Avarice of the Sea | | b o o k 1

9: Consequences

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:  C H A P T E R  N I N E  :

Oh no, oh no, oh no, I moaned internally, gripping onto my hair as I stared down at my lap. There were red spots on my thighs vaguely similar to fingerprints where he'd held my leg. I did not want to think about it, so I hastily patted down my dress and kept to myself as one of the crewmen left to check the halls when it became apparent Archer was not among the men on deck.

A hand came into my vision, and I looked up the tattooed arm to the face of Cody. His expression did not show anger or pity, but his hand instructed me to get up off the ground. I needed to show that I had dignity. I took his hand and lifted myself off the wooden planks with his help.

"What happened?" he murmured to me. I saw his captain glancing in our direction, and I quickly shook my head to dismiss Cody.

There came some shouting from down the stairs, and more crew members rushed to aid the man with hauling Archer up from the depths of the ship. There were not as many men as there had been before some went to shore, and I was sure some of them wished they could have been the ones to go to shore when they saw Avarice's face after Archer rose up from the hold.

He had his shirt tied around his abdomen, and it had a constricting hold on his stab wound that was pulsing blood, soaking through the white and brown fabric. For the most part, he was unconscious, but when he came into the sunlight, his pale face almost tricked me into believing he was dead.

A rush of agony swept through me, and I could not be sure if it was the fact that he was still alive or that he was in such a poor state.

The men supporting him laid him out on the deck. He adjusted himself, grunting in the process of laying his hand over the rough bandage. I looked away when the men started to unravel the shirt from around his waist, and were promptly ordered by one of the men nearby to move away.

"One a ya's gotta get the medicine kit! How many times do I gotta tell ya this?! If someone gets stabbed, ya gotta get the kit!" he shouted over everyone. At this, one of the scrawnier fellows scattered over to the captain's cabin and rushed to fetch the kit, which I knew now was in the spare room and partial bathroom. I couldn't stand to see the sight of Archer's bloody slice mark, and I could hardly believe that I was the cause of it.

Avarice came into my vision, marching over towards me with a murderous expression on his face. "So ya decided to stab one of my men and thought you could get away with it, did ye?" he boomed, his figure seeming to grow with each step he took towards me, and each step meant that I shrunk down an inch in fear.

"I-I didn't-" I stammered, but stopped as soon as Cody stepped up to block Avarice from getting any closer to me.

"Whatever happened wasn't her fault, captain. She's just a princess--she's never fought a day in 'er life. Most bluejackets can't even go up against 'im," he defended me.

"Stand down, boy! This is not the girl you ought to be fightin' for," Avarice threatened, coming to stand directly in front of his son. "Any person who dares hurt my crew pays! Ya hear me?"

I cringed from behind Cody. This day was just getting worse and worse, and it ended on the worst note of them all.

"Five lashes! Cody and Harvey, strip her!" he announced, his voice echoing off of the Valenian cliffs. I was momentarily shaken with blurred vision, and a foggy brain. Had I heard him right?