Gunpowder Read Online Free PDF Page A

Led” was going with the wind. The deck was leaning
gently towards the rear of the ship. Miss von Blitzen was standing
on a low, aft-castle deck, almost equal in height to the main deck,
waiting for the reaction of the captain. One had to admit that he
kept a cool head ignoring her remarkable transformation and
remained focused on leading the ship to the open sea.
    Kristoff,
tall, thin, with sharp facial features secretive under a
wide-brimmed leather hat ornamented with peacock feathers, held the
helm. The smuggler’s hat was just as surprising as his ship. Among
the feathers, it had hidden straps, which after tying the brim with
them, changed the hat into a classic triangular headwear of the
battleships’ captains. What's more, Kristoff’s jacket had similar
straps on its shoulders and at the back of the collar allowing to
transform the hat into a storm hood by attaching it to the jacket.
Truanpago's pragmatism showed in every detail of his character.
    After a few
minutes of silence the woman decided to start a conversation.
    - Forgive me,
mister, but I was forced to use a disguise in Haaven.  
    - A change for
the better. - He smiled taking his gaze away from the sea and
looking closely at the noblewoman from head to toe. His eyes
stopped first at her rounded hips highlighted by her tight
trousers, then at her chest, released from the corset, outlined
under her shirt. - Yes... definitely a change for the better.
    He expected to
get a slap in the face, but it never came. The provocative
statement, aimed to embarrass Miss von Blitzen, evoked only a smile
of satisfaction on her face. For a moment they looked into each
other’s eyes, then they both turned to the sea. They travelled
quickly, and the “Thunder Led” looked beautiful under full sail.
Smiteverden was a little over five hundred and fifty miles. With
favourable wind the slender ship could deliver them to the
blockaded port in a little over a day and a half. The trip was
planned in a way to give them the opportunity to slip into the
blockaded port the following day, after dark.
    - Would you,
Miss, wish to shed more light on your story, or would you rather
prefer to keep your humble servant in the dark? - The captain
apparently tested the possible limits of impertinence. He should
have been slapped in the face after his first words, but since that
did not happen, he plunged on.
    - It’s not
much of a story to tell. My father set off on a trade expedition,
which was supposed to bring new business opportunities. In his
absence, his partners took over his share of the company and left
us with its debts, which led my mother to her grave. After her
funeral, as an only child, I had to take care of myself, and my
first instinct was to look for my father. Under the guise, to
protect myself from the creditors, I set off from our family estate
in Rixburg, which incidentally my father’s dishonest partners were
to seize in the following days, to find at least some trace of my
father. I took with me a considerable fortune once hidden in
numerous caches of our home, and thus I did not want any publicity.
I wandered following my father’s trade route through Mondsburg and
Daelwynn to Haaven, where the trail led, and there it turned out
that my father hired a ship and sailed to Smiteverden in the spring
of this year, which had been barely a month before the port was
blockaded.
    Kristoff
looked at her closely. The girl told the tale convincingly, but she
did not look like a poor orphan, especially after her surprising
transformation. Besides, the captain was disturbed by her story
because it was suspiciously close to something that he could have
come up by himself to deceive an unsuspecting victim. The story was
logical at first glance, but if one looked deeper into the details,
it did not hold water. How did the bankrupt noble family manage to
preserve hidden assets, or on the other hand, if the family did
actually have the hidden wealth, why did it go bankrupt in the
first