The First Sin

by Jessica Brawner

  I peered over the edge of the platform and saw the patrol scrambling to re-assemble under Nina's watchful eye. Strangely, the acoustics from the platform were much better than from the deck. I could hear what was spoken clearly, but as if from a great distance. Charles and Tyler emerged quickly from the lower decks, still talking. Lightning struck off the stern, back towards Rome. Charles flinched and even Tyler, accustomed to sudden storms, jumped at the sight. Another gust sent one of the patrol's air hoppers careening out behind The Indiana, straining its tether until it broke free. And then the rain, in one magnificent burst, obscured everything. Sheets of water poured from the sky, coming in sideways along the edge of the grand poche. The platform bucked and rocked and I took a firm hold, looping the satchel carrying the hat across my body. I grabbed my gloves out of my belt and using my teeth slid them on over my wet hands, never letting go of the platform railing. Looking up into the grand poche I could see the narrow rope bridge bucking and writhing.

  Lightning arced down, hitting the lightning rods, rivulets of blue flame running across the wires from one end of the grand poche to the other. It was magnificent. I felt the hairs on the back of my neck start to stand up again. Teeth chattering with cold I decided it was better to brave discovery than be fricasseed by lightning. Gathering myself I prayed Tyler hadn't locked the trap door behind him. I wrenched open the door on the upper platform and held on to the ladder as the ship tossed beneath me. Rung by rung, blinded by the rain, I made my way down to the top deck. Taking hold of the ring embedded in the door I yanked. The door came flying open with a crash. Merde. I forgot I had that fixed. Definitely not locked though. Hopefully they just thought it was thunder. Jumping through the hatch I pulled the door shut behind me.

  The hatch led into a small, enclosed room used for storage, and from there into the heart of the ship's communication system. Pipes and tubes ran the ship’s length, in every room, meeting at this central location. I reached up and touched one of the cold, brass pipes and followed it along the wall to the next room. Sound from this room could carry through the entire ship, and in the darkness the sounds of the crew shouting and the storm raging outside made an unsettling combination. An honest captain would never refuse another shelter in such a storm, and it would have been inhumane to turn the patrol out in any case. Likely Tyler would settle them in the common room while the crew kept the ship from flying apart.

  Dammit. I had to assume Charles and his patrol were still on the ship. I had to stay out of sight.

  Sitting in the dark listening to the sounds of the ship and crew I felt like a ghost in the heart of everything. I wanted to be out there helping them. After a while the sounds of the storm became a dull roar in the background and I found I could make out various conversations by pressing my ear to the pipes.

  Nina, up on the steering deck, was having a conversation with the storm itself, shouting into the winds. "You will .... devil... fight you all the way." I heard her yell, her words indistinct and faint.

  From another pipe I heard Marie's surprisingly colorful vocabulary as she worked on the engine, and the occasional shocked sound from Henri. No surprises there.

  I tried a third pipe and was rewarded with the sound of unfamiliar voices. They seemed to be praying.

  One voice, clear and strong said, "Holy Father, protector of your servants, guard us and guide us in the search for those who would profane your holy objects."

  I shook my head. My spine tingled with foreboding as the prayer continued and the hairs on the back of my neck rose. Fanatics. Of course they were fanatics, they were the security service for the representative of God on earth. I pressed my ear back to the piping.

  "...awful storm. You three, go see if the captain needs any extra hands. Make sure you clip in to the harnesses when you go above decks. We don't need anyone being blown overboard." There was a pause, and a door closed. The voice resumed, but the tone had changed, as if he was speaking to someone in confidence.

  “Daniel, while the crew is busy, see if you can poke around the ship discreetly. I want to know what was behind that trap door, and what else they’re hiding. This ship’s profile is similar to what we know of The Indiana. If they're hiding something we need to find out, and if they’re not, no harm…. Oh, and Daniel...Don't get caught."

  Merde. There were plenty of other things onboard besides me and the Miter that would mark us as 'not quite legal' to anyone looking. And no hope that Charles was just a pretty face filling that uniform.

  Thunder crashed overhead, and the ship shuddered. I jumped as the metal tubing hummed against my ear, stinging. It would be tricky to get down into the hold without being seen.

  I pushed open the trapdoor and water poured in, slapping my face. The wind tried to yank the handle from my hands. I scrambled up the ladder as fast as possible and closed the door. The rain sheeted so thickly I could barely see the lower deck. Pulling myself hand over hand along the railing I found the stairs down to the steering deck. "Nina!" I shouted as I came up behind her, my voice barely audible above the howling wind. She turned and grimaced.

  "We're holding together okay, captain, but we've still got those buggars from the Vatican on board," she shouted against the wind.

  "I know! I've got to get down to the hold. They've decided to do some exploring on their own. Can you keep everything together up here?"

  "We're good for now, but we've been blown way off course," she replied. Her muscles strained as the wheel tried to escape her grasp, and she wrenched it back into the heading she wanted. The storm had come in so fast she hadn't had time to fasten her safety harness. I grabbed it and clipped it to the back of her belt.

  "Where's Tyler?" I shouted.

  Nina gestured towards the prow, and I could make out figures fighting with one of the cables. "One of the cables slipped and they're trying to tighten it back down."

  I nodded, pushing wet hair out of my eyes. "I'm going below to find our visitor. Hopefully this lets up soon."

  She nodded back, concentrating on the storm. I grabbed the handrail and inched my way to the ladder as wind and rain continued to slice across the ship. There were two ways down to the main hold from here; one through the common room, the other through the loading hatch. Going through the common room wasn't an option.

  From the main hatch it was a fifteen-foot drop to the floor of the hold. I put my foot in a loop of rope attached to a belay pin, secured there for the crew’s convenience, and started to step over the side. Pausing, I grabbed one of the other belay pins and shoved it in my belt. The arm length of wood would do nicely as a weapon if needed, and I certainly didn't want to fire a gun in the hold.

  Letting the rope slide slowly through my gloved hands I stepped over the side. I sped down quickly and landed at the bottom with a soft thump. Letting loose the rope I stepped into the deeper shadows. The hold was dark at this end, lit only from the open hatch above. At the far end, towards the steering column, was the engine room, and Marie's workshop. Breathing deeply for a moment I calmed my heartbeat and listened to the sounds of the hold.

  My eyes, accustomed to the darkness, spotted a faint light moving along the cargo racks. It looked no bigger than a firefly but moved in an unnatural, halting way. I let my brain puzzle on the source of the light while I slid silently through the clear spaces, ghosting towards the telltale pinprick.

  As I got closer I could make out the outline of a man, holding a small light. He was muttering softly to himself, looking for something. Pulling the belay pin out of my belt I moved up behind him and cracked him on the back of the head. He toppled like a felled tree. The tiny light went bouncing from his hand and rolled through the hold.

  Checking his pulse, I was pleased to find it strong and steady. He’d live, though he’d have a good lump when he woke up. I searched around on hands and knees until I found his light. I used it to locate a small length of rope, then slipped it in my pocket. Tying the guardsmen's hands behind him I rolled him over, dragging him by the collar t
o a post, I tied him tightly to it.

  With the storm above I knew Marie, would be in the engine room. I was surprised to see Seamus, Niccolò and Henri as well. The engine was loud. The clanking clamor of steam in metal piping and pistons and gears working their hardest drowned out the noise of the storm above. Marie was hanging from a harness using a giant wrench to tighten a joint on a large steam pipe. Seamus and Niccolò were on the belay line keeping her up near the ceiling. Henri was off to the right, standing by a table covered in tools, looking like a nurse in an operating room ready to hand Marie any tool she needed at a moment's notice. Marie signaled Seamus to lower her and smiled at Henri as she touched down.

  "Marie, how is the storm doing out there?" I asked.

  She looked startled. "About what you’d expect for this kind of sudden squall, Captain! What are you doing out of hiding? Those bastards from the Vatican are still on board."

  "Oui. Je sais. I am aware. Can you spare Seamus? I caught one of them sneaking around the hold."

  "Aye, yes, we are done here for the moment." She looked through a viewfinder that allowed her to see above decks. "The storm seems to be slowing. I can see daylight again, and it’s not raining quite so hard."

  Turning to Seamus I said, "there's a man tied up in the hold. He was sneaking around uninvited. Can you let Tyler know?"

  "Aye, no problem. We'll handle him," Seamus replied, voice grim.

  As quickly as it had started the storm ended. The skies cleared, and Mother Nature said she was done with us for the time being.

  An hour later we met in the common room for dinner. Taking meals together made us feel more like family. Henri passed out steaming mugs of chocolate, and Tyler filled me in. "So Seamus comes barreling up the stairs dragging that young guard behind him yelling about thieves and god only knows what else," Tyler continued.

  Seamus chuckled. "You'll make an actor of me yet, Jac," he said, sipping his chocolate.

  Tyler laughed. "Well of course this gave me the chance to play the angry captain. 'We gave you shelter and you betrayed our hospitality! How dare you send men sneaking around!'" Tyler put on a stern, mocking face and Marie giggled as he waggled his finger in her face.

  “Charles demanded to finish their search, though he left the young guard tied up on deck at mine and Seamus’s insistence. I took him on a brief tour of the hold and allowed him access to the crew quarters as any honest captain would.” Tyler paused for a moment. “I will say, he kept his men in line. They searched the rooms efficiently but didn’t damage anything.”

  Niccolò burst out laughing. “Tell her... tell her what happened when they searched her quarters…”

  I raised an eyebrow in Tyler’s direction.

  “I was wracking my brain, Captain, on how to explain your quarters, what with me being the ‘Captain’ and your quarters being most definitely those of a woman. Then I remembered some of the fancy lady houses I’d been to in England. So I show Charles my regular quarters, then I take him up to yours.” Tyler chuckled, remembering.

  “He walks in, and says, ‘And how do you explain this Captain?’ wandering around picking up jewelry and stuff and I say ‘This is my entertainment room – for when I bring ladies on board. They love it. They like to feel pampered and it pays its own dividends.’ I elbowed him in the side, and winked, and I kid you not, Captain, he blushed scarlet.

  One of his men picked up something on your dressing table and held it up – ‘whot’s this?’

  ‘I have no idea’ I replied, but the ladies love it. One of my mistresses left it here, and I forgot to remove it before the next one came over – and she nearly swooned with happiness when she saw it.”

  "At any rate, they packed up and left quickly after that. Charles, the young captain fellow, seemed pretty upset that they hadn’t found anything." Tyler set his mug down and stretched.

  “Marie, I took this off the young guard when I hit him over the head." I handed over the small metal cylinder.

  Marie took it from my hand and examined it, tapping it against the tabletop. With a quick twist of her hands she split open the tube. "I’ve not seen this particular construction before – It may prove useful." She rejoined the two halves and slipped it into a pocket on her work vest.

  "Jac, we took damage in the storm, several cables snapped to the aft, and we may have lost some of the face boards on the hull." Nina said.

  "Given the size of that blow, I'm not surprised," I replied. "Show me."

  I followed Nina out to inspect the ship. The cables were a serious issue, those held the grand poche in place. As we contemplated the necessary repairs, I scanned the horizon, noting the position of the sun.

  Doing a few mental calculations, I said, "We’re a day off course, maybe two. If we're where I think we are, there should be a few small islands around. We can hole up for a day and fix the ship, then be on our way."

  Charles

  Back on board the Blue Raven, Charles untied the young guardsmen and allowed the surgeon to look at the swollen purple lump that was forming on the back of the young man’s head. His second in command for the mission, an unimaginative, solid guardsman named Yusef, a man he didn’t know well, and didn’t entirely trust as yet asked, “Is he going to be alright?”

  “Well, he was hit with some sort of heavy blunt object. He’ll have a headache for a few days.” The surgeon examined the swollen knot on the back of the young guardsmen’s head. “Tell me if you start seeing spots, or if your eyes won’t focus. You should rest for a few days before you go back on duty.”

  Charles nodded to the surgeon. “Thank you, my good man.” Turning to the guardsmen he asked, “What happened? What did you find?”

  The guardsmen shook his head, winced and replied. “Not much Captain. I’d wager that the ship has been used for smuggling before. The way the hold is set up would make it easy to hide stuff down there, but I didn’t find anything specific before someone walloped me.”

  “Did you see who it was?” Charles ran a hand through his hair, thinking.

  “No. Wish I had though. They walloped me good. Didn’t even hear them coming.” He thought about that and added, “Of course, with the storm I probably wouldn’t have heard a whole troop coming, and it was dark.”

  Charles nodded. “You rest. If you think of anything else, let me know.”

  Yusef followed him back to his cabin, as Charles pondered the situation. The storm would have hindered any messengers with news of the other ships, and the story that the Captain of the Bessie Quinn told – of sleeping in crew quarters and having his main cabin made up to please his mistresses – did not ring true. He also judged that his guardsmen was telling the truth about the ship. It was a class of ship frequently used by smugglers.

  “Captain,” said Yusef, interrupting Charles’s thoughts. “Captain, why did you let them go? I do not see the sense in it.”

  He didn’t care for Yusef overmuch, but if Yusef was asking the question, then it was certain that the rest of the crew was too. Right now Charles couldn’t afford the appearance of incompetence and he was extremely conscious of that fact, so he entertained Yusef’s question. “Besides the fact that we didn’t find anything you mean?” Charles replied.

  “Well, yes. Besides that. It was obviously a smuggling ship, we certainly could have brought them up on some charges, even if we didn’t find what we were looking for,” Yusef replied.

  “This is true,” Charles conceded. “And I am nearly certain that this is the ship we are looking for. However, if we arrested them now we still wouldn’t have the missing item and we would have no chance to find out who hired them.”

  Charles paused for a moment. “It seems to me that while our first priority is finding the Miter, it would be nearly as important to find out who paid to have it stolen.”

  Yusef nodded. “I see. Thank you for sharing your plan with me Captain.”

  They had searched the ship, and they hadn’t found anything, but something was niggling at the back of his mind
. Following the Bessie Quinn for a bit longer might provide some clues. The ship was limping in the direction of Marseille and would be down for repairs for some time. Stepping out on deck he beckoned the pilot over. “Follow them out of sight above the clouds at a discreet distance. I would see where they go and if they continue on to Marseille.”

  The pilot saluted crisply. “Yes, Captain.”

  The Blue Raven hadn’t suffered any damage in the storm, and Charles had no doubt they would be able to follow the English ship.

  Jacqueline

  Nina found a small, protected cove while it was still light out and we stopped for repairs.

  “Niccolò! Keep watch – I do not trust that they just let us go. If they are smart, they’ll send someone to follow us. If you see any ships in the sky, call out.” I instructed, as I tied my hair up and out of the way. “Their ship will be hard to see at this angle, they paint them blue on the bottom to look like part of the sky, and the grand poche is white to look like a cloud. If they are watching, they will likely be very high up to try and stay out of sight.”

  “But why did they let us go? Do you think they are working with Father Michael who helped us at the Vatican?” Niccolò asked.

  “I doubt Charles would be working with anyone that way. He struck me as much too honest and straightforward for that type of deception.” I chewed on the side of my thumb, pondering. “That does bring up the question again of why Father Michael helped us at all though. How does he fit?”

  As I was pondering this, Nina brought the ship down near the shoreline, half above solid land, half over the water, and deployed the land anchor to keep us in place. We lowered the loading hatch, and I stepped out to assess the damage.

  The Crew

  The hull was an easy fix, though it took time. The tiles for the hull snapped in to place through clever interlocking slats. Seamus would snap one into place, then Marie sealed it with a heat torch.