Chapter 4 – Utter Boredom
That morning the skies were a light shade of blue with just a few clouds in it. Karine walked out onto the deck to see if the others were up. The three women had been on the ship for two weeks now and each day seemed to be the same. They did the same thing every day with the exception of one major storm. And even though in that storm they had a little excitement it did not make up for the lack of it for the other days. The only thing Karine had to look forward to everyday was training with Jessica. She had become quite skilled with her sword. Karine only hoped that Jessica would be skilled enough with it to be able to fend off any pirate that came her way. Karine looked out over the horizon and wondered what they might encounter along their voyage.
"Ye know, Karine, if you keep staring out there ye might actually see something"
"Aye Evelyn but as to what will I see is the question." Karine stated while smiling at her older sister.
"I know what ye will find, Karine."
And what pray tell would that be Jessica?"
"She will find some rough and tough pirate that will just sweep her off her feet and we will never see her again." Jessica said sarcastically.
"How do ye know what will happen?" Karine said putting her hands on her hips.
"I don't but why would it matter. It's your idea we are here. We haven't seen land in two weeks because ye made the suggestion that we needed to get away."
"And ye agreed with me." Karine stepped closer to Jessica and crossed her arms.
"Now ye know ye really shouldn't be fightin. We all agreed to be out here and it makes no sense to be fightin about it. Don't make me get in the middle of it." Evelyn said as she tried to stop her sisters from fighting.
Karine stood there and glared at her younger sister waiting for her to back down. Jessica watched her sister to see if she would show any emotion at all about their argument. Neither girl looked as if they were going to back down.
"Ye know what if ye are so mad at me then ye can take it out in a duel. I challenge ye to a duel and we will see who wins this one. First one on their back is the loser. Agreed?" Karine stuck out her hand for her sister to shake it.
"Now wait just a min…" Evelyn started to say.
"Agreed" Jessica said as she reached for her sword on her hip.
Both women stared at the other waiting for her to make the first move. Each one looking only into the others eyes to look for any sign of if she was going to move. Evelyn had moved out of the way of them but was still in the background protesting the whole thing, but neither woman had heard her as Jessica charged at her sister with her sword raised.
The clash of metal could be heard as their swords met. Each woman pushed harder to try and push the other woman away. Finally after a few seconds Karine was able to push Jessica off and away from her. Jessica caught her balance in time to block Karine's blow from her sword. Determination could be seen on each of their faces as their swords met with each blow. Jessica would swing to left causing Karine to have to block her while Karine would swing from above causing Jessica to have to back away and block her. Each woman's skill was seen in the way she handled her sword. When it came to a sword fight both were a match for each other. Each woman showed a different skill to block the other. Jessica has learned a lot from her older sister and was showing it in this fight. It was a shame the only reason they were fighting was to see which one was better. Jessica had started to stumble a little now and Karine breathed heavy, but they still continued to swing their swords at each other. From another ship it looked as if the two were dancing the way that they moved around the ship. All of a sudden Karine stopped glaring at her sister and in fact smiled at her. Jessica saw her sister smile and stopped her advance on her.
"Ye really have gotten good ye know" Karine said as she lowered her sword.
Jessica raised her eyebrow and lowered her sword as she said, "Why have ye stopped attackin me?"
"Because I realized just how we are both bein ninnies."
Evelyn walked over to both women and smacked them on the back of the head. "Now if ye ever think of pullin somethin stupid like that again I will throw ye both for a swim, understand?"
Both women rubbed the back of their heads and nodded to their older sister.
"Ye know what Evy that is an idea" Karine said as she walked over to the rail and tossed the ladder over the side. "Are ye up for a swim?"
Jessica smiled and Evelyn walked toward the front of the ship.
"Aye Karine we both are but lets drop anchor and swim close to the ship" Evelyn said as she lowered the anchor.
Karine threw off her coat and her boots and dove right over the side of the boat. Jessica ran to the edge to see her sister come above the water and motion for her to follow. Both Evelyn and Jessica took off their coats and boots and dove over the edge of the ship. This gave all three women the chance to do something different and enjoy every minute of it.
Swimming in the ocean was quite refreshing compared to the hard work done above on deck. Swimming all around the women were dozens of fish in almost every color imaginable. It took them only a little while for their eyes to get used to the salty water so that they were able to see. And once they could see the fun could really begin. Jessica and Karine got to see their oldest sister swimming around and enjoying it all like she was a young girl again and this sparked both of them to start a race over to her. And before they know it they both had become sidetracked with something. Jessica had gone to the surface and swim on top for a while, while Karine had resurfaced and dove back under to explore more.
Under the water Karine felt peaceful again. She was able to feel free and as if nothing was holding her back. She really did enjoy feeling this freedom, until Evelyn swam under the water and pulled on her foot to pull her back to the boat. The women had been swum in the ocean for several hours and the sun was going down. Karine's head came back above the water and she sighed to herself as she followed her sister back onboard their ship. Once aboard the ship all three women just stood there and tried to wring out their clothes.
"This is never goin to work," Jessica said as she waved her leg into the air trying to shake water from it.
"Aye, I'm soaked to the bone." Karine stated while waddling around the deck.
"We just need to get out of these clothes completely and lay them out to dry for tomorrow." Evelyn said as she wrung her hair out.
"Aye but what do we change into, Evelyn?" Jessica said as she started to head below deck to their cabins.
"What else is there to change into but our dresses, we did not pack anything else except these darn thins!" Said Karine as she tried aimlessly to get the water out of her hair.
"Aye we will look odd, but we have nuthin else to wear and I'll be damned if I let the two of ye run around in your under things!" Evelyn stated as she follower her youngest sister to the cabins below.
"Awe Evelyn, Ye never let us have any fun do ye?" Karine teased her sister.
"No, I do not now go get in them dresses before I make ye!" Evelyn said as she pushed her sisters down the hallway towards their rooms.
Even though Jessica didn't like being in the dress, she would rather have Evelyn in a good mood than a bad one, so she put the dress on a toughed it out. Karine on the other hand stood in front of her trunk and looked at the dresses she had to put on. Running her fingers of the fabric of on dress she smiled to herself and pulled out a different dress. Jessica and Karine came out of their rooms and laughed as they save they were both adjusting their dresses as if they were uncomfortable. Still laughing they walked out onto the deck and saw Evelyn staring up at the darkening sky. Both women smiled and lay down on each side of her and stared up at the sky.
"Jessica do you know all of the stars up there?"
"No Karine, But I am still learning as more are discovered."
"I want to learn, will you teach me?" Karine said as she looked over to her sister.
Jessica smiled and started to point out just some of the constellations that she could see so far. And after a while Evelyn got up and raised the anchor and took hold of the wheel, while her sisters lay there on the deck ad talked about the stars. Evelyn walked away from the wheel long enough to see that both her sister had fallen asleep on the deck, so she covered them both with a blanket and returned back to the wheel for the rest of the night.
The next morning both women woke up stiff after having slept on the deck all night. Jessica rolled over and took the blanket with her in order to try to fall back asleep. Karine smiled and just stood up to try and stretch her aching back. She smiled again and heard a strange noise behind her as her back had once again popped. Evelyn had been standing behind her sister and had winced when she heard Karine's back pop. That sound had always driven her insane. Karine turned around to see Evelyn back to her normal smiling self.
"Ya know I sometimes think ye do that just to get on my nerves." Evelyn said as she placed her hands on her hips.
"No Evy why would I go and do such a mean thing like that" Stated Karine as she threw her arms around her sister's neck pulling her into a hug. Karine smiled again as she could feel Evelyn wince, which meant that Jessica had stood up and popped as well.
"No I know ye did that one on purpose." Evelyn said as she stared at her younger sister.
Jessica looked over at Evelyn and pouted. "Now that's not very fair of ye."
"It is fair when I know ye did it."
Karine tightened her grip on her sister so that she could not get away from her. "I have an excellent idea!"
"And what, pray tell, would that be?" Evelyn said as she tried to get out of her sisters grasp.
"I will go and cook breakfast, Jessica will come and watch so that she knows how to next time and Evelyn you can steer and then after breakfast I will take over so that the two of ye will finally learn how to fight."
Both sisters wanted to argue that fact but Karine had already let go of Evelyn and started to drag Jessica down to the galley with her. After finally succeeding to get Jessica down in the kitchen, Karine looked about to see what it was for her to cook. Their kitchen on the ship was simple but it was just what they needed. There was a prep table and an open stove for them to prepare and cook their food on. However their food was beginning to not look as well as it had. Karine had made sure that they had plenty of spices on hand to cover up the fact that their supplies were going bad. Thankfully she knew how to make a certain type of bread so that at least they would have that. There wasn't any butter anymore so they used a broth with it and Karine had thrown in a few vegetables and pieces of salt beef to give it some flavor.
"Ya know this cookin thing really ain't that hard." Jessica said as she ladled some of the soup into the bowls and placed the bread in it.
"It will get harder unless we can make port before Tortuga." Karine said as she looked at their food they had left.
Normally on a ship after two weeks the food would begin to run out faster. But it just seemed the women's luck that their food was taking longer. Even though they had run out of some things they still had enough salt meat and bread to last. And the water was fine as long as it was in a broth. Karine hoped that they would run into an island before they reached Tortuga so that they could replenish their food supplies. Both women walked out on deck to eat since it was so nice outside, plus Evelyn needed to be able to eat hers.
"Ya know I'm gonna miss your cookin ya know." Evelyn said as she cleaned her bowl with her last bit of bread.
"Now Evelyn, Jessica will learn soon enough and she will be able to give me a run for me money." Karine said as she took her bowl and Evelyn's to take them and clean them. Jessica got up and follower her down to the kitchen. "Soon ye will be able to do the cookin and I can sit on my arse maybe." Karine winked at her sister letting her know that she was playing with her.
"Like I will let ye sit on your arse!" Jessica said and threw a towel at her sister hitting her in the shoulder.
"Save your energy for up there ye have more training to do." Karine said as they finished the dishes and headed back up on deck.
Jessica came on deck behind Karine after making a quick trip down to the hold to retrieve the trunk with the swords in it. Thankfully the trunk was not heavy or either that or she had gotten stronger. Jessica opened the trunk and went to hand Karine her sword.
"I won't be needin that," Karine said as she crossed her arms.
"Ye can't fight me without a sword." Jessica said
"I can't if I was doin the fightin, which I am not." Karine smiled "Evelyn will be fightin you today."
"Ye can't make me fight her." Evelyn said looking to her younger sister
"Aye I can't make you but I can tell ye that will be the only good way for ye to learn is against her because my sword will not battle with yours. Mine will over power it if I am not careful so she needs to battle you."
Evelyn sighed and picked up her box out of the trunk and opened it to pull out her sword. Karine knew this would turn out to be an interesting duel, because Jessica had become skilled and Evelyn was never a fighter. She knew she had made the right decision though so she did not worry.
She took over the wheel so that Evelyn could go down on the deck to practice. It was interesting to watch how Evelyn handled the sword. She looked at it as if it was not part of her arm but when she moved it in the air it matched her so perfectly. There was only one difference to their fight from Jessica and Karine's. Both Evelyn and Jessica had on their dresses and were not able to climb about like they wanted to. Jessica took her stance in front of her sister and readied herself to attack. There was no way she was going to take it easy on her.
"Are ye ready?" asked Jessica
"Aye lets go"
Jessica charged at her sister and just simply stepped out of her way. Jessica turned to face her sister just as Evelyn had swung her sword. Thankfully Evelyn missed, but it did not erase the look on Jessica's face. Jessica turned and swung her sword at Evelyn causing her to back up against the rail. Evelyn turned her head to see what was behind her before she hitched up the bottom of her dress and jumped on top of the railing.
"Ye get down here!" Jessica yelled while lowering her sword.
"Make me!" Evelyn said swinging her sword at her sister again.
Karine smiles to her self as Evelyn copies every one of her moves that she had been training Jessica with. "She must have been watchin us the whole time"
Evelyn had been watching each battle to see just exactly what they were doing, so that when it came time for her to duel she would be more ready than expected. The only downside to it all was she had not actually done the moves. This was all very new to her and she loved every minute of it. Karine could not help pay more attention to their battle rather than taking care of the wheel. She really did enjoy watching them dance around the deck. It was the hottest part of the day and her two sisters were on the deck in their long dresses dueling with swords. The only thing left for them to be taught was how to shoot a pistol. Karine would wait until they had more empty bottles before she had them take aim at those. She felt better knowing that her sisters could start to take care of themselves.
She knew one day they might not all be together so she wanted to make sure they could fend for themselves and she would be able to relax about it. Evelyn was very headstrong yet she had a shy side to her so not many got to see the headstrong side, While Jessica was too stubborn to admit her heart was bigger than all the rest. Karine only wanted them to be taken care of so that her stubborn self would be able to let her soft side take over. Karine very rarely showed this side except to her sisters. She once had even hit a boy because he was being mean to her. Evelyn had never hit a guy and as far as Karine knew Jessica had not either.
Karine drew herself out of her thoughts long enough to see both her sisters sit down on the deck. Evelyn eventually fell over to lie on her back and Jessica was leaning against a barrel on deck.
"Oy! Are ye two done yet?" Karine yelled across the deck to them.
Both women were panting and were unable to answer her so Evelyn just waved her arm in the air for Karine to shut up. Jessica placed a hand in the air as well but her fingers were in the shape of a gun that was aimed at Karine. Karine only smiled, as she knew that this would be another one of those long processes that maybe should not be done in the hottest part of the day.
Karine stood at the wheel as her sisters breathing slowed down and evened out. She looked over to see that both her sisters had fallen asleep and instead of leaning on the barrel Jessica had fallen over and was now lying on the deck just like Evelyn. Looking toward the sky Karine could tell it was late afternoon and she was in for a long night. Somehow she did not mind. She was getting a little hungry and she was sure that her sisters would be as well when they woke up from their nap. She would not dare to wake them up now seeing as they don't like it. She would just let them sleep and hope that they woke up soon. And if not then it would be a late dinner for them all, and oddly enough Karine did not mind it. She felt like she fit in on this ship and being behind the wheel made everything seem perfect. She could spend her life out here and little did she know she just might end up doing that. In fact they all might be doing that.