Page 57 of Astrid at Sea

“Okay, great. A few of us will need to split up and grab some supplies. I don’t care what it is. As long as it’s something that we can eat, perhaps some of the berries or fruits, that’s all that matters. We need to take enough where, hopefully, it will last for a while but not too much, where Bjorn and everyone else will notice and start to get suspicious. The last thing we need is for them to suspect that we know the truth about them and their ways.”

“They’ve also promised us some nuts and dried fruit, so we could remind them about that during the feast,” Jerrik suggested, and everyone nodded in approval. The nuts and driedfruit would last much longer than the fresh produce and would be easier to ration.

“It might be a long shot, but we could try asking for some flour?” Gustav asked. “I can use the flour to make bread, which will keep us fuller for longer.”

Viktor nodded. “Good idea. We’ll ask them at the feast.”

We all huddled together to finalise the finer details of the plan. It was optimistic, but it could work if we executed it perfectly. If we didn’t, there was a good chance we would all be on the menu for the next feast.

And there was no way I would let these people eat Kis or Viktor.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

Viktor and the crew had one job: to make up a series of excuses explaining why we were late to the special feast this evening that was being held in our honour.

Jerrik, Caspian, and I left Roscoe and Manny to handle the food. They were to pick as many berries, fruits, and other fresh produce as possible from around the beach and load them onto The Serpent. Sure, we had permission from Bjorn, the Chief of Canne himself, but I doubted loading the ship with as much as possible wasn’t what he had in mind.

“We need to hurry up and find something…anything,” I whispered to the other two.

I probably could have done without whispering as everyone but us was at the feast, but we couldn’t be too cautious. Not when our lives were on the line.

“I think our best bet would be the rooms,” Jerrik said as he led the way across the top deck of one of the pirate ships.

Unlike the top deck of The Serpent, which was cleaned every day, sometimes even more than once a day, depending on the weather, this ship had definitely seen better days. Not only were a few planks missing–Caspian nearly put his foot through another one, which made me distrust the structural integrity ofthis ship–but there was a horrid stench that seemed to linger on everything. And now it lingered on us as well.

“I think I’m going to be sick,” Caspian groaned and pressed his hand to his mouth. If he had time to spare, I would have felt bad for him. Instead, I yanked on his elbow and tugged him behind me so he wouldn’t fall behind.

If he was sick, it wasn’t like he could make this ship stink any more than it already did.

The two of us followed Jerrik as we explored the first ship, looking for evidence that these people were cannibals. The first few rooms we examined were messy and stunk even more than the rest of the ship, but there was nothing unusual. The same was true of the rooms following it.

“Maybe we need to head down to the bottom deck,” I suggested when we only had two rooms left to check.

“That might be a good idea,” Jerrik agreed.

We checked out the two remaining rooms on our way to the bottom deck. The first was akin to all the others before it, but Jerrik stopped so abruptly in the doorway of the second bedroom that I nearly ran into his back.

“Oh, God!” I exclaimed and pressed a hand to my mouth as I peeked around Jerrik at the bloody scene in front of us.

“I don’t think there’s any need for us to head down to the bottom deck anymore,” Jerrik groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose, looking as if he was trying to stop himself from being sick.

The same couldn’t be said about Caspian.

“I’m definitely going to be sick now,” Caspian groaned. This time, when he looked like he was going to be sick, I didn’t force him to stay with us.

This bedroom was similar to the others before it. Messy with a disgusting, pungent stink. There were only a few differences, one of which was a trail of blood spots that, when followed, led toa small pile of dead bodies. The blood looked dry and old, and it had seeped through the floorboards to the deck below, hence the more pungent stink.

I could only imagine just how worse the bottom deck was.

Although there were only three bodies in this room, the amount of blood surrounding them suggested that, at one point, there could have been more. Perhaps the bodies were removed as they were needed. And by needed, I meant when the people of Canne ran out of human meat.

“The teeth necklaces make so much more sense now,” Jerrik whispered, leaning forward for a better look at the bodies.

I followed his gaze and stared at the body peeking out from the bottom of the pile. The face was disfigured entirely, looking as if they had been bludgeoned to death. Upon closer inspection, it appeared that all his teeth had been individually plucked from the poor man’s mouth.

“I can’t look at this any longer,” I groaned and rushed to leave the room before I threw up like Caspian was most definitely doing.

“Me neither,” Jerrik muttered.

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