Pirate By Blood

Chapter 14: The Amulet

CHAPTER 14

The Amulet

The next day, after a good night’s sleep, the well-rested travellers set off once again.

Simon decided that they didn’t need breakfast, and would get something once they had started the walk if they turned out to be hungry. Maleen didn’t mind this; she had skipped a few meals when she had been living on the streets – it was easy for her to go one morning without food.

Maleen wasn’t sure whether Simon had lived like she had in the past. She knew his childhood – or the main part of it anyway – but nothing much after that.

Where had he gone when he had run away? Why had he chosen there? How did he live? Where had he got food from? Did his mother look for him?

Maleen had no way of knowing – but she wasn’t about to ask either. Simon was planning on arriving at the beach before midday, and she didn’t want to cause any tension between the two of them. Not now. Not ever.

But that did get her wondering...

She knew she couldn’t let her curiosity get the better of her – but there was no real harm in thinking, was there?

‘Yes,’ She thought, ‘there is.’

Because, really, Maleen knew that if she thought about those unanswered questions, she would get more and more bugged about what those answers were. She would become more and more irritated that she couldn’t work it out for herself and she would end up asking Simon about it anyway.

Yes; definitely no thinking about it.

“Whereabouts was that village we found?” Simon asked after they’d been walking for no more than ten minutes.

“Why do you ask?”

“I said we needed to go there, remember? To get things that might be useful when finding a way off this bloody island.”

“I shouldn’t think it would be far now,” Maleen answered, “We came across it on the first day we were here, didn’t we? Quite a lot happened on that day...”

She laughed weakly – a laugh that didn’t really hold much humour in it.

“Yeah, I think we did,” Simon agreed, “so...it shouldn’t be too far away from here. It was by the river, after all.”

“Hmm,” Was all Maleen said; not really interested anymore. There was nothing interesting about what he was saying – so why listen to someone who isn’t worth listening to?

Maleen felt slightly mean for thinking it, but she realised that there was nothing she could do to take it back now, anyway; it wasn’t as if Simon had heard her say it. She wasn’t sure whether Simon was right though – she had no idea how far away that village could be.