Chapter Nineteen: Chipper as a Sparrow
"He's what?!" the man shouted, obviously furious.
The seer cowered, not wanting to make any sudden movements that would direct any rage towards him.
"Tell me again what you saw," the angry man said in a deceptively calm tone.
"I had thought to check in on the bounty hunter, just to see if he'd found the girl." The seer stared wildly about, hoping he would get some chance to escape before his mad employer decided to kill him off. "Well, he apparently had, and he was nearly upon her when he ran up a flag of parley. Well, when he went over onto the ship, they talked about...something, I couldn't hear what they were saying. The girl has that effect on my visions, you know. Anyway, when they were on the deck of the Pearl again, they started to leave, and the crew of the Lady Pandora was moving as fast as they could to get off the ship, but I didn't understand why since there hadn't been a boarding.
"When the Pearl was well away, I understood. The ship burst into flames, sir, they were gigantic. I couldn't see anymore after that, the girl has some sort of shield over her ship that prevents me from seeing it sometimes." When he finished, he was relieved to find that the insanity of his employer's anger had apparently faded some. He was sitting down with a thoughtful expression on his face.
The seer relaxed. He was off the hook, so to speak, and glad to be so. Normally he was a very intimidating man, especially with his abilities to see the past and future of people he met, and this set those people on edge. They feared him, and went out of their way to make him happy for that fear that he would reveal their most dangerous secrets.
Being a subordinate did not sit well with him at all. Oh, sure, it had all started out as equals, but the more people the madman brought into this scheme--such as the bounty hunter, and the marksman (now deceased)--the less he himself was treated with the respect of a peer. He had thought about leaving the whole mess altogether, but he knew that his employer would only find some other seer to help do his dirty work.
Besides, the pay was fantastic, even if the perks seemed to be few. Once the girl was captured, he would be a very rich man. His employer had even given him a substantial bonus for killing Jack Sparrow. The man had some terrible hatred for Jack Sparrow that the seer could not understand, and had been thrilled when the pirate was dead.
He had yet to unravel that oddity in his employer, but when he had some time, he would look into the past of this strange man that seemed perfectly sane at times but absolutely mad the next.
**
When Reanna woke, she vowed not to think about what had happened the night before. She had far too much work to do to be mooning about over a man anyway. The Pearl and the sea was her life. The first thing to figure out was a destination...
She grinned when an idea came to her. It was an ungodly hour of the morning...and her new first mate was undoubtedly sleeping. Ah yes, it would do him good to get used to a temperamental captain waking him up at all hours. She cheerfully got dressed and made her way to his cabin.
**
He was woken from his fitful slumber when a loud banging was issued upon his door. He lit a candle and looked at the time. God, it was only three o'clock! Growling slightly, he flung his door open, ready to knife whoever it was that had disturbed his sleep.
"Good morning!" chirped Reanna as she pushed his knife--held slackly due to surprise--aside and entered his room.
He stared blearily at her, wondering what the devil was the matter with her that she could be so wakeful at such an hour.
"So, since you're the first mate, you're entitled to help me figure a course for where we should go now, since we can't very well go back to Tortuga for a week or two. Never know where your former employers might appear, eh?" she said, elbowing his ribs a bit and winking at his nakedness.
Devon raised an eyebrow, wondering how this change had been wrought in his lovely raven. My captain, he corrected himself. She had been angry when she had banished him from her cabin the night before, but now she was as chipper as a sparrow that has just eaten a particularly large worm.
"Hello? Devon?" she said, waving her hand in front of his face.
"What?" he asked.
"I just told you that you need to get dressed and to come to my cabin in five minutes. If you're not there, I'll throw you in the brig again!"
With that, she left the room, closing the door behind her and leaving him to wonder what exactly had just happened. When his knife fell from his hand to the floor, he jumped as it narrowly missed his foot. Cursing, as was his wont, he began to pull some clothes onto his naked body.
**
Reanna couldn't help but feel giddy as she made her way back to her own cabin. For one, she had just seen her very first naked male body, and was amused. Two, she had thoroughly flustered Devon, and rather enjoyed the feeling of being in control where he was concerned. She might have to catch him off guard more often, it was amusing.
Although she already had a pretty good idea of where to go to reprovision and perhaps to lay low for a week or so, she thought she would ask Devon anyway and get his opinion. She was excited to go to this island, she had never been there before. It should be an enjoyable experience, she thought.
When Devon came in, still obviously not quite awake but clothed now save for a shirt (which she wished that he would put on, it was rather distracting to have an attractive man around not wearing a shirt when you wanted to accomplish something serious).
She tore her gaze away from his torso, and said, "I plan on going to St. Maarten, what do you think the risk factor is?"
"That's the isle I was hired at. The man that came to me is a seer, Reanna, he'll know we're there the moment we step foot on land," Devon said grimly.
"You should really talk to Y'lorani some time, Devon. But, as I don't wish to wake her at this moment--" she grinned at the scowl that came over his face, "--I'll just tell you what she'll say. I can't be seen by those who can see into the past, present and future. In her own words, it's as though there is a heavy blanket drawn over me and my surroundings."
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Alrighty, I took one of my two days vacation that I've earned while writing this story! I'm still one up, so I'll probably take next Saturday off too, since it's prom and all. Thank you, Nikee, for reviewing the last two chapters, it's very much appreciated, and I hope you update your story right quickly! The more you write, the better you get (although that didn't prove true for me in FoY, eh?)! If you want any advice or anything, e-mail me any time!