The Princess and The Pirate, Ch 7: In the Ship's Hold

Fioretta watched Captain Matthew until he had completely disappeared from view. She could hear him shouting at some pirate from within the ship, and she could well understand now why the other pirates obeyed so readily. He had a commanding presence - one that compelled you to obey even one of his looks - and he followed through immediately with consequences. Yet his consequences were fair in a piratey sort of way. The pirates could steal, but they could not harm. Well - they could harm men, just not kill them. But men were usually the ones who defended family and property anyway. She wondered how he could justify all the stealing and the destruction.

His conscience was probably not well formed, she decided.
She turned to Jeff and said, "Will you please take us to see the men from our ship?" The maids had now come closer since Captain Matthew had gone.

"Yes, ma’am," said the boy, and he began to lead the way.

They followed Jeff down the stairs into the heart of the ship. The stairs were solid oak as was the rest of the ship, darkened with age. Even in this dark place Fioretta could tell the pirates had carefully cleaned. At the bottom of the stairs, they continued down a long hallway where the men’s cabins were. The cabins were small, and sometimes a man would peep from behind a door to look at the young women. Then they passed through the galleys where the men ate. Delicious smells wafted to their noses from the pots on the stoves. Plates, forks, and knives stood along the long tables where each man would eat. At the back of this area was another set of steps they went down. Fioretta could make out little in the dim light, and Jeff spent the first few minutes lighting torches. Then he stood at the bottom of the stairs.
All the men from the ship were crammed together as tightly as growth rings on a tree. There were two stout cages set up to hold them. Fioretta and the maids walked over to the one on the right where Captain White was first.

"Are you well?" asked the captain. It was such an absurd question coming from a man who was crammed in so tightly with other men in a cage that he could not even sit down that Fioretta could not believe he had asked it at first.

"Yes, Dear Captain," she answered with grace and dignity. Anger suddenly flared up within her. How could Captain Matthew talk about how good he was at protecting people when he put these brave men in such terrible conditions. She felt guilty about the arrangements he had made for her. "We are to be sleeping in the Captain’s quarters."

"Be careful, Ma’am," he said. "There is nothing we can do to help you. There is no escape from these cages, and if this ship sinks, we’re done for."

"Thank you. I am just as much at the pirate’s mercy as you are, but maybe the captain will hear my cry for mercy for you."

"We would appreciate that so very much." He was very, very careful not to call her "Your Majesty," though he had to bite his tongue several times to keep from doing so. "They have given us water since we have been here, but we are very uncomfortable."

She reached through the bars and touched his face briefly. Then she moved on looking through the bars at the men. When she found the man with curly locks who belonged to her escort, she said, "Have you and your men hope, Christopher?"

"Yes, Fioretta," he said, "we have hope. We are all well despite the discomfort. We will find a way out of this. They can’t want to kill us if they didn’t leave us aboard the sinking ship."

"You are quite right." A noise made her turn sharply to look behind her. Six pirates came in with dinner plates and wooden spoons. They began to pass them out. Two more pirates followed the first six and began slopping beef stew onto the outstretched plates. Fioretta decided it was time to leave.

They followed Jeff back to the main deck and then up to the captain’s cabin. While Jeff waited outside, the young ladies talked in hushed tones about what the princess should do next. Should she go to dinner? Should she stay in the room? What were they going to do with them? In the end they told Jeff that Fioretta would go to dinner with the captain and the maids would dine in the cabin.