Northern Lights Trilogy (122 page)

Soren didn’t even see the punches coming. One went to his stomach, driving the breath from his gut, a second to his face, splitting his upper lip.

If he hadn’t been fighting for breath, he would’ve laughed. Everything was working out perfectly. Just as he planned.

James was confused. Soren looked as if he were laughing at him, even though he fought for breath. Oh, how good those punches had felt! He had longed to drive the breath from Soren’s greedy gut, do some damage to that perfect face. And now he had. What was that sudden, stabbing feeling of remorse? James couldn’t get past the idea that he had taken a drastically bad step, regardless of the primal, physical pleasure it brought him.

“What? What?” he screamed, kicking dust at Soren’s shoulder. “What are you smiling about? What? I’ll wipe that smile from your face—” Suddenly Kadachan was there, pulling him away from Soren, telling him to calm down. He couldn’t make out the words; he understood his intent from his friend’s tone. Kadachan took him to the nearest porch, where he sat James down and retrieved his hat.

He brought it back, brushing off the brim as he purposefully blocked James’s view of Soren. Last thing James saw, someone was helping the slime off the street. Next time Soren came into view, he was heading down toward Kaatje’s, throwing that same sinister grin back toward James.

James groaned and leaned back on the porch, covering his face with his hands.

“What is it?” Kadachan asked. “Are you hurt?”

James was silent for a moment. Then, “Nothing I didn’t do to myself. That man has been begging me to slug him ever since he showed up.”

“And?”

“And so tonight I did. And I knew right away in my gut that something was amiss.”

“What?”

“Look where he’s going,” James said, unable to watch with his friend.

“To Kaatje.”

“Exactly. She’s been barely warding him off. The wounds I’ve inflicted tonight will drive her straight into his arms. There’s one thing she can’t resist, and that’s the bruised and broken. He’s got the broken act down, and now I’ve added the bruises.”

Mid-October 1888

T
he crew was wild in their excitement; for eight days running, the
Majestic
had beaten the huge
Fair Alaska
, and the crew had dined in her fine quarters every evening. Elsa strode across the deck, hands at her lower back, children following close behind. Today Karl was giving them a run for their money.

“Think he’s been letting us have the lead this past week?” Riley asked.

“I doubt it. It’s cost him a fortune in food, to say nothing of the damage to his male pride.”

“They’re setting all sails!” cried the sailor in the crow’s nest, who had been watching the competition more than anything else.

“Set all sails?” Eric asked, his eyes alight.

Elsa frowned. The wind was stiff. Setting all sails was a dangerous proposition, but one that might well put them more firmly in the lead; if they did not match sail, it was certain that they would be serving the crew of the
Fair Alaska
this night. She glanced at Riley, and he gave her a small frown, a subtle shake of the head.

“Set all sails,” she said firmly, keeping her eyes from Riley.

“Set all sails!” Eric yelled. The crew scrambled across lanyards high above them, anxious to give their boilers a boost and win the day again.

Elsa looked above at the streamer that showed the wind’s direction. “She’s coming from the southwest, Riley. In another fifty miles or so, she’ll switch to a northwester. It almost always proves true. If I were a gambling woman, I’d guess that there’s a fair chance Karl doesn’t know of the change. He hasn’t traveled much in these waters.”

“And you distracted him from his charts last night,” Riley said, giving her a knowing look. “So we’ll let them pull ahead a bit near the changeover and prepare the
Majestic
for the drift.”

“Yes. And we’ll catch the wind and swoop by them just in time for supper,” she said, clapping her hands together in excitement.

“I still don’t think it’s wise, ma’am,” Riley said discreetly. “The wind’s stiff. We’re putting the ship and her crew in danger.”

“We have the best, Riley,” she said. “If it gets rough, we’ll reef the royals and gallants.”

He still looked unsure. The ship noticeably leaned with the wind just as the highest sails came down from their lanyards and into place.

She rested one hand on his shoulder. “Be at peace, Riley. If need be, let the
Fair Alaska
win this night in order to keep us safe. But give them a run!”

His smile returned. “Aye, aye.”

She leaned closer and whispered, “I’ll tell Cook to prepare for the worst, and if it doesn’t happen, we’ll have his fine meal for noon dinner tomorrow.”

He nodded and looked upward, ordering a crew member here and there while letting Kristian take a turn at the wheel.

“Eve!” Elsa called. “You come with me. You need to stay by my side in these seas, or in the cabin. I’ll not have you falling overboard. Come, come inside. We’ll get Mouser out.”

That sent her running. Her pet cat was allowed out once in the morning to play with Eve and then stayed mostly belowdecks all afternoon to hunt for rats. Surprisingly, considering the sizable rats Mouser killed, he was very loving with Eve. Elsa, he could take or leave. And
he openly despised Kristian; Elsa suspected her son had pulled his tail once too many times as a kitten.

Since he was given to shredding her linens, Mouser lived in a fairly large crate, which Eve carefully lined with an old baby blanket. He gave them a
meow
combined with a yawn as they entered, and pounced on the ball of yarn that Eve wiggled in front of his now-open door.

Elsa sat down to draw the child and pet. They both were in such high spirits that Elsa could do nothing else. She wanted to capture this moment forever. Someday she wanted to get one of those new Kodak Snapshots for moments such as these. Imagine! Having the chance to take a picture rather than to draw it!

She opened her box of coal pencils and put a large canvas on her easel. Then, before the moment was over, she sketched the main portions of body stance and several details of expression. As had become her habit, she would create the rest from memory as cat and girl moved on to hunt for dust balls underneath her four-poster bed. Some details she would make up from sheer familiarity.

By noon dinner, the
Fair Alaska
was leading by half a league or more. The crew, dog-tired already from their busy morning of reefing and unfurling sails, dragged into the dining hall and wolfed down all the food Cook and his three assistants put before them.

“Look at ’em, Cap’n,” Riley said to her in an aside. “We’ll never get ahead of Cap’n Martensen now.”

“Sure we will. Inform the crew of our plans. A little food in their bellies and being in on the idea will rejuvenate them.”

“Aye, Cap’n,” he said with a wink.

Elsa left him to oversee the portion of the crew who had already eaten. “All right, listen ho!” she called. “We need all men pulling extra sails out of the poop deck storage room.”

“But Cap’n,” one dared, after eyeing his silent but uneasy mates. “The
Majestic
canno’ handle any more sail! Why not say we’re done beat for today and just ready supper for the other crew?”

“Agreed on one count, sailor. But we’re going to beat the
Fair Alaska
this eve, if we’re crafty enough. We need the extra sails to throw them off. We’ll hang them as decoys on one side of the ship, so they cannot see us tacking. They’re so bent on beating us, that the mate and I are wagering that they’re not consulting their charts, nor anticipating the change twenty miles distant now. By the time the sailor in the crow’s nest scouts the wind on the sea, and the crew gets the ship turned, we’ll be past ’em!” she said with glee, slapping one hand past the other.

“Three cheers for the cap’n!” one called.

“Hey-oh! Hey-oh!
Hey-oh!
” they called as one. Then they immediately set upon their task. They might question her a bit more than a male captain, Elsa mused, but when she explained herself, they went along with her decision. And in a crisis, they never faltered when she ordered them about. All in all, all was well aboard her ship.

“What
are
they
doing?
” Karl muttered, still staring through the telescope back at the
Majestic.
For two hours now, their sails had been fluttering in the wind as if not tied down. Were they not even making use of the sail that was unfurled? And even at this distance, it seemed to him that they were tacking already, but in doing so, already falling behind. It made no sense. It was as if they were preparing…

“Luke, did you look at the wind charts last night?”

His first mate shifted uneasily. “I’m sorry. I merely took down notes of speed and distance covered. I was going for the charts when the crew of the
Majestic
arrived and you called me out.” He swallowed audibly. “I’m sorry, Cap’n. I confess I didn’t get back to them.”

“Come with me,” Karl said urgently. Elsa had something up her sleeve; he was almost sure of it. And didn’t the wind change direction at about this latitude?

A sailor’s call from the crow’s nest cut their walk short. “Cap’n!” he shouted. “Wind change ahead! Wind change ahead!”

Karl took off his hat and threw it to the ground. On the very day he was going to beat the
Majestic!
Luke gave him a knowing look. He
knew it would end the race. He ran back toward the bridge. “All hands!
All hands!
Tacking for a northwester! Prepare to come about!
Prepare to come about!
”

But Karl was already looking through his telescope as the wind waned and his sails flapped like dying fish. As they wafted back and forth above him, and the crew began untying ropes and hauling them around capstans, only the boilers kept them from being left dead in the water. He grimaced. The desire to win and lack of preparation had been their downfall. How often had that duo hurt him in the past?

As he watched, sails on the
Majestic
were dropped to the ground, undisguised now as her remaining sails caught the new wind, and the
Majestic
jolted forward, running dangerously between wind and water, yet holding her course. Within minutes, they were alongside the
Fair Alaska
, and after half an hour more, well ahead of them as their own sails were finally in place.

Karl groaned and then shook his head ruefully.

There was no doubt in his mind how bad the evening would be; Elsa’s crew would crow like roosters and make them
eat
crow all night.

“Good evening, Captain,” Elsa said sweetly, as she took his hand and climbed aboard ship.

“Uncle Karl! Uncle Karl!” the kids cried as they climbed in beside her. “Wasn’t that great?” Kristian cried. “You thought you had us beat when
whoosh
, we passed you!”

“Great
wasn’t the first word that came to my mind,” Karl said, ruffling his hair.

Elsa couldn’t help but grin. “You thought you had us in the bag. Proves that all is not always as it seems.”

“Yes, but have you seen our open spit? I doubt you can afford the deck space for such extravagance.”

Elsa raised her eyebrows and took his proffered arm. “No, I cannot. But I can smell something divine. Did your cook put it on about three?” she asked, referring to when they passed the
Majestic.

Karl looked rueful. “I’m afraid so. We’ll have to wait on supper for a few hours yet. Until then, the men want to do some singing on deck. While we wait for the singing and dancing, how about accompanying me to the game room?” Karl invited. The children readily agreed. Under a portion of covered deck, there were several shuffle-boards, as well as checkers and backgammon. As the children took up their mallets and began playing, Karl helped Elsa to a deck chair.

“Well, our ship is not all this, but I’d say she’s faster,” Elsa taunted her friend. He was handsome tonight; he remained in what she assumed were his day clothes, with a soft white cotton shirt open at the neck, allowing soft tufts of chest hair to peek out. His shoulder-length, sandy hair was coming loose from the ponytail, and again she could imagine what it would look like down, softly waving. And he wore a gold earring through one lobe, something she had seen only once or twice before.

He caught her staring, and she quickly looked toward the children, feeling the heat climb up her neck. “Going a bit more casual this evening?” she said, unable to come up with something better to fill the silence.

“I thought it best for a pig roast.”

“You do not fear a fire with an open pit aboard ship?”

“No. Kristoffer had it lined with iron and suspended. There’s nothing to burn.”

They sat in companionable silence for a while, watching Eve and Kristian, laughing with them.

“You’re proud of yourself today, aren’t you?” he asked. “And you’re ashamed. I can feel it.”

“Foolish of me, not checking the wind charts myself. I even knew they were coming. I was just so taken with actually winning the day that I didn’t research the best tactic of all.” He waited until she looked at him. She could feel the heat of his stare. “You’re a fine captain, Elsa.”