[Vereena]
I am famished.
All I could think of was the delicious meal Mrs. Charlotte brings me every morning inside my chamber. The hot, delectable mushroom soup with beef stock, chanterelle, onions, and other spices creates a rich, fragrant dish paired with pancake and sugar syrup. I imagined the smell burning into my head and the taste exploding on my tongue, melting right inside my mouth.
However, the more I think of it, my stomach hurts, gnawing and grumbling ravenously. My head started to spin as well, and my body won't have any strength to move other than lay in his bed.
I don't know how long it has been since that one-eyed captain left, and it seems he didn't really care if I die out here in hunger. He keeps telling me that I am the payment for what my father did, I don't have any idea what that is, but while I am in the middle of the ocean, there is no escaping. I could jump, like what he said, but what then? I don't know how to swim.
To say the least, I got to die in the sea, and if I got lucky by any chance, Captain Steele would drop my corpse into the water, then I could be home.
Yeah, that seems to be a consoling thought.
I let out a faint laugh, staring at the polished as my vision blurred and refocused, spinning, and then it sways. It's making me see things. The bloodshed in my nightmare, the captain's sinister face, and Prince Tarquin.
His face appeared in my line of blurred vision. He was smiling, dashing as ever with his brilliant blue eyes.
"My prince?" I whispered in befuddlement, not knowing if this was just my other illusions or that he was really here to save me.
"Take my hand, my lady," he reaches out to me, offering his hand. His voice was so calm but felt distant as well that it almost sounded like a dream.
"We are going home," he continued, leaning closer as though he was going to lift me up.
"Are you really…" I gasped in perplexity, stretching my hand to touch his face, but before my finger could make contact with his skin, he caught my wrist and stopped me from reaching further.
Prince Tarquin's face faded and morphed into someone else I did not recognize. Panic immediately rose in my chest, and tug my hand out from his grasp, scrambling back away from the strange man.
He was tall, with the same physique as Captain Steele, but his skin was slightly darker. He had manly, peppered stubble around his jaw, a sharp pair of deep brown eyes that looked almost black, dark hair cropped short evenly around his head, and round plumper lips. He wore a ragged brown shirt and a pair of breaches with a long fabric stashed around his waist resembling a belt.
Like his captain, this man emitted the same deadly aura not to mess with.
"Who are you?" I demanded, momentarily squeezing my eyes shut as my vision terribly spun around from hastily moving. It felt like my head would crack open, and the queasiness kicked in.
The man stared blankly at me, standing right on the side of the bed, waiting for me to recollect myself and calm down.
"The captain sent me. You need to eat," he stated, cocking his head to the side. I turn and look at the table, only to see the soot-covered pot.
My face immediately turned sour, and the memory of its horrid content flashed on my mind, choking me with my own saliva.
"No," I groaned in protest, shaking my head furiously as I backed up even further until I was pressed on the wall as I stared at the pot in such distaste. "I won't eat that repulsive food."
The man only stared at me strangely with his brows creased before he moved towards the table, lifting the cover from the pot, looking at its content, and then turning back his attention to me.
"It's steamed fish," he declared, putting the cover back into the pot.
That immediately caught my attention. "Fish?" I marveled aloud, not believing what he had just said for a second.
I quickly jumped out of bed and skipped my way toward the table. I lifted the cover and see it for myself the newly cooked steamed fish. It doesn't smell like they were seasoned with spices. However, it looks edible enough than that green poison soup Eulisses cooked.
"But, I thought…." I trailed off, turning my attention to the strange man—whose name is still don't know yet. I remember what Captain Steele said earlier about the shortage of their resources and the unavailability of a proper meal.
Yet, this fish right here looks fresh, just like the ones I saw when I went with Mrs. Charlotte to the port to acquire some for dinner. I stared at it for a moment, trying to recognize what kind of fish it was. It is rounded and torpedo-shaped, with a slender, keeled tail base, a forked tail, and a row of small finlets behind the dorsal and anal fins. However, I forgot what it was called.
The strange man seemed to have read my thoughts and answered my unvoiced question. "It's mackerel. The crew caught it in a net."
Well, that explains it. Guessed like this is my lucky day. I am not going to die out of starvation.
"Thank you," I muttered shyly, feeling a bit embarrassed from my hysterics a while ago and mistaking him for someone.
"May I know your name?" I gingerly asked, not wanting to sound so overbearing. I don't want to cross on his bad side, knowing that he could take my food instantly if he deems like it. I am starving and don't think I could survive another day with an empty stomach.
"You don't need to know my name. You won't be staying with us long enough," he said, turning his back on me and was about to walk towards the door, but after hearing his statement and the reason for his refusal to tell me his name, I went still for a moment. My mind was digesting the part where he said that I would not stay long enough with them to even let me know his damn name.
"You're taking me back?" I inquired in anticipation as hope began to bloom in my chest. I almost forgot that I was hungry, and the steamed fish he brought me suddenly became less appetizing upon the news of my returning home.
However, that hope immediately vanished when he answered my inquiry.
"No," he muttered flatly without turning or even sparing me a glance or explaining something, but that wall he said before he left.
I let out a shaky breath, holding the edges of the table as I stared down at the fish. They won't take me back. A sob tear through my lips and my vision blurred, but I immediately pushed back my tears, not wanting to show any weaknesses while I was on this ship. I have cried enough earlier, a momentarily break down, and I promise myself not to cry again.
I slowly pinch an ample amount of fish meat, forcing myself to eat, trying hard to swallow as dread blocking at the back of my throat. While ago, my appetite could have munched this down in a matter of seconds, but right now, I couldn't even chew it properly.
But if I am to stay here for, I don't know how long, I need to survive. I know my father and Prince Tarquin will stop at nothing until they find me.
Days pass faster, and I haven't seen the sun for a while as I am not allowed to leave the quarters. Eulisses brought me food once in a while. Fortunately, it wasn't that horrid soup that he first served me. However, it wasn't something that could rouse my appetite as well. He always served me steamed fish. Different kinds of fish but almost have the same taste, and every time he brought me some food, he was wearing a scowl on his face as though he hadn't forgotten our first encounter when I criticized his cooking skills.
I was staring at the small window right on the side, seeing nothing but an endless stretch of blue water and sunny sky. I even lost track of how long has it been since I was being held captive, and sometimes a bothering thought enters my mind, doubting if my father really conducted a search and operation for me.
As well as Prince Tarquin.
Or they all have given up hope in finding me.
The sudden creaking of the door caught my attention, followed by loud and heavy footfalls.
"Caileag."
A familiar voice spoke, and the foreign term rolled in his tongue so swiftly as though he had already said it a lot of times. I don't know what language it is nor its meaning, but one thing I am sure of is it's vexing.
"I have a name," I hissed, averting my gaze away from the window and turning to look at the smug-looking one-eyed pirate captain.
"Get yourself ready. I will need you tomorrow when we dock," he said without another preamble or an explanation of what we are going to do tomorrow.
"What?" My brows immediately shot upward quizzically.
Does he mean I am allowed to go out? But where?
Then I remember when he last spoke to me that they would make a stop at a port to refill their stocks.
That could only mean one thing. I can escape and seek help.
However, Captain Steele looked at me prudently as though he knew exactly what I had in mind, though he didn't say anything about it.
"Just follow my words if you want to stay alive."
Is this what the strange man meant when he said I would not stay with them any longer?
However, something deep down tells me this wasn't good news.