Pirate By Blood

Chapter 22: Lies

CHAPTER 22

Lies

They were in the same position late morning, the next day, when Jozan woke to the sound of keys jangling.

To begin with, he thought his ears had deceived him, as when he stopped to listen he was sure there was nothing to be heard. But, after a few moments of still silence, he heard it again – along with voices that he had forgotten existed.

“What do you mean you brought the wrong keys?” The unmistakable voice of Sarah Hodnett hissed from the other side of the door to the storage hold; it was clear that she wasn’t happy, “How hard is it to follow simple orders, you filthy dog?”

“I-I-I’m sorry, Captain...I just –”

“Argh! I don’t care about your excuses! Surely you should understand that by now?” Sarah’s voice seemed to be getting louder as she carried on scolding the sailor who was obviously sorry for what he had done – and if he wasn’t, Jozan could guess that he would be soon, “I never have done, never will do; and that is something that will never change!”

There was a thump as someone hit the floor, followed a scrambling sound like fingernails on wood. Jozan began to lift Maleen off himself slowly, so he could get up and look through the keyhole of the door, without waking Maleen up in the process.

“Get up those stairs you incompetent mutt!” Sarah harsh voice hissed, accompanied by the sound of another thump, “I have to do everything around here...”

Jozan didn’t manage to get to the door in time to see the two of them depart. After climbing over Fido – who was still sleeping soundly, just like Maleen – and then clambering over the boxes in his way; Sarah and the unfortunate sailor she had been telling off were on the floor above his head – far out of his eye sight so he couldn’t see them no matter how hard he pressed his eye against the keyhole. Jozan even attempted to open the door and follow them – only to be reminded why Sarah had needed the keys in the first place.

It was a shame that the realisation hadn’t come to him then; because, if it had, Jozan might have had time to think up of a plan to get them out of the situation that was about to happen in the future. It was less than an hour away – far less – but his thoughts weren’t gathered together at that moment in time. He had just woken up and wasn’t at his most alert state in the day quite yet. If he had overheard the conversation a little later, after having some time to get his senses together, the story would have taken an entirely different turn – but, as you may have guessed, that wasn’t the case.

Jozan made his way back to the little spot in the corner of the room where the two of them had decided to sleep the night before. If there had been any hope of him realising the important things he had just discovered – for example; the ship belonging to Sarah Hodnett – that hope was soon destroyed as soon as he took one look at Maleen.

As he climbed over the last crate that was in his way – being careful not to land on Fido as he jumped down from it – Jozan saw her there; sleeping peacefully on the wooden floor, just as he had left her before. He was surprised at the impact that glance had on him. He had seen her face before, many times; even though they had only met the previous night. He didn’t believe that, suddenly, he saw a whole new side of her – the side she was trying to cover up as best she could to hide the feelings that lay inside.

Because what Jozan saw made his heart beat faster – if only by a little bit. He could still feel it pounding away in his chest as he stared at Maleen’s face, taking in and trying to understand all of the feelings that were inside of him.

She looked...peaceful; childlike. That mask of scorn and sarcasm was replaced with one of purity – revealing the true person inside of her; the one that wasn’t mean or ironic or angry, but...something else.