Chapter Eight

Travels

Caitlyn stood on the deck of the Golden Hind, the ship enveloped in the midnight blue of the night sky. The moon was full and the wind was blowing her hair behind her as she looked towards the door that led to the quarters that Westly laid in. He still had not woken up and Caitlyn had done the best she could to nurse him back to health and treat his wounds. Even Andreas had tried to do his part, but he was still out cold. After Westly had passed out in the burning house after shooting the pirate that threatened Caitlyn's life, she managed to drag them to one of the only places on the island not set ablaze. There, she made a signal fire when the rest of the islands flames had died down. After Andreas had found them they searched Francisco Town for anyone who had survived or hadn't already escaped the pirates. They found nothing but dead bodies, unrecognizable dead bodies.

After that they salvaged what they could and set sail.

"There should be another trade island up ahead, we should get there soon." Andreas spoke stepping down from the ship's steering quarters.

"We'll probably be there by tonight."

He now made his way to stand by Caitlyn, leaning over the ship's railing.

"How's Westly doing?" He asked his eyes scanning the ocean in front of him.

"He's still passed out, but his breathing's steady now." Caitlyn began to lean over the railing as well.

"That golden haired dog that was curled up next to him on the island when I woke up is still at his side. I decided to name him Francisco."

A warm smile spread over Caitlyn's face, before it quickly vanished.

"I forgot to ask, how'd you get out of the cove with the Golden Hind?"

Andreas' gaze was lower than it was moments before as his shoulders had started to droop a bit more.

"You don't have t-"

"No it's fine, it's better not to bottle the experience up anyways." Andreas interrupted Caitlyn as his eyes rose back up to the horizon.

"The Bloodless Sirens, they were the ones that attacked the island, they captured myself and the revolutionary army youth that were still on the Golden Hind, including my brother. They took the Golden Hind as well and below the deck of their ship they killed all the revolutionary youth they captured excluding Alex."

Andreas gulped, his eyes lowering back towards the sea.

"S-she thought it would be a good idea to keep us alive and torture us until we got to their main fleet. I escaped, but right before Alex could the ship bursted into flames." Andreas trembled a bit. "I tried to look for him...but the explosion...it blew me too far away from where the ship had blown up...and-"

Caitlyn's head was now resting on Andreas' shoulder, he was struggling to put his words together.

"He's d-dead because of me Cait, if I had never taken you guys into the cove he wouldn't have been there. Maybe he wouldn't have died, maybe all those kids wouldn't have died."

Andreas was on the verge of breaking out into a full on sob as his voice cracked occasionally. Tears streamed down his face.

"You can't blame yourself for something that you didn't see coming." Caitlyn spoke softly as she scooted closer to Andreas. Her head still resting on his shoulder.

"If anything it's my fault, I was the one that stole from the Revolutionary inventory."

Andreas' head was now down, hanging from his shoulders.

"The cove was my idea Cait, we would have still ended up there even if you hadn't stolen the fruit."

There was silence for a while as Caitlyn didn't have anything to say. There were other things they could have talked about, darker topics such as if Westly and Andreas' family had either escaped, died, or were on their way to being sold into slavery, but Caitlyn couldn't bring herself to mention those things.

Caitlyn finally opened her mouth once again.

"Um Andreas, about before, about us-"

Andreas spoke over her.

"You should get some rest, I'm going back up to steer the ship."

Andreas hadn't noticed he had been holding Caitlyn's hand as he had stood up from his slouched position, moving back towards the ship's steering quarters.

Caitlyn sighed, her head on the ship's railing now as it was previously on Andreas' shoulder.

"You should get some sleep too."

Andreas stopped mid way up the ship's stairs, his back facing Caitlyn.

"Good night Caitlyn."

Caitlyn bit her lip as a depressed expression had settled on her face.

She headed towards the ship's sleeping quarters.