Journal Five
I didn't like the feel of the missing cartographers space. I thought that the captain was usually in charge of things, the HE was the one that read the maps and charted the course.
This ship had problems, not so much problems but more mysteries than I hoped to ever solve. It still wasn't clear to me why the crew had to be of honest men, honest sailors, good men. In spite of this the crew was not the most trustworthy as they should have been. Suspicion was rampant that their mad captain was running guns for the Montaigne and not the Castillians of his obvious parentage. Their faces seemed to darken and laughter seemed to be something of a luxury. I knew with some certainty that the holds held nothing but the mysterious casket from the northern culture of the Vesten. I never ever mentioned that hold, but I did say that I was in another. If I mentioned that place I was sure that the captain would string me up in a hurry. I knew the contents of most of the holds and what did surprise me were the generous amounts of supplies in them. There was a hold of gold and of other monies but not nearly enough to warrant Berrin's attention before. As I set the courses for the ship using the maps, I found that I wished to spend less time on the main deck as possible. The mad captain often watched it. And his gaze made me cringe. So I set my curiosity loose and wandered the bowels of the ship. The Beautiful was a maze of reconstructed timbers and set beam. I had thought the ship sound before and in my plight to avoid the captain's searches, I found out how wrong I was. The very ribs of the ship were braced and cross connected in mysterious and astonishing ways. Desperately it seemed. But the outside of the hull was indeed sound. There were holds that I could not find the entrances to. Some of these were directly underneath the captain's cabin and the cartographer's place. I dug out the ship's plans and was able to discern small secreted holds throughout the ship. Holds partitioned from the main ones, and the odd layout of the bones of the ship hid them excellently. The for most was in the forward tip of the bow of the Beautiful. It took me days to investigate an entrance into that hold and when I did I was left another mystery. I wasn't the only prisoner of this ship and its mad captain. There was another.Return to Uncommon Valor