Deep within the hold of the Surprise, something stirred.
It yawned and stretched quietly in the cramped space, then sat up, yellow eyes piercing the dark like knives. Silently, it rose and pressed itself against the wall where the captain was sleeping. Not a sound-it must not be dawn yet.
The figure crawled between a gap in the neatly stacked crates of provisions where it had made a sort of den. A small, natural hole in the wooden belly of the ship provided a peephole.
Retching sounds came from directly above, and the figure quickly drew back as the owner of the sounds gave up their meals to the sea. After a pause and some unsteady footsteps above, the creature peered through the hole and scrutinized the horizon. The sun was just beginning to rise, and in a few minutes Mr. Hollar was piping the hands to breakfast. But the figure didn't know Mr. Hollar's name, or even the captain who it spied on every morning's name. It only knew one name-the name of its target.
Breakfast at the captain's table consisted of eggs and bacon. Lord Northshire was not present. According to one of many servants who served the lord, Northshire was busy.
"Oh, he's busy, all right," Mr. Howard muttered. "I heard him all night long, spewing right outside my window. Didn't get a wink of sleep, I didn't."
Jack snorted, quickly disguising it as a sneeze. He adopted a stern face. "Now now, Mr. Howard, let us not hurl our blame on Lord Northshire, if you please."
The table exploded with laughter.
Northshire, in fact, was asleep-or trying to fall asleep. Exhausted from being sick and staying up all night, he lay in Jack's cabin, surrounded by pillows and hot water bottles. Bonden, whose arms were sore from carrying Northshire's luggage the day before, took the opportunity to stomp directly above where the lord was sleeping by disguising his heavy gait as a stumble.
Groaning, Northshire turned over, face green and pinched. He kicked a pillow bad-temperedly and stuffed his head under another, blocking out sound. At long last, he fell into a deep sleep.
Mowett was on watch when it happened. A muffled shout erupted from the captain's cabin, where Northshire was sleeping and had asked none to disturb him, and the terrified lord himself zipped out of the door with surprising speed for one of his bulk. With all traces of seasickness gone, he crashed into the sturdy second lieutenant, who grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him to a skittering stop.
"What's wrong, my lord?" asked Will, concerned.
"The-there's someone in there with a knife! I could have been killed!" gasped Northshire. He buried his face in Mowett's uniformed shoulder and began to bawl. Wincing with distaste and pain-that was his injured shoulder and was still in a sling-Mowett moved away with as much dignity as possible and shook Northshire roughly, saying, "What happened? Who was in there?"
But Northshire would not answer. He shook his head fiercely like a child and wailed, "I want to speak to the captain!"
Jack, including several curious hands, was already rushing to the scene. Mowett handed Northshire over promptly and stood back as he blubbered out his story to Jack. Apparently, Northshire had been sleeping when he felt his cot move. He opened his eyes to see someone standing over him with a knife and had pushed the figure aside and ran out the door.
"Right," Jack said, and deposited Northshire on the quarterdeck steps. He wiped his eyes with the handkerchiefs some kind-hearted hands offered him and watched as Jack, Mowett, and Mr. Hollar, as the only armed officers present, disappeared into the cabin.
A few minutes later, Mowett stuck his head around the cabin door. Northshire had recovered his composure and asked, "Did you find him?"
"No," William answered. Puzzlement filled his tones. "I'm sorry, Lord Northshire-there's no one here."
"Nonsense!" sniffed Northshire. "There has to be! He attacked me!"
Mowett shook his head slowly. "No, my lord, there is no one here," he said firmly. "We're sure of it."
But that night, William wondered if he had been wrong in telling Northshire that there had been no one there. Perhaps the lord hadn't been imagining things, as he had accused Jack, Mowett, Mr. Hollar, and even Tom and Mr. Blakeney, who had not even been present, of accusing him of.
"Tom?" William whispered, wondering if he was awake.
Apparently he was. A grunt answered him.
"Should I have told the captain about what happened the day before we sailed? How-how I thought someone came in here with a knife?"
There was another grunt.
"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Mowett impatiently.
The top of Tom's head appeared, and he glared sleepily at his friend. "Well, it was going to mean shut up and go back to sleep, but if you honestly want my opinion, I say yes." He instantly fell back asleep, snoring softly.
Mowett lay back in his hammock and looked up at the narrow rafters in the gloom of the small berth as if they would reveal answers. They didn't, but Will had already made up his mind. Tomorrow, he would tell Captain Aubrey about his own experience. There was a possibility that there might be a real problem here, and he had had too many dreams concerning daggers and dwarf-like figures to ignore them.
It had come so close!
The creature within the hold of the Surprise was in a towering rage. So close, but it had failed. The eyes, usually pale yellow, were now mere slits of red. The dark figure kicked a barrel in its anger, and the heavy object teetered and crashed to the deck. Drinking water spilled out and mixed with the bilge.
The figure retreated to its den, eyes wide with fear. Now they were sure to come down and discover it! It listened for a few minutes, but no one came down to discover what had caused the noise-for now. Still, the creature knew, a loss of an entire barrel of fresh water would be a cause for a search-after all, the barrels were packed not to spill-and the creature vowed to itself that, in order not to fail its task, it needed practice. A member of the crew would soon be down here, and when they came, there would be practice enough. The dark would complicate things, but that would only help the challenge. The creature licked one of its many knives lovingly and gave a small, crackling laugh.
The sound of the drums woke the crew of the Surprise. An enemy ship was riding the swells on the horizon.
Mowett and Pullings dressed at top speed, throwing on their uniforms quickly and buckling on their swords. They joined Jack on the quarterdeck.
"Morning," Jack said. He nodded to the ship. "A Frenchie, came up in the night. What do you think of her?"
Tom peered at the ship through his glass. "But, sir, she's got at least fifty guns!" he exclaimed.
"Yes, I noticed."
"But are we going to take her?" Mowett asked, staring oddly at Jack.
"No, no, of course not," Jack said impatiently. "Beating to quarters was just a precaution: by law, Lord Northshire, as the ambassador, has legal right to not be harmed by any French ships. Still, we may have to communicate that fact so they don't blow us to bits."
Lord Northshire, of course, was still asleep, and his presence would be needed if any negotiations were to be made at all, so Mr. Hollar was sent to wake him. Grinning evilly at the thought of revenge, the bosun knocked loudly on the door to the captain's cabin.
"Rouse up, Lord Northshire, rise an' shine!" he boomed gruffly.
A servant appeared at the door looking livid. "Go away, you horrible, crude man! The Lord is sleeping!" he snapped.
Mr. Hollar narrowed his eyes at him and drew himself up so he towered over the cringing man. "And there's a French ship on the horizon, so, if he wants to stay without splinters or not have a cannonball for breakfast, the captain suggests that he gets himself dressed and up on deck so he can negotiate-and he better make it fast. Very fast."
"Y-yessir," stammered the servant, and he rushed off. Mr. Hollar chuckled and leaned against the quarterdeck steps, waiting for his victim to come back out.
Lord Northshire did, finally. Mr. Hollar pointed and said coolly, "He's up there." He did not offer his assistance as the lord stumbled his way up the steps and stood beside Jack, face twitching nervously and sending rolls of fat vibrating down his neck.
Jack looked pleased, as he always did when coming into contact with enemy ships. "Good morning, Lord Northshire!" he said courteously. "As you can see, we have a French ship on the horizon. Perhaps you'd be so kind as to communicate with them...?"
Northshire looked terrified, but nodded. Mr. Hollar came up beside him with a speaking trumpet, as the loudest, and looked expectantly at Northshire, who stared stupidly back. Jack quietly told him to tell the bosun what to say and stood back.
"Er-tell them that we are friends," Northshire squeaked. Mr. Hollar repeated the message. "Now, say that we are ambassadors from England," Northshire said, with a bit more importance this time. Giving orders always made him feel better. "And we have the right of safe passage. If they harm us, they will be breaking the England and French temporary truce appointed to this negotiation."
A shout came back from the French ship: "You are sailing on the ship of "Lucky" Jack Aubrey, ambassador. We do not trust this captain to keep the peace, so we shall escort you to France ourselves. If you do not agree to these terms and come peaceably, we will destroy you."
Everyone looked at Jack, even Northshire. He seemed angry at the French comment that they didn't trust him to keep peace laid down by law, but he hid the fact. "Tell them that they may approach," he said to Mr. Hollar.
A/N: Oo, ominous ending there! ((Beethoven theme)) So, what will happen to our heroes? And who's the scary person in the hold? Huh, even I don't know yet...stay tuned! New installment will be up faster than this one, I promise. And I only got one review, so Tom-
Tom: NOOOO! HELP!
Me: -I'll have pity on Tom and wait 'till next time.
Tom: Phew.
Araniel: Heh heh, I like Northshire too. These characters are SO fun to write about, such great material! And the time period is...erm...I guess before The Far Side of the World, if you've read the first 2 in the series. You don't really have to, the only important info that you might have missed is that Mowett gets his shoulder shattered by a musketball and that's why he has a sling.