“What? Why you little stinking rascal. Get out of that boat so I can cut your—”
“Now-now,” Goolie said to his crew. “We don’t need to go scaring the young lads. We’re just asking for a little cooperation. So, what do you say boys? If you hand over the watch without a struggle, I’m sure we could work out a deal with Elontra to go easy on ya.”
Elontra was the Dark Thorn in charge of Segment One—the Magic Kingdom, and like all other Dark Thorns, she was very ruthless and unforgiving when it came to mistakes being made by her soldiers. Which included anyone, and anything, under her command in the Magic Kingdom. So the captain was hard pressed to make sure the outsider surrendered the watch before going any further.
But what he didn’t know, was that Charlie had just caught sight of the skeletons from the wooden bridge, who at that very moment, were aggressively making their way straight towards the dock where Charlie, Michael and the pirates were. The young, but clever, outsider was stalling for time—his brother caught on to his strategy.
“Watch? What makes you think we have a watch?” Michael said. “Do you see a watch anywhere? I don’t.”
“Shut it you little landlubber,” the captain shouted back, “or we’ll be making sure you and your big brother never get out of here. Well, at least not alive, anyway.”
The crew burst into laughter, but suddenly were blind sided by the skeletons, who engaged the pirates in a fierce battle. Members of the skeleton crew quickly swarmed the group of pirates on the dock, who took off flying in all directions and positioned themselves for an aerial counter attack. The swashbuckling sound of steel on steel filled the air, as the two adversaries battled for control of the dock, and ultimately, control of the watch. Pistol shots fired out from all directions, filling the air with a haze of gun smoke and hot lead—knocking many of the skeletons to pieces, who immediately reassembled themselves—shooting and slashing pirates to the ground—who quickly rose up and to fight again after a momentary lapse of afterlife. The jaws of the skeleton crew clicked and clunked loudly, as they hollered out orders. The pirates shouted out an endless barrage of counter attacks, as the heated battle for control of the dock continued.
“It’s time we stop playing around, mateys, and show these worthless bags of bones why they ought not be messin’ with the likes of us,” the captain said to his crew.
On his command, all the ghostly pirates took to the air, flying high in to the dark star-lit sky. Paired in groups of three and four, they began to dive-bomb the skeletons—either knocking them into the water, or picking them up and dropping them into the surrounding trees, or on top of nearby buildings. Several were dropped onto a flagpole, resembling a shish kabob.
While it appeared to be a victory for the pirates, it actually was quite the opposite. Having been distracted by the surprise attack of the skeletons, Goolie and his crew had completely lost track of their original intention, to take the watch from the outsider and present it to their dark leader, Elontra.
“Hey captain, I’m not sure, but it don’t look like them two boys are in the boat no more. As a matter of fact, I don’t even see the boat.”
“What? Of course the boat is there, you buffoon. Fly in and take a closer look.”
Following the captain’s orders, his first mate flew back to look by the dock once more, and sure enough, his first observation had been true. Both the boat and boys were missing. Amongst all the chaos between the pirates and skeletons, Charlie and Michael had managed to free the boat from the dock and quietly slip away unnoticed. “Uh, Cap’n…I don’t know what else to say, but it looks like those two young landlubbers snuck away in the boat while we was fight’n off the boneheads.”
“Holy mermaids of the sea,” the captain replied, “gather the crew, and the row boats. Those two yellow-bellied youngsters can’t be too far down the river. And when we catch ‘em, the first thing we’re gonna do is get that watch.
“I’m tellin’ ya Frank, I know what I heard in the Dole Whip line, and those three guys were definitely Thorn spies. They must have known the boys picked up the watch at Uptown Jewelers. Charlie and Michael are in for a dangerous night, and I really think they’re gonna need our help,” Ben said.
“Hmmm, so you think we need to send someone to shadow their activities for the rest of the evening?” Frank asked, while searching his apartment for something.
“Yes. Yes I do. In fact, I think I know the perfect one for the job. Someone who works best at night.”
“Someone who sleeps best at night?” Frank questioned. “Then how would they stay awake to follow the boys tonight?”
“No-no-no. Not someone who ‘sleeps best.’ I said someone who ‘works best’.
“Works better,” Frank said, half listening, as he continued searching his apartment for something he obviously could not find.
“Oh my goodness. Have you even heard a word I said? And what on earth are you looking for?”
“My lucky tie,” Frank replied.
“Luck tie?”
“Yeah-yeah. Do you see it laying around here anywhere?”
“Uhhhhh, no. Nope. No, I don’t see any tie around here,” Ben replied as he scanned the apartment with his eyes. “So what do you need a tie for, Frank? I don’t believe I’ve ever seen you wear one before.”
“I have a meeting with the Patron Council tonight and I need my lucky tie.”
“Must be an important meeting, eh?”
“Anytime the heads of the council call a meeting, it’s important, Ben, and when we meet, I have to wear my tie. It helps clear my mind.”
“Hah! There it is.”
“Where?”
“Right over there,” Ben said while pointing, “on the chair. Is it that funky colored thing sticking out from underneath the cushion?”
“Yeah, that’s it. Boy, that’s quite an eye you have there, Benny. Thank you. Now I’ll be able to think straight tonight when I go to that meeting.”
“Well, while you’re on the subject of ‘thinking’, what do you think about what I said a few minutes ago?”
“And what was that again?” Frank asked.
“You know, to get someone who works best at night to watch over the boys this evening. Someone who has excellent night vision.”
“Ahhhh, yes-yes-yes. Now I remember. I was thinking the exact same thing. I agree one hundred and three percent. He would be the perfect fit for an assignment such as this, wouldn’t he.”
“And I’m sure it would help us all rest much easier tonight,” Ben added.
“Right you are. I’ll put him on the job right away, as soon as we’re finished here.”
“Put your backs into it mateys,” the captain said to his row men, who paddled tirelessly down the calm, clear river, for fear of what Elontra may do to them if they failed. Faster and faster the ores of the three row boats cut through the water, as the captain barked out the pace of the strokes. They passed one opportunity after another for looting and plundering. There was The Sleepy Ghost Grill and Tavern, The Angry Crow’s Nest Bar, Skeleton Bones Hotel, Blackbeard’s BBQ Shack, and a host of many other riverside establishments ripe for the taking. But the captain had only one thing burning in his mind, to capture the outsider and get the Watch of WONDER.
“Keep rowing mateys, those two little buggers can’t be more than a few strokes away.”
Meanwhile, Captain Goolie’s first mate, Mr. Farkle, was leading an aerial search party high above the river and palm trees, as he and a dozen ghostly pirates combed the area in search of the two young lads who had cleverly escaped their capture.
Just as they approached a moonlit bend in the river, a small boat appeared on the water’s horizon. It had to be them, the first mate thought to himself. “Yo-ho, Cap’n,” he shouted from above. “Small boat just ahead near Blue Beards Bend.”
“Yes-yes-yes, Mr. Farkle, but is it them?” The captain hollered back.
“Hard to tell, Cap’n. We’ll have to move in for a closer look.”
> “Push ahead and report back immediately,” Goolie ordered.
“Aye-aye, Cap’n. You heard ‘em boys, attack speed.”
The flying pirates shot ahead, leaving only blurred streaks of blue and green behind.
“C’mon, Michael, we have to keep moving,” Charlie said between deep breaths. “I think I can actually hear them now, which means they’re getting closer. We have to go faster.”
“But I’m tired, Charlie,” Michael whimpered.
“Not now, Michael. Not now.”
A sudden BOOM accompanied by a giant burst of bright light, exploded in the air above—and through it, a majestic, silvery-white owl came shooting into the night sky, followed by a sparkling trail of glittering dust. Immediately, the mighty owl began scanning the island below with his large yellow eyes—shielded by a pair of black rimmed glasses. Seeing great distances at night was no issue for this courageous creature, as he was Alexios, mighty owl of the Patrons, and loyal defender of the Kingdom Crystals. But tonight, his task was one of smaller scale. To keep the outsider, and his younger sibling, out of harms way. A simple task for someone such as I, he thought to himself, as he soared through the night skies.
“What do ya mean they’re not in the boat!” Captain Goolie replied to his first mate, after receiving the disappointing news that the boy’s boat was empty. “Paddle faster mates, I needs to see this for me self,” the captain hollered in frustration. A few short minutes later, Goolie and the other two boats rowed ashore next to the empty vessel. The captain now believed he had no chance to retrieve the watch, yet still, he continued to rant and rave. “How can this be? Those two little rats were in the boat right before the bloody skeletons showed up. And if they had tried to escape, one of us would have surely seen ‘em. We was right there on the dock for Pete’s sake.”
“We were a little distracted, captain,” one of the crew members said. All the other pirates turned and looked at him as if he had just made a big mistake.
“What? What did ya say?”
“I, I said, we was a little distracted, Cap’n,” the crew member repeated and smiled— hoping the captain would make lite of his comment and pardon the interruption.
Captain Goolie turned beet-red with anger, as smoke poured out of his ghostly figure. “Ohhhh! Take him back to the ship and lock him up. There’ll be no rum for you this evening. And if you say anything else, it’ll be two nights with no rum. I might even make ya marry the brewmaster’s daughter.” It was common knowledge amongst all the pirates that the brewmaster’s daughter was the most unfriendly lady ghost in all of Pirates Cove, and to marry her would surely be the harshest of all punishments known to man—dead or alive.
“Hey. Did you see that?” Mr. Farkle said, pointing towards the sky.
“Yeah, I saw it too, it looked like a great big explosion in the sky,” another crew member added.
“I didn’t see it, but I heard the explosion,” another pirate said.
“Alright, alright. That’s enough ya anchor heads,” the captain replied in annoyed fashion. “There are other pirates on this island ya know—and I’m sure, other battles as well. Wouldn’t ya agree?”
“Oh, right captain. Other battles—I’m sure that’s all it was, a little friendly fire, an explodin’ ship or something like that, heh-heh,” Mr. Farkle replied.
“Now then, you two fly Mr. Know-it-all back to the ship and lock him up below,” Captain Goolie said, while pointing to two of his crew. “And the rest of you split up into two groups. Half will come with me on this side of the river, the other half will fly to the other side with Mr. Farkle and start searching there. We’ll find those boys and the watch before sunrise, or my name isn’t Captain Goolie.”
An easy achievement, being it was eternally night time in Pirates Cove. Though none of the crew had the courage to say it.
Just beyond the shadows, not far from the boat, Charlie and Michael were crouched down—having just listened to the pirates discuss their plan to capture the outsider.
“OK, Michael, it looks like they’re all gone. Let’s make a run for the boat and get out of here before they come back. On the count of three, ready. One—two—.”
“Hold on—hold on, young squires. No need to rush into a bad decision.”
“What? Who?” Charlie and Michael replied, as they searched for the source of the voice that had just interrupted their conversation.
While staring into the heavy foliage covered by darkness and shadow, Charlie said, “Reveal yourself.”
“Is it too much to ask that you try and look a little harder?” the mysterious voice asked.
“If we try any harder, our eyes are going to pop out,” Michael replied.
“I assure you, no such thing will happen. For goodness sake—here, I’ll make it easier for you.” Amongst the vast blanket of wooded darkness two large, yellow spheres appeared and gazed upon their youthful disciples.
“Alexios?” Charlie responded, “it’s been so long, I—”
“Forgot the sound of my voice?” the owl said.
“Yes, exactly. But now that I know who it is, it’s clearly obvious.”
“Why yes, Charlie, the mind works in mysterious ways,” Alexios said with a chuckle.
“Now that you’ve got that figured out, can we get in the boat and go,” Michael blurted out impatiently.
“Absolutely the wrong thing to do,” Alexios sternly replied. “Your pursuers will be expecting it. In fact, I’m sure they left somebody behind, who’s lurking in the shadows, to watch and make sure you don’t return to the boat.”
“Wait, I hear something,” Charlie said, pausing the discussion with a raised index finger.
Rising up from their silent surroundings, came the clinking and clunking of bones—which grew louder and louder.
“Quick, back into the bushes,” Alexios whispered.
Not thirty seconds later, a crew of skeletons came rushing buy—three of which, stopped abruptly to scan the boat before continuing on along the shoreline.
After all had cleared, the owl continued. “OK, if you want to get back to your parents with the watch safely in hand, here’s what we’re going to do…”
Captain Goolie and his raucous crew of pirates had combed both sides of the entire river up to Deadman’s Drop, a perilous waterfall which dropped hundreds of feet straight down upon a cluster of jagged rocks.
“Surely they haven’t gone beyond this point, Cap’n,” Mr. Farkle said, as they all observed the drop.
“It appears you are right, Mr. Farkle,” the captain replied. “OK, mateys, time to double baaaaa—attack! Grab your steel and have at it lads.”
Goolie and his crew were under attack from the skeletons, who were also tracking the watch, and thought the pirates had it.
“We don’t got it you bone heads,” the captain yelled out.
But the captain’s words had no effect. The skeletons continued to battle under the belief that the watch would be revealed. Swords clanked and shots were fired as Goolie and his crew were pushed back to the river bank by the surge of greedy skeletons.
“Alrighty men, it’s time we show these boneheads who’s in charge. Everyone to the air.”
On command, the pirate crew took off into the sky—gathering a good fifty feet above the sea of swarming skeletons, now rendered harmless.
“Call your dogs and have em flush out the woods,” the captain shouted to his men.
“Aye-aye, Cap’n. Right away.”
Half the crew took off out of sight, leaving behind blurred trails of smokey, blue light, as the the captain and remaining ghosts hovered above the skeletons below, who continued to stir out of frustration—unable to reach the flying pirates.
Suddenly, a faint noise rose up in the distance—growing louder and louder.
The skeletons all stopped and turned towards the sound.
Highlighted by the moonlight, a stampede of ghost dogs came streaking across the sky, flying over the skeletons, and deep into the woods.
Barking madly, they maneuvered in and out of the trees and foliage. Seconds later, a wave of partially decayed bats came shooting out of the woods—and right behind them, the ghost dogs, who were guiding the swarm toward the gathering of skeletons along the river’s shore. Like a screeching tidal wave, the bats hit the skeleton crew with a mighty force—knocking them backwards and into the water.
Laughter rained down from the sky above at the misfortune of the skeletons, as the ghostly pirates bid the bats farewell and began to celebrate their victory.
Below, the skeletons struggled to regain their composure as they swam back to the river’s edge and crawled ashore.
Suddenly, a quick reminder of their purpose floated by—stopping both pirates and skeletons alike in their tracks. It was the boat Charlie and Michael had brought into their world. Though now it was empty—quietly making its way downstream.
“Now boys!” Alexios shouted. He took off from the low-lying bushes, high up into the air. The mighty owl performed a variety of random loops to distract the pirates and skeletons—enabling Charlie and his brother to sneak off to the boat and make a clean getaway downstream.
But it only lasted a minute. The captain quickly caught on to the wise owls trickery.
“What kind of fool do you take me for ya silly owl,” Goolie said. “Forget the bird mateys. Go after that boat. We need the watch!”
“You heard ‘em, get that boat. We needs that watch.”
Goolies crew mounted a charge towards the young boys. Through the air, over land and water, they swirled, ran and flew directly towards the boat, swords and pistols waiving in the air, as they shouted and screamed out piratical threats.
Not to be left out of the mix, the skeletons, who had made it to the opposite shore of the river, began their relentless pursuit for the boat as well, while those still in the water quickly snapped together like a set of Tinker Toys—forming a large paddle boat made of bones. Upon its completion, the remaining skeletons climbed up the sides and onto the upper and lower decks—packing the boat full. The rowdy skeletons, who were also waving swords and pistols, anxiously hung over their boat’s railings, as they battled for a clear view of the outsider’s boat, just ahead.
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