Ultimate Resolve (The Exceptional S. Beaufont Book 12)

by Sarah Noffke

  “If ya had any.” Captain Silver Toe laughed.

  “Right,” Sophia replied as he opened the door and led them into a large room filled with treasure. She was instantly overwhelmed by all the gold and silver spilling out of chests or lining the shelves.

  “Pretty impressive, isn’t it?” Captain Silver Toe said proudly, grabbing the lapels of his grease-stained velvet jacket with patches where the plush fabric had worn thin.

  “I guess. Where do you sleep?” Sophia asked.

  “A captain never sleeps,” he replied.

  “Oh, that’s why you look so tired,” she retorted, hoping her jokes were covering up her nervousness. She only had an inkling of doubt that Wilder hadn’t been successful and gotten the bow and arrows in time, but it was enough to make her stressed.

  He grunted, strode over to the far corner, and looked around. “Whiskey Lou, did you clean in here, like I’ve been asking?”

  Seaweed Beard coughed nervously from the doorway. “Why yes, I did Cap-Tan!”

  The pirates were all cramming into the room, jostling for a front-row seat of what was happening. Sadly, they were blocking the entrance if things didn’t go to plan and Sophia needed to make a break for it. Even sadder was none of them had showered—ever—and their aromas mixed in the confined space, making Sophia’s stomach rumble with unease.

  “Here’s the case I need you to open.” Captain Silver Toe pulled a medium-sized rectangular box from the floor. It didn’t have a lock or handles and appeared to be in pristine condition.

  Sophia strode over, almost pushing the captain to the side to get in front of the box. “What am I supposed to find in there?”

  “A weapon,” he answered plainly.

  “Yeah, all right,” she grumbled, putting her hands on both corners of the box.

  Everyone in the room fell silent. All eyes were on her. Sophia went to lift the lid and paused, looking at the captain. “It’s not a bomb, is it?”

  He growled. “Just open the lid already.”

  Sophia rolled her eyes. “Fine.” She redirected her attention to the box and lifted the lid a smidge, pretending it was heavy and took effort.

  There were several gasps in the room behind her.

  Finally, as if mustering all her strength, Sophia grunted and threw the lid back, revealing that it was empty.

  “Wow, that’s some weapon you got there,” she said dryly and glared at the captain.

  Chapter Ninety

  “What!” Captain Silver Toe roared, pushed Sophia to the side, and peered into the box as though his eyes possibly weren’t working and he needed to get close. “Where is it?”

  “Where’s what?” Sophia asked casually, grateful to confirm that Wilder had gotten the bow and arrows. She knew he wouldn’t let her down.

  “A bow and arrows were supposed to be in the case,” Captain Silver Toe stated.

  Sophia shrugged. “Maybe it’s invisible, and that’s what makes it so special.”

  He shook his head, looking around on the floor as if the bow might have fallen out. “I don’t get it. There’s supposed to be a magical bow and quiver of arrows in there. Where could it have gone?”

  “Maybe one of these guys took it.” Sophia pointed over her shoulder at the pirates behind her.

  “Wasn’t me, sir!” Eye Patch yelled.

  “Me either!” Peg Leg said.

  Captain Silver Toe shook his head. “I tried to open it when you showed up, and the men told me there was a weapons expert on the Dark Echo. The case didn’t open.” He shut the lid, and it closed with a clapping sound.

  Sophia wiggled her finger, putting a simple locking spell on the case. When Captain Silver Toe went to open it, the lid didn’t budge. She encouraged him to the side with a wave.

  “Allow me.” She reversed the spell, grabbed the side of the lid, and pulled it back with ease.

  “Wow, she’s the real deal!” one of the pirates exclaimed.

  “A woman weapons expert.” Another shook his head. “Who’d have thunk it?”

  “Well, it appears that whoever you stole this from already had the bow and arrows removed from the case,” Sophia stated.

  Captain Silver Toe shook his head, complete bewilderment on his face. “It doesn’t make any sense.”

  “Seems like a conundrum,” Sophia agreed, turning for the door.

  Big words, McGoo, Lunis said in her head. Stop acting like such a brainiac and dropping the five-dollar words. Pirates remember.

  Sophia gulped and started for the door. “Well, I better be off. I’ve got loot to steal and a crew to yell at.” Her gaze fell to the curtain by the door, where something caught her eye. It was out of place with all the treasure and dirty pirates. Peeking out from the bottom of the curtain were the tips of two shiny boots. Ones she recognized—Wilder’s.

  Sophia spun, suddenly tense but doing her best to hide it. “On second thought. You’ve paid me the gold and given me grub. How about we brainstorm over what might have happened to your bow and arrows? Maybe over dessert?”

  The pirates stationed between Sophia and Wilder all laughed.

  “This is one fancy pirate, thinking we get dessert on the Dark Echo!” Eye Patch exclaimed.

  “We call rum dessert on my ship,” Sophia corrected, trying to cover her blunder quickly. “How about we go back to the dining room, Captain Silver Toe, and discuss this over a shot?”

  The pirate narrowed his eyes at Sophia. “I don’t think so, Captain Long Sword. It’s not every day that a weapons expert walks onto my ship.”

  Sophia grinned nervously, sensing sudden hostility from the captain. “But it is today when one walks off. See me out, would you?” She pointed hopefully over her shoulder, trying everything she could to clear the room so Wilder could escape unnoticed.

  “I don’t think so, sweetheart,” Captain Silver Toe said with a toothless grin. “A weapons expert such as yourself will come in mighty handy. We’re always finding strange weapons, and you can help.”

  “Thing is,” Sophia said, an edge to her voice. “I’ve got the Lunis and my crew and really can’t stick around here to help y’all out. I would if I could. You seem like a merry bunch.”

  Captain Silver Toe’s chins twitched, a deceitful glint in his eyes. “Thing is, that you can stay and you will, as my guest—in the brig. Get her, boys!”

  Sophia threw up her hands suddenly. “Wait! You can’t keep me! My men will storm your ship if I don’t return.”

  Captain Silver Toe laughed loudly, his men joining in with him. “You’re as stupid as a sea urchin if you think my men are taking gold to your ship. I sent them there to pillage and slaughter. It’s probably on fire and burning to a hulk as we speak.”

  Damn pirates, Sophia thought, her mind racing for a way to get out of this. And also get Wilder out of trouble. They were outnumbered and in tight quarters. “The joke’s on you, Silver Toe. I knew you’d double-cross me. My ship isn’t in the harbor east of here. My men have you surrounded.”

  This didn’t produce the reaction of fear that Sophia hoped for. Instead, Captain Silver Toe’s evil grin widened. “Oh, good. I felt a bit down after not finding the bow and arrows. A good skirmish always lifts my spirits.” He looked past Sophia at his men. “Crew, ready the guns. We’re gonna have a good ole fight today. Well, a slaughtering, more like it. One of you take this one down to the brig and throw away the key. She’s my prisoner now!”

  Chapter Ninety-One

  Wilder’s mind raced with panic. Things had gone from worse to extremely worse very fast. Being trapped in a hiding spot with a bunch of pirates was bad enough. Now having Sophia taken by the grungy pirates was worse. He had to do something, but they were limited on options and outnumbered.

  Sophia had played it brilliantly, but even she couldn’t talk her way out of this. Wilder heard her struggle as pirates grabbed her, making him instantly insane with fury. Although he didn’t think there were many options to save Sophia, he knew for certain that he couldn’
t wait for her to be locked up. The farther into the ship she got, the harder it would be to get to her, especially with a bunch of pirates on guard, waiting for a battle that would never happen since there was no crew ready to storm the Dark Echo.

  Wilder gripped the bow in his hands, unsure of what magical property it held. He instantly sucked in the history of the bow, seeing its special power. His eyes sprang open with sudden hope.

  Perfect, he thought, nocking one of the arrows from the quiver on his back and preparing to fire. He’d have to be precise for his plan to work. More importantly, he’d have to be strategic to keep Sophia from getting hurt in the line of fire.

  Chapter Ninety-Two

  Eye Patch and Peg Leg lunged for her. Sophia yelled in protest. She wanted to fight, to use her magic, but she didn’t want to blow her cover. She also didn’t want to blow up Wilder since he was right behind them. She resisted the best she could, but their hands were surprisingly strong, and their attempts to hold her still relentless.

  Suddenly desperate to do whatever it took to escape the situation, Sophia was about to use magic. They’d have to ambush their way out of this situation.

  However, before she could, Wilder yanked back the curtain holding a very impressive bow and arrow at the ready. His determined gaze flew to Sophia. “Duck and dive toward me!” he yelled in a rush.

  Sophia didn’t hesitate, dropping her body weight, which brought her out of the pirate’s clutches, a move she was about to employ even before ordered by Wilder. She jumped forward, diving into a front roll and landing at Wilder’s side.

  “What’s this!” Captain Silver Toe boomed.

  Sudden chaos erupted everywhere as pirates pulled their swords and gritted their remaining teeth at the pair standing side by side.

  Sophia was about to pull her sword when Wilder released the arrow at the pirates closest to them—Peg Leg and Eye Patch.

  At first, Sophia expected it to hit Peg Leg and knock him to the deck. It hit him in the chest, but it didn’t send him down. Instead, ice crackled over his body instantly and spread, wrapping around Eye Patch and anyone close to them. It looked like the arrow had bonded them all together in a neat little ice cube.

  Instantly, Wilder pulled another arrow from the quiver and nocked it.

  The first arrow’s display had the pirates really excited now. The ones at the door all turned and ran, not wanting to suffer the same fate as their mates. A few, less cowardly ones lunged for Sophia by Wilder’s side. She didn’t have enough room to pull Inexorabilis so she threw up her foot in a front kick, knocking the closest pirate back with a formidable force and sending him into the others at his back. They all clambered ungracefully back into a pile of treasure, rolling in different directions.

  “Stop them!” Captain Silver Toe yelled, but it was too late.

  In quick succession, Wilder released three arrows freezing everyone together in the room save for him and Sophia. Even the pirates that she’d knocked to the deck were ice sculptures. The captain froze with his hand pointing in the air and his mouth wide open.

  With all their pursers iced, Wilder grabbed Sophia’s hand and pulled her toward the door. Both of them had to jump over immobile pirates as they made their way from the lower deck up to their escape route. They could only hope that they didn’t meet any more angry pirates that wanted them to stay to see their mates defrosted.

  Chapter Ninety-Three

  As Sophia suspected, the cowardly pirates didn’t want anything to do with them after seeing what the ice bow and arrows did to the others. They fled across the deck of the ship, probably aiming to take cover somewhere deemed safe.

  However, Wilder and Sophia weren’t in the clear yet, Sophia quickly realized as she sprinted down the gangway for the docks. Racing in their direction in a small boat and moving surprisingly fast were the five other pirates that Captain Silver Toe had sent to destroy Sophia’s ship. They were returning after not finding it.

  The mayhem on the Dark Echo wasn’t going unnoticed by them, and they pulled muskets to their shoulders and pointed them at Sophia and Wilder. She didn’t know if these pirates had stepped through a time portal, but she wasn’t sticking around to find out.

  Three things happened in quick succession as Sophia and Wilder reached the pier: The pirates all fired their guns at them. Wilder lifted the bow, preparing to fire. And Sophia created a portal outside the Gullington.

  Knowing how fast bullets were and how little time they had, Sophia yanked Wilder through the portal, closing it at once. The force she used to pull him through sent them to the ground, rolling over one another until they halted in the lush grass.

  Panting, Wilder sprang up, looking Sophia over. “Are you okay? Did you get shot?’’

  She had to look at her body to be sure. The adrenaline made her heart beat wildly. “Yeah, I’m fine. You?”

  In answer, he pressed his mouth to hers and kissed her, one full of relief and victory as the ice bow pressed between them.

  Sophia didn’t know why Subner had said they’d need the bow and arrows, but she was glad that it saved their butts. It was an incredibly powerful weapon, and in the wrong hands, would do tremendous damage. In theirs, she hoped it aided them on their continuous journey to save the world.

  Chapter Ninety-Four

  “Why does the pirate carry his sword?” Lunis asked Sophia as she lounged on the fluffy rug in the Pad, enjoying some respite after the stressful mission off the Amalfi Coast.

  She arched an eyebrow at him while flipping through Oscar Beaufont’s diary, trying to decipher more of his notes and prophecies. They weren’t straightforward, like Peggy Sue will be hit by a bus on such and such date. Instead, it was a convoluted mess of symbolism, and if this happens, this could be the result, but if the person in question had too much salt that day, then the events were unlikely come to to pass.

  “I’m off pirates at the moment,” Sophia grumbled, looking up at the blue dragon who was lying on his back and totally phoning in a game of Just Dance on the Nintendo Switch, simply moving his arm to the dance moves on the screen and somehow winning it.

  “Last one, I promise,” Lunis urged, waving his arm back and forth and copying the movements of the dancers on the screen. “Then I’ll move on to other jokes. You make the requests.”

  “Great.” Sophia watched as Lunis’ hedgehog, Sir Alexander Connery the Second, scuttled across the floor. “I want hedgehog jokes.”

  “You got it,” he stated triumphantly. “But first, why does the pirate carry his sword?”

  “Why?”

  “Because swords can’t walk, dummy!”

  Sophia rolled her eyes. “You’ve started name-calling in your jokes now?”

  “It’s more for delivery purposes.”

  Sophia flipped a page in the book, finding it impossible to concentrate with the music blaring from her dragon’s game.

  “What did the hedgehog say when he looked in the mirror?” Lunis asked, having transferred the remote to his tail as he continued to play Just Dance.

  “What?”

  “Looking sharp,” he replied with a laugh.

  “Do you have any funny hedgehog jokes?” Sophia questioned. “Can I make that request?”

  “You can,” he sang. “What did the toothpick say when it saw a hedgehog?”

  Sophia shook her head. “Toothpicks can’t talk.”

  He sighed. “Neither can hedgehogs, but you didn’t say anything about that last joke.”

  Sophia looked up at the hedgehog, which thankfully couldn’t be killed when Lunis swept his tail through space, throwing the tiny creature against the stone walls. It was his wish fulfilled by the genie—an indestructible hedgehog. “Did you hear that, Sir Alex? He says you can’t talk. Maybe it’s him that simply can’t understand you.”

  “You’re talking to a hedgehog, weirdo,” Lunis teased.

  “I also talk to this really strange big lizard,” she retorted.

  He scoffed. “Likening dragons to liz
ards is highly offensive.”

  Sophia glared at him. “I was referring to Smeg, the talking crocodile, but whatever.”

  “Well played, Soph. Well played. Anyway, what did the toothpick say when it saw a hedgehog?”

  “What?” She decided to indulge him.

  “Oh, look, there’s a bus.” Lunis howled with laughter, rolling over on his stomach and dropping the Switch.

  “Did I say I wanted hedgehog jokes?” Sophia said dryly and closed the book, deciding it would be impossible to read with Lunis doing his comedy routine. “How about Shakespeare jokes?”

  “How very cultured of you,” he said in a dignified tone.

  “It’s me taking a gamble that you don’t have any of those readily available,” she admitted. “You aren’t necessarily a literature buff.”

  He stood suddenly, offense on his face. “What makes you say that?”

  “You have an entire Pokémon collection.”

  “Which is sitting next to my bookcase,” he argued.

  “I know those are empty books where you keep your gummy bear stash,” she stated.

  Lunis rolled his eyes. “You know, you don’t have to sneak my secrets out of my head.”

  “I don’t have to,” she teased. “But it’s more fun that way.”

  “What’s Shakespeare’s favorite video game?” Lunis asked.

  With an indignant look, she simply glared at him in response.

  “Oh, you didn’t think this simpleton dragon would have any Shakespeare jokes on the fly,” he said smugly. “Just you wait. Now go ahead and set me up.”

  “Video games weren’t around in the time of Shakespeare,” Sophia countered.

  “If you’d been around, there would have been no plays written because you would have trampled all over Will’s creativity.” Lunis stuck his tongue out at her.

  “Fine.” She sighed. “What’s Shakespeare’s favorite video game?”