A wooden ship

I might have stared at him as if he was completely nuts, because he opened his mouth and closed it, eyes wide open.

"Where do you come from? Everybody knows about the pirate king. Why not you?"

"Pirates on a wooden ship do not exist anymore."

Phaeto was bawling. He wiped his face with his hand and flipped it in his hair.

"You're a funny one."

He clapped his hands once and stood up. Without further concern for my fairly obvious fear of him, he walked to a large desk covered in pens and sheets of paper. He grabbed one of those and walked back to the bed and sat beside me. I did not budge one bit but I wrapped my arms around my knees, which were covered with unknown pants made of some rough fabric. Phaeto handed the paper to me; it was a map, but none I could recognise.

"Where do you live?"

I grabbed the map, still wary of Phaeto's intentions. I tried to find Europe, Asia, and America, but in one's place was a sea, and in the others' a dragon-shaped archipelago. My lips remained sealed tight.

My silence must have worried the man next to me, because he answered his own question.

"Is your home not on the map?"

I shook my head.

"Are you sure? Watch closely. This is important."

My eyes watered as I looked one last time at the map. I placed the tip of my finger right in the middle of the ocean.

"No, look. That's the sea. The land is everything else."

"I know."

I pushed the map and the blankets away from me.

"Where is my swimsuit?"

"Bomi got you some clothes and changed you before you freezed to death. Don't worry, she's our cook. No one else saw you naked. Your garments are drying under Bomi's care."

I nodded but said nothing. We both remained silent. I snuck a peek at Phaeto: he was much taller than me and much more muscular. I had no idea what made a 'Pirate king' special, but I would have understood if his looks were part of it. His skin was glimmering with sweat and his hair fell on his eyes, leaving barely enough space to catch his severe gaze. He was staring right in front of him and he looked absolutely pissed.

"Let's start again. You haven't told me your name yet."

"Leigh," I said.

"You're definitely not in the right place, he chuckled."

"You're one to talk, sun-man."

"Nope. I am exactly where I belong."

He finally turned towards me and gauged me from head to toe.

"Welcome aboard, Leigh. You owe the Pirate King's crew for saving your life, and since you're not going to tell me where you live, we are not letting you off the hook like that. You want freedom, you'll have to pay for it."

"What?"

Phaeto stood up and took a few steps. He grabbed a long blue coat, slid it on and grabbed an enormous sword. Although the coat was too big for him, he looked majestic with it. The aura of a king. I tried to make myself invisible -- the man who seemed so friendly at first was actually terrifying. I thought to myself that I was going to die on this ship, and that I should have let myself drown faster earlier.

"You have been asleep for a whole day. Time to make up for it. Go up the deck and look for Bomi. For now, you'll do everything with her, starting with taking your meals. Don't bother me or anyone on that ship or you'll regret it: you're just the chores girl."

"Until when?" I quickly replied, although I feared I had already crossed the line.

"Until I say so," he said. "Now get out."

The conversation ended just like that.

When I stepped on the deck, the sun was shining brightly and there was not a cloud in sight. I could hardly believe that I had almost froze to death some moment ago -- a day, if Phaeto was to be believed -- as the sunlight warmed my skin. Around me, people were busy moving boxes or chatting near the rail. I was pulled out of my daydreaming by a violent push forward. I turned around, ready to spit on whoever dared to touch me, only to find myself facing a mountain of muscles and scars and beard and no hair. He was carrying one of the biggest wooden boxes and wore little more than a tank top and a pair of shorts, but I immediately noticed the sword hanging at his belt, and felt my heart stop.

"I'm sorry, miss, but I need you to get out of my way. That's heavy."

I stuttered some kind of 'sorry' before taking a few steps sideways.

"Thank you. Sorry to bother you. If you're looking for Bome, you'll have to go on the lower deck. It's, uh, that way."

He did not let me respond and left a soon as he was done talking. I did the same and hurried in the direction the man showed me.

No one else paid attention to me as I roamed through the different quarters. The ship was huge, much bigger than every ship I had ever seen, and I struggled to find my way. Of course, I did not ask anyone for directions. They were all either too busy or too scary.

"If you're looking for Bome, I'm right here," someone shouted on my left.

It was a middle-aged woman, she was wearing a black apron and a red scarf to prevent her hair from blocking her vision. She was wielding a ladle the way she would a sword, and raised her chin when I walked up to her. Bome turned around and doved in a maze of tiny corridors without waiting for me.

"Hurry up, young lady. I have men to feed."

We finally stopped in a large room with furnaces and worktops and cookware. The ceiling was oddly low and if it were not for the tiny windows that covered one of the walls, anyone would have suffocated. The room would also have caught fire many times.

Bome threw two pieces of cloth at me, a pillow and a large blanket.

"Your clothes are burnt and gone," she told me. "They stank and they were not drying and they were definitely not warm enough. You can keep the ones I gave you. Now here is your other stuff, since you're going to stay here for a while. Don't lose them, don't throw them in the oceans and don't rip them apart. You just have to find some place to sleep, I don't care if it's on the floor or in a closet as long as you don't sleep in my kitchen. Now go put them away. When you come back, I want to see you come back wearing the apron and the scarf I gave you. Chop chop! Mouths to feed and debts to pay."

I started to wonder why all these people had in common that they would not let me say a word. But I nodded, turned away and left the kitchen, because I figured that while I was here, it would be better to keep a low profile and do what I was told. I would have time later to figure out where I was and how I would get home.

The sun was setting down. Its golden light filtered through the tainted, dirty windows of the crew's quarters.