Page 132 of Storm over the Caribbean
Oh my.
Slowly, very slowly, a grin started to tug at my lips. Was this really going where I thought it was going?
The pirate leader sent his disobedient men another glower—to no effect whatsoever. “By Davy Jones’ barnacle beard! You yellow-bellied bastards really have no shame! Isn’t there anyone here who’s brave enough to go?”
Silence.
Absolute, icy silence.
In my head, I started counting down from ten.
Ten, nine, eight, seven…
“I will go.”
All eyes, mine most certainly included, went to the man who had spoken. A tall, chiselled man with eyes as cold as the Antarctic. I’ll give you three minus two guesses who I was talking about.
“You?” Gaptooth cocked an eyebrow. Somehow, even his eyebrows were fat enough to wobble when moving. He was also conveying a pretty fat amount of scepticism. “The new man? You really think you can get a good price out of the old bastard?”
“I am fairly certain, yes,” Mr Ambrose answered, his face unmoving, while behind him, I grinned like a loon.
“Do you have any experience in negotiating? Have you done stuff like this before?”
It tooka lotof restraint to not start rolling around laughing on the beach.
Not a single muscle on Mr Ambrose’s face twitched. “Once or twice.”
“Well, if that’s the case—oy, you there! Why are you rolling around on the floor! And stop with the inane laughter!”
“S-sorry,” I wheezed, trying to push myself back to my feet. “Don’t know what came over me.”
So I wasn’tquiteable to restrain myself—so what? Anyone would have laughed at what was going down! Especially when Ithought about that fence and what he was in for. Oh my, oh my, oh my…
Trying my very best to wipe the loony grin from my face, I raised my hand. “Oy! Can I go with?”
“Freddy? You?” Gaptooth’s eyebrows shot up. “What would a ship’s cook do at negotiations?”
“Oh, I don’t think I’ll have a problem finding something to do. I’m fairly certain this little trip will be interesting.”
“Are you now?” The pirate leader grunted. “Well…doesn’t seem like there are any other volunteers.”
Instantly, I reached out, grabbed a nearby, scrawny arm and pulled it into the air. “Here’s one!”
“Hey!” came the squeaky voice of a certain young boy from somewhere down to my left. “I didn’t volunteer!”
“Oh, I know. I did it for you.”
“All right, all right!” Gaptooth cut me off with a wave of his hand. “Stop with the theatrics! You can take the brat. Now get going, you two blaggards! Take all the men you need to man a ship and piss off!” He sent a glare at the two of us. “And don’t you dare let that old skinflint bamboozle you!”
“Oh…” Lips still twitching, I cast a sideways glance at Mr Rikkard Ambrose. “Somehow I don’t think that’s going to be a problem.”
Gold, Greed and Power
“Well, well, now…” Without opening my eyes, I reached for the glass of juice beside me and took a long sip through the straw. Stretching my limbs, I snuggled into the beach chair. “This is the life, isn’t it?”
“Yep!” I heard a boyish voice from my left. Half-lifting my eyelid, I spotted the grinning cabin boy just in time to clink my glass with his. Seems he didn’t mind so much being abducted onto our little journey anymore.
“Um…”
