The Adventures of Pocahontas and John Rolfe: Book I

Chapter 2: A Pirate's Life is Not for Me

The Adventures of Pocahontas and John Rolfe: Book I

Chapter 2: A Pirate's Life is Not for Me

When Pocahontas was first handed the mop, she regarded it as she would her best friend in the whole world. The perceived simplicity of the chore never did materialize, for she soon discovered that the blood on the planks refused to wash up entirely. It appeared to be soaked into the grain of the wood and, no matter how hard she scrubbed, a crimson tinge remained. Worse yet, it appeared the majority of the deck had been tainted. There was even blood and what looked like entrails hanging from the railing. It repulsed her so much that she used the end of the mop to push the dangling parts into the salt water.

The fear of performing inadequate work drove Pocahontas tirelessly through the night, though she had only had little sleep before the attack. Poor John Rolfe, on the other hand, had had none at all. It was midnight when Flame's newly appointed first mate, Leonard Legless, had come to relieve the captain from command. Every two or so hours, she noticed as crewmen came to relieve the other riggers. The unfortunate Englishman was the only exception, as he remained up in the riggings even after sunrise.

SEPTEMBER 1, 1613

Pocahontas had a strong suspicion that Flame had specifically ordered the crew not to relieve John Rolfe. She felt a spike of terror as she saw Rolfe rub his eyes, teetering in exhaustion high up in a yardarm of the foremast. When the footrope he stood on so precariously wobbled beneath his weight, he immediately grabbed a hold of the yard with a look of sheer panic written all over his face. She wanted to call out to him to come down or hang a net over the deck below him at the very least. She calmed down a bit when he was able to move to a slightly safer location closer to the mast.

As she continued her work, Pocahontas became lost in her thoughts. Regardless, she always poised herself to keep John Rolfe in her peripheral vision. She nearly jumped out of her skin when she felt a painfully hard clap on her back and turned to see Flame's hideous smiling face. "Whoa, there," he said, chuckling. "Slow down, lad. You'll work yourself to death. When I said I wanted to see my reflection, I didn't mean turn the deck into a mirror. Wouldn't want the sun reflected in the riggers' eyes, now would we?"

Pocahontas blinked in surprise and almost dropped her mop, then shook her head in response. She gritted her teeth when he clapped her again on the same sore spot. "Off to the sleeping quarters with you, my boy. Wouldn't want to be stunting your growth for lack of shuteye," he declared in a chummy manner, waving her off.

Pocahontas wanted to point to John Rolfe to find out when he would be relieved from duty, but she was afraid that if she let her concern show it could be used against them later. She nodded and walked away from Flame as he turned his attention to the swarthy bosun. In the light of day, the bosun appeared to be a very dark shade of brown rather than the pure ebony Pocahontas had thought she had seen the night before. His features were different too. His hair, for instance, was hard to describe. It looked like a thin layer of black fuzz tacked to his skull. His nose was flatter than most, stretched out across his face. It was not an unattractive look, just different, and she wondered if she would ever see more people like him—though she certainly hoped others might be friendlier.

The disguised woman yawned deeply as she emptied the bucket over the side of the ship. She put the mop and bucket away in the storage room just below deck and then emerged again to check on John Rolfe. It was clear that his energy level had entered a nosedive when his eyelids fluttered despite his precarious situation. He struggled to keep his eyes even halfway open and his pull on the lines had weakened considerably.

Pocahontas bit her lower lip as she watched in dread. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed movement and turned to see Flame pointing up at John Rolfe. Standing beside Flame, the bosun grinned in amusement. The captain laughed outright.