Chapter 20 #2
Alister kicked the opposite chair to back it away from the table.
His response had at least been honest in doubt.
“Sit.”
With jarring movements, the man leaned into the chair until he was seated.
“Better make your story interesting; otherwise, I’ll gut you just like the last man who sat in this chair and lied to me.”
“Please,” he begged. “I’m just a humble fisherman who wants to return to his family. I’ll tell you everything I know, but that gold would be enough for me to go home.”
Alister leaned his body forward and once more placed his forearm on the table. “I don’t give a shit what your problems are. Now, tell me what you know of the ship you saw, and I will decide whether it’s enough to warrant the release of my coins.”
Seeming to sense Alister’s impatience, the man started nervously rambling.
“We were picked up by a trading ship heading to Dunecaster a week ago. My captain and crew... we were out near where the northern waters turn into the southern ones when a giant ship came over the horizon!” Another twist of his hat accompanied a quick shake of his head.
“It must have seen us because it turned towards us. Then, before we even knew it, it released cannon fire. Our small vessel was destroyed in minutes.”
“Did they try to raid you?”
“No. Like I said, I’m a fisherman. We were a fishing boat. There wasn’t anything worth stealing on our ship besides fish.”
“Did you see a woman on board?”
“I don’t remember. I was too busy trying not to get shot! All I remember is it had a mermaid on the front with a jolly wide mouth. It looked exactly like the picture on the posters.”
“That’s all you have? Many ships have mermaids on the front of them!” Alister bashed his fist on the table, making the man flinch. “Why waste my time with useless information?”
“N-no. That was just the last time I’d seen it, but I saw it before then.”
“Where? How long ago?”
“It was docked at Luxor for nearly five months.”
A small gasp parted his lips, his fist unclenching as he turned his head to Pierre. “That’s where Theodore Briggs is from.”
The place Rosetta had run away from was the town of Luxor in the provinces belonging to Queen Mary Anne.
“Why would she return there?” Pierre whispered, a deep frown crinkling his forehead. “She would have been arrested.”
Alister leaned forward once more, turning his attention back to the fisherman. “You said it was docked at Luxor for five months, but it sank your ship a week ago?”
The man gave a nod.
“The ship just turned up in port in the middle of the night. When anyone went on board to find a crew or captain, it was completely deserted, like a ghost ship. It looked exactly like the head fleet ship we all thought was lost at sea.” The fisherman’s eyes darted to Pierre for a moment before returning to Alister.
“You mentioned Theodore Briggs. He hasn’t returned to port for months, but he commanded a ship like that.
I saw it then, and seeing it again, months later, without its original crew, no one knew what to do. ”
She went home. She had gone to the one place Alister would never have thought to look, nor could he.
He couldn’t go to Luxor. The moment his figurehead was seen from a distance, they’d fire their land cannons at his ship and fish him from the water to arrest him.
As he had mentioned, mermaids on the bows of ships were common. If she had sailed into the port under the cover of night, they could have abandoned the ship before anyone realised what it was.
What he didn’t understand was why Rosetta would go there at all. Why would she return? Why risk being arrested? What she had done was stupid beyond all reason.
She had docked for five months. That gave Alister the impression she was hiding from something, was running away. If she wanted to hide from me, she could have gone somewhere safer. To return the Laughing Siren to its original port? That just didn’t seem logical to him.
“When they realised it was the Laughing Siren, they had soldiers guarding it, waiting for the crew to turn up so they could arrest them. I don’t know how they managed to set sail again. I was surprised when I saw it coming towards us.”
“Do you know of Rosetta?”
The man’s brows furrowed. “Rosetta Briggs? Of course, she was Theodore’s wife, but she’s been missing for four years now.”
“You never saw her in the five months the Laughing Siren was docked?”
“No, why would I have? They say she went crazy, boarded a boat, and never returned.”
She must have gotten her men to walk the town for her while she hid herself.
Despite the lack of answers, Alister couldn’t deny that what this stranger was saying was rather convincing.
“What colour is it painted?” Alister asked, his eyes squinted. “The captain of that ship keeps it in remarkable shape. What colour are the rails?”
Asking him for a strange detail made the man’s eyes dart around. “Uh, blue, I think? Light, like the sky.”
Alister let out a laugh.
He turned to Pierre, who grinned at the sound. Alister hadn’t laughed in months. “Aye, that’s her ship alright.” He faced the man again. “Before it sank your boat, which way was it heading?”
“South.”
That made his laughter and cheer die. “Like south to the islands below Luxor, or south to the southern hemisphere?”
“We were on open water – that’s where we get the best sea trout. The ship was heading to the southern hemisphere.”
“Shit, Alister, we may never find her again.”
He knew that. If she was heading that way, the chances of finding her were slipping further and further from his grasp.
I have a direction now. Plus, he had a time frame that wasn’t too long ago. Alister finally had hope he would find her, and it elevated the worst of his despondency.
He reached behind Pierre to grab the man next to him.
“You, go to the ship and get me the map on my desk.”
He shoved him to get to his feet and do as he’d commanded.
The fisherman darted his gaze towards his crewman, to Pierre, then Alister. “Does this mean I’ve given you the information you need?”
“Once you show me where you were and where you saw that ship sailing, you will get your coin.”
The wide grin of relief that formed on his weathered old face was warming. He really wanted to return to his family.
Alister was too busy figuring out a plan in his head to appreciate his look. He needed to make sure they were prepared and had everything he needed before they set sail.
At first light, they would be leaving this wretched town.