Chapter Thirteen #2
He circled my wrist with a length of rope, the soft ones we used for our lustful games, and tied the ends in a knot that was snug enough I couldn’t slip my hand out, but not so tight as to be uncomfortable. Then he wrapped the other end of the short rope around his own wrist.
“Here. Tie it for me. As snug as you can. I’ll tell you if it’s too tight.”
I smiled and blinked up at him as I made a knot at his wrist.
“There,” he said, when I’d finished. “Now I’ll know if you so much as turn over. There’s enough play in the rope that we should be able to move around a bit.”
“Aye.” I gazed at the rope tying us together and blinked back emotion. “Are we going to sleep like this every night?”
“If we have to. Hopefully things will settle down once we’re past these waters.”
“When will that be, do you think?”
“Hillier thinks we’ll be near Jamaica soon.”
My home.
At least, where I’d been born and had grown up.
The Arrow was my home now. Which made the place a more upsetting location in which to be assailed upon by mysterious forces.
***
The captain’s brilliant idea worked, and kept me from putting myself in danger again that night. But I was groggy and tired in the morning as I made my way to the galley for extra coffee when the captain left to take care of actual ship’s business.
Domingo and Squid were there, sitting at the table with coffees in front of them, engaged in a discussion. They looked up when I came in.
“Sorry. Do you want me to go?” I asked, gazing from one to the other of them.
Squid pushed his chair back and got up. “I should get back.”
“If you must,” Domingo said with a frown.
Squid came over and put a hand on my shoulder. “Are you all right? Hillier told me about last night…”
“Aye,” I said, embarrassed. I ran my fingers through my hair and shrugged. “I don’t know what that was about.”
“You should talk to Hillier. He’s quite upset about what happened.”
This news, for some reason, surprised me. “He is?”
“He thought you were going over the side. He really believes if he hadn’t got there…”
All the blood rushed to my middle and a chill overtook me.
“Fuck.”
What if I had? What if I had, in my sleep, climbed over the fucking rail and thrown myself in the drink?
Squid turned to Domingo but didn’t quite meet his gaze. “I’ll be with the animals, if you want to come by later.”
“Yes, thank you, Squid. I might very well do that,” Domingo said, a dazed expression on his face as he watched Squid stride out of the galley. Squid’s mug of coffee sat, forgotten, on the table.
I sat down and picked it up, sloshing the half full vessel and frowning.
“What was all that about?”
Domingo shrugged.
“Not sure,” he said.
He smiled and held his hand out for the cup. I passed the mug over.
“Are you after some mid-morning coffee? What with all the adventuring on deck in the small hours.”
I stared at Domingo. “Does everyone know, then?”
“Probably.”
I folded my arms on the table and put my head down.
Now the whole crew knew I was struggling.
Perhaps I was losing my mind. I did seem to be losing my grasp on reality.
At last, when my circumstances had improved, now I was beset with this?
Why hadn’t we remained on Talamanca? We could have stayed with Francis and Jimena and found a permanent place there.
If I’d known that these ills would resume once I got back on the Arrow, I might have considered trying to convince Dinesh to stay.
Then again, I wasn’t so sure I would win against the Arrow.
And the idea was ridiculous to contemplate.
Dinesh and the Arrow were the same. They were linked together, and now, so was I.
Thunk
Domingo placed a mug on the table next to me.
“Here you are, love. Come on now. The situation’s not that bad,” Domingo said, his fingers wending through my hair.
“Isn’t it?” I asked, my voice muffled by my arms.
He snorted a laugh.
“There was a whore at the Turnkey who used to wander in the night. She’d appear next to my bed in her underthings, talking nonsense, and I’d have to return her to her room. Her name was Ginnie, and we’d laugh about her wanderings come morning,” he said. “These things happen.”
I lifted my head from my arms and stared at him.
“I didn’t simply wander into someone’s room, Dom. I walked to the rail of the ship, and Hillier thinks I would have gone over if he hadn’t stopped me.”
Domingo snorted. “Bollocks. You simply scared him, that’s all.”
“I scared Hillier? Are you mad?”
“Look, these men…they’re bold and they’ll drop a man at ten feet, or stab him to death if necessary.
But things like this, things that are a bit mysterious or that don’t have a simple explanation, well…
They don’t like that. Men like Hillier can be very tough and brave about some things but may quail in the face of less obvious adversities. ”
“I suppose.”
“Drink your coffee, Rooster. You’ll feel better after.”
“Will I?”
“Drink your fucking coffee and stop whingeing, or I will drag you to Dinesh and make him put you over his lap.” He rolled his eyes. “Of course, you’ll enjoy that.”
I picked up my mug and took a sip.
“This is…not very good. Did you make the brew?”
Domingo frowned. “I may have not put enough into the pot. Guthrie says I’m stingy with the coffee.”
“Ah.” I took another sip. “The drink is helping, at any rate.”
“Good. You’re going to be all right, Rooster. I promise.”
“Thanks.”
He took my chin in his hands and leaned over the table, kissing me. “Always. Now finish your coffee and make yourself scarce. I have a ton of work to do. As usual.”
On my way back to our rooms, I thought of what Domingo had said, about having the captain give me a good hiding.
I couldn’t stop my head from spinning with everything that had happened, and maybe having all of my meagre resources focused on withstanding a large hand on my bare backside would be beneficial.
In the meantime, I had cleaning and straightening to do.