“If you can delay him on the ship a day or two, Sara and I can make our way to safety.” Prin tried to keep her feelings from showing.
“That is why you’re here, now. I expected such an honorable response, but that’s not the way a captain does things on his ship. I do not want you to do something rash, so we’re having this talk.” His eyes were no longer on her, but looked out the windows on the front of the wheelhouse to the sea ahead, and down to the deck where Jam lounged in the morning sun as if he was a paid passenger.
He continued, “At the harbor, this ship will anchor, and I will order a longboat. I am going to find a ship ready to depart, and my son will be its newest crewman. Hopefully, when he manages to get back to Indore, he will be a better man.”
“You don’t have to do that for me,” Prin said.
“I’m doing it for him, not you. But, I wanted you to understand, so you don’t disappear because of rumors my son spread. We may replace another crewman, too. The one who conspired with Jam.”
“Sayed?” she asked, not wishing it to be true.
He shook his head, and she stopped guessing. The ship was small, and so was the crew. Six, in all, plus the cook who never spoke so didn’t count. Five were instantly eliminated by his denial. She had passed only a few words with Sammy, but had seen Jam talking to him more than once, and they seemed cozy. Sammy, the man who steered the ship at night and stood apart at meals and other functions, although he should be excused from most because of staying awake all night, and at other times, he didn’t befriend her.
Sammy seemed to be a loner and something of a malcontent. She had tried speaking to him several times when she first joined the crew, but he rebuffed her with every attempt. She said to the captain, “I have done nothing wrong. I want you to know that, but there are dangerous men after me. They have tried to kill me several times, and have killed my father.”
“Powerful, wealthy men, I hear.”
“Yes.”
“Prin, I accepted a duty to provide a job, and protection, for you. El has already told me most of this, and I have no need to know more of your personal story. But the actions of my son threaten my honor and my authority as captain of this ship. What takes place is because of that, and nothing you might have done, or who you are. It is just a case of a crewman thinking he is better than the others.”
“Jam is a nice kid.”
“Not yet, he isn’t. And without discipline, he will not become a nice man. His birthright should give him no favors on the deck of any ship, but be believes otherwise. I should not be speaking to you in this manner, but I wanted you to know I’ll hold up my end of our agreement. But what happens to Jam is because of him and his choices.”
“I respect that. You’re his father. Would it help if I spoke with him? Would you give him another chance?”
The captain slumped and hung his head. “No. Before you came, he had ninety-nine infractions of my one-hundred rules, and I kept telling myself that one more would bring consequences. This has been building for a couple of years, so all I ask is that you do not allow the situation to grow worse, and say nothing. Not even to Sara.”
“Yes, sir.”
He turned away from her, and she understood he was dismissing her. She opened the door and heard a small sound that might have been the door hinge squeak, or a grown man stifle a sniffle. She went on deck and directly to the bucket and swab she used for the decks. It had been two days, and if she kept them mopped, she had little need of a scrub brush, which was much harder work.
“You’re wasting your time.”
She turned her head as she pulled the first bucket. Jam stood there, although she didn’t know how he’d managed to get that close without her hearing him. “It’s my job.”
“They’ll clean and scrape the deck in Gallium when they refit the ship.”
“Watch your feet,” she sluiced the water across the deck.
He didn’t move, his expression was insolent. “First time a rich girl like you ever swabbed a deck, or mopped a floor?”
She paused in mid-stride and fixed him with a look that caused him to back a step. He apparently remembered the knife she threw past his ear. She said, “Let me tell you something, Jam. For the last seven or eight years, I woke up each day before the sun. I even got up before the bakers did in the Earl’s castle. And when I was up, I went to the morning kitchen where the food was prepared for all the people in the castle, and in that kitchen, I started the fires for eight ovens so that when the cooks arrived, they were ready and warm for cooking.”
She advanced a couple of steps and shook her finger at his nose. “Eight ovens. I split the kindling, fed the wood, warmed the ovens, some hotter than others, and then I fed them more wood while the cooks made the food. Over seven years without missing one single day, because I was not allowed to, or I was beaten. You have not seen a day in your life where you worked as hard as I did. Every. Single. Day. For seven years.”
“I thought you were some rich girl they’re after.”
“Because I sort of look like that girl they talk about? Men are chasing after her, and some think it is me. They’re trying to kill her, and that makes killing me okay because I look like her and we’re near the same age. It’s true, I’m running away. There is a reward posted, that’s also true. But, your uncle El is helping me, and don’t you think if I were the one they wanted, he would have turned me in and become a rich man?”
“But . . .”
“Shove it, Jam. You’re a stupid, insolent kid who has made not one, but several mistakes about me. If I were you, I’d just shut my mouth and hope everyone around forgets just how stupid you’ve been.” She swung the mop so hard the handle almost flew out of her hands. The deck had nearly dried while she had raged at him, so she pulled up another bucket and rinsed the deck.
Her eyes went to where Jam had been and searched for him, then she looked up at the wheelhouse and the captain. He gave her a curt nod and turned away. That’s because he didn’t hear what I said.
The bos’n appeared carrying the clipboard that had almost become an extension of his hand lately. He said, “You might want to go below and spend some time with the cat. It’s said they cure anger. By the way, when you’re down there you’ll notice you can hear about anything said up here. Not eavesdropping on you, but your voice was a little loud.”
So, he had heard her, too. She fled to the small hatch and slipped below. The cat was there. She went to it, sitting near the animal. The former ship’s cat hadn’t liked anyone. This one liked only Prin, but she had never touched a cat. There had been some running loose at the Earl’s castle, but they belonged to the Royals, and it was forbidden to touch them. Servants can’t afford to feed pets, so she hadn’t owned or touched one.
She had touched dogs, of course. But cats were different. She held out her hand, half expecting it to bite her. Instead, it sniffed, then stood and stretched. As if moving at half speed, it moved to her side and rubbed against her arm, making the purring sound she’d heard about. She wrapped her arms around it and cried.
When she finished, she stroked the cat for a good part of the morning. It twisted and turned to make sure she ran her hand over every part of its body, then it stood and moved back to the top of a crate where it could keep watch on most of the hold without moving.