Chapter 6

"Come, come. Don't hold up. We don't have time. We are weigh anchor soon. I will help you with your cart. Wait, I am coming."

I felt the hairs on my neck straighten, and I panicked when I saw him trying to get off the boat and come near us.

"What are we going to do, Kira?" Brielle asked me fearfully.

"Refuse his offer. Quickly!" I replied.

"No, sir, it's okay. I changed my mind. I think I will stay a few more days in the Red Valley," Brielle shouted to hear her.

But he didn't seem to hear her because the man didn't answer and continued his effort to come to us.

Brielle looked at me with wide eyes full of despair.

"Come on, let's go." I told her, and I lifted the cart in a hurry.

"Quickly Jack, Lucas, Andrew, John get on the boat with your load supposedly doing your job, and obstruct Travis from coming down. Delay him as much as you can and then I will treat you beer. As many beer as you can drink." I suddenly heard a familiar male voice saying very close to us.

At the sound of the treated beer, the men immediately rushed to carry out the order.

"Done! Noah," they said and walked over to Travis.

"Come," Noah then told us. "Let me carry the cart and come next to me. I will take you out of here."

From his voice, I understood that he was the same man who, a few minutes ago, had helped us to be able to communicate with Travis.

"Noah, wait!" We heard Travis's voice behind us.

"Go back to your duty, Travis," Noah shouted over his shoulder.

"Where are you taking them? Bring them back!" he screamed, "Let me go" he then yelled at the men Noah had bribed with beer.

"This time I will not remain a mere observer. I'm not going to let you destroy these girls, you bastard," Noah replied.

"Bring them back or I will send you to the gallows!" cried Travis.

"I will kill you first. And believe me it will be recorded as a good deed," replied Noah.

Brielle and I were walking next to this good man. Me on the right and Brielle on the left. We were almost stuck on our guardian angel without any shame. On the contrary, I felt deeply grateful to this man.

The other workers paved the way for us to pass by, praising Noah for what he had done.

"Well done, Noah!"

"You did well to that scum, Noah!"

"You saved the girls! Well done, my boy! God bless you!" said an older man who approached us with a smile and patted Noah on the back.

"I'm so proud of you!" the old man continued, then he turned and looked at Brielle and me. "You are very lucky girls that Noah was here."

"I did nothing," Noah said, feeling awkward. Nevertheless, Brielle responded.

"We know that, sir. We thank him from the bottom of our hearts and we will be forever grateful to him."

The older man only smiled and took a step to the side to let us pass.

We went a little further until Noah stopped and left the cart.

"From now on you are safe!"

"Thank you so much. God bless you!" Brielle told him, and I agreed with a shake of my head.

I looked at our savior better, and to my surprise, I saw that he was a reasonably young man around twenty-five years old with a husky body. His hair had the color of the sun. At the back of his head, his hair reached to the shoulder and in front to the ears. His eyes were brown and sweet. Full of kindness.

He smiled at us, revealing his strong white teeth. I also noticed two dimples that formed on his cheeks, and I thought it was the cutest thing I saw in my life.

"I didn't do anything. Only what I thought was right. Now you can go on your way and be careful!

If I understood correctly, you want to travel by ship. "

"Yes. We do." Brielle answered.

"Well, the only boat I'm sure you'll be safe on it, if they take you with them is that of Captain's Carter. If you persuade him to take you with him then you will be safe. He may be a little abrupt and rude at times, but he is a good person. You are lucky because his ship is in the port at the time we speak. This is his boat." He said and showed us with his eyes a three-masted boat.

"Great! Thank you, Noah!" Brielle told.

"But be careful. Please, promise me that you will not mention my name, nor that just a dock laborer gave you the information. It will be your action, okay? Can I rely on your secrecy? And believe me, it will be firstly for your own good. If you want a chance to board to his ship."

Brielle and I looked at each other in perplexity, and then Brielle said, "Is something wrong? Can I help you with something? Let me repay you for the good you did for us."

"No, no, nothing is wrong. Will you be able to do what I asked you to do?" He insisted.

"Yes, of course. We never saw you, we never met you."

"Nice, thanks!" he said in relief and smiled with that beautiful smile of his. "Goodbye and good luck," he told us and began to walk away from us.

"Goodbye," Brielle said.

We watched him hurry away for a while, and then we continued on our way to Captain Carter's boat.

The commotion from the workers reached our ears long before we approached. But there was a big difference. We didn't hear any swearing, but loud speeches, teasing, laughter, and even songs. The workers there worked with high-spirited and fun, which encouraged me to take Noah's words seriously regarding the captain's quality as a human being.

We got close enough to realize with relief that the boat was loading, so when they finished, they would set sail.

The workers carried small wooden barrels, various crates of dried fruit, potatoes, carpets, and different small pieces of furniture.

They got in and out of the boat using the wooden board at a fast pace, and I was particularly impressed by the fact that there was no man - as in previous boats - taking notes.

For me, this meant that there was trust between the men and the captain.

I smiled. Noah was right. We will be safe here!

All that was left was to convince the captain. I approached my face to Brielle.

"If it is needed, fall to your knees to persuade the captain. Please!" I whispered in her ear, and she nodded in agreement swallowing hard.

"Everything will be fine, don't worry. But even if it doesn't, we will find a way." I encouraged her, and a small smile lit up her face.

"Okay," she whispered to me.

We approached the boat more, and then I noticed two women on deck cleaning or polishing the rail. One was an older but husky woman, with a few extra φατ. Her sleeves were folded up to her elbows, revealing her muscular arms. The other was a young girl standing next to her, holding a bucket. She was also fleshy with slightly swollen cheeks and long brown hair braided in two braids. They wore an apron on their waist.

I felt relieved that there are also women on the boat, or did they just come to clean it up and leave?

The older woman dipped a cloth into the bucket held by the little girl, and then with this cloth, she rubbed the wooden rail.

"Hold the bucket higher, Alma." Said the husky woman to the girl.

"Yes, mother," the girl replied stoically.

We watched them for a while working, waiting for someone to come and ask us what we want and thus allow us to talk about our request. But no one was coming, and I was starting to get impatient.

I nudged Brielle and whispered, "Talk to the women and say you want to ask them something."

She nodded to me in the affirmative. "Excuse me." She spoke loud waving his hand to get their attention.

The husky woman turned and looked at us, annoying for disturbing her. "What do you want?"

Brielle approached her as close as she could. "We want to know if they can take us with them on the next voyage of the ship. Do you two of you belong to the ship's crew? "

"Yes, you can say that," the husky woman replied.

"Fine. Do you know who makes these decisions? "

"Yes. Only the captain do this. Let me call him for you." she told us. Afterward, she turned to the young girl. "Alma continue polishing until I come back," she ordered the girl and left.

Brielle turned and looked at me with worried eyes.

"Calm down," I advised her. "No need to worry. Talk to him normally. Like when you talked to the guard at the castle door. Do you remember? Just know that, then I admired your courage and bravery. You were amazing! I don't know if I would do the same thing so well as you." I smiled at her wanting to encourage her.

We heard voices coming from the boat. We immediately stopped talking, and I bowed my head.

"Where are they?" we heard a male voice saying.

"Out at the pier. They are waiting for you." The husky woman replied.

I didn't hear him answer anything, but I heard his footsteps approaching us.

I kept my head down.

"Hello, I am the captain of this ship. My name is Carter." Jimena informed me you wanted to talk to me." Listening to his voice, I could tell that he must be a young man. His voice was silvery mixed with a bit of pleasant hoarseness in it.

"Yes, captain. Jimena told you right. I wanted to ask you if you can take us with you on your next trip."

"My ship is for trading purposes only. It only carries wares, not people. It's not for carrying passengers."

"Yes, I know, but I beg you to make an exception for me and my maid."

I listened to their conversation, and my hopes began to crumble by the answers of the captain.

Apart from that, I once again admired Brielle's courage and believable demeanor. Brielle had a talent and didn't know it; there is no other explanation for how normally she talked to the captain. Like then with the guard at the castle.

She spoke to the captain as if he were, in fact, the lady she was pretending to be.

I heard him puffing. Maybe he was thinking about it.

"Who are you?" I heard him ask her.

Brielle, next to me, took a deep breath and told him. "I am Lady Brielle."

"What? Just that? Tell me more about you," the captain urged her, somewhat irritated.

"Excuse me, Captain Carter. I didn't want to tire you with my life's details that you may not wanted to know. But since you ask; I'm Lady Brielle Johnson. I was the wife of Lord Jason Johnson but unfortunately, I lost him a few months ago. That's why I made the decision to leave from everything that reminds me of my adorable husband."

He didn't answer her. Silence prevailed when I suddenly felt burning all over.

"What's your name?" I heard him asking, but who was he asking now? Me? I started to panic. I didn't want to pay attention to myself.

"She is my maid." Brielle tried to save me. "Her name is…."

"Is she dumb?" the captain asked Brielle somewhat sharply.

"No, captain." Brielle told him.

"So she can answer me with her own mouth, right?"

"Yes, captain. I am sorry."

"Well? What's your name?" he demanded.

My heart started pounding, and I felt sweat rolling down my spine. "Serena," I stuttered.

"Look at me when you talk to me," he said, and before I could understand what happened, he put his hand under my chin and raised my head to face him.

Our eyes met, and I felt myself sinking into his ocean blue eyes.