Hades's Revenge (15 page)

If he had been more like Fin, he’d have been
efficiently prepared for this escapade. His stomach growled as he
peeked in the golden glow of the window. Patrick was boiling water
and had started a fire in the hearth with a large cauldron over it
flames. He cut up vegetables and cubed meat while the captain sat
near the fire smoking a pipe and talking to the boy.

Jessop adjusted himself when he tripped over
a clay pot and a couple of small casks making a terrible noise and
nearly smashing his head open on the wooden stump probably used for
chopping wood. Before he could stand and assess the damage he’d
done to himself and the pot, the captain was standing staring at
him arms crossed and looking annoyed.

“Well, since you’ve gone to all this trouble
to expose my secrets, you might as well come inside and warm
yourself—maybe have a bite to eat.”

“Thank you, sir. I’m sorry for the
intrusion.”

“I doubt that,” he said, completely dropping
his pirate jargon as he did before and waving him in the door.

Patrick looked shocked at first then cracked
a smile. Jessop could only assume that he looked positively
ridiculous, covered in mud, plant material and who knows what
else.

“Warm yourself, son. You’re chattering teeth
will wake the dead,” the captain said.

His coat dripped around his feet and the
fire made steam come from the wool as it warmed. “Let me have your
coat,” Patrick said trading the coat for a cup of tea.

* * *

“I imagine you came here to hear my
story?”

“That and find out where you mysteriously go
every time we come here,” Jessop answered still shivering. Patrick
handed him a quilt, which he wrapped around his shoulders.

“Well, you know the where, now, so I’ll get
on with the story. I was a captain for the British Royal Navy and a
loyal servant of the king until about five years ago, when my wife
took ill.

“I asked for leave to tend to her, but my
commander refused. He said if I made this last mission for him, it
would solve my problem and his. I asked how that could be since
there was no cure for consumption.

“He said there was a newly developed
antidote—experimental, but promising, and with the task’s
completion, I could go home with a dosage to cure my wife.

“Well, of course I led the expedition with a
vengeance and then some, only to find I’d been duped by my
commander. When I confronted him he said he felt no guilt, he was
doing his country a favor. By the time I got back, my wife was
dead. He knew she would be and there would be no need for me to
leave the service of the Navy.

“My wife died alone and my child had to
suffer the loss without my support. I’ll never forgive my commander
or any of his superiors. They all knew what had been done and they
all felt it to be the right thing to do.

“I left the Navy first chance I got, and
I’ve been a deserter henceforth. Seeing as sailing and commanding a
ship was all I knew, I changed my name and commandeered my own ship
with what I had put away for a retirement with my family and here I
am—a pirate. I steal from the Brits and give to their biggest non
supporters, and right now that’s the colonists.”

“Where’s your child now?”

The captain didn’t answer, then Patrick
spoke up.

“That would be me, sir.”

“Aw, well that makes sense.”

“It’s not what I would have wanted for
Patrick. Not the most honorable thing a father can offer a son,”
the captain winked at Patrick. I tried to keep him out of the
pirate trade but with my illness…”

“Right, you mentioned something about that
on the ship. Something about ‘sugar and eating regularly,’” Jessop
tried to quote.

“Yes. That’s why I come here. Patrick is
able to concoct an herbal medicine that helps me manage things, but
my illness has taken a turn for the worse and the herbal medicine
is not enough.” He took off his boot and showed a swollen foot
blistering with sores. Patrick brought over a bucket of water for
him to soak.

“That looks terribly painful.”

“It is and it will only get worse.”

“Will you lose the foot?”

“And probably the leg, at least to the
knee.”

“When?”

“Don’t know, but I’ll try to put it off as
long as possible. But it’s because of my foot that I’ve had to
bring Patrick aboard the
Revenge
. I can’t let on that I’m
ill or Fin will surely take it over.”

“You do know that Fin has quite a few men
he’s been rallying against you.”

“I do know. He’s been working his way over
the men for some time now, though I must admit, bringing you and
William on has certainly slowed him.”

“How so?” Jessop asked.

“You’re inventions, the men love them. I
gander to guess that even Fin finds them convenient, though he’d
not likely ever admit it.”

“Definitely not.”

“The men like you, and your innovative ways.
In that way, Fin fears you. You’re a better fighter, a kinder man,
and smarter than all of us put together. The closer you get to me,
the more he fears you. He probably thinks I’m grooming you to take
over as first mate.”

“But isn’t first mate the
quartermaster?”

“Most often they are one in the same, but
not always, they are two different positions and I could easily
make you first mate and foil his plot to raise a mutiny against
me.”

“Is that your plan?”

“Truthfully I have no plan. I live day to
day making what I can to better Patrick’s future, but I don’t like
exposing him to such a cut throat life. I don’t particularly like
it myself, but it’s the only way I can make money and stick it to
the British Navy at the same time. Until you came along, I figured
I’d fight ’til I couldn’t fight anymore, making deposits to Patrick
as often as I could so there would be no stockpiling of funds that
Fin could take over in the face of his coup.”

“I see. And now that I’m here?”

“Your presence could prolong the present
plan past my point of losing my leg, at the very least.”

“Would that really help you?” Jessop said
doubting it would.

“It wouldn’t help me, but it would guarantee
Patrick’s future. Either way, it’s not a decision that needs to be
made now, but you should definitely think on it—for the boy’s
sake.”

“Right. For the boy’s sake,” Jessop agreed
glancing Patrick’s way. Patrick was staring at him in that same way
when Jessop had thought he’d looked familiar. It was so frustrating
not knowing where it he knew him from.

“Another thing, no one can know my secret.
If Fin caught wind that I was a British officer, he’d turn me in
and I’d be shot for treason.”

“What about, William?”

“My preference would be no, but if you must,
then do so only if you trust him with your life, because I will
kill you if I find you’ve put mine and Patrick’s life in
danger.”

“Why not just get rid of Fin? You’re the
captain, surely you can fire him.”

“No more than he me. Upon the ship every
sailor has a vote and there’s just not that many people who would
want to get rid of him. Truth be told, he’s an excellent
quartermaster. He’s diligent, organized, and follows orders. He may
not have a lot of friends per se, but that’s not the job of the
quartermaster. He’s there to keep order and administer punishment
for insubordination.”

“Well, he does do that well.”

“Indeed.”

Patrick took the cauldron from the hearth
placing it on the table set for three. “Supper is ready.”

“Hungry?” the captain asked.

“Starved,” Jessop admitted.

“Good. Patrick’s an excellent cook. Learned
it from his mum, he did.”

Patrick smiled at the reference to his
mother and spooned out a bowl of steaming stew in front of Jessop.
“Eat up,” the captain said.

“Thanks.”

Jessop left early in the morning. He had a
little chuckle when he passed the barn and saw the stinky coat
William had deposited there. It didn’t reek as badly as it had been
aired out and rained on over the last month. He had half a mind to
pick it up and have it cleaned properly since William had taken
such a liking to it, but then thought better of it since he’d have
to explain why he was at the barn and he didn’t want to lie anymore
to William than necessary.

When he reached the village the men were
starting to rise and migrate to the docks. He slipped in with some
men and followed along as if he’d been in the mass line all
along.

William and Olaf caught up with him onboard.
Olaf was carrying a large cask.

“What did you procure there, Olaf?” Jessop
asked.

“Honey. I enjoy the ale at the inn, but I do
miss my
mjod
. I asked Bean’s if I could start a batch and he
was fine with it.”

“How long will it take?”

“It varies, but about three to six
weeks.”

“What do you use for yeast?”

“I have my family’s totem stick. Been
carried down from batch to batch for generations.”

“You brought it with you?”

“Ja. All my worldly goods came with me.”

“Can’t wait to try some.”

“You’ll be the first, we’ll aside a wee
taste now and again.”

“Let me know when you start, I’d like to
watch the process.”

“I will.”

* * *

Back at sea, the crew fell into their normal
routines as did Patrick’s lessons in swordsmanship. Jessop was glad
to see the lad had been progressing and getting stronger each day.
This lesson was a little less structured with the intent of using
the non-sword swinging arm in a variety of defensive maneuvers.

Things were getting heated between the two
in short attacks. In one move Jessop was hard struck head on, then
spun swiftly behind Patrick taking him by surprise and grabbed the
boy around his chest, blade to his neck.

A sudden shock took over Jessop as he
realized what his left hand felt and he pushed Patrick away.
Patrick spun facing him. “I can explain,” he said.

“No. I don’t think you can,” Jessop said
pacing back and forth looking around to make sure no one had spied
what had happened. With no notice, he sheathed his sword, grabbed
Patrick’s wrist and dragged him to the captain’s quarters.

“What’s this? Lessons did not go well?”

“Not at all,” Jessop said, hauling Patrick
behind him and shutting the door.

“When were you going to tell me?” Jessop
said angrily to the captain.

“Tell you what?”

“That your son is your daughter,” Jessop
whispered loudly.

“Come again?” the captain said in
confusion.

“HE is a SHE.”

“Ah. Yes. Well, I wasn’t planning on telling
you unless it needed to be said.”

“You brought a woman on to a ship at sea
with sixty men? Are you insane? How long did you think you could
hide such a thing.”

“As long as I could. Seemed to be working
just fine until now.”

Jessop flopped into a chair pinching the
bridge of his nose as if trying to stave off an oncoming headache
unsuccessfully. After a moment of silence he leaned forward
supporting himself with his elbows on his knees.

“This is going to end badly. You know that,
right? If Fin catches on, he’ll kill you both. It was bad enough if
Fin found Patrick to be your son, but this…this is beyond that. Way
beyond that. You know how superstitious sailors are about women
being aboard.”

The captain didn’t answer, just let Jessop
vent until he finally said, “And how is it that you came to your
conclusion.”

“I was trying to teach him, I mean
her…evasive move to catch an opponent off their guard from behind,
holding him over the shoulder and across the chest, when I found I
had more in my hand than the chest of a young man.” Jessop blushed
and refused to glance towards the female standing by a chair
nearby.

“I see. I suppose I should have anticipated
this, but it’s not a daily event for one man to be grabbing the
chest of another, so I don’t think this is something to get too
worried about.”

“Not worry? How can you even suggest
it?”

“Because it has to be. There is no other
solution. You need to go on as if everything is exactly as it was
yesterday.”

“You want me to continue teaching her to
fight?” Jessop said appalled at the thought.

“Yes. You must. If you don’t, it will look
suspicious. You must act as if nothing has changed.”

“But it has.”

“Maybe, but no one else needs to know.”

“How can you guarantee that?”

“I can’t, but I can keep her from
socializing much by limiting her appearances. She can keep to the
here and her own quarters.”

“I’m standing right here. Why must you talk
about me as if I’m not in the room?” she interjected.

“I’m sorry, darling, it’s just going to have
to be this way from now on. You’ll have your daily lessons with Mr.
Andrews, but the rest of the time you should be out of sight as
much as possible.”

“You can’t be serious, Captain?” Jessop
said.

“Dead serious. Now leave me, both of you.
I’ve got coordinate calculations to go over.”

Jessop rose frustrated but offered the young
lady to go before him.

“And none of that,” the captain said.
“You’re going to have to put your gentlemanly ways aside and treat
her like you would William. You don’t, and YOU will be the one
exposing our secret, not her.”

With that, an angered Jessop practically ran
her over trying to get out of the door bumping her shoulder as he
passed.

This was going to be hard—very hard.

* * *

The next few weeks proved to be as
exasperating as Jessop had guessed they would be. He did as the
captain said and progressed with the lessons of Patrick…He realized
he didn’t even know her real name. Needless to say, Jessop spoke as
little as possible to anyone on the ship. Carrying a secret as big
and dangerous as this around ate at him constantly, and he feared
for the lives of the captain and his daughter—always.