Chapter 26

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

W e made it through half of the tour before remembering that Crosby was chained in the bottom deck of The Serpent. Even though he deserved everything he had faced so far, as well as what was coming for him when we returned to Jorvik, we couldn’t let him die of starvation. It was a cruel fate, and leaving him to suffer at the hands of it, we decided, was a little too cruel. Therefore, Viktor asked for a few crew members to unchain him so he could eat something.

I joined Roscoe, Hammond, and Caspian as we cut the tour short and returned to the ship. Viktor didn’t look too happy about it, but the tour was boring, and I got bored of people staring at me because I was the only female among the crew. Besides, I needed to take some food back for Kis.

“I don’t understand why we can’t just let him starve,” Hammond grumbled. “He deserves it for what he tried to do to you, Astrid.” That only referred to half of what Crosby had done to me as Viktor, and I had yet to disclose the full extent of the truth to the crew, as per my request.

“I agree with you there, Hammond, but the most we can do out here is make him walk the plank and leave him to drown at sea,” I sighed.

Caspian grinned wickedly. “I like that idea.”

“Of course you do,” I giggled.

“He didn’t seem that scared about walking the plank,” Roscoe reminded us.

“If we hold out until we return to Jorvik, his punishment will be worse,” I said.

“I still wouldn’t mind watching him jump off the plank a few times before we return to Jorvik,” Caspian grumbled, making us all laugh. The grumpy mood didn’t last long as he turned to me with a grin and wiggled his eyebrows playfully. “I’m sure you can convince Viktor to make that happen once we’re back at sea.”

“I make no promise, but I’ll see what I can do,” I chuckled as we stopped in front of The Serpent. The ramp was still down from earlier, but before I could follow the others, I caught sight of something peculiar in the corner of my eye.

At the very end of the island, in the far distance, there were several ships of varying sizes. They lined the island’s shore along that side, partially hidden from view behind the tall tree.

In all our hunger, we must have missed them earlier. Or perhaps it was because the ships were strategically hidden behind tall trees, meaning that no ships would dock that way and see them.

“Why does this island need so many ships?” I frowned, and the others quickly matched my expression when they saw what I was looking at.

“I don’t know,” Caspian murmured, his frown mirroring mine. “Even we don’t have that many.”

Hammond stopped halfway up the ramp. “It would make sense of them to have a few, but there’s so many of them.” He craned his neck for a better look. “I count eight ships in total.”

“Why do they need eight ships?” Roscoe asked, confused. “How do they maintain them all?”

“It doesn’t look like they do,” Caspian snorted.

“To need eight ships, that must mean that they’re huge on sailing, but neither Brank nor Bjorn mentioned anything.” My frown deepened. “I’m surprised they didn’t mention it after Viktor introduced himself as Captain.”

“And they also said that they don’t get many visitors,” Roscoe reminded us.

Hammond frowned. “If they’re so big on sailing, surely they would have more friends and visitors.”

“And we would have heard of them if they ever sailed our way,” Caspian said. “It doesn’t make sense for them to have eight ships.”

“It doesn’t make sense, but I guess we can ask them about it later,” I concluded, still confused.

“Maybe at the feast,” Hammond mused aloud before turning to walk up the plank. We all followed closely behind him.

We cut across the top deck to the stairs leading down.

“What do you think they’ll be cooking at the feast?” Caspian asked.

Hammond shrugged. “Fish, meat, vegetables. The normal food that’s usually found at feasts.”

“I hope there are some rabbits,” Roscoe groaned, looking like he was about to start salivating at the mouth any moment now. “I’ve been craving rabbit since we left Isle.”

“Isle,” Hammond chuckled with a snort. “That feels like such a long time ago now.”

“That’s not what I meant,” Caspian tutted. “There can’t be any fish at the feast. How would they catch some when we haven’t found any for days?”

“They probably survive off meat and fresh produce,” Hammond said. “It’s not the best of diets, but they can’t help it if they can’t get their hands on fish.”

“But wouldn’t they have run out of animals to eat by now if that’s what they’re solely relying on?” I asked, catching onto what Caspian was trying to get at.

“They must have an excellent breeding plan, and I’m sure they trade with neighbouring islands,” Hammond said, even though it would take over a week, probably closer to two, to reach the closest neighbouring island. “We should ask them about it later. We might be able to pick up a few tips and tricks to take back to Jorvik with us.”

Caspian and I exchanged looks, neither of us convinced.

“Hello?” Crosby immediately called out to us as he heard the door to the bottom deck open. “Why have we stopped sailing? Why is it suddenly so quiet? What’s going on? Where is everyone?”

“You sure have a lot of questions for a prisoner,” Hammond chuckled, dropping to his knees in front of Crosby to start unchaining him. Roscoe moved to do the same to the other arm.

“Can someone please tell me what’s going on?” Crosby groaned and kicked his leg out in frustration. I rolled my eyes at his petulant attitude.

“Shut up, Crosby,” I snapped at him.

I had done a lot of thinking over the past few days and concluded that I was so done with Crosby.

Sure, I turned down his proposal, but I would have needed to turn down at least one of them. There was no way I could have said yes and married both Viktor and Crosby. Not that I was the least bit inclined toward the latter. Especially after he had tried to force his touch on me and then was willing to let me drown when he realised I wouldn’t let him have his way.

Crosby deserved this and what he had coming for him, and I refused to feel sorry for him anymore.

I couldn’t wait to return to Jorvik and see what punishment was picked for him.

“You can’t treat me like this,” Crosby complained as if he was innocent and deserved to be treated better. “Even though I’m a prisoner, I have rights! And I have the right to–”

“Shut up, Crosby!” I repeated, my voice far more forceful this time.

Roscoe and Hammond laughed as they dragged Crosby off the ship. Caspian grinned at me and shot me a thumbs-up. I chuckled at all their reactions. In such a short time and space, these men had turned into family, and I looked forward to getting to know them and their families better when we returned to Jorvik.

Despite our demands that he keep his mouth shut, Crosby continued grumbling. In an attempt to shut him up, Caspian kicked out his legs, sending Crosby tumbling to the floor and landing awkwardly on his knee, no doubt scraping it. The plan backfired because Crosby just grumbled some more.

“Where are we?” Crosby gaped once we reached the shore, his eyes wide as he took in all the juicy fruit and fresh berries hanging from the trees and bushes.

“That’s none of your concern,” Hammond muttered. “We just need to get some food in you so you won’t die, and then we’ll have you back in your chains.”

“Can’t I take a walk?” Crosby pleaded. “I get no sunshine down on the bottom deck. I’m practically withering away down there.”

“You should have thought about that before you tried to drown me,” I snorted and crossed my arms over my chest. When Crosby turned to face me, begging me with his eyes, I merely rolled mine and avoided his gaze as I walked ahead.

“Here, take that,” Caspian said, holding out a large orange he picked up from the ground. It must have fallen off a tree, but it wasn’t an issue as we didn’t eat the skin. Or at least, most of us didn’t.

We all watched, surprised and slightly judgemental, as Crosby ignored the specks of dirt and sand on the orange and bit straight onto it.

“Chief mentioned that you couldn’t finish off the tour because you had a prisoner to deal with,” Brank called out, heading toward us with two other men.

“That’s right.” Hammond stood up straight, though made sure not to stray too far from Crosby. With how infatuated he was with the orange, I didn’t think Crosby would try anything funny. Especially not when Roscoe handed him a second orange. He went into that one, too, without peeling it.

Moments like these made me feel bad for Crosby, and I had to remind myself that he tried to kill me. A man like that didn’t deserve my sympathy.

“This is Rune.” Brank gestured to the man on his right, who smiled brightly and waved in greeting. “And this is Sten.” He pointed to his left. Sten was far less welcoming as he pursed his lips and watched us all with narrowed eyes. “How about we finish the tour now that you’ve got your prisoner?” Brank offered, though his tone made it sound like we had no choice but to say yes.

“Sure, that sounds great,” I forced a bright smile and stepped forward, not wanting to raise too many eyebrows this early. These people were strangers, after all. “But I had a question…” I glanced over my shoulder. “About those ships over there. Are they all yours? They’re very impressive.”

“We like to think so too. That’s why we have them lined up like that,” Rune grinned.

“Do you have one Captain for all the ships or one for each ship?” Caspian asked casually, feigning interest, but I could tell he had picked up on what I was doing.

“We don’t have any Captains,” Sten told us, his voice a little too firm for my liking.

“Sten means to say that we don’t use those ships for sailing,” Brank quickly explained, his smile bright and wide enough to compensate for Sten’s obnoxious behaviour. “But forget about the ships. They’re not important. Let’s get back to the tour.”

We all smiled, but when the trio’s backs turned to lead the way, we all exchanged funny looks. Crosby included. Their answers were a little strange, and it seemed like they were desperate to stop speaking about the ships as soon as possible.

Why would you have eight large ships and not use them?

Why go to all the effort only to have them take up permanent space along the shore and gather dust?

It made no sense.

Brank, Rune and Sten were quick to rush through the first part of the tour that Bjorn had already taken us on, and we started off the second part at the town square, where it appeared that nearly all the females in the island had gathered to start work on preparations for the feast tonight.

The women laughed and talked loudly, seemingly not noticing us standing there. When Sten called out to them sternly, not sounding pleased in the slightest, their musings and laughter immediately ceased as their attention turned to us.

I kept the interested smile on my face the entire time as I made a show of listening to what Brank had to say about the island square and the women who were cooking for tonight’s feast, but on the inside, my heart was pounding dangerously fast.

“Did you just hear what I heard?” Caspian leaned over to whisper when the trio momentarily turned their backs on us.

I gulped and nodded, trying not to look too alarmed. The horrified expression marred my face for all of two seconds before I slapped a bright smile on my face just in time for Brank to glance in my direction.

“I’m really looking forward to the feast tonight,” I smiled.

If Brank or the others saw through my lie, they didn’t show it.

“I’m glad to hear that. I assure you, you’ll love the food. The meat will be nothing like you’ve ever tasted,” Brank grinned, and we moved on to the next part of the tour.

I took advantage of the split moment to glance over my shoulder and lock eyes with the other four, Crosby included. They all looked as baffled and afraid as I was, but we couldn’t risk saying anything right now. Not when we needed to speak to the rest of the crew first.

But one thing I was sure of. One of us could have easily misheard, but the chances of all five of us mishearing what the cooks were discussing were slim to none.