Chapter 14: Spotted

Chapter 14: Spotted:

The ship finally reached Lancoast, the fish village after a week on the sea. All passengers and crew members rolled out to stretch their bodies on land. It became more alarming for Jaylyn and her new family for now they were on land, and hiding from her uncle was almost impossible. The crew members began to offload their luggage one after another, Jaylyn said her goodbyes to the nursing mother and her crying baby before heading back to join Miss Camilla who was still chatting with Old Marthy.
Despite the intriguing conversation she was having with Old Marthy, Jaylyn could still sense that she was tensed up as she frequently turned behind her shoulders for any signs of danger.
Jaylyn had so much on her mind that she didn't realize Simeon was walking closely behind her.
He whispered as he drew closer softly in a way that only she could hear him.
"Think lightly! Think brightly! Castaway every evil thought so that good thing may come your way,"
At the sound of his voice, Jaylyn blushed deeply. She had never been so close in such a manner with any man not even Jacob this made her face redden like tomatoes.
"Where might you be heading?"Old Marthy asked Miss Camilla.
"Oh..my dear sir, to see some old relatives of mine," She answered, beckoning the girls towards her. Before he could ask any further questions, she cut him off sharply indicating their acquaintances had come to an end.
"We better leave now for the weather isn't favorable,"
"Thank you so much for all you've done, I pray we meet again in the future,"
"My pleasure,"
Old Marty bids them farewell before he moves away with Simeon.
As they set to leave, Jaylyn glanced once more toward the direction they had taken.
"Till we meet again," She muttered slowly.
Miss Camilla noticed how Jaylyn stared back at Simeon, she was certain that Jaylyn was clearly taken by the boy.
She found no fault in his character but given their circumstances, they had to trade with caution.
Once again she reminded them of what was at stake and how badly they needed to protect themself before leaving for Bridgebrock which would take a whole week to reach if they were free from danger.
From the Seaport, they walked down to the village before finding a suitable carriage that could contain their luggage. The weather in Lancoast was normally cold, the chilling rain had started to drizzle again as the carriage moved.
Grace counted the number of houses they passed, not more than 15 to 20 houses.
She had heard a lot about Lancoast, a small simple homely sea village where bad things happen. She had vowed previously to avoid such places but because of their present predicament she had no choice but to accompany Jaylyn and Miss Camilla. She had failed to inform them of what they might be getting into.
A former Street child like her knew that Lancaster was bad news, everyone knew, it was more or less a place for the fittest to survive.
The carriage stopped in an almost rundown inn, the rusty buildings were almost falling apart even the floors were cracked. The place looked poorly managed. As they walked in, two servants were stationed around its entrance, rigidly and ready to throw out penniless people back to the cold street.
At the counter stood the indifferent-looking Keeper. They walked further towards the counter, he wore an impatient expression as he struck his funny goatee. At first, he showed a sign of sympathy at their mourning attire before his face wrinkled up again.
A loud trashy male voice yelled out as other servants dragged him out from a room he had once occupied; he was roughly handed over to the muscular servants at the entrance after he was given a massive beating.
"Make sure you break his legs and don't ever let him walk around this place ever again,"
The Keeper barked out orders before dragging back his attention to Miss Camilla.
"Now how may I help you, ladies?"
Captain Lewis walked aimlessly around the street of lancoast in search of Stiles. It was still a mystery how he almost survived death at the hand of Lord Bennett, thankfully his wife came at the right time. He was furious at how he had gotten himself into such a problem in the first place especially since he wasn't even giving any penny. If he had not snuck in some money for himself he would have been in a far worse situation.
If only he could lay his hands on Stiles, he would kill him even before the Baron does. He was now hungry and needed to refill himself before continuing his search.
Captain Lewis made his way into the local Pub turned Inn after he had examined the filthy place with disgust and cursed the Baron for rendering him into a Pauper to his surprise he caught sight of the elderly Cook from the Baron's house who had served him one time, dressed in black beside her stood a beautiful young Maiden who look more like the Baron's niece also dressed in black.
He thought his eyes were messing with him and wondered what could have brought them this far to all the places in the Witherfall but Lancoast.
He had always fancied her; he even begged the Baron to marry her off to him. The Baron agreed to do so once he sold off all three large shipments. He would spend as much time as he liked with her but since he lost everything he knew he didn't stand a chance.
"What could they be doing here?" He asked himself. A wild mischievous smile crossed his face.
He thought to himself
"Whatever brought them here isn't my business for I was ready to claim the prize the Baron had failed to reward him with."
He watched from afar as they booked a room and meal before the Keeper led them to their room. He was surely visiting them again maybe tomorrow when he was fully prepared.
That evening he returned to his room to take a rest, and one of his men handed him a letter that came for him. "This arrived this morning Sir!,"
He said, handing him the letter. Captain Lewis took it and read further for more details about the sender of the message, not before ordering him to keep an eye out for Jaylyn and Miss Camilla probably he would make use of them.
To his surprise, the letter was from no other than Lord Bennett, inside was a good sum of money to get him some men to help him search for his niece whom he was ordered to find dead or alive. He even promised to reward him handsomely once he had found her.
This was indeed his lucky day who would have thought he could kill two birds with one stone, he laughed out loudly. The first thing to do was to satisfy his desire of having her before sending her off to her uncle in chains which would also fetch him a bigger reward. Immediately he added more men to monitor their movements while he writes a letter to Lord Bennett telling him about what he had discovered in Lancoast.