Stormy Seas: Part 18

Out the window I could see the Lethargy slowly rolling onto her side. The remaining crew were hurrying to untie lifeboats and escape the ship before it sank. I watched them, scanning for Eldon and trying not to cry.
    Behind me, the door to the cabin opened. I spun around as Captain Stratt came in, hands on her hips and eyes practically laughing at me.
    “Don't look so worried,” she said. “You can thank Captain Leak out there for letting us rescue you. If we hadn't come along you'd still be on that sinking hulk.” She leaned forward a little when she talked.
    “What will you do with me?” I asked her. I tried to match her boldness.
    “Ransom,” she said casually. She strolled across the luxurious cabin and slouched into a tall leather armchair. “I like a good ransom. It's almost legitimate business, bringing people back where they belong.”
    “What about sinking ships?” I shot back.
    “I saw their engine room myself,” she said. “Their engine shot a broken piston into the boiler tank and that tore a hole down through the hull when it exploded. That's the work of a Captain who doesn't know how his ship works. I've seen it a lot more than you'd think on big old cargo ships like that. Hire a cheap Captain who knows how things work on land but not how to run a ship.”
    I looked back out the window at the Lethargy. It was noticeably lower in the water but I couldn't see the lifeboats anymore, we were hurrying away from them.
    “You might as well sit,” she said. She was watching me as she reclined with her feet over the arm of the chair.
    I sat across the room on a regular wooden chair and arranged my skirts neatly around me.
    “How's a stuck up rich girl end up on that boat?” she asked me as she tossed a lock of hair over her shoulder.
    “I fancied I could be a sailor,” I replied haughtily.
    She laughed. “What's your name?”
    “Vivian Winters,” I introduced.
    She leaned over and stuck out her hand at me. “Captain Carlotta Stratt.”
    I glanced down at her hand, trying to decide what to do.
    “I won't try to turn you into me,” she laughed. “It'd be too much work.”
    She slouched in the chair and picked up a glass bottle of rum from the floor. As she drank I marveled at her ability to slouch while wearing a corset.
    “How soon can we be back in England?” I asked her.
    “A few days,” she shrugged. She fingered the bottle as she thought. “It'll be exchanging you for the money that'll be the interesting bit.”
    I sighed. She seemed to be far too pleased with herself. “How much do you expect that I'm worth, if you don't mind me asking?”
    “I don't set the price usually,” she said. “I try to find out how much your family thinks you're worth.”
    She watched me, hoping for a reaction. I pursed my lips and tried not to give her one.
    “I should warn you though,” she continued. “Not everyone's family pays.”
    “They'll pay,” I said confidently.
    “I've heard that before,” Stratt said. “If they don't though, I won't be holding on to you either. There are plenty of people who will pay for you, if you understand, and I have to pay my crew for being kind to you.”
    “I know that you're trying to frighten me,” I told her.
    She laughed and sat up, facing me with our eyes level. “Teaching you that the world is full of harsh realities that, up until now, you've been kept hidden from.”
    I stared back at her. “Are you quite finished yet?”
    She grinned. “Looks like I'll be just as glad to be rid of you as you will to be rid of me.”
    She stood up and swaggered over to the window. Taking a spyglass from her belt she scanned  the remains of the Lethargy. “You'll be happy to know that your friends made it into the lifeboats in time.”
    I tried not to sigh with relief. It was easily accomplished since I had accidentally tied my corset a bit tighter than I usually liked and couldn't get enough air in to make myself sigh.
    Stratt turned around and collapsed the spyglass. “You have any questions for me?” she asked.
    “No,” I said. I pretended to be examining a chart on the table.
    “So you have me all figured out?”
    She came back and sat in the armchair again.
    “You were kidnapped by pirates and no one paid your ransom.” I shrugged as I said it, though I was only guessing.
    I wasn't looking but I felt something very like an icy chill from her side of the room.
    She stood and with a few quick strides she crossed the cabin and opened the door. “Abbot!” she shouted. She came back in and sat on the table where she could look at me. “I wouldn't mention Abbot's mask,” she cautioned, back to her sultry self. “He had a nasty accident with a boiler while we were taking a ship a few years ago.”
    Abbot came into the cabin. “Captain?”
    “Escort Miss Winters to her accommodations,” Stratt said.
    “Aye Captain,” he said through the vents in the mask. He grabbed my arm and practically dragged me out of the Captain's cabin.
    Down in the hold he unlocked a door and gave me a shove inside. I nearly landed on my head and before I could turn back around he had the door shut and locked again.
    I sat in a pile of my own skirts and took in the room as I tried to figure out how to go about getting up. There was a bunk against one wall with a mattress but no sheets, a bucket, and a stool. There was one small, dirty, porthole that was allowing some sunlight through to dimly illuminate my cell.
    I tried to sigh, but, when I found that I couldn't I set about unlacing my corset.
    At the very least I was finally alone with my thoughts and my thoughts had only one direction they wanted to go.
    Eldon had kissed me. The memory of it made me giddy. Then I remembered that the pirate had done the same and I felt like spitting again. At the very least the pirate had not stolen my first kiss. Eldon had.
    I clamped my hand over my mouth to stop myself from giggling.
    How can I act like this! I scolded myself. Eldon is trapped at sea and I may never see him again! I'll never know what he was going to say after we kissed!
    I used the stool and dragged myself upward as I tried to untangle my feet from my skirts. When I was standing I looked out the porthole.
    There was nothing but blue water and blue horizon.
    Of course. I thought. I sighed and sat down on the stool. Eldon was gone and I was certain that I would never see him again.