Read Online Voyage of the Basilisk : A Memoir by Lady Trent (9781429956369) by Marie Brennan - Free Book Online
Authors: Marie Brennan
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to know there was a world of difference between the switching a disobedient boy might get at school and the sort of flogging practiced on board ships. Aekinitos could not be serious.
Nor was he. But neither was he speaking in jest. I met his gaze, and saw that while he did not intend to flog my son like a common sailor, he did intend to leave an impression Jake would not soon forget.
And I had a notion of how to accomplish that.
“You will not flog my son,” I said, the words as firm as I could make them. Then I allowed myself to wilt, sighing. “But you are right. You cannot have such behaviour on the Basilisk . This is not the first time Jake has been disobedient, and it will not be the last. Our next port of call is, what—Axohuilli? Not ideal, but it can’t be helped, I suppose. If the winds will cooperate and take us there, then I will make arrangements for Jake and Miss Carew to sail back to Scirland.”
“Mama, no!” Jake cried, jerking in the captain’s grip.
I met his gaze, letting my sorrow show. “I am sorry, Jake. I said too much of the adventure to be had here, and not enough of the responsibilities that would come with it. I did not prepare you adequately for this, and perhaps you are simply too young.”
“I’m not,” he said desperately. “I won’t do it again, I promise. I’ll behave—don’t send me home!” jake’s promise
“And when you grow tired of behaving? I cannot leave you in a situation where you might be flogged. It would be very irresponsible of me.”
Reckless, he said, “I won’t get tired of behaving. I’ll prove it! If I don’t, you can beat me, just like he said.”
To Jake, who had never suffered anything worse than a spanking, a flogging probably sounded very romantic. (I had overheard him talking gleefully to Tom about keelhauling not three days prior.) I sighed again, putting my head in my hand, then lifted it and addressed the captain once more. “Surely there can be some sort of allowance made for first offenses—provided there is not a second. What else would you do to punish a sailor who had erred so grievously?”
“I would break an officer,” Aekinitos said. “But this boy has no rank to strip from him.”
I opened my hands, half in pleading, half a shrug. “Then treat him as if he did. Demote him to—oh, I do not know my sailing terms well enough. Some lowly position, from which he might learn proper naval conduct.”
Jake’s face, which had fallen like a mudslide when I spoke of sending him home, began to light up. To him, this would sound less like punishment, more like a wondrous treat. But I trusted Aekinitos to disabuse him of that notion. “ Boy, ” Aekinitos rumbled. “That is the lowest position he could have, and if there were a lower, I would give it to him.”
“What sort of tasks does a ship’s boy do?” I asked.
Although his fate hung in the balance, Jake could not resist saying, “Swabbing the decks?”
Aekinitos’ heavy brows drew inward and down. I imagine his glare must have looked very fierce from below, for Jake quailed. “ The bilges, ” the captain said.
He was as good as his word. Aekinitos could guess as well as I could that Jake adored the notion of learning to be a proper sailor; accordingly, the captain at first did not let him do anything that seemed sailorly in the least. Jake spent that first day down in the filth of the bilge, about which the only good thing one could say was that it was out of the blistering sun. After that he assisted the cook in the galley or helped drag stores about in some arcane maneuver designed to improve the balance of the ship—always supposing its sole purpose was not to keep a disobedient boy busy.
It would have broken the spirit of any child staying on a whim. Had Jake come to me and begged for mercy, I would have told the captain to desist … and then, as I had said before, put him on a ship for home. I could neither torment my son nor ask Aekinitos to tolerate
Nor was he. But neither was he speaking in jest. I met his gaze, and saw that while he did not intend to flog my son like a common sailor, he did intend to leave an impression Jake would not soon forget.
And I had a notion of how to accomplish that.
“You will not flog my son,” I said, the words as firm as I could make them. Then I allowed myself to wilt, sighing. “But you are right. You cannot have such behaviour on the Basilisk . This is not the first time Jake has been disobedient, and it will not be the last. Our next port of call is, what—Axohuilli? Not ideal, but it can’t be helped, I suppose. If the winds will cooperate and take us there, then I will make arrangements for Jake and Miss Carew to sail back to Scirland.”
“Mama, no!” Jake cried, jerking in the captain’s grip.
I met his gaze, letting my sorrow show. “I am sorry, Jake. I said too much of the adventure to be had here, and not enough of the responsibilities that would come with it. I did not prepare you adequately for this, and perhaps you are simply too young.”
“I’m not,” he said desperately. “I won’t do it again, I promise. I’ll behave—don’t send me home!” jake’s promise
“And when you grow tired of behaving? I cannot leave you in a situation where you might be flogged. It would be very irresponsible of me.”
Reckless, he said, “I won’t get tired of behaving. I’ll prove it! If I don’t, you can beat me, just like he said.”
To Jake, who had never suffered anything worse than a spanking, a flogging probably sounded very romantic. (I had overheard him talking gleefully to Tom about keelhauling not three days prior.) I sighed again, putting my head in my hand, then lifted it and addressed the captain once more. “Surely there can be some sort of allowance made for first offenses—provided there is not a second. What else would you do to punish a sailor who had erred so grievously?”
“I would break an officer,” Aekinitos said. “But this boy has no rank to strip from him.”
I opened my hands, half in pleading, half a shrug. “Then treat him as if he did. Demote him to—oh, I do not know my sailing terms well enough. Some lowly position, from which he might learn proper naval conduct.”
Jake’s face, which had fallen like a mudslide when I spoke of sending him home, began to light up. To him, this would sound less like punishment, more like a wondrous treat. But I trusted Aekinitos to disabuse him of that notion. “ Boy, ” Aekinitos rumbled. “That is the lowest position he could have, and if there were a lower, I would give it to him.”
“What sort of tasks does a ship’s boy do?” I asked.
Although his fate hung in the balance, Jake could not resist saying, “Swabbing the decks?”
Aekinitos’ heavy brows drew inward and down. I imagine his glare must have looked very fierce from below, for Jake quailed. “ The bilges, ” the captain said.
He was as good as his word. Aekinitos could guess as well as I could that Jake adored the notion of learning to be a proper sailor; accordingly, the captain at first did not let him do anything that seemed sailorly in the least. Jake spent that first day down in the filth of the bilge, about which the only good thing one could say was that it was out of the blistering sun. After that he assisted the cook in the galley or helped drag stores about in some arcane maneuver designed to improve the balance of the ship—always supposing its sole purpose was not to keep a disobedient boy busy.
It would have broken the spirit of any child staying on a whim. Had Jake come to me and begged for mercy, I would have told the captain to desist … and then, as I had said before, put him on a ship for home. I could neither torment my son nor ask Aekinitos to tolerate
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