The bos’n called her name as if he’d called her before. She turned.
“You going to do your job or stand there and stare off into space?”
She leaped back aboard the ship and ran for the cargo hold in time to help guide a larger crate into position while slipping the new shoes onto her feet. By mid-morning, the holds were filled, more cargo was loaded onto the deck of the ship, and the pier was clear. The larger ship across from them still loaded their cargo, but even the vast amount that had been waiting for them had perceptually diminished.
The Merry Princess was untied, and a pair of longboats rowed them away from the pier and waited for them to hoist a sail before casting off the lines. The sails filled and the ship pointed out to sea.
The bos’n pointed at her and Jam. “You two, get this cargo tied down and set your cargo blocks in the holds before we clear the harbor. Square knots. I’ll be checking.”
Prin pulled a coil of rope free and tied off the first end to a metal ring, then strung it over the first crate and tied it to the ring on the other side. She tied only square knots, and half hitches, because those were all she knew, but she tested each of them before moving on. When her section of the deck was tied, she leaped into the second hold and started placing the soft wood chocks between the cargo and hull so nothing could slide in a storm if the ropes broke loose. Then she tied them all, at least two ropes on each.
Twice the bos’n checked on her. When she climbed back on deck, he was checking her knots for the cargo stored up there. He motioned her to his side with a hand but didn’t say anything. He took hold of a rope and pulled. The knot fell apart.
She shook her head in disbelief. “No, I checked them all.”
“You’re sure? This is the third one I’ve found. A common mistake for those new to the sea.”
How could that be? She shook her head again, not believing her eyes. “No, I tied them and then went back and checked them again. I promise.”
“Come here.”
She stepped to his side, confused and angry with herself, but not understanding how she missed them. If anything, she expected he might say something about the extra time she had taken to finish because of making sure.
“Look at the wheelhouse.”
She leaned to one side and looked up.
“Had to move to see it, didn’t you? That means nobody up there can see us behind this crate, either.”
“So? I swear I checked them all. I double-checked them because you said how important it is.”
He said, “I’m not mad at you, girl. I’m trying to explain. All three knots tied wrong were where you can’t see them from the wheelhouse. Isn’t that a little bit strange?”
“Strange?”
“Prin, I’ve been at this for more years than you will believe. I know when somebody is screwing my pooch.”
“I don’t know what you’re saying.”
“Jam did this.”
“Oh.”
“You and I can’t prove it, and we won’t accuse him, but I know the boy untied your knots to make you look bad. We’re going to have to watch him.”
“In a storm, the cargo could have shifted and slid over the side.”
The bos’n said, “And along the way, it could have caused the ship damage, possibly even sinking her or shoving someone over the side, but Jam knew I’d find those knots and correct them and blame you.”
“I feel like throwing him over the side,” Prin said, her anger growing.
“And I would stand between you and the captain if you did, but I’m asking you not to. Not yet. The boy is making some mistakes, and his father sees them. Sneaking ashore to follow you while he was restricted to the ship will cost him liberty in the next two ports, as well as extra duty cleaning the ship while the rest of the crew are ashore. I’ll be here to make sure he stays put this time.”
“Why is he so hateful?” Prin asked.
“Well, I’ve seen this before. Jam probably thinks because he’s the captain’s son, he gets special treatment.”
“He does. Everyone knows it.”
“And you’re right. Now, I’m going to trust you with something you’re never to tell.”
She hesitated. “Not even to Sara?”
“Until it happens, not even to her. If she is going to cause problems with Jam because of his actions, you tell me, but otherwise, you say nothing.”
“Okay,” Prin agreed, wondering how she trusted the bos’n enough to agree to an unknown.
“At the next port, a place called Gallium, Jam will be leaving us to join the crew of a sister ship, one owned by his uncle, or another. He is a man with far less tolerance than Jam’s father, and the one who might cause Jam to grow up.”
“Is it because he changed my square knots to grannies?”
“No, the captain does not know about that and has no need. The decision has already been made, and piling on will not help. It was a difficult decision for his father.”
The mouth of the bay was behind, the sails filled with a stiff breeze, and the sea was flat. All the knots had been checked again, finding none of Jam’s improperly tied. Inside the cargo hold where Prin had worked, they found no grannies. A chill still cooled the morning air. Seagulls circled and raucously called for food. The ship changed course and leaned heavily to what she now knew was starboard.
Prin said, “The next port, what is it like?”
The bos’n perched a hip on the edge of a crate. “Ah, it is called Gallium, a name as old as the sea, and so is the city. Imagine a place where two great lands come together,” he put his fists together. “Like this. There is a great land to either side, and our sea is on this side, and another through a small gap, a sea called the Green Sea.”
“Will we go through that gap?”
“No, not even I have been there in that sea. It’s forbidden. I’ve heard, from sailors in the bars of Gallium, about the wonders there on that other sea, but a great nation controls it, and it only allows ships from its kingdoms sail their waters. The buildings of Gallium are mostly bluish-white from minerals in the clay they use, a grand sight to see in the morning sun.”
“That’s not fair, about not letting ships go there.”
“Nor right, but it is the way of things. I suppose I could take a post on one of their ships to cure my curiosity, and I’ll admit I often thought of doing exactly that when young, but it is one of my regrets in life that I didn’t.”
She said, “The city of Gallium is on which fist?”
He held his fists together again. “Both. Besides being old and bluish white, Gallium is a city situated at the perfect place to halt all ships and charge a healthy tax to make the monarchs wealthy. They say, who controls Gallium controls the world, and they might be right.”
“Do their ships sail into our sea?”
“They do. And now you’re going to say again how unfair that is. I’ll tell you what, if I am ever made the Emperor of Gallium, I promise to open the gates and allow ships to sail each way.”
She said, “I will hate to lose Jam, you know.”
“He holds a valuable position. However, we will either trade crewmen with the other ship or hire someone to replace him.”
“I know, but I don’t like the idea of him having to leave this ship. It feels like it’s all my fault.”
“Yet, while he is here, he causes you no end of trouble.”
“I sort of like him.”
The bos’n said, “The situation is not at all uncommon. I shouldn’t tell you this, but your captain found himself shifted to another ship when young, but for slacking, not intentionally trying to harm the good work of another.”