Chapter 7: The river

The following morning, Bri woke up very early. She moved out of her bed, listening to the sounds from the deck. When she had dressed herself with the proper clothes and had done her hair, she opened the door and walked straight to the deck.

She could just see the little town becoming smaller and smaller, while they sailed away. ''Bri, can you help me.'' Bri turned around and saw Thomas hanging on a thick rope. ''Sure.'' Bri moved towards him and grabbed the rope. ''What do we've to do with it?'' She asked. ''It must be attached to the railing of the ship for ruggedness.'' Thomas answered, while pulling the rope back. Bri stretched her muscles and pulled with all her weight, but it did not seem to matter.

''You need some help, darling?'' Without Bri had noticed, Jack was standing next to her and had already watched her for a while, very amused. ''Yes!'' Said Thomas, before Bri could deny that they needed help.

Bri gave him an angry look, but didn't protest. Grinning Jack grabbed the rope too and leaned back. With the three of them, they managed to tension the rope and attached it to the edge. Panting Bri let the rope go. She wanted to say something to Jack, but he was gone already.

Surprised she closed her mouth again, but then started a conversation with Thomas.

''Stop the ship!'' Jack commanded. ''Haul down the sails.'' Every single man on deck knew what they had to do. Bri remembered that her father used to say: ''there is almost nothing that takes more work than abruptly trying to stop a large ship.'' It turned out to be true.

But Bri had never done something like this herself, so she stood there watching the crew doing their job. Even Thomas didn't hesitated to help. Right now he was climbing into the robes helping with the sails. He had bound most of his blond hairs in a tail, but some shorter strands of hair had came out of it and were now hanging loose down his face.

Thomas had taken off his shirt and had tied it around his waist, revealing his bare torso. Unlike most pirates, he had no scar or tattoo, even no scratch. ''He's a nice kid, I see you have a little crush on him.'' A voice besides her said. Bri looked surprised to her side. There was no emotion to be heard in jack's words and no feeling to see at his face. He didn't even looked at her, he just stared ahead, looking in direction Bri did, without expressing any feelings at all. Only a ripple of seriousness above his eyes.

''Were are you talking about!'' Bri stammered. Jack managed to let a fiant smile appear on his face (not the unique smile Bri liked so much, more like a grimace.) and whispered softly: ''Don't lie, it's obvious, darling and who would blame you.'' Jack walked back towards the helm, leaving behind a flabbergasted Bri, who failed saying something sensible.

''Gens, do you see that river.'' Jack pointed at ragging foaming water, that fast streaming disappeared behind the mountains of the island. They had lifted the pearl on the Beach and had secured her with large ropes. In the middle of the beach, you could see the funnel-shaped mouth of the Shipwreck river.

''Aye.'' The crew answered. ''We can't sail it with the pearl, that's why part of us stays here to guard the ship, while the others will find the stone and bring it to the ship.'' Jack revealed his plan. Bri discovered some doubt at some of the faces of the crew. She stepped forward. ''In what are we going to sail the river?'' She asked.

Jack turned his head and tried to smile. ''In longboats darling.'' He explained. ''There is no chance that a longboat is strong enough.'' A large member of the crew said. Some others nodded and started whispering to each other. Jack watched his crew and waited for a moment, before he screamed: ''Silent! The story tells that at the island four indestructible ships are hidden, which can only be found by those who have the map.''

Gibbs stepped forward. ''Do we have the map?'' He asked. Jack did a step towards his first mate. ''Of course we've, it's in the book.'' Jack told them. ''So, where are the ships?'' Thomas asked. ''Ah, I don't know.'' Jack shook his head mournfully. ''But you said...'' Thomas said without understanding what was going on. ''I have the map, but I can't read it.'' Jack explained and with those words he turned around and vanished into his cabin.

''Do you want to sail at that river?'' A pirate, named Harrie, asked the other crewmembers of the pearl. Most of them shook their head. ''No, I think we will die immediately.'' Said another, Bri had forgotten his name. ''I don't think those boats exist.'' Harrie spoke again.

Cutch, a young pirate with a big accent, agreed right away. He bent forward and dropped his voice. The other ten pirates leaned forward as well and listened quietly to what Cutch had to say. ''I think the captain has gone mad. This isn't the first time he's acting weird and the last time he was like this, there happened a lot bad things. I'm just saying.''

''You're not telling me you want to start a mutiny, are you?'' Bri said angry and with disgust. Cutch turned startled around. ''I didn't know you were there, lass.'' He said trying to hide his fear. ''You didn't answer my question either.'' Said Bri and she did menacing a step forward.

''I wasn't'' Mumbled Cutch. ''I just told them what I thought about the situation. You know men among themselves.'' He started to feel more confident, Bri was actually just a little girl, yeah she had good connections with the captain , but was she really a threat. ''You weren't supposed to be here.'' Cutch finished.

''Too bad you leaved the door opened then.'' Bri looked once more at the companionship, before walking out of the room. Although she had only heard Cutch opinion, she was still afraid that the others might have said worse thing too.

Gibbs saw her walking up the stairs towards the captain's cabin and asked her to stop. ''What's the matter, it seems like you've seen the devil in person, you're really pale.'' Asked Gibbs concerned. Bri knew Gibbs was a good man, still she weren't friends. Maybe because of the lack of faith he had in woman, could be it.

''Was just thinking nothing more.'' Bri answered, avoiding Gibbs eyes. ''I gotta go.'' She said eventually, after waiting for another reaction from Gibbs, that didn't came.