The Shores of God, Traitors Gold

Chapter Three

She opened her eyes, and her body went stiff, so did mine. No one spoke. I thought that I could almost hear her heart beating, but that was impossible, so it must have been my own. Why had something like this happen to such a young fragile looking girl? And how could we possibly make this right? We were hours away from any port, and to make the trip back would deviate from our agreement.

Feild emerged from below deck along with my father, mother and Dell.

"What is going on?" My father asked before he reached us, but when he did he felt that no further questioning was needed. "I see."

I see. What did that mean? Could my father, wise as he is, really know what we must do to make this right? I stared at my father instead of the young lady waiting for him to speak his resolution out loud. But he didn't and I found myself doubting his unspoken resolve.

"Who are you?" Crag asked rudely. My eyes snapped away from my father and focused on my brother hopefully giving him a warning, but it wasn't needed.

"Crag!" My father rebuked him. "Be kind," he then look at the girl. "now what is your name, miss?"

All my attention refocused on the girl, what was her name? She looked down at her hands, thinking, then slowly turned her head upwards. Her eyes looked more focused then before, but swiftly shifted to a deep reflection of fear.

"I- I," she stuttered at first then put on a more confident look, I was sure that she was terrified. "My name is Fillianna Overwhite." Her voice also sounded more confident but was still shakey.

Overwhite? What a strange name, I was certain that I had heard that name before, yet still it seemed strange. Fillianna, on the other hand, was completely unfamiliar to me, it was a lovely name.

"And for what reason, Miss Overwhite, do you have for stowing away on our ship?" My father asked in a kind yet somehow stern voice. Did she really stow away? I suppose that's what it looked like. Still there seemed to be more confusion than guilt in her demeanor.

Her eyes grew wide and her lips turned down into a deep frown.

"I- well, I was-." She stuttered through her sentence again, this time without any courage.

"Oh that's enough." My mother said, easily pushing her way past my brothers and I to stand next to her husband. "Let the poor girl recover, shoo all of you." She waved her hands at us, signaling for us to disperse. "Now, please." She ordered after a moment of motionless silence.

This time I did as she asked and turned my back on the young lady, for now. For I fully intended on seeing her again. After I had walked a safe and respectable distance away from the girl, I turned to watch.

My mother was offering her hand to the girl, to Fillianna. She took her hand immediately and began to crawl out from under the stairs, my father's hand lingered over Fillianna's head, probably to keep her from hitting it on the low steps. After she had successfully crawled out from under the stairs she got to her feet stumbling as she did so, I wanted to help steady her but I was much to far to do so. Luckily my father wasn't. She was then excoriated by my father and mother below deck.

I sighed. Just as everything seemed as if it was becoming repetitive, God allowed this new adventure to creep in. But I shouldn't think of her that way, or should I? It seemed rather unkind of me to think that the girl only brought an adventure with her, she was a young lady lost and beloved by someone, and I should take every opportunity to treat her as such. To treat her like what she was, priceless treasure.

"She's pretty." Feild stated, looking in the direction that she had disappeared in as if he could still see her.

"Of course she is." Gulch said looking his young brother in the eye. "But I am warning you, all females start out that way, and that's how they get ya." I couldn't help but laugh at the look on Fields face, he was utterly confused.