Amanda went to bed that night drunk and angry. She awoke the next morning late and with a headache. A part of her just wanted to stay in the cabin and hide but she forced herself up. She found food, helped out with some of the morning chores, visited the pegasus, and eventually she made her way up on deck and to the door of the bridge.
Sirius was at the ship wheel. He glanced over his shoulder at her when he heard her enter. She hadn’t planned on what to say. She wasn’t even sure if she should. All she knew was that she couldn’t leave here empty handed.
Sirius was focused on the horizon. Amanda’s eyes were on him. What she’d said had gotten to him. She’d seen it in his eyes last night. And here he was stubbornly not looking at her. She had a chance after all. Maybe.
“What do you want for it?” she asked as she walked into the room.
“Huh?” Surprise registered on his face as he turned once more to look at her.
She took a seat in the chair by the map table and pointed her gaze directly at him. “The pegasus. What do you want for it?”
His brows furrowed and he turned back away from her again. “It’s not mine to sell.”
She sat in annoyed silence for so long that eventually he turned around to look at her again. At seeing the look on her face his own one seem to soften a little. “Why does a horse mean so much to you?”
“It isn’t a horse.”
He gave a grunt that might have been a laugh and started to turn back to the ship wheel again.
“It just does.” Amanda replied answering his question.
He didn’t turn back. “Well you’ll just have to figure out how to deal with that then. We don’t always get what we want.”
Amanda didn’t reply. The light had gone out of her somewhat. She felt at a loss and lost herself, so very far from home. A part of her wondered if she shouldn’t just take up his offer to find another ship and go back to Little Rock. But her mind drifted back to the pegasus. Where would he end up? Who was he being sold to? Would they look after him? Would they clip his wings? She thought about asking, even though she doubted Sirius knew. Either way she never got the chance, the captain spoke before she could ask.
“We’re almost there.”
For the first time since she’d entered the bridge that morning she looked out the window. There in the far off distance she could just make out the shape of land. She stood up and walked forward so she could get a better look.
“There’s a telescope in that drawer over there.” Sirius pointed.
She found it. It was made of wood and golden rings. The glass had a faint blueish tinge to it. It was quite a beautiful object. She wondered where it was from, where he had bought it? What crafter had made such a pretty thing?
She raised the glass to her eye. The island was brought more into focus. The land rose high not far back from the sea. A small mountain range but much taller than those that surrounded her home of Little Rock, or much of the land in the Greenstone valley. This peak was already higher than any she’d seen. On its tops she could see a soft layering of snow. For a small moment she wondered, hoped, she might get to see it up close, but it didn’t look like the snow made it all the way down the mountain slopes. From this distance she couldn’t make out any settlements but she could see the curve of a cove which was likely where they would be headed.
“There’s snow.”
She spoke softly and Sirius looked at her with the similar level of surprise her tone conveyed. Had she not see snow before? She was from Little Rock so she must have. “Yeah, not typically down in the harbour during this time of year, although maybe the storm will bring it in. It probably won’t stick to the ground though.” He glanced back towards the other horizon where the dark clouds were close enough that he could detect a change in the air. It bristled arm hairs and sent a chill through the body, but there was something Sirius found comforting in storms too. In a way they reminded him of his sister. They were close enough to the harbour now that he new it wouldn’t catch them before they got there, unfortunately he was pretty sure at this point that they’d have to weather it out there. The delay would cost them, so even though he knew Shiv was also probably aware of it both were at the moment largely ignoring mentioning it to each other until they had to.
“Will it catch us?” Amanda ask.
He caught a hint of wariness in her voice. She didn’t know the sea like he did. “No, not before we get there.” He turned back toward the island then glanced over at her. She had the glass raised to one eye. Her mouth hung open just a bit causing her bottom lip to jut out ever so slightly. It’s fullness drew Sirius’s eye and he imagined what it would feel like to kiss her. Her red hair glistened in the late morning light with an unnatural vibrancy that made it look almost as if she were a painting come to life. She moved her head slightly to get a better view through the glass and it took his breath away.
He shook his head. He didn’t have time for this sort of stuff. He needed to plan out the schedule for once they docked and come up with some useful things for the crew to do if they did get stuck in Wildwater. Otherwise they’d find trouble. Once they got closer he’d need to use the spyglass to check who else was in port. Who was there would affect which trades he could do while docked and who might be able to take Amanda home. He glanced at her again. He knew he couldn’t keep her on this ship. Sure there was enough room and food and she had proven herself useful. She was a quick learner and eager to help, unlike Micheal who when he was out of his room somehow seemed to cause more delays and arguments than anything else. A part of him didn’t want to see her go. She was funny and sharp. She drew his interest, made him want to learn more about her.
“You ever seen snowfall before?” he asked.
She lowered the spyglass. “Once or twice. It usually doesn’t land where we are, up the north-east coast. The wind keeps it south more over the town, almost like an invisible weather wall. We’re right on the border of a desert, no rain, no snow, unless it’s a really bad storm. I’ve only really seen snow after it’s fallen and it never stays more than a few weeks.”
He watched as she turned to look at the following storm.
With a frown she raised the spyglass back to her eye. “They move much more quickly in the desert.”
“They can move fast out here to. It just depends where you are. This stretch of water, most storms come from the other direction. Something to do with the airflow further south. The fact we’ve got one chasing us from this side is actually probably a good thing. Then again I’m not a meteorologist. It’s just what I see. If you don’t get to know the sea you don’t last very long out here.”
She turned to look at him. “You ever messed up, read the weather wrong?”
She looked young for a moment then, younger than he felt at least, and naive. He could see the curiosity in her eyes and her lips parted ever so slightly. He nodded and forced his eyes away toward the storm so he could think more clearly. “Once. Twice. Shiv let me sail into one of them. He knew it was there. I wasn’t a fan of his teaching methods much after that but I did pay more attention. He said afterward he hadn’t thought it was going to be that bad. The other one even he didn’t see. Those were the two I should have seen. We’ve sailed through others, there’s plenty of times it’s been unavoidable, unseeable. You learn where it’s safer, what to look out for, but there’s always a risk.” He turned back to look at her. “It’s what we get paid for, and there’s more than just storms out here.” He turned back toward their heading.
She looked where he did her eyes searching for whatever it was he was looking at. “The others didn’t tell you about the one Shiv let you miss? Don’t you have a man in the crow’s nest for that?”
Sirius rubbed his face and nodded. “Yeah the crow missed that one too. He didn’t have much experience and by the time he did see it, it was too close to flee. Other’s saw it but not many and they were Shiv’s people. The crew was new back then, well newly formed from what we were. The mutiny shook things up. We lost talent and gained new roles. There was a bit of contention. A lot of contention. Factions formed. Shiv owned a lot of of the old dogs. They looked to him while he decided to test the rest of us. I told Shiv we couldn’t afford to have that, that this crew relied on honesty among its members to survive. I don’t know what it was that I said or did but… but whatever it was, I think I earned his respect that day. Maybe it was in the storm but either way he brought his people in line after that.”
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“And now they’re as much yours as they are his,” Amanda guessed in a musing tone.
Sirius shook his head. “They’re still his. I’m not a fool.” He took the ship’s wheel off it’s tie and gave it a gentle turn adjusting their course slightly.
Still holding the wheel he glanced at her and found her staring at him with a curious expression. “What?” he asked.
She shrugged. “Just, I think they’re more yours than you think.”
He frowned. “You don’t know which ones were his.”
She chuckled. “Now you say ‘were’. I know more than you think. They chat quite a bit.” She took a seat in one of the wooden chairs by the map table.
Sirius wasn’t sure where she was going with this. Was she just being friendly or was she trying to set up for a trade of some sort. If so he didn’t need it. He grunted in reply. It was true he didn’t drink with them much, at all really. Sometimes he wondered if he should but he didn’t really like the way it made him feel. Plus he was supposed to be in charge. The captain needed to have his wits about him at all times. He trusted his crew. He trusted Shiv. Whatever holes she might be trying to poke it wouldn’t work. But where he thought she might be try bait him with tidbits of discord, instead what she said next surprised him in addition to being freely given.
“They respect you a lot you know. More than you think. All of them, including Shiv.”
She was quiet for a time and he wondered what she was getting at. What angle she had.
When she spoke again. Her tone was different. Almost a little sad.
“You talk about trust but that doesn’t seem to extend to your patrons. Most of what you ship isn’t exactly legally got is it? That pegasus isn’t the first stolen item you’ve shipped.”
He tensed up. So it was about that pegasus again was it? “I don’t ask questions. We have rules. As long as our patrons stick by them…” he sighed. “The black market is where the money is and not everything is black market at both ends. Some of what we ship people need, and the rest, well it pays the bills.” Keeping one hand on the wheel he turned to face her. “You’re not getting that pegasus back. Doesn’t matter if the rules weren’t entirely followed. Out here there are no rules, no owners. Just people trying to get by. I give you that pegasus, what do I give the next bloke who stows aboard my ship? Even letting you leave sets a precedent.” He made the mistake of glancing back to look at her.
She had a fierce look on her face. Anger. But her eyes were wet. No tears spilled yet but he could see them there and she seemed to be gritting her teeth as much in defiance to them as she was to him.
That look ripped at his heart.
For the first time since he’d met her she dropped her eyes, but it was only momentarily. When she looked back up at him the tears were gone and so was some of the defiance.
If he had thought he couldn’t feel any worse about the whole situation, she once again proved him wrong.
“I know that. I…” She glanced away again, bit her lip for second, then met his eyes again with a soft sigh. “What are the other crews like? The ones we’re likely to meet in Wildwater.”
She was asking about who she was likely to be travelling with he realised. Unable to bear looking at her any longer he turned back to the wheel and answered her with his back to her. “I’ll find you a good crew and ship. One who will take care of you. I promise.”
When he turned to look back at her again he found she was gone.
Amanda spent the rest of the day trying to keep herself busy but she found it was hard. Her eye line kept drifting toward that slowly approaching shoreline and her thoughts to the pegasus below deck. Would he be looked after well? Where was he being shipped to? Would they kill him? Keep him? Care for him? He wasn’t a unicorn at least, it made his chances of survival much higher. Pegasi had more value alive than dead. People plucked and sold the wingfeathers sometimes but usually they kept the animal itself alive. It was a painful existence though. She shuddered at the thought and reminded herself that it was more likely he was being sold as a pet for show. He might end up with his wings clipped but at least he’d be alive. The pegasus wasn’t the only thing she thought about either. The captain himself figured predominately in her thoughts. The way he towered over everyone, even those who were themselves physically taller. How he did it without even saying a word. The way he talked with the pegasus, how gentle he was. How fast he had learned to ride it, to shift his weight just right.
“Hey!”
“Hmm?” she looked up.
“You done sweeping that corner?” one of the crew asked her.
She glanced down at the broom in her hands suddenly realising she’d been sweeping the same spot for the last few minutes.
“Oh, yeah, all done here. There any more to do?” For the last hour they’d been sweeping some of the empty space in the hold, readying it for new supplies or chests of money or something. Amanda wasn’t sure what. She’d just been happy to have something to do.
He shook he head. “Nah all done, we should be arriving soon anyway. You should probably get yer things together.”
Amanda sheepishly handed him the broom before giving a curt nod and heading off. She was trying to decide if she should return to her cabin for the time being or head back up to the deck when she heard a shout from above.
“Land ho.”
She emerged onto the top deck to a roar of laughter among the men. She spotted Shiv nearby, directing some of the men who were moving barrels.
She approached him. “I thought ‘land ho’ was for when you fist sight land.”
“It is,” Shiv replied with barely a glance her way. “Dickie’s being, well Dickie.”
Another roar of laughter erupted from a group of mean nearby. It seemed a few of them had now gathered on the ship’s deck as they got closer to the shore.
“You spot yer mother Dickie?” one of the men shouted across the deck.
Dickie shouted back “Naw but I mighta seen yours.” He held his hands under his chest in a cupping motion. “She had a nice pair of cahoongas.”
The other man started across the deck toward him in a quick stride. But before he could get there Shiv waved a hand and the man tripped and fell flat on his face. He looked up in surprise.
“There’ll be time for the whores later, right now you need to get these barrels up on deck.” Shiv roared at him.
Amanda felt a shadow at her back and glanced back to find Sirius behind her watching the men.
The crew wasted no time in scampering back to work.
Shiv crossed his arms and remained where he was.
When Amanda next looked back to find Sirius he was gone.
Instead of following him she made her way to the bow of the ship. They were much closer now, maybe only ten or twenty minutes out. She felt there wasn’t much point going anywhere else. Besides now they were in close she could see a lot more of Wildwater.
It certainly stood up to its name at the moment. Thanks to the chasing storm the waves had begun to build up in the last hour. Nothing too intimidating, certainly not for a ship this size. The water itself had changed in colour from a deep blue to a murky green. It looked dirtier than the water around Little Rock, even though from here she could see the port was only about a third of the size.
The port had been built out over the water, as it had in Little Rock, to allow the ships to dock right in close. There obviously hadn’t much of a beach to begin with. A strip of rocks continued around the bay out from under the edge of the large wooden pier. Beyond the pier a small town was nestled back between two large hills. They were close enough now that she could no longer see the tops of them nor the snow that had covered them.
She could see people walking along a boardwalk in front of what looked like a string of bars and restaurants. They walked beneath old-fashioned lanterns that had been lit early even though dark was still a few of hours away. But as they got closer darkness seemed to come early as the sun was blocked by the hill to the west.
Seeing the people moving about made the whole thing suddenly feel more solid. Like she really was moments from being thrust onto another ship and losing the pegasus forever. She felt a knot of urgency forming as well as hopelessness. What could she do? She decided she had to at least make Sirius understand the value of that pegasus. It’s real value, not the price tag on its head. Even after she wasn’t around, maybe if he spent some more time with it he’d make sure it got a good home.
As the ship approached the port she went straight to the bridge.
Sirius was lost in his own thoughts and realising this wasn’t the greatest mindset to steer a ship in he’d delegated the task to Crick. He was just on his way out of the bridge when Amanda came flying in and ran right into him in the doorway.
Truth was he’d been relieved to see her back up on deck earlier. He’d been worried about what she might be up to given the mood she’d last left the bridge in. Worried she might try to sneak the animal out. Or worse. He was pleased to hear she’d been helping out with the readying of the lower deck even though he did still feel bad about before. He’d been meaning to come and find her and give her one last visit with the animal, but it seems she had found him first.
She stepped back stunned for a moment before she looked up at him with those warm brown eyes. He suddenly realised he was going to miss having her on the ship. Even her attempts at persuading him to give her the pegasus.
She lifted her chin in that way he’d gotten so used to. He wanted to cup his hand under it and lean down and kiss her. Her defiance was so intoxicating.
“He still needs exercise you know.” she finally said.
“I’ll make sure he gets some,” Sirius replied honestly. Although he was tempted to ask her for one more flying lesson. If it meant he could sit that close to her again. He gritted his teeth. It was thoughts like this that were the exact reason she needed to be off this ship. For all the gods in the sky, he couldn’t even drive his ship without thinking about her.
“Did you want one last visit?” he asked. He noted something in her expression change then but he couldn’t quite put his finger on what it was.
She opened her mouth to reply when a shout from outside interrupted.
“Approaching port.”
When they met each others eyes again Sirius said. “There will be time later.” A part of him was pleased they didn’t have to have that last visit now, pleased that he didn’t have to say goodbye, not just yet.
She nodded and stepped to the side.
As Sirius stepped out onto the front deck one of the crew ran up to him in a panic. “Captain, we’ve got a bit too much speed.”