Page 51 of Hooked By a Hero
“Hello?”
Elias nearly groaned aloud as his question about how they should proceed and which of them should take which role wasinterrupted, yet again, by Ruby’s careful call from where the path met the beach.
They were not very well concealed and it was entirely likely she had seen them and therefore called out instead of simply walking up to them.
“We are doomed,” Caspian said in a playfully grim voice.
It was ridiculous, but Elias could not help but laugh, giggle, even, as he and Caspian pulled away from each other and stood to greet their guest. Elias was concerned about the tented state of his trousers, but he ignored it and prayed Ruby would as well.
“I am terribly sorry to interrupt,” Ruby said walking awkwardly toward them, a bucket of water in her arms. “I thought I would bring you some water, as I was not certain you had any.”
She brought the bucket closer to the signal fire, setting it down on one of the flat stones that had been brought to the area to serve as a tiny table. When she straightened, she watched Elias and Caspian for a moment, wringing her hands and brushing them along the sides of her trousers. Unlike the other ladies, when presented with her trunk filled with dresses, Ruby had chosen to remain in trousers.
“Thank you,” Caspian said, nodding to the bucket with his usual easy smile and friendly manner. “The water is much appreciated.”
Most of Elias wanted to thank Ruby as well, but that tiny part of him that resented the betrayal he and Caspian had just been pushed through held him back.
Perhaps Ruby sensed his resentment. She turned a pleading look to him, then blurted, “Many of us think what just happened to you is abominable. The two of you are a part of us, an integral part of us. You are heroes, and without you, none of us would have been saved. As we speak, the others are arguing passionately about the matter.”
Elias let out a breath, his body releasing his tension. “Thank you for saying as much,” he said. “It truly means a great deal.”
“I should expect Nathaniel will set the others straight and invite you back into the settlement tomorrow,” Ruby went on. “He recognizes what some of the others do not, that it is that horrible man, Dick, who has sown discontent among us. For what purpose, I do not dare guess. The man has been a constant annoyance since arriving in our midst.”
Ruby spoke quickly and nervously, as though she felt herself guilty of too many things, but her words gave Elias pause.
“Dick has been causing trouble?” he asked.
Ruby made a disgusted noise and said, “He has not been quiet for more than two minutes since being shackled and secured to a rather large, heavy barrel. He does nothing but shout or sing sea shanties so loudly that none of us can have a moment’s peace.”
“The man is a menace,” Elias sighed, rubbing a hand over his face. “He loves the sound of his own voice.”
“Or perhaps he wishes someone else to hear it,” Caspian said quietly, arms crossed, and frowning at the sand in front of him.
Prickles broke out down Elias’s back. “You do not believe he was a lone survivor of the wreck?” he asked.
“Were there others with him?” Ruby asked, suddenly alarmed.
Caspian glanced up quickly, his expression shifting to one of reassurance. “He told us he escaped theFortunealone in one of the missing lifeboats,” he said, resting a hand on her shoulder. “Do not worry yourself too much. Though I would continue to be vigilant.”
Ruby nodded. “I shall return to the others and mention this to Nathaniel.”
She turned to go, but before she reached the path, Elias called out, “Ruby!” When she turned back, her questioningexpression just visible in the quickly falling darkness, Elias took a small, flaming log from the fire and walked it over to her. “Have a care,” he said, handing her the makeshift torch so that she could find her way home. “We have known from the start that this island has its dangers. There may yet be some we have not discovered.”
Ruby looked at him for a long moment before nodding. “I shall tell Nathaniel we must sleep with knives under our pillows tonight.”
Elias could not help but grin as he watched Ruby head off along the path. She was the most formidable woman he’d ever met. Hunt would have his hands full with her, if he chose to pursue her further. It made Elias worry about what sort of life the two of them could have together if Ruby was forced to return to a world where women were expected to be more like Lady Adelaide. Then again, with the fortune Ruby had inherited from her grandfather, more than the ordinary might be possible for her.
“I hope we did not frighten her,” Caspian said as Elias rejoined him by the fire.
“I worry that Ruby and the others have not been frightened enough,” Elias said, taking Caspian’s hand and walking back to the lean-to. “If more of the mutineers than just Dick survived the wreck and if they are waiting in the jungle somewhere, all of us could be in danger.”
“Waiting for what, though?” Caspian asked, shrugging as they sat. “Until a new vessel is built using the wreck of theFortuneor until another ship happens by to rescue everyone, this island is the only civilization any of the survivors will know. It is not as if Dick and the others could steal Mr. Ferrars’s treasure and run away with it, like they had planned from the start.”
Elias hummed in consideration as he opened his pack and pulled out the extra blanket that he’d intended to use to sleep on during their earlier mission. “If they are out there, I would not put it past someone like Tumbrill to think he had a right to overthrow Hunt as leader of the settlement so that he might treat them all like his personal servants.”
“But to what end?” Caspian asked. “Why would any man seek to be a tyrant over a handful of desperate people? Times like this call for cooperation and accord, otherwise, everyone starves.”
Elias laughed, though without much humor. “You do not know as much about land-dwellers, as you call us, as you think.”
