Falling For The First Mate

Chapter 6

“Oh you poor soul! Left out there all night by bloody old Scarface- and on your first night on board! Oh, I ought to give him a piece of my mind…”

Evanora, parched and despairing, had been released from her bindings earlier that morning by none other than the ship’s cook, Pearl. She had wasted no time in introducing herself, scurrying about in an attempt to clean Evanora up. Evanora had been shaken and rather traumatised by her experience, and more so by the identical gash on Pearl’s chubby face, yet had been grateful for any form of company, and that of a female had made her want to jump for joy. She had been afraid she would never again see another woman because of the captain’s infernal superstitions.

“I thought women on the ship were supposed to be bad luck?” she said to Pearl.

“Aye, that be true, but the captain says that I be not a lady, just a cook.”

Evanora gasped. “And you accept that?”

“Aye, if I wasn’t alright with it then I wouldn’t be adventurin’ on the seven seas, now would I?”

Pearl paused for a second in consideration, shrugged her shoulders, and then returned to her bubbly, slightly eccentric bustling.

“Anyway, the boys need someone smart around ‘ere to keep that old sea slug of a Cap’n in line.”

Evanora laughed. She sat on a three-legged stool in the kitchen of the Maelstrom (or the galley as the pirates called it) watching the short, plump woman undergo her chores. Pearl’s hair was coated in thick layers of grease and strands fell loose from her bun, her apron was battered and patched untidily and her hands were calloused from constant cooking. However, her air of confidence and obvious love of sailing made up for it entirely. You almost didn’t notice her appearance at all. Evanora thanked her lucky stars that there was one person to talk to aboard this hell-bent ship.

“Can’t the First Mate do that?” she asked. “Keep the Captain in line?”

Pearl snorted. “The first mate? Aye, he can. But Cap’n Silvestre’s like a father to him so he won’t disagree if he be knowin’ what’s wise.”

Evanora thought back to the brief mentions of this evasive first mate, about him being the one who knew the reason for her capture.

“Who even is the first mate? Have I seen him yet?” she asked.

“I very much doubt it! Trust me, if you’d seen the first mate, you wouldn’t be forgettin’ so very soon. Mmmm…a sight for sore eyes is that one…”

Pearl wiggled her hips and licked her lips suggestively, making Evanora laugh again.

“The Captain said he had a reason for bringing me on board.”

“I would dare say so. Our first mate rarely does anythin’ without good reason.”

“So you don’t know why I’m here?”

Pearl shook her head and bent double, scooping something round and black into her hands from the floor. When she turned around, Evanora was startled to see that it was a rat, small nose twitching curiously and long tail thrashing in spirals. It looked more than comfortable in Pearl’s warm hands, as if it had been handled many a time before.

A ship’s cook who petted rats? That was enough to put Evanora off of cooked food for a lifetime.

“No, miss, I ain’t got a clue. Don’t you want to be sailin’ the seas though, the wind whippin’ in yer hair and the waves below yer feet?”

Evanora thought about it.

“I suppose that part isn’t so bad.” she said finally. “Yet I would have rather had a choice whether to come on board or stay on shore. Besides, I’d also like to sail under a decent Captain and crew, one that didn’t tie me to masts and threaten my life. And I’d like to know why I was needed.”