Page 20 of Astrid at Sea

“I don’t know how long the sick has been down there, but it smells awful.” Hammond pulled a face, almost as if he could still smell it.

“One of you boys should just own up to it,” Garth chuckled, reaching to pour himself another glass of ale even though he looked to be on the verge of being drunk already. “It’s nothing to be embarrassed about.”

Roscoe and Manny sported matching frowns.

“It wasn’t either of us,” Roscoe insisted. “Neither of us has been seasick since we’ve been here.”

All eyes then turned to me, and I quickly shook my head.

“I might be unable to handle my drink and have a light stomach, but it wasn’t me. I don’t get seasick,” I denied. “Even if it were me, I would have cleaned it up.”

“Anyone want to own up to it?” Latham asked, a slight, confused frown on his face. No one answered. “Well, if it wasn’t Manny, Roscoe or Astrid, then it has to be one of us,” he said, gesturing to the original crew.

A round of denials sounded around the group as no one owned up to the pool of sick.

Viktor sighed, tired. “It doesn’t matter who owns up to it. We need to get it cleaned up. I don’t want the smell getting any worse.”

“I don’t mind cleaning it up,” Roscoe offered as he rose to his feet. Manny was quick to join him. “But it really wasn’t us.”

Hammond, Odin, and Jerrik went down to the second floor again to go to bed, and Roscoe and Manny followed with some cleaning supplies. Even though they offered to clean up the sick, it felt wrong.

I moved to stand up. “I’ll go and help them.”

Viktor curled an arm around my waist. “No, stay here,” he whined, pulling me into his side.

“You don’t really think one of them was sick, do you?”

“It would make sense if it were one of them,” he mused quietly. “But they seem adamant it wasn’t them.”

“If it wasn’t them, and it wasn’t me, then who could it be?”

“I don’t know, but I don’t think it’s a big deal,” he murmured, gently shaking his head. “People are sick at sea more than you think. I guess the person, whoever it is, is a little embarrassed to admit it. I’m just surprised they didn’t clean it up themselves.”

I hummed in agreement but didn’t say anything else.

If it wasn’t Manny, Roscoe, me, or any other crew members, then who else could it be?

CHAPTER TEN

Latham had docked The Serpent at the island called Mann before we had even woken. When I walked past his room this morning, I laughed when I heard him snoring loudly.

Poor Latham had been tasked with steering The Serpent all night as per the rota.

There was no need for me on the island, so I stuck around on the ship with Garth, who was currently going over how to work the sails with Roscoe and I. Jerrik, Odin, Hammond, and Manny had joined Viktor on the island as they completed the trade and hopefully brought us back some fresh vegetation–Gustav had rushed to join them as soon as he heard the last part. It could take anywhere between less than an hour and several hours, depending on the mood of the Chief. From what I had heard, he wasn’t the easiest of men to deal with. That left Caspian, Laurence and Dagfinn to clean the top deck, as it had rained for most of the night. If Garth hadn’t called me to learn how to work the sails, I would have offered to help them. I wasn’t the best at cooking, but cleaning was simple enough.

“The Serpent all but glides through the water when the wind is blowing,” Garth smiled, looking like he was in his element. Roscoe and I exchanged knowing looks, neither of us unable tohold back our giggles with how passionate he was about the sails. “Do both of you want to learn the way of the sail, or are you just going to stand there giggling like a bunch of babies?” Garth tutted, clearly not happy with either of us.

“Sorry, Garth,” I apologised sheepishly.

Roscoe nodded, but there was a slight twitch to his lips. “We do want to learn.”

“Great.” Garth turned around to continue. “Working the sails is not difficult to master, but there’s a knack in knowing which way the wind blows. You see,” he said, slipping his index finger into his mouth to wet the tip. “The wind is coming from the east right now. If I were sailing right now, I would put down these two sails.” He pointed to the two square sails mounted on the left and right. “The same goes for the West. The easiest is when the wind is coming downwind. That’s when the fore and aft sails do most of the work. You mess up the sails, and we’ll end up steering off course.”

My head was craned back to stare up at the sails. “It sounds easy enough,” I murmured.

“Far too easy,” Roscoe agreed with me.

“It’s the actual doing part, which is hard,” Garth chucked. “It’s a good thing we’re docked right now. You can play with the sails and get a feel of it all.”

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