Charlotte leaned her head back against the wall of rock, exhaustion seeping through her. The tide had finally dropped back down. She shifted her bound wrists uncomfortably, wincing as the rope moved over her raw skin. Try as she might, she had not been able to wriggle her hands out of the knots. And as the tide had broken higher and higher, she had been forced to find footholds in the rock wall and climb as high as she could above the rising water. It was awkward to keep hold or even climb very high while her wrists were tied to a small metal ring jutting out near the base of the wall. She'd taken a few tumbles into the water below.
She closed her eyes against the harsh sunlight. She couldn't keep going like this. Her body was scratched and scraped and she could already feel the sun's effects on her skin. But how did she get out of here? She needed to come up with some way to convince the men she could help if they returned. Maybe she could work for them for a bit, to make up for all the hard work their women had been forced to put in. She was no stranger to hard work and thankfully, she knew her way around a farm. She smiled a little at the irony in that. Look at that, maybe her farmgirl practicality would be useful.
Charlotte jolted as something landed on her lap. She stared down at the mottled yellow and brown, half-moon object on her skirt. Was it some kind of seed? She turned wary eyes all around her. But it was still just her and miles upon miles of lonely tropical paradise. She gingerly nudged the seed-thing off her lap and onto the sand beside her. Then closing her eyes, she leaned back against the wall again. A cackle greeted her from across the beach.
"You're supposed to eat it, silly."
That sounded like a girl's voice. But still, the emptiness of the beach yawned all around her. Was this it now? Hallucinations? She had just about given up looking for the voice when a head of black curls peeked out from a section of rock wall higher up the beach. A girl in her young teens took one final look around the beach and then scampered over to Charlotte. She plonked herself down in the sand beside her and scooped up the yellow-brown seed thing.
"It's plantain," she explained, peeling off the yellow skin to reveal a fleshy inside. "You're supposed to cook it but it's all I could find to bring, and you looked as though you could do with something to eat." Charlotte found herself staring at the young girl. Her shock of black curls gave way to tanned skin and a bruise across her cheekbone that had turned an ugly purple. She flashed her a pearly white smile as she held the peeled plantain out to her. "Take small bites, okay?"
Charlotte nodded, still too shocked to find her voice. She obeyed the girl's orders and took a nibble of the plantain. The texture was strange in her mouth but she enjoyed the sweetness. Truth be told, she was so hungry she didn't much care what it was. She winced as the girl tugged at the knot on her wrist.
"Sorry, miss. I don't think I'm going to get that knot undone. But I'll try free you from the wall at least."
"Charlotte finally found her voice. "Why are you helping me?"
A large knife had materialized in the girl's hands and she began sawing away at the rope tied to the wall. "I heard the menfolk talking about how they were going to take you. Said you was some rich lady. And that it would be revenge for what Mr. Sidney Parker did. I got curious so I came out to see you." She held the knife between her teeth as she pushed her curls out of her eyes. "My sister works for Mr. Lambe. She says Mr. Sidney Parker isn't all that bad."
"Why do they think I'm rich? I'm just a farm girl."
The girl laughed at that, her curls bobbing furiously.
"Miss, didn't Miss Lambe tell you? She's given you half her inheritance. The whole village knows about that."
Charlotte was floored for a second. Then realization struck. "Well if they want money, they can have it all. I don't need it."
The girl shook her head without a moment's hesitation.
"No, Miss. Everyone in the village has enough. We get everything we need from the land. And the work isn't so bad for the women anymore neither. If you gave them that money, they wouldn't give it to the women anyway. They'd just use it for gambling or other bad things."
She cut through the final strands of rope and stood to look down on Charlotte.
"You seem like a smart lady, Miss. You'll find something good to do with the money. But now, you need to save yourself. If you wait around for a man to do it, it's going to be too late."
Charlotte squinted up at the girl. "Aren't you going to get in trouble for helping me?"
The girl winked down at her. "Like I said, a girl needs to be able to save herself. I've been doing it for years." At the sound of men's voices in the distance, her eyes turned wide and she scampered off up the beach.