The mud held little interest for me, but William's hand-held light tube was fascinating. I dropped to my knees, reaching for the metal length he held at waist height. He laughed and clicked the device, extinguishing the light before another click blinded me as the bulb glowed to life. "It's a torch, lass."
"Torch?" I ventured, laying my hand on the surprisingly warm metal.
William's hand covered mine, pressing my finger down until a click turned the torch off. "If you want to play with it for a bit, it's all yours."
"Mr McGregor!" Charlie's voice leaped so high it broke. "What are you doing with Miss Maria?"
William stared down at me in shock for a moment before he jumped back, putting several feet between us. He waved the torch. "Showing her the hold and my torch, lad. Nothing...nothing inappropriate. She wanted a closer look at my torch and I didn't realise...if I'd thought how compromising it might look, I wouldn't have..." The front of his pants looked decidedly tight and uncomfortable.
Perhaps William wasn't as immune to my body as I'd thought, I reflected as I accepted Charlie's assistance to rise to my feet. I averted my eyes from the man's frantic, furtive wardrobe adjustments and followed Charlie instead.
The boy's hair was still wet, but he wore clothes as he led the way up the ladder. "You should see the engines, Miss Maria," he said eagerly. "The boiler room where the firemen work is like hell, but when you see how fast they stoke the engines – oh! It's like magic. You won't believe something so huge can go so fast."
William's muffled laugh behind me told me he was following us. "Lad, you have no idea," he muttered so quietly that I barely heard him, "but I think she might."
Seven
I stepped over the threshold and into a raging inferno. The heat hit me first, searing the very breath in my lungs. Reflected flames danced along the walls and in the sheen of blackened sweat on the men who fed the real fire that heated the boilers.
My memory stirred, sparked and burst into horrifyingly clear images of the Emden burning as dying men screamed...and so did I.
"It's all right, lass." William's arms closed around me, pressing my body against his so that all I could see were the blurred folds of his shirt. "Charlie was only joking about it being hell, weren't you, lad? This is the boiler room, where the firemen stoke the fires to heat the boilers that drive the ship. Nothing to fear here. The lad – we both thought you'd like to see the powerful engines speeding us to land. If you don't want to, there's no harm done. Do you want to see more of the ship, Maria?"
I looked up and glimpsed the ruddy light before I squeezed my eyes shut. "No. No more," I replied, shaking my head.
William half-carried me out into the corridor and I felt the welcome relief of the cool bulkhead beside me. Sucking in a calming breath, I drew myself up and looked into the boiler room. The hard-working men inside eyed me curiously, between furiously shovelling coal into the well-contained fire. The flames weren't consuming any part of this ship, except for the plentiful coal that fed its roaring boilers. As for the Emden...she was nothing but a burned-out hulk by now.
"What's wrong, Miss Maria? Don't you want to see the engines?" Charlie blocked the boiler room doorway, looking crushed.
William saved me from having to answer. "All that talk of hell must have frightened her, lad. I don't think she's ever seen anything like it. Now I'm going to take her up to the main deck for some much-needed fresh air, I think." He nudged me toward the ladder to the deck above and I closed grateful fingers on the handrail as I climbed, feeling the vibration from William's weight not far below me.
"Wait for me!" called Charlie as I reached the upper deck, his shoes clunking on the rungs as he followed us.
William waited while I climbed the last ladder, which led to the main deck. "Don't you have your apprentice duties?" he asked as Charlie came into view.
"Tell me what you're going to do with Miss Maria," Charlie insisted.
My eyes met William's as he glanced up at me. "I'm going to escort her to the mess deck and make her some tea." He laughed. "Why, do you think you can make a better pot of tea than I can, lad?"
I continued up, stepping out onto the main deck right in front of Captain Foster.
"Good day, Maria," he said. "Where is McGregor?"
"William?" I asked uncertainly and he gave a curt nod. I pointed down the ladder I'd just left, hearing the sounds of climbing.
William's head appeared, followed by the rest of him. "What's wrong, lass? Captain." He and the captain exchanged nods as I looked from one to the other.
"I thought you were taking care of the girl, McGregor. Maybe I should assign the boy to her instead. Why did I hear her screaming below decks?"
"I don't know," William began.
"Fire," I said firmly. "Fear...fire."
Charlie tumbled to the deck at my feet, breathing hard. "Miss Maria was afraid of the fires in the boiler room. I made a joke that it looked like hell in there and Miss Maria believed me, sir. Mr McGregor –"
"The engine room is no place for a woman!" Captain Foster exploded, glaring at Charlie and William. He pointed at Charlie. "You should be hard at work or you'll never be anything but an apprentice. Get below." He turned to William. "I don't want her wandering around below decks. It's dangerous." His eyes flicked to me and I saw fear in them. "For a woman to be alone in places like that. Don't let her out of your sight and keep to the main decks. I don't want her near the engine room again. You should get her safely back to her cabin."
Charlie turned and headed back down the ladder, glaring balefully at all of us. He seemed to reserve extra anger for William as the man's arm came to rest around my shoulders. "First, we're going to the mess deck for a cup of tea to settle her nerves. I want to try and ask her about what happened to her and I was hoping..." William coughed. "Have you heard anything over the wireless about her vessel? The one that was wrecked?"
Captain Foster shook his head. "I radioed to tell them about finding the wreckage she was floating on, but no one has word that any vessel has been lost in the storms. I haven't mentioned her because we might be ordered to return to Fremantle instead of heading to Durban as scheduled, so I want to wait until we're more than halfway. We have a better chance of finding an interpreter who understands her language there than in Australia, too. Anything you can find out about who she is and what she's doing out here...tell Allchin he can use my private stores if it'll help."
To my surprise, William winked at me as he took my arm. "There's an offer I don't need to hear twice. C'mon, lass, before he reconsiders. Have you ever tasted chocolate before? Chocolate?"
I stared at him, my feet moving automatically to keep pace with the hurrying man. What in the world was chocolate?
Eight
The mess deck was empty but for Allchin and a small, dark-haired man that I didn't know. William said something to Allchin in a voice so low I didn't hear the words, but the cook nodded and disappeared into the kitchen.
The small man and William bowed their heads to one another, much like my people did. "MacuGuregoru-san," the man said.
William responded, "Kaito-san." He glanced at me. "This is Maria. Maria, Kaito-san is from Japan."
Kaito inclined his head. "Hajimemashite, Maria-san."
I smiled uncertainly and ducked my head. "Ha...hajimmy..." I looked to William, lost. I couldn't pronounce what Kaito had said, nor did I understand it.
"He said he's pleased to meet you, lass, or at least I think that's what he said. He might have asked about your health." William shrugged. "It's been a long time since I spoke any Japanese."
Kaito smiled. "It means both. Would you and Maria-san like to join me for tea?" He poured hot water from the kettle into a squat, shiny teapot. A wisp of steam curled up from the dark liquid.
I inhaled, then took another, deeper breath. The scent hit the back of my throat and transported me home. For a moment, I'd just finished a meal with my mother and sister. The brief flash of memory was so clear, but over so fast
that tears sprang to my eyes. I'd never share a meal with either of them, ever again. I opened my eyes to find both men staring at me. The smell had strengthened and it was coming from Kaito's teapot.
"You like my tea, Maria-san?"
"Yes," I breathed. Surely the liquid wasn't the same brown stuff that William had given me. Each murky cup had looked and smelled like stewed seaweed and wet wood.
Kaito's smile didn't fade as he poured two cups of the fragrant tea. His teapot hovered over a third, empty cup. "MacuGuregoru-san?"
"No, I'll take my tea like we do at home." William lifted the large, brown teapot that dwarfed Kaito's black lacquered one, and poured his own tea. It was the darkest I'd ever seen it – or perhaps it was just in contrast to the fresh green of my drink. A splash of milk turned dark brown to tan, but it didn't attract me in the slightest.
"Maria-san," Kaito said, lifting his cup in salute. William did the same, as if this were some sort of ritual I didn't understand. Both drank together and I lifted my cup to do the same. The flavour was stronger than the smell and memory slugged me again, but I managed to control it this time as I sank onto a bench to cover my preoccupation with the past.
William sat across from me, slurping his tea with a smile pasted on his face.
The ship lurched beneath us and I grabbed the table to stop myself from slipping off the bench.
"Where did you learn Japanese, MacuGuregoru-san?" Kaito asked, his face paling as he sipped.
William appeared surprised at the question. "One of my friends at university was half-Japanese. He was a champion boxer, but he'd learned to fight in some ancient Japanese style and he wanted to continue to practice. I was the only one who'd beaten him in the ring – once! – so I offered to learn. We studied together for four years and I learned some Japanese when he couldn't remember the words in English. Bad juju fighting, the other boys called it, for it made me a better fighter." He took a deep draught of tea, which threatened to spill as the ship continued to move. "Or a worse one, if the boy was my opponent!"
Kaito smiled. "Did your friend study jujitsu in Japan? I would be interested in training with you some time. My father insisted I practice samurai hand-to-hand fighting every morning before breakfast and I fear I will forget his teachings if I don't continue to practice diligently." He ducked his head and I saw his knuckles whiten as he clung to the bench beneath him as if his life depended on it. "MacuGuregoru-san, Maria-san...please excuse me. My tea is yours." His hand shoved the teapot toward me before he staggered out of the door. His face was a delicate shade of green as he braced himself along the corridor and out of sight.
The ship was indeed moving more in the swell – there were waves within my cup when I set it on the table. Grateful for Kaito's gift, I poured more green tea for myself and took a moment to savour the smell.
"Stewed grass," William said, nodding at my cup. "I don't know how you can drink that stuff. It even turned Kaito green, though the ship rolling's usually enough to do that to me – no strange drink necessary. Maybe I'm getting my sea legs after all. A bit bloody late, but better late than never."
William's unsettled stomach didn't seem to bother him any more, I reflected, noting that he happily drank his foul brew without any sign of the distress Kaito suffered from the ship's motion.
"You're in luck!" Allchin said, hurrying across the deck as if the swell didn't bother him in the slightest. "I found a whole box of the stuff, but it took me some time to find it. It says Plaistowe's British chocolate on the outside, but it's not a name or a sweet I've ever heard of. Must be some strange colonial imitation of the Cadbury's back home. Untouched until now, so I brought you two bars." He set a tin plate on the table, adorned with two long, brown blocks of something. "I found a good bottle of rum, too. I thought we were out before we hit the Panama Canal, but it turned out there was one left behind the condensed milk. No idea why the captain would order so much of the stuff."
William glanced at me. "Keep the rum in reserve – and out of sight. You never know when you might need it for medicinal purposes."
Allchin grinned and winked. "I think I just might." He disappeared into the kitchen.
William's full attention turned to me. "Now, lass. You never did answer before. Have you eaten chocolate?" He waved at the brown bars.
"Chocolate," I repeated slowly, then shook my head and pressed my lips together. If this tasted like his tea, I wasn't touching it.
He laughed and leaned forward with a wicked smile on his face. "Maria, you are going to love me for the rest of your life for this. For a woman, I've heard it's better than the first time you..." He reddened and I wondered why. "Now, open your mouth."
I stared at him, mystified.
"Open your mouth, lass," he repeated, dropping his voice to a seductive purr. I may not have understood his words, but his tone brought a smile to my lips. He leaned closer, so that his deep ocean eyes bored into mine. His lips parted and so did mine, to draw a shaky breath into my suddenly dry mouth. I wanted to kiss this man, whose lips were but a breath away.
His finger grazed my lower lip as he slipped it inside my mouth. No, not his finger – a cold piece of the brown material, which he left on my tongue. His fingers pushed my chin up so that I closed my mouth on the morsel.
I closed my eyes, breathing deeply as I resisted the urge for violence that bubbled up. How dare he deny me the kiss he'd been so keen to give me, replacing his warm tongue with the cold substance I didn't want. The stuff was melting on my tongue, much like the butter he'd spread on my toast that morning. The first taste was bitter and I drew myself up to spit the offending object at his face.
"Wait, please," he implored, pressing his index finger over my lips as if he wished to hush me.
Buttery bitterness melted and sweetness filled my mouth like nothing I'd ever tasted before. My eyes flew open in surprise as the smooth confection slid down my throat. William's grin told me he knew exactly what I was thinking as he popped a piece of chocolate into his own mouth. He chewed it and broke off another piece. "More?"
"Oh yes," I breathed.
Together, we finished off both of the blissful bars before William's hands closed over mine on the table. "Maria, I need to know what happened to you. When you were afraid in the boiler room...was it because you've seen a ship on fire before? You feared this ship was on fire, too?"
I tried to summon the words. "Ship...fire. Dead men. Burning." The memory was still painfully clear. How much time must pass before it would fade?
He squeezed my hands. "You must have been terrified. A ship on fire, alone at sea, is a fearful thing. How did you escape?" My bewilderment must have showed, because he tried again. "You're not dead on the fiery ship. Not burned. Alive – how?"
I pulled my hands out of his and tried to show him.
His arms mirrored the arcs mine made. "You dived into the water and swam away?"
I circled my hands uncertainly. "Swim? Swim...ocean."
"What about sharks? Weren't you afraid of sharks? Or weren't there any?" he pressed.
"Sharks, yes," I began uncertainly. "No fear. Big fish." I held up a fist and feinted a punch in front of him. "Sharks...fear." My smile died on my lips at William's shock.
"You leaped off a burning ship into shark-infested waters and fought them off?" He shook his head in disbelief. "Maria, that's crazy. You can't possibly have...what was the ship's name?"
"Name...ship?" I repeated.
He nodded. "Yes. What was the name of the burning ship?"
I wet my lips. "Emden."
His brow furrowed. "I've heard that name before. It was a warship...a big victory for the British during the war. You can't have come from that. They only allow men on warships and anyway, it was sunk years ago at some island in the Indian Ocean. Here. It was sunk off some colony here!" He stared at me. "You're the daughter of some rich colonist out here, aren't you? Or...you're his wife." His eyes held hurt. "That's why you didn't scream like my sister or any normal girl would w
hen you saw Charlie naked. You're not an innocent at all. You're a married woman. Married and...your husband will be looking for you. Combing the whole damn ocean in search of you, I bet."
From the warm, admiring man, he'd suddenly turned cold and distant. It was the name of the ship. It had to be. He knew what I'd done.
William's hands cupped my face, his sad eyes holding mine. "His name. Maria, tell me his name so I can help you return to his arms." He wiped my tears away with his fingers. "His name or the name of his ship. I'll find him and I swear I'll see you safely home to him."
"Giuseppe," I whispered, the tears flowing faster still. I tried to illustrate my words with my hands, in the faint hope that he'd understand. "Ship...sank and sharks...Giuseppe no swim. Sank. Sharks. Sharks...dead. Giuseppe dead." I laid my head on the table and sobbed. He was the only man I'd ever loved and the ocean took him away from me.
I felt the bench jump as William's weight landed beside me. Warm arms enveloped me, pulling me to his chest. "I'm sorry, lass. Not a wife – a widow and a newly bereaved one, at that. I'm so sorry. If I'd known, I wouldn't have pushed so hard. No wonder you didn't want to talk about it. To see the man you love drown and have to survive at sea, all on your own...I don't know a single woman who'd be brave enough to do what you did."
His unfamiliar words washed over me, but I could still hear his warm tone as he stroked my hair, holding me tight. My heart beat faster at each caress. Giuseppe was no longer the only man I'd ever loved. I was fast falling for someone else. I knew that if any man could mend my broken heart, it was William.
Nine
An ear-splitting noise woke me. For a moment, I was terrified – it sounded like the same blaring horn that called the crew to combat on warships. I'd seen enough of such battles to last a lifetime. The only thing louder than the call to arms in my memory were the screams of the dying – far too many for me to count.
Ocean's Justice Page 3