Gin stepped up to a barrel under the main mast, and placed a small wooden chest on top of it. "Here it is."
"What's that?" Juli came closer to look.
Ria took a step forward too and Migal stood behind her. After last night, he had been following her so closely that he even slept on the floor at the door of her room at the inn in Basiago despite his own room being just across the hall from hers. Gin grew irritated every time he saw them together and he had been contemplating on why--he didn't like the both of them, or so he thought. Juli's words, attracted to her then, rang in his thoughts and he hated that he was overthinking it. He hated it more that she could be right.
The rest of the Opal's crew gathered around, standing or sitting where they could see what Gin had brought.
"It's for the document," Gin said, opening the small chest. "So the paper won't get wet when I swim it out of the underwater cave." He slid his thumb under the rim of the cover lined by a black material. "This is rubber. It keeps the water out for a certain time. Half an hour or more, I'm told. I had the strap made so I can carry it like a satchel." He then tugged at the leather strap attached to the handles connecting one side to the other.
"Good." Captain Zalez nodded with satisfaction as he stood beside Juli. Then he looked at Mari and Reynar who were leaning on the deck's railing. "What about the explosives?"
"Secured in the hull, captain," Mari answered.
"I'm also stocked on medical supplies," Sam said, standing on the opposite side of the deck. Reno wasn't on his shoulder and Gin wondered if the monkey was above, jumping on the sails and listening in on their conversation.
"And here," Enzo was just coming up from the staircase that led below decks, carrying a sack. He stepped up to where Gin stood and placed the sack gently on the floor. "These are the sleepin' bullets."
Juli came closer and opened the sack, picking up one of the bullets and sliding it into the cylinder of her pistol before pointing it at Enzo. A sneer grew on her face.
"You wouldn't," Enzo called her bluff.
Juli smirked. "It would be a waste. If I'm going to shoot you, I'd use real bullets." She lowered her pistol on her side.
Migal had come up to the sack too, picking up one of the bullets. He raised it to the light, examining the tiny round glass filled with green liquid.
"You requested no killing, princess." Gin addressed Ria who remained where she stood and when she looked at him, something in her blue eyes glittered.
"Careful," Enzo said to Migal. "When it hits ya skin, the glass'll break. The liquid inside is concentrated sleepin' potion."
"So you have to target the skin?" Migal asked.
"Aim for the head." Juli raised her pistol at Enzo again.
"Wet oceans, Juli!" Enzo cursed and she laughed before finally holstering her gun.
"We've got a lot of able shooters. Cap, Rodri, Juli, Reynar, you--" Gin gestured at Migal then turned to Ria "--and you, princess."
Ria swallowed. "I've never really shot anyone before."
"You said you're a marksman," Reynar said.
"Hunting animals, not people," Ria answered.
"You won't have to do anything. You'll be staying on this ship." Migal placed the glass bullet back into the sack.
"No." Ria shook her head. "I need to get there. To the underwater cave. I need to get the document myself."
"No, you're not," Migal said at the same time Gin said, "You don't trust me that much."
YOU ARE READING
Sea Gypsies: The Draga Isles
RomanceA princess in search of her past. A boy driven by money. A crew that is loyal to the end. Princess Ria is adopted, and she has lived with the acceptance that she will never know her real parents. But when she learns of the existence of her adoption...
