The Rover

by Mel Odom

  “Ah but, Cap’n,” Hallekk said, “this here’s the halfer what fought them Boneblights along Greydawn Moors’ docks last night.”

  Farok gazed at Wick. “Is that right, halfer?”

  Wick hesitated only for a moment, then shook his head. “No.” The scowl deepened in the dwarven pirate captain’s face. “No, Captain. Sir.”

  “Ye’re not the one?”

  “Well, I’m probably the one all the talk was about,” Wick admitted. “The Boneblights were trying to kill me.”

  “An’ ye fought ’em?”

  Wick hesitated only a moment, then shook his head. “No, sir. I ran from them. The warder was the one who fought the Boneblights.”

  “Well now,” Hallekk said, “an’ that’s not how it looked last night.”

  Captain Farok burst out laughing, but it wasn’t an expression of good humor. “Do ye know what ye got fer yer troubles, Hallekk? Do ye really know?”

  The big dwarf hung his head.

  “Give me yer hands, halfer,” the pirate captain commanded.

  Wick’s belly quivered as he stuck his hands out. The captain’s own hands felt like they were covered in barnacles. They shook a little with age, but there was no denying the great strength they contained.

  Farok pushed Wick’s hands away. “Why, these are the hands of a man what ain’t never known much in the way of honest work, Hallekk! No, what ye’ve taken on here, Hallekk, is an unproductive mouth to feed. A leech, a tripes worm what’ll only suck up the food ye’ve managed to put in yer own belly.”

  Wick wanted to protest. Even his father had never made him feel so low about becoming a librarian.

  “What is it ye been a-doin’ with yerself, halfer?” the pirate captain demanded.

  “I’m a … a … librarian,” Wick whispered.

  “A librarian, was ye?” Captain Farok rolled his eyes. “A wastrel by any other name, I tell ye. Readin’ and writin’ and such—faugh! An’ when has them skills been for naught but misfortune, I ask ye?”

  “Those skills can be very important,” Wick replied, then wilted before Farok’s fierce gaze.

  “Oh, really?” the pirate captain responded, leaning closer and driving Wick back a half-step. “An’ was I to put ye over the side of ol’ One-Eyed Peggie now, would ye be a-knowin’ yer way home?”

  “There are constellations in the sky,” Wick said, remembering some of the books he’d read in the Vault.

  “Constellations?” Captain Farok shook his head. “Ye expect to be a-seein’ constellations while ye’re out in the Blood-Soaked Sea? Out here in all this fog? Why, ye can’t hardly see the bloomin’ hand in front of yer face some nights because of the fogbanks, an’ ye’re expectin’ to see stars?”

  Oh. Wick had to admit that he hadn’t thought about that.

  “An’ ye spend half of yer time in the water while the sun’s up,” the pirate captain said. “What are ye a-gonna do so’s ye don’t lose yer position durin’ them daylight hours? Bob up and down in the sea a-waitin’ for nightfall? An’ ye think some sea serpent or other monster from the depths ain’t a-gonna think ye’re a tasty little treat an’ come and snatch ye up to keep its gullet from retreatin’ to its backbone?”

  “Perhaps,” Wick suggested in a soft, trembling voice, “it would be better for all concerned if you simply returned me to Greydawn Moors.”

  “Return ye to Greydawn Moors?” Captain Farok looked fit to explode. He pushed up from his bed and walked around the desk, falling into a short pacing route up and down the length of his quarters. His boots thumped against the hardwood deck. “Why ye great ninny! An’ here I was a-thinkin’ that the grandmagisters took only the bright halfers up to the Vault!”

  Wick’s face burned.

  “Them sailors at Greydawn Moors,” Captain Farok said, “why they’ll know what we was about by now. They’ll know One-Eyed Peggie is a pirate ship. Maybe they won’t rightly recall her name, but they’ll know the cut an’ draw of her, an’ know her again if’n they see her. Men what live on the salt, ye lummox-brained little halfer, they know ships and the men what sail them. It’ll be years afore we can throw down an anchor in Greydawn Moors again.”

  Years! The word flew through Wick’s thoughts and thudded with the grim finality of a headsman’s axe.

  Farok stopped pacing and glared over at Hallekk. “Warrior, bah! Ye know what ye got here, Hallekk?”

  The big dwarf looked embarrassed. He looked away and scratched behind one freckled ear. “No sir.”

  “Why then, I’ll tell ye, I will. Ye got an overqualified potato peeler, Hallekk. That’s what ye got for yer troubles.” Captain Farok turned his harsh gaze on Wick and shook his head. “Put him in the kitchen with Slops. Let’s find out if’n the halfer can wash dishes.”

  “Aye, Cap’n.”

  I—who have studied at the Vault of All Known Knowledge—I’m going to be a … a … a dishwasher? On a pirate ship? Wick shook his head in stunned disbelief as he followed Hallekk from Captain Farok’s quarters. The little librarian gazed around at the ship, watching the pirates as they worked in the rigging and on the decks.

  “Avast there, ye dirty swabs!” Critter roared from a lanyard amidships. The fierce rhowdor flailed his wings with a noise like distant thunder. “Make sure ye change out that water in them buckets! Otherwise ye’re just a-changin’ out the dirt a-coverin’ them decks!”

  The pirates growled curses back at the obnoxious bird.

  Critter cursed back at them, then spied Wick. “Ahoy, mateys, yonder comes the new cook’s helper.” The rhowdor sprang from the lanyard, wings beating the air. Sunlight glinted from the metal studs forming the skull on the bird’s eyepatch.

  Some of the pirates paused in their work and studied Wick. “Thought he was a warrior,” one pirate said. “Not no cook’s helper. Supposed to have killed a half-dozen Boneblights last night.”

  “Come to find out,” Critter crowed, “he’s just a Vault librarian!”

  Derisive laughter suddenly rung out from the pirates.

  Wick wanted nothing more than to turn invisible or somehow shrink down through the deck into the hold below.

  Without warning, One-Eyed Peggie listed hard to port, rolling against the natural motion of the sea. The pirates scrambled to grab hold of the railing.

  Wick bent at the knees instinctively and rolled with the sudden twisting lunge of the ship. He only skidded a few inches across the deck before he came to a stop, leaning into the deck’s steep incline as it crested the next wave.

  Pirates cursed in strained voices. They looked over the ship’s sides.

  Standing near Wick, Hallekk held his ground with ease. The big dwarf cupped his callused hands around his mouth. “Zeddar! Do ye see anythin’ out there?”

  Wick glanced up into the rigging and spotted the crow’s-nest built at the top of the main mast high above. A dwarf held onto the crow’s-nest sides with clenched fists as the topmast swung wildly from port to starboard several times.

  “It’s not out there!” the dwarf in the crow’s-nest bellowed down through his own cupped hands. “The cursed beastie is beneath us!”

  “It’s gonna try to roll us into the sea and gobble us up!” another pirate shouted.

  Hallekk made his way to the starboard railing, stumbling with the awkward sway of the ship’s deck.

  Terrified, Wick followed. The little librarian’s mind conjured up a thousand images of monsters he’d read about in texts and seen painted in books. In those books, heroes had managed to vanquish some of those fierce beasts, but he wasn’t on a ship of heroes now.

  “Grab pole arms!” Hallekk roared, reaching down beside the railing and freeing a twenty-foot-long harpoon. A cruel, triangular blade nearly a foot long capped the harpoon. “Stand by to repel the beastie if’n we hafta!”

  One-Eyed Peggie rolled again as the unseen monster slammed against the keel. Timbers groaned as the ship fought the sea and the monster and the wind.

  “It’s gonna tear
us apart!” a pirate yelled.

  Wick closed his fists on the railing and stared down into the dark water. Surely if there were really a monster of some sort down there it would be visible. But even though he strained his eyes, he couldn’t see anything.

  Pirates squalled in horror as a huge, lumpy snout suddenly pushed above the waterline. The monster’s head was nearly ten feet across, but looked even bigger when the jaws gaped. Seaweed and small fish tumbled through the long, serrated teeth, winding through the three rows to spill back into the ocean. Mottled gray-green scales covered the creature. Bulbous black eyes raked the pirate ship and crew with animal cunning.

  Wick had never seen a creature larger than the monster before him. He wanted to run, but he wanted to absorb every detail he could about the monster. He’d never seen anything like it in any of the books at the Vault.

  “Harpoon it, ye swabs!” Critter screamed in his loud, raucous voice.

  Wick caught the rhowdor’s fluttering movements from the corner of his eye. Critter scrambled through the rigging, taking care to keep sail and rope between himself and the fierce sea denizen.

  “Ease off there, mateys,” a strong, thunderous voice called out.

  Glancing above, Wick spotted Captain Farok standing at the bow castle railing. Wind churned the tails of the pirate captain’s greatcloak.

  “Have a care how ye’re a-treatin’ that ol’ codger,” Captain Farok ordered. “Could be he’s just a-nosin’ us over and ain’t meanin’ no harm. Ye go a-pokin’ about on him, ye’re only gonna get him all stirred up.”

  Critter fell silent but didn’t cease scrambling up the rigging.

  Crouching to make himself smaller behind the railing, Wick stared at the sea monster in rapt fascination. What is it and where does it come, from? Is it a creature that has simply outlived its time, or one that was magicked from some other place?

  The monster cocked its head to one side and rolled its baleful eye as if carefully surveying the deck. Whiskers as long as oars suddenly flared out from the sides of its face. Barbs covered the ends of the silvery white strands. Small green bloated parasites bulged from between the creature’s scales in several places.

  “Hold steady,” Captain Farok ordered. “First man what stabs yonder beastie without my command is a-gonna end up in the drink with it. We’ll make our escape while it’s a-feastin’ on yer bones, we will.”

  “Feed it the halfer,” one of the pirates suggested. “We’ll get away while the monster’s a-feedin’ on his bones.”

  Wick swallowed hard. He didn’t doubt for a moment that the crew would throw him in if the order were given.

  “Hallekk, have a few of yer men run up some more sailcloth. I’d rather fight the war between the wind and the sea than with the likes o’ that thing. Let’s see if’n we can put some distance betwixt ourselves and our admirer.”

  “Aye, Cap’n.” Hallekk called out names and set the men to work. “An’ I’ll have ye a-movin’ slowly so’s ye don’t disturb the beastie by drawin’ attention to yerselves.”

  Dwarven pirates moved carefully across the deck and unfurled more sailcloth. The canvas billowed out as they swung the rigging around to a new tack. One-Eyed Peggie reacted at once, coming around to the new heading and pulling slightly away from the monster.

  The sea serpent immediately twisted its head and set out in pursuit. It glided effortlessly through the high waves.

  “Steady, steady,” Captain Farok called out. He remained at the bow castle railing, looking out over his ship at the big monster that threatened it. “Ye move an’ ye have a care, maybe the beastie will get bored of us and seek its distraction somewheres else.”

  One-Eyed Peggie gathered speed, fleeing with the wind now instead of trying to tack against it. Still, the waves stood at least twenty feet tall and they rode against those. When the pirate ship rose up a wave, it slowed, but it gained headlong speed on the other side.

  “Water’s almost as fast as the wind today,” Hallekk groaned. “An’ that beastie don’t have a care about neither.”

  Wick knew it was true. Even as he held fast to the railing and tried not to be sick, he watched the sea monster duck below a wave then crash through on the other side as if it were nothing. “Will it continue to follow us?” the little librarian asked, raising his voice to be heard above the groaning timbers and cracking sailcloth.

  “Don’t know,” Hallekk answered. “These bloomin’ beasties got nothing better to do than follow a ship around. Even if they ain’t hungry.”

  “Maybe it could be distracted,” Wick suggested. One-Eyed Peggie reached the apex of another wave, then tilted sharply forward as her bow sank down. She rushed pell-mell down the other side of the wave, deep into the trough of the oncoming one.

  “Ain’t nothin’ gonna distract that thing,” Hallekk said. “Less’n it’s another beastie about as big or bigger. An’ that ain’t good, because sometimes they just decide to share what they find instead of fightin’ over it.” He shifted the harpoon in his hands.

  The pirate ship continued gaining speed, creeping up the side of an oncoming wave, then crashing down almost out of control on the other side.

  Wick watched Captain Farok, seeing the huge wall of water swell behind the man as the ship’s bow dropped again. The next wave crashed into the bow, drenching the sails and sending water cascading across the deck. Water spilled over the edge of the bow castle, coming across in a solid sheet for a moment before One-Eyed Peggie’s bow lifted above the oncoming wave.

  The dwarven pirates cursed and shouted, but none of them raised their voice at the captain.

  Although the ship traveled across and through the sea in stomach-spinning lurches, Wick knew that the monster following them couldn’t maintain the pace. The ponderous coils might pass through the water beneath the ocean’s surface more easily, but the serpent’s energy wasn’t as boundless as the wind. For a time, the gigantic creature continued to pace One-Eyed Peggie. Then it disappeared beneath the waves.

  Wick hung onto the railing, scouring the violent water. The pirate ship hurtled through the water, dipping lower into each new wave till the decks from bow to stern ran with water. The little librarian felt certain that they were going to hit the bottom of the next trough much too hard and break the ship in half.

  A harsh ripping noise filled Wick’s ears. He glanced up toward the sound and saw that one of the topsails had broken free of the rigging. The splintered yardarm banged against the mast and the loose sailcloth fluttered in jerky spasms.

  “Look out!” Critter called as he hung upside down from the rigging.

  Even as Wick turned, he saw the sea monster’s gigantic maw sweeping down at him, propelled by the twisted coils of its scaled neck like an arrow released from a bow.

  5

  Secret of the Pirates

  Instinctively, Wick moved at once, but even as he did, the ship’s deck dove again. His effort only tripped him up as his legs got tangled, throwing him off balance. Water drenched him as the sea monster tried to snap him up.

  Before the gaping maw could close over him, though the stink of the creature’s fetid breath filled Wick’s nose, Hallekk ran forward and scooped the little librarian up in one great arm. “Move, little man!” the pirate growled. “Ye will make nary a bite for that great lummox, an’ mayhap only whet his appetite for more!”

  Slammed against the wet deck by the dwarf’s much greater bulk, Wick skidded for a few feet. The sea monster’s teeth thudded against the wooden planking, shattering at least a half-dozen of them into splinters.

  “Stick that blasted thing!” Hallekk roared. The dwarven pirate shoved himself to his feet, one fist still curled around the harpoon’s haft.

  Partially dazed from the back of his head striking the deck so hard and without warning, Wick caught the nearby railing and watched as a dozen pirates rallied across the treacherous deck to answer Hallekk’s call. Hallekk beat them all, though, rearing back and driving his harpoon deep into the sea m
onster’s throat at the base of the long jaw. Others ripped into the scaled flesh only a heartbeat later.

  Blood streamed down the sea monster’s throat as it lifted its head in painful surprise. The wind caught One-Eyed Peggie’s sails again full-on at the top of the next wave and drove her away from the sea monster.

  Wick pulled himself up as the enraged sea monster continued trumpeting. It shook itself angrily, twisting high above the sea, then One-Eyed Peggie shot down the other side of the wave. When they crested the next wave, the sea monster was nowhere in sight. A huge grin twisted the little librarian’s lips. “We beat it!” he yelled, surprised to still be alive. And surprised, too, at the sudden camaraderie he felt with the pirate crew. “We beat it!” He glanced at the pirates, expecting them to join him in the victory celebration.

  The dwarven pirates all looked at him, panting and barely managing to stand.

  “All right,” Wick corrected himself, “you beat the sea monster, and—” And what? he asked himself. I’m very proud of you? He really didn’t think they would care. The victorious feeling died a quiet, quick death inside him.

  “Hallekk!” Captain Farok roared from the bow castle railing. “Ye’ve got a sail a-flappin’ about aboard my ship.”

  “Aye, Cap’n. I was just on my way after seein’ it mended.” Hallekk turned and assigned four men into the rigging.

  Wick stood by the railing and watched the crew ascend the rigging, moving as gracefully as monkeys as they went up and up and up. If any of them fell to the deck, the little librarian had no doubt that they wouldn’t survive the impact. And that was only if they hit the deck. In the ocean swells they’d be lost instantly with no hope of survival.

  The pirates worked quickly to secure the loose sailcloth and broken yardarm. As Hallekk called out further orders, other men stripped some of the canvas from the yardarms and slowed One-Eyed Peggie’s headlong rush through the sea.