She wasn’t sure how long he had stood there watching but eventually she became aware of eyes on her. And when she looked over at the doorway she saw the captain standing there watching their games from a distance.

When he saw her glance his way he beckoned her over.

She folded her hand and got up from the table. “Sorry boys,” she said.

There were a couple of ‘awws’ that abruptly stopped once they saw who had gotten her attention. They were quickly replaced by hushed whispers.

Amanda walked toward the door with the sinking feeling of someone at their last supper and the immediate reminder of exactly where she was. He gestured for her to walk in front of him, as if he didn’t want to turn his back on her.

She did so, occasionally looking back for direction on which way to go. He spoke the minimum number of words necessary, “up there”, “turn left”, and made no other conversation.

Eventually she realised he was directing her to the bridge, recognising where they were on the ship she needed no more direction.

When they entered the bridge she saw that the red headed guy with freckles was currently steering the ship. Sirius sent him out, checked their heading and then locked the wheel straight on.

“Here’s the deal,” he started turning to look at her.

Looking at his face now she could indeed see that he was about her age. It was the facial hair and sheer size of him that made him look otherwise. That and the look in his eye, there was something there that said he’d seen a lot in life already, and maybe not the best of it. It was a look she saw in the eyes of the wild horses, a wariness.

“We keep the pegasus, you get off at the next port, I know a skipper there who’ll take you back to Little Rock.”

Amanda frowned. “Did you deal with the arasnids? Did you get them all?” she asked.

He raised his eyebrows in surprise and then nodded. “You were right, there was a whole box of them. We’ve dealt with them and managed to stop the acid from getting all the way through the ship. The stupid idiot was trying to claim there weren’t any more.”

“Just like he’s trying to claim that’s his pegasus,” Amanda replied. “I helped you with the arasnids, you owe me. All I’m asking for is what was mine to begin with.” She looked him squarely in the eye and couldn’t help noticing how green they were, like there was a forest hidden beneath them.

“No way.” Sirius shook his head. “You snuck on board my ship, you’re lucky you’re getting let off at a port and not the nearest island to find your own way back.”

“That’s my pegasus!” Amanda replied indignantly.

“Well this is my ship,” Sirius replied calmly and without a hint of emotion.

They stood just staring at each other for a minute before finally Amanda remarked, “Fine!” turned and walked out.

She glanced back to see if he was going to follow her but he was just standing there watching her with a curious expression on his face. It left her feeling just a little bit like a silly child.

She walked back towards the mess hall. Well she hadn’t been getting anywhere with that and given it seemed that she wasn’t going anywhere immediately she did at least have some time to think up a plan for getting the pegasus off this ship. She’d been afraid if she’d stayed there and stared at him much longer he would have changed his mind and dropped her off at the nearest island. Dammit! She should have asked how long it would be until the next port. She didn’t even know if it was mere days away or weeks. Surely not months? They’d have to restock with food at some point. But would they do that at a port? Or just drop anchor by a smaller seaside town.

Despite her intentions to go to the mess hall she soon found herself standing outside the entrance to the hold, the one where the pegasus was. She wasn’t even sure how she’d managed to make her way back here.

At the door stood a big dark-haired burly man. It was the first man who was larger then the captain that Amanda had seen on the ship so far. And next to him Sirius practically looked clean shaven.

“Sorry, you can’t enter here. Captain’s orders,” the man replied.

“I see.” Amanda nodded and walked on past. So he had the pegasus under guard now did he, well she’d think of something else. She had to.

She did return to the mess hall this time. It had crossed her mind that she didn’t really have anywhere else to go. Where was she to sleep? She tucked the thought away, a later problem to be solved. For now her stomach grumbled bringing attention to a different problem and they had mentioned something about food earlier. Would they spare her some?

When she reached the entrance to the mess hall she paused in the door. A different set of men sat around the table this time, each eating something from a bowl. They eyed her suspiciously and whispered as she watched. A quick glance around the room showed no large pots or serving stations. Wherever they had gotten their food from it wasn’t here. She didn’t know where the kitchen was though and this group didn’t look quite so friendly as the last.

She knew better than to appear shy or intimidated. She kept her chin up as she thought, eyeing them as they eyed her. She was just deciding that it was time she took a look around the rest of the ship and was about to move when she sensed a large shape appear behind her. She spun to find the captain standing there looking down at her. So he had followed her after all. She couldn’t read his expression.

“We can’t have you wandering the ship or sleeping in the hallway. I’ll show you to a room.” He jerked his head to one side.

Amanda took it as an invitation to walk that way. He followed behind.

“This one,” he said eventually and she turned to see where he pointed.

He pushed open a door, and then stepped back to let her see for herself. The room was small with no windows and two beds. A portable basic luminary infused lamp sat on a small table.

“You’ll have it to yourself,” Sirius told her. “There’s no lock but no one here will hurt you.”

She glanced sideways at him. He seemed quite serious but she noticed something else, an uncertainty, like he was waiting for her approval. She gave a nod.

He pointed further down the hall. “Bathroom’s around the corner, third door on the left. And I’ll have some food sent to you shortly.”

“Thank you,” she replied and she meant it. She was grateful. They may have her pegasus but they really were only transporting it and she had snuck aboard his ship after all. A bed and food were more than others might have given her.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

Sirius gave a nod and his eyes lingered on her curiously a moment longer before he turned and left.

She glanced once more around the room but there was nothing new to see.

The next day she found breakfast left for her just outside the door on a wooden tray. There was bread with butter, a juicier than expected steak, and a small pile of boiled carrots that were coated in a sweet spice that she didn’t recognise. She ate ravenously and then went about seeing if she could explore the rest of the ship.

She had thought initially, given that she had no escort that she would be free to go where ever she liked. After all, she figured, it wasn’t like she could easily leave the ship. Yes there were small dingys tied to the side but where would she sail? Which way was land? Setting out in one of those would likely be a death sentence. She soon found however that despite the impression of freedom Sirius had placed his men strategically around the ship such that whenever she thought she’d found a new passage to go down she’d very quickly come upon a man who would not let her pass. They all seemed to be doing something productive. Some were cleaning, one was fixing his shoes, another sharpening swords. A pair were dueling. One man, the big burly ape from yesterday simply stood with his arms crossed and told her, “No entry.” She even encountered Shiv, working in a room just off the hallway. He popped out in front of her when he saw her about to go by.

“Sorry, this way’s off limits.”

It was about at that point that Amanda realised the captain must have ordered his men to very specific places. And it wasn’t like he needed many of them to do so. There weren’t that many exits from this hall. The places it seemed she could go was around and around. That or up to the deck. An easy choice.

Above deck more men were working, running here and there, scampering about, although she wasn’t sure exactly what it was they were doing. She looked up to see the captain at the ship’s wheel looking back down at her between glances at the horizon.

She turned to see where they were going and for the first time was truly struck by the vastness of it. She’d travelled a lot though the desert before and taken ships up the coast but this was the first time she’d been out on a truly open ocean. She’d imagined it would be like in the desert where all you could see for miles was sand but the desert had hills and peaks, out here it was just flat. It seemed somehow a lot bigger than anything she’d seen before. It made her feel small and she found she rather liked that feeling. She found a place to sit and watch the activity of the men and the surrounding beauty of the water.

At home everything had been familiar and she had always loved that, had found it comforting but now she sat out here with the warm sun beaming down on her and the unknown all around her she discovered a new thrill and somehow home almost seemed suffocating in comparison. Of course she worried briefly what her parents might think once they found her gone. But it wasn’t the first time she’d disappeared. A few years back there had been a rather bad sandstorm that had separated her and her father out in the desert. She’d done fine then, even rounding up a few new horses after the storm, and when her father had found her again he’d simply smiled like he hadn’t expected anything else and said, “Good to see you, bout time we headed home eh?” There were other times too. Her parents had always trusted her to look after herself, at least once she’d gotten old enough. They wouldn’t worry, well her mother probably would but her mother always worried. She’d be back soon. And she’d come back with that pegasus.

That night she ate her food in the mess hall again. Sirius had offered to bring it to her room but she’d declined saying she would prefer to eat with people. Sirius had nodded although he’d seemed hesitant. He showed her where the kitchen was, retrieved two plates and handed her one. He then walked with her back up to the mess hall. The hall was crowded, mostly with men she didn’t recognise. She hesitated only a moment and then, relieved to find at least one familiar face, she sat down across from Thatch. He gave her a friendly smile while the big blond guy to his left gave her a dark glare.

Sirius didn’t sit with her or any of the other men. Instead he found a spot far at the other end of the table as if he preferred to eat in peace. In the middle of the table men laughed and chatted loudly. She looked past them and watched him curiously.

“Did you have a good day?” Thatch asked more sincere and polite than any sailor had a right to be.

She turned to him surprised and was about to reply when the blond guy next to him leaned forward and growled, “We don’t welcome stowaways on this ship, least of all red-headed woman.”

“Don’t you like woman?” Another voice quickly jabbed back from further down the table and produced a chorus of laughter in response.

The blond’s eyes narrowed. “Not when we’re travelling, it’s bad luck. And with hair like that who knows what her powers might be. What are your powers witch?”

“You’re a witch yourself Crick. We all are, except Pete.” Thatch replied with a roll of the eyes.

“Yeah but I ain’t no redhead.”

Amanda noticed a couple of nods of agreement from further down the table.

“Ah redhead don’t mean shit,” another voice cried. “Just look at Bob-bee, he couldn’t shapeshift into the right end of a horse if he tried.”

“Hey that ain’t right,” a familiar voice objected. Amanda peered down the table to see the red-head with the freckles, the one who’d taken the cigarettes from the animal handler the day before. The one who’d been there when she’d been caught. Evidently this was Bob-bee.

The table split off into several smaller debates then. Amanda’s eyes found Sirius again. He was halfway through eating a drumstick as he watched them bicker like small children. They seemed to have forgotten about him sitting there but yet he watched like a sentry. His emerald green eyes met hers for a moment and then darted away back to watching the others.

When she drew her gaze back to look at those across the table she found the blond guy starting intently at her again.

“Oh leave her alone Crick,” The guy on his other side told him as he focused on his own drumstick. Amanda wondered briefly if they kept live chickens on the ship.

Crick slammed his palms on the table. “You know I reckon what we should do is we put her in a boat and set her off on her own. Isn’t that the penalty for stowaways and thieves?” he asked the rest of the crew.

“What about Jimmi?” one guy asked.

“That was an exception,” another replied.

“And the captain?” a third voice asked.

No one answered directly but several men conferred with their neighbours. They seemed to come to a murmuring consensus that no one really cared.

Frustrated Crick got to his feet. “Fine, I’ll do it.”

A hush fell over the table but it wasn’t because of Crick. Instead all eyes were on the other end of the table. At exactly the same time as Crick, the captain had gotten to his feet and he was looking right at Crick, not saying anything, at least not with words. But the message was clear either way. Crick eyed him up for a second before he dropped his eyes and sat back down. The conversation resumed a moment later as if nothing had happened.

Crick didn’t try anything more that night, not even after Sirius left which was around about when the booze came out.

They poured Amanda a drink and held up a pack of cards to which she gave a nod. She beat them several times over but not so much they didn’t want to keep playing, just enough to keep ahead. She asked them about their lives to which they seemed both surprised and eager to share. They told her adventures some giving different versions of the same story, often playing up their own part. Amanda loved to hear them. They asked about herself in reply and she told them she came from a horse farm. She told them some stories from travelling the desert and her own past experiences on a ship. She undersold everything though, made it sound more boring than it was. She felt she was already getting enough of the attention just from being a red-headed female. When she got drunk enough she gave some of them tips on playing better poker. They welcomed the advice more than she would have expected. Her stories may have gotten a little wilder then too. Eventually she noticed even Crick was joining in and he seemed to have lost some of his initial dislike for her. But when she looked his way and he noticed her looking the scowl returned. It was less harsh though. She was sure of that. She was an expert at reading faces. It was then that she knew regardless of how he’d felt about her before that any dislike he’d show now was nothing more than a mask.

Eventually Amanda stumbled, half drunk back in the direction of her cabin. It was hard to get lost on this floor despite everything initially looking much the same. To her relief none of the men followed. She hadn’t been sure if they would or not. With her powers she was more than capable of looking after herself if she had to, but any situation that required their use was not likely to end well either way. She’d heard stories of horny sailors who hadn’t laid hands on a woman in months, that they’d just about do anything for one. That and some of the characters that stopped into Little Rock on occasion hadn’t done much to quell the rumours. But this lot seemed surprisingly gentlemanly.

She fell asleep almost a soon as her head hit the pillow, not even bothering to remove her clothes, not that she had much else to wear. She was going to have to figure that out eventually, that and how everyone bathed around here. It was a worry for another day though and not the most high priority one on her list at that. As Amanda fell asleep her thoughts wandered to the fate of the pegasus and if he minded being tied up unable to even see the open sky.