Chronicles of the Dragon Pirate (55 page)

Without thinking I swung my cutlass at the Shadowman’s head, my blade biting deep into his throat. I hit bone but no blood spurted as I pulled the cutlass back, the Shadowman stumbling backwards knocking aside a spear thrust aimed at my chest. But the one with the torn throat caught himself and pushed forward again as the spear was drawn back and the spearman moved behind the Shadowman with the cutlass, who it swung straight down at my head. Deflecting the blow with the cutlass in my left hand I moved forward as Alfonso had taught me and drove my long knife into his chest. This time black blood welled up through the gash in his neck, and I ripped the blade out again as he dropped to the deck.

I looked up as the spearman began his thrust. But he suddenly stopped, grinned at me as if he’d recognized who I was, and instead stabbed his weapon at Curly, who’d just jumped down off the ladder on the other side. The spear went into Curly’s chest then out again, Curly gasping as Jeremiah reached past me with his pistol and fired. Blue fire spat out of the barrel as it roared, the shot piercing the Shadowman’s eye, and black blood spouted like a fountain as he staggered backwards into the doorway. Jeremiah exchanged his pistol with the little manikin then fired again at the shadowed shapes crowding around the door frame.

I jumped back as the wolf-golem landed with a thump beside me. “Jeremiah, get Tomas off this ship,” Red-dog said. Then the black wolf-golem leaped at a Shadowman coming through the doorway, its long claws ripping through dark leather into his chest as the Shadowman desperately shoved the gore caked hilt of his cutlass into the golem’s mouth.

They fell backwards and Jeremiah pulled me away as Mr. Smith said “Both of you on board now. We need to cut loose and try to escape before the other ship arrives.”

“Aye, Mr. Smith,” we both said and got to the edge of the bow where the Davy was lashed to the galleon’s curved bow. I handed my weapons across then took the Admiral’s hand he extended across the gap, his hook dug into the deck rail for support. He pulled me over to our side, and as one of Claude’s gun crew handed my cutlass back, nodded at me with a pleased look as if I’d done well. Despite the cold rain streaming down I stood up straighter as Jeremiah came across followed by Redbeard, Curly slung over his shoulder, Master Le’Vass and finally Mr. Smith, who yelled, “Cut us loose from this bastard!”

But Captain Thorne wasn’t about to let us go. “Bring me the lad alive,” he called to his Shadowmen as they swarmed over the galleon’s foredeck onto its bow, while our crew began chopping at the ropes keeping us lashed together. Jeremiah pulled me back away from the deck rail.

A Shadowman leaped across the gap and Mr. Smith roared, “Repel boarders,” the men leaving off chopping at the ropes as Mr. Smith swept the Shadowman’s legs out from under him with his long axe then drove the black blade through the wide brimmed hat into the Shadowman’s skull. But several more leaped across, Jeremiah firing his pistol and moving towards them as a sound like breaking glass came from the galleon’s bow. I looked over to see the wolf-golem thrown back, one leg shattered and the rest of it cracked as several Shadowmen went after it.

The golem went still and a moment later Red-dog spoke in my ear. “Cholula’s called me back to the ship. Stay off the galleon.”

“Stay off the...” There was a roar of cannons as the galleon rocked, one of her masts splintering as Shadowmen cried out, and I suddenly realized who the approaching ship was. “It’s the Sea-Witch,” I shouted over the clang and crash of weapons as the crew yelled or cried out in pain as a thrust went home, too busy defending the Davy to know we had the advantage once again.

But only if we could separate ourselves from the galleon, I realized as I saw there were two ropes still holding us fast. I dodged a knot of fighters, including the Admiral, who was blocking blades with his Artifact cutlass while punching a Shadowman in the face with his hook, and went after the ropes partly hacked through. The first one snapped with a single blow and I went after the other as more Shadowmen leaped across the gap.

I hacked at the strands still together, ducking as a Shadowman came across while lightning cracked through the sky, the Shadowman slipping on blood and water then reeling back as Redbeard split his skull with a single blow. But I saw another hack through Master Walter’s throat, blood spraying as the big man went down. I drove the cutlass through the last strands and the rope snapped as another Shadowman’s boots hit the deck.

I looked up as Captain Thorne gave me a smile cold as the rain pouring down on our heads. “Our dear Roger will be very happy to see you,” he said, drawing from a cracked leather sheath a Viking longsword with ancient runes stamped into the metal.

“I’m not going anywhere with you,” I yelled at him as I swung my cutlass at his head.

Captain Thorne parried my blow with ease as he did my next two, smacking my wrist with the flat of his blade when I extended my arm too far. I yelped and dropped the cutlass, holding my hand to my chest as he gave me a hard smile. “Drop your knife unless you would like me to break your other wrist as well,” he said, the rain pouring off his wide brimmed hat onto the deck. “Enough foolishness; do as I say, or I will make things hard on you.”

Suddenly he leaped back as a white blade sliced the air where his head had been, and Captain Hawkins stalked after him. “Captain Thorne, you never asked permission to board my ship.”

Captain Thorne swung at the head of Captain Hawkins, who blocked it with the white blade as the Shadowman said, “Your men failed to ask as well.”

Captain Hawkins feinted low then cut high, ripping into the Shadowman’s chest but bouncing off bone as he replied, “We’re pirates: we don’t have to ask.”

Captain Hawkins parried a wraparound blow towards his back as Captain Thorne said, “Then I shall have to teach you some manners.”

They traded a flurry of blows, both taking their swords two-handed as Captain Thorne hammered the Viking longsword down toward Captain Hawkins’s skull, the captain parrying with an upward cut. The two swords met blade to blade...and the steel sword snapped. The Shadowman staggered back with the remnant of the longsword in his right hand as Captain Hawkins thrust forward with the tip of the white sword into Captain Thorne’s chest. “I was taught manners from Sir Francis Drake, sir; I don’t need yours.”

Captain Thorne hit Captain Hawkins across the temple with the flat of his blade. Captain Hawkins dropped like a stone, clutching his head as Captain Thorne grasped the hilt and pulled the blade out with a sucking sound. “A pity he did not teach you better aim,” the Shadowman taking the white sword and throwing it towards the very tip of the Davy’s bow. I ran after it, stepping on the hilt a moment before the sword went over the side as I heard Captain Thorne say, “Next time, captain, go under the breastbone if you want to kill one of dear Roger’s senior captains. He reinforces our bones when he promotes us.” Little Raven and Tiger were begging me to let them draw strength so they could help, since they were spent, and I extended my right arm as I opened my mouth to tell them yes.

Captain Thorne grabbed me by the throat and I feebly kicked the sword away from the edge, the white sword strangely continuing to clatter as I gasped, “Let me go!”

“Little chance of that,” Captain Thorne said. “Olde Roger will make me his lord-captain when I bring you to him,” the Shadowman glancing down at the churning water as the two ships continued drifting apart. “I do hope you can swim.”

“I don’t understand,” I choked out.

“You will,” he replied, his hand tight on my throat as he prepared to jump.

Suddenly the white blade flashed and the Shadowman’s hand fell away from my throat. Captain Thorne staggered back, staring with horror at the dry stump of his hand then at the person standing before him in the darkness of the storm. She was tall and lean, wearing white armor made of rectangular plate overlapping each other all the way down to her thighs, held together by white cords, and her face was the same cast as Master Khan’s. Her hair was white as snow on a Chinese mountain, but she held the white sword in a firm grip as Long-Mu gave him a stern look. “Did you really think I would let you have my son?”

She vanished, and as Captain Thorne gaped at the white sword clattering to the deck I ran forward with my Artifact knife in my good hand and stabbed upwards, under the breastbone, into his chest. Black blood spurted from the Shadowman’s mouth as his eyes went wide, with more coming out in a rush as I pulled the knife out, and Captain Thorne reached for me with the stump of his hand. Then he slumped to the deck as his red eyes began to turn white as his skin.

A harpy’s scream was the only warning I had. I jerked away and claws raked the side of my face as she flew past, missing my eyes by inches. I yelped in pain and dropped to the deck, a lightning flash showing her turning mid-air as she came about to attack again.

The grey eagle slammed into her from above. They hit the deck hard, the eagle screaming as she changed, becoming Pepper again, but this time wearing the bone armor without it being part of her skin. Pepper lay on the deck, panting. “Tomas, I can’t keep fighting.”

I staggered to my feet and ran over to where Pepper lay, blood and water streaming down my face. Around us Shadowmen were being mobbed as the Sea-Witch let loose another cannon volley, the galleon rocking again as I brandished my long knife at the harpy, who was backing up against the deck rail. One of her wings was twisted at an odd angle with white bone sticking through bloody skin, the long gashes on her sides streaming blood as she screeched in a high pitched voice, “Do you think this is over? Terence... Terence!”

From the galleon I heard a creature roar, Victoria’s name mixed in with the sound, and as I watched the Shadowmen crowding the bow were suddenly bowled over onto the corpses littering the deck or into the sea as the beast-man pushed them aside and leaped onto the very tip of the bow where it curved upwards. Terence didn’t hesitate but leaped across the water onto the Davy’s deck rail, the claws on his misshapen feet digging into the wood as he scanned the mobs of men hacking the few remaining Shadowmen into pieces. Terence wore only the pair of trousers he’d had when he’d been handed over to the shaman, his fur stuck to his body by the rain as his gaze fixated on me. Then he snarled and leaped for my throat. Time slowed and I desperately pushed against it, Terence’s claws extended as I pushed past time and prayed my speed would be enough to let me survive as he floated towards me.

Then a spear floated past my shoulder. It hit Terence mid-chest and I leaped out of the way as he twisted, his bestial face howling in a low rush of sound...quickly becoming a roar of pain as time returned to normal. Terence flew past me, bouncing once on the deck then sliding to a halt as he struggled, blood mixed with water streaming from his wound as Master Khan strode up beside him and ripped out the spear.

Blood sprayed from his chest in froth like red sea-foam, but Terence still struggled to rise as Master Khan stood over him with the spear dripping onto the deck. “I do not know if you understand, yes? But honor is returned to both of us.” Then Master Khan stabbed him through the throat.

Terence gripped the shaft of the spear with his clawed hands, his legs flailing about as he choked for a moment then went still. His arms flopped to his sides as Master Khan pulled the spear out once more, Pepper rising to her feet to stand beside me as the rain bedraggled harpy tried to do the same. “I don’t need a dead beast to have my vengeance,” she screeched, using her good hand to pull herself up. Her eyes locked on mine as she took a step forward.

But she stopped as Jeremiah walked up beside me with an Artifact pistol in his hand, the hammer cocked and pointed at her head. The little manikin held another in its hands as Jeremiah said, “Take another step and your brains get blown all over the deck.” He raised his voice without looking away. “Captain Hawkins, Tomas is safe...finally,” his gaze flicking over to me then back again, and I knew I’d hear about this later.

“The harpy’s the last of them,” Mr. Smith said in his deep rumble as he walked up beside Jeremiah.

From the Sea-Witch’s stern there was a boom and a moment later an explosive shell hit the main deck of the galleon, Shadowmen yelling to each other as the reddish quickfire changed to a ghostly blue, and small tongues of ghostfire began searching out the bodies of the dead. The harpy watched with the rest of us for a moment before turning back with a sneer. “The Dark Sisters will make short work of the little dragon-ghost controlling the bodies of the dead.”

“I fear they shall not,” Jade’s voice said from above me, “for I made short work of the Dark Sisters when I let the dragon-golem fall into the sea.”

The harpy stared at the spot Jade’s voice was coming from in shock as Captain Hawkins walked up beside us. He had a large, purple-black bruise on the side of his head but otherwise looked unhurt as he gave the harpy a dark look. “Then the ghost-shell will finish off the remaining Shadowmen.” He glanced at Jeremiah. “This is going to be a war without mercy on either side...execute her.”

Before Jeremiah could respond, Pepper held out her hand to him. “I’ll do it.”

All of us looked at her in surprise, Jeremiah asking, “Are you sure?”

Star had the little manikin extend the other pistol to her; Pepper took it, and pointed the Artifact pistol at the harpy’s chest. “Before we were taken, Victoria was my closest friend...which makes this my responsibility.” Pepper cocked the black hammer all the way back. “I don’t know if you’ll understand this or not, but I still love you and I’d cure you if I could.”

“If you could I wouldn’t let you,” the harpy screeched, flapping her remaining good wing as she jeered at Pepper. “Go ahead, pull the trigger. I know you haven’t got the guts to kill me.”

“I’ve changed too, Victoria,” Pepper said as she took aim, adding, “And you’re right: if you could cure me, I wouldn’t let you either.” Pepper pulled the trigger.

The pistol roared as it spat blue fire. The harpy was thrown back against the deck rail, her body flailing about a moment as bones broke and reformed, flesh flowing like water as the harpy changed back to a woman’s nude frame. Victoria drew one last, agonized breath...and went still, her eyes open and staring. Blood flowed from the gaping hole in her chest, mixing with water as the rain continued coming down, and with a sob Pepper dropped the pistol and ran to her. She dropped to the deck and pulled Victoria’s head into her lap, crying with her head sheltering the dead woman’s face.