The man closed the door behind him as Drimpal leered at Bree.
She shivered and averted her eyes, looking around the room. It was smaller than she thought a captain’s cabin might be, but it was big enough to take a bunk, a desk, a small table bolted to the floor and two chairs, also bolted to the floor.
The thought of him touching her had her heart racing and her panting breaths made her light headed but at the same time, her body felt so heavy, it was as if her feet werealso bolted to the floor. She hoped the men couldn’t save the ship. She hoped it sank before Drimpal could do anything to her.
Drimpal moved to a cupboard next to open shelves that filled the entire right wall. Using the swag of keys that he kept on his belt, he unlocked the doors and pulled out bag after bag of what looked to Bree like coin bags and filled his shirt with them.
He opened a chest on the desk. It was filled with gold coins. He grabbed an empty bag from the drawer and began filling it with the coins. The ship jerked forward, and the bag fell, coins spilling out across the floor and rolling to the front of the ship. Bree teetered and fell against the wall of cupboards so that her upper arm, already freshly bruised by the manhandling, hit the hard wood of a shelf. Pain radiated through her arm and she cried out.
She held on to the shelf and tried to balance as the ship continued to dip down.
Drimpal scanned the cabin and huffed a curse. Shoving another bag full of coins down his pants, he gave Bree a slimy smile. “You will be thankful you chose me when we get to Darndale. You will be well looked after.”
She cringed and moved back into the shelves.
He gazed at the chest and closed the lid, locking it with one of his keys. He patted it as if it was a puppy. “I will find you again.”
Bree threw him a look of disgust as he took her arm. She cried out at the stab of pain, but he ignored her.
“Quickly,” he said, and jerked her to the door.
“You’re hurting me,” Bree exclaimed.
“Dying will hurt many times more if we don’t hurry. The ship is sinking.”
Bree tripped over some of the fallen coins. “Ouch.” She remembered how Garrett told Laura to feign an injury. If shecould get him to leave her there, she could find Garlain. “I think I sprained my ankle.”
“Ignore the pain.” He hauled on the door, but it wouldn’t budge. “Blast it. Help me.”
Bree took a step but cried out as she fell to the floor. “I can’t. I can’t move.”
Drimpal grabbed her injured arm and pulled. “Get up. You’re mine and you won’t die this day.”
The door flew open and Perlos, his face white and distraught, glanced at Bree and then gaped at Drimpal.
“Sir, we have to abandon ship, it is lost.”
Drimpal pushed past him, shouting, “Bring her.”
Perlos bent to take Bree’s arm but she moved it away. “No, I think it’s broken, and so is my foot. I can’t leave.”
He stood up and looked at her, as if judging her weight. His shoulders slumped. “I cannot lift you. You’ll have to walk.”
“I can’t, you idiot, go, save yourself.”
He glanced through the door and back to Bree. The ship jerked again. He ran out of the door and Bree let out a laugh. She got to her feet and looked down the hallway.
“Garlain,” she called as she walked through the rows of empty hammocks swinging from their ties off the ceiling. Bags and clothes were strewn over the entire floor. Thankfully, none of the crew were below at that moment.
Near the end she found a low, small door. She opened it and peered into the darkness. “Garlain!”
Letting out a puff of air, and with her heart lodged in her throat, she dropped to her hands and knees and crawled through the doorway.
Bree stopped and waited for her eyes to adjust to the dim light. Barrels and bags lined both sides of the walls, leaving only a narrow crawling space between them. With her heart still racing, she inched along the space. She briefly wonderedhow long her heart could go on like that. The ship tilted. Water seeped around her hands and knees. A cry hitched in her throat. She pushed her hand hard against her heart and willed herself to think.
The captain’s cabin was at the stern, and the bow was already sinking into the river when she was forced below. That’s where she was, in the bow of the ship, and it was being flooded. “Garlain!” she shrieked into the darkness.
A sound floated to her ears. She stopped and held her breath. Banging. Someone was banging on something.
