Chapter 6
My legs suddenly felt very wobbly, and my knees buckled.
I slid to the floor, my arm loosening enough for the lizard to drop out and land nearby.
My heart pounded in my chest as I turned over and leaned my back against the wall.
I stretched my legs out in front of me and cupped my face in my hands, into which I proceeded to bawl my eyeballs out.
I wish Tim were here.
Ramaro set his front claws on my right knee and cocked his head to one side. “Why are you crying now? The danger is over!”
I could only shake my head. My crying only ceased when the cabin door opened, and the captain took one step inside. His sharp eye took in the situation as I dropped my hands into my lap.
Torvus stepped into the room and aside. He caught Ramaro’s eye and jerked his head over his shoulder in the direction of the doorway. “Out.”
Ramaro wrinkled his snout. “Why should I?” A glint of warning flashed across the captain’s eye. The lizard sighed and crawled off me and over to the door, where he paused and looked back at me. “Don’t bawl too long. It’ll make your eyes all puffy.” And with those words of wisdom, he scuttled out.
Torvus shut the door behind the lizard and strolled over to the dresser. He opened a drawer and rummaged through it, catching my attention. I sniffled as he drew something out that he hid in his balled-up hand before shutting the drawer and walking over to me.
His shadow fell over my small form. I was too exhausted to even shirk from him, but I dropped my gaze to my lap. Something floated into view and into my lap. I blinked a few times before I understood the white object lying over my legs was a large handkerchief.
The captain’s footsteps retreated to the desk chair, which had fallen over in all the excitement. He righted it and took a seat, facing me with one leg crossed over the other.
“I’ve already picked you off the floor once today,” he commented as he clasped his hands in his lap. “You can stand on your own this time.”
I grabbed the handkerchief in one hand and wiped my tears. A sniffle escaped me before I lifted my chin. “I guess I can, but what would I do if I did?”
“You’re wondering about your future,” he mused.
I tried to draw my legs up against my chest, but my shirt wasn’t long enough to hide everything, and he had an advantageous view of me. I quickly dropped my legs back to the floor. “I’m wondering a lot of things, like how I got here, or even where here is, and why that guy wanted to bring me here.”
He folded his arms over his chest. “I can only answer where you are and where you’re headed.
We just left the Sea of Erebus and slid into the Sea of Cynnes.
You’d be hard put to find a more populated place than here.
The capital of Cathair is located to our northwest, but we won’t be headed there any time soon. ”
I lifted an eyebrow. “Why not?”
A crooked grin slipped onto his lips. “My reputation precedes me there, Miss Larkin, and the Admiralty would like nothing more than to invite me to my last meal.”
“The Admiralty?”
Torvus cocked his head to one side. “If ever there was proof you weren’t from around here, being ignorant of those fools would be one of them. They’re the law of the seas, at least according to the decree granted to them two centuries ago by a kingdom that no longer exists.”
I blinked at him. “Kingdom? Those are still around?”
“Not the one that granted them the naval rights, but there are others still around,” he mused as he stretched his arms above his head. “But perhaps I should let you get some sleep, at least until your clothes are dry.”
“Why?”
He tilted his head to one side and his eyes zeroed in on my legs. “Because my garment on you is just a little too short for modesty.”
A healthy red color raced up my face. I grabbed the hem of the shirt and yanked the cloth further down over my legs. “Why didn’t you say so sooner!”
His eyes twinkled with mischief as he stood. “I didn’t want to alarm you.”
“I’m alarmed now!”
“Then I’ll leave you to get some rest,” he mused as he turned and strolled to the door. He paused with one hand on the handle and looked over his shoulder. There was a seriousness in the lines of his face that dampened some of my ire. “Stay in here. It’s for your own safety.”
I swallowed a lump in my throat. “Why?”
“Women aren’t welcomed aboard ships, even ones who have worth to Captain Encina. They’re likely to mistake you for bad luck and throw you overboard.”
The red color drained from my face. “B-but you’re their captain, right? You can stop them.”
A crooked smile slipped onto his lips. “Aye, but the superstition is strong with them. There’s no telling what they’ll do, so you’d best stay inside these walls if you know what’s good for you.” And with that final warning, he slipped out.
Leaving me more than a little antsy. I jumped to my feet and tossed the handkerchief to one side. My mind had only one thought, to escape this ship before the crew ‘offered’ me a way out.
I hurried to the rear and fumbled with the latches that secured the glass window panes.
Only one was loose, and I managed to open the window and lean out.
A steep drop of some thirty feet into choppy waters awaited me.
The sailing ship cut through the water as quickly as any modern vessel.
I leaned further out and squinted at the area below the water, trying to see some sort of propeller.
“What are you doing?”
I screamed and stumbled backward into the cabin. Ramaro’s head popped down from above the open window frame. He tilted his noggin this way and that. “Are you really thinking about jumping out the window?”
“Of course not,” I snapped as I wrapped my arms around myself. “I was just trying to figure out how the ship was moving so fast.”
“Magic, of course,” he revealed as he crawled through the top of the window and down the wood frame to the sill, where he perched himself. “Nothing else can propel a ship this fast through water, and no one does it better than Torvus.”
“Magic. . .” I muttered as I stumbled over to the bed and plopped myself on the foot. I studied my scaled companion. “Do all lizards talk in this place?”
His nostrils flared. “I am not a lizard. I’m an agama. There’s a difference.”
“Such as?”
He puffed out his chest. “Others don’t talk, nor have as high an intellect as my species.”
The corners of my lips twitched up. “So you’re on this ship to give advice and gnaw through ropes?”
Some of the steam escaped his ego, and he glared at me. “I’ll have you know I’m on this ship because I currently have a dispute with the authorities.”
My curiosity was piqued. “You mean the Admiralty?”
He lifted his chin and turned his face away from me. “I don’t care to tell you.”
This old game. Tim played it a lot when he was a kid. I folded my arms over my chest and shrugged. “Alright, if you don’t want to tell me, I won’t pry.”
The agama twitched his snout. “Maybe if you asked nicely.”
I suddenly had a very interesting loose thread on my nightshirt, which I picked at. “No, it’s alright.”
His tail tapped against the outside wall of the boat. “You’re not a little bit curious?”
“Nope.”
“Then I guess I won’t tell you about my past.”
“I suppose you won’t.”
We fell into silence, but not his tail. That thumped against the ship like the beat of a drum. My eye began to twitch in time with the rhythm. I tapped my finger against the wooden foot of the bed to distract my eye.
The agama narrowed his eyes at me. “Will you stop that?”
“Stop what?”
“That infernal tapping!”
“It soothes me.”
He snuffed out a mess of air. “Will you stop that if I tell you my history with the admiralty?”
I tamped down a snort and kept up the charade of nonchalance. “Well, I wouldn’t mind hearing about it if you don’t mind telling me.”
Ramaro skittered down the sill and over to the bed, where he climbed the sheets and plopped himself on the edge beside me. “Well, it all started when I licked the icing off an admiral’s birthday cake.”
I blinked at him. “Why did you do that?”
“Because it was lemon custard cream!” he revealed before his long tongue flicked out and ran along his mouth. “How could anyone resist that?”
“And then?”
“Well, I was locked in a cage. One specially made to fit me, I might add.”
“Because you’re too small for a normal cell?”
His tail twitched. “Because I’m too smart for a normal cell. I used my tail to unlock the door of the cage, and I’ve been on the run ever since.”
I leaned back and lifted an eyebrow. “That doesn’t really seem like such a bad thing.”
“Well, I may have stolen his wife’s fancy necklace,” he mused as he hopped down and sauntered toward the window. He hopped onto the sill and half-turned to me. “But only because the color of the jewel matched my scales. See you later.” He scurried up the window frame and out of sight.
I jumped to my feet and over to the window, where I leaned out and looked up.
The agama raced up the wooden hull and disappeared onto the deck.
I drew back and shut the window. The latch made a heavy clicking noise that echoed around the quiet room as I turned to face my predicament.
The distraction of the lizard was gone, and in its place was the horrible reminder that I was stuck in this strange place.
Stuck, and alone.
I moved over to the bed and wrapped my arms around a pillow, which I hugged against my chest. Tears welled up in my eyes, so I shut them tight and willed myself to sleep. The exhaustion helped, and soon I was in dreamland where my brother and my world waited for me.