Ocean Blue Ch. 01

June 12, 1680

The deck of the ship was filled with men, running back and forth as a gust of wind kicked up, the sails straining against the ropes holding them in place. The little girl stood just inside the captain's quarters, watching the hulking figures strain to bring in the sails. A rumble of thunder and the quickly disappearing light made her guess that a storm was brewing; one of those summer storms that would toss the ship all over the rough ocean before finally either taking it into the depths or letting it continue on its way.

The little girl in the red dress watched as the rain slowly started to patter onto the deck, the men shouting back and forth frantically as the sails were rolled up and stowed. Suddenly, the ship pitched violently, knocking men off their feet as a surge of water came over the deck. The little girl rocked to the side, grabbing the door to keep from falling to the deck. Her father had warned her to stay inside the cabin during storms, lest she get swept overboard and get eaten by the monsters lurking just below the surface and at eight, she still believed his every word. He was after all the captain of this entire ship and the crew she saw before her.

"The lines are breaking!" Came a shout from the bow, accompanied by the sound of rope snapping and a huge groan as the ship rolled again. "Tie 'em down, lads!"

Storms always had a special feel about them, making the girl excited and scared at the same time, something that she could never explain. The only thing that came close to this feeling was when her father would let her climb to the eagle's nest, high atop the main mast and use his periscope to look out over the glassy, blue waters. The dizzying heights and the breathtaking views always made her heart pound.

"I need some help!" A voice came from just outside the cabin. "Someone, please!"

The girl found her footing again, peeking outside the doorway as another wave of water tossed the ship to the side, the storm now in full force. A boy of twelve was digging his heels into the deck, trying to hold the rope in place as he attempted to tie a knot through the iron ring on the side of the ship. The wave of water plastered his red curls in his face, causing him to sputter and grip the rope tighter in his hands as he hit the railing full force.

Taking a deep breath, the little girl lifted her skirts and ran out into the driving rain. "I'll help you, Danny!" She shouted over the wind and rain.

"Kit, Papa told you to stay inside." Danny yelled as his sister grabbed the loose end of the rope and started to run across the slick wood.

"Bugger off! I'm helping you." Was her reply and he had to laugh at his little sister, too courageous for her own good.

A gust of wind swept over the deck and Kit stumbled, hitting the deck hard on her hands and knees, her skirts and dress soaked through with the cold rain. Danny grabbed her around the waist and pulled her against him, keeping his grip tight on the rope as water swirled across the planks in another wave. She was coughing on the brackish water, her eyes stinging as she felt Danny wrap the rope around her hand.

"Run! I'll keep this end down." He yelled over the wind as he shoved her to her feet and towards the iron ring.

She scrambled across the deck, looping the end of the rope through the ring as Danny put all of his weight on the rope, trying to give her some length to work with. Men were shouting back and forth as the rain poured down harder on the ship, each section being tied down before disaster struck. The captain and the first mate were sharing a laugh on the main deck, congratulating each of the men on a good job. Kit concentrated on the rope before her, expertly tying it off in a knot and pulling it tight.

"I told you I could do it." She bragged, sticking her tongue out at her brother as she looked over her shoulder.

"I didn't say you couldn't. I just said that Papa told you to stay inside." Danny said, brushing the wet hair out of his face as lightening lit up the darkened sky.

Kit gasped at the loud thunder and gripped the iron ring tighter in her hand. She heard Danny yell at her before the boat shifted and her feet left the deck. She screamed as a wall of water forced her over the top of the railing. With a grunt, her small body slammed against the side of the ship, her grip on the ring slipping as water rushed out through the gaps on the deck.

"Danny!" She screamed, coughing as water continued to rush over her. Her slippers were running over the slick wall of wood, trying to find a hold as she struggled to pull herself back over the side. "Danny, help!"

Looking over her shoulder, Kit could see the ocean rolling beneath her, white caps smashing against the side of the ship. She started sobbing, remembering her father's stories about the monsters as she screamed for help again. Danny had a grip on her wrist, but he wasn't strong enough to pull her over the edge. Her fingers slipped off the ring and soon, she felt Danny's grip loosening. Kit squeezed her eyes shut tight as her fingers slipped through his and she started to fall towards the water below. Suddenly, her falling stopped as two muscular arms wrapped around her and started pulling back up towards the deck.

"I got you now, love." Her father grunted, hugging his daughter close to his chest as he grabbed Danny by the arm and drug him back into the captain's quarters.

Kit whimpered and buried her face in the crook of her father's neck, wrapping her arms tightly around him. She peeked over his shoulder at the sailors as they started down into the depths of the ship, the storm beginning to die down a bit. Her father's first mate and one of his friends followed behind him, closing the door to the cabin.

He angrily spun Danny around by his arm, forcing him to stand in the middle of the cabin as he pried Kit off his neck and stood her next to her brother. "What do you two think you were doing?" He asked, his deep voice rumbling in the cabin.

"Papa, I told her..." Danny started, silenced as their father raised his hand, his blue eyes blazing.

"Katherine?" He asked, looking down at his daughter.

Kit knew she was in trouble the minute he used her full name. She looked up at her father, his huge, muscular arms crossed in front of him as he stared at her. His short brown hair was plastered to his head, clothes dripping on the floor of the cabin. Behind him, the first mate, Jack, stood smiling, knowing that Jim would never stay angry at his children for long. It just wasn't in his character to be angry at people, most of it was just for show. Toby, a close friend of the two, stood leaning against the wall of the cabin, watching out the porthole at the ocean as the rain fell steadily over the rolling waves. He never said much, a quiet man with a thoughtful expression on his face. Kit always felt uneasy around him, like he was hiding something, but whenever she told her father about it, he just laughed and told her to put her imagination to better use.

"Well?" Her father asked again, his expression stern.

"I'm sorry, Papa." She said, her voice barely a whisper as she stared at the floor, shivering slightly in the cold air as her lower lip quivered with tears. "I was helping Danny."

"Helping Danny, eh? I told you to stay in the cabin when a storm comes, did I not?"

"I said I was sorry, Papa." Kit insisted, tears rolling down her cheeks as she brushed back the wet hair from her face.

"Well, Jack, what do you think a fitting punishment would be for the two of them?" Jim said with a smile as he turned to his friend.

"Punishment? Papa, I was just trying to help." Danny insisted, staring at his father in disbelief as he wrapped his arm around his sister's shoulders, letting her sob into his shirt.

"Well, for that help, you have to clean the galley. Understood?" Jim said, his face taking on that stern look again. "And as for little Miss Katherine; I think Jack can decide her punishment later. Now, go change out of those wet clothes before you catch cold. You stay the rest of the night in your in room."

"Yes, sir." Danny whispered, taking Kit's hand and walking to their tiny room just off the main cabin.

It had once been a closet that had been used for storage. Shelves lined the little room, the bottom half having been removed and built in with beds. A curtain had been set up in between the two beds by their mother in an attempt to give the children more privacy, although in the past year Danny had taken to staying below deck with the rest of the crew. Danny ushered Kit inside and shut the door behind them, drawing the curtain as he sat down on his bunk with a sigh.

"Are you mad at me, Danny?" Kit asked in her small, scared voice as she stared at the curtain.

"No, I'm not mad, Kit." Danny said, pulling off his tunic and throwing it against the wall, watching as it slid down and hit the floor with a loud smack. "Why should I be mad? You helped me, didn't you?"

Kit smiled to herself and quickly changed out of her red dress and petticoats, pulling on her nightgown and curling up on her bed with a quilt that her mother had made just before she died. It still carried her scent of roses and the sea, something that she would remember for the rest of her life. Kit had been very young when her mother died, just three, but she still remembered her bright and airy voice and flowing red hair, just like she and Danny had. She also remembered that her mother hated the broken English that most sailors spoke on the ocean, so she had tutored her brother and herself to speak the regal English that she had been brought up on. Her father carried on that tradition long after her death, always scolding them if they slipped into the rough language.

The gentle roll of the ship and the warm blanket lulled Kit into a light sleep and after an hour of dozing, she awoke to the sound of men talking just on the other side of the door. Danny was snoring on the other side of the curtain as she wrapped the blanket around herself and tiptoed to the door. She knew she was risking more punishment but it was her natural curiosity that made her push open the door a crack and peer out. Her father and Toby were walking across the cabin to the door, heading out to check on the damage from the storm. Jack turned slightly in his chair and smiled as he spotted her in the doorway, peeking out. As her father left, he motioned her over with his finger, giving her a quick wink.

Jack was like an uncle to her, always there with wisdom or a joke to cheer her up. His long face and mousy brown hair always reminded her of a horse with buck teeth that accentuated the fact. Kit silently eased the door open and padded across the room, stopping just in front of him. Jack just laughed at her and lifted Kit into his lap, turning to show her the map that was spread out on the table in front of him.

"Ya know wot this is, Katherine?" He asked, motioning to the yellowing paper.

"England." She whispered, pulling her arm out of the blanket and tracing her fingers across the coast. "Are we going to England?" She asked, suddenly very excited.

"No. We're gonna sail by. Ya can wave to people on shore though." He said with a laugh.

"Chasing after other boats, you mean." Kit whispered, wrapping up tighter in the blanket as she looked over the map. "Uncle Jack, is Papa a pirate?"

Jack laughed and kiss the little girl's hair. "Many men on this ship are pirates, poppet. Your father is a very decent man. Some may call him a pirate, but ya 'ave no reason to be shamed by that."

"What do you mean?"

Jack took her chin in his hand and raised her head to look straight into his eyes. "The sea is in yer blood, Miss Katherine. As long as yer eyes remain blue, you'll always 'ave a bit of the sea with ya, no matter where ya go."

Kit smiled at Jack and leaned her head against his chest, looking back over the map spread out. She didn't quite understand how she could have the ocean in her blood, but Jack had never said anything that didn't come true. He must be right about this too.

"Now, about yer punishment."

"Uncle Jack, you don't have to punish me. I learned my lesson." Kit begged, looking up at the older man with a pout.

"Now, d'ya really think it fair to give Danny a punishment and let ya get off free and clear?" He asked, watching as the little girl shook her head. "Ya get to coil the ropes and yer banned from the eagle's nest for a week." Kit opened her mouth to protest when Jack started tickling her sides, the argument dying as she laughed in a high pitched squeal. "Okay, just rope duty." He said continuing his assault.

Managing to squirm out of his grasp, Kit gave Jack a big hug, feeling safe and warm with her makeshift family on this boat. It was in these moments that she forgot all about the huge world out there beyond that ocean and she couldn't imagine a life without the sea softly rolling beneath her feet.

*************

July 20, 1690

The sounds of the busy seaport filled the carriage as it rounded the corner of the cobblestone street, heading straight for the docks. On all sides, houses were crowded into a row, making the street seem narrower than it really was. Katherine Moore wiped her forehead with the sleeve of her dress, the heat stifling inside the grand carriage. She reached out and parted the heavy, green curtains that had been drawn, staring at the women and children who stopped in the road to watch the carriage pass by.

"Wouldn't you agree, Kate?"

Katherine looked from the window to the woman primping her hair and smoothing out her dress across the carriage. Anne Mickelson was using the silver finish of the wall sconce as a mirror to asses her looks. She looked no worse for wear after the week of travel from her father's manor house in Suffolk to the small port town of Fishguard in the north of Wales. She had been talking nonstop since the two women left the inn this morning, trying to make it to the port to catch a ship that would take them to Lord Mickelson's, Anne's father, new home off the coast of Italy. At some point, Katherine had stopped listening to the constant chatter, staring out of the crack in the curtains as the lush, green countryside passed by.

"Kate?" Anne asked, looking from the sconce at her maid who sat in the other seat. "Have you been listening to a word that I said?"

Katherine sighed, gritting her teeth slightly as she let the curtain fall back into place, looking back at her mistress. "Sorry, Miss Anne. Just a bit preoccupied."

"Scared of the boat, Kate?" Anne asked, her voice grating on Katherine's nerves with her snobbish tones. "Me, on the other hand, am looking forward to getting to the new place. Imagine it, Kate. Parties and balls and new dresses. It's going to be a dream." She murmured as she looked back at the sconce, arranging the loose blonde curls around her shoulders as she gave her reflection a pouty look. She shifted in her seat, adjusting the top of her gown so that her cleavage practically spilled out of the corseted gown.

"Maybe for you." Katherine whispered, watching as Anne practiced her flirtatious ways.

"Excuse me?"

"Nothing, Miss Anne." Katherine answered, wiping her forehead again.

Katherine would give anything in the world to give up her job as a lady's maid, to go out in the world and make her own fortune. How she had come to the Mickelson's household had always been a mystery that she closely guarded. All anybody knew was that Katherine's father was dead and her older brother had disappeared one night. No one had been able to piece together any information and Katherine was never forth coming with details about just where she had come from. She had just shown up on their doorstep, a fourteen year old beggar looking for food during a particularly cold winter. Katherine never knew what made Lord Mickelson take her in, but she soon found herself as the companion to the spoiled Lady Anne.

Whispers in the kitchen had been that the Lord was taken by her beauty, something that Katherine had never really noticed. People would whisper behind her back about her looks, but she never saw herself as the great beauty that others claimed she was. Whenever Anne wasn't looking, Katherine would sneak peaks of her reflection in the beveled glass mirror on her vanity. She was a skinny whip of a thing, no matter how much she ate she never managed to put on weight. Her height was something of a novelty to most men, being almost as tall as the male servants. An hourglass figure accentuated by the tight corset that she wore, as most ladies of the day did. Long, red curly hair the color of the setting sun and piercing blue eyes that always caught people's attention. Freckles covered her nose and arms from her days of living on the streets. Everything about her was the exact opposite of Anne and sometimes Katherine found herself wishing she could posses the beauty and confidence that Anne had.

Anne was the only daughter of the Lord Mickelson and his second wife, Genevieve, who had died when Anne was two. She was a spoiled brat who talked of nothing else besides parties and gowns, her entire life leading up to the day when she would marry a rich duke. As the youngest child, her older brothers always took care to treat her like the baby of the family, always at her beck and call. She was short and dainty, with long blonde hair and eyes the color of dark mahogany. Where Katherine was naturally shy and mostly kept to herself, Anne was flirtatious and coy, always after any man that caught her eye. In fact, in recent years, Lord Mickelson had warned Katherine that it was her duty to keep a close eye on Anne. After all, she was now eighteen and ready to be married as soon as the right man was found. Katherine, at eighteen, found herself in the opposite position and she knew that she was destined to become a spinster, especially if her past ever caught up with her.

A knock at the carriage door brought Katherine out of her thoughts and she turned her attentions to the door, noting that the carriage had finally stopped.

"Well, answer it!" Anne scolded, her voice taking on a haughty tone as she sighed with impatience and flopped back against the seat with her arms crossed.

Katherine stood up and pushed the door open, smiling at Bill, the footman, as he gave her a low bow. "We've stopped, milady." He whispered so low that only Katherine could hear.

"Thank you, Bill." She said, as she took his hand and stepped out of the carriage and into the bright summer day. She squinted slightly, shading her eyes with her hand to look around the port.

"Sure you want to go through with this, Kit?" Bill whispered in her ear.

"Like I have a choice?" She whispered back, looking over the docks with a keen eye.

"You could stay here and marry me, love."

Katherine giggled softly, keeping a eye on the carriage. "Billy, you're three times my age. Don't you think that I can find someone a little bit better?" She joked as the other footman tossed her down her rucksack and Anne's parasol.

"I'm insulted, Kit!" Billy joked back, mock shock on his face. Billy was one of the sweetest people that Katherine had ever met, a grandfather figure in her life at the ripe old age of 65. He always made her feel like a princess. "I'm going to miss you, little lady."

"I'm going to miss you too, Billy."

Katherine said, giving him a quick hug as Anne shouted for assistance.

"Don't let her get to you." He whispered in her ear as he held out his hand and helped Anne out of the carriage.

Katherine smiled as she turned and looked up at the huge ship that was tied to the end of the dock. Seeing the ship brought back memories of her childhood, some happy but most of them sad. A shiver ran up her back despite the heat as she watched the sailors throw ropes and lines back and forth across the ship. A jolt from behind brought her out of her fog, two of the pageboys apologizing for running into her and saying their goodbyes as they started moving Anne's luggage onto the ship. Katherine smiled at them and watched as they started up the gangplank.