Chapter 29:
Vargas
After what seemed like an hour of being cramped inside a barrel, Anna and Elsa slowly emerged from their secret hiding places, and stepped onto the ship. From the looks of it, they appeared to be somewhere below deck. It was mostly dark; the only light they had was the light coming from the stairs to the far right. The sisters could hear faint sounds of voices above deck, although they couldn't make out exactly what they were saying. Elsa held a hand out in front of her, feeling the barrels that surrounded them.
"Alright, let's stay below deck until the ship docks," she said to Anna. "Hopefully the sailors will carry the barrels off, and then we can slip out undetected."
"That sounds like a good plan, but who knows how long that will be. It could take us several days to get to London. In the meantime, what are we going to do about food?"
Elsa hadn't thought of that. Truth be told, she was hungry, and could go for anything right about now. But going up on deck was just too risky. If they sailors caught them, who knows what might happen?
"I know that eating is a necessity, but it's just too risky to go up on deck, Anna," Elsa explained. "I don't know how many men are on board, and all it would take is getting seen by one of them to get us in trouble."
"I understand, Elsa, but what if we wait until night when most of the crew are asleep. There will probably only be a few people still up. We can sneak upstairs, find the galley, take some food, and head back below deck."
Elsa thought about it for a minute. It did seem like a good plan, but there was still a great amount of risk involved. She just couldn't do it.
"I'm sorry, Anna, but I'm not taking any chances," Elsa said. "Please, I'm only doing this for our safety. Once we're in London, you can have all the food you want."
Anna knew that it was pointless to argue with her sister. She simply nodded, and sat down. For the rest of the day, the two kept quiet, not wanting to draw the attention of any of the crewmembers. When the sun went down, Anna and Elsa could hear the crew making their final rounds, and heading off to bed. Elsa suggested that they do the same, and crawled back into her barrel. It was best to remain hidden while asleep in case someone came down, and saw them. Anna, however, wasn't going to sleep just yet. When she was sure that Elsa was asleep, she crept upstairs onto the main deck. Just as she expected, there weren't too many crewmembers still up. At the most she counted five people. Anna snuck alongside of the ship, using the crates on board as cover. She didn't know precisely where the galley was, so she would just have to wing it. When she saw a staircase leading downward, Anna quickly, and quietly snuck down it, praying that she wouldn't run into anyone along the way. The root to the ship's galley was down a long, narrow hallway. As Anna got closer, she could smell what appeared to be traces of the meal the crew had earlier that evening.
Anna opened a large metal door at the far end of the hallway, which led into the galley. Inside, she could smell what remained of the meal from earlier. In the back, were crates filled with fruit, and vegetables. It wasn't anything fancy, but at this point, Anna didn't care. She stuffed both pockets of her dress with enough fruit, and vegetables as she could, and made her way back to Elsa. When she arrived below deck, Anna quietly knocked on Elsa's barrel. It was their signal for each other to come out.
The top of the barrel came off, and Elsa emerged, rubbing her eyes.
"What is it?" she whispered.
Anna emptied her pockets full of fruit and vegetables, showing them to Elsa. "Dinner is served!" she said proudly.
"Anna! What in God's name were you thinking?" Elsa hissed. "You could have been seen!"
"Relax! Nobody saw a thing!" Anna reassured her.
"What do you think is going to happen when the cook notices that some of his fruits and vegetables are missing?" Elsa asked, frantically.
"I doubt he'll notice anything," Anna answered. "He had crates full of them. Come on, let's just eat. You said yourself that you're hungry."
Elsa looked at the apples, oranges, and plums that Anna had brought her, and she couldn't deny the fact that she was hungry. She sat down, and took a bite out of one of the apples. It had been hours since her last meal.
"You see, I told you this was a good idea. At least now we have something to hold us over till we reach London."
"That is if you make it there," said a voice from behind them.
Anna spun around, reaching for her pistol at the same time, only to be met with a man pointing his rifle at her and Elsa.
"Don't even think about it, ladies," he said.
Anna took her hand off her pistol, realizing that that it was no point in trying to fight.
The man chuckled. "I thought I heard someone talking down here, and what do you know, there are two stowaways aboard the ship. Wait until the captain hears about this."
"Please sir, you don't have to tell him," Elsa said. "My sister and I desperately needed a ride to London, and this was the only ship we could find that was going there."
"I don't care. A stowaway is a stowaway, and we have ways of dealing with stowaways. Come with me, we're going to the captain's quarters."
"Wait! You can't tell the captain about us!" Anna cried.
"Why not?" the man asked.
"Because if you do, then we'll never find where the treasure of King Nicholas is buried."
Elsa's eyes lit up in fear. What in the world was Anna thinking telling this man about the treasure. They already had Hans and the Duke hot on their trail, the last thing they needed was someone else knowing about it.
"What the hell are you talking about?" the man asked.
Anna spent the next few minutes explaining to the man about King Nicholas' treasure, showing him the map, the journal, and half of the amulet as proof. The man looked over each of the items carefully, trying to authenticate every one of them. When he was done examining them, he handed them back to Anna.
"So this treasure of yours…it's somewhere in London?"
"Well, we don't know where it is exactly, but once we have the other half of the amulet, we'll be able to figure out where it is," Anna said. "If you don't tell the captain about us, we'll let you have a share of the treasure."
"Anna!" Elsa hissed. "No!"
"Elsa, just bear with me. What do you say?" she asked the man.
The man lowered his rifle, and considered the matter. He then looked at Anna and Elsa one more time, before answering.
"Fine, but I want half," he said.
Before Anna could agree, Elsa stepped in.
"Anna, we worked hard to find this treasure. It's rightfully ours! We're not giving it to some stranger who is holding us at gunpoint."
"If that's the case, then will you ladies kindly follow me upstairs," the man said, aiming his rifle back at them.
"Elsa, please, we don't have any other options here," Anna said.
Elsa looked at her sister, then back at the man. She didn't like it one bit. The treasure was rightfully theirs, and theirs alone. After all the hell they had gone through to get this far with Hans and the Duke, and now this bastard wanted in on the deal. Why did Anna have to tell him about the treasure? She could easily dealt with the man with her powers. Once again, her sister acted without thinking. As much as she hated it, she knew that she had to go along with it.
"Alright, we'll give you a fair cut of the treasure," Elsa acquiesced.
"Half," the man stated firmly.
"We're doing most of the work, we'll give you 20%, and that's all!" Elsa retorted.
"25% or no deal," the man said.
Elsa rolled her eyes. "Fine. We'll give you 25%, but nothing more."
The man smiled. "Well, I look forward to getting to know you ladies better. In the meantime, why don't we introduce ourselves? My name is Vargas."
"I'm Anna," Anna said, not bothering to use her title of "princess" in introducing herself. This guy was already getting more than enough as it is. The last thing they needed was for him to find out their royalty status, and then demand more money.
"I'm Elsa," Elsa stated simply.
"Very good. We'll enjoy your meal ladies. We should be in London in a few days. In the evening, I'll come visit you two, and you can tell me more about this King Nicholas fellow."
When Vargas left, Anna looked at Elsa, noticing the concerned look on her face. The Snow Queen didn't like this one bit.
"Look I'm sorry, I was just trying to save our skins," Anna explained.
Elsa sighed. "I know, but the first chance we get to lose this guy, we're taking it," she said.
Anna smiled. "Deal."
A/N: I apologize for the late update. Certain events have prevented me from taking the time to it down, and write a full length chapter to this story. Only four more chapters to go after this!
