The Sea Witch's Revenge (ON HOLD)

Chapter Eleven

"Ask again and I'll cut out your tongue," the captain says in a monotone voice. Victoria groans and thumps her head on the floor twice. She sits up and stares at him, crossing her arms. She doesn't say anything, she just glares.

Eventually, he sighs and turns to face her. She raises an eyebrow. "If you don't want me disturbing your precious work, then let me get on with my own chores," she says.

"No," he says after a few moments, then turns back to look at his work. Victoria groans even louder and pulls at her hair in exasperation.

"What can I do to make you realise I'm not a threat to you or your crew?" she asks.

"Not answer back for starters," he tells her. Victoria grits her teeth and lies back down on her mattress again.

"Can I have another book please," she asks after a few moments of silence between the two. The captain's chair scrapes and she hears him walking to the shelf. There is a whistling sound. Victoria raises her hand and catches the book without looking.

She sits back up and looks at the spine of the dark red, leather-bound book. Written down the middle of it is The Dwarf and the Pixie Curse.

"Another children's book?" she asks. "Really, a fairy tale?"

"Do you want it or not?" he asks. Victoria huffs and opens it. The words are written in simple, large writing. The story is also simple, and underwhelming. Not to mention one she had read many times before. It takes her less than an hour to read.

"I'm done can we go to dinner now?" she asks, putting the book down. The captain sighs.

"We will go to dinner once I am done," he says. Victoria stands and walks over to the desk. He pauses as she looks over his shoulder. He is navigating again with all his strange tools and charts.

"What are you trying to do?" she asks.

"I am trying to figure out where we are," he says.

"Are we lost?" she asks.

"No. I don't get lost," he tells her calmly.

"So why don't you know where we are?" she asks.

"I don't need to."

"Why?"

He lets out a long sigh and spins around to face her. Their eyes meet and his glare is intense. Victoria crosses her arms.

"I have nowhere to be," he finally says. "So sometimes, I let the ship take us wherever she wants to and figure out the where part later. Now sit back down. The longer I take, the longer it is until dinner."

"Oh, interesting," Victoria says, nodding her head and looking away from him. She leans her hands on the desk and looks down at the large maps and charts sprawled across the table.

"Hmmm," she says, scanning them carefully to orientate herself.

"Vic-"

"We're here," she says and slams her finger down on the map not far off the northern coast of Rudanya. The captain leans forward and starts adjusting his tools. Victoria stands back and crosses her arms. He stands up with a strange tool and peers through it as he looks out of the window up at the stars. Then, he comes back, leaning over the desk intensely and using more of his tools. Then, he puts them down and turns to look at Victoria.

"How?" he finally asks, his voice sounding baffled.

"Good, you know where you are, let's go to dinner," she says. He stands, shaking his head.

From inside his coat pocket, he pulls out a set of keys. Leaning down, he undoes her shackles. Victoria smiles and starts walking toward the door. His hand wraps around her arm, stopping her. She comes to a halt and looks up at him.