Merry Read online

  Chapter five

  We raced about, tying barrels and crates down, and making everything ready.  A storm had taken us by surprise, and the waves and winds battered us mercilessly. The storm was so bad that more than one hardened man was crying out for the Lord to save them.  I could not swim, but neither could most of the men on board.  All hands were needed on deck, so I was out with the rest of the sailors.  The deck was slick, and I was nearly taken out by someone sliding so hard that when he hit the rail he flew out into the raging waters.  I clung to the mast desperately when the ship keeled almost vertically.  When we struck something hard, everyone went flying and I lost my grip, falling overboard.  The water felt like gravel when I hit it, but when I began to sink everything was soft.  I was too dazed to do anything more than watch the light from above disappear as I sank into the depths.  I blacked out.

  I woke up to someone pounding on my chest.  I rolled over and retched into the sand.  I wiped my mouth and looked up to see Caspian, one of the newer sailors that we picked up a few years ago, standing over me.  

   “You okay?” he asked.

  I sucked air as fast as I could, and my throat hurt, but I nodded.  He extended a hand and helped me to my feet.

  “Is there anyone else?” I asked, holding my stomach.

  “Yeah, they’re down there,” he pointed down the beach.

  Several hundred leagues away gathered the survivors.  Out in the water I spotted the ship, still sitting where it ran aground.  We went to where everyone had congregated, and where Captain stood trying to get everyone’s attention.

  “It appears that this island will be our residence until we repair the ship.  We must prepare for our time here,” he said.  When the sailors began shouting again Captain continued, “Yes, the ship will sail again once we get her repaired.  Unfortunately, take time, so we need to prepare for now.  Drake, you take a few of the men out to search for water.  Red, take some out to hunt.  The rest of you, stay here with me so that we can work on cutting lumber and repairing the ship.”

  I looked around at what remained of the crew.  Our number had dropped by almost half since our last port.  I hoped our luck would not continue this way.

  Assigned to chopping down trees, I smirked to imagine my father’s reaction if he could see me.  A lot had happened in six years.  I performed a man’s job with ease.  I still masqueraded as a man as I worked to pay off my debt to the captain, and fortunately nobody beside Cook had found out about me. When Captain let me leave his service, I wondered what I would do.  I did not believe Lord Fitch had continued search for me for so long, so perhaps I did not have to continue the ruse of being a man after leaving the ship.  Father was probably in a debtors’ prison by now.  As a woman I could not earn money to get him out without disgracing myself or getting married, but I had lived on a ship for six years to avoid.  I did not go through all that hardship to run back into that sort of life.  I had to stay as a man until I earned enough money to get him out, but when could I give up the game?  I did not wish for this life of tricks and lies.  I wanted to be Merry again, but who was she at this point?

  …

  My hands are in shackles, and I walk down the aisle alone.  Lord Fitch stands at the other end.  Lightning sets fire to the sky and thunder roars its fury.  My bodice is stained brown with dried blood.  I glance at the empty chairs.  Ghosts are the only guests to this wedding.  They watch my silent walk to the end of the aisle.

  I have made it.

  “Say it,” he growls.

  I stare at him defiantly.  “No.”

  “I will gain this victory before I kill you.”

  “You won’t.”

  He grins, his teeth sharpened to points.

  “Say it.”

  “No.”

  He lunges for me.

  …

  I shot up with a gasp and looked around to get my bearings.  Several campfires burned, and the exhausted sailors lay sprawled out in the sand.  A few watchmen sat guard against any wild animals that might appear and take advantage of the easy prey.  They paid little attention to me when I got up to get a drink from the barrel.   Only Caspian, who sat next to it, noticed me.

  “Hello,” he greeted me.

  I nodded at him and gulped the water down.  The cold sweat running down my back made me shiver.  Not ready to return to sleep for fear of more dreams, I .

  “Do you have a name?” Caspian asked.

  “What, do you mean the name they’ve got for me isn’t fittin’?”  I gave an unenthusiastic attempt at humor.

  He shrugged.

  “You said you lived on a farm?” I asked, in a half-hearted attempt to start a conversation.

  “Yeah, I did.  Me fool of a brother got himself into debt with a lord.  I came here to pay it off instead of him.  Me sisters would’ve been sent off if someone didn’t come.”

  I had pieced together this much: the ship acted as a penal colony, and when people came into debt with a mysterious lord, he sent them here.  Their debt would not be paid off until they returned to the lord with the water from the Fountain of Youth.

  “Why didn’t your brother come?” I inquired.  “Seems like something he should be responsible for himself.”

  “Well, Father needed Henry more than me.  He’s in business with me father.”

  “Ah.  So who’s the lord your brother got into debt with?” I asked, trying to get the information out of him that I had failed to get out of the other sailors.  I wondered why the lord’s name inflicted so much dread on these people that they dared not to even say it.

  “It doesn’t really matter who.  I’m stuck on this ship until the debt is paid.  Which may be never.”

  “What’s so bad about him?  The lord?  I mean, beside what he’s done to you all,” I tried a different approach.

  “What’s so bad?  Well, besides his obvious lust for eternal life, he threatens to kill our families if we don’t act like his puppets.  And then there are all the rumors the townspeople have—me father says they’re not rumors, but truth.”

  “What’re the rumors?”

  “They say that he killed all his family.  I don’t know if there’s any proof about it, though.  The elders say he’s married over fifteen women in his lifetime, and after the weddin’ they’re never seen again.  They think he’s a demon.”

  “It seems he hasn’t kept a low profile if he’s got anything to hide.”

  Caspian shrugged. “He’s too rich for them to say anythin’.  Then there was another girl a few years ago.  He planned a big celebration and invited half the kingdom.  Then the night before the weddin’, she ran away.  What could make a young girl run away from the richest man in the kingdom?  That’s what I wanna know.  He’s still lookin’.  No one’s ever thwarted him, and he’s become obsessed with findin’ her.”

  My insides froze.

  “What was his name?” I asked.

  “Are you okay?  You look—”

  “Caspian, what was his name?” I demanded.

  “It’s Lord Fitch.  What’s wrong?”