Stowaway (A Pirate Novel) (Completed)

Ch. 47 Overheard

(Please don't be mad at me for this... But I know you will be upset with me the next few chapters but this is what I wrote. I can't change it. I tried. It didn't work. So enjoy or not. I'm ready for the hate mail. I really did try.)

Elle met Harv as she boarded the ship. She hesitated, uncertain. The look on his face made it clear that he was angry.

She stopped, her left foot a step ahead of the other. "What? What happened?" She looked around at the shadowed deck. There were five members of the crew, each being careful not to look at them.

"We waited for hours for you. We finally came back to the ship and you weren't here, either. The captain and some of the crew are out looking for you." He had his arms crossed over his chest, eyes glaring at her.

"I-" she said. But she didn't know how to finish the sentence.

"Where where you? You knew we were waiting. The boatman informed you."

She nodded, eyes down on the deck. She felt like a two year old being scolded by a parent. "I'm sorry." She mumbled.

"You didn't tell anyone where you would be. You don't know the city. You don't know the language. We thought something happened to you. The boatman said you went ashore before noon." He shook his head. His hands dropped to his sides. "The captain..." He sighed. "If you got any sense you won't argue with him when he gets back, Elle."

"I'm really sorry, Harv. I was exploring. I went to meet you but you were gone." She searched his face hoping he understood. She didn't want to have to explain where her thoughts had been the last few months. "I'm sorry." She repeated. She didn't want to explain that she felt the need to escape.

She was sick of having no control in her own life. She didn't choose her husband. She didn't choose her friends. She didn't choose what she learned in her lessons. Everything was chosen for her. Even the choices she had made weren't really choices. Go to France and join a convent or endanger everyone she carried about. Continuing to wear men's clothing wasn't really her choice. The Captain suggested it.

So, today, despite orders she had done as she wanted. She forgot the crew, her responsibilities, the captain, her past, the convent, the price on her head, her loves, her fears. She ignored it all and for once lost herself in the enjoyment of adventures. She stayed hidden while basking in the heat of the sun. She watched people living their lives and pretended she was happy until she believed it.

She would never truly get to relive this day but it had been committed to memory. The sights, sounds, smells, sensations. The colors, the voices, the unknown language, it had made her heart beat without the constraints of the past.

"Tell it to the captain." He said angrily. "You could have been killed, kidnapped, hurt, Elle." He was practically yelling at her. Tears burned her eyes because Harv had never raised his voice to her before.

"I'm soo-" she tried to say.

"Just go to your cabin, Elle." He said sounding defeated.

She gave a shaky jerk of her head and ran. Tears blurred her vision but she didn't stop to swipe them away. She lit a candle and sat on her bunk. Arms wrapped around her body she rocked back and forth. If Harv was this angry she could imagine how the captain would react. Her tears fell faster.

The candle burned, dripping its wax down the side of the holder. By the time the candle had to be replaced her face had dried. Every time she thought of the captain's impending arrival her hands shook. The more she thought about it the deeper her fear grew.

She didn't think the captain would harm her. But her heart thudded in her chest like the hoofbeats of a team of racing horses. Her stomach flipped making her nausea. She had known the captain for years, seen his anger. She had watched as he metered out punishment.

She had seen blood drip from the back of crew hit with the cat-o-nine-tails.

Her fear spiked. She had never been subjected to that but she had been banished to her cabin, the galley, she had spent days scrubbing the deck on her hands and knees. She had feared the cat from the first moment of her knowledge of it's existence. But from the moment Talbot learned her true gender, she never expected to to feel its bite. She was female, after all. She relaxed. She was female. He would not strip her of her shirt and watch as the quartermaster swung the whip on her flesh.

She drifted into a light sleep.

Yelling woke her.

"Captain, calm your anger." Harv said. His voice just on the other side of the door.

"She disobeyed an order. She test me at every turn. She disrespects me in front of the crew on a daily basis." Talbot hissed. Elle flinched. "It will lead to mutiny, Harv. I have let her get away with too much. The crew see it." There was a pause. A boot heel thumped on the deck. "Any other member of this crew would get five lashes from the Cat, Harv. I can't continue to let her get away with everything. You know I can't. The best I can do is one lash."

Elle jerked. She sat up and pulled the blanket to her chest. Tears pooled in her eyes.

"Find another punishment, captain." Harv pleaded.

"What? There is almost nothing I've not tried. She doesn't care. The only thing that has any effect is locking her in her cabin. But she forgets even that soon enough. So... What.?"

Elle looked down. Elle knew the other punishments used on ships. Some of the crew had served on other ships. Being drug behind the ship, pulled under the hull, being left alone on an island were just a few punishments some of the crew had witnessed.

"Confine her to her cabin, Captain." Harv pleaded.

"And have her mocking me in a few days? The crew already talk, Harv. She has to learn I'm the authority on this ship before some scab decided he'd be a better leader then me." Talbot hissed. "If that happens I can't protect her."

Harv stood in front of Elle's door looking at the captain. He knew some of the crew talked about the girl's disrespect to the captain. But he could also see the captain struggling with the need to punish the girl.

"Move aside, Harv." It was a direct order and they both knew it. Harv sighed and moved.

The captain looked tense. The muscles in his jaw flexed. His eyes glared at her door. He still hesitated after Harv stood aside.

The door opened. Elle stood in the doorway. From the look on her face Harv guessed she had heard most, if not all, of their conversation.

No one spook. Elle didn't look either of them in the eyes. Her eyes focused on the captain's chest but dropped down to the deck.

"I didn't mean to-"

"But you did. The crew know it. It's constant." The captain interrupted her. "I won't loose control of my ship, not even for you, Elle. Your attitude changes now." He paused.
Talbot expected her to cry. But she didn't. He saw the tear streaks on her face so knew she had cried - recently. But she didn't cry or beg. Her shoulders were slumped. It almost broke him. She looked defeated. His resolve faultered, yet again.

"My cabin." He said, turned and walked away. He knew she would eventually follow.
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A/N I know its been a while since I updated but I don't have unlimited internet. Im doing what I can when I can. unfortunately the library isn't an option due to location. But please bare with me. I'm trying. Show me you appreciate that I my work with you. Vote. Comment. Share. Follow me. Add to your reading list.
You don't realize the effect I'm going through to share this with you. (I miss having unlimited access. *sigh*