Want to support CHYOA?
Disable your Ad Blocker! Thanks :)

Chapter 25 by Manbear Manbear

Do they finish their escape safely?

Maybe?

The barge rowed past several large ships and over half a dozen smaller vessels until it became clear they were heading for a three-masted ship with a double row of gun ports. The sails were loosely furled and the rigging had nearly a dozen of men climbing high on the masts and yards. The view of the tall masts and the men working on them disappeared as the high stern of the wooden ship passed over them. The lead glazing of the great cabin's windows was chipped and curling with age and at least three of the many panes of glass in the cabin's windows had been patched with a weathered pieces of wood, but the name plate that proudly proclaimed the ship's name was brightly painted in gold on a deep red background.

"Ahoy Vertigo!" The head bargeman hailed the men on the main deck, and Windlay smiled at the waterman's outlandish accent. "I 'uv deliveries for Capt'n Anglar. One of um he's gonna wanna 'spect personally." Only when she saw the crewmen craning their necks to get a better look at her and heard the four oarsmen laughed at their leader's quip that she realized that she was the delivery that Captain Anglar was expected to 'inspect'.

"Will all these ladies be using the accommodation ladder, or should we be rigging a bosun's chair?" A burly officer with a thick dark beard asked, Winlay had no idea what a bosun's chair was but the man looked both experienced and alert. Sister Margaret however seemed to have a better idea of what this chair was.

"The chair for me please if you and your men don't mind." Sister Margaret spoke up immediately before the bargeman even had a chance to answer. The oarsmen grabbed at the ropes lowered by the crew members aboard the Vertigo and held the barge steady against the ship's side. Mika cheerfully scampered past the oarsmen and up the side of the ship on a series of wooden steps that were fastened to the planking. Winlay watched her friend easily climb up to gunwales and then continue up the black ropes that ran up to the masts and yards above. Adam followed up the ladder behind Mika a little less nimbly because he carried his wrapped armor but he too swung himself over the gunwale onto the deck above.

As Adam made the climb, a small seat was lowered from an outstretched yard, and Winlay understood what a bosun's chair was. One look at the swinging chair helped Winlay decide that she'd rather climb the ladder than be lifted on that tiny chair. Unlike Mika and Adam however Winlay wasn't dressed in boy's clothing, her skirt made climbing up the rungs a little bit harder. As she approached the top of the gunwale she could hear the bearded officer talking to Adam.

"Easy Adam," cautioned the officer. "That's who you are right? Adam, and this" - Winlay saw him appear above her and offer her his hand as she sat on the smooth wood and swing her legs onto the smooth deck onboard as the officer asked her - "and this little darling must be Mika." Winlay stared at the officer in stunned confusion even before she saw the two men with wide-barreled guns pointed at her and Adam, how could anyone mistake her for Mika?

"Are you Anglar?" Adam asked carefully.

"Not quite, but I'm a friend." The officer said "So I've heard how the first part of your mission went, did the other part work out any better?" Winlay glanced at Adam quickly as she wondered what he was going to say.

What does Adam tell him?

Want to support CHYOA?
Disable your Ad Blocker! Thanks :)