By: Bryant R. Haake, Honors College, Presidential Honors Student, English Major
Heilyn did not grant Cassandra the better seat.
“The whole story now, Ms. Cassandra, and no exaggeration.” It was a rich statement coming from a sailor. “I wanna know exactly who my men and I just gave up our livelihood for. We’ve been on that job since a year or two after I joined.”
Cassandra nodded. “Yes sir, I’m sorry. What do I need to call you, if you don’t mind my asking?”
“You can call me Captain Payday for now,” Heilyn said.
“Well Captain Payday,” Cassandra began, “My name is Cassandra Ilios. I heard some of what you had to say about my claims, but I truly am a prophet.”
“Let’s not start with that, Cassandra. Let’s start with your history, how you came to be here. Tell me all of that.”
“Oh. I mean, that’s not exactly very interesting information, but if you insist.” Cassandra cleared her throat and began. “I was born some 35 years ago on a small island we called Spinetail. I think they called it that because there was such a high population of snakes, but it’s been quite awhile so I can’t recall very well.”
“Don’t pander me with unimportant facts, Ms. Cassandra,” Heilyn asked not unkindly.
“Right, I’m sorry. Anyways, we were left alone for most of our time there until the Company found us. They started building outposts and stuff, saying they were keeping us safe from the pirates. We’d never seen any pirates, but there’d been stories, so the town’s officials complied. I was about eight or so then. I didn’t have many friends as a child because I kept telling everyone I could see things, and eventually that got around to the guards and Company officials. They eventually came and took me from my home, said they were gonna test and see if I was ready for a special school that’d give me some better prospects in life. To be fair to them, they weren’t lying; at least, not from their perspective.”
Heilyn could see some moisture building up in the corners of Cassandra’s eyes.
“Go on ma’am, at your own pace please.”
Cassandra nodded. “They took me from that place and I haven’t been back since. They tested me to see if I was a prophet, and as it turns out, I am. I’m a really good one, too. They called us prophets cause most of the others can just spit out basic prophecies. Not me though. I could see specifics, read the future and tell them what was going to happen. I could even see the past and let them know what people had done. That’s why I was at that prison when Bolton started the riot. I was reading his past to tell them what punishments he deserved. Then he leaned in real close and asked me if I wanted to see something interesting. That’s when he took me hostage and began wreaking havoc.”
Heilyn paused to make sure she was finished. “Well ma’am, that’s some story. I don’t believe in prophecies or seeing the future or anything like that, but I know other people can be deceived by things like that. Maybe it is true. My one question is why you didn’t wanna go back? I know they took you from yer home and all that, but that was years ago. Why’d you wanna leave now and cause all this? You seemed pretty panicked back on the ship.”
Cassandra drooped her head, leaning it to one side to rest on her shoulder.
“Captain Payday, sir, I wasn’t treated all that nicely by them people that raised me. Rivers, I wasn’t even given a real education. I can read and write, and do simple arithmetics, but I’ve been told my speech ain’t too great, and my readings and writings are apparently fairly simple. I did like maths, though. I was always good at maths.”
Heilyn nodded and stood. “Ms. Cassandra, while I empathize with your plight, being treated poorly is not grounds enough for me to quit us from the company.” He sighed. “I understand that these things can be… difficult to talk about, but you must try. You can… Trust me.”
You’re not Vexx, you ass, he thought to himself involuntarily. Stop trying to be him. You’ll never be him.
Cassandra raised her head. She had new tear stains running down her cheeks. They flowed freely, no dust left to impede their progress.
“I’d rather not, if that’s okay with you, Captain Payday.”
Heilyn’s face flushed seeing her tears. Who hurt her? Someone he knew? He didn’t know many of the upper-faculty all that well, but he knew some names. He’d never heard of a school for prophets, but he’d also never liked how secretive the Company could be. He had no doubt that they could hide something like that.
Heilyn nodded.
“No more tears, and no more talking. You’ll be safe here.” He stood and headed for the door, patting her shoulder as he went. “I’ll make sure of it. Deighly! You’re my new first mate, which makes you quartermaster. Get our newest crewmate a bunk and some food, then find something for her to do. We all work on this ship.”
Cassandra wiped her tears as well as she could and stood as well, trying to look as though she hadn’t just been crying. Deighly led her off below deck and came back a minute later, meeting back with Heilyn in his quarters.
Heilyn had always liked his job as first mate due to the crew and his duties, the main one of which was counting the money. It was this task that he kept for himself when allocated to the rank of captain, and it was what he was doing when Deighly returned.
“Ah, you’re back.” Heilyn inspected Cassandra. “Did you cut your clothes?”
“Yes, Captain,” Cassandra said, cheeks flushing. “They were too large, so I asked Deighly if I was allowed to. Is that okay?”
“It has to be, now,” Heilyn replied with obvious sarcasm, “but yes, it is okay. Now, onto what I said before. Everyone in this crew works, even if you were just picked up from an enemy pirate ship. We carry a small crew, so it’s how it has to be. However, since you’re recovering, I’m going to give you something easy to start with. You said you liked your math classes, right?”
Cassandra nodded.
“That’s good, because I’m going to have you working next to me here, writing the ledger as I count. Got it?”
Cassandra nodded again. Heilyn nodded back and motioned for the chair opposite himself. She took her seat, picked up the quill, and prepared to write. Deighly gave a curt nod to the both of them and exited the room.
“Have you ever had to file money before, Cassandra?” Heilyn asked as he walked over to the ship’s main safe, a large metal container set in its own corner of the captain’s quarters.
“No, Captain,” Cassandra said.
“Well, it’s not that hard. Rivers, I’ve barely had any schooling myself, and I can do it just fine. Granted, the old first mate taught me herself, but that’s besides the point.”
“The old first mate was a woman?” Cassandra asked. “And, does that mean you were the first mate before Deighly?”
“Aye, that’s what that means. Now, pay attention.” Deighly carried over a chest of coins from the safe, setting it on the table with a hefty thud. “We currently have twenty-four chests this size, each of which is used to carry coins. We try to keep each kind of coin in its own section of chests, but since we tend to find more coins of some kinds than others, that isn’t exactly a hard rule. I have my way of organizing when that happens, which is why I’ll be the one actually handling the cash. Got it?”
“Yes, Captain.”
“Aye. Now, yer job here is to write down the amounts I tell you. Four coral equals one carp, fifty carp is one shark, and ten sharks is a whale. You’ll mark down how many of each kind we have, and then you’ll add them all together. If you run out of room on that sheet, we have extras. Once we’ve gone through the whole safe, you’ll take all the sheets and add all the totals together, giving five totals: one for coral, one for carp, one for sharks, one for whales, and one that adds them all together. Understood?”
“Yes, Captain.”
“One last thing,” Heilyn said, noticing her drooping eyes and feeling the weight on his own. “It’s late right now, so we’re just going to go through two chests. Then you’ll head off to yer bunk, and I’ll wake you in the morning before the sun rises. Then we’ll finish the rest.”
Cassandra gave one last nod and dipped the quill in the desk’s inkwell.
“I’m ready, I think,” she said with a nod.
“You think?” Heilyn asked out of habit, forgetting who he was actually teaching. “Or you know?”
“I’m ready,” she said again with more confidence.
“Aye,” Heilyn affirmed, and then they began.
Cassandra was able to keep pace with Heilyn fairly easily, and they were able to get through a whole three chests before Heilyn sent them both off to sleep. Despite his eyes’ resistance, Heilyn couldn’t seem to fall asleep. His mind kept racing, letting him know about all the things he needed to do tomorrow, and the days, weeks, months, and more after that.
Vexx was training you for this, Jakey, he could hear himself think. Not me. Vexx didn’t train me for this. Not me.
He turned in his bed; Vexx’s bed. None of the world made sense now. He was captain, Deighly was first mate, his apprentice was a woman who thought herself a prophet.
You better have been right about this, Heilyn, he thought. You better have been right about this being the right thing to do.
The other part of him thought, You’re only doing this because Vexx would. You’re not like him. You’re not Vexx. You never will be. You’re not even a good person. Not like Vexx.
That thought shot him from his bed. Heilyn pulled his boots back on and went out onto the deck, breathing in the salty night air deeply. Most of the crew was asleep for the night, only the bare minimum kept out in order to keep them on-course.
“Can’t sleep, Captain?” a voice asked from above.
Heilyn turned and looked up at the raised helm, headed now by Bandy. The young man was clean-shaven and had messy, shoulder-length brown hair that he kept up in a bandana. He’d joined the crew about six years ago, and had quickly shown his skill as a navigator, map-maker, and helmsman.
This new recruit is a three-in-one package, ay Heilyn? Heilyn could remember Vexx saying. Reminds me of someone else I know. Skilled in so many areas.
Heilyn thought he looked a little like what Jacob might look like in his late twenties, though Bandy had lighter hair and eyes.
“Aye Bandy,” Heilyn responded. “Thoughts racing and all that, y’know?”
Bandy chuckled. “I can imagine, Captain. Need to talk?”
“About what?” Heilyn climbed the stairs and leaned against the banister next to Bandy.
“About anything, Captain,” Bandy replied. “I’m just saying I’m here if you wanna talk is all I mean. Not nothing specific to it. No stipulations.”
Heilyn shook his head. Bandy nodded and sighed, letting out a long, whistley noise as he did so. The noise soon drifted off into a tune of sorts that Heilyn didn’t recognize.
“What’s that?”
“What’s what, Captain?” Bandy asked.
“The song you’re humming. I don’t recognize it.”
Bandy smiled. “My mum used to sing it to me, sir. It’s a shanty of sorts about drink, but I don’t think she knew that. I thinks she picked it up when we first moved to the port town y’all done found me in, before she spoke the language.”
“Was the common tongue not your first tongue, son?”
“No, sir,” Bandy said. He let out another sigh. “The sea sure is calm tonight, huh, Captain?”
Heilyn nodded. The only waves were those left in their wake. All around them, the sea stretched for miles without a lick of land in sight. They were headed towards the Owl Den, meaning to restock in the small town inconspicuously before heading out to find their own place to make a pirate camp. There were already bets going around as to where they’d end up. Heilyn’s favorite guess was Hacksmith’s, mainly because he liked the idea of finding an atoll to set up a pier on, though he also liked Bandy’s guess of a sea cave. Heilyn hadn’t made a bet himself, but the others were entertaining.
“May I hear it, Bandy?”
“Hear what, Captain?” Bandy asked.
“The shanty. Do you remember the words?”
Bandy rubbed the back of his neck, smiling to the near-cloudless sky. “I don’t think I could forget if I tried to, Captain, though I can’t promise I’m as good a singer as my mum was.”
Heilyn nodded and listened as Bandy sung:
Yes, we do sail alone,
and we do sail on high,
But to keep away the lonlies,
and to stay away the cry
We drink the broken spirits from the shoal beneath the sky!
“That’s the chorus at least,” Bandy admitted. “I know the rest, but I really amn’t the best singer.”
Heilyn smiled, on the verge of a laugh. Bandy wasn’t wrong; his singing was not the best of the crew. Then again, Heilyn couldn’t really be the judge of that specific hobby.
Heilyn looked at the young man again. His attention was back on the sea, the moonlight glimmering blue against his eyes. Heilyn couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen Bandy without a calm smile. Even in the midst of battle he was calm and collected, though the younger man usually just threw cannonballs like shot put.
“Captain?”
“Aye, Bandy?”
“Mind if I ask a question of you?”
“Go right on ahead.”
“Aye.” Bandy cleared his throat. “I’m all for leaving the Company and all, and I understand why we did it, but what’s going to happen now? Are we really just like any typical pirates now?”
Heilyn tensed up. “That’s a great question, Bandy.”
What would Vexx say?
“We’re not like other sailors altogether, so nah, we won’t be like them.”
Heilyn thought the response sounded weak and dodgy, but at the very least it seemed to satisfy Bandy. After a few more minutes of silence, Heilyn faked a yawn and stretched.
“I’m headed back down, Bandy,” Heilyn said softly. “Have a good shift up here.”
“Aye, Captain.” Bandy smiled at Heilyn and turned his focus fully to the path ahead.
Heilyn softly padded down the stairs and creaked open the captain’s quarters, closing it behind him. He found his way in the darkness, leading himself to the bed only by the moonlight streaming in from the single, small, circular window on the right side of the room.
This time, when Heilyn closed his eyes, sleep came immediately.