates. Treat her as such."

"Oh no..." Gunther mumbled.

Sure enough, the whole crew walked in as Paul set Denise down.

"So that's why you two were all chummy this morning?" Millard teased.

"Temporary. I'll be pitching him over as soon as this week is done." Lawrence remarked.

"If you think you're not going over first, you're dead wrong." Gunther replied.

Tommy laughed. "You know the Captain's gonna have questions as soon as he sees you two getting along, right?"

"Eh...so far he hasn't noticed." Gunther rubbed the back of his neck.

"He's been in his room since we set off yesterday." Lawrence pointed out. "Gunther's steering is probably making him seasick."

"Oi!"

"And once he comes back out, we'll just act normal."

"You mean like an old married couple?" Tommy grinned.

Paul rolled his eyes as Lawrence and Gunther immediately jumped Tommy and started dragging him out to the deck, kicking and screaming. He gently patted Denise's head. "Don't worry, kiddo, we'll get you safely to the next port."

Sebastian nodded. "Yeah, this crew ain't give two hoots about a lady on board. Long as the Cap'n doesn't find out, and he ain't ever out and about. Yeh just gotta stick with those of us who don't cause trouble all day long."

Paul laughed. "For the record, that's me, Sebastian, and the Big Man."

Big Man nodded. "Don't hang out with the little guys. The Cap'n follows them everywhere."

Denise giggled.

"And hey, yeh ever find yerself on the run again, yeh just come back to us."

Denise smiled sweetly. "Thank you."