“What?” Chara gasped in disgust, her eyes wide and disbelieving. “Take that back! I do not have thin skin!”
“Frankly, I don’t care what kind of skin you have,” Astrid snorted and turned her gaze on me. “You should ask the pirate–sorry, I meant Viktor–” She didn’t look sorry at all despite knowing very well that I strongly disliked being referred to as a pirate. “–since the both of you are so well acquainted.” Her harsh glare lingered on me for a moment too long before turning away and leaving without so much of an excuse why.
Was there a hint of jealousy in her voice?
Astrid? Jealous?
Over me?
Surely not!
“Astrid!” I called out after her. She was already several feet away, and at the sound of me calling for her, she picked up the pace and made herself scarce.
Astrid could escape me now as much as she wanted, but she wouldn’t be able to escape me later this evening when I sat beside her at her family dinner table.
Oh, I couldn’t wait to see the look on her face tonight!
CHAPTER SIX
Thankfully, the encounter with Kis and Astrid this morning had left Chara in a sour mood, and I had been able to sneak away without her following me.
Naturally, I snuck back to the shore. When I saw they were still unloading The Serpent, I jumped on board to help. Unloading The Serpent, and not just the bounty, was a lengthy task, even with the several pairs of hands helping out. We paused only for a brief lunch of bread and the thickest, creamiest butter I had ever tasted, thanks to Gustav. While at sea for months, it was easy to forget that he knew how to cook more than just fish and pair it with dried foods.
When there wasn’t much left to unload, I broke off from the rest of the group to check the ship. I identified a few parts that needed repairs before it was good for The Serpent to head out on another lengthy sea mission. For one, there was a small tear in the sail that would only get bigger as time went on, so it was safer to address it now while it wasn’t much of a problem. Secondly, there were a few planks on the deck that were loose and needed replacing. The first one had broken off when Hammond had stuck his foot through it once in his drunken stupor. The second plank had chipped in the middle from the many times we hadpractised our sword fighting over it, and the third one, well, I didn’t have an explanation for it. We had gone to sleep with it perfectly fine one night and woke up to it missing. Thirdly, some of the oars needed replacing as they had become weak from overuse.
The Serpent seemed so much different when it was docked at shore and not at sea. Somehow, it felt smaller. Less majestic. When we were out at sea on The Serpent, I felt unstoppable but right now, it looked like any ordinary ship.
I truly did belong to the sea, and so did The Serpent. No other place felt more like home.
“Do you need me to help out anywhere else?” I asked Chip who was in charge of the boat repairs.
Chip shook his head. “Not on The Serpent, but Crosby over there is working on a small boat to go in The Serpent. I suggest that you check it out. I’m sure he’ll be happy to answer any questions you might have.”
My eyebrows rose high on my forehead as I glanced in the direction Chip had pointed in. To say Crosby and his little boat had piqued my interest would be an understatement.
I walked toward the small boat in the near distance, watching as a lean figure crouched beside it and toyed around with something along the rims.
I stopped behind the man and said, “Chip mentions that you’re working on a small boat to go inside The Serpent.”
“Chip is correct.” The man stood up and brushed his hands on his trousers before holding one out in front of me in a warm greeting. “The name’s Crosby,” he said.
“Viktor.”
“I know,” he chuckled and crouched in front of the boat once again, getting back to work.
“You do?” I asked, caught off guard by his response.
“Everyone knows Captain Viktor.”
“Well, it does have a nice ring to it,” I joked, crouching beside him.
“It sure does,” Crosby agreed. “Want to know what we intend to do with this little thing?” he asked, knocking his knuckles against the side of the boat built to fit three men, four at the most if we shuffled up close to preserve space. When I nodded, he continued. “Let’s say a few of you want to paddle a little away from the ship, perhaps for a swim, or because you plan to split up, or anything else along those lines, you’ll be able to with this boat.”
I nodded, happy that this was something that we had finally gotten around to prioritising. It would definitely come in handy, even if we only ended up using it for fishing. Often, the fish ran away whenever The Serpent got too close, and if we cast our lives too far out, they snapped when reeling them back in.
“How are you going to hook it up to The Serpent?” I asked, wondering how many men we would need to lug it onto the ship. It didn’t look all that heavy, but loading it on The Serpent would be no easy task.
“We’ll put in a chain mechanism,” Crosby told me. “We’ll hook it up over the rail so whenever you want to use it, all you have to do is lower it to the water, and then whoever is in it, needs to unhook it. The same way, to get it back up, you’ll need to hook it back on with the chains, and whoever is on the ship will need to use the lever to lift it back into position.”