Page 79 of Blow Me Down
“Nothin‘. It’s just that ye’re doin’ a lot of that lately.”
“Hey,” I said, narrowing my eyes. “There’s nothing wrong, nothing at all, with talking to yourself when you’ve been trapped on a ship with four people whose idea of personal hygiene is lax, to say the least. In fact, I think it’s pretty much a requirement to keeping your sanity. I’d go so far as to say it’s the only way to stay sane when you’re stuck on a ship in the middle of a harbor doing abso-freaking-lutely nothing for three endlessly long days just so you can push the damned game forward, and Bas, so help me God, if you don’t shut that bird up, we’re having raven stew for dinner!”
Complete and utter silence fell on the deck. Four pairs of eyes—five if you count the bird’s—stared at me in mute surprise.
“All right,” I yelled, throwing my hands in the air in a gesture of defeat. “I admit it; I’ve snapped. I’ve had it! I can’t take any more! We’re going back to port, and if Pangloss or Bart has a problem with that, they can just stick it where the yardarm don’t shine. And don’t tell me yardarms don’t shine, because I don’t care! Drop the sails, heave the anchor, and all that other nautical talk that I am now too insane to remember! We’re going back to town.”
This time as we made ready to sail, no rowboat zipped out to see what was up. I was a bit disappointed by that, itching as I was for a fight, but we made it back to port without me actually going off the deep end, or strangling Bas’s bird.
Fifteen minutes later I gave the men leave, ordered Bas to bathe himself and Bran before he went to bed that night, and commandeered the big wooden bathtub that sat in Renata’s common room, hidden by a ratty red silk screen.
It took a while to heat up enough water to fill the tub, but I used the time chatting with the ladies of the house about what had been happening while I was parked in the harbor for three days.
“Food is scarce,” Sly Jez said, stirring a smelly pot offish stew. “We’ve fish, but all the meat is gone, or been taken for the blockade.”
“Aye, and the greens be almost gone, as well,” Mags said. She and Red Beth were sewing a dress, sitting next to the open window to catch the last of the daylight.
I frowned as I tested the water in the big copper kettle that hung in the fireplace. “You shouldn’t be feeling the effects of the blockade so quickly. Bart knew it was coming — surely he stockpiled as much nonperishable food as he could?”
Mags shrugged. “All I know is there’s naught to be had but dried beans and oats. Renata’s gone now to try to round up some fruit, but they say there hasn’t been a pear or apple seen for days.”
“Huh. I’ll have to ask Bart what’s up. Maybe he has the food stored somewhere safe and he just hasn’t released it yet.” The water seemed hot enough, so I wrapped a cloth around the handle and dragged the heavy kettle behind the screen to where the tub sat. I’d already added two kettles of lukewarm water, enough to moderate the hotter water.
“We’ll starve if somethin’s not done about this blockade,” Suky said, coming in from where she had been feeding her baby. “The men, they’ve got enough food on the ships and up at the forts, but we’re left with nothin‘.”
“Don’t worry. I won’t let you starve,” I said as I hurriedly shucked my clothing.
I wasn’t a prude, but communal bathing was not my idea of a fun way to spend an evening. I slid into the warm water with a sigh of happiness, letting the tension seep from every pore. Pangloss could yell all he wanted—after three days of blockading, I deserved a little break. I’d let everyone get a good night’s rest; then we’d go back out in the morning and resume blockading.
“How do ye plan on doin‘—”
The sound of the front door banging open stopped Suky in midquestion and had me wrapping my hands over my breasts. “Eeek! I thought you said you don’t have any business now that the men are blockading.”
Men’s voices rumbled in the outer room. I looked at my clothes piled in the corner, debating leaping out of the tub and trying to get into them before whoever it was came into the room. What kept me in the tub was the fact that the screen, which gave me a modicum of privacy, was neither very large nor particularly opaque.
“—to find Amy. Mr. Pangloss said she sailed back to port. Be she here?”
I recognized the deep voice as belonging to Black Spot Charlie, one of Bart’s right-hand men, and a particularly ugly specimen of piratehood.
“Eeek!” I said again, sinking down into the water. “I’m here, but I’m taking a bath so don’t—”
The screen was yanked aside, exposing me to the view of three big pirates, all of whom wore grim expressions. My knees stuck out of the water as I clutched them to my chest, a fact the men seemed to totally disregard.
“Captain Amy, I come with a letter from Captain Bart.”
I stared dumbly for a moment at the note Charlie held out at me, puzzled by his referring to me as “Captain.” An officer in charge of his ship was often called captain but off the ship, no one but the captain of the crew was given that title.
“Um,” I said, unwilling to release my death hold on my legs in order to take the note. “Why don’t you just read it to me?”
Charlie looked a bit taken aback. “I don’t be knowin‘ much about readin’.”
“I can read,” Sly Jez said, giving me a sympathetic look as she took the note.
“I’ll read it for you if you like, Amy.”
“Thank you; I’d appreciate that.”
Much to my dismay, the three men continued to stand in a semicircle around the tub, all of them watching me somewhat warily.
