The Song of the Sea

28. An Old Enemy

Raephier couldn't believe how quickly his life had turned around. Although he had to acknowledge that he should be getting used to it by now. He tried to persuade himself that things weren't that bad. Afterall, Jacob's men may have put him back in the cage, but they were not hurting him in any way. They didn't even say cruel things. They just left him alone, feeding him three times a day, and allowing him out of his cage for an hour just after sundown. But despite the fact he'd been in far worse places, he couldn't help but feel wretched.

The last time he had found himself enslaved, he had nothing to think about but himself, and after what he had done, he honestly felt that he deserved what he got. But this time he had something else to think and worry about. He had Jacob. And not knowing what had happened to him was a far worse torture than anything he had gone through before.

Raephier had been on enough ships to know how things worked. And he knew that Jacob was no longer Captain of this ship. He'd never been onboard a ship where the Captain had been torn off his post, but he'd heard enough stories to know that sometimes a previous Captain was left stranded on a desert island, or even worse, just tossed out to sea.

For the first two days, everytime someone had come into the hold where Raephier was being kept, he would ask them about Jacob and whether he was ok, but he never got an answer. It was usually Pete or James who gave him his food. Pete would remain stoney faced and not give anything away. James looked more torn, and Raephier was sure he was close to cracking and telling him something.

Worrying about Jacob only had one benefit to it. It meant that he didn't focus on the apology that Jacob gave just before they were parted. At the time Raephier had felt the bottom drop out of his stomach at the idea that Jacob thought kissing him was a mistake. He suddenly got an insight into how Chloe had felt after his rejection and it hurt more than he would have thought possible.

But after the fall out from the kiss, Raephier began to wonder whether Jacob's apology was simply for the aftermath he knew they both would face after being caught in the act. It ultimately still meant that Jacob regretted the kiss, but at least it was only due to circumstance rather than his feelings for Raephier.

That had led to Raephier pondering over whether he regretted the kiss. Even though he was now cold, alone and mostly kept in the dark, he still couldn't bring himself to regret it. The only thing that would make him regret it is if something happened to Jacob because of it.

The days and nights should have been unbearable to Raephier after being used to company, but he found himself using the memory of that kiss to pull him through the dark moments and give him something positive to focus on.

It was on his third day in the hold that he was woken to the sound of shouting, followed by the now unmistakable sound of cannon fire. Raephier cowered in his cage throwing his blanket over his head as if it would protect him.

A loud shout of "Fire in the hole," came from somewhere above him and then there was the loudest BOOM that Raephier had ever heard. He clutched his hands tightly over his ears, but it was too little too late as his ears were already screaming at him.

Raephier could do nothing but wait. The tension was unbearable. He was sure that he'd heard some cannon balls wizz past, narrowly missing the ship, and several more shots had also been fired from their cannon, which Raephier deduced must have been on the next deck up, right above where he was. At least he understood the shouted warning now so was able to protect his ears a little.

It was several hours later that the door to the hold finally opened and he peeped out of his blanket to see Pete and James coming down towards him.

"Raephier!" James shouted urgently.

It was the first time that he'd been addressed by his name since he'd been down here and he couldn't help but peer out of his blanket in curiosity.