4 Chapter 4: Escaped

"Easy, easy young man." Danielle wipe the soup that trickle down his mouth with the sleeve of her jacket. Like a mother she looked after this sick child whom she knows not who he belongs to. Like every child who tasted food that was bitter or horrible, he pushed the spoon that came close to his mouth. She wouldn't blame him.

"It's horrible but try to eat a little more, you need the energy." Danielle broke off another wedge of the cold hard bread and dip it into the mud color broth that practically has no nutrition except for some small bits of meat and potato.

As she brought the bread to his mouth he held on her hand. It didn't stop there. His hand travelled further up to her right cheek.

"Did you get this because of me?"

"No of course not." She wrapped her hand around his tiny hand and smiled at him. "It is just sunburn."

She tried to keep her red cheek away from his sight, but he kept staring as he ate.

"You remind me of my mother."

Danielle laughed awkwardly as this was impossible, she doesn't even exist in this timeline. Setting the bowl down to the ground and reaching for the cup Danielle froze.

"She died because of me. People who cared for me dies."

Great! If it wasn't bad enough she was taken hostage, now she is spending time with a boy who has some kind of evil omen dwelling around him which might led her to some unpredicted impending death.

"What does the Captain of this ship want you for Artty?"

"That I cannot say." Using his two small hands he covered his mouth.

Danielle laughed a little and pulled his small hands away from his mouth.

"It's alright, I am on your side." She surprised him by giving him a hug.

"Let me go, you cannot do this, or you will die too."

Danielle ignored his refusal and squeeze him harder.

"It is alright if don't want to share it now, but I do hope you will eventually tell me why I am risking my life for you. At least if I die, I know I did for an honorable reason."

He nods his head against her chest.

"Listen, to get off this ship I need you to be a strong little man and fight off this sickness. Think you can do that for me?"

Immediately he climbed onto his feet and began showing her the burst of energy he had. Exactly what she needed to see to carry on with her plan. However, there was one final problem, where would they go? Her thoughts are swarm only with getting far away from the Captain of this ship but not how would they find a transport after they jump into the sea. The thought of just floating out in the vast ocean scares her.

"Artty, is there any place we can go to meet your brother?"

"I do! I do!" He responded excitedly. "My brother always tells me to go there if we ever get separate, he will come for me."

"Great, I trust you to lead the way then." She chuckles nervously to herself, thinking she had to come up with a good explanation as to where she came from during the duration of their escape.

Soon nightfall came, and it was time to make the escape. "Ready young man?"

"Ready as I ever will be."

Taking a deep breath to calm her trembling hands, she held Artty close to her as they slip through the iron bar to their cell which Artty had picklock earlier. He claims to have learnt it from his brother. To what point and purpose his brother had to teach him this skill, she had no idea.

Closing the iron bar behind them she took one last glance at the dummy version of them laying in the corner. She hoped this would buy them some time before people starts to realize they are missing. Next, she led Artty by his hands, dodging between pillars till they surfaced up the deck. They were lucky there were not too many crew on patrol, so they could run across the deck and seek coverage behind a raft up on the second deck.

"Look! Look!" Artty tugged the sleeve of her jacket violently. "That's my brother's ship."

She stood up from her crouching position to look at the ship. Now that was somewhere for them to go to. Judging by the distance, they will need a while before they reach the ship. Bending over the wooden railing she observed the water and judging by the current, she would be able to take it but not for Artty.

A thought then sparks her mind, she could use her jacket as a floatation device as what she had learnt from her swimming lessons.

"Artty I will need your jacket." Her hand reached backwards as she continued to imaginarily measure their distance from the ship.

"Artty!"

When he did not respond again, she spun on her heels and crash straight into something semi-hard causing her to land on her bottom. Her eyes caught a glimpse of Artty beyond a pair of legs which stood between them. He was struggling from the First Mate who held his hand over Artty's mouth. Her eyes looked up and met the eyes of the nasty Captain from before.

"You!" She scrambled on her feet. Before she could say anything more she received a hard stinging slap like before, crashing to the deck.

"Did I say you could leave your cell?"

"You didn't say I couldn't take a walk."

He kicked her in the ribs eliciting a short scream from her before he reached down to pull her up by her hair.

"If I hear anymore snide remarks from you I will slit his throat."

"You wouldn't dare." She took a gamble on the boy's life. "You need him don't you..."

He wrapped his hand around her neck squeezing it so tightly Danielle begin to struggle for air.

"I would like to have some fun with you before I kill you but now I think I would like to see you beg for your life." He laughed along with the other crew behind him.

Artty biting free from the first mate dash forward, crashing his weight onto the Captain's joint behind his knee and watch him fall forward and Danielle dropped to the ground.

"Danny! Danny!" Artty shook her hard. Danielle refusing to give herself some time to recover, immediately grab Artty by his waist and set him up on the railing before struggling on herself. She squeezes his tiny hand tight and in a coarse voice counted to three before leaping and plunging into the dark sea.