The Ten Incarnations of Adam Avatar (34 page)

I said, ‘I am Lady Victoria Asquith. My fiancé, the captain, has sent me on a most important errand. I am to go to his cabin to collect some confidential documents which he most urgently requires.'

The man's eyes were small and suspicious. I grew nervous. It had not occurred to me that a crude and unsophisticated sailor might fail to be charmed by me.

‘I dunno wot you're talking about, lidy,' he said. ‘I'm the captain of this ship.'

I smiled sweetly. ‘Now, my good man, we both know that is not true. The captain will not be pleased if I return to tell him that I was unable to complete my task.'

His gaze became sharper. ‘Oo is this captain you keep talking about?'

I glanced around as though to make sure no one was within earshot. ‘The people here know him as Edward Henry, a respectable planter,' I said in a low voice. ‘We both know that he's really something else.'

‘Really? And wot might that be?'

The mate was now looking at me as though I were a madwoman. I felt my heart sinking, but pressed on. ‘Something...' I hesitated, trying to think. ‘Something that requires a yellow beard.'

His eyes widened, and for a moment I thought I had convinced him. But then he said, ‘Lidy, I aven't a clue wot you're talking about and I'm busy loadin me ship.'

And with that he turned and stomped back up the gangplank.

Naturally, I was mortified. Naturally, I had to go shopping to overcome my disappointment. I told Anne-Marie to go find the driver and have him bring the carriage to the main street. I walked to the shops rather than wait. Purchasing enough fine dresses, fancy combs, elegant shoes, some knick-knacks and so forth to fill the carriage would restore my spirits.

I did not see the red-bearded sailor and two other men following me through the town.

When I came to my senses, I found myself squashed awkwardly behind some barrels. For some moments, I could not recall who or where I was. Pushing my way out, I adjusted my hat and dusted off my dress. My parcels were all gone. My memories of being attacked were vague: a rough hand clamping over my mouth from behind, the red-bearded sailor appearing in front me. But it was the broad-shouldered Negro behind him who had struck terror into my heart: a tall, bald man with slitted eyes.
Shadowman
, I remember thinking, just before the red-bearded sailor had struck me in the chest. I looked down. My dress had a small slit in it, just below my left breast. The front was stained and stiffened. Luckily, the dress was crimson-coloured, so the stain was not noticeable in the dimming light of evening. The flesh underneath was whole.

I made my way back to the main street, where I found Anne-Marie and the driver waiting for me. Anne-Marie, her face pinched with anxiety, ran forward when she saw me.

‘Way yuh was?' she almost shouted. ‘I tought yuh was dead!'

‘Not for long,' I said, and got into the carriage, laying my weary head against the cushion. I was very quiet on the journey back to the plantation. It was not the shock of being attacked. I had already dismissed that. I was not even bothered at losing my trinkets, which could be easily replaced. But there were strange thoughts flickering like quick fish along the bed of my mind. I could not grasp them. Everything was strange, even the familiar countryside. I felt as though there were too many buildings, that the road was too rutted and too wide; even the vegetation seemed too sparse. Anne-Marie plied me with questions. I told her only that I had been robbed. But I did not tell her by whom, although I always told her everything.

We arrived home just after dark, and I bathed and changed and had a slave put my bloodstained dress in the fire. I then called Anne-Marie to my room. She kept asking me if I was all right. I assured her that I was fine.

‘You not behaving like yuhself,' she said.

I shrugged. ‘I'm all right,' I said. ‘But we don't have much time.'

‘Much time for what?'

I told her. She objected, of course, saying I was mad.

‘You go never fool dem.'

‘I will fool them,' I said.

This was why I had not told her who had attacked me. Even so, she harangued me long into the night about returning to the ship. If I could not make them believe I was a Lady Victoria Asquith, how would I make them believe I was a common sailor? It would be much less trouble just to go and ask Edward why he disguised himself to go sailing. I told her that was not the romantic way to do it. Also, Edward would undoubtedly lie; I could discover the real truth only by surreptitious means. Yet the truth is, these were no longer my main reasons. There was an urgent desire in me to play sailor, to get aboard a ship. I longed for the feel of rough rope through my hands, the rocking of the planks beneath my feet. I lay there on my soft bed in the midst of my many fine things, and for the first time in my life felt out of place. And there was yet a third motive: to see if I could not exact revenge upon those men who had so rudely attacked me on the streets of Port Royal. Of course, I knew these were just fantasies: I would have to leave the ship before it sailed and there was no way I could overcome three grown men. But I had set my mind to discover what Edward was really up to and Anne-Marie, seeing this, stopped arguing.

Very early the next morning, she helped me disguise myself. I dressed in breeches and a leather jerkin which hid my bosom. Anne-Marie's mouth opened in shock when I handed her the scissors and told her to cut off my glossy curls.

‘You have real love fe dis man, girl,' she commented, setting about the task.

‘Is just fun, Anne-Marie,' I said.

We used the hair and gum to make a false beard, moustache and sideburns. When it was stuck on I looked like a young, though somewhat soft-looking, young man.

‘Just scratch yuh balls and belch ever so often, an you go be all right,' said Anne-Marie.

We sneaked out of the house and took the carriage. I drove. It was perfectly easy, although I had never driven a carriage before. I fell into the man's role very naturally, even shouting coarse witticisms to passers-by as we trundled along. Anne-Marie stared at me as though I were mad. I was too filled with excitement to care. I felt alive in a way I never had before. Why had I never noticed how big and open the sky was before? Why had I not felt awed at the massive shoulders of the Blue Mountains arching across that sky? But 'twas when we breasted the hill overlooking the harbour that I felt truly blessed: the port busy with people, the sparkling water which glinted brighter than the most precious jewels, and, in the distance, the misty line of the horizon marking a world more enchanted than any I could ever imagine.

Anne-Marie stayed in the town while I went down to the harbour alone. I had slipped completely into my role and felt quite anonymous, as Edward would have put it, among the sailors. He was already aboard the
Sea Maid
when I went to inquire about a berth. The crew was busy loading supplies, checking sails, scrambling up the masts and the hundred of other chores that must be done before a voyage. Edward's hair was now yellow and he had a beard, just as Anne-Marie had described, but I would still have known him by his easy grace and the briarwood pipe in his mouth. When he spoke to me over the ship's railing, I almost smiled prettily at him, only just remembering the part I was playing.

‘We already have a full crew, sailor,' he told me and began to turn away.

‘Ah, but I'll wager ye don't have a man like me among them,' I called, remembering to deepen my voice.

He turned back. ‘And why's that?'

‘Because, master, I can do anything that's required aboard a ship and some things that are not.'

I could see that he was amused at my brashness. ‘Such as?'

‘Whatever ye want, master. Hoist sails, keep accounts, use a crossstaff, fire a cannon and wield a sword.'

Edward drew on his pipe. ‘I see. And how did one as young as you acquire all these skills?'

I looked at him right in the eye. ‘If you ask me no questions, master, I'll ask none in return.'

He looked back at me thoughtfully. ‘So you say you can navigate, eh?'

‘Aye.'

‘We can always use a man who really knows his way about a ship. Come aboard.'

Here it was the most wondrous thing occurred. I had hoped that Edward would leave me to my own devices before testing my brass-faced claims. But 'twas not to be. As soon as I stepped onto the deck, he tossed a length of rope at me. ‘Bowline,' he said.

I stared at him, puzzled. Then I felt my hands moving of their own accord, under and over and through, and when I looked down the rope was neatly looped.

‘Granny,' said Edward.

‘She's dead,' I said. He gave me a hard smile. My hands moved again, like small animals. Edward peered at the knot.

‘That's not a granny,' he said. I fumbled for an excuse. Edward said, ‘But I prefer the square knot, too. Many's the time the granny's slipped on me.'

‘Yes,' I agreed, wholeheartedly.

‘Sheet bend now,' said Edward.

‘What?' I said. All I could think of was that I had never washed bedcloths in my life.

He tossed a second length of rope at me. ‘Sheet bend,' he repeated.

I cleared my throat, trying to think up some quick excuse.

‘Good,' said Edward, and there in my hands were the two lengths of rope joined together by a knot whose complications I could not even follow.

Edward knocked out the bowl of his pipe into the cup of his left hand. ‘Good. At least you know your knots.'

I looked around. ‘Thanks,' I gargled.

‘Come to my cabin. I want to see if you're as good at navigating.'

I followed him on leaden feet. I assumed that my father had taught me to tie knots when I was a small child and I had forgotten about them. But I knew beyond any doubt that I had never learnt to navigate. I wondered dully what would happen when Edward found me out: keelhauling or just walking the plank. Or, worse yet, he might never speak to me again.

His cabin was cramped but well-appointed. There was a bunk, an oaken table with charts and instruments scattered over it, and a small glass-fronted cupboard filled with leather-bound books.

‘Plot a course to St. Vincent, Santo Domingo, then Tortuga. Avoiding all the main routes.'

‘Is that where we'll be sailing, Captain?'

His voice was very gentle. ‘Would you have a problem if it were?'

I shrugged, elaborately casual, though my heart felt as though 'twere beating faster than a humming bird's wings. ‘Not if you pay fairly, sir,' I said.

‘I think you'll be satisfied,' he answered.

I bent over the charts, quadrant in hand, as if I knew what I was looking at. The moments stretched out. And, just as I was thinking of tearing off my beard and throwing myself at Edward's feet and begging for mercy, someone shouted from above deck. ‘Captain Giles, someone to see you.'

Trying not swoon with relief, I said, ‘I'll have the course plotted in two twos, sir.'

He studied me for a moment. ‘You're a polite lad. What's your name?'

‘Hawkins, sir. Jim Hawkins.'

‘Can you handle a sword, Jim Hawkins?'

‘As well as anyone, Captain.'

‘And can you keep your lip buttoned?'

‘Better than most.'

He nodded. ‘Very well, then. Let me take care of business and I'll sign you up.'

As soon as Edward left, I started searching the cabin. I was already pretty sure what his secret was, but I wanted clear evidence. I found it behind the bookshelf: a black cloth which, when unfolded, revealed the grinning skull-and-crossbones of the Jolly Roger. As I'd suspected from the moment he mentioned Tortuga, Edward was a pirate. I had to get off the ship. I folded the flag and replaced it and went out of the cabin.

Edward was on the gangplank talking to a plump man whom I recognized as a grocer from town. I took up a crate of onions and went down into the hold. I intended to lurk there till Edward returned to his cabin, then make a discreet dash for freedom. There was no one in the hold but, as I put down the crate, I sensed someone behind me. I grabbed the dagger in my belt and spun, stabbing out. The Shadowman's massive forearm easily blocked my blow, then his fist hit my skull like a pelted rock. White light burst to red, and faded to unknowing black.

The ship was underway when I came to. I could tell from the movement of the hull under my feet and the sound of the water dashing against the prow. I looked down the length of the hold expecting to see men in chains. I did not know why I expected to see that, any more than I knew why the ship's motion should seem so familiar. But there were just barrels, crates, ropes, folded sails and several brass cannons with their barrels pointing out of the portholes. The cannons had been concealed before, the portholes cleverly fitted with detachable covers. The
Sea Maid
was a fighting ship disguised to look like a merchantman. Then I remembered, and felt my face to ensure that my own disguise was still in place. I had no doubt that if the sailors discovered a woman on board, I would suffer a fate worse than death before suffering death itself.

I went up on deck to find Edward – ‘Captain Giles', I would have to remember – at the helm. He had taken off the beard, though his hair was still yellow.

‘I thought you had jumped ship, Hawkins,' he said.

‘Slight accident down in the hold, sir,' I answered. I had no intention of telling him that a nigger had struck me unconscious. I did not know what might have happened while I was out cold. And here was another surprise: I was not as traumatised at that possibility as I thought I should have been. If the Shadowman was on board, my only thought was that I would have to deal with him. (It turned out that he was not.)

When I looked back along our wake, Jamaica was a gray outline. For a moment, panic rose within me, but I stifled it grimly. Matters had taken a most unexpected turn, but had I not always wanted adventure? True, I had wanted adventure where I was the maid being saved from the dragon, and here I was disguised as the hero. Then a cold voice interrupted my reverie.