Chapter 10
Cordayne held a cannon ball in her hands, praying that the sweat wouldn't make the ball slip between her fingers and drop the iron ball on her foot. Something like this didn't seem like it would weigh enough to need both her hands, yet here she was.
She was joined by five other women, each with varying degrees of strength. Some, like Lara, hoisted the ball up like it was nothing, while others like herself didn't find it so easy. Cordayne was more of a dexterous person. She'd done some thieving in her time, but it was always something like pick-pocketing and never mugging.
"You've got to shoot off a shot when your told, so it's best to have it already set up. Don't waste our time because you weren't ready. It can mean the difference between success and failure." The man instructing them, Jeremiah, had a very clean British accent. If it weren't for the gunpowder and soot on his face, she might have thought he was a respectable man if she saw in randomly on the streets of London. The three pirates had decided to teach all six women together, opting out of individual lessons. All of them sat there, holding a cannon ball in their hands to try to get a sense of how it feels.
The idea was that as soon as you shot off your first shot, you were meant to immediately begin loading another one in. Until whoever was in charge said to fire though, you held your next cannonball in arm, ready to go. It was quite efficient, but her arm was getting tired just thinking about doing this over and over again.
"We are going to fire off the first shot. It will be loud, fair warning. I'd advise not covering your ears though. In battle you won't get that opportunity." One of the other men approached the nearest cannon. The cannon, which was on wheels was pulled back out of the hole in the wall. The pirate inserted a small pack, "The gunpowder is first," Jeremiah narrated his actions for us. Then he stuck a long pole down it, to pack in the gunpowder. He then slid a cannonball down there, putting the stick in once more to see if it was down. He rolled the cannon back into place. Next to him there was a poker. He inserted the poker into a small hole in the back. He set the poker down, and on his wrist he took a small piece of what looked to be twine, but soaked in oil. "He's putting the fuse in the hole he just made." The pirate took his knife, cut a piece of fuse only three inches long and slid it into the hole. Most of it disappeared inside the cannon, leaving a small stubby tail on the cannon. Then, he picked up the poker again and flipped it on it's head. On the other side, a fuse stuck out. He leaned over to a nearby lantern and lit the end. It smoldered slowly, and just glowed with heat.
"Ladies, it's best to step away from the end of it though."
The pirate who had loaded it held the fuse up to the one he just inserted. Almost immediately, there was jolt of power. Cordayne was sure the whole ship had just rocked to the side from it. Her ears were ringing, and she dropped the cannonball to the floor, nearly missing her toes. Her hands flew up to cover her ears, well after thee sound had done it's damage. She held them more in pain than as a precaution. She didn't even realize her eyes had shut so tightly, because when she opened them, the cannon had moved back several feet.
"Holy hell!" Maia shouted, her hands had come to cover her ears as well. Maia blinked several times, looking dazed from the noise.
Jeremiah gave a half smile out of sympathy. "I know, it's quite loud. You'll get used to it, I promise."
"You mean we'll wind up with no hearing at all, as a result." Zephora complained.
Cordayne noticed Charlie was the only one still gripping her cannonball. She looked unfazed by the noise.
"Can I try?" Charlie asked Jeremiah. He looked confused and skeptical.
"If you'd like to go first I can show you-"
"No," she cut him off, "I think I got it." She approached the cannon, taking a charge pack from the crate near the wall and put it in. With one hand she held onto the cannonball, and with the other she packed the charge down, and then seamlessly did the same with the ball. She copied every step with ease, looking comfortable with the large machinery. When it came time to light her poker fuse, the five other girls instinctually held their hands up to their ears. With another bone-rattling boom the next cannonball had been fired. Charlie held the poker in one hand and her other hand rested on her hip. Her hands were now sufficiently covered in black soot, but she seemed satisfied with herself.
Jeremiah looked more impressed than the rest of the girls. "Well done, Miss…?"
"Charlotte. You can call me Charlie."
"Miss Charlie." Jeremiah looked wide eyed, but quickly distracted himself with assigning each of the girls left a cannon of their own. "Well then, we'll walk through step by step until you all are comfortable with it."
"What if I'm comfortable not doing this at all?" Zephora spoke up, poker in hand. She was still dressed quite nicely, her dress not showing signs of much wear and tear. That was going to change working down here.
Jeremiah looked blankly up at the lantern, like he was trying to suppress choice words. "Dearie, I didn't choose to have you all aboard. I didn't ask to have you guys interrupt our day. Jonas and Moss did, and I'm going to do what they ask me to. They put the roof over my head and food on my plate, and I'm not going to risk that because you didn't have this in mind when you put your hair up this morning." Jeremiah showed no signs of being angry, rather he spoke like he was making a blanket statement to the whole room.
The message was clear: None of us were too happy, right now.
Except for maybe Charlie, who was trying to hide a grin, and failing.
Over in the corner, Brett noticed Charlie turning her face away. "Look, it can't be that hard. Just needs some practice," Brett said, looking out of place with multiple rings on her hand and a heavy looking crystal necklace on her collar. It seemed she had taken a liking to the complimentary spoils of the Jewel of Hades.
Everyone looked in concern as Brett rolled the bracelets up her arms like sleeves, and attempted to follow the procedure. She fumbled with the cannonball and poker in each hand. There was a thud as she dropped the cannonball. Lara leaned over to help her pick it up as it started to roll away, but Brett shouted "Nope! I can do this!" and chased after it. Lara rolled her eyes and scooped it up as it rolled past her.
"Do us all a favor and stop," Lara said in a cold and uncaring tone.
Brett shot a glare to her, but didn't respond. Instead she just stood up straight, arching her back and sticking her chin out.
"Ladies," Jeremiah warned. There was a moment, and Jeremiah sighed. "Everybody hold onto one cannonball and one charge." There was shuffling as every lady did as they were told. Jeremiah took a deep breath and resumed his lesson.
Above deck, Connie was catching on quickly. She was used to working with her hands and pulling things like plows anyway, so pulling knots tight against the sails wasn't too difficult.
What she did worry about was that when they took these knots up 50 feet and practice making them while balancing on a rope. She and Umakoti had been paired up. Umakoti was quiet, listening to what their instructing pirate was telling them, and keeping her head low. They were both quick learners, being able to practice their knots several times before the noble ladies near them had even figured it out for the first time.
Not to say that they weren't smart, but Connie and Umakoti had worker's hands. They were used to the bite of rope fibers and had learned to hear an instruction once and get it done right. It was a skill they unfortunately were forced to adapt to.
"You girls look ready, time to head up the ropes," Potts said. Connie's heart started to beat faster at the idea of heights, but she hid her fear. She'd been through worse. Umakoti, stoic as ever stood up from the deck, letting the piece of rope she'd been practicing with fall to her feet. Potts took hold of the netting. He referred to it as a Jacob's ladder, and hoisted himself up. He made it look easy really. Luckily it was attached to the deck floor so Connie put on foot on the lowest rung and put her weight on it. The pirates were right, this seemed nearly impossible to do with shoes on, as Connie's foot gripped as best it could onto the weathered ropes. Umakoti did the same, steadying herself within arms reach.
Connie gripped the ropes above her head, and put her other foot on the next rung, leaving the comfort of the deck floor behind. She gasped as the ropes shifted under her weight, and she reached out to grab Umakoti's shoulder who still had one foot on the ground.
Umakoti immediately winced from the touch, even though Connie had put barely any weight on her. Connie retracted her touch, and muttered a quiet apology. The girls had been housed together on the charter, but Umakoti hadn't really taken a liking to her, and it didn't seem like that would change now.
"Alright, so put your bottom out and bring your feet up before you reach with your hands," Potts called down. He was hanging five feet above them, one arm holding him up and the other pointing down at the two girls.
Connie felt the shift in weight as Umakoti brought her other foot up. The ropes shook as the girls had trouble balancing. After a moment, they found their sweet spot.
"Right, now, you both just hold on. I'm going to shake the ropes a bit. Try to keep your balance!"
The girls couldn't see it, but Potts grinned as he jumped up and down, sending waves down the ropes below. They leaned their whole bodies into the ladder, practically laid on it as they struggled to stay holding on. Connie let out a grunt, and her knuckles turned white around the rope. She heard Umakoti breathe in deeper. She saw how tightly Umakoti's eyes were shut, as she waited for Potts to stop.
After a moment, it did. "There!" Potts called down, "Not so bad, right?"
Connie suppressed the urge to say a few choice words up at the pirate, and instead responded with a low, "Right."
"Good, now take two steps up."
Umakoti immediately climbed the ladder, legs shaking as she tried to keep her balance. Connie followed, and her stomach leapt into her throat as the second step brought her whole body above the height of the railing.
Potts said nothing as he climbed up to where a bundle of ropes hung, swinging in the breeze. His steps shook their footing. Their breaths were shaky, as each girl stared intently up at him. He pulled loose two ropes, letting them fall within arms reach of the girls.
"Now reach out and grab one, each of you."
Neither girl did anything. Connie stared at the rope nearest her, just three or four feet away, and attempted to loosen her grip, but the ladder shifted with every movement. Finally, she forced herself to reach out. As she did, the ladder swayed with her weight, and she barely had the rope in hand as she brought it to her chest and let out a sigh of relief.
Umakoti did the same, nervously reaching for the rope and carefully bringing it back to her.
"Now make that knot!" Potts called down. Connie held her hands close to her chest, gripping the rope. With the smallest movements she could muster, she looped the ropes in the slipknot. It took three times as long, because she stopped to steady her weight every two seconds, but she did it. Umakoti had finished before her, and Potts pulled both the ropes up to inspect.
"Nice job!" He said, turning the knots in his hand to check them.
Connie noticed that most of the ladies aboard the deck weren't looking at their ropes, and instead sneaking glances over to Connie and Umakoti.
"Can we get down now?" Connie called up to Potts, her voice shaking like her grip.
Potts muttered some indistinct approval, and Connie immediately let go, jumping to the deck. She left out a full breath. Umakoti sucked in a deep breath as she landed, and her hand flew to her ankle.
"You alright?" Connie asked, reaching to look at Umakoti's ankle, but she pulled away.
"I am fine," she said, her accent thick and deep.
Cordelia seemed to have noticed, and began walking towards them. "Are you?" she asked skeptically. Umakoti turned away from Cordelia, not wanting to be noticed. "Right then." Cordelia let out an exasperated sigh as she squatted down to our level. "What's your name again?" Umakoti was silent.
Cordelia raised her eyebrows, like she was getting impatient.
"Her name's Umakoti," Connie answered.
"Umakoti." Cordelia tested her name out, "That's a nice name. I like names I can say quick though. Can I call you Uma?" Again, there was silence from Umakoti. Cordelia seemed to take that as an answer, though. "Well, Uma, you have a choice. I can send you to see Doc, our resident physician, or you can walk on a hurt leg for the rest of the day."
"I am fine," Uma repeated.
Cordelia's eyes went from Umakoti to her ankle before standing back up. "Alright. That's fine by me. If you're fine then you can climb those ropes then, no problem?"
Uma sighed, pulling herself up. She looked Cordelia in the eyes and then walked past her back to the Jacob's ladder. She walked like she was trying to hide a limp. With her good foot, she put her weight on the first rung. After a moment she hoisted herself up, and began climbing. Ten steps up, Uma turned back to face those of us on the deck. "I am fine," she said with conviction.
"Proved me wrong," Cordelia said, behind a wide smile.
Cordelia turned to walk back up the helm, where she observed them from afar, but not before looking at Connie and saying with a grin, "I like that one."
She passed the group of ladies still working on the ropes. "You all start climbing too. I don't want to see anybody on the ground," she said firmly, but Connie noticed the turn of Cordelia's lips, like she was enjoying herself.
"How did we get in trouble from that?" One of the other girls, Caroline, asked her partner. Stella smiled at Caroline and shrugged.
Connie led the group in climbing up the ladder. It shook as one by one each novice found their balance and they climbed as a group reaching Umakoti's height.
Thanks for reading everyone! This chapter was turning out to be a bit long, so I split it into two parts.
I'll try to have the next bit out in a couple days. In the meantime, I hope you liked this one. I'd love to hear what you think your girl would be best at (cannons, ropes, or kitchens, though only two girls stay in the kitchens. Just fyi!) and tell me what you thought of everybody. I hope it wasn't confusing. I'm trying to get better at integrating multiple people in a setting all talking together. I still picture people in their own little bubbles of interaction, but trying to get better!
I hope you enjoyed it, and please review what you thought and if you think there were places I could improve!