Chronicles of the Dragon Pirate (54 page)

The ship made another hard turn then straightened out so we were sailing right at them, bow to bow, everyone rising to their feet as from the captain’s deck Captain Hawkins made a gesture at Mr. Smith, who said quietly, “Gun crews forward.”

The gun carriages made a rumbling sound of their own as Claude led his crews forward. More of the men lined the deck rails of the Davy, both in anticipation of the fight and to hide what we were doing from Captain Thorne, or so we hoped. Claude got the five small Artifact cannons lined up, adjusting the elevation as the crew catcalled the rapidly approaching galleon. “We will only get one shot,” Claude remarked to his crews as he adjusted the last one, “so make it count.”

Suddenly Master Le’Vass yelled, “Ze harpy is in ze air!”

“Victoria’s mine,” Pepper yelled, kissing me fast then running towards the port side of the ship. I knew what she was about to do but took a step as if to follow, Redbeard holding out an arm thick as a tree branch to stop me. But the worry on his face was an echo of my own.

Several Buccan armed with Artifact muskets were among the crew lining the deck rail, and they took aim at the winged figure approaching us. Two of them fired and missed, the harpy screaming in rage as she began twisting in a crazy, looping flight to avoid being shot. Pepper screamed herself as she leaped over the side. More of the Buccan fired as the first two knelt down to reload, while Pepper’s long wail suddenly changed.

A moment later a large grey eagle rose into the air over the bowsprit. Claude yelled at the Buccan to cease fire as the eagle headed for the harpy, who screamed again as she swooped towards the eagle, raking her with sharp claws as she passed. It was clear the harpy had the advantage of speed as the eagle led her back towards the galleon, the eagle flapping her wings hard to gain altitude as the harpy closed in on her again.

Jeremiah grabbed my shoulder. “Pepper’s on her own now.” I nodded and turned my attention on the approaching galleon. She was a tall ship with high sides, especially at the stern, and a high foredeck as well. But bow itself where the bowsprit had once been was closer to the water, so low the Davy’s bow could reach it without her crew needing to climb up the sides. The Narwhale’s bow curved, following the rounded sides of the ship, with no defense against boarding other than a deck rail and space enough for no more than a dozen men.

Like the dozen Shadowmen waiting for us with rusty cutlasses in their pale hands. They stood packed together along their deck rail, silent in the face of the crew’s catcalls as we came on them fast, Master Walters yelling to drop both sails and the storm anchor to slow us down. More red-eyed Shadowmen in dark leather clothes and wide brimmed hats waited on the foredeck overlooking the bow, along with Captain Thorne, who smiled as he watched us approach.

Mr. Smith looked at me and nodded. “Jade,” I said quietly, “attack the moment you hear the signal.”

I could only hope she’d heard me as the galleon became our entire view, the Davy shuddering again as the Narwhale’s forward most cannon fired at a sharp angle, and my heart began hammering in my chest as Master Le’Vass turned and yelled, “All hands back!”

All of us surrounding the cannons and at the deck rails rushed backwards to get out of the way as Claude yelled, “Gun crews ready.” Five men with two-handed hammers raised them over each cannon’s Artifact striker pin, a flat headed spike which set off the frozen quickfire in the barrel, as the Shadowmen stared at the cannons in surprise. Captain Thorne lost his smile as Claude yelled, “Fire!”

Time slowed as three black, spiked globes were thrown towards us over the heads of the Shadowmen, and without thinking I began running towards them. The men with hammers slowly swung down at the strikers as the grenadoes drifted over the galleon’s deck rail, a moment before the two ships would collide. Cold touched me inside with an icy finger as I pushed past time and reached the men wielding the hammers just as they slammed the strikers, the cannons going off with a long, muffled growl as blue fire spat from their mouths. The spiked globes tumbled as they drifted closer. Five Artifact cannons in their wooden gun carriages were slowly thrust back as shards of metal, moving fast as a man could run, spat from the cannon’s mouths towards the enemy ship. I leaped on one of the cannons then onto the deck rail as the first grenadoe reached it.

With my left hand I snatched it out of the air and threw it back, the grenadoe sailing through the air at my speed as I ran down the deck rail towards the second, my balance steadier than it should’ve been as I reached it and threw it back as well. The metal shards from the cannons were tearing through the Shadowmen, who began jerking like puppets as their black blood sprayed the deck. I leaped after the third. It was almost out of reach so I batted it down towards the water beneath me, realizing what I’d done as time became normal once more.

I flew across the gap between the two ships. But Fortune smiled: I slammed into one of the Shadowmen still on his feet, knocking him over and landing on the deck as the two grenadoes I’d thrown back exploded, the third landing in the sea with a watery plunk a few moments later. Two Shadowmen who’d escaped the cannon shards were blown backwards against the wall by the explosion as the two ships collided with a wooden crash. Lightning streaked across the sky as thunder boomed, the deck turning slimy beneath my fingers as cold rain began to fall.

I shook the cobwebs from my head as I looked around. Corpses were piled on the deck, forming a small heap in front of a door leading into the galleon, but to my horror three Shadowmen with missing arms and mangled legs staggered to their feet as best they could, glaring at me as they raised their cutlasses or picked them up off the deck. I groped for my own and felt a stab of panic. The sash I’d tucked my cutlass into had unwrapped itself and taken my cutlass with it, so I pulled the long Artifact knife I’d strapped to my leg and held it up as the Shadowmen lumbered towards me.

Above us, Captain Thorne called out, “I want the boy taken alive,” and looking up at the foredeck, I felt a chill. Captain Thorne was smiling down at me like the cat that sees a fat, juicy mouse with no place to run. The three Shadowmen lurched towards me with outstretched hands as the sky overhead grew dark

Suddenly I heard a thump behind me and the scratching sound of claws on the deck. Then the wolf-golem leaped past me and onto the closest Shadowman as more thumps came, the golem knocking the Shadowman down and ripping into his ribcage until it found his heart. Then the black wolf-golem tore it out with its jaws, black blood spraying them both as Master Le’Vass ran past me to engage the next, easily blocking the Shadowman’s wild swing with his cutlass while stabbing the Shadowman through the heart with his Artifact poniard. Redbeard swung his great axe at the head of the third and split his skull like it was an egg, black blood and gore spilling out as the corpse fell to the deck.

Jeremiah came up beside me with a pistol in one hand and an Artifact cutlass in the other as the door leading into the galleon opened and a Shadowman poked his head out. Jeremiah’s pistol roared blue fire and the back of the Shadowman’s head exploded, the Shadowman lurching backwards as the door slammed shut. The wolf-golem shook bits of bloody flesh from its jaws as Jeremiah handed the pistol to the little manikin strapped to his waist, Star reloading the weapon as Jeremiah glared at me. “The next time you decide to lead the attack, at least warn me first. How did you move so fast?”

Holding up my hand with the white ring, I said, “it was Hob’s doing, I just...”

From the stern of the galleon I heard the sound of splintering wood as Shadowmen began yelling they were under attack. From high in the rigging I heard Sally whoop, “Jade-golem go after big gun, pale men can’t stop her!”

There was more wood splintering and the sounds of combat as the galleon’s bow filled with men. There were ladders built into the ship both to port and starboard, narrow, with scroll-work on the sides, leading up to the foredeck, and Captain Thorne directed his men to repel boarders as Redbeard and Master Le’Vass each took a side. The Shadowmen picked up pikes which they pointed downward like a nest of rusty thorns on both sides, the sky spitting cold raindrops as I turned and yelled, “Tiger, Little Raven, get Big Sister’s mermaid in the air.”

“Tiger went hunting grenadoes,” Star said in a matter-of-fact voice from the manikin. “But it’s alright because Little Raven thinks she can still control it alone.”

Jeremiah and I gave each other a horrified look as the enormous air-golem mermaid Jade had created days earlier rose out of the main hold and took off towards the foredeck of the galleon, its tail pumping furiously as it picked up speed. But I knew at once Little Raven was in trouble as the air-golem began sliding from side to side as it rose in a clear line towards Captain Thorne, who called out, “Gentlemen, raise pikes and prepare to defend, if you would.”

The Shadowmen raised their pikes towards the mermaid as Little Raven lost control. The air-golem began spinning wildly, Captain Thorne opening his mouth to give another command as the mermaid slammed into them full force. Shadowmen flew like nine-pins and Redbeard whooped, “The bastards still be sluggish from the sun. Quick, lads: up the ladders and at them!”

“They won’t be sluggish much longer,” Mr. Smith said as the sky darkened further. Master Le’Vass climbed up one side and Redbeard the other, with Curly right behind the Scotsman as more of the crew followed, Mr. Smith adding, “But at least the rain seems to soften their skin somewhat. Mulatto,” Mr. Smith pointing towards the door in front of us, “There’s your way in.”

The Mulatto had asked to lead the attack into the upper cabins while the rest of us attacked the upper decks, in part to go after the gun crews but also to keep us from being cut off if we were forced to retreat. He led his men forward while others tied ropes from our deck rail to theirs, making the two ships secure. Glancing down I saw my metallic looking Artifact cutlass and picked it up as a gap formed in the men following Master Le’Vass and Redbeard, to let the Mulatto and his men pass. “Come on, Jeremiah,” I called out as I ran to the ornamental ladder and started up.

“Wait, you weren’t even supposed to be part of the attack!” Glancing behind me, I saw Jeremiah look to heaven as if asking for patience before following me up the ladder.

The rungs were becoming slick from the rain, and I gripped each one with my toes going up until I reached the foredeck and looked out over the ship. All of the Shadowmen including the captain had been knocked onto the main deck or into the churning sea, and the enormous air-golem was going after anything that moved on the main deck. Little Raven seemed to have regained some control but the mermaid still slammed back and forth across the deck like she was nine days drunk, knocking over Shadowmen as they tried to stand up when she wasn’t bouncing off of the masts or smashing the deck rails.

I looked past the main deck to the galleon’s stern...and my heart seemed to grow wings and soar. The black golem was like one of the dragons on the mural in the House of Memory come to life, moving with a fluid grace totally unlike the jerky motions of the wolf-golem as it bounded in front of me. The dragon-golem was as long as a jolly boat as it reared up on it hind legs and ripped out the last wooden support of the great white cannon, as Shadowmen came racing up with rusty cutlasses. Jade had the golem pick up the long cannon by its end and smashed one of the Shadowmen into a pulp.

The raised foredeck had a flimsy deck rail carved with plain crosses on the supports, smashed in places now, with a gap for the wide stairs leading onto the foredeck, and as Master Le’Vass assembled men in front of it I felt a wild stab of hope. Captain Thorne was gathering his own Shadowmen near the mainmast, but only a dozen or so, less another Jade crushed with the bloodied end of the white cannon. Little Raven was beginning to knock Shadowmen over the rail and into the sea with the mermaid’s large tail, the air-golem’s body still sliding from side though, and I knew if we could get more men aboard we could take them.

But Fate hid her face like the sun overhead. Lightning flared and a moment later thunder cracked like a whip as I heard Captain Thorne yell, “Port gun crew forward and Starboard crew topside. Reserve topside as well.”

There were crashes below us and the sound of men moving under our feet as, from across the length of the ship, I saw the ghost-fire in the dragon-golem’s eyes begin to flicker. Jade knew it as well, for she held off smashing the Shadowmen rushing towards her and instead flung the white cannon over the stern into the raging sea. As Jade looked across towards me I saw the ghost-fire dying in the golem’s eyes, and a moment later the dragon-golem toppled over and followed the cannon into the deep.

The mermaid air-golem was growing ragged, and Captain Thorne ordered those Shadowmen with pikes to attack the mermaid as explosions began somewhere below deck. Suddenly Master Le’Vass pointed off to our left as he called out, “Look over to starboard.” Several lightning flashes in a row revealed a ship bearing down on us, far off but getting closer.

Over the roll of thunder, Redbeard yelled, “Be that another galleon?”

“We cannot stay and find out. Back to ze ship, now!”

Men climbing up the ladders quickly went back down as Redbeard and Master Le’Vass took up positions in front of the stairs leading up from the main deck. Wiping water from my eyes I tried to take a position with them, but Redbeard grabbed me by the shoulder, turned me around and pointed with his axe towards the ladder. “Get your arse off this ship and back on the Davy. And be finding Pepper while you’re at it.”

I felt a stab of panic as I scanned the dark skies. Neither the eagle nor the harpy was visible anywhere as Jeremiah grabbed my arm. “There’s nothing we can do for her here, so let’s go.”

Jeremiah pushed me in front of him so I’d start down first as Mr. Smith yelled, “Everyone back to the Davy, now! The Mulatto’s injured and his men are breaking.” Sliding down the ladder I leaped off onto the deck of the galleon’s bow as men came staggering out of the doorway, two of them holding the Mulatto between them. He was pale, his white shirt soaked with blood, both black and red, and his head down as he struggled to breathe. His men got him across the gap to the Davy as the metallic ring of steel blades meeting Artifact came from inside the doorway. Then a man screamed and lurched through the doorway clutching the bleeding stump of an arm, a Shadowman holding a rusty cutlass dripping blood right behind him.