“He asked about me?” Aidan slowed, her irritation wrestling with anxiety. Did he suspect the truth? Why else would he ask about her?
“He is a concerned physician; he asked about me as well,” Van Dyck answered. They reached the cabin, and he swung the door open for her, then caught himself and gave Aidan a knowing grin before preceding her through the low doorway. “Must do something about that old habit,” he muttered.
Aidan gave a noncommittal grunt as she followed him in, but her eyes flitted nervously toward the doctor’s cabin next door. Perhaps it would be a good idea to tell the physician the truth. But she could say nothing until after they had sailed from Mauritius. If Captain Tasman found out now that he had a woman aboard, he could leave her behind in that Dutch colony with a relatively clear conscience. And while dodo birds might prove to be a tasty treat, she doubted that a book filled with dodo etchings would do anything to enhance her reputation as an artist.
Perhaps she would confide in the doctor. But not until the ships had reached the point of no return.
Two days later, Mauritius rose like an emerald from the sea. Surrounded by coral reefs, the island itself consisted of a central plateau ringed by volcanic mountains that rose nearly three thousand feet into the sky. Aidan thought the dark sand of the beach looked like a velvet carpet, and her heart thumped in her chest as she beheld the beauty of the mountains. Batavia was beautiful, too, but she had grown so accustomed to the squalor of the wharf that she neglected to savor the natural splendors around her.
The island’s beauty waned, however, as the ship moved southward toward the port. Aidan felt her heart sink as the city appeared before her, patched and faded, its clay walls and thatched roofs rising behind the docks and warehouses. Just like Batavia.
Aidan crossed her arms and gripped them tightly. Even without looking, she knew what she’d find in the heart of Mauritius’s port district—the same motley collection of taverns, flophouses, and shops she’d left behind. And there would be procuresses—not Lili, of course, but other women of thirty or thirty-five, unfortunate laundresses and knitters who had fallen on hard times and survived by providing men with the favor of women who had not yet been marked by disease, time, and hopelessness.
Eager to spend the night ashore, the crewmen of the Heemskerk hastened to lower and reef the sails. Aidan walked woodenly to her own cabin. She wanted to be off the ship just for a change of scenery, but she dreaded venturing into places she already knew far too well. At least this time, she thought, closing the door so she might have a private moment in which to change her paint-stained shirt for one slightly cleaner and more presentable, I will be visiting the taverns and flophouses as a man, not as a lowly woman.
Aidan turned toward the wall and lifted her shirt over her head. Suddenly the door burst open.
“Heavens above!” Aidan jerked the shirt close to her chest and cast a dangerous look over her shoulder. A boy’s tousled head appeared in the opening.
“Aidan!” Tiy cried, his eyes snapping with joy. “I’ve come to go with you!”
“Can’t a body find a minute’s peace?” Aidan felt her cheeks begin to burn. Quickly she thrust her head back into the stained shirt and cast about for an excuse to be rid of the younger ketelbinkie. “Since you are here, Tiy, make yourself useful. Go find my master and ask if I’m free to go.”
“Sakerloot, you are a grumpy one,” Tiy muttered, grumbling as he backed out of the room. “Hurry up, will you? The captain is already loading the barges. If you linger, you’ll be stuck here until the next watch is released.”
“Just go!” Aidan yelled crossly. When the door closed behind him, she untied her rope belt, tucked in her shirt, then sank onto her bunk and ran her hand over her frizzing hair. Great heaven, what if he had come in a moment later? He would have screeched and run to the captain, sealing her fate with his loose lips and bulging eyes.
But Tiy hadn’t seen anything. And that, at least, was a relief and a mercy. She cracked a wry smile. Heer Van Dyck would say that God had looked out for her. Aidan wasn’t so sure the Almighty had intervened, but she was grateful nevertheless.
Outside her cabin, the deck fairly rumbled with the thunder of a hundred stomping feet, punctuated by shouts and shrieks. In the midst of such mindless enthusiasm, anyone was liable to come barging through her door.
“Aidan!” She heard the strong voice outside, but this visitor didn’t come in. She stepped forward, cautiously, and pulled the door open. The doctor stood outside her cabin, his faded hat on his head, a fresh white shirt tucked into clean black breeches. His golden hair provided a stark contrast to his deeply tanned face and neck, and the way his shoulders strained against the fabric of his shirt made her gulp. Standing there, long, lean, and attractively male, he was quite the most handsome man she had ever seen. She certainly couldn’t let that thought be noised abroad.
“Are you going ashore?” His gaze rested upon her, remote as the ocean depths, and she wondered why he asked.
“I am.” She tightened the rope belt that held her breeches and felt for her dagger, assuring herself that it rested at her back. “Tiy has gone to ask my master for leave to depart.”
“Heer Van Dyck left in the first barge and asked me to keep an eye on you,” the doctor answered. “I know you young ones probably have ideas about what you’d like to do ashore, but I thought we could find a quiet place to rest, perhaps to share some conversation.”
“I promised to go with Tiy.” Aidan ducked through the low cabin doorway, then straightened, fighting to keep her face expressionless when the door closed and hit with a solid whack on her rump.
The doctor’s eyes remained serious, but one corner of his mouth curled upward. “I see,” he drawled. “Well then, you’d best get aboard. The second barge is about to pull away, and I don’t know if the captain will send another boat ashore tonight.”
Aidan nodded and dashed for the deck. She spied Tiy near the mizzenmast and waved. “Come! We must hurry!”
Caught up in the euphoria of liberty, they spidered over the netting that served as a ladder, then dropped into the wide barge. The bosun was about to give the order to pull away, but another figure swung out onto the netting and crawled down, landing with a solid thump at the rear of the boat.
“Thank you for waiting, sir,” Sterling Thorne called up to the bosun before settling onto a bench.
The bosun gave the order, the oarsmen cast off, and the barge headed out across the wind-whipped waters of the bay.
Two hours later, Aidan sat on a low stool at the gaming tables, her chin in her hand and her eyes heavy with fatigue. The bosun had given her and Tiy five stuivers each for their work aboard ship, and when Aidan protested that she didn’t care to drink the tavern’s watered-down ale, Tiy had persuaded her to sacrifice one of her coins at the gaming tables. Now she watched the slick-fingered dealer flash cards to several players while the pile of coins in the center of the table grew taller.
Aidan smiled against her palm. The dealer, a rail-thin Dutchman with a narrow moustache, was cheating his players, but they were too focused upon their own cards to notice. He wore a band of fabric inside the long sleeve of his shirt, and while the players were distracted by exchanging cards and adding to the growing pile of coins, he deftly loaded his hand with high-ranking cards from his sleeve. It was so obvious a trick that Aidan yawned, eager to find a bed and sleep on any surface that did not alternately send the blood rushing to her head and then to her feet.
“Aidan, can I have another coin?” Tiy’s bright face dropped into her range of vision. “I’ve lost all mine, but I can feel my luck about to change. One of the girls over there smiled at me, and if I can just win enough to buy her a drink—” He paused and gave Aidan a knowing wink. “Well, maybe I won’t have to spend for the flophouse, you know?”
“You will,” Aidan answered. Her gaze roved over the girls who loitered at discreet intervals throughout the room. “If you go up to any of these ladies, you’ll lose
your stuivers and your hopes too. They will rob you blind, mark my words.”
“No!” Tiy looked at her with an incredulous expression. “That sweet thing wouldn’t—couldn’t—hurt me. I think she really likes me.” His narrow chest puffed with pride. “She knows a good lad when she sees one.”
“You can have one more stuiver, but no more,” Aidan said, fishing another coin from the leather purse at her belt. “A decent bed will cost us two stuivers each, and another stuiver for a wash basin. So with that coin you must win.”
“I can win.” Tiy flipped the coin against his palm, blew on it for luck, then paused to smile at the harlot leaning against the wall.
“Wait.” Aidan grabbed his shirt and pulled him forward to whisper in his ear: “Ask the dealer to deal the next hand with his sleeves rolled up past his elbow. Then at least you’ll have a fair chance.”
Tiy appeared puzzled for a moment, then the light of comprehension dawned in his eyes. As the dealer called out for new bets, Tiy laid his coin on the table, but stood erect and crossed his arms. “Before you take that,” he said, his youthful voice echoing in the room, “I’d like you to deal the next hand with your sleeves rolled up.” He gave his fellow players a cocky grin, then winked at the little hussy who smiled at him. “After all, ’tis hot in here, right? And we wouldn’t want this fellow to grow too uncomfortable playing the game.”
The dealer scowled, then slapped the cards down. “Who do you think you are, lad?” he roared, standing. He spread his hands on the table and leaned forward, bringing his sweaty face within inches of Tiy’s. “Are you accusing me of cheating? Why else would you care how I deal?”
“I just want to see your arms, that’s all.” As unyielding as a rock, Tiy stood his ground. “No one has won a round here in the last hour, and I’ll bet these other fellows would like to see your arms too.”
The players who were still sober enough to respond lifted their heads like stunned cattle. “Sakerloot!” one man bellowed, his face darkening to a particularly violent color of red. “Show us your arms, man!”
“I don’t want any trouble.” The dealer thrust his arms behind his back, ostensibly to portray himself as a peaceful man, but Aidan knew he was furiously trying to untie the string that held his cheat cards within his sleeve. Without a word, she slipped beneath the table and crawled over the filthy floor, emerging at the dealer’s side. Recalling her lessons from Sofie, the Batavian wharf’s most accomplished pickpocket, she slid her fingers into the small opening of the man’s sleeves and pulled out three high cards.
“Hallo!” She waved the cards over the edge of the table. “Look what I found in his sleeve!”
From his quiet table in the corner of the tavern, Sterling heard the commotion and looked away from his vaguely charming female companion. Aidan knelt on the floor behind a dealer, victoriously waving a handful of cards before a group of enraged players. It didn’t require much thought to understand the scene’s significance. One of the players was swinging wide with his fist, and if the fellow hadn’t been dangerously drunk he would have already inflicted major trauma to the unlucky card dealer.
“Excuse me.” Sterling practically pushed the barmaid out of his way. She had been plying him with free drinks all night, but Sterling had steadily poured them out when the girl wasn’t looking, probably amazing her with his sturdy English constitution and capacity for liquor.
A full-fledged bar brawl had broken out by the time he reached the table. The tavern owner and the other card dealers fought to defend the hapless one who’d been exposed, and the enraged seamen used their fists and feet to demand justice. Tiy, Sterling noticed, lay flat upon the table, his arms encircling a mountain of stuivers as if he’d discovered the proverbial pot of gold, but Aidan stood behind the dealer, pinned between the brawlers and a solid wall.
“Alstublieft, please stop!” In an effort to free Aidan, Sterling tried to pull the heaviest of the combatants off the dealer, but the mammoth sailor only turned and swung a drunken punch in Sterling’s direction. He sidestepped the blow, then shrugged as the fellow landed face down on the floor, effectively knocking himself out. In the midst of the surging chaos, one of the barmaids rushed forward—not to help, but to rifle through the unconscious sailor’s pockets. Sterling shook his head, then turned again to Aidan.
Now the fight raged without reason. The odor of sweat and fury filled the air as men mindlessly pounded each other, trying to prove themselves. Torchlit shadows silhouetted the fight on the cracked plaster walls. The sounds of breaking dishes, smashing chairs, and splintering tables only added to the confusion, and blood ran freely. Someone cracked Sterling from behind with a chair. Though the blow nearly knocked him from his feet, when he whirled around he could not pick his assailant out of the confused sea of fighters.
Groaning, he leaned forward, his hands on his knees, trying to bring the room into focus. He had to get Aidan out of here. Once he did that, he could fall in the gutter, it wouldn’t matter. But a woman had no business being in a place like this. Schuyler Van Dyck might have given her a few lessons in self-defense, but the young lady had undoubtedly never encountered mayhem like this.
“Aidan!” He lifted his hand to his mouth and called again. “Aidan! Where are you?”
He saw her then—still standing in the corner, still pinned between the wall and the dealer, who looked rather the worse for wear. Sweat and blood soaked the man’s moustache and stained his torn shirt.
Sterling lowered his head and prepared to charge.
Ducking and weaving with each blow the card dealer dealt or received, Aidan felt a great exultation fill her chest to bursting. She’d seen a thousand bar fights in her life, but she’d certainly never caused one, and the thrill was nearly too much to bear. As soon as the dealer moved or went down, she planned to wade out into the fight, testing the lessons she’d learned from Heer Van Dyck.
She heard the crack of bone upon bone, saw the dealer’s tall form collapse at the knees and twist slightly as he crumpled in a heap on the floor. Aidan moved forward two steps and thrust her fists up, keeping one close to her face, punching the other in the direction of a tall man coming directly toward her—
“Come, Aidan. We’ve got to get you out of here.”
Aidan lowered her fists and focused upon her advancing opponent. This was no enemy. This was Sterling Thorne, and he was coming toward her with a no-nonsense look in his eye.
“I can take care of myself,” she protested, bringing her fists up again. “Move out of the way, and I’ll show you.”
“You’ll do nothing of the sort, because I am taking you out of here. It is time all ketelbinkies were in bed.” He moved closer, his hand thrust forward, and Aidan’s nerves tensed as she read the determination in his eye.
“I’ll not go,” she repeated, glaring up at him. She lifted her fists menacingly. “I’m not afraid to hit anyone who touches me.”
“Hit me then,” he said, coming closer, “because we are leaving now.”
Real fear gripped her then; her heart began to beat so heavily she could feel each separate thump like a blow to her chest. He would take her out. She would be humiliated, and the men would wonder why he insisted upon treating her like a—
Like a woman.
Crimson with resentment and humiliation, she dodged his hand. She’d show him she could be a man. She’d grown up on the streets of the wharf district, and she could fight and scrap and survive with the strongest of them.
“I’m warning you, Doctor,” she growled. He stopped before her, spreading his arms so she could not flee. The fool. He has just opened himself like a target. “I can fight, and I will fight—”
“Fight then,” he said, his eyes bright and bemused. She lifted her fist and plunged it forward, but before she could land a blow upon that chiseled chin, his arms wrapped around her and lifted her from the floor. Slinging her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, he headed for the door. Though she howled and pounded upon his back, he di
dn’t seem to feel the blows. He turned and calmly carried her through the melee until they reached the velvet humidity of the night outside.
“If you don’t be quiet—” He yelled to make himself heard over her storm of protest. “—you will only draw attention to yourself. And you don’t want to make a scene, do you? If you are quiet, those drunken fools from our ship will not remember anything about tonight, not even the fact that a ketelbinkie started a fight and squealed like a woman as she was carried from the tavern.”
Aidan clamped her hand over her mouth. How had he known? How long had he known? And who did he intend to tell?
Panic swept through her as she hung there in obedient silence. Passersby cast her curious looks, but she lowered her eyes and tried to think.
“I am going to take a room at this inn,” the doctor said, speaking more quietly now, “and you will not run away. You will cooperate with whatever I tell you to do. If you do not make trouble, I promise that all will be well and you can return to the ship with me on the morrow.” His head twisted toward her. “That is what you want, right? To return to the ship?”
She nodded soberly. “Yes.”
“Good.” Slowly, he bent and lowered her to the ground, then grasped her arm tightly. They stood outside a small inn, a far more presentable place than the flophouses where most of the seamen would sleep tonight, if they slept at all. “I’ve already met the innkeeper and his wife,” Dr. Thorne said simply, opening the door and pulling Aidan behind him. One golden brow arched mischievously as he looked at her. “Be on your best behavior, please, and do try not to start a fight while we are here.”
The innkeeper and his wife were sitting by the fire, and their lined faces lifted in surprise as the doctor pulled Aidan into the large keeping room. “Goedenavond,” he told them, bowing slightly. “Forgive the intrusion. I hope you won’t mind that I have brought a boy from the ship to share my room. He will be no trouble, I assure you, but he shouldn’t be allowed near the others.”
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