The Bastard Girl (The Bastard Girl Series, Book #1)

Chapter 11~ The First Wife of Captain Gazsi Maut

Chapter 11~ The First Wife of Captain Gazsi Maut

Captain Gazsi Maut was a man of great infamy all across the Arabian Sea. His ship, Svarn Aatank, was a pure majesty of royal terror. The ship was painted with war scenes all across the higher walls of the hull and appeared as if the vessel belonged in a museum. Every crevice had been cleaned and scrubbed. I'd nearly been convinced it was a newly-built ship. The crew was composed of heavy, burly men with more chest hair than brains. But unlike Tew's rough and lackadaisical men, these men had a sense of pride in their work, something I'd never seen on those in such a rapacious lifestyle. They followed me up a ramp to the deck of the ship. There, other crew members waited and watched me. By now, a cold fear I'd grown accustomed to reclaimed its place in my chest. The captain followed behind me, but I felt a precarious suspicion that he brought me here to return me to Tew.

Perhaps this man works for Tew!

But, Captain Gazsi's crew was much bigger than the last. Instead, he led me into what I assumed was the captain's quarters. The walls of his royally-suited abode were hung with portraits of women, all of different races and sizes but still stunningly attractive. They were framed in gold and silver that illuminated an angelic glow upon their faces, highlighting their exquisiteness even more. Yet I saw not a single portrait of Captain Maut himself anywhere in the velvet-coated suite. I felt almost inclined to ask.

"Who are all these women?"

"Hmm?" answered Maut with a quick glance at the very portraits as if he'd never realized their presence. "Ah, they are my wives."

"Your wives?"

"Yes, fourteen of them—all home in India, raising my children." Suddenly, the beautiful faces on the wall no longer seemed so pure and vibrant to me. Maut sat in a large and august throne behind his mahogany chart table. He looked like a pathetic attempt at Poseidon. Pride and knavery were all I saw in front of me. While he stared at me and contemplated, he fiddled with jewelry on his fingers—shimmering rings of rubies and sapphires, emeralds and amethysts. Their sparkle blinded me in certain lights.

"You are the child of Constantine Jacobs. No?"

Raising my eyebrows a bit, I replied yes. Why was this man asking about my mother? Everyone knows the prize of my father.

"Your mother was a good woman."

"You knew my mother?!" I exclaimed just a bit too loudly.

Captain Maut grinned with golden teeth, no surprise. This was a metal man before me.

"I see you must not know much about her, after all."

"I know my mother. She was the greatest blessing to ever grace this earth before she was taken away. The most wonderful, kind woman. She had more love and life in her fingernail than most had in their souls."

"You think I know this not? Your mother sailed upon this very ship alongside me twenty years ago. And she was my first wife."

"You lie!!" I yelled, leaping over the chart table to claw this man's eyes out. His crew snatched me back before I could get very far. But Gazsi hissed in laughter and beat upon his throne.

"You foolish girl! If not for me, you would be only a thought in a sea of nothingness—never to be a reality! Your mother was dirty, white kachara when I met her. But, I had never seen such beauty in a woman in all my life. I took her in and stole her hand in marriage. She was not like Indian women at all. She was clever, strong, and demanded to sail alongside my crew. As beautiful as a black swan and as peaceful as the lake it glides across. She had a soul for adventure. So she did for a year or two, but I could sense her heart was traveling elsewhere. By the time I married my second wife, I knew your mother had fallen in love with another. Henry Every, my worthless, lazy boatswain."