Peter and the Starcatchers (38 page)

“There it is!” shouted Little Richard, pointing.

Slank saw the trunk, bobbing in shal ow water, not far from another shape, dark and rounded—the dory! If the pirates were right, it would stil float. Slank smiled. There might be a way off the island, even without the longboat.

Fifty yards out on the moonlit lagoon, he could just make out the low, dark shape of the longboat, with the pirates clinging to it. Stache and his men had the misfortune of getting caught in the current, and were now drifting toward the mouth of the lagoon, their efforts to swim the longboat to shore going poorly.

“Fare thee wel , Captain Stache!” Slank cal ed out.

“That’s MINE!” cried Stache.

“Not anymore, it ain’t!” laughed Slank. He turned his attention to the trunk, just offshore now. Stil wary of mermaids, Slank was reluctant to venture into the water. To Little Richard, he said, “Pul it up onto dry land. I’l find me another rock.”

Moly saw it al, from under the palms: saw the pirates in trouble; saw Slank gloating in triumph; saw the trunk.

Mol y knew this was the moment: either she was a Starcatcher, or she wasn’t, and if she was, this was when she proved it, with or without Peter.

“I have to go out there,” she said.

“I ain’t goin’ out there,” muttered Tubby Ted.

“I can’t let that man have the trunk,” said Mol y. “I have to stop him.”

“How?” said James.

“I don’t know,” said Mol y, looking around. “But I have to.” She found a coconut on the sand, picked up, hefted it.

“You’re going after pirates with a
coconut?
” said Tubby Ted. “You’re daft, you are.”

“Nevertheless,” said Mol y, “I’m going.”

“So am I,” said James, picking up a coconut of his own.

“So am I, miss,” said Alf. “I’l take that big one, there.”

“If he gets deep enough in the water, you may get some help from Ammm,” said Mol y. “James and I wil take Mr. Slank.” The three of them started down the beach. “Daft,” said Tubby Ted.

“Hurry!” Slank yeled to Little Richard, who, stil worried about mermaids, was wading cautiously toward the bobbing trunk.

Just as he reached it, Ammm hit him.

No man had ever knocked Little Richard down. But of course Ammm was not a man: Ammm was a sleek hurtling missile, 567 and one-half pounds of ocean-hardened muscle, hurtling through the air and nailing the giant square in the chest with a force that would have kil ed some men. In Little Richard’s case it was enough to knock the breath from his body and send him flailing backward into the shal ow water. He got back to his feet, only to feel another massive weight on him. This time it was Alf, who locked his thick arms around the giant’s throat, hanging on for dear life as Little Richard, weakened and breath-starved, staggered forward and went down again.

Slank heard the struggle and strode toward the water. He was expecting mermaids, and thus didn’t see the two smal shapes racing up from behind and leaping onto his back.

He felt the impact, then something pul ing at his ears—nearly tearing them off—and scratching at his eyes, while at the same time something else was sinking its teeth into his legs.
How
many are there?

Slank screamed and jabbed back with his elbows, sending his assailants flying. He whirled and saw…

Children.
Two of them: the girl from the ship, and a smal boy.

Slank almost laughed:
children.
But then he stumbled, as the girl—
she’s very quick
—hooked her leg around his. He fel facedown, and instantly something hard struck his head, again and again. He went dizzy, but managed to writhe sideways to see.

Coconuts. Children are beating me senseless with coconuts.

Blood streaming down his face, Slank lunged to his feet, flailing his arms as he staggered toward the lagoon, the children stil clinging to his back and bashing him with coconuts. As blackness closed in, Slank groped desperately for the knife in his belt.

Alf was a very strong man. But Little Richard was inhuman. Despite his initial advantage, Alf realized that Little Richard was slowly gaining the upper hand, peeling Alf’s hands away from his neck, and dragging them both back to the beach, where the giant would be able to breathe freely, and Alf would be no match for his monstrous strength.

“Hold on!” Moly shouted to James. “We’ve got him!”

She bashed the coconut hard, again, onto Slank’s skul . Slank shuddered but did not go down. Suddenly the man’s right hand swept down toward James.

“Knife!” James screamed, letting go of Slank to dodge the blade.

Now only Mol y was holding on. Slank reared back, and against the twinkling black of the night sky, Mol y saw a silver swipe of metal as Slank brought the knife toward her, like a man trying to scratch his back. The blade was aimed straight for Mol y’s face.

She lifted the coconut and blocked the blow. The knife lodged in the coconut, and Slank yanked it free, at the same time pul ing the coconut from Mol y’s grasp. Mol y grabbed Slank’s right arm and tugged hard. He screamed in pain and fury. She pul ed again, harder.

Again the knife flashed toward Mol y’s face. She let go, fal ing back into the water. Slank towered over her, the knife held high, his eyes wild with pain and anger. He raised his knife hand to stab her.

“ARRRRGGGGGH!” he bel owed, as Ammm delivered a spine-wracking blow to his back. Slank turned and slashed at the porpoise, only to receive a faceful of water blasted from Ammm’s blowhole. As Slank gasped and sputtered, Ammm rose to his tail, reared back, and snapped forward, striking the sailor hard. Slank spun a half circle and splashed down into the water.

Mol y got her legs under her. From behind, she heard Ammm chittering and chirping urgently; she didn’t get al of it, but the essential message was clear: GO.

Mol y grabbed James by the arm, dragging him toward the beach, where she figured she and James could outrun the men. Two steps from the beach, Slank tackled them both.

Mol y went down, Slank grabbing her by the leg. Behind them the frantic chittering grow louder, but the water here was too shal ow for Ammm to help.

Mol y, her face covered with sticky sand, felt Slank drag her and James roughly onto the beach. Her heart sank as she saw Tubby, Prentiss, Thomas, and Alf al lying facedown in the sand, Little Richard standing over them.

“Where’s the trunk?” shouted Slank.

“Right there,” said Little Richard, pointing a few yards down the beach to where the trunk lay at the water’s edge, its rough sides lapped by gentle wavelets. Satisfied that it was out of reach of porpoises or mermaids, he left it for a moment, turned, and threw Mol y and James roughly to the sand next to Alf and the other children.

“You al right, Mr. Slank?” said Little Richard.

“No,” said Slank, touching his bleeding scalp. “I’m not al right.”

“What do we do with ’em?” said Little Richard, gesturing to the figures on the sand.

“We kil them,” said Slank, quietly. “I’ve learned my lesson about leaving people alive. We’l start with the brave young lady.” Knife in his right hand, Slank grabbed Mol y’s hair with his left and yanked her to a sitting position. She grunted in pain, but refused to cry out.

Slank knelt in front of her, his face close to hers, staring into her eyes.

“You wanted that trunk very badly, didn’t you, Mol y Aster?” he said.

Mol y only glared in response.

“Wanted to save it for your daddy, didn’t you?” continued Slank. “The great Leonard Aster. The great Starcatcher. Only he wasn’t so great, was he? Got on the wrong ship, he did. We fooled him good, the great
Leonard Aster.
”

With that, Slank, stil holding the knife, reached inside his shirt and slowly pul ed out the golden locket. Mol y’s eyes fel on it, and widened.

“You,” she said. “You’re…you’re…”

“Yes,” Slank said. “I’m one of them. That’s why we put the trunk on the
Never Land,
so I could keep an eye on it, while your fool father chased a trunk ful of sand onto the
Wasp.
I grant you, we didn’t count on you being aboard the
Never Land.
And we surely didn’t expect that idiot pirate to come blundering into this business. But it’s al cleared up nicely now, isn’t it, Mol y? And soon the trunk wil be in the hands of King Zarboff.”

Mol y flinched at the name.

“That’s right, Mol y,” said Slank, delighted at the reaction. “At long last,
we
wil have the power. You have no idea how
much
power, Mol y. It wil change
everything.
If only you would live to see it…”

Slank shifted forward, and brought his knife blade to Mol y’s neck. She refused to pul back, refused to whimper, staring stonily into Slank’s eyes as he began to press the sharp blade against her throat….

“AHOY!”

Slank jerked back, his knife leaving a thin line of blood on Mol y’s neck. Both of them turned toward the source of the shout—a flat rock, twenty-five yards offshore, its occupant clearly visible in the bright moonlight.

“PETER!” shouted Mol y.

Slank spat out a curse. It was impossible! He’d kil ed this boy himself!

But there he stood, water dripping from his hair, his arms crossed in defiance, surrounded by mermaids, as if they were
guarding
him.

He had one foot on the rock.

The other rested firmly on the trunk.

F
OR A MOMENT THEY JUST STARED AT EACH OTHER, across the silver stretch of lagoon—Slank and Peter—the man and the boy.

It was Slank who broke the silence.

“Do you see this, boy?” he said, holding up his knife, twisting it so the blade glinted in the moonlight.

“I see it,” answered Peter with a shout.

“Good,” said Slank. “Now, understand this. If you don’t do exactly as I say, this knife wil be covered with the blood of your friends here, starting with the young lady.” Grabbing a handful of Mol y’s hair, Slank jerked her to her feet. She cried out in pain.

“Mol y!” shouted Peter. “Are you al right?”

“Don’t listen to him, Peter!” she shouted. “Don’t let him…
OWW!
” Slank had silenced her with another yank on her hair.

“You understand the situation, boy?” Slank shouted.

“I do!” answered Peter.

“Good,” said Slank. “Then we can do business.”

“Peter, NO!” shouted Mol y.

Slank jerked her head again, and again she cried in pain.

“You keep quiet,” Slank hissed at her, “or I’l cut your throat just for the satisfaction.” He cal ed out to Peter, “I’m curious, boy. How did you get the trunk?”

“I took it when you were talking about kil ing them,” said Peter.

“Clever boy,” said Slank. “But how did you get it out there on the rock so quick?”

“My friends helped me,” Peter answered, gesturing at the mermaids.

“I see,” said Slank. “So the devil-fish are on your side now?”

“They are,” said Peter.

And, strangely enough, it was true. Peter stil didn’t quite understand it. Al he knew was that, head throbbing in pain, he’d awakened in the water, in the embrace of the mermaid he’d saved. And, somehow the mermaid was
talking
to him, except that her mouth wasn’t moving, and her words were only sort of words, because they were also pictures, and feelings. Peter found that somehow he understood the mermaid—she cal ed herself
Teacher
—effortlessly, and somehow she understood him, and the importance of protecting the trunk

—she cal ed it
Creator
—from the bad men. When they heard the struggle on the beach, and saw the trunk unguarded, a plan of action formed instantly in both of their minds at once, as if they were thinking with one brain.

Slank shouted, “If them devil-fish wil do as you say, I think we can work ourselves a mutual bargain, boy. I’l trade the life of this girl—the lives of al your friends, here—for that trunk.”

Mol y started to shout something, but Slank clapped his hand over her mouth. The lagoon was silent, except for the low hiss of the gentle surf and the rumble of the distant waterfal .

“Al right,” said Peter.

“NO!
” shouted Mol y, yanking her mouth free.

“Shut up!” said Slank, covering her mouth again. To Peter, he said, “I knew you was a bright boy. A reasonable boy. So you’l understand that I have to add a condition to the bargain.”

“What condition?” asked Peter.

“I need safe passage in that dory, back out to the ship,” said Slank. “You need to tel them devil-fish to leave me alone.” Peter looked down and exchanged a look with Teacher, who was in the water just in front of the rock where he stood. Then he looked back at Slank.

“They’l leave you alone,” said Peter.

“I appreciate your assurance on that,” said Slank. “I’m sure you’re an honest boy. But just the same, I need me a little
protection.
”

“What do you mean?” said Peter.

“I mean the girl goes with me,” said Slank. “Your other friends can stay, but she goes with me in the dory, with the trunk. Once I get to the ship, I’l leave her in the dory, and your fish friends can swim her back.”