“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.
“Dearest Amy, I hope this note finds ye well,”
Jez read, frowning over the parchment.
“A matter of some importance has claimed me attention, and I’ve been forced to leave Turtle’s Back for a short time while I attend to it.”
“That’s rather odd, isn’t it?” I asked Charlie. “A captain leaving during a blockade?”
He said nothing.
“Ye can believe me when I tell ye that I’ve thought long and hard about who to name as me replacement while I’m away. Panny is me first mate, as ye know, but while he’s a good mate and the men all like him, he’s not got the brains on him to head up the crew. Ye be by way of knowin’ that firsthand, what with him shootin’ ye by mistake. Ye, however, have the spirit and cunning that a good captain needs.”
“What?” I yelled, starting to sit upright in the tub, but remembering in time who was watching. I clutched my legs tighter and stared with an open mouth at Jez. She gave me an unreadable look and continued.
“I’m fully confident that ye’ll do well by me crew until I can return. I’m leavin’ as many men as I can spare for yer defenses, and trust that ye won’t let that blackguard Corbin step foot on me precious island.”
“He’s insane,” I gasped, turning my stunned look on the three men standing there. Beyond them, the women stood equally stunned.
“I’ve never told ye just why it is that I blackspotted Corbin. Most folks hereabouts think it’s because of the murder of me crew—but that ain’t it. The sad truth is that Black Corbin ruined me life when he took me one true love from me. I swore me vengeance the day he took her, and I’ll have it yet, just ye wait and see.”
“Corbin
what
?” I asked, but no one answered me. As unbelievable as it was that Bart should leave us helpless (with me in charge), it was utterly inconceivable that Corbin should steal the love of his life, whoever she was. Corbin wasn’t the woman-stealing sort.
“I’ve heard a foul rumor that ye’re a bit sweet on that devil’s spawn Corbin, but I know it couldn’t be anythin’ more than the most heinous lie. Even so, I’m beggin’ ye, as yer captain and yer friend, not to turn Turtle’s Back over to Black Corbin. I love this island with all me heart, and it’s breakin’ just thinkin’ of how he’d destroy it.”
I shook my head, unable to say anything.
“There’s more,” Jez said, squinting to decipher what I could see was cramped, dense writing.
“I’ve instructed the crew to honor ye as their captain, and to respect yer commands as if they were me own. I’ve also issued a proclamation naming ye as Governor of Turtle’s Back until I return. Fair winds to ye, lass. Yours, etcetera, Bartholomew Portuguese, Captain.”
Silence filled the room—stunned, disbelieving silence. A silence so thick that not even the noises from the square outside the window could penetrate its denseness.
Charlie cleared his throat, pulling off his dirty bandana before saying, “What be yer orders, Cap’n Amy?”
Chapter 20
We’ll be queens, and make decrees—
They may honour them who please.
—Ibid, Act I
My first command as captain and governor was given stark naked from the bathtub.
“My orders are for you guys to get the hell out of the room so I can finish my bath and get dressed,” I said, glaring over my knees.
The three men looked surprised for a moment, but duly shuffled out of the room. I waited until Suky and Jez propped the screen up in front of me again, then had the quickest bath in the history of the world, getting dressed in record time.
“Right. Something is clearly going on,” I told the men as I entered the front room. “Either Bart is insane, or that note is a forgery, or someone is playing a cruel trick, because I’m the last person on this island who should be given command of both the crew and the inhabitants.”
“ ’Tis no joke,” Charlie replied, giving me a long look. “The captain spoke to all of us, tellin’ us what he was plannin’ to do. I’m not sayin’ that all the men are pleased about havin’ a female captain, but most of them have seen how ye handled yerself on the first day of the blockade, and they’ll be willin’ to follow ye. The townsfolk won’t be givin’ ye any grief, either. They be too worried about their shops and such.”
I looked each man in the eye, searching for any signs that they were having me on in the biggest practical joke to hit the Seventh Sea, but they all appeared to be telling the truth.
I sank down into the nearest chair, still too flabbergasted to take it all in. The ladies filed into the room, for once not ogling the men, but watching me with round eyes.
“What be yer next command, then, Cap’n?” Charlie asked.
I started to protest that I wasn’t in the least bit interested or experienced enough to be either a captain or a governor, but a sudden mental image rose of me sitting behind Bart’s big desk in the governor’s house. What was a governor, or a captain for that matter, but someone who knew how to organize and delegate? I knew how to do those things! And I had the financial knowledge to help the people of Turtle’s Back. Why should Renata’s girls be the only ones who had secure financial futures . . . oh, man, what was I thinking? These people were not real! Then again, who was to say that helping other characters to succeed wasn’t part of the scenario?
“Better safe than sorry,” I muttered to my knees.
“Cap’n?”
“Sorry, just talking to myself. Let’s see . . . I think the first thing I’d like to do is to talk to all of the people who are in charge—the mayor of the town, Pangloss, and whoever is organizing the men on the shore guns.”
Charlie nodded. “The mayor be here. Mr. Pangloss be at the blockade, but I’ll have a man let him know ye want him. Cap’n Bart left a note for him, too. As for the shore guns—they don’t rightfully have anyone in charge now that the cap’n is gone. I can go out and see if there’s any crew mannin’ them if ye like.”
“Excellent. I’ll want to talk to the head gunners, as well. Better have everyone meet me in the governor’s house in, oh, say, two hours?”
Charlie nodded again and redonned his bandana. “As ye like. Anythin’ more?”
I thought for a moment. “No. I have a message I’ll want delivered, but I’ll have one of my crew do it.”
He started to leave, but I stopped him with one last question. “I find this all so unexpected, Charlie. I can’t believe Bart would think anything else is more important than the blockade. Where exactly did he go?”
“Don’t know.” Charlie shrugged. “He just said he had somethin’ important to do, and that ye were goin’ to take over as cap’n.”
“That’s so bizarre,” I said slowly, trying to puzzle out what it was Bart was up to. “Did he at least say what it was he had to go do?”
“Nay. Cap’n be tight to the chest with his thoughts,” he answered.
The men left after that, leaving me to the barrage of questions the women had for me. I tried to answer them as best I could, but I was just about as clueless as they were when it came to the hows and whys of my sudden—temporary—rise in the world.
“What are ye goin’ to do about the blockade?” Red Beth asked.
“Stop it,” I said, making a mental list in my head. “That’s the first thing. Then I’ll—oh, Renata, there you are. You’re never going to believe what’s happened!”
“Ye’ve been made governor and captain of Bart’s crew, aye, I know. ’Tis all over the town. Bart had a proclamation posted.” Renata handed her shopping basket to Mags and slumped tiredly into a chair opposite me. “ ’Tis a surprise to everyone that Bart’s left the island with Black Corbin just waitin’ to pounce.”
“Oh. You’ve heard. Yeah, it shocked me, too, but you know, I think this can be a good thing. I’m not a total stranger to managerial roles, and I do have both the administrative and financial background to take charge of the business aspects of both endeavors. As for the rest—well, it’s just a . . .” My lips closed over the word
game.
It wasn’t to the people who lived and worked . . . and died . . . here.
“Eh?” Renata asked, giving me a sharp look.
“It’s just a matter of asking for help from the people who have the experience I need,” I said, coming to a fast decision. I turned to the others in the room. “Ladies, you can all help me, if you would.”
“Aye, we’d be happy to,” Sly Jez said, sitting up a little straighter.
“Aye,” Mags and Red Beth agreed.
“What would ye be likin’ us to do?” Suky asked, frowning slightly. “The only thing we know how to do is to please a man. Ye be lookin’ for hints about that?”
“No, thank you. But actually, there’re lots of other things you can do. Jez, can you please run up to the governor’s house and let the staff there know I’ll be along shortly? Red Beth, while Charlie is dealing with Bart’s crew, would you and Mags round up the leading townspeople—the mayor and anyone else who you think should be in the know about what’s happening? And Suky, could you gather my crew? I mean, my former crew—Tar and the twins and Bas. They’ll all probably be at the inn. Tell them to meet me up at the governor’s house, as well.”
The ladies bustled off. I waited until the door closed on their excited chatter before smiling at Renata.
“That were done right handsomely,” the old lady said, smiling back, her black eyes shining. “Gettin’ the lasses out of the way like that. I’m thinkin’ ye’ll be just fine as Bart’s replacement.”
“Good,” I said, leaning forward, my arms on my knees. “I’m glad you think so, although I’m perhaps a smidgen less confident than you. Regardless, there are a few things I wanted to talk to you about.”
She nodded. “Aye, I thought there might be.”
“When did you first meet Bart?” I asked, figuring there was no time like the present to try to ascertain whether she was Corbin’s ex-partner.
She blinked a couple of times, clearly not expecting that question.
“I’m just curious,” I said, flinching when my explanation sounded lame even to my own ears. “It might help me to know a bit of his history, you see. Er . . . and the history of the island.”
She just looked at me, her eyes bright but her expression placid.
“Were you born here? On this island, I mean?”
“Aye,” she allowed.
“Ah. Good. So, you must remember what it was like before Bart took over. Who was governor before him?”
“Ye sent me girls away to ask me about the governor afore Bart?” she asked, frowning.
If she was Paul, she probably had figured out what I was doing. If she wasn’t . . . well, I couldn’t screw this up any more than I already had. “Yes, I want to know. Who was governor before Bart?”
Her eyes never left mine, but she said nothing. I sighed in relief at the blank look on her face, then mentally chastised myself. Renata was my last viable suspect for Paul. Like Pangloss, Renata avoided my questions at first, but both went blank when I pressed hard . . . so if it wasn’t either of them, who was it? Everyone else, from Bart on down to Bas, had checked out.
“Never mind, it doesn’t matter,” I said, smiling to myself as her face came alive again. I questioned her about things her character would know—the price and availability of food—and asked her whether or not she would like to move into the governor’s house.
“Nay, lass, ’tis awful kind of ye, but me girls and me are comfortable here. Ye go with me blessin’.”
“I don’t want to seem ungrateful for all your help and kindness in putting me up when I didn’t have anywhere else to go,” I said, hesitating.