Read Online Northern Lights Trilogy by Lisa Tawn Bergren - Free Book Online Page A

any oversight in planning.”
    “Why not review them right now?” Kristoffer asked.
    “It could take us hours,” Karl said.
    “Let’s go and get it done,” Peder said with authority. “Kristoffer, I want you to take the helm and see out the port watch. We’re near the shoals that we’ve been studying.”
    “Aye, aye, Cap’n,” Kristoffer said with a curt nod, then turned to Elsa. “If you wouldn’t mind … if it wouldn’t be too much trouble,” he said with a hesitant smile, “could you look in on Astrid tonight? I think she and Kaatje would welcome a woman’s touch.”
    “Certainly, Kristoffer. I meant to get there all afternoon, but your boy kept me busy.”
    “I appreciate you looking after Knut,” Kristoffer said, clearly unsettled at having to rely on others. “I know he is not the easiest child.”
    “Not at all. I love being around little
gutts
. They’re not much different from you big boys, you know.”
    The three men laughed, and Karl and Kristoffer said good night to her as they left the cabin. Peder stayed back to give her a quick kiss.
    “I will not be long,” he whispered.
    “Hurry back,” she responded, giving him a meaningful glance.
    He raised one eyebrow at her and followed his men out the door.
    Out on deck, Karl took a deep breath, appreciating the fresh breeze on his face. These dinners in the captain’s quarters with Elsa were bound to get more and more difficult. Perhaps he would suggest to Peder that the captain should entertain other passengers on a rotating schedule, making them all feel welcome. He sighed in relief. Yes, thatwould certainly be an idea that Peder would find appealing and would rescue Karl from such close proximity to Elsa.
    It was a beautiful summer night on the sea, and several of the passengers were strolling around the deck, studiously keeping away from the rigging as instructed. There was nothing more irritating to sailors than landlubbers underfoot.
    Karl nodded to two sailors, and the men immediately hurried over to join him. Without a word, just a look that would soon earn Karl his own captain’s position, they unhooked the cargo hold doors and, with a
heave-ho!
pulled open first one mammoth door and then the other. Another sailor hurried over with a kerosene lamp, and Peder and Karl carefully stepped down the stairs. They had just reached the hull floor when Karl was sure he heard a muffled sneeze.
    “Did you hear—” he began.
    Peder held up his hand to still Karl’s voice, obviously listening with a straining ear. But with the noise of the waves against the hull, the animal sounds below, and the wind in the sails above deck, it was difficult to hear anything else. After a moment, Peder shrugged, and they moved to the port side to review foodstuff supply inventories. In the dark, even with the help of four lanterns, it was a difficult, tedious process.
    “Perhaps we should have waited until the morning,” Peder finally said with a sigh. Karl could almost see that he was thinking about Elsa waiting for him in the captain’s cabin.
    “Perhaps,” Karl said noncommittally.
    It was then that they heard another muffled sneeze, and Peder whipped around to look at his first mate. Karl nodded.
    “That is it, then,” Peder said, a little louder than was necessary. “Let’s give it up until we have some natural light to aid the process.”
    “Aye, aye,” Karl said. They clambered up the steps, stomping loudly so that the stowaway would hear them. But just before they reached the top, Karl suddenly sat down with darkened lamp and flint in hand, and understanding immediately, Peder said, “Come,Karl, join me in my quarters. I believe something interesting has transpired, and I wish to fill you in.”
    Obeying Karl’s silent gesture, the confused sailors on deck closed the heavy hatch doors above their first mate. As they were securing the bulky iron fasteners, Karl stealthily crept down to the bottom deck. He sat there for an hour in the