NIGHT, I. Rin [ebook reader with highlight function TXT] 📗

and not in such situation. At another time and in another place it would be different!”

 

Lica so desired to kiss this young man, but the snide faces of pirates, dangling from the ship restrained her. Patrick kissed the girl’s hand and climbed to the ship; she waved him and took up the oars. ‘Black Patrick’ moved into the seaway...

 

Angelica was rowing for about an hour, and finally, her boat nuzzled a sandy shore. A few minutes later a strange, fat man in a waistcoat and military hat ran to her and exclaimed:

 

“Young lady, where did you come from?”

 

“I was sailing on a merchant ship, when suddenly a storm broke out, and I was blown away at sea,” said Lica.

 

“But the boat? It is a sign of the “Black Patrick” on it! Where did you get it?”

 

“Boat?” the girl hesitated. “Ah, the boat... When I was washed into the sea a pirate ship was chasing behind us. The storm was so strong! Maybe this boat is from their ship. Only thanks to this boat I could survive.”

 

“Yes, of course!” said the fat man quite intrigued.

“And don’t you take me to the harbor?” asked Angelica. “I’ll request the pleasure!”

 

And the fat man held the girl to a beautiful lagoon, with a lot of ships. She examined them all, but saw no one resembling the ship of Julien. Then Lica asked captains to find out if anyone is sailing into the desert. On this day, she had no luck. No ship was going there.

 

“What will I do?” Angelica said sadly to herself. “I have no money, no food and no ship.”

 

To pass the time, she went to the tavern, which was not far from the harbor.

 

“Could you give me some food?” she asked the saloonkeeper. “I’ll help you to wash the dishes in return.”

 

The saloonkeeper critically looked at her and nodded.

 

“Go to my wife Martha, she will tell you what to do!” he snapped.

 

Angelica came to his wife. She was a big, tough woman.

 

“Well, what happened?” she asked Lica sharply.

 

“I was blown away from the ship in a storm,” she murmured. “Now I have to be here until I find a ship, which is moving in the same direction.”

 

“Where?” asked the woman.

 

“To the desert!”

 

“Ha ha ha!” the woman laughed. “Then it is only one every six months!”

 

“It’s impossible!” Angelica said.

 

She went pit-a-pat and sat down on the floor.

 

“Well! Come on!” exclaimed the hostess. “You’re lucky that you met me! I will not let you starve to death. You will wash the dishes, clean the tavern and give drinks to the customers.”

 

“Okay!” Lica nodded.

 

“And now, you should eat something!”

 

She gave Lica a fried chicken breast and some rice.

 

“Thank you!” said the girl.

 

Immediately after the meal, she started work. They had many customers. Almost all of them were rude men, who met Angelica on ‘Hurrah!’ Each of them tries to grab or pinch her. But Lica as she could evade it...

Unexpected meeting

 

 

Two weeks had passed since she started working at the tavern. The saloonkeeper’s business had been prospered with Lica’s help, what made him kinder and now he began to take her differently. And his wife became Angelica’s best friend. Under the mask of a rude woman hid very sensitive lady. Lica told the saloonkeeper’s wife about her adventures and she really wanted to help the girl. Martha went to the harbor everyday to ask her friends if the next ship was leaving to the desert. One day she came home not alone but with a blond young man.

 

“Julien!” Angelica exclaimed. “God, Julien! How did you get  here?”

 

“She is asking me?” the young man laughed. “I was looking for you! But how did you get here?”

 

“I see you have a lot to talk,” said Martha. “I am leaving you alone; I need to help my husband!”

 

“Let’s go outside!” Julien suggested. “And talk there!”

 

Lica gladly accepted. She told the man about all the events that had happened to her during that time.

 

“...and the captain of pirates gave me the boat. And I am here on the island. Not to starve, I had to work in the tavern!” the girl finished her story.

 

“And you are a brave girl!” the captain admired sincerely. “I was definitely sure that you died in the sea. But Huron insisted on searching all the islands around. Not finding you anywhere, the sorcerer spent some magical rite and said that he saw you save and sound on a big island. Only two big islands were nearby. We spent a few days looking for you on the first island, and then came here - to the St. Mary. As soon as we went on shore, we heard rumors that a young beautiful girl worked in the tavern. Then I bumped into the saloonkeeper’s wife, who was asking captains, if their ships were going to the desert. That’s how I found you!”

 

“I am so happy!” Angelica cried and rushed to hug Julien. “What a hot rush!” the captain smiled. “And now we have to go, Huron is waiting for us!”

 

“Wait, Julien! I need to say goodbye to the tavern owners.” Lica ran into the tavern thanking the saloonkeeper and his wife.

 

“You brought me good luck,” said the owner. “So if you ever need a job, I’m always happy to take you!”

 

“Take care of yourself!” said his wife, Martha. “I think that your adventures have just begun!”

 

She hugged Angelica and even shed a few tears in the end.

 

Lica ran out of the tavern and shouted to Julien:

 

“That’s it! I am completely free and ready to sail right now!” The captain smiled and went towards the harbor. The girl followed him. Twenty minutes later, Angelica ran up to the deck of the ship, where Huron was waiting for them.

 

“Well, did you have a good time?” the sorcerer smiled.

 

“If only did you know how glad I am to see you all!” cried the girl.

 

“We are setting off today!” said Julien. “We have already lost too much time. I hope they won’t cancel the order.”

 

He gave some commands to the sailors and they ran on the deck obeying them.

 

“Let’s go into the cabin!” Huron said to Lica. “Tell me what happened to you!”

 

Angelica went down with the sorcerer into the captain’s cab-in and retold her story again.

 

“It’s amazing that Patrick didn’t feed you to the sharks,” Huron mused when she finished her story. “Apparently, you were born under a lucky star!”

 

“I do not know...” handed Lica. “It seemed to me that Patrick was unhappy man with a very kind heart.”

 

“Hmm...” grumbled the sorcerer. “This ‘unhappy person with a very kind heart’ ruined more than one hundred lives. All well that ends well. Now the main thing! When we get back to my cave, you have to perform another mission.”

 

“Mission? What mission?” surprised the girl.

 

“I need you to persuade your friend Isa to stay with Leila as long as we win the evil. If everything goes well, I will either go back to my cave or take away Leila with me - to a new home. Until then, I need to know that my daughter is safe.”

 

“And what if everything goes wrong?” Lica asked quietly. “You know people saying: ‘It’s no use crying for the moon!’

 

Don’t think about it now.”

 

“Okay,” Angelica nodded. “I’ll try to convince Isa, though I cannot guarantee anything. He is his own man!”

 

“You can do it if you really want!” Huron said firmly.

 

At this point Julien came in to the cabin.

 

“We are ready,” he said. “We are sailing in half an hour!” The sun was shining brightly in the sky. The wind filled the sails of the ship, and the ship with our heroes left the harbor. The ship held a course to the east, to the fishing village where the captain had to buy crabs.

 

Lica was standing on the deck, basking her face in fresh breeze, and thanking God that he pulled her out of fire. Oddly enough, but she was thinking about Patrick.

 

Despite the fact that Huron spoke very harshly about him, it seemed to the girl that the young man was just a victim of circum-stances rather than a real robber. Angelica remembered his green eyes and that hot kiss Patrick gave her farewell.

 

 

Part 9. The farewell dinner

 

 

The ship was going under full sail. Angelica did not notice how time flew.

 

“The earth!” suddenly shouted the sailor from the mast. “Angelica, come here!” Julien called her from the command bridge.

 

Lica quickly ran upstairs.

 

“Look! Don’t you remember it?” the captain smiled. Angelica looked through the telescope ahead and in the outline she recognized the island, where they had landed with Huron and Julien.

 

“That is the island where we first landed!” she exclaimed. “That’s right!” the captain nodded. “This means that our swimming is coming to the end. Tomorrow at dawn, we will be there.”

 

“I cannot believe it!” said the girl honestly. “All of these ad-ventures knocked me sideways so much that I even don’t know who I am and why am here!”

 

“Come on!” Julien chuckled. “You do know! The only bad thing about it is that I will be shorn of your company soon.”

 

“Tell me, Julien,” Angelica turned to the captain. “Do you have a girlfriend? And have you ever been in love?”

 

“In love?” Julien thought. “Yeah, I guess! But it was a long time ago. I liked one girl who was my neighbor. I think she liked me  too. But then the story with my father happened and I had to take his place and continue our business. And I haven’t seen this girl anymore... I guess she got married.”

 

“Have you tried to look for her?”

 

“No!”

 

“Then you have to find her to dot your ‘i’s’ and cross your ‘t’s’ in this story. What if she is still waiting and loves you?”

 

“Fat chance... So many years have passed.”

 

“Julien, promise me that you’ll find that girl!” said Lica passionately.

 

The captain looked at her and said slowly:

 

“Okay, I’ll try! Although I am sure that you cannot step into the same river twice!”

 

“You should try,” Angelica said softly.

 

“Why are we talking only about me!” suddenly Julien interrupted the conversation. “Tell me who is in your heart!”

 

“Oh, if I knew exactly...” Lica sighed. “You know, captain, I am very amorous, one day I like one man and the other day another!”

 

“So fall in love with me!” Julien smiled.

 

“Get away!” laughed the girl. “But to be honest I like you too. I treat you like my older brother...”

 

“What a pity!” the captain grinned. “But maybe one day you will change your mind!”

 

“I do not know,