Raised By Wolves 1 - Brethren (28 page)

He nodded with a sincere smile and left us alone. I found Gaston regarding me. The soft light was not the only reason I could not read him. The mask about his eyes hid much. I supposed that was the real reason he painted them so. We discover a great many things about another man’s intentions by watching his eyes, or rather the play of skin and muscle around them. Gaston’s were shrouded in secrecy.

He turned away and led me to a canoe tied below. We slipped over the side and released it. He handed me an oar. I quickly discovered this type of craft was far less steady than a normal boat. I followed Gaston’s example and knelt. He showed me how to row with the single oar, and we quickly made our way to shore, or rather he did with me aiding him by accident on occasion. Once at the beach, we shoved the light craft up above the water line.

The night’s events had taken their toll, and I stood on wobbly legs.

He regarded me critically for a moment before his hand snaked out to touch my brow. He frowned at the result.

“You are now fevered,” he whispered in French.

“Oui.”

“You should rest and drink more water.”

I did not want to lose sight of him. “There’s a spare hammock at Theodore’s, and I daresay food.”

He considered me for a long moment and started walking. I followed until we reached the first cross street and he paused to look to me for direction. I led us to Theodore’s.

We slipped into the back yard, and removed our weapons and accoutrements next to the brick cistern. I filled a basin and washed my face and hair. I realized I smelled of smoke. I was not pleased at this, as unless I had been standing next to a cook fire there was no place on Jamaica I could have been encased in smoke long enough to pick up the scent except for, say, a burning ship. I was sure an experienced seaman could even tell I had been subjected to burning tar and pitch. It marked us guilty. I stripped my shirt, and scrubbed my chest and arms as if this would somehow clean it all away.

Samuel emerged and went wide-eyed at the sight of Gaston. Then he saw me standing next to the Frenchman, at which point he broke into a wide smile.

“Master Marsdale,” he whispered. “I’m glad it’s you.”

Gaston handed me a bucket and spoke in French. “You need water, boiled water.”

“Sam, can you do me a favor?”

“Anything for you, Master Marsdale.”

I wondered why he was so happy to see me, and then I remembered the money I had given him last night. I smiled. A well-greased palm was always the way to a man’s heart.

“I need some water boiled.” I explained what I needed in detail; and he looked confused at first, and then became resigned to my mad English orders. He filled the bucket and headed for the cookhouse, pausing to ask if we would both require victuals on the way. I assured him we would.

Apparently our conversation had alerted Theodore to my return, and he appeared in the yard. I thought him awake quite early, but then I realized the calls of birds about us were now cocks and not gulls. He looked me over with a critical eye, and then regarded Gaston with a mix of emotions that finally aligned themselves into something I would label resigned curiosity.

“Theodore, Gaston,” I said in the briefest of informal introductions.

Neither man seemed to take umbrage at my lack of manners.

“Pleased, I’m sure,” Theodore said with the barest of bows. Gaston regarded him without expression or movement. Neither man seemed to take umbrage at that exchange either, at least not that I could tell.

“We will be eating and sleeping here today, if that will be acceptable with you,” I said.

“You are of course quite welcome. What happened to…?”

“We found that friend I mentioned and he is quite well. You may be interested to know that a ship burned in the harbor last night. Well, burned until her powder caught; at which point she exploded.”

He looked pained as he studied the scattered clouds far overhead.

“Is that so? And in all your carousing, did you happen to hear which ship?”

“The King’s Hope, I believe.” I looked to Gaston for confirmation, and he nodded agreeably.

Theodore sighed, and his face looked as if it ached in his efforts to stop from smiling.

“Well, I hope someone had the good sense to rob her first.” He returned inside, leaving Gaston and me gaping after him.

Amused, I sank down beside the cistern with a strangled laugh and spoke in quiet French: “I did not realize he would be so conducive. I have been here so short a time I have not had the luxury of knowing my compatriots as well as is my norm for engaging in activities of that nature. I truly know no one at all. Thankfully, I have had the incredible good fortune to meet men of excellent character, maybe not of the highest moral standing, but seemingly excellent in their loyalty and willingness to put faith in me. I was not sure what I would encounter here when I sailed, and I have been quite pleasantly surprised.” I looked up at him. “Not the least by you. On the voyage, I truly despaired of meeting anyone such as you, a man of intelligence, education, courage, and breeding.”

He rewarded me with a disparaging snort and doffed his kerchief to wash the smoke from his face and hair. “You are gracious, and I will accept some of your praise, but not all: only because, though there are many intelligent and courageous men on this island, there are few with the ability to reason for themselves – and even fewer still have received a proper education in anything but the most rudimentary elements of letters and sums. As for breeding, however, judging from the poor mix of the bitch and dog that bred me, if I had been a puppy, I should have been drowned to preserve the line.”

I chuckled. “Surely you jest.”

“Non, both of my parents were touched by madness, and I am their true descendent in every way.” He squatted next to me. “But I think your intent was as to the station of my birth. And you are correct in your assumption. My father is a Marquis.”

I nodded. The morning sun was now upon us, and I was awed by the color of his hair, which was a dark red, nearly the color of blood.

Even if he had not removed his kerchief, I would have known from the stubble of his beard in this light. There was a scar on the left side of his forehead, near the hairline, where some blow had split the skin. He saw my eyes upon it, and ran his fingers through his hair above to mask my view.

“I need to cut it. So do you. There is less trouble with heat and lice when it is short.” His hair stood more than hung, and was at most an inch long.

I scratched my head at the mere thought of lice. My straw-colored hair fell to my shoulders. I did not feel I would miss it. “If I sail.”

“Do you wish to?”

“Aye, I feel it is my nature and I wish it, yet… I have assigned myself a duty. Not to the plantation, or my father’s wishes, but to the men, the bondsmen. I would see they are well cared for and well used. I have been assured by Theodore that this will be the case. However…” I trailed off and watched him inspect the mortar between two bricks.

“That is admirable.” There was regret in his voice.

“Do you wish to sail?”

“I must.” He closed his eyes as if it pained him. When they opened again, they were beseeching. “I possess a violent soul, and it is best I visit it upon enemies and not allies. I am restless with little to do here; and though there is little to do most times upon a ship, it is at least going somewhere.”

The haze burned away in my heart, and I was gripped by clarity of purpose. The Gods had spoken. They had delivered the thing that would tip the scales of my dilemma, and it was Gaston. I do not possess a violent soul, but a romantic one. I would not abandon forty-one men to an uncertain fate in order to satisfy my whims and alleviate potential boredom; but I would do it for him. It became very easy to justify when I regarded the man squatting next to me. I could hear his breathing, and smell smoke, leather, and gun powder masking his muskiness, and feel him block the sun and breeze a little, and almost touch him. He was so very close. And though I had no promise of that which I desired, there was still the tenuous thread of hope. And that slender siren call wakened the beast of loneliness that had lived within my heart since I first learned that some people are loved and I was not. It howled that my sheep could not and would not ever love me as Gaston might. And thus the choice was no longer within the purview of my rational mind, and therefore not mine to make.

“Gaston, I would have you as a friend if you are so inclined. And to that end I am loathe to see you sail off for months when fate, and the vagaries of the sea and piracy, are prone to be fickle. I am willing to do as you choose. If you wish to sail on either the North Wind or the vessel you came here on, or for that matter another ship altogether, I am willing to accompany you.”

He appeared stricken for a moment, and then he looked away. “You humble me.”

“Non, I am truly being quite self-serving.”

This disturbed him; and he stood, to my dismay. He did not retreat farther from me, though. “I would rather not sail on the ship I arrived on,” he said without regarding me.

“May I ask why?” I pulled myself up to stand.

“I have ruined my welcome there with all but one.” He looked concerned and studied the ground.

I wondered at the nature of this madness he claimed, but I chose not to broach it. There would be time for that later. “So we sail on the North Wind then?”

He met my gaze again. “Oui. We should sleep, and then there are things which must be done.”

I nodded. I was thankful he had not suggested doing anything before sleeping. He went to check on my water and our food, and I donned my shirt and made my slow way inside.

Theodore was at the table, sipping a cup of something. I eased my sore body into a seat, poured a cup for myself from the pot on the table, and found the substance to be chocolate. Most places I have been, it is a rare treat indeed. Here, where they grew cocoa and sugar, I supposed it might be ordinary.

“You move through life with astounding speed,” he said.

I regarded him quizzically. I had not told him of my decision, and wondered if he had spied upon us. “Whatever do you mean?”

“What is the nature of your relationship with this Gaston? Who I assume is French by his name.”

I smiled and sighed. “He is a friend. I may move through life quickly as you say, but I have noticed a deep-seated tendency of people on this island to leap flailing into the abyss of conjecture at a moment’s notice.”

He smirked. “So I am not the first to leap to this conclusion?”

“Or several others. The mere mention of wanting to rescue Davey caused a great deal of likeminded thinking. Elsewhere in the world, it is common for men to be friends without having carnal knowledge of one another.”

Theodore laughed. “Not when they admittedly favor men.”

I supposed I would become accustomed to it, and wondered why Striker’s and Theodore’s assumption bothered me so. Then I remembered the embarrassment Gaston had suffered at Striker’s suggestions. I rubbed my temples and decided to change the subject.

“I am sailing tomorrow with Bradley. We meet on the ship this eve.”

He smiled. “I hoped as much.”

“I know. I will not be about to trouble the endeavor for months.”

My tone had not been harsh, yet he winced. “They will be cared for, Marsdale.”

“Aye, with labor so scarce, no one involved has reason to lead them to ruin.” I met his gaze and held it. “And I trust you.”

“Thank you,” he said solemnly. “I will not dishonor your trust. You are the type of man who burns a ship because of a perceived injustice. I am not a fool.” He smiled to take the edge from his words.

I grinned. “Nay, you seem wise to the ways of the world. I mean no threat to you, though.”

He shook his head. “Nay, I understand. I suppose you have not the time to see Fletcher and Donoughy before you go.”

“Nay, and it vexes me. I feel I am running off in the morning light. I will write Fletcher a note.” With pungent guilt, I realized that was more than I had done for Alonso. I winced at my thought.

Gaston joined us. He set a bottle of warm water on the table before me. I noticed that he and his clothing were a good deal wetter, and I surmised he had cleaned himself more thoroughly. Samuel had followed him in with a tray of food and a pair of wide eyes, which Gaston glared to the floor upon noticing.

Ella wandered in and made remark of Sam’s handiwork, before Theodore shooed her off to the market.

My new companion had eyed her with horror and seemed greatly relieved when she departed. He sat in the chair opposite me. He regarded the utensils and plate with a kind of befuddlement, and then he straightened them, adjusting their distance from one another.

“Has it been a while?” I teased.

He rolled his eyes, a gesture even his mask could not hide. “Drink your water.”

I did as he bade while Samuel served.

I noticed Theodore watching me with curiosity.

“Water?” he asked.

“It is a remedy for the flux,” I gasped when halfway through the bottle. I set it down. “The rest will wait until I have food,” I told Gaston.

He blinked at me in a non-committal fashion and fastidiously cut his sausage into small bites. I took in his posture, which was excellent, his grip on the utensils, which was proper, and his overall demeanor, which would have done my old nurse proud, and I endeavored to also sit and eat at the table as I had been drilled to do endlessly in childhood.

Thus I waited until I swallowed before saying, “The first time I was away from home, or rather the first time I was not at a proper table amongst gentlemen and ladies, I was in a tavern and I took great delight in slouching, belching, and using my fingers. It was an act of utter rebellion. I was once forced to endure an entire day at the table because I could not sit still while breaking the fast.”

Gaston smiled. “I never had trouble at the table, but I lived in mortal terror of the upstairs maid and my governess.”

I laughed and asked sympathetically, “Were there issues with the bed linen?”

He glared at me, and for a moment I thought he might blush.