Minerva's Voyage Read Free Page A

would be more than willing to learn sir.”
    â€œNever mind. You suit me better as you are.” He threw open the chest. “Take hold of this.” He slid me a sheet of paper with a picture of a three-masted ship on it. It looked like the Valentine in a storm, God save us. Underneath the ship was a poem. I struggled to read in the dimness, but the poem was written in a hand that was somewhat hard to make out. Scratcher snapped shut the chest and yanked the sheet from my fingers.

    â€œStop gawking, boy.” He chanted the verse to himself then snorted, “Terrible rhyme.”
    â€œYou could change it, Master Thatcher.”
    â€œChange it? Change it? I didn’t write it, you ignorant buffoon. Master Plumsell did.”
    I was none the wiser, and said so politely.
    â€œThis is an emblem from Master Henricus Plumsell himself.”
    â€œWhat’s an emblem, sir?
    â€œAlways a bloody question. I’ll soon teach you to shut up.” He thrust his face into mine. It was horrible, being so close, all warts and pimples.
    I closed my eyes. “I’m anxious to learn sir, to do you better service.”
    Scratcher fell for my ruse. “Oh, very well. It’s as you see: a picture with a verse or two under it, a diversion for the rich, who don’t have much to do with themselves except play with emblems and complicos.”
    I wanted to ask him what a complico might be, but let it pass.
    â€œThe more you see and read an emblem,” he went on, “the more it is supposed to tell you.”
    â€œHow does it do that?”
    â€œIt just does. The verses and pictures reveal things.”
    â€œWhat sort of things?”
    â€œNothing a jolthead fool like you would understand.”
    I pressed on. “Where’s it from?”
    â€œAnother apish question. If it’s any of your business, I came by this one by, er, unconventional means.”
    He had pinched it, in other words.
    â€œYou nicked it, sir?” I just couldn’t stop my mouth, which seemed to be forming words without benefit of brain.
    â€œNo. Nothing illegal, you absysmal apology for a cretin. I was visiting Master Plumsell to enquire after employment. He left it out on his desk with some other emblems. I’m sure he meant for me to see them. I didn’t have the leisure to look them over while I was there, so I took them away with me.” He coughed and scratched and seemed to gloat at what he’d done, as I might myself, had I done the same. But he also had a loose mouth, likely from drinking too much. This didn’t bode well for me. He would ditch me when done with me, to keep his secrets intact. Or worse.
    Stupidly, I pressed on. “Do you mean, Master Thatcher, that he didn’t give you a job but you took your payment anyway?”
    He cuffed me on the jaw, so that my own mouth got payment for being too loose. I cringed. “Sorry, sir. You did right, no doubt about it.”
    He stopped talking for a moment, as if deciding how to proceed. Should he trust me or shouldn’t he? And did it matter anyway, as I was disposable? “Of course, I have every intention of returning them to him.”
    That was a lie, if ever I heard one, but I wouldn’t let on that I knew. “Of course. I am on your side, Master Thatcher. No doubt about that either. I’m here to be your loyal servant and do your bidding.” As I bowed, I was thrown off balance by a large wave and ended up sprawled on the floor.
    â€œLook sharp if you wish to accompany me. Having a servant may increase my stature in Sir Thomas Boors’ eyes, so I’ll take you with me to him. If you behave. That’s where I’m headed. We must carry the emblem to him right now.”
    â€œBut we’re at sea, sir,” said I, wondering for a moment whether he meant us to walk on water. He was so full of himself I wouldn’t put it past him.
    â€œSo is he. Don’t you know a bloody