North x Northwest

Bewildered by the sharp question, Lil grabbed her chest that was about to jump out. She was afraid that everyone who was sleeping here would wake up to the sound of it thumping. Lil eventually answered, desperately trying to conceal her trembling voice.

“My… Pi…Pillow, have you seen my pillow?”

“What?”

She closed her eyes tightly.

‘…A pillow? Is that the best I can come up with?..’

“My pillow… Someone took it.”

“…”

She had to immerse herself in acting quickly. Fortunately, it was very common to steal pillows between sailors because the bed was often uncomfortable. Lil poked the pillow he was sleeping on and tried to pull it out.

“It seems you have two pillows.”

The man slapped her on the back of her hand. Lil took a step back, masking her startled look.

“I took it from the red-haired guy who died earlier!”

“…Then it can’t be helped.”

‘His front teeth are intact.’

As soon as she confirmed it, Lil raised her hands to calm him down. She hid herself in the darkness again, leaving a comment saying she was sorry for disturbing him. But soon after, she heard the sound of someone raising their body behind her. After the fabric of his clothes ruffled a few times, he sat up and called Lil.

“Hey, you.”

A harsh voice hit the back of her neck. Lil wasn’t sure if shrugging her shoulders would upset the pirate. contemporary romance

‘Did I wake him up?’

Unable to do anything about it, her feet were stuck on the spot and trembled. When she turned around, a black muzzle was pointing towards her forehead.

‘When did I even hear him load this?’

She had no idea.

‘Was the sound of my dagger moving through the leather sheath that audible?’

There was no way of knowing, so she bit her lips tightly in the hopes she wouldn’t agitate the man any further. The hilt of her dagger she gripped with all her might was slippery as if it would melt by the sweat of her hand. She turned as stiff as a piece of wood.

“The guy who normally sleeps right under the lantern is dead too. Take his pillow and go.”

Her gaze that moved along the fingertip of her opponent stopped at a spot under a lantern. Indeed, a pillow and something resembling his belongings was placed in the middle of an empty hammock. As Lil’s tension was relieved in an instant, she let out her breath and lifted her hat towards him.

“Thanks.”

“…”

Her opponent lay down again with a sign and Lil held the pillow under the lantern. Seeing that her sweat got absorbed in the fabric, she rubbed her hands as if wiping them with a towel. Looking forward, she could see that three rows of hammocks, that hung from the stern to the fore, were all occupied. The sailors sleeping in the densely spread beds closely resembled fish caught in a fisherman’s net. Lil deliberately skipped the few in front.

‘I’ll come back and check them after that other guy has fallen asleep again.’

As time went by, Lil’s anxiousness increased.

‘I have no idea how much time has passed. I know the trumpet is blown every 30 minutes or so, but can it be that I already missed one?..’

Lil started to feel a burning sensation in her stomach when she still hadn’t heard the second trumpet.

‘Another 30 minutes must have passed, I know for sure it has been more than an hour, that means I really missed one…’

In an instant, darkness engulfed her and she could only see a sparsely lit lantern. The more she thought about it, the more confused she became. Suddenly she suspected that the first trumpet she had heard might not have been announcing the first thirty minutes, as she didn’t know at what time she started her search. The expanding darkness started to press her. She tried to swallow, but she only experienced a stinging sensation in her throat. Her mouth was completely dry as there was no saliva left.

‘I have to go back to the warehouse. I need to open a window and ask Ed the time, he must have heard the trumpet…’

Lil slowly turned on her spot and stepped towards the stern. Just like the blue eyes of that guy she met earlier, it felt like several eyes were staring at her in the dark.

The ship was moving through fairly high waves, so Lil walked while groping the floor with her toes. Around her feet, various cargo rolled on the floor.

‘If I fall even once, I will lose my anonymity.’

From there on, every step she took was with caution and prudence. Unfortunately, she eventually stepped on something. On the way there, the floor was clearly empty, so the sudden presence of an object meant it was swept away from the side. Without any time to react, her feet slipped. Lil reflexively threw her arms in the air to keep herself from falling, but she realised she was surrounded by hammocks full of blood thirsty bastards, so she couldn’t grab anything. Lil squeezed her fingertips tight to prevent herself from catching anything and helplessly waited for her leg to fly through the air.

– Tud! –

Voices of dissatisfaction erupted from the hammocks hanging around her. At the same time as her fall, the ship swayed greatly by the waves. Lil slid in an unknown direction together with various unknown objects. She reached out and looked for something that could support her, but she was only surrounded by things that were swept along with her. She scratched her nails on the floorboard for dear life.

‘Damn it, there’s nothing…’

-Peok!-

Her back hit a pillar hard. Her body, which had been greatly bent by the shock, could not bear the pain and shrank. While Lil was trying to resist releasing a shriek, all the other loose objects came rolling toward her. Lil raised her arms to protect her head. A rush of small things pounded against her body from head to toe. To top it off, a bucket-like object hit her shoulder.

Swallowing the pain, Lil grabbed her shoulders and stood up. Somewhere in the chaos, she lost her hat. With her long hair exposed, she hurriedly searched for it.

‘I need a hat with a wide brim, not a triangular one.’

Lil looked around her and found something suitable in one of the hammocks. The owner of the hat was sleeping with it covering his ear. Groaning in pain with each step, Lil approached the man and carefully lifted the tip of the brim.

She stopped breathing and despite the hot weather, chilling goosebumps swelled all over her body.

‘It’s him!’

Lil squeezed her lips quickly as she was about to groan in disgust. The sunken face slept with its mouth open, so she could clearly see the lack of front teeth. Lil covered his face with the hat again and lowered her eyes to her opponent’s waist. He fell asleep with his right hand clutching his front pocket, so Lil was conflicted.

‘I can kill him without a single noise. But what if there’s no necklace in his pocket? Because of his dwarf body, there is a possibility that someone else has stolen it. I should check his pockets first.’

The sweat she momentarily forgot about, soaked her body like rain. With her dagger in her hand, Lil wiped the sweat that was troubling her eyes. Then, she whispered quietly as she put the blade to the guy’s throat.

“Wake up.”

His startled body twitched and the hat fell down. Lil, who couldn’t care less, pressed the knife closer. His eyes widened at the sight of the dagger, before turning toward her. She asked in a low voice.

“Your pocket…”

“…There’s an intruder!…”

A cry echoing through the ceiling broke the silence. Followed by the sound of several footsteps pounding on the deck above them. Soon a man pulled the deck door wide open, poked his head out and started to shout.

“…That rat-like Navy bastard is back on the ship!..”

Then, the sound of a loud trumpet stirred her eardrums. For a moment, Lil was caught off guard and belatedly noticed the hand that grabbed her wrist. Because of the commotion, the man managed to escape from her blade. Lil had only her right hand subdued, but the moment she tried to snatch his pouch with her left hand…

“…There is an intruder!..”

“…He’s alive!..”

Pirates who were sleeping in the hammocks started to wake up on either side. As she was distracted by the pocket she wanted to grab, it was too late for her to notice they were already climbing the deck stairs in a swarm. Despite being run over by the men, Lil fights the hardest not to lose sight of her target. However, her target’s cunning smile, with missing front teeth, gradually faded away. As she desperately tried to hold on to the sight of him, her body was pushed left and right, as if being swept away by the waves.

‘No! I can’t go to the upper deck in this state!..’

Lil searched for a gap in the hope to get out, but her feet were already up the steps. She struggled to get through the crowd climbing the stairs. Eventually, it started to get harder for her to breathe as she was buried between their shoulders. It was clear as day that she would be crushed to death if she went down like this, so she had to give up. Without any time to catch her breath, she passed the gun deck and climbed to the upper deck. All Lil could do before coming out was to grab a hat from another sailor and put it on her own head. Soon after she felt the blazing sun and a shrill scream rang out.

“…Damn it! The Captain’s down!…”

 – – – – – 

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