Of The Devil And His Daughter (REWRITTEN)

Chapter Five

On day ninety we docked in Port Royal, which my mother explained as modern day southeastern Jamaica. Founded by the Spanish she told me, and high in Tobacco trade. That meant there was slaves here, and I felt uneasy.

My mother was in a rather grumpy mood this morning, and it only seemed to grow worse upon stepping onto land. The clouds covered the whole sky and rain sprinkled down onto us.

Maybe now I could get some real food and gain back all the weight I lost. My stomach had been hurting for a straight ninety days since we left England.

"So now what?" I asked my mother as she said her goodbyes to Mason.

Afterwards we quickly sped away from the docks and into the town.

"We need to hop ships, which won't be too hard, but I want to find an Inn to stay the night at," she told me.

"More sailing?" I asked in disbelief.

"Yes, I need to find an old friend of mine."

"You seem to have a lot of old friends."

"Less than you would imagine."

...

Well we did find an Inn to stay the night at. There was only one room available, with one bed, and so we would have to share. The room itself was tiny, and little dead bugs were piled up in the corners. Nothing worse than what I experienced on the crossing from England I supposed.

That night I lay in bed reading a book that had been left on the table near the bed. It was something about the history of Port Royal, but I wasn't worth a single word of that book. Instead, I was listening to the sound of hooves stomping outside, and loud bits of shouting occasionally.

My mother said she had some business to attend to downstairs and that she would be gone for a bit.

Bored out of my mind, and a bit restless, I left the room with key in pocket, and headed to the tavern downstairs where various patrons sipped their alcoholic drink. My mother, I had soon discovered, was nowhere to be found.

The customers inside the pub gazed at me curiously. I couldn't tell if they disagreed with my appearance or not. I was still wearing those sailor clothes from the ship, and my hair was pulled back into a tight braid. I could pass for a young man if I needed to, with my flat chest. In fact, that's probably what they thought I was.

I sped past them tables quickly, and I heard them return to their noisy chatter once I was outside. I swung my head back and forth, looking for any signs of my mother. The docks maybe? I wandered around the bridge, noticing that it was practically empty over there. I turned around and then I noticed her, a pale face underneath a sweep of thick blonde hair. She was carrying a lantern and hurrying along the other side of the Inn, keeping to the shadows. However, she had a slight limp on her left leg that I recognized. I bolted after her in mad curiosity.

Not going to lie, she moved quickly, and I could tell that she clearly knew her way around. My biggest question was: where was she going?

I followed her up a wooden ramp into a huge mansion looking place, all in all quite fancy from the outside. She didn't walk right up to the front door, I noticed she slipped into a hatch down next to the ramp. I waited ten seconds before crawling in after her.

The tunnel was well lit and looked like it was used often. I figured it must be one of those tunnels for grocers and servants to come through. At the end of the tunnel was an open door, and I passed through with ease into another hallway. Following this new route, I wound up in the kitchen, and looked somewhere for stairs or any sign of my mother.