Elwin lunged to push the prince out of the way, but it was too late and he only succeeded in joining him in the line of fire. They were quickly engulfed.

Elwin shut his eyes tight for a moment and when he opened them the ground was three feet deep in papers and books, and they were standing in the middle of it clutching on to each other for dear life. The eye of the storm.

Prin’s eyes, already large admittedly, were the size of dinner plates. He took a shaky deep breath. “Is it over?”

“Well, I’ll be gods-damned, so that’s where that went to! I was a wonderin.” The man in front of them filled all of the doorway with his girth, as he bent down to pick up a book that was amidst the fallen pile. “Lucky me!”

He straightened back up, dusting off his long ginger and white beard, and grinned at the two momentarily stunned young men. “I forgot why we usually don’t use this door.” He said, by way of apology.

“Are you okay?” Elwin asked Prin. He did seem okay, if startled and dusty.

Prin patted the dust off himself and smile at the captain. “No harm done!”

Elwin always had admired his ability to shake things off.

“Are you’ns Rose’s friends? I imagine you are, since no one’s ever foolish enough to come here and knock on my door like they aint ever known a bit of fear in their life! Either way, I admire the gumption!” Captain Thompson said.

Elwin wasn’t sure what this meant exactly, but it definitely made him want to retreat from this place and never set foot on this street again. However, how to do that without causing insult to a dangerous man. Impossible.

“Yes, we are.” The prince said. “You must be Captain Thompson? It’s nice to meet you.”

“Oh ho ho!” The captain laughed. “What a cute kid. Yer here for jobs, so you can get started by picking up all this.” He gestured at the mess he had just made. “Then come around to the back door and we’ll talk about the rest of your duties.” He was still laughing as he shut the door in their faces.

“At least he thought you were cute.” Elwin said.

Prin and Elwin set to work, re stacking the piles of papers and books. Elwin having to keep Prin from getting too particular in his sorting, or stopping to read something that looked particularly enticing. Finally they were done, and each holding as much as they could carry. They carefully walked around to the back of the house.

“Hey, he’s a reader!” Prin said optimistically, as though this said only good things about someone on a personal level.

“At least there’s that.” Elwin said wryly, peeking cautiously around the oversized stack of books he was carrying.

It took a while to make it around the side and into the back, since the house was larger than it looked. The back of the house had a neatly manicure lawn, with rose bushes under the windows. The blooms were pink.

“How will we knock?” Prin wondered, referring to their hands, overburdened.

Luckily a girl was coming outside as they came around the corner. She was carrying a bag of trash to toss in one of the covered cans near the back door.

She looked to be in her teens or early twenties, with blond hair wrapped up in rag curlers, and wearing a blue robe over a white embroidered night gown. Her face was cherubic with wide dark eyes, and rosy round cheeks, a cupid’s bow of a mouth. Which she pursed in consternation when she saw them.

“Who are you? Who told you to come here?” She clutched her robe tight to her chest.

“I’m sorry.” Prin said sheepishly.

“We’re here to work for your father.” Elwin said, remembering what Aster had said about there being a daughter. Then he second guessed himself. How did this willowy petulant blonde look anything like the old red bearded captain? “Er . . . I mean, the captain.”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

“You are!?” She exclaimed. The girl threw her trash away quickly. “We’ll see about that.” She hurried back through the door, shutting and locking it behind herself.

“Wait!” the prince called after her, but it was too late, or didn’t matter anyway. She had no intention of stopping. “What did we do wrong.” His arms sagged, disappointed and tired of carrying the heavy stack of papers.

“Some ladies get upset when people see them in their dressing gown.” Elwin said. “It’s nothing we did.” Or maybe she’s just a brat.

After what seemed an eternity of waiting, they could hear voices arguing on the other side of the door. It sounded like an older woman, and the blonde one they had just seen.

The lock clicked and the door swing open, with an old lady in a floral dress and ruffly white apron standing in the doorway. “What’sa matter, Pet? I’ll handle it, you just go on to your room.” She was saying over her shoulder.

They could hear footsteps stomping off into the further reaches of the house.

The woman smiled warmly at them. “Sorry about that, you just startled her is all. She weren’t expecting to see no one out here this afternoon. Come in, come in! Don’t stand there and let the flies in to sit in our supper.”

The prince led the way and Elwin followed him into a neat and tidy kitchen.

“You can set those down on the counter for now.” The woman suggested. “I’m Mrs. Frances, I been working for the Captain since, well, practically since he was nothing but a young pup like the two of you!”

“You don’t look old enough for that to be true.” The prince said smoothly, as he sat down his burden.

Elwin cast him a look of admiration. Smart to pick up on the fact that the head housekeeper is the one to impress in these places. She will be fully in charge of almost everything between these walls. He sat his own stack down, though it seemed a shame to sully the clean counter tops.

“Oh, you little thing you!” Mrs. Frances said.

If it wasn’t in Elwin’s imagination, she was blushing. “I’m Elwin.” Elwin said. “And the charmer is Prin.”

The old lady chuckled. “He is, he is at that.” She brushed her hands on her apron. “Now what can I get you boys for supper. You’re thin as rails, could use a good feeding up, says I.” She began to bustle around with preparations without waiting for a reply.

“No, I—” Prin said. “We’re here to work.”

“I know that, silly boys.” Mrs. Frances said, undeterred.

“Captain Thompson is waiting for us, but we can’t wait to try some of your cooking shortly, when we are done with whatever tasks he has for us.” Elwin said. He was used to people trying to fatten you up when you step inside their kitchens (although he had greatly missed this perk since leaving the castle), and wasn’t about to turn down a good thing. It made him think of his parents, who after all, weren’t so bad.

“How about just a piece of pie then?” Mrs. Frances straightened up from where she was pulling something out of the oven. A fresh cherry pie.

The prince smiled, eyes sparkling happily. “Could we? Maybe just a little one?” He looked to Elwin for affirmation.

“Will the captain get angry if we dawdle?” Elwin wondered, still bearing in mind that this was a pirate they were talking about here. Even a pirate who was in charge of a whole ship, at one point anyway, and one who seems to have done quite well for himself in the business of robbery, kidnapping, and murder on the high seas. Or something like that.

“Let me worry about him.” Mrs. Frances said with a wink. She put a couple of big pieces of pie on plates and motioned them to have a seat at a cozy table in a nook overlooking the garden. “I can’t stand to see growing boys like you uns go hungry.”

“We have been hungry, Mrs. Frances.” Prin said earnestly. He sat down where she indicated. “Every since I fed our supplies to a mermaid.”

Elwin bit back a laugh. He was there to see the circumstances he was referring to, and even he couldn’t believe it.

“You did!?” Mrs. Frances exclaimed. “She must have been a hungry lass, I’m sure you did her a good turn.”

Elwin sat down beside Prin, wondering if he was the crazy one.

Mrs. Frances put the pie down in front of them along with large mugs of frothy beer. “Drink this too, you need the nutrients.” She assured.

The pie was beautiful, with golden brown, sugar encrusted lattice work over a deep red interior.

Prin took a big bite. “This is wonderful.” He shoveled a couple more bites into his mouth.

Elwin put a bite of pie on his fork and smelled it’s sweet and tangy aroma, but before he could bring it to his mouth he looked over at Prin. The site of the prince’s mouth full of red stuff had traumatizing associations that almost turned his stomach. He had to forcibly remind himself that it wouldn’t look at all odd to anyone else. He vowed to make no indication of his disgust, and simply not look over there again.

With this in mind, he took a bite, and the taste was just as perfect as it looked. This pie would have even given his father’s home made pie a run for its money.

“What’s going on in here?” A familiar voice boomed. “You can’t feed every critter in the neighborhood!” Captain Thompson came into the kitchen, with his hands on his big belly and his eyebrows knitted together.

Elwin’s stomach did an anxious flip flop.

“What do ya mean by that, Julius!? Didn’t you invite them here?” Mrs. Frances said. Her voice the stern schoolmarm.

“Not to eat!” Captain Thompson said. “Well, least ways not before working.”

“They’ll work much better after they eat.” Mrs. Frances said. “Now, do you want a piece?”

“Yes, please.” Captain Thompson sat down on the bench beside Prin, scrunching him into Elwin who had to quickly scoot over to make room.

The prince continued to polish off his pie, not willing to let even a pirate stand in the way of a good dessert.