Chapter 4

 

Something was pressing her back, a weight that raised and lowered steadily. Bulma realized that someone was giving her a rudimental artificial respiration. She moved a little and the massage stopped, while she was helped to turn around. Bulma found herself looking in the eyes of a perfect stranger.

A man with extremely black hair, tanned face and intense black eyes. An image popped in her mind, of a figure on a stormy deck with those eyes, and she remembered what had happened.

Bulma licked her lips, and tasted something salty that wasn’t seawater, but blood, flooding from a cut on her lower lip. She made a feeble grimace and tried to sit up, but her head was spinning and she gave up. She managed to say, in a hoarse whisper:

"Where... where is Captain Bradbury?"

"Captain who?"

It was, she thought, a polite voice. So he had to be a passenger she had never seen before. She felt blood still coming from her cut on the lip, and from another on her temple. Moreover, her eyesight was unfocused. She turned her eyes away from the man and saw that she was in an unknown cabin, moving because of the storm. Probably some passenger’s cabin. With the same hoarse voice she asked:

"Why... why did I... never see you... before?"

The stranger laughed (she remembered that sound!)

"And why should you have to see me before?"

She became filled with indignation. "You were the one that was laughing! Why did you laugh? It wasn’t funny at all!"

The man laughed again. "Maybe not for you. But it doesn’t happen often to fish out a mermaid!"

Bulma noted that it was an English voice. Strange, she didn’t remember English passengers on the Matsonia. The man took her and put her on an armchair that seemed fixed to the floor.

"You’re very lucky. You should be at the bottom of the ocean: a real miracle that it went differently. But the same thing applies to all of us. I’ve never been so close to the next dimension, before."

Meanwhile he brought to Bulma’s lips a cup filled with an amber-coloured liquor, and he forced her to drink it, even if she didn’t want to.

The warm sensation the liquor gave her took away for a moment her pain. But soon Bulma started to tremble visibly. She needed to lie down somewhere... anywhere. But first, she needed to know something.

"A-are y-you... the o-one... who s-saved me?"

"With the others’ help."

"W-well... I-I have to t-thank you."

The man smirked. "It’s not me, but your guardian angel you should thank, girl. I’m not the one that made you entangle in that fishing-net. We had only brought it up. And, looking at you, it doesn’t seem it was a painless operation!"

Bulma asked if she could see Mrs Bradbury. "I-if s-she isn’t too i-ill. A-and I w-would like to s-see the c-captain..."

"Here I am." He told her, curtly. "I’m the captain. You’re on the wrong ship, girl. There is no Mrs Bradbury here. To tell you the truth, there isn’t a single woman aboard."

He smirked to a surprised Bulma.

"But, it is impossible! It’s no true! This is the Mat..."

She stopped abruptly and her right eye (the left one was too swollen to be of any use) widened.

"Then, this must be the ship that almost sank us!"

"You’re right. But, luckily, it didn’t happen. Now I have to return on the deck. Take off those wet clothes and lie down on the berth. Can you manage it?"

"I...I’ll try." Bulma stammered.

The man laughed again. "It won’t be too difficult. You left more than half of your clothes on the deck. We had to cut them in order to free you of the fishing-nets. Feel free to take my berth: I don’t think I will need it for a while."

He pointed with a nod to a pallet that occupied a whole wall of the cabin. He took a dripping raincoat, putting it on with a single movement, and left with smooth strides, as if he was on solid ground instead of on a ship in the middle of a violent storm.

The door closed behind him, and a few seconds later Bulma discovered that the stranger said the truth about her clothes, because her dress was almost in shreds.

Even so, however, it took a huge effort to get rid of what remained, because of her injuries. And then Bulma let herself drop on the berth.

She didn’t know how long she slept, but, when she opened her eyes again, she saw that someone had lit up a strange lamp; swaying with the ship’s movements, the lamp created idle scrawls on the walls and ceiling of the cabin. She kept watching those shadows and fell asleep again.

When she finally woke up, the lamp was still lightening the cabin, but it moved with a slower pace. Bulma continued to look at it, and soon she realized that she could see only from one eye. Touching the other one with the tip of her fingers, she discovered that it wasn’t only swollen, it was also very tender. That discovery drove away every last bit of sleepiness she felt. Suddenly she remembered where she was and how she got there.

Her first reaction was to thank God for saving her: a real miracle, as the black-haired stranger had said. Then she remembered Ellen and the captain, who probably thought her dead. Poor Ellen! She was surely suffering, she was such a sweet woman. But she would be happy to see her reappear safe and sound!

She should talk immediately with the captain of this ship, and see when he could take her to the Matsonia!

At that point, Bulma made the unpleasant discovery that even the smallest movement was not only terribly painful, but nearly impossible. When she had almost managed to put herself in a sitting position, the door opened and a huge figure appeared.

"Ah! So the wench is finally up." An annoyed voice observed.

Bulma immediately covered herself with the sheets, while a tall, muscular man with long, black hair and a deep scowl on his hard face entered the cabin, carrying a tray in his hands.

"I can’t believe he’s done this to me!" He continued to mumble, angry. "I’m not a servant! Why should I have to do the nurse for a stupid girl? ‘You’re the only one that is of no use right now, so I think you will do a perfect maidservant’ he said. Maidservant my ass! Now I’m reduced to bring food to a woman!"

Bulma watched the man warily, while he put the tray (containing some bread and a cup of coffee) on her lap, without much grace, she noted.

Then he looked at her and said: "The captain ordered to bring you something to eat. Here it is!"

She watched him move towards the door, and observed "Well, thank you, I think, Mr... hem... I don’t know your name..."

"Raditz" was the curt reply.

"...Mr Raditz. But first I would like something to wear. My clothes aren’t in a good shape."

"Ouf...I’ll give them to Chun Ho. He’ll see what can be done to put them back together." Said that, he took the now dry clothes and left.

Bulma was greatly disturbed by the man’s behaviour, he acted as though she was a nuisance!

When she calmed a little, she began to study the cabin. It didn’t resemble in the least those on the Matsonia: it wasn’t very large and, although it had two hatches, it didn’t have any ornaments.

She wondered what kind of person was the captain. She hadn’t met many English men in her life, but all the ones she had met were very reserved, serious and aloof, while the captain seemed insolent and quite dangerous. She couldn’t say why she had that impression, while he had been a bit impertinent (and his laugh was very irritating!), he hadn’t done anything to support the ‘dangerous’ part, but his eyes, for some reason, made her very edgy, they were cold and hinted to an unreliable nature. Definitely a person one should not trust.

Moreover, the members of his crew were really lacking in the manners’ department, judging by the sailor that brought her the food.

That thought made her realize how famished she was. At any other time she would have considered uneatable what they gave her: the bread was hard and stale, while the coffee was black and really too sweet. But she was too hungry, and in no time at all the tray was empty. She put it on the cabin’s floor and remained on the berth, trying to fight the sleepiness that plagued her from the moment she had woken up on this ship, but to no avails. The slow swaying of shadows on the cabin’s ceiling didn’t help her to sleep well; she passed a night so full of agitation that she welcomed the dawn and even the arrival of Raditz with breakfast and what seemed like clothes on the other arm.

He didn’t say a thing, but simply put the tray (that someone must have retrieved last night from the cabin) on her lap and the clothes on the berth. Then he turned around and was about to leave when Bulma talked.

"Well, good morning to you too, Mr Raditz. Please don’t try so hard to make me feel at ease!" she said, voice dripping with sarcasm.

The sailor looked at her, but didn’t reply, while his expression was clearly unfriendly. But Bulma didn’t let him intimidate her, and continued.

"Thanks for the clothes, but could you please be so kind and say to the captain that I’d like to talk with him as soon as possible?"

"We-well... sure, I could, why not" Raditz replied. "But I’m quite positive he won’t have time to comply with your request. He has a lot of work to do, even if the storm is passed now."

"Tell him it’s urgent!" Bulma said, resolute.

Raditz lifted his shoulders and then went out of the cabin.

Bulma ate the food and put on her dress. It was a difficult task, with the bruises and cuts on her hand. But Miss Briefs was stubborn, as well as brave, and finally she succeeded. All that remained to fix was her tangled, waist-long, blue hair. Searching for a comb, Bulma opened the wardrobe, only to see a violet, swollen face that made her give a start and wrung a frightened wail out of her.

It took her at least ten seconds to realize that it was her own face she was looking at, reflected on a small mirror put on an empty shelf. And when she reached that conclusion, she was unable to do anything, besides staring, horrified, since, even if it was impossible not to be aware of the amount of her injuries, nothing had prepared her for that incredible collection of bruises, or the fact that a swollen jaw and a split lip could have so a devastating effect, if accompanied by a wild tangle of hair made rigid by the seawater. To make matters worse, her severe-looking dress now looked as indecorous as her swollen face and stiff hair. The colourful selection of buttons used to replace the lost ones gave her the aspect of a gipsy and, on the whole, Bulma looked like a human wreck. A harpy! A hag!

She was still staring at the reflection with unbelieving horror, when a soft knock at the door reminded her that maybe Raditz would be able to find less colourful buttons and something for her injuries. She told him to enter, but this time it wasn’t Raditz, but the legitimate owner of the cabin.

The captain paused on the threshold; after checking for a long time his guest, he broke out in a loud and offensive laugh that erased any feeling of gratitude Bulma could have had towards him.

"I’m happy to see" she began, trembling with outrage, "that the sight of my misfortunes provides you so much fun. Can I dare to hope that, when you will finish giving expression to your hilarity, you’ll give me some help?"

Those words managed to stop the laugh, but they didn’t take away the amusement from the stranger’s face. He gave her a flowery bow.

"My humblest apologies. It has been really an unforgivable act, but I couldn’t help it. It’s that eye. It makes you seem like an old drunkard coming straight from a brawl. Does it hurt very much?"

"Obviously it does, you idiot! And if this ship has someone remotely resembling a doctor, I’ll be happy to see him." Bulma almost screamed, completely enraged. How dared he to mock her like that?! She felt like she could strangle him, her blood seemed to boil...

"I’m sorry but we don’t have one aboard. Usually I’m the one that handles such things, but I have to admit that my qualifications aren’t encouraging. Once I helped a chemist, for about six months, and I studied Oriental medicine, for a very short time, when I lived in Shangai. But probably I can do something for that eye." He shouted a few orders towards the deck in a language Bulma didn’t know, then, turning towards her, he said: "Raditz told me you wanted to see me urgently. Was it about the eye?"

"No. I wanted to know when it’ll be possible to take me to the Matsonia." Bulma said between clenched teeth, still furious with the captain.

"Your ship, you mean? So that was the Matsonia... I didn’t have the time to recognize it. It’s bound for Honolulu, right?"

"Yes. It shouldn’t be too difficult to reach the ship, now that the storm is over."

"Oh, it would be really easy, if we knew its position, which we don’t. But don’t worry, sooner or later I’ll land you safe and sound at Honolulu."

"Sooner or later? But I want to go there now!" Bulma’s tone of voice lost every bit of arrogance and became agitated. "I can’t let captain Bradbury reach Honolulu before me! If this happened Yamcha... I mean, my uncle and my aunt will think I’m dead. I can’t even think of making them suffer so terrible news. We must reach the Matsonia immediately!"

"Impossible." The captain replied, mercilessly. "Even if the storm took it really far from its route, with this kind of wind the Matsonia will land within three days. As for me, I’m sorry to inform you that I have businesses to do in these waters, and, thanks to the storm, I can’t guarantee you we’ll reach Honolulu before the end of the month. Sorry, but this is it."

Surprised, she exclaimed: "But... but today is only the 18th!"

"Exactly."

"You mean, it’s possible that I have to stay on this ship for other ten days! But I can’t! I won’t do it. It’s ridiculous! You have to see that!" She tried to control herself, but that man made her feel really mad, for some reasons. "You’ll be rewarded for the problems it will cause you, naturally. You can be assured of it, my relatives will see to it." She said with barely suppressed fury. He couldn’t be that dense! It was unthinkable to lose ten days on this ship while her dear ones suffered from her supposed death! Surely, whatever affairs he had, they couldn’t be that important! What kind of man would put his profits before the sorrow of a family? She was starting to really hate him!

"I doubt it." The Englishman said. "Not in this case, however. I admit that for your relatives it will be a real misfortune, but I’m sure they’ll survive. And you can always console yourself with the thought of the joy they’ll feel when you’ll reappear, safe and sound."

Bulma’s chin rose dangerously and she couldn’t fight another fit of anger. "You MUST do it!" She screamed, twisting her face in a fierce scowl. "Do you think I can’t repay you? Well, you’re wrong. My father is one of the richest people of Boston. And my uncle, Ox Briefs, is the owner of the largest estate on Oahu! This should be more than enough to persuade you that you will receive only benefits, bringing me to Honolulu immediately, you moron!" She said, voice filled with arrogance and fury.

"Well, well, well." The captain smirked. "So you are Miss Briefs, right? I can’t say that your uncle is my friend, but I know him. I heard that a niece of his would come to visit him, but I would have never thought I’ll meet her."

"Then you’ll bring me..." Bulma started, but was stopped by the arrival of a small Chinese, carrying a copper bowl and a few clean bandages. The bowl, as Bulma could see a moment later, contained a strange mixture of herbs. The captain applied that mixture on a square cloth and proceeded to put it on her eye, tying it up with a bandage.

"How does it feel?"

"Better, I think" Bulma replied "But you tied even my hair inside it."

"It was difficult not to. I’ll have to lend you a comb and a brush. Or, even better, a pair of scissors. Let me see your hands, now." He examined them with attention. "They’ll heal within a couple of days. I’ll tell Raditz to bring you something for those injuries. And to find you a comb."

He was about to leave, but Bulma didn’t let him go. Quickly, she said: "Yes, that would be really appreciated. But, what about the subject we were talking before? You will sail immediately towards Honolulu, right?"

The man turned to look at her, completely disinterested. "No, Miss Briefs. I can’t change my plans only to bring you back among your family. However, I wouldn’t be able to reach Honolulu before the Matsonia, so a couple of days less or more won’t kill them."

"But, I’ve just said you’ll be rewarded! I’m not in the habit of making promises I can’t keep!" She replied, becoming more and more frustrated.

"And I’m not in the habit of changing my plans, Miss Briefs."

"Except, I suppose" Bulma said, enraged "when it pleases you!"

"Certainly: and it happens that I can’t see any pleasure in this case. You can be assured, however, that we’ll do our best to make your stay aboard as comfortable as we can. If it can console you, this will give your appearance time to improve a little, before your arrival at Honolulu, since, if your loving relatives were to see you at this moment, it’s more than probable they wouldn’t even recognize you!" And with a last, cynical smile, he left, closing the door and leaving a furious and outraged Bulma behind.

"How... how dare him!" She murmured, shocked. "I can’t believe him! That... that idiot!"

She was reeling from the offence. She was used to people describing her as a ‘beauty’, a ‘godness’ or a ‘terribly attractive’ girl, and, till that morning, the mirror had always supported those declarations. It was really humiliating, to find out that for the dull and sarcastic English man she must appear not only very little attractive, but decidedly grotesque. And the fact that he considered it funny gave the situation even more unbearableness.

She continued to insult the captain aloud for a while, her rage burning, when she realized what she was doing, and how she behaved before.

She had always been quite temperamental, but she had never let it show. After all, she was a real lady, and a real lady doesn’t make such scenes. She had learned to hide her really short temper so well that nobody, save her parents, suspected its existence. And now, all that annoying captain had to do was to open his mouth and she started to shout and hurl insults! It was unbelievable! True, he was really insupportable, but she knew better than to lose her cool because of a stupid like him! Here she was again, getting riled up even at the thought of him! This had to stop!

"May I enter?" Raditz said, stopping her irate thought.

He put down, on the desk, comb and brush, an ointment for her injuries and a pair of scissors, observing that if she wanted something else, she had only to shout and Chun Ho would provide.

"You can tell him everything you need, since he talks English better than me, and I can’t continue to help you. The captain needs me!" He said, proudly. "The poor old bitch passed a really bad time during the storm, and there is a lot of work that needs to be done."

"Poor old what...?"

"The ship. The Probitas. It’s so battered. One mast broken, lost cordage..." He went on, listing the ship’s problems. It seemed that now that he didn’t have to ‘play maidservant’ to her anymore, he had become really talkative. Then, something he had said caught her attention.

"The Probitas?" She couldn’t understand why, but that name seemed familiar. She was still wondering where she had heard it, when she remembered a shred of conversation: "... He named it himself. Father Paul, one of the missionaries on the island, told me it’s a Latin word meaning ‘honesty’. The nerve of that man! ..." Captain Bradbury had told her. But...

"Yes, that’s this ship’s name." Raditz was saying. "Stupid name for a ship. But captain Vegeta found it funny. That man has a strange sense of humour. Sometimes I wonder..."

Bulma rudely stopped him: "Captain who? What did you say his name is?"

"Him? Captain Vegeta... captain Vegeta Royston. Terror of the seven seas, don’t let it fool you if someone tells you otherwise! Uhm...thinking about it, this must be the reason for his caustic humour. Living as he does, one starts to find funny the strangest things. But he tries to be too smart, there aren’t many men who can understand his jokes in our circle..."

But she wasn’t listening anymore. With a cold shiver, she was remembering a lot of things that Bradbury had said about the owner of the Probitas: black sheep... opium traffic... Any reprehensible traffic you can think... you can bet till the last cent that Vegeta Royston has a hand in the matter. And now she, Bulma Briefs, was at his mercy, on his ship! A desperate situation.

And, while she reflected, another, more frightening, thought crossed her mind: Captain Bradbury had talked of kidnapping. And, if captain Royston had realized who she was, and had decided to keep her prisoner to get a ransom? Maybe that was why he refused to pursue the Matsonia or to sail towards Honolulu...

She was becoming more and more agitated. Yes, surely this was what he had in mind... keep her here to make her relatives pay a ransom. She must have been a blessing for him! How could she have been such a fool? To reveal her true identity before asking his name! Since, now that he knew (and she had been the one who told him) that she was rich, it was sure that, if half of the things captain Bradbury had said were true, he wouldn’t let such opportunity escape him.

"It’s my fault!" Bulma thought. "I should have reflected... Why didn’t I think before talking? Why didn’t I ask his name?"

She could put the blame only on the shock of those terrifying minutes among the waves and the injuries she acquired when they brought her aboard. But, whatever the reason was, it remained the fact that, till now, the identity of her saviour and the name of his ship hadn’t had the least importance for Bulma.

* * * * *

 

Finally I managed to finish this chapter! Typing takes so much time. (Well, maybe that depends on the fact that I’m not really expert!) As usual, all comments are welcomed. I’d like to know what you think of this story so far.


Table of Contents
Chapter 3
Chapter 5