Page 4 of Hooked by a Hero (Tales from the Brotherhood #4)

Immediately, Caspian knew he’d said something wrong again. Elias, Miss Ferrars, and Mr. Ferrars stared at him for a moment before Elias said, “I…I suppose I do not mind being called by my given name, since we will all be intimately acquainted during this voyage.”

Names! Caspian had completely forgotten about the propriety of names. He should have referred to Elias as Dr. Pettigrew.

“I agree,” Miss Ferrars said with a strong nod. “I should like for you to call me Ruby.”

“Oh, here we go,” her grandfather sighed and rolled his eyes. “You will refer to me as ‘Mr. Ferrars’ or ‘sir’.”

“Yes, Mr. Ferrars,” Caspian and Elias said at the same time.

They turned to blink at each other, then both smiled.

The long voyage would most certainly be a good one.

“Good God! I was not informed there would be convicts aboard this ship,” another young woman gasped from the main deck, close enough for Caspian and the others to hear.

“Convicts?” Ruby asked, her smile broadening and her eyes flashing with interest.

She moved to descend to the main deck. With a glance at Elias to see if he was game to have a look, Caspian followed.

They reached the main deck just as a long line of about twenty rough-looking men, all shackled together with their wrists shackled as well, were led up the gangplank.

The sight of them was alarming enough that with a quick peek over the edge of the ship, Caspian saw Lady Eudora and her mother fleeing in fear.

“We were not made aware that there would be convicts aboard this ship,” a middle-aged gentleman standing near the young woman who had gasped said.

“It was a last-minute accommodation,” a tall, broad-shouldered man in a uniform said, striding up the length of the deck.

It was clear at once that the man was their captain.

He had a commanding presence and streaks of grey in his dark brown hair.

He carried himself like most of the captains Caspian had met in his life, particularly those who had served in the military at some point.

A slight tremor of intimidation swept through their group of passengers as the man walked up to him.

“Captain Woodward, I presume,” the middle-aged gentleman said.

“Indeed,” the captain said, nodding as he came to a stop in front of their group. Two men of equal gravity approached with him, flanking him. “This is my first mate, Mr. Cox, and my second mate, Mr. Tumbrill.”

Both men nodded. They were equally as serious as the captain.

Mr. Cox was the older of the two and looked as though he’d lived his entire life at sea.

His skin had that leathery appearance Englishmen assumed when they’d spent more time on the water than the land.

Mr. Tumbrill was younger, but just as hardened.

To Caspian’s eyes, he looked as though he’d spent more time shouting at exhausted workers in one of the factories he’d just spent the last month touring than he had on the sea, but he still had a commanding presence.

“We received a request from the Crown to transport these men to Port Arthur on our way to Sydney,” Captain Woodward went on. He glanced to the young woman, who was now clutching the gentleman’s arm, and said, “But you’ve no need to worry, miss.”

“Lady Adelaide,” the gentleman corrected the captain with a frown. “And I am Lord Hugh Dunstable.”

“Lord Dunstable,” the captain said, nodding to the man, though Caspian could tell he wasn’t pleased with being interrupted.

He turned to Lady Adelaide, glancing to the timid maid who Caspian could now see was shadowing her, and went on with, “You’ve no need to worry.

Part of the hold has been sectioned off for these men, and they will remain there for the bulk of the journey, only being allowed on deck at short intervals, which will be preordained. ”

“Is that not cruel?” Ruby asked.

She snapped her mouth shut and jumped back a moment later as the last of the convicts who had just come aboard, jerked in her direction and growled.

“Back, you!” Mr. Tumbrill shouted, stepping over to grab the man by his arm and shake him. “You will keep your distance from the passengers. You will not so much as look at them while you are being transported.”

Caspian noticed Elias swallowing nervously as Mr. Tumbrill marched off to the hatch at the back of the ship, still gripping the growling prisoner’s arm to the point where the man winced in pain. He leaned closer to the man to say something to him that Caspian could not hear.

“We won’t have to be around them,” Caspian whispered to reassure him.

“I should hope not,” Elias replied with a grateful smile.

“Have you been shown your assigned cabins?” Captain Woodward asked them all.

“Yes,” Lord Dunstable answered.

“No,” Ruby and Elias both said.

“Mr. Cox, show these people their cabins,” the captain said before walking off to see to the final preparations of his ship for the voyage.

“If you will come with me,” Mr. Cox said.

The passenger accommodations were in several places.

A few cabins ran down the center of the main deck.

The ladies and their respective male protectors had been assigned those quarters as they were considered the finest and most comfortable, though Caspian heard Lady Adelaide complaining about the small size of the cabins and their narrow beds.

Elias had been given a cabin on the middeck, against the port side of the ship.

“I have seen desks bigger than this cabin,” he laughed to Caspian as he stood in the tiny space and looked around. “I’ve no idea how my trunk will fit in here along with me.”

“It’s a fine cabin,” Caspian said, running his hand along the polished wood of one wall. “Although I prefer sleeping out on deck under the stars.”

“Have you not been given a cabin?” Elias asked, blinking in surprise.

“Oh, I have,” Caspian lied. “But if the weather is fair, sleeping on the deck is so much nicer. Any crewman will tell you as much.”

“I see,” Elias said, though he studied Caspian for a long time as if he didn’t quite see.

Caspian helped Elias settle into his tiny space as best he could. There wasn’t much to do as Elias’s trunk would not be delivered until later, so once Elias deemed the space fit to inhabit, they left and made their way back to the stairs that would take them to the deck once more.

As they waited for a pair of fellow passengers to come down the stairs, they heard a commotion from the hold below.

“Quiet, you!” Mr. Tumbrill shouted, presumably at the convicts. “You’re all a bunch of thieves and murderers who deserve what’s coming to you. You’ll accept what you’re given and be glad of it.”

“I’m no murderer,” someone replied in a voice Caspian could just barely hear. “None of us are.”

“Thief, murderer, it’s all the same to me,” Mr. Tumbrill said. His words were followed by the thumping sound of someone receiving a blow and chains rattling.

“I do not think I’m going to like that part of the journey,” Elias said in a wary voice, hurrying up the stairs and into the sunshine as soon as he could.

“There’s no cause for cruelty like that,” Caspian agreed.

He could breathe easier once they were out in the sun.

Caspian drew in a long breath and followed Elias up to the stern deck, where many of the more distinguished passengers had gathered.

When the two of them looked down over the railing, Lady Eudora and her mother were nowhere in sight and the men on the dock were working to unwrap the thick ropes holding the ship in place from their moorings.

“It looks like the tide is right to carry us away,” Caspian said, pressing his shoulder into Elias’s as they took places along the crowded rail to watch their departure.

“It seems that way,” Elias said, sending Caspian a friendly, pink-cheeked smile in return.

They’d only just met, but Caspian felt as if he and Elias had been friends for decades. He was a good judge of character, if he did say so himself, and already he liked what he had seen from the agreeable doctor.

As the ship slipped out of its moorings and was cheered on by those on land and on sea, Caspian smiled, his heart feeling light.

That morning, when he’d come aboard the ship, he had mostly been looking forward to going home at the end of a long stretch of travel and exploration.

Now he was anticipating all the joys of the voyage itself, and of his new and exciting companion.