Chronicles of the Dragon Pirate

by David Talon

  Jeremiah grabbed my shoulder. “Pepper’s on her own now.” I nodded and turned my attention on the approaching galleon. She was a tall ship with high sides, especially at the stern, and a high foredeck as well. But bow itself where the bowsprit had once been was closer to the water, so low the Davy’s bow could reach it without her crew needing to climb up the sides. The Narwhale’s bow curved, following the rounded sides of the ship, with no defense against boarding other than a deck rail and space enough for no more than a dozen men.

  Like the dozen Shadowmen waiting for us with rusty cutlasses in their pale hands. They stood packed together along their deck rail, silent in the face of the crew’s catcalls as we came on them fast, Master Walters yelling to drop both sails and the storm anchor to slow us down. More red-eyed Shadowmen in dark leather clothes and wide brimmed hats waited on the foredeck overlooking the bow, along with Captain Thorne, who smiled as he watched us approach.

  Mr. Smith looked at me and nodded. “Jade,” I said quietly, “attack the moment you hear the signal.”

  I could only hope she’d heard me as the galleon became our entire view, the Davy shuddering again as the Narwhale’s forward most cannon fired at a sharp angle, and my heart began hammering in my chest as Master Le’Vass turned and yelled, “All hands back!”

  All of us surrounding the cannons and at the deck rails rushed backwards to get out of the way as Claude yelled, “Gun crews ready.” Five men with two-handed hammers raised them over each cannon’s Artifact striker pin, a flat headed spike which set off the frozen quickfire in the barrel, as the Shadowmen stared at the cannons in surprise. Captain Thorne lost his smile as Claude yelled, “Fire!”

  Time slowed as three black, spiked globes were thrown towards us over the heads of the Shadowmen, and without thinking I began running towards them. The men with hammers slowly swung down at the strikers as the grenadoes drifted over the galleon’s deck rail, a moment before the two ships would collide. Cold touched me inside with an icy finger as I pushed past time and reached the men wielding the hammers just as they slammed the strikers, the cannons going off with a long, muffled growl as blue fire spat from their mouths. The spiked globes tumbled as they drifted closer. Five Artifact cannons in their wooden gun carriages were slowly thrust back as shards of metal, moving fast as a man could run, spat from the cannon’s mouths towards the enemy ship. I leaped on one of the cannons then onto the deck rail as the first grenadoe reached it.

  With my left hand I snatched it out of the air and threw it back, the grenadoe sailing through the air at my speed as I ran down the deck rail towards the second, my balance steadier than it should’ve been as I reached it and threw it back as well. The metal shards from the cannons were tearing through the Shadowmen, who began jerking like puppets as their black blood sprayed the deck. I leaped after the third. It was almost out of reach so I batted it down towards the water beneath me, realizing what I’d done as time became normal once more.

  I flew across the gap between the two ships. But Fortune smiled: I slammed into one of the Shadowmen still on his feet, knocking him over and landing on the deck as the two grenadoes I’d thrown back exploded, the third landing in the sea with a watery plunk a few moments later. Two Shadowmen who’d escaped the cannon shards were blown backwards against the wall by the explosion as the two ships collided with a wooden crash. Lightning streaked across the sky as thunder boomed, the deck turning slimy beneath my fingers as cold rain began to fall.

  I shook the cobwebs from my head as I looked around. Corpses were piled on the deck, forming a small heap in front of a door leading into the galleon, but to my horror three Shadowmen with missing arms and mangled legs staggered to their feet as best they could, glaring at me as they raised their cutlasses or picked them up off the deck. I groped for my own and felt a stab of panic. The sash I’d tucked my cutlass into had unwrapped itself and taken my cutlass with it, so I pulled the long Artifact knife I’d strapped to my leg and held it up as the Shadowmen lumbered towards me.

  Above us, Captain Thorne called out, “I want the boy taken alive,” and looking up at the foredeck, I felt a chill. Captain Thorne was smiling down at me like the cat that sees a fat, juicy mouse with no place to run. The three Shadowmen lurched towards me with outstretched hands as the sky overhead grew dark

  Suddenly I heard a thump behind me and the scratching sound of claws on the deck. Then the wolf-golem leaped past me and onto the closest Shadowman as more thumps came, the golem knocking the Shadowman down and ripping into his ribcage until it found his heart. Then the black wolf-golem tore it out with its jaws, black blood spraying them both as Master Le’Vass ran past me to engage the next, easily blocking the Shadowman’s wild swing with his cutlass while stabbing the Shadowman through the heart with his Artifact poniard. Redbeard swung his great axe at the head of the third and split his skull like it was an egg, black blood and gore spilling out as the corpse fell to the deck.

  Jeremiah came up beside me with a pistol in one hand and an Artifact cutlass in the other as the door leading into the galleon opened and a Shadowman poked his head out. Jeremiah’s pistol roared blue fire and the back of the Shadowman’s head exploded, the Shadowman lurching backwards as the door slammed shut. The wolf-golem shook bits of bloody flesh from its jaws as Jeremiah handed the pistol to the little manikin strapped to his waist, Star reloading the weapon as Jeremiah glared at me. “The next time you decide to lead the attack, at least warn me first. How did you move so fast?”

  Holding up my hand with the white ring, I said, “it was Hob’s doing, I just...”

  From the stern of the galleon I heard the sound of splintering wood as Shadowmen began yelling they were under attack. From high in the rigging I heard Sally whoop, “Jade-golem go after big gun, pale men can’t stop her!”

  There was more wood splintering and the sounds of combat as the galleon’s bow filled with men. There were ladders built into the ship both to port and starboard, narrow, with scroll-work on the sides, leading up to the foredeck, and Captain Thorne directed his men to repel boarders as Redbeard and Master Le’Vass each took a side. The Shadowmen picked up pikes which they pointed downward like a nest of rusty thorns on both sides, the sky spitting cold raindrops as I turned and yelled, “Tiger, Little Raven, get Big Sister’s mermaid in the air.”

  “Tiger went hunting grenadoes,” Star said in a matter-of-fact voice from the manikin. “But it’s alright because Little Raven thinks she can still control it alone.”

  Jeremiah and I gave each other a horrified look as the enormous air-golem mermaid Jade had created days earlier rose out of the main hold and took off towards the foredeck of the galleon, its tail pumping furiously as it picked up speed. But I knew at once Little Raven was in trouble as the air-golem began sliding from side to side as it rose in a clear line towards Captain Thorne, who called out, “Gentlemen, raise pikes and prepare to defend, if you would.”

  The Shadowmen raised their pikes towards the mermaid as Little Raven lost control. The air-golem began spinning wildly, Captain Thorne opening his mouth to give another command as the mermaid slammed into them full force. Shadowmen flew like nine-pins and Redbeard whooped, “The bastards still be sluggish from the sun. Quick, lads: up the ladders and at them!”

  “They won’t be sluggish much longer,” Mr. Smith said as the sky darkened further. Master Le’Vass climbed up one side and Redbeard the other, with Curly right behind the Scotsman as more of the crew followed, Mr. Smith adding, “But at least the rain seems to soften their skin somewhat. Mulatto,” Mr. Smith pointing towards the door in front of us, “There’s your way in.”

  The Mulatto had asked to lead the attack into the upper cabins while the rest of us attacked the upper decks, in part to go after the gun crews but also to keep us from being cut off if we were forced to retreat. He led his men forward while others tied ropes from our deck rail to theirs, making the two ships secure. Glancing down I saw my metallic looking Artif
act cutlass and picked it up as a gap formed in the men following Master Le’Vass and Redbeard, to let the Mulatto and his men pass. “Come on, Jeremiah,” I called out as I ran to the ornamental ladder and started up.

  “Wait, you weren’t even supposed to be part of the attack!” Glancing behind me, I saw Jeremiah look to heaven as if asking for patience before following me up the ladder.

  The rungs were becoming slick from the rain, and I gripped each one with my toes going up until I reached the foredeck and looked out over the ship. All of the Shadowmen including the captain had been knocked onto the main deck or into the churning sea, and the enormous air-golem was going after anything that moved on the main deck. Little Raven seemed to have regained some control but the mermaid still slammed back and forth across the deck like she was nine days drunk, knocking over Shadowmen as they tried to stand up when she wasn’t bouncing off of the masts or smashing the deck rails.

  I looked past the main deck to the galleon’s stern...and my heart seemed to grow wings and soar. The black golem was like one of the dragons on the mural in the House of Memory come to life, moving with a fluid grace totally unlike the jerky motions of the wolf-golem as it bounded in front of me. The dragon-golem was as long as a jolly boat as it reared up on it hind legs and ripped out the last wooden support of the great white cannon, as Shadowmen came racing up with rusty cutlasses. Jade had the golem pick up the long cannon by its end and smashed one of the Shadowmen into a pulp.

  The raised foredeck had a flimsy deck rail carved with plain crosses on the supports, smashed in places now, with a gap for the wide stairs leading onto the foredeck, and as Master Le’Vass assembled men in front of it I felt a wild stab of hope. Captain Thorne was gathering his own Shadowmen near the mainmast, but only a dozen or so, less another Jade crushed with the bloodied end of the white cannon. Little Raven was beginning to knock Shadowmen over the rail and into the sea with the mermaid’s large tail, the air-golem’s body still sliding from side though, and I knew if we could get more men aboard we could take them.

  But Fate hid her face like the sun overhead. Lightning flared and a moment later thunder cracked like a whip as I heard Captain Thorne yell, “Port gun crew forward and Starboard crew topside. Reserve topside as well.”

  There were crashes below us and the sound of men moving under our feet as, from across the length of the ship, I saw the ghost-fire in the dragon-golem’s eyes begin to flicker. Jade knew it as well, for she held off smashing the Shadowmen rushing towards her and instead flung the white cannon over the stern into the raging sea. As Jade looked across towards me I saw the ghost-fire dying in the golem’s eyes, and a moment later the dragon-golem toppled over and followed the cannon into the deep.

  The mermaid air-golem was growing ragged, and Captain Thorne ordered those Shadowmen with pikes to attack the mermaid as explosions began somewhere below deck. Suddenly Master Le’Vass pointed off to our left as he called out, “Look over to starboard.” Several lightning flashes in a row revealed a ship bearing down on us, far off but getting closer.

  Over the roll of thunder, Redbeard yelled, “Be that another galleon?”

  “We cannot stay and find out. Back to ze ship, now!”

  Men climbing up the ladders quickly went back down as Redbeard and Master Le’Vass took up positions in front of the stairs leading up from the main deck. Wiping water from my eyes I tried to take a position with them, but Redbeard grabbed me by the shoulder, turned me around and pointed with his axe towards the ladder. “Get your arse off this ship and back on the Davy. And be finding Pepper while you’re at it.”

  I felt a stab of panic as I scanned the dark skies. Neither the eagle nor the harpy was visible anywhere as Jeremiah grabbed my arm. “There’s nothing we can do for her here, so let’s go.”

  Jeremiah pushed me in front of him so I’d start down first as Mr. Smith yelled, “Everyone back to the Davy, now! The Mulatto’s injured and his men are breaking.” Sliding down the ladder I leaped off onto the deck of the galleon’s bow as men came staggering out of the doorway, two of them holding the Mulatto between them. He was pale, his white shirt soaked with blood, both black and red, and his head down as he struggled to breathe. His men got him across the gap to the Davy as the metallic ring of steel blades meeting Artifact came from inside the doorway. Then a man screamed and lurched through the doorway clutching the bleeding stump of an arm, a Shadowman holding a rusty cutlass dripping blood right behind him.

  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 thr
ust 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.”