Secrets of the Sea

Chapter 9

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Recently, Nat’aniel and I started growing excessively bored and started playing childlike games to pass by the hours. One of them was hide-and-seek. So I had plenty of time to find all the hidey-holes and secret rooms in the ship. I also had time to find a place where I could sit, hidden from the sailors on Deck Duty, next to Captain Morgan’s cabin and listen to what he was saying inside.

I sat there now, bracing myself against the cold, and reached out with my senses to hear what was being said.

“…we’re due to arrive in Dissira in a few weeks. Then after that we will make our way to the rendezvous point …” Captain Morgan was saying.

“Does anyone even know where that is?” Came Brian’s voice.

“We are to find out in Dissira, boy,” Guy snapped.

“Yes, but how exactly?” Char asked. He sounded frustrated. “There are so many things we aren’t exactly sure of. I mean, who exactly gave us this information?”

“The king,” came a quieter voice. It sounded like one of the men who travelled with Char.

“But was he the one who planned all this out? And who are we meeting?” Asked Brian.

Yes, I thought. Who are you meeting? And why?

“It’ll be the man whose part of the team that’s planning this whole operation out,” Guy said.

“How do we know he’ll have the right information?”

“What are you doing?” Nat’aniel whispered in my ear. I jumped, barely containing a scream. My knee hit the wall, and I cursed in my head.

“Wait…did you hear that?” Someone inside the captain’s cabin said.

“Somebody was listening!”

“Hurry up, go!” I whispered back to Nat’aniel. He tried to scurry away, but was caught by one of Char’s men. A second dark figure loomed out of the darkness and grabbed me around the waist.

“Let me go!” I cried, trying to wiggle out of his grasp. He covered my mouth with his large hand and I bit it hard until the coppery scent of his blood filled my mouth.

He swore and I hoped he would let me go enough to run away, but his hold remained strong and he dragged me into the captain’s cabin after Nat’aniel.

It looked very much the same as last time, except the table was now covered in various maps that the men were crowded around. And, another difference was that now almost all the stares were hostile. Guy stomped over to me and grabbed the neck of my shirt. He jerked me out of my captor’s hands and pressed me against the cabin’s wall. My head banged against it.

“What did you hear?” He growled. “Why were you spying on us?” A knife appeared out of his sleeve and pressed against my throat.

“Let her go, Guy!” Char said and pushed the older man aside. My neck stung as the knife slid to the side when Char pushed Guy. I let out a little whimper and tried to shy away from the sharp weapon. Guy held me in place.

“Don’t protect her!” Guy said. “For all we know she’s a spy.”

“For all you know, but I know she isn’t,” Char said. “Remove the knife from her throat, you cut her!”

“You don’t know. That’s just what you want to think. You’re blinded by your feelings for her…”

“I know she isn’t,” Char said. The tone of his voice challenged Guy. He dared him to disagree.

Guy met Char’s gaze levelly and said, in a more normal voice, “I’m just saying that we don’t know her very well, and she might spread some information we want to keep confidential.”

“Then just ask the lass,” a familiar voice in the back sighed. I was surprised to see Samuel Burr standing next to the captain.

They looked at me expectantly. Guy put the knife away.

“I just wanted to know what was going on,” I said weakly. Char gave me a pained look. I looked down and to the side. Nat’aniel had wiggled his way next to me.

“And the boy?” Captain Morgan asked.

“I wanted to know what was goin’ on, too,” Nat’aniel mumbled, embarrassed to be in the presence of such a respected figure on the ship and ashamed of being caught doing something he knew was wrong. 

“Well, now, there ain’t nothing wrong with a bit of curiosity,” Mr. Burr said.

“It is if the curious person is a spy,” Guy grumbled, but the rest of the men ignored him.

“I bet she could help us,” Brian piped up.

“What?” I said.

“She actually would make a good spy, don’t you think?” Brian continued, addressing the rest of the cabin and ignoring me. “She can work in places we can’t and get information there that could be useful.”

“Absolutely not,” Chat said, aghast. “That would be extremely dangerous.”

“Who would I be spying on?” I asked. It did sound exciting….

“She could be disguised as a maid, a lady, or a prosti-“

“No!” Char and I gasped at the same time. Even Nat’aniel didn’t look like he liked the sound of that.

“And the boy could be disguised as a slave. Then they could both be captured and then –”

“Stop!” I yelled. “Who would I be spying on?”

The room was silent.

“Pirates, of course,” Brian said, in a matter-of-fact tone.