Captain James Hook and the Siege of Neverland (18 page)

Pistols fired, arrows flew, and the Green Knight knocked us over like children.
 

As though honing in on the fear made by her master, the hound leapt at Tiger Lily.
 
Smee tackled the beast and they tumbled in the grass, then disappeared behind a bush.
 

Bertilak grabbed for me, but I ducked and the knight’s massive fist clasped tight inches from my face.
 

I rolled to my right, rose, and unsheathed my sword.
 

Then, through the clash of steel and gunfire, came a voice as soft as a whisper.
   

“What a battle!” the voice said.
 

A chill rippled through me as I looked to the clouds.
 
There, behind the moon, Peter Pan’s eyes widened with excitement.
 
The boy let out a war cry and screamed, “This looks like great fun!”
 

And with a laugh, Peter Pan dove into the fight.
 

Chapter Fifteen

The battle turned into a haze of fists, steel, and smoke.
 

Peter Pan launched between the Green Knight and me.
 
We both swiped at the boy and caught only empty air.
 
Pan stabbed Bertilak in the leg and again between the ribs.
 
I slashed at Pan with my sword, but the knight swung his axe across, forcing Pan and me to back away as he healed.
 

Pan flipped in the air and whistled.
 
His eyes searched the crest of a near hill then his face lit up in excitement.
 
“Lost Boys, attack!”

Whoops rose from behind the trees and, one by one, dirty and tired children ran into the fight.
 

My stomach sank.
 
“You can’t be serious.”

Two Lost Boys charged Noodler and the man beat them down.
 
A third boy took an arrow to the chest before making it to the foot of the hill.
 
Another jumped on Cecco’s back, only to be scraped off against a tree.
 
The boy limped a few feet away before he was struck down by an arrow between the shoulders.
 

“You’re going to get them all killed,” I screamed.
 

Then things got worse.
 

Peter Pan let out a second war cry and pointed over the hill.
 
A moment of silence passed, then a faint ringing swelled in the distance and overtook the screams of battle.
 
A light came over the hilltop, then another, and another.
 
I looked on in terror as dozens of fairies swarmed over us.
 

One of Tiger Lily’s tribesmen fired an arrow into the cloud of light and it evaporated into a swirl of white smoke.
 
One of the fairies advanced, charged its wings, and hit him with a bolt.
 
The warrior’s chest erupted in a torrent of blood.
 
Whatever remained of the man slushed into the grass.
 

“Peter, stop this!” Tiger Lily called out.
 
Tears formed in her eyes as the Lost Boy I remembered as “Nibs” grabbed for her.
 
She held his knife hand back and beat him with her bow until he stopped moving.
 
I watched the gentle rise and fall of his chest when she was done and silently thanked her for her restraint.
 

“Now is the time, Captain,” the Green Knight called out.
 
“Help me now and all will be forgiven.”

Peter turned to me and added, “Or are you a coward, knight?”
 

Knight?
 
Was that what Peter thought I was?
 
Thoughts rushed through my mind until I realized that it was worse than I imagined.
 
Far worse.
 
No matter what I did here I was second in line for Pan’s attention, maybe even third, behind Bertilak and Bear Claw.
 
A sickening hopelessness filled my heart.
 
What was the damn point in this?
 
Why try so hard if I won’t even be recognized for the pain I inflict?
 
This simply would not do.
 
Captain Hook is no one’s consolation killer.
 

Pan flew between the Green Knight’s legs and stabbed him in the back.
 
The Green Knight howled and swung his axe, missing the boy by inches.
 
Bear Claw jumped onto the Knight’s back and dug two knives into him.
 
Peter thumbed his nose at the knight and hung in the air, laughing.
 

Seizing the moment, I drew my pistol and aimed it at the still figure of Peter Pan.
 
A fairy buzzed past my sight and peeked its head in the barrel of the gun.
 
I pulled the trigger and the pistol exploded in a flare of sparks and red mist.
 

The force threw me to the ground.
 
I scrambled to my feet and flexed the fingers on the only hand I had left.
 
Through the stinging pain, I paused to watch the battle continue without me.
 

Donald Sotheby, or Curly as he was called by the other Lost Boys, drove a pointed stick through an Indian warrior’s chest and cheered as the man fell over dying.
 

Smee emerged from the bush, fresh blood covering his knife hand.
 
His left arm and leg bled down to the grass as he limped back to the battlefield.
 

Cecco dodged behind a tree as a fairy blasted it into kindling.
 
Smee jumped between them and slashed at it.
 
His knife glowed white then became sand.
 
He fumbled as it slipped through his fingers to the grass below.
 

An arrow struck a tree next to Starkey.
 
It was different from the arrows that Tiger Lily and her tribesmen used.
 
It was shorter and of a darker wood.
 
I followed the path the arrow must have traveled and found Gabriel peering over the battlements of the castle’s outer wall.
 
She lowered her crossbow and began reloading.
 

Peter Pan and the Green Knight swiped and taunted one another.
 
Pan ducked his axe and cut the knight.
 
The wound closed again and they resumed the fight in an endless dance, perfect for one another.
 

It was then that I realized just how outclassed we were.
 
In this brawl.
 
On this island.
 
In every way we were ill-equipped and ill-prepared, ripe for death.
 
I cradled my aching hand and searched for a way out that wasn’t guarded.
 

I scanned for several seconds before my eyes were drawn back to the castle wall by a swirling red cloud.
 
It lingered in the air over the battlements, just feet from where Gabriel readied her crossbow.
 
She rose and the red cloud formed the shape of the woman from my dream about the dungeon.
 
Gabriel talked to the cloud woman, but their words were impossible to hear over the clashes and screams around me.
 
Gabriel fired at the woman, but the arrow sailed through her as though she were still a dream.
 
The woman said something and Gabriel turned to run, but the woman overtook her.
 
The woman of the red cloud seeped into Gabriel like water into a sponge and a wisp of light came out the other side.
 
Gabriel flexed and I saw an instant difference in her stance and her poise.
 
The woman smiled a different kind of smile and swatted the wisp of light in front of her.
 
Small sparks fell and burnt out.
 

She took a step, then stopped and placed her hands on her lower stomach.
 
She darted a look at me and scowled for a moment.
 
Her features softened into a smirk as ideas visibly churned in her head.
 
She whispered over the battlefield.
   

Then something happened.
 

One fairy’s sting, meant for Noodler, grazed the wing of another.
 
The second fairy turned and blasted the first one to a bright pink death.
 
Other fairies saw this and turned on each other.
 
Little hands clawed and little teeth bit in cannibalistic fury.
 
Fairy blood is indeed red and it rained down on us all.
 

The moment was not lost on me.
 
“To the ship!”

Each of my men dropped who they were killing and ran in different directions.
 

I sprinted past Little Bear, who hid behind a fallen log and cried while one fairy burned another to death with a molten rainbow.
 

“Wait,” Tiger Lily called out.
 
“Where are you going?”

“Away from here,” I said as I ran by her.
 
“This is beyond control.”

She grabbed my arm.
 
“You can not leave us?”

“Watch me,” I said, shrugging her off of me.
 

A dark mass flew over our heads.
 
I caught only enough of it to see the figure slam into a tree and slump down like a sack of wet flour.
 
I realized who it was a second before she did.
 

“No!” Tiger Lily cried. “Sewati!”
 
The little warrior ran over and cradled her brother.
 
She dragged the broken body onto her lap and rocked.
 
If only I had loved someone so dearly.
 

“I’m sorry, child.”

Tears rolled freely down her cheeks and her jaw tightened.
 
“You still run?”

“Yes.”
 

“You brought us here.”

“Now I am taking you away.
 
Let’s go.”
 

“No,” she said.
 
“You were to end our suffering.”
 

“I never agreed to any of that,” I told her, thinking again to my dream seconds longer than I should.
 
I reached out my hand.
 
“Come with me.”
   

“You are two things.
 
One to what you care about and one for everyone else.
 
That is your deception.”
 

“If you do not come with me, we’ll die here.”
 

“Better a thousand of you than any more of my people.”
 
She looked up at me with dripping hatred.
 
“Go.
 
Run now to your ship where you are safe.”
 

I paused, just for a heartbeat, but it was long enough to recall the moments I felt like Tiger Lily did then.
 
By the second heartbeat, the blurred faces and names that went along with those memories became too much effort to identify.

Dirt and color exploded around us.
 

I ran.
 

I met up with Cecco and Noodler over the first wooded hill.
 
The three of us ran shoulder to shoulder for most of the way.
 
We were within eye shot of the boat when Starkey caught up with us.
 
By the time the four of us reached the trees that bordered the bay, Gustavo was already loosing the lines that moored the yawl to the root.
 

Smee got there last, panting.
 
“You wouldn’t be forgetting me now, would ya, Captain?”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.”

We guided the boat out into the bay and over the reef without another word.
 
A gentle wind billowed the sails and pushed the yawl out to sea toward the
Jolly Roger
.
 

I allowed myself a breath and felt the rush of strength from the battle and retreat drain away.
 

A second wind chilled me and I pulled my coat tighter.
 
The slick of fairy blood oiled my hand and I wiped the sparkled mess on my pant leg.
 

“Any man hurt?” I asked.
 

I then saw Smee’s cheeks and wool cap flecked with the same pink sparkle and I laughed.
 
The Irishman grew red and snorted through a smile.
 
The laugh caught Cecco next, then spread to Starkey and Gustavo.
 
Soon Noodler joined in and Smee chortled along.
 

By all accounts, every step of our time on the island was a catalog of horrors.
 
Man-eating plants, child armies, murdering natives, and sadistic knights made for a terrible joke and here we were, splitting our sides over any or all of it.
 

Starkey pointed out each man’s cuts and scrapes, each one with a story and each one funnier than the last.
 
Every brush with death brought about a chorus of laughter.
 
The narrower the escape, the funnier the story was.
 
I told them how I almost lost my five remaining fingers and the men doubled over, gasping for air.
 
I let go and enjoyed the release.
 

Then the boat lurched to the port side.
 
Wood splintered beneath us.
 
We collected ourselves, still smiling when a second lurch threw Starkey overboard.
 
I sobered myself and headed to the railing.
 

Boards floated on the water.
 
Starkey swam to one and laid across it.
 
He waved at me, signaling that he was unhurt.
 

The boat leaned starboard and the deck angled up to the rising afternoon sun.
 
I slid to the mast.
 
Waves swallowed more and more of the ship.
 
In seconds, the mast was flat across the water and I lost sight of the other men.