Chapter 4
I had the strangest dream. I dreamed someone slipped their strong arms under me and lifted me off a cold, hard floor. They carried me a short distance before gently setting me on soft sheets. The bed sheets were soft and warm. They also shifted as the person sat down beside me.
I flowed in and out of consciousness. Hands moved over my head. A dull pain struck me. Faint noises echoed in my mind.
A voice spoke out of the muddled gloom of slumber. “She doesn’t look that important to me.”
An unfamiliar male voice answered him. “Encina wouldn’t have had her in his hold if she weren’t important.”
The lizard sighed. “I suppose that means we got our money’s worth from that old dog. We’d better have. It cost enough.”
A handsome chuckle was the reply, and I felt the bed move as the person stood. “You’ve done a good job with her so far. I’ll leave you to it.”
“W-what?” the iguana sputtered, and something skittered across my legs. “I will do no such thing!”
Footsteps strolled across the floor. “It’s only until we reach home.”
“You are not leaving me to be nursemaid to this woman! She can’t even swim!”
The footsteps stopped far away. “You’re always bragging about your swimming skills. Teach her.”
“For free?”
“I doubt she has any gold coins on her person.” A tail tapped against my side. “And you don’t have permission to search her.” The tail went limp across my leg. “I’ll check on you in a while.” The door opened and shut.
A grumble came from the lizard as he paced up and down at my side. “Probably doesn’t want me touching her because he wants her for himself. . .”
My mind had begun to awaken during the conversation, and I forced my eyes open. A small, blurry shadow loomed over me. I blinked twice before the iguana’s long, scaly face became focused. “About time.” He was as pleasant as ever.
I shifted and winced. A pounding headache moved into my head with all the grace of an uninvited relative. I reached up one hand, and the tips of my fingers brushed against a bandage.
The iguana plopped himself close beside me. “You have an impressive lump.”
I looked around and furrowed my brow. The door had led me into a single large cabin. My dreamy carrier had carried me to a king bed. There were pillows galore above my head, and the soft white sheets covered the softest mattress I had ever lain upon.
A long, heavy table stretched across the wall opposite where I sat. The thick legs were nailed to the floor, but all the contents were piled in the center, as though someone had dropped it onto the top. A heavy dresser to my left and a large chest at the foot of the bed finished off the furniture.
Windows hung at the back, and a soft blue light flowed through the glass. I squinted at the windows and swung my legs over the side of the bed. My long shirt fell over my lap and tickled my skin.
Wait, long shirt? I dropped my gaze to myself, and my mouth dropped open. My shirt and pants were gone, replaced with a long white blouse. My socks and shoes were also missing, but they weren’t quite as important as the other bits.
I yelped and grabbed one of the sheets, yanking it over my lap. The iguana happened to be on that cloth, and he was sent tumbling onto the floor. He came up sputtering, and his nostrils flared.
“Y-you stupid woman!” it snapped as its tail thwacked against the floorboards. “Why are you throwing around the-”
“Where are my clothes?!”
The lizard wrinkled his nose. “You humans and your infatuation with clothes.” He puffed out his chest. “We agama don’t need clothes. Our scales are as hard as the best iron fleet.”
The corners of my lips twitched up. “Is that why you’re complaining about me dropping you on the ground?”
It was at that moment that a voice shouted inside my head. Why are you talking to a lizard? How is this lizard able to talk? WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?!
I shot to my feet with the cloth wrapped tightly around me. “Where am I? How in the hell can you talk?”
The agama wrinkled his nose. “What do you mean, how can I talk? All agama can talk.”
My pulse quickened as I whipped my head to and fro. “How did I even get here? Where is here?”
The lizard rolled his eyes. “How can you not know the dark Sea of Erebus?”
I blinked at him. “The what where?”
The agama tilted his head to one side and frowned at me. “Is there any sense in that head of yours?”
“Listen,” I replied as I sidestepped the creature and backed toward the door. “I don’t want any trouble. I just want to go home.”
The lizard plopped his butt on the floor, and his tail thwapped against the floor. “Then stop slinking away and start telling me where you’re from.”
I stopped in front of the door and wrapped the sheet tighter about myself. “The Eastside?”
He tapped a claw on the boards. “The east side of what?”
My heart skipped a beat. “New York City?”
The agama’s tongue flicked out and swatted his cheek. “Never heard of it.”
Panic crept into the recesses of my mind as scenes from the Wizard of Oz movie played over and over again in my head. A few hushed, strangled words poured from my lips. “I’m not in Kansas anymore. . .”
The lizard cocked his head to one side. “What’s that?”
A mantra popped into my head, one crafted by fear and panic: I had to get out of here. I had to get home.
I spun around to face the door and grabbed the handle.
It was at that exact same moment that I felt someone on the other side take hold of the control.
The door swung into the room, and I was sent tumbling backward to avoid a blow, where I crashed onto my ass.
The sheet tangled me in its webbing, so all I could do was gape up at the figure standing in the doorway.
It was a man slightly above six feet in height with sun-bleached blond hair tied back in a long tail that trailed down his back.
The man appeared to be about thirty with one piercing blue eye.
His left eye was covered by a thick, strapless black eyepatch, and along with the thick suntan, was all that marred his handsome features.
He wore some sort of leather overcoat that smelled like saltwater, and the coat covered a white blouse and tan pants.
Tall black boots adorned his feet, and a large flask hung at his hip.
A crooked smile slipped onto his lips as his brilliant eye fell on me. “Leaving so soon?”
“She was about to have a panic attack,” the agama piped up as he skittered across the floor and stopped beside the man’s left black boot. There was a glint in his beady eyes that I didn’t like. “If you hadn’t come, I probably would have knocked her out.”
The man was all amusement as he inclined his head to the lizard. “My apologies for ruining your fun, Ramaro.”
Ramaro wrinkled his snout. “I expect more than an apology. There had better be flies on tonight’s menu.”
“Only if you can scavenge them yourself,” the man warned him as he returned his full attention to me. He stooped and held his hand out to me. “Are you alright?”
I blushed under the intense gaze of that single eye and that dashing smile. “I-I think so.”
He examined me. “Did you wish to stand, or do you prefer to resemble a temptress of the sea, lying as you are in my nightshirt among my bed sheets?”
My jaw hit the deck, and I dropped my gaze to my scantily clad self. “T-this is yours?”
“I found you soaking wet on the floor, and couldn’t rightly leave you there until you awakened, could I?”
I swallowed a large lump in my throat. “I-I guess not.”
He stretched his hand closer to me. “Would you care to get off the floor now?” I raised my hand, but hesitated.
“Just take his hand and get up!” Ramaro snapped.
The man took advantage of my irritated distraction and snatched my hand in his.
He stood and pulled me to my feet with such swiftness that I lost my balance and fell against him.
I whipped my head back and found myself staring up into his bemused face.
“You’re quite the bold creature when you want to be, aren’t you? ”
My cheeks felt like they were on fire as I stumbled back, removing myself from his grip. I snatched the sheet from the floor and hugged the blanket tightly around myself. “Where am I? Who are you? Who were those people you took me from?”
“That’s quite a few questions,” the man mused as he strolled over to a chair near the table and took a seat. He crossed one leg over the other and folded his arms over his chest. “I had hoped you would know the last question.”
I blinked a few times, trying to recall what I had asked. “Who are they?”
“To be more precise, what they wanted with you,” he admitted as he looked me over. “Encina likes the ladies almost as much as I, but he wouldn’t have dared the rather of his men unless you were worth the trouble.”
I tilted my head to one side. “Wrath of his men?”
“You are a woman,” the man pointed out.
“And women shouldn’t be within a mile of a boat,” Ramaro chimed in with an emphatic nod. “They’re bad luck enough on shore. They’re a curse on the seas.”
“As for your other two questions, I can answer them,” the man assured me as he stood.
“My name is Marcellus Torvus, captain of this ship, the Tempest.” He crossed an arm over his chest and bowed low at the waist to me.
“It’s quite the pleasure to meet such a lovely lady.
” He lifted his head and his eye sparkled. “Might I know your name?”
“I-I’m Rose. Rose Larkin.”
“The pleasure is all mine, Rose,” he returned as he straightened. “From where do you hail?”
“Some recently founded city,” Ramaro spoke up.
I frowned at him. “It isn’t that. New York City is just the name of it.”
The captain rubbed his hand on his chin. “New York City? I’ve never heard of this place. In which kingdom is it placed?”
My heart sank deeper with every word from the pair. “It’s not in a kingdom, it’s in a country. The United States?” The blank stares were all I needed to see.
I blacked out.