Two men help Bogg to carefully lower himself onto the bunk and lie down on his stomach. He gives them a grimacing thank you smile. They turn away to tend to their own business.
"Are you all right?" Jeffrey asks. He didn't stay around to watch his friend get flogged. Bogg grunts. "I know it was a stupid question. I meant considering." He extends a hand to Bogg.
"Don't touch, kid, unless your hands have some kind of magical healing power you've never told me about." Bogg winces as he tries to find the most comfortable position.
Jeffrey pulls his hand back.
"What do you think will happen to Edmund, now that people've found out her secret?" He sits down besides his friend.
"I don't know. I've never been on a ship where a woman signed on. The captain took her to a cabin. For her sake I hope he means well."
"She told me about a song, where a girl becomes a sailor and offers her services to a captain to get out of a beating."
"That's possible."
"But this captain didn't want to give her a beating."
"What he doesn't want to do in public doesn't mean he doesn't want to do in private."
Jeffrey nods, then changes the subject. "I think it was very brave of you to offer to take her flogging."
"More brave than brain," Bogg grunts. "And it didn't do her much good in the end, or me."
"You want me to get you the ship's surgeon?"
"You keep that butcher away from me. I will just bite through the pain."
"Do you think those two men knew about Edmund? You know, the ones that you fought with."
"Possibly."
"They must have heard when I called her a girl." Jeffrey feels bad. This may all be his fault.
"They probably found out on their own. With so many people in such a small space, nothing can be a secret long."
"Yeah, but she managed to keep it a secret until we came aboard."
"It's not your fault she was found out, Jeff." Bogg wants to put a reassuring hand on his young friend's shoulder. But he changes his mind as moving his arm sends more pain through his body. "Set it out of your mind. Perhaps it was our job to protect her from the first two men so that the captain could take her on as a passenger."
"We don't know that until we get the omni back."
"No. Any thoughts on how to get it back?"
"I tried to get onto the quarterdeck, but it's guarded and they keep sending me away. You don't suppose they'll let me on deck if I tell them I'm Edmund's little brother and need to talk to her?"
"They gave me an extra flogging because I seemed to know before that she was a girl. I don't think it's a good idea to lead on you knew too."
"Maybe the captain also takes on little boys as passengers."
"A six-year-old is a little boy. A thirteen-year-old is a cabin boy."
"Shouldn't cabin boys work in cabins? The captain's cabin?"
"You'd think that, but they do their best work scrubbing the deck."
"Hmm. I'll see what I can do." Jeffrey gets up. "I'll be back."
"I'll be here. Wishing I was someone else."
-oOo-
Scrubbing the deck, why hadn't he thought of that before? And the quarterdecks would need scrubbing too. Jeffrey sets out to find a bucket and a mop. The young Voyager never would have thought, but when you're looking for a chore, it's pretty hard to find one. He does, however, find the ship's cabin boys all huddled together on the forecastledeck, talking about the day's events.
"I knew of course she was a woman," one of them says. He appears to be the leader of the pack, lurking on a pipe, the others looking up at him in awe. "But I said I would keep her secret, for a little something in return. We had an arrangement."
Jeffrey rolls his eyes. "What would that arrangement be? You wouldn't come near her and Edmund wouldn't throw you overboard?"
"Who's Edmund?"
"Edmund, the name the woman went by as a man. You didn't know that?" Jeffrey gives him a surprised look.
"Well, we never formally introduced ourselves, it wasn't necessary."
"I don't think you knew her at all," one of the other boys says. "And I think some of your other stories weren't true either."
The others laugh.
"Whatever." The boy with the pipe turns away from the group. "Quartermaster."
The boys all jump to their feet.
"What about your chores?" the quartermaster asks as he eyes the boys one by one.
"All done for today, quartermaster."
"Well, do 'm again. I'm sure you've missed a spot here and there."
"Yes, sir."
"How's your seasickness?" the quartermaster asks when his eye falls on Jeffrey.
"Much better, thank you." Jeffrey gives him a smile.
The quartermaster gives him a measly smile in return. "Now, get to work."
Jeffrey isn't sure whether he should salute or not. The other boys don't. He quickly follows them. None of them objects when he offers to take the quarterdeck. Moments later Jeffrey finds himself carrying a bucket and a mop up the stairs to the quarterdeck. He has no problems getting past the soldier this time. But how to get from the deck to the cabins with another soldier watching him on deck?
Jeffrey splashes some water on the deck and starts mopping. Keeping an eye on the soldier to see if he would turn his attention elsewhere. The soldier, however, seems to be someone who just loves to see other people work. Nearing the door Jeffrey's work starts to slack a little through his preoccupation with thinking of ways to get to the cabins. At one point he even stops mopping.
"Boy, get back to work," the soldier yells. "No day dreaming."
Jeffrey returns to his mopping. It's obvious the soldier isn't going to take his eyes of him. This can pretty much be regarded as a failed attempt to get the omni. Jeffrey wants to pack it in, but he's pretty sure the soldier will call him back if he doesn't mop the entire deck. When he's finished Jeffrey picks up the bucket and mop. He throws a last look at the soldier. He decides against asking him whether the deck is clean enough for him; he might say no.
After emptying the bucket of water overboard, Jeffrey returns mop and bucket to the storage room. He spends the rest of the afternoon on the forecasteldeck, staring at the quarterdeck thinking off plans of how to get into the cabins.
-oOo-
Jeffrey opens his eyes. He climbed into Edmund's hammock to get some sleep and work on his new plan. He hopes he isn't too late. He quietly lowers himself out of the hammock and tries to find his way to the stairs in the dark. Some silvery moonlight shines through the open hatches. It helps him get across the orlopdeck without disturbing the men sleeping there. But it also worries him: the moonlight will expose him if he walks on the upperdeck. Carefully he climbs the stairs to the upperdeck and peaks around. No one on deck in sight. He hears someone walking on the forecastledeck. Shoot, that one is going to see him when he crosses the deck. Jeffrey looks up at the moon. He smiles when he sees a cloud slide in front of it. When the moon is completely obscured he tries to run as quickly and as quietly as he can towards the stairs leading up to the quarterdeck, using the railing as a guide on his way.
He closes the door to the cabins. That was the easy part. Now the hard part: where would the omni be. Perhaps he should find a place to hide and wait until morning so he can search for it in the light. On the other hand, in the dark, with everybody sleeping, he is less likely to run in to someone.
"Hold it right there."
Scratch that thought. He feels something press in the low of his back. He raises his hands, but doubts that can even be seen in the darkness.
"What are you doing here?" a voice hisses at him.
"I ... I got lost."
"You seem to do that a lot." The voice sounds familiair.
"Edmund?"
"How did you get past the watchmen on deck?"
"It was dark."
"Incompetent fools. You never would have gotten past me."
"Obviously. Are you still on the night watch?"
"No, I couldn't sleep. All the noises are different here. Guess, I'm still a night owl." Edmund stops poking Jeffrey in the back. "You should know better than to be on deck at night. What is it you want?"
"I came to get the thing the quartermaster took from my friend." Jeffrey has lowered his hands and turns around to face Edmund. His eyes have gotten used to the dark and he can make out her silhouette in the dim light.
"Your friend. I'm sorry he got flogged because of me."
"Twice!"
"Shh."
"You have to help us. To get our possession back."
"I don't know. If I get caught ..."
"My friend helped you out without thinking of the consequences for himself."
"True." Jeffrey wishes there was more light. He's sure he could convince her to help if he used one of his looks on her. They work great on women of all the ages. "All right. I'll help. Hold this." Edmund trusts a stick in Jeffrey's hand and lights it a moment later.
"You held me under treat with a candle stick?"
"Didn't have anything else." Edmund takes the candle. "Follow me. Quartermaster has given the little box thing to the captain. I heard him talk about it to the commander over dinner. He was quite impressed with it. I think he wants one of his own."
"As long as he doesn't want ours." Jeffrey follows Edmund. In the light of the candle he can see she has changed her clothing to something more traditionally female.
Edmund carefully opens a door. "This is the captain's office. He sleeps in another cabin next door. So you'll have to be quiet."
They go into the cabin. Edmund lights a lamp and gives it to Jeffrey. They start looking around in the cabin. Jeffrey searches the desk. Not much later he finds it in one of the drawers.
"Found it." He holds up the omni to show it to Edmund.
"Good. Now, let's get out of here." Edmund blows out the lamp and puts it back in its place. She usher Jeffrey back to the door to the quarterdeck.
"Tell your friend thank you for trying to help me. I hope he isn't in too much pain."
"Don't worry about that. He always loves to help out the pretty girl. Just, usually he likes the reward better."
Jeffrey says good bye to Edmund, and thanks her for her help too. When he steps out on deck the moon is still obscured by a cloud. Jeffrey hastily makes his way across the deck back to Bogg.
"Bogg! I have the omni back," he tells him in a hushed voice.
"You do? How?" Bogg lifts up his head to look at the kid.
"Not important. But it gives a green light, so everything worked out the way it is supposed to."
"Good. Time for us to leave then." Bogg scrambles up and makes a sore face.
"Are you sure? Wouldn't you rather stay here and get better?"
"I'd rather take my chances and get better somewhere else. Few places are as bad as this. Set the dials, kid."
-oOo-
They land on an unstable surface. Bogg immediately looses balance and falls on his back, but he doesn't mind. He doesn't mind at all.
"Haha. A bed, kid, an actual bed. A nice soft and fluffy bed. From now on I'm always letting you set the dials." He makes himself comfortable on the bed.
Jeffrey checks the omni. "That's strange."
"What is?" Bogg glances at him.
"It's November 1, 1428, but I didn't set the dials for this date."
"You know how the omni sometimes has a mind of its own about where to drop us."
"Yeah, but it's a green light here." Jeffrey shows him.
"That is some what strange. Perhaps the omni knew that I needed some time to get better, so it dropped us in a green light zone, on a nice soft bed." Bogg closes his eyes. "I think I'm going to enjoy this little gift."
Jeffrey climbs off the bed and looks around the room. Luxurious for Middle Ages' standards. So they're probably in the house of royalty or nobility or something else that is well-to-do. He looks around a curtain that turns out to be covering the door way to another room. He stares straight into the face of a man that is kneeling in the middle of the room hands folded and eyes closed. Jeffrey drops the curtain.
"Bogg," he whisper-shouts. "Come on, have a look."
Bogg gives a grunt of displeasure, but gets up and walks over to the curtain. "This better be good, kid."
"There's a man praying in the other room."
"So?" Bogg shrugs. Prayer doesn't seem to be an uncommon activity in 1428.
"I think I've seen him before." Jeffrey raises a tip of the curtain and they both look around it. "There was a picture in my history book."
"Who is he?"
"I don't know. I think it was some kind of French king or something."
"Who's king of France now?"
"Well, no one. I told you about Henry VI and Charles VII. Wait a sec." It suddenly hits Jeffrey. "That's Charles VII. Well, before he became king. I think we're here to tell him that he has to give Joan an army so that she can end the siege of Orléans."
Jeffrey wants to step out from behind the curtain. He feels Bogg's hand on his shoulder holding him back. He looks up at his partner.
"Wrong, Jeff. We're not here to tell him anything. We've got a green light, remember?"
"Yeah, but then what are we here for?"