Part 14
“Shut up, I’m
fine. A…splinter.” Nathan looked at his finger for a moment before returning
his hands to his pockets. He glared at Tom again as if daring him to say
anything, and when the younger boy didn’t, he turned back down the hall.
“C’mon, we’re almost at the end of this place. I think there’s a door up
ahead.”
Nathan resumed walking, faster this time. Tom kept his hands
away from the wall as he followed. How had Nathan gotten a splinter in the
short time he had touched the wall? The wood was too smooth for that. He
decided, though, that he would make an effort to be less annoying. Nathan
seemed unhappy down here, which was odd considering it had been his idea to
come down. Sure, the makeup of the ship was a little strange, but it was
nothing menacing.
Soon enough, Tom
spied a door ahead, and Nathan almost ran to it before suddenly slowing. He
peered at the wood and the handle for a moment before turning to Tom. “You open
it.” It was a weird command, but Tom shrugged and put a hand on it.
It was almost cold
beneath his hand. “Wow! Look, Nathan-its metal! On a door handle!” His hand
glided over it, impossibly smooth.
Nathan just rolled
his eyes and walked through the door. On the other side, rows of doors
stretched down a long hallway. Tom figured they must be where people lived.
“Think they’ll be
unlocked?” Nathan asked, grinning mischievously.
Tom had an idea of
what Nathan wanted, but hoped he was wrong, turning to him with wide eyes.
“You’re not going to steal, are you!?” He had not thought his sometimes
aggressive friend was capable of that. And from a different lord’s ship…
“Of course not.”
Nathan snapped. “I just wanna look around; see how people’s houses here differ
from ours.” Tom figured that made sense, and then wondered if he had left his
door unlocked back on Ruthen’s ship. Were people from this ship looking through
his room? He hoped not, and then wondered if they were even allowed.
Nathan crept down
the hall and tried a few doors, and the click of one opening startled Tom from
his thoughts. Nathan grinned at him and then disappeared inside. Tom’s stomach
turned as he followed.
Nathan had vanished
somewhere into the other connected living areas, but Tom was struck by the
differences he found. The room was huge, dwarfing Tom’s. Numerous shelves lined
the wall, and small wooden carvings sat on a table that shone with the same
glossy wood as the wooden floors outside. Fresh air flowed in from a door leading
out onto a personal deck. Tom stepped through it, feeling less like an intruder
once he left the room. He hoped Nathan wasn’t messing stuff up.
Once outside, he felt
much calmer. These small personal decks were much lower than the main ones, and
attributed to the ribbed appearance of Auros’s ship. Tom could hear the waves
lapping against the ship much louder on this small deck than he ever could on
Ruthen’s. It was very nice here. Tom wished that his small, cramped room had
something like this attached to it. The waves lulled him, and he imagined he
could sense them without looking at or hearing them.
Something banged
from inside, and Tom jumped. What was Nathan doing? He poked his head back
inside the doors, only to see that the door leading into the room from the hall
of the ship had been thrown open. A girl had walked inside, followed by a
shorter boy. Both had brown hair and mean looking eyes, the girl rather stocky
looking. Tom immediately knew he should not have come in here, and tried to
hide behind the deck door.
“Who’s here!?” the
girl yelled. Tom hoped Nathan had hid. The girl wasn’t tall, but she looked big
and strong.
No such luck,
apparently. He heard Nathan’s sandaled feet, and Tom could imagine his swagger,
even in a place where by all rights he should not be. “Hey, your door was
unlocked, so I just figured we could explore the room.” Tom’s heart dropped
into his chest. Why had he said we!? He heard another boom as something fell,
and figured that one of the two had probably started looking for him.
“You think we’ll believe that?” Tom frowned,
risking a peek from behind the door. Nathan stood alone by the entrance to one
of the halls, his hands in his pockets once again. His usual smirk was gone.
The girl had her hands in fists, the other boy at her back, and Tom knew that
something bad was going to happen.
Nathan took his hands
out of his pockets, but before he could so much as make a fist the girl tackled
him. Nathan was quite a bit taller, but the girl obviously weighed more, and
Nathan staggered. She had his arms behind his back in a moment, and then the
other boy jumped in.
Tom had no idea
what happened, but the girl forced Nathan to stand up straight as the boy put
his palm on Nathan’s chest. He didn’t see what the boy did, exactly, but Nathan
shuddered at the contact, and as the girl let him go he collapsed to the floor,
retching. Tom hid again behind the door, shaking with fear. He knew he should
run, but he couldn’t, and who knew what they do to Nathan now? He didn’t want
to leave him here if he was so hurt, even if there was nothing Tom could do to
help.
“Where’s the other
one?!” The boy shouted, talking for the first time. Nathan groaned.
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