Chapter 46: Chapter 46

THE ELIZABETH

Akay hadn't noticed her. That was a miracle. The two boys looked between the beer barrels of the dive to the harbor and watched the goings on.

Jacob patted Ari's shoulder rudely and grinned mischievously.

"You're a rabbit's foot, Arin!"

Ari ignored him and eyed Armin and Isabella who had just arrived at Elizabeth, Armin's grandmother's name.

"Are you really that scared?"

Guilty, the ten-year-old lowered the songs. "It's not fear, not exactly... My God, Jac! What we're about to do here is more than a little prank. Aren't you nervous?"

Of course he was, but someone had to keep their heads, right? "Don't think, Ari. Just get ready..."

Armin and I walked across the deck together. My husband seemed completely left out. He leaned against the railing, took a deep breath and tilted his head back.

Akay, his eternal shadow, sat next to him and looked so gloomy that no sailor wanted to pass us. If it was unavoidable, they gave as wide a berth as possible.

Which was understandable, considering that Akay was a wolf that towered over the tall Armin's hips.

Otherwise the men were real sailors. Brave and breakneck. A little rough, but not unfriendly.

Smiling, I leaned next to Armin and stared at the cloudy sky. The wind whistled in the ideal direction.

"What do you think, Captain? Where do we end up first?"

The big warm hand covered mine. "Spain?"

When our eyes met, I smiled. And shook his head.

"No? Why not? Are not you homesick?"

"No, not anymore." I had been thinking a lot. My father hadn't been a particularly nice person to me. When I thought about what had happened on my wedding day.

Not only that he hit me. He had sold me and sent me to a completely foreign country. He had never once written to me or sent me my belongings...

No, visiting my father wasn't first on my list.

"Well, it's more important to me that we get our castle in the green...Spain isn't going to run away from me."

Armin raised my hand to his lips. "Isabella..."

"I'm so happy to finally experience something, Armin. Finally seeing what you were really born to do. Do you really think Spain has the least appeal for me?"

He smiled, his dimple appeared and his eyes lit up. "Then, senorita. weigh anchor."

"Aye aye, Captain."

"No, how beautiful, this young love!" At the sound of the well-known deep man's voice, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. Armin's features became petrified immediately. Armin and I broke up and. Arthur Moor...

"But if you'll excuse me, Captain, I need to check the ropes behind you." He smiled wickedly. "Not that you'll fall overboard, my lord."

"What are you doing here?" Armin growled.

Arthur stepped a little closer and Akay immediately raised his lips without making a sound. "I work on the Elizabeth now, sir. As an honorable seaman."

"Definitely not."

Arthur shrugged his shoulders helplessly. "If you don't believe me, ask."

Armin suddenly smiled ominously. I thought I was just imagining that he mumbled something. But when Akay popped out without a peep and at lightning speed, knocking Arthur to the ground, I learned a lesson.

"Akay!" I gasped, startled, and grabbed Armin's hand. "Armin, what's that about? Tell him to go back. When the sailors see that..."

Armin shrugged his shoulders. "What are you going to do?"

"Armin..." I looked at Akay, who was standing on Arthur's chest with white sharp teeth and almost went for his throat. He just seemed to be waiting for Armin's signal.

He stood there completely unperturbed. "Armin, please..."

He turned to Arthur and cocked his head. The broad shoulders relaxed under his red coat.

"I'm not the captain of the ship, but as a lord I expect more respect from a mendicant knight."

"You work for your food just as much as I do, there's not much difference between us here." Arthur growled, admirably dignified for someone who was down. Not particularly scared. As if he'd gotten under Armin's wheels before.

"And yet it's not me who's on the ground, is it? So there are differences after all." Armin glared at him condescending. "If you don't believe me, just ask."

Arthur lowered his gaze in surrender. "I just wanted to check the ropes behind you, Armin. Do you always have to make it so difficult for me?"

"Stop me..."

"Up to you. Please, my lord." He looked at Armin pained and obviously humiliated. I didn't understand why Armin needed that... It alienated me a little. "Please let me do my work."

Armin growled a soft command and Akay immediately took up his position next to his master. When Arthur got to his feet, he didn't meet Armin's eyes. Not once.

"Let's go, Isabella?" he murmured, glaring at Arthur angrily.

I silently followed the red knight and his murderer's weapon to a cabin.

Again and again I saw Armin's condescending face and heard Arthur begging. I didn't know exactly what to think of it, because it wasn't the end of the world. But I was still shocked, because I hadn't judged my husband that way.

He had simply robbed a man of his dignity. A knight. In front of a woman at that. Why had Armin done that?

Arin sighed in exasperation. That couldn't be true. "Syman, shut up!"

Syman was leaning against a tree, his expression clouded with anger. "I beg your pardon!?"

"You remind me of Mitch when you talk like that!" And Arin said that on purpose. Syman should know how he sounded right now.

Syman was standing candles straight now, as if about to explode. No wonder he hated being reminded that he was like his father.

Though Syman isn't nearly as badass as Mitch. He never beat his children for no reason. Without asking things of them that they could never have managed.

Only in situations where he was worried or angry would he sometimes say things, exclusively to Arin, that Arin didn't want to condone. And sometimes he told his cousin that too.

"Don't compare me to him. I'm just strict."

“Strictness is all well and good. And I would never talk you into it either. But instead of openly saying you're going crazy with fear, you mumble curses and hiss at me constantly."

"Everyone can deal with their problems however they want, right? Henry?"

Arin rolled his eyes. He was often compared to his father, only he worked on himself. To change that.

"Syman, do you really want to beat up Ari if you get your hands on him? Fine, do that. I'll do the same with Jacob. But I'm not sitting here talking about my son like a runaway mutt. It's not my style and neither is yours."

The young father's expression softened. Then he sat down next to Arin by the fire. His expression as innocent as it had been twenty years ago.

Arin thought he actually had five children. Sometimes more child, sometimes more brother. Always pointed just right.

"You're right... Absolutely."

"I know. And if Ari ever heard that from you, he could never forget it."

"I'm so pissed. I strictly forbade it."

Yes, Arin thought. He was also seething with anger. Jacob and he had argued for days, weeks. Until Arin had had enough, banging on the table and ending things once and for all with a scowl. And then this brat just got up and walked away. To do exactly what his father had forbidden.

After all, Arin had tried by all means to explain to his son why he was against it. And that made it all the worse to be betrayed like that.

Syman ran a hand through his hair. "I don't want to be like Mitch. None of my children deserve that..." He looked helplessly into the fire. "I don't treat her the way he treated me then?"

Arin would have killed Syman for it if that was the case. "YOU are a good father."

"Until I open my mouth..."

"No, until you lose your head and forget that some things can't be taken back. So far this has only happened to you in my presence. And the sooner you finally see that you have to change something, the sooner I'll be rid of this miserable topic again..."

Syman shook his head, grinning. "So you're going to take on Jac?"

"You can bet on it...

NOT A GOOD START

They all stood in line as the Elizabeth left port. The captain, a strong man in his thirties with a black beard and shoulder-length black curls, paced in front of them and delivered a short, terse speech.

He was the finest seaman in all England, and he piloted the Elizabeth for Avan. According to Avan, Armin would have loved to have taken on this job, but Armin didn't have a shilling for the smallest errands. So he hired himself out as a sailor to pay for the cabin and the food on this white.

Besides, he had far fewer responsibilities as a sailor, and could afford to rob a little better that way. Avan had promised him two cargo holds, to which only Armin had the keys. And the captain, Durham, wasn't allowed to ask questions.

Thanks Avan, thought Armin. I will revenge.

Captain Durham barked orders at everyone, then waved them away impatiently. As Armin turned to do his bidding, he found himself eye to eye with Arthur. He smiled as mockingly as ever.

Armin's eyes narrowed. "Do you want to pity my wife? Or what was the purpose of this smear comedy?"

Arthur looked innocently into the face of his then-boyfriend. "I only asked a lord to withdraw his bloodhound. No more, sir."

Before Armin did anything that would have caused too much excitement on the board, he turned away with a growl and went about his business...

Akay tore the chicken up in one bite and wolfed down the two halves. As so often, I looked at the wolf with admiration. In a matter of moments he'd devoured a whole chicken, before that he'd devoured an old knuckle of pork...

So I sat in the cabin and sewed like an old washerwoman and was bored to death. Just before dinner, I went for a walk on deck with Akay. First I spotted Arthur scrubbing, but didn't go to him.

It would never have been right for Armin. That's why I stayed away from Arthur Moor at first.

A while later, I saw Armin in the air, hanging from a pole with a rope. He had one hip on the pillar, both feet against a rope ladder, and was tying ropes together.

He had taken off his shirt and tied a handkerchief around his forehead. The setting sun shone on his profile and his black bangs swayed in the wind.

I had told Armin I would like to see what he was really born to be. And now I did.

With the knife sticking out of his pocket he looked like a real pirate.

Akay made a begging noise whereupon Armin turned his head and recognized us. "Hey!"

"Yourself, hey! When are you done for today?"

As if he had done nothing else in his life, he tied another rope, put his hand around the arrow and led it back to the deck. "Now."

"I thought you hadn't seen much of London? Why can you do such things?"

Armin shrugged his shoulders. "My Uncle Eric."

"Arin's second eldest brother?"

"Right. He was always on the road a lot because of business and stuff like that. Later also with this ship. Whenever we visited, he would tell me a few things and teach knots like that."

"Only by hearsay to be able to do such sliding manoeuvres? Are you lying to me?" I asked playfully, leaning into him. He put an arm around me and narrowed his eyes with a grin.

"You can put something like that on any beam, tree or post that can be found in any village, senorita."

"Hey!" a sailor yelled from somewhere behind me, barrels rolled onto the wooden floor and someone nudged us males, causing me to trip slightly.

A young sailor, only a little older than Armin, ran towards us. "What's the matter, man!?" Armin yelled.

"Stowaways! Don't let them escape!"

Then Armin let go of me and ran away.

They split up. Jacob ran as fast as he could.

Of course, Armin had to be the first one he bumped into. Naturally! That was typical again.

He ran like a madman along the deck until he bumped into a lifeboat. He glanced over his shoulder, still saw no one, and ducked under the tarpaulin that was stretched over the boat.

Inside, he had to push boxes aside so he was a little hidden. Then he heard footsteps running past him. Armin was very close.

Why Armin!? He could barely punch his own big brother in the stomach to get a head start. Firstly, Armin would immediately rip his skull off his shoulders, and secondly, it would be pointless.

Jacob fervently hoped that the sailor wouldn't find Ari. Because it was well known that stowaways were thrown overboard.

As he contemplated with a guilty conscience what would happen if the sailor found Ari, someone tore the tarpaulin off the boat. And although Jacob had tried so hard, Amin still found him immediately.

With that typical expressionless face staring at his little brother. For a moment he said nothing.

He then grabbed Jac by the collar and pulled him out of the boat, waited until he was steady and slapped him hard across the face.

It seemed to Jacob that the world would go silent for a moment, the slap in the face seemed so loud to him. He kept his eyes downcast, Armin was still holding his collar.

"What are you doing here?" he growled ominously.

Jacob struggled for words. He didn't quite know what to say. Whatever he thought of would have upset his brother even more.

"I won't ask again, Jacob."

"I..." The ten-year-old swallowed hard. "I wanted to be a sailor and sail with you."

"And because you knew I would never allow that, you hid until I couldn't change it to face a fait accompli?"

Jacob hardly dared to nod. Nevertheless, he caught a slap in the face.

"Does father know about this?"

"I guess so. Ari thinks they're looking for us."

Armin seemed to fall out of nowhere, then he roughly pushed Jacob against the railing. "You took Ari with you!? Knowing exactly that Syman is going to kill him!?"

"He made it his own mind!" The boy raised his hands innocently. "The night before you rode to Avan, I went to your castle to find out when you're finally going to sea. Ari ran into my arms and gave me." I told him everything. So I told him not to tell anyone that I was there, I hid again and followed you... He just followed me."

Akay probably hadn't betrayed him because Jacob wasn't a stranger. That was the only explanation Jacob had for the whole thing...

Armin grabbed his upper arm and dragged it behind him. "What you up to?"

"We're looking for Ari." He turned around, smirking. "What did you think? That I'd beat you up? Later, brother."

The seaman had pushed Ari collar in front of him and was on his way to the captain when the two brothers intercepted him. So Armin took them both to his cabin after promising to explain everything to the captain when he was done with them.

He pushed both males over the threshold and then stood in front of them with his arms crossed. Both boys stood next to each other and eyed him nervously. "So?"

Ari and Jac exchanged a look. "What do you think?"

"How did you envision how to proceed? Do you think I'll let you guys cheat me like that?"

Ari bit her lip. "We didn't mean to cheat on you. Only also was experience."

"Our fathers didn't want to let us go until we found an employer and became knights." Jacob explained. "It's taking far too long..."

Armin takes a step towards him. "I don't think you're ticking right! I know exactly what father must have said about your plan. And he was never a tyrant. How many times has he talked to you with angelic patience, you ungrateful dog?"

Jacob had to admit that. He looked down, embarrassed.

"And you?" Armin growled, turning to Ari. "For the first time in your life, you were allowed to live in a castle and feel like a boy of your rank. You could have chosen an employer! But no... You also know You know your dad's going to get worried, don't you? Don't you care about him? Does he deserve it, man?"

This boy was also ashamed and avoided the eyes of the older one. In any case, he was so angry that he saw red.

"As if that weren't enough, you both planned this in such a way that I have no choice but to be your accomplice. But you're both terribly mistaken."

The boys perked up.

"In daylight, I'll put you in a boat and you'll row back to England."

MEASURES

I was shocked when Armin told me everything. Morosely he chewed on a piece of dry bread, stared up at the moon and said no more.

The two boys were lying on the floor in our cabin.

"Did you hit her?"

"Jacob twice. Not otherwise... I'm too angry for that."

"What will Arin and Syman do? You can hardly follow us, can you?"

"I told you I'd send them back in a rowboat."

I rolled my eyes impatiently. "Armin you can't do that. They are both only ten years old and have no idea about sailing. How are they going to find their way back?"

"I don't care..." I could tell from his voice that he wasn't serious, but we didn't have time for that now.

"For better or worse, we must take them with us and send them home on horses at the nearest port in England."

Armin nodded with a friendless smile. "We're not coming back to England any time soon. Now it's off to Wales."

"I don't like Welsh..."

"My smallest problem, senorita..." he chewed on his piece of bread again. "I refuse to accept the circumstances you laid!"

I smiled and took his big, warm hand. "Then change the circumstances. Make life a little difficult for them here."

"They're used to hard work."

"Then do something to comfort you. Beat them up or throw them overboard. Anything."

"Neither one nor the other would be funny." But he smiled and pulled me closer. "I explained to the captain who you are and that you are directly related to Avan. That way you don't have to go to the cell. But you have to. You have to." I don't tell them."

The tip of his warm nose rubbed against my cheekbones.

"First Arthur, then the little ones, and then the wrath of the Black Knight... If the ship went down immediately I wouldn't be the least bit surprised."

"My little cynic." I giggled and snuggled up to him. "Don't be so angry with them, Armin. When we get back to England, justice will still strike. And knowing you, you'll definitely have pity. "

He smiled. "I can't imagine that right now."

"Will Arin blame you?"

"No. He knows I would never betray him."

"Then don't worry anymore and leave the boys to their own devices. You will have a bad conscience and you will feel more and more every day that it was a serious mistake."

Although he nodded, Armin didn't look satisfied.

"What is?"

"It's too easy. But you will be right. Let's go to sleep. Tomorrow I have to get up earlier to eat for the two brats and go to work..."

Ari and Jac sat on straw beds in Armin's cabin. They considered how they should smooth out the differences between them and Armin. But didn't come up with a really good idea.

"Do you really think he's sending us back by boat?"

Jac nodded. "I already trust him. He'll probably get the boat ready for departure while we sit here and talk."

"Great." Ari growled, taking off his boots and throwing them angrily on the ground in front of him. "At home I fall into my father's arms because I was on a ship for half a day. We couldn't have thought of anything more stupid. "

He wasn't exactly wrong about that. "We can swap fathers if you want. Then I'll go to Syman for you."

Ari shook his head without hesitation. "I like my father far better than yours when he has one in his sights."

"Thank you... let's change the subject, shall we?"

"As you wish." Ari leaned back on his arms. "In the boat... would you find the direction to England?"

"No."

Then his great cousin threw his arms in the air. "We're going to drown!"

"Very theatrical."

"It is true..."

The door opened and Isabella came in. Her sight shamed the boys far more than Armin's. She didn't look particularly angry. Still, it was different.

She brought the boys bread and water, sat on her bed and combed her long brown hair.

"You should sleep, boys. Tomorrow will be tough."

The next morning they were rudely woken up by Armin and dragged onto the deck. The first rays of sun could be seen... “So that you know right from the start; As long as you're here on the Elizabeth, you do as I tell you. Otherwise you'll go swimming." Armin pointed with his thumbs over his shoulder to the railing. "Like me, you too have to work for your food."

"So you're not sending us back?" Ari mumbled sleepily, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Your mothers would never forgive me if you got lost out there. Is there anything else?"

Jacob shook his head, then the two followed Armin to boxes and barrels. "Please. potatoes, cucumbers and corn. Get 'em ready to eat, then you always get 'em over there and scrub the floor over there."

Before anyone could say anything, Armin turned to go. Jacob actually wanted to talk to him. Since yesterday his conscience had been plaguing him and wouldn't let him sleep. Armin's reproachful look, which was too similar to his father's, haunted him in particular.

But the brother was gone. And so Jac got to work.

After breakfast I paced up and down the deck again. As much as I loved the sea, doing nothing was too strenuous for me. It didn't make sense like that, but it was nerve-wracking.

At some point I started scrubbing our cabin like hell and rearranging our things. But it didn't help. The boredom stayed.

Until I fell into Arthur's arms on deck. He just joined my walk. And because I ignored him and hoped he would go away again, he kept babbling incoherently to himself to get my heels after all. And I really stood my ground, not saying a word to him and not looking at him. Until he surprised me.

"The rumor is that Armin hit you." I looked at him with a frown. "On your wedding day, ma'am. They say you had welts on your back from a crop."

"But not from Armin." I growled darkly.

All pity for the man was forgotten. Because his voice didn't sound affected in the least. More like he believes the whole thing. Even though he grew up with Armin.

"Who spreads such a rumor, sir?"

"I dont know. I heard it at the port in England. Isn't that so? Didn't you have bloody welts?"

"As I said; not by my husband."

My voice sounded final. And I quickened my steps to show him I'd had enough of his company. But he easily kept pace with me.

"You can tell me, I've known Armin for a long time. His siblings often had to pay for his hothead. Do you know little Elizabeth? His little sister? How many times did he beat the girl. For no good reason. And Jacob? The boy trembles near him..."

I was speechless by so much audacity. Considering that the two children often joked with Armin and that Jacob had even made off to sail away with him...

"Forgive me, sir. I'm not very familiar with English manners. But is it really proper to lie like that?"

Arthur's head snapped back. "Milady? I'm speaking the truth here. I was often there when he took out his anger on the little ones."

"Indeed? Then why didn't you do anything?"

"What's it to me?"

I smiled and nodded. "I was just about to ask you the same thing. Good day, Sir Moore."