Across The Sea Read Online Free Page A

time? Could they get here before this huge pirate put
his broadsword through me? Or maybe he’d be the only one who’d hear
me, and then I’d be finished for sure. And no one would ever know
what happened to me.
    Francis turned to one of the
spaces in between the slats as a rope from outside covered over it.
He assumed that the man was now tying rope around his crate.
    He felt the beast jump off the
boat, and then hop back on. He realized the creature had just
untied the vessel. They were moving out onto the water, in the
middle of the night.
    Where are we going?
    Francis felt a pang of
hopelessness in his chest. He was going away with this strange man,
leaving his family behind. Francis longed for them then. Will I
ever come back?
    He was disappearing… just like
his brother.
     
     
     

Chapter 3
     
    The morning sun shone through
the tiny spaces between the slats. Francis looked through one of
them. They were out at sea. He turned to another. Off to the far
right, he thought he could make out the brown edges of a
shoreline.
    Francis had been thinking all
night that perhaps there was a chance this man was not bad after
all. Perhaps that red cloak he had seen in the lighthouse was not
the same as the one Francis’ father had seen. Maybe if he just told
this man that he was stuck here in his crate, the man would return
him home safely.
    The boat turned, and Francis’
view of the water changed. He saw a tall ship on the horizon.
Beyond her, existed nothing but the sea.
    Francis had to make a decision.
Should he tell the man he was hidden here and ask for his help? He
swallowed. I should tell him now.
    They closed in on the ship and
Francis could now see men moving on her deck. Francis turned to
another space and saw the beastly man’s brown robes as the man
stood beside the crate, steering the boat’s long, wooden tiller.
The man lifted his robes up over his head.
    Francis was horrified by what
the hulking man was wearing then.
    Under the robes was the
blinding red cloak. The man cast the brown robes aside and spread
his arms out.
    Francis turned to the ship. Now
even closer, he could hear the men cheer and hoot. A flag was
raised on the ship’s main mast. Francis froze. The flag was
brilliant red with the image of a man’s face in the middle, his
mouth wide open, screaming.
    The ship’s sails went up. All
were red.
    What did I get myself
into ?
    The boat sailed in next to the
ship, much dwarfed by it.
    Bang !
    Francis was startled by
something striking the top of the crate. The beastly man moved
close and grabbed a metal hook tied to the end of a thick rope. He
clasped this hook onto the rope already tied around the crate.
    The crate was lifted, swinging
from side to side.
    Francis peered through one of
the spaces in the floor. He was now above the men’s heads on the
deck of the ship. The dozen or so were brutishly muscled, with
unkempt long hair, short, scruffy beards, and dressed in breeches
and shirts. Some sported hats, some vests, and all wore swords in
leather scabbards. The men dispersed to make room for the crate as
it was lowered. Francis saw that the beastly man was already on
deck, towering over everyone.
    Four men held crowbars, as they
eyed the arriving crate.
    Francis, breathing hard,
scurried behind the largest piece of machinery. The lid cracked.
Sunlight shot in, and then was blocked by the heads of everyone
looking in.
    Francis stayed crouched down. Please don’t see me , he pleaded inside his head. He could
smell the invasive, musky odour of sweating men. It was
suffocating.
    “Remove everything,” a man’s
voice commanded.
    Hands reached in, grabbing onto
the mechanical pieces.
    “Ho!” one man announced. “Dat’s
someone’s leg, dat is.”
    Francis lobbed a piece of metal
at the men’s faces – as he jumped, grabbed onto the top edge of the
crate and pulled himself up. Hands reached for him as his feet
touched the top edge. He jumped off, but someone had his left ankle
clutched in