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“Face, shoulders, pits, and below…” she muttered under her breath in a sing-song voice, before using the remainder of the water to brush her teeth. Once she was done, she looked around for a place to pour out the water and hesitated. What if this was the only clean water she got during this week?
Annnnd I’ll wait,she mused, opening the door to her room and walking down the walkway towards the steps that took her up to the deck. She saw the surprise on everyone’s faces – and the smiles on the rest of the crew’s.
Red Marie nodded at her approvingly – and winked.
“We’ve done our investigation and the accusation was falsely made by the yellow wench,” Will began, his voice booming as he addressed everyone. “Let it be known that on my ship, we do not take kindly to malicious lies, rumors, or false accusations, because those things breed malcontent among the crew.I will not have it!”he roared hotly… as Shepherd coughed indelicately.
“I will not have it,” Will repeated a little more calmly, looking at each of them. “Orange has been freed and you’ll welcome her like before. Does anyone have a problem with this?”
“No sir, captain,” several said quickly – including Calista.
“Good,” he said simply, turning to where Bo, Shepherd, and Jared stood nearby. “Man the cannon and the swivelgun after breakfast. I want to fire a few rounds off the port side for sport, men.”
“Yes, sir!”
As Will walked off, his nose arrogantly in the air, giving the impression that his word was law… she almost smiled. He pretended so well to be domineering with these people to keep order, but the side of him she’d met was gentle as the day was long – and hidden.
It almost felt like an honor that she had a chance to have a glimpse of that man. As he walked past her, that noisy gate of his cutlass and other gear on his belt clanging loudly… he caught her eye, and the corner of his lip curled in recognition just before he drew in his breath, barking out another order.
“To the galley, the lot of you!”
She was so taken aback at his yell, that she jumped and started to move forward quickly towards the ‘galley’ or dining area to get her meal while she could. Entering inside, she saw the others were getting their meals, taking their places, and avoiding her.
Marie sat directly across from her – a smile on her lips.
“How are you holding up, wench?” Marie said simply, just as Calista took a bite of her ‘gruel’ (which was oatmeal with fruit in it). She chewed slowly, taking a moment to wonder if this woman was prying or asking her to stay in ‘role’ on the ship. She opted for the latter and answered accordingly.
“The captain is just and runs a clean ship – for that I’m grateful.”
“Aye. He is that – isn’t he?”
Several people down the long table went back to eating and Marie nodded, winking at her, and shoveled in her mealas their ‘crew’ began explaining how the day’s lesson would go.
An hour later, Calista’s heart was beating rapidly as they were all working like dogs to move the massive cannon into place in the belly of the ship. Frankly, it was a little alarming to step down into the hold and see bags of goods, boxes of supplies, all stacked near and around a massive, ancient looking cannon.
They had to clear the boxes and bags of flour, sugar, potatoes, and other goods first. Then they had to move the boxes. The idea was to clear a path for the cannon to be rolled towards the gunport on the side of the ship. It made her uneasy to think that there was an instrument of destruction just lying down here in wait… yet here it was.
Calista didn’t even have a gun in her house, and now she was standing beside the biggest firearm she’d ever seen. There was pitting and bluing along the dark surface of the cannon, along with signs of rust.
“Alright!” Jared yelled out. “I’m going to assign positions for each duty. Purple, get the gunports open, and Shepherd will help you.”
“I want to fire the gun,” Purple pouted, and literally stomped her foot.
“It’s not a gun – it’s a cannon,” Jared said firmly. “And no one is firing anything until the gunports are open. I certainly do not want to blow a hole in the belly of this ship…”
“WHOA!” Calista snapped, moving into action. “I’ll open the gunports with Shepherd…”
“No – Purple will do it. You’re my sponger for the cannon.”
“Blue and Red – you’ll be my gun crew.”
“But…”
“NO ‘BUTS’…” Jared hollered loud enough to make her ears ring. “Everyone has a job and a duty. I want you on the gun crew because you’ve got the most body strength to roll that cannon forward – got it? Purple is opening the gun ports, Orange is going to push the powder and ball down the barrel. Yellow is going to be my gunner and light the son-of-a-gun… and that is that!”
“What do you want me to do?” Green asked, unphased and looking bored.
“You are going to call out the warning and communicate with the captain on the deck to make sure our portside is still clear before we light the cannon.”
