The Lost Prince (35 page)

D
ean caught the wind in his sail and leapt out into the abyss.

Ronan and the others followed, screaming loud enough to wake the dead. Dean figured some of them shouted to instill fear, while others worked to overcome it. For his part, he felt a strange sense of peace as he rode the storm into battle. A single-minded vision of what he had to do seized his brain, refusing to allow any thoughts that might distract from his mission.

He flew across the waves like a vengeful spirit, chasing down the wicked. He knew in the eyes of One-Eyed Jack’s crew, that was exactly what he and his mates would look like. Every bloodstained hand on board the
Maelstrom
was a death-dealing snake, but under the dark stormy skies, in their skull masks and
makeup, the Pirate Youth looked like a fate worse than death. They dive-bombed the deck, a wild pack of howling wraiths. The snapdragon looped around the ship, screaming with fury. One-Eyed Jack’s men ran for cover.

So far, so good.

Dean hit the deck and drew a sword. It was a well-known fact that pirates—and all men of the sea, really—were superstitious creatures. Dean had counted on that, and the crew of the
Maelstrom
didn’t disappoint. How could they? They were sailing in the Bermuda Triangle—waters that had been a cursed, stormy grave for more sailors than a man could count. They were under siege from a sea serpent and skull-faced raiders straight out of their worst nightmares. The Pirate Youth preyed on those fears as they ran around the
Maelstrom
, terrorizing its crew. It was the same scam that Gentleman Jim’s boys had run for years now, but their secret was as safe as ever. Dean watched with pleasure as the toughest crew in the Black Fleet begged for mercy from children half their age.

“Ghosts!”

“Don’t take me! Please!”

“I want me mum!”

Only Rook knew the truth of what was going on. “Stand and fight, ya cowards!” He stamped his feet, hollering at his new shipmates. “Stand and fight! They’re not ghosts. It’s just my old crew!”

The snapdragon whipped its tail into the side of the ship, and a row of splintered railing flew into Rook. When he picked himself up off the deck, he saw Dean and Ronan standing before him. For someone who had just been shouting about a lack of ghosts on deck, Rook sure looked like he’d seen one.

“How about you, Rook?” asked Ronan. “You going to stand and fight?”

When he saw the fire in Ronan’s eyes, Rook backed away. The craven pirate ran scrambling up the rigging to the yardarms.

Dean threw Ronan a crooked grin. “Happy hunting.”

As Ronan climbed after Rook, Dean went off in search of Waverly.

He ran across the ship, bobbing and weaving his way around dozens of one-sided skirmishes as the Pirate Youth overwhelmed the
Maelstrom.
Dean watched them execute surgical strikes with methodical, calculated moves that took away their opponents’ advantages. The Pirate Youth were smaller and weaker, but smarter and faster. They worked their way across the ship, wielding clubs and blackjacks—items that served as great equalizers in any fight. As their prey cowered before the bogus, ghostly front they presented, the young pirates blindsided them and bound them up tight. They attacked in teams, and before One-Eyed Jack’s men even knew what had hit them, the Pirate Youth moved on to the next target.

With the pirate crew occupied, Dean kept after his quarry.
He had his head on a swivel, searching out Waverly and One-Eyed Jack.

His first stop was the captain’s cabin.

It was empty.

Dean moved to the brig.

Empty.

All around him, terrified pirates were fleeing artificial apparitions. Dean found a man hiding in a galley cupboard. “Got another one in here!” he shouted.

“No!” the man pleaded, closing himself back up in his hiding place.

The Pirate Youth kicked the doors in and dragged him out.

Dean continued his search, getting more and more worked up with every empty cabin he found.

Where is she?

Eventually, Dean came to the ship’s magazine, which held all its powder and shot. The
Maelstrom
’s stores were very much depleted, but that hardly mattered. The ship had neither guns left to fire nor steady hands to man them.

Dean heard a pistol click behind him. He hit the deck.

The shot missed by a wide margin but found the next-best target. The musket ball ignited a half-full powder keg, and the resulting explosion was big enough to blow a hole in the roof. Dean cried out as a broadside of wooden shrapnel turned him into a pincushion. He had a good idea who was responsible—the
one man on board who wouldn’t be going down without a fight. When the smoke cleared, Dean looked over the burning embers of wood fragments and saw One-Eyed Jack. He tossed his gun away and drew a cutlass from his belt. “You don’t know when to quit, do you, boy?”

Dean got up, racked with pain. He had covered himself in time to avoid serious injury, but there wasn’t an inch of skin on his back without a splinter. He held out his blade, the tip pointed squarely at One-Eyed Jack. “The girl. I want her back.”

One-Eyed Jack and Dean circled each other, stepping over flickering patches of fire. Rain poured in from overhead, beating down the flames, but not extinguishing them. “Making demands, are we, Seaborne?”

“Aye,” he said. “That I am.”

“Sorry. I already tossed her overboard.”

Dean growled. “If that’s true, you’ll be going over next. There’s a sea serpent out there licking its chops for you. I hear you’re scared of them.”

“You see me quaking?” One-Eyed Jack swung his sword at Dean, hard and fast. Dean got his cutlass up in time to block, and their blades clashed. “I saw that water snake you brought with you. You call that a sea serpent?” One-Eyed Jack pulled back and brought the sword around again, this time harder than before. Dean countered, but the blow knocked him back a few paces. One-Eyed Jack charged forward and went at Dean again. He
turned the thrust aside, but One-Eyed Jack came right back with another blow. He gave no quarter. Dean would have been chopped into fish bait if One-Eyed Jack’s attacks weren’t so sloppy. They came in big sweeping motions that betrayed every move before he made it. Dean met his blade and deflected it every time, but crossing swords with One-Eyed Jack took its toll. Like a castle gate stopping a battering ram, sooner or later it had to give. Jack was too strong. He was bigger, meaner, and fought dirty to boot. Dean parried his latest advance, but One-Eyed Jack stomped on his foot and pushed. Dean fell back. One-Eyed Jack raised his sword high in the air like a black-hooded executioner. Dean thought he was dead, but he heard a mighty thunk, and One-Eyed Jack’s hands flew forward without his blade. The killing blow had been halted by a wooden beam in the ceiling. One-Eyed Jack stumbled forward and stepped on the flat of Dean’s sword, denying him the use of it. His own cutlass remained trapped in the ceiling behind him. Dean sprang up empty-handed as One-Eyed Jack went after him with his fists. Dean grabbed a loose board to block a punch, and One-Eyed Jack smashed right through it. Dean tossed the broken pieces away and kept moving.

“Stand still, boy. I promise I’ll end you quick.”

He swung a looping right hook that Dean ducked under easily, but it was a feint that left him open to an attack from the other side. The pirate grabbed Dean by the collar and held him fast. “I should have killed you years ago. This is what I get for
being charitable.”

Dean planted a foot on One-Eyed Jack’s leg, swung the other on his chest, and ran up the man like a ramp. When he got to his face, he pushed off hard and flipped backward out of his grasp.

“Agh!” One-Eyed Jack bellowed. “Get back here!” He threw a knife at Dean, but missed. He threw another. That missed as well.

“You’re rusty,” Dean taunted. “Too many years of Scurvy Gill throwing knives for you.” He grabbed One-Eyed Jack’s sword from the ceiling and slipped in behind him. Dean slashed at One-Eyed Jack’s back, drawing blood and cutting away his gun belt and knives. One-Eyed Jack spun around like lighting, catching Dean’s face with the back of his fist. It was a reflex punch. Dean had no time to dodge it.

“These hands are all I need for you.”

Dean staggered back into fire, and the heat of the flames made him jump. It came as such a painful shock that he dropped his sword. One-Eyed Jack chased Dean through the magazine, swiping at him with big meaty paws. Dean led him around the room, then back toward the flames that had singed his boots. Unarmed, he spun around toward One-Eyed Jack and dove between his legs as another explosion of powder, smaller this time, erupted in One-Eyed Jack’s face.

One-Eyed Jack screamed in pain and rage. He turned around with a frenzied look and a face full of splinters. Dean climbed up broken beams to the top deck above.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

Dean was halfway through the hole in the roof when One-Eyed Jack grabbed his leg. He tried to kick himself loose, but One-Eyed Jack wouldn’t let go. He was pulling Dean back down when the ship rolled hard to starboard. A huge wave crashed in from the port side, and water flooded the empty gun ports, filling the magazine. Dean and One-Eyed Jack shot into the air atop a geyser of seawater. A moment later, they were deposited on the top deck. Dean saw One-Eyed Jack roll over and get up with a sword lodged in his shoulder. He must have landed on it. Another giant wave dropped an avalanche of water on them both. This time, when Dean wiped the seawater from his eyes, One-Eyed Jack was gone.

Gone?

Had he been thrown overboard?

The ship rolled hard on the waves, nearly capsizing. The
Maelstrom
rocked back and forth, threatening to sink before the battle ended. With half the crew tied up and the other half running away, there was no one to steer the ship. Dean looked out on the wild, lawless sea. He had to find Waverly, and prayed that One-Eyed Jack had been bluffing about throwing her off. As the boat tumbled this way and that, Dean scanned the deck. He saw Ronan and Rook near the stern of the
Maelstrom.
Rook’s yellow-bellied nature was on full display as he continued to evade Ronan, moving in and out between the golden trees that were tied up
all around. With his strength, Ronan could have knocked Rook out with one punch, but he had to get a hand on him first. Rook used his speed, taking advantage of Ronan’s injury and losing him among the stolen trees.

The ship listed hard to port, stretching the lines that bound the trees together until they snapped. Thick ropes struck Ronan like bullwhips. He went flying back as if kicked by a mule. Rook stepped across the tangled lines of thick rope and stood over Ronan with a dagger. Dean shouted to the others, telling them to help Ronan, but the wind was too loud, and the bulk of the Pirate Youth were either busy with One-Eyed Jack’s crew or had their hands full keeping themselves upright and on board. Rook raised his knife high in the air and was about to stab it down when the snapdragon reared up across from him and hissed. Rook backpedaled and got caught up in loose ropes from the trees.

Another wave hit. The ocean picked up a handful of white-blossomed trees and carried them off. Rook’s legs flew out as he went sliding along with them. He grabbed the handle on a hatch and held on tight as the trees went overboard. They dangled over the water, pulling him down. He cried out for help, but the only one there was Ronan.

By the time Dean got there, Rook was gone.

“He begged me to save him,” Ronan admitted, looking down into the bubbling darkness. He gave a slight shake of his head. Dean put a hand on Ronan’s shoulder. Whatever else it might
have been, it was justice too. No bones about it.

Ronan’s eyes shot open. “Look out!”

He pushed Dean out of the way as One-Eyed Jack came charging in from behind with a head full of steam. He swung his cutlass right where Dean had been standing and hacked clean through the railing of the ship. One-Eyed Jack cracked Ronan in the face with the iron handle of his cutlass and sent him tumbling down below deck. Dean swung his sword, but One-Eyed Jack spun around to block it. Their blades clashed and held in place, each one of them trying to overpower the other. One-Eyed Jack looked down where the cluster of trees had sunk into the ocean. “I’m going to take that lost gold out of your hide,” he growled.

One-Eyed Jack pushed hard, knocking Dean back a few steps. He moved in with a downward, diagonal strike. Dean put his head down and somersaulted under the blade, springing back up a few feet away. “Where’s Waverly?” he demanded.

One-Eyed Jack chortled. “I told you. She’s gone where you’ll never see her again. Leastways, not till you follow her over the side.”

“No!” Dean swung his sword, and the blades collided again. He pulled back, then darted forward with another attack. The clang of steel matching steel rang out over and over as Dean unloaded on One-Eyed Jack, trying to cut him down. One-Eyed Jack fought
back against each strike, but each of his counterattacks hit with less ferocity than the last. The puncture wound in his shoulder had robbed him of his power.

Sisto flew in, pestering Dean as he fought, distracting him. One-Eyed Jack bashed Dean in the face with a vicious head butt. His arm might have been wounded and weak, but his head still hit like an anvil. Dean stumbled back, seeing stars. One-Eyed Jack was about to end him when something bounced off his forehead. Dean didn’t see what it was or where it came from, but One-Eyed Jack floundered on the deck as more projectiles struck him. Dean covered up, thinking the rain had turned to hail, but he soon realized the pellets were hitting only One-Eyed Jack. Not only that, they were gold in color. Ronan and the Pirate Youth were pelting him with fruit from the golden trees.

“Stop! STOP!” One-Eyed Jack roared. “MY GOLD!”

“It was never yours!” Dean shouted, revitalized. He sliced through the air with a blow that nearly cut One-Eyed Jack in half. “
My life
was never yours!” Dean went on the offensive as his mates showered One-Eyed Jack with his ill-gotten loot. The extra hands had swung the odds in Dean’s favor, and something inside him snapped. Dean’s sword flew out and drew blood as tiny gold pellets the size of cherries bombarded One-Eyed Jack. “All my life you told me I was nobody. Worthless! And I was stupid enough to believe you.” He slashed One-Eyed Jack’s shoulder,
causing his sword arm to drop low. “I bought what you were selling because I thought you were someone … some
thing
 … to be feared. You’re not!” Dean threw a kick into One-Eyed Jack’s stomach as the remains of Zenhala’s golden harvest flew at him in furious torrents. “You’re nothing without your crew.” He slashed One-Eyed Jack’s forearm, causing his sword to fall from his hand. “Where are they now, Jack? Done! Beaten!
You’re
beaten. We’ve got the numbers here.”