by Perrin Briar
“Doesn’t look so impressive on the outside though, does it?” Bryan said.
“Office buildings and people with jobs inside them look plenty impressive to me,” Zoe said.
“Then you’re very easily impressed,” Bryan said.
There was a rattling noise outside the door as the cartographer came up the stairs carrying a tray. Bryan opened the door and relieved the old man of the tray’s weight.
“Thank you,” Cartographer said. “I swear those stairs get taller every day.”
He wiped at his sweaty brow with his sleeve and took a seat. On the tray was a pot of tea, a loaf of bread, and hard cheese.
“Sorry it’s not much,” Cartographer said.
“It’s a feast compared to what we’re used to,” Zoe said.
She began cutting the bread into slices and adding the cheese. She handed a slice to each person.
“You did a beautiful job with the map,” Zoe said.
“Thank you,” Cartographer said. “I hope it’ll help. Have you thought much about the story you’re going to spin the captain?”
“Yeah,” Bryan said, swallowing a large mouthful of bread. “We’ll practice it this morning as we make our way to the meeting place at Hollow Cove.”
“Good,” Cartographer said, nodding. “Good.”
He looked distracted.
“Is something wrong?” Zoe said.
“Wrong?” Cartographer said. “No. Why would there be anything wrong?”
He smiled, but it didn’t last. His face folded up on itself and his eyes shimmered with tears.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
“Hey,” Zoe said, wrapping her arm around his narrow shoulders. “It’s okay. Everything’s going to be all right. You’ll see.”
Cartographer nodded and put his face in his hands.
“My son…” he said. “I haven’t spoken to him in so long. I hope you understand. I see him sometimes, at least I think I do, at Admiral’s beck and call. I never wanted that for him. But at least he’s alive, at least he’s safe.”
“I’m sorry we couldn’t find this treasure everyone is looking for,” Bryan said. “If we could, we might have been able to help end this war for good.”
They woke Cassie and gave her a slice of bread and cheese. She gobbled it down hungrily. The family packed up their things, Bryan taking special care to fold the map correctly and tuck it in his pocket. The family headed downstairs to the empty shop.
“Take some extra food with you,” Cartographer said.
“No,” Bryan said. “It’s all you have.”
“I can get more,” Cartographer said.
He rubbed his hands together.
“I want you to do me a favor,” he said.
“Anything,” Bryan said.
“If you see my son, please tell him… Tell him to come home,” Cartographer said.
“We will,” Bryan said.
Cartographer unlocked the shop entrance door and pulled it open.
A dozen uniformed soldiers stood in front of the shop brandishing weapons.
The bell chimed sweetly.
31
AARON HAD never been so tired, both physically and mentally. What hadn’t been sucked from him during the day was drawn from him at night by the relentless questions asked of him by the captain. And then Aaron had to help Jim put Stoneheart to bed.
Aaron turned to head below deck. He took the first step. He hopped back as if it was red hot. He wasn’t going to head down those steps to sleep, and he wasn’t going to lay his head on the sail Cassie had blagged to use as a blanket either.
He walked along the deck to find a new place to sleep, but found most of the comfortable places taken. He headed to the ship’s boat, pulled back the tarpaulin top, and, finding it empty, pulled himself over the side and into its bottom. Sleep found him easily, but it wasn’t ten minutes before he was jolted awake as the ship’s boat cajoled left to right.
He peered over the edge, difficult to find his feet. Jim was pulling on the ropes to raise the ship’s boat off the deck, working first one rope, tying it off, and then working the other.
“What are you doing?” Aaron said.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen to you if your family doesn’t come back,” Aaron said. “Which is why you need to prepare yourself.”
“How?” Aaron said.
“You should leave, now,” Jim said. “Get out of here while you still can.”
“My family will come get me,” Aaron said.
“They won’t come get you,” Jim said. “They’ll try their best, but there is no way they’ll find the treasure. People have been trying for centuries. Why would they be able to find it now? They won’t. You need to get out of here.”
“But when my family come here…” Aaron said.
“They won’t come here!” Jim said, stomping his foot on the deck.
A crewmember snorted before rolling over, back to sleep. Aaron sighed, his shoulders slumping.
“Your family will leave you,” he said. “You can’t trust them. They won’t come looking for you, just as mine never came looking for me. They’ll realize they’ll never find the treasure and won’t come here. But you don’t have to be a Lost Boy. Only I do.”
Jim pulled on the ropes.
“Stop,” Aaron said.
Jim didn’t.
“I said, stop!” Aaron said.
Jim did, keeping hold of the rope between his small, but thick and strong hands.
“My family will come for me,” Aaron said. “You just wait and see.”
“If you don’t go now, you won’t be able to get away,” Jim said.
Aaron gave it some serious thought.
“I’ll go,” he said. “But only if you come with me. We’ll get to the land and together we’ll find my family so they don’t need to come see the captain.”
“Leave?” Jim said.
“Join me and my family,” Aaron said. “They will take good care of you, I promise. And when we get back to the surface, you’ll fit in. You can be in all my classes with me.”
“The surface?” Jim said. “No. I can’t go up to the surface. My place is down here.”
“Then we’ll both stay,” Aaron said. “My family will come. And they will find the treasure. You wait and see.”
32
“NO MATTER how hard we prepare there’s just no preparing for fate’s plans, is there?” Admiral said.
He turned to face Bryan, Zoe and Cassie, who stood with their arms above their heads, trussed up with ropes wrapped around a metal pipe. The family was in the belly of the The Revenge, the British navy’s biggest and most powerful ship, the pride of the king’s forces. The room was dark and dingy, the walls wet with some kind of algae.
“But then, I hardly need to educate you on that, do I?” Admiral said.
“Please,” Bryan said. “Let them go. They haven’t done anything wrong.”
“You were caught together, and so you shall be tried together,” Admiral said.
“Trial?” Bryan said. “We don’t have time for a trial.”
“No time?” Admiral said. “Are the pirates planning an attack? Is that why you’re here?”
“We told you already,” Bryan said. “We were dumped here by a Passage, and now we’re just trying to find our way out again.”
He’d neglected to tell Admiral about meeting Stoneheart, or his desire for the map. Any mention of pirates only made Admiral angry.
“You have little time for anything else,” Admiral said. “This is the first time I’ve heard someone wishing they had less time before going to trial.”
He picked up the folded map on a small side table.
“You wanted a map of our kingdom,” Admiral said. “So you kidnapped a cartographer and made him make one.”
“But it isn’t a map of your kingdom,” Bryan said. “It’s a fake. It doesn’t bear any resemblance to the real map.”
“And how would you know that?” Admiral
said. “Perhaps the cartographer revealed he knew more about our maps than he initially led us to believe?”
“He has done nothing wrong,” Bryan said. “Save trying to help strangers.”
“Why should I believe you?” Admiral said. “You broke the law in confronting a cartographer. You had a map made. For what purpose?”
“I’ve told you,” Bryan said.
He was exhausted. He and the others had been grilled for hours, and time was growing short. If they didn’t escape soon they might never get to Hollow Cove to meet Stoneheart, hand over the map, and rescue Aaron.
Just then, like someone above had heard his plea, there was a knock on the door.
“Come,” Admiral said.
The door opened, revealing a uniformed sailor. He saluted and handed a note to Admiral. There was something familiar about the sailor, though Bryan couldn’t quite put his finger on it. Something about the shape of his chin…
Admiral took the note and unfolded it. He read it, nodded to the sailor, and turned back to the family.
“I’m afraid you’re going to have to excuse me,” he said. “I have urgent business to take care of.”
“Please, let us go,” Bryan said. “We’ve done nothing wrong.”
“You got caught,” Admiral said. “Which means you must have been doing something wrong.”
He stepped out of the room and into the corridor. The door shut behind him. The family was alone.
“This is great,” Zoe said. “Just peachy.”
The pipe rumbled above their heads. Bryan could feel something pass through it at high speed. If he hadn’t known better, he would have guessed they were water pipes, but what need did a ship such as this have for the use of water pipes? There was little Bryan knew about ships, so he supposed there was always the chance they were used for some purpose he had no concept of.
Something dribbled from the imperfect joins in the pipe and landed on Bryan’s cheek.
“Eugh!” Bryan said.
“What?” Zoe said. “What is it?”
Whatever the liquid was, it did not slide down Bryan’s face as water would have. Instead it seemed to stick to his skin and move at a snail’s pace. He turned his head to one side to wipe his face on the shoulder of his shirt, leaving a black streak. He tried to peer down at it, but it was at an awkward angle.
“It’s oil,” Zoe said.
“Oil?” Bryan said. “What does a boat like this need oil for?”
“Maybe it’s used for heating or something,” Zoe said.
Bryan shook his head.
“These pipes look relatively new to me,” he said. “Like they were recently added.”
“So maybe they made recent refurbishments,” Zoe said.
Bryan nodded, though he didn’t look very convinced by that argument.
“Have you come up with it yet?” Cassie said.
“Come up with what?” Bryan said.
“Your harebrained scheme to get us out of here,” Cassie said.
“Well, when you say it like that…” Bryan said.
“Go on,” Cassie said. “I’m only teasing.”
“This pipe isn’t all that big,” Bryan said. “If we all pulled on it at once, force our weight down, we might stand a chance of pulling the pipe clear and getting out of here.”
“Huh,” Cassie said.
“What?” Bryan said.
“Not so harebrained after all,” Cassie said.
“Thank you,” Bryan said.
“Can any of you see a weak join in the pipe anywhere?” Zoe said.
“Right here,” Bryan said. “Where it dripped on me.”
“Cassie,” Zoe said. “Slide up behind me. We’ll get as close to Bryan as we can.”
Zoe and Cassie shuffled up to Bryan, spooning one another.
“Okay,” Bryan said. “On the count of three take your feet off the ground and hang from the pipe. Remember to hold onto your restraints, otherwise they might cut off the circulation to your wrists and hands. Ready? One, two, three. Go!”
They let go and hung there, turning slightly left to right.
“Um…” Cassie said.
The pipe took their weight and appeared to have no problem doing so.
“Hop,” Bryan said.
They hopped on the spot, forcing their weight down. The pipe began to creak, sounding like it was going to give way. Bryan froze, and turned to look at the door.
“Sh!” Bryan said. “Stop. stop!”
“What?” Zoe said. “It’s working!”
“Someone’s coming!” Bryan said. “Shuffle back over to your side!”
They did, removing themselves just in time as the door opened, revealing the sailor who’d brought Admiral’s note. Bryan flashed him a smile as he entered.
“Howdy,” Bryan said.
The sailor looked the family over, taking in their sheepish smiles.
“What’s going on here?” he said.
“Just hanging,” Bryan said.
The expression was too modern for the sailor to understand, and he took only its literal meaning.
“I can see that,” he said.
He closed the door behind him and stood in front of it.
“Your boss isn’t coming to see us again?” Bryan said.
“He wants me to keep an eye on you in case you try something,” the sailor said.
“Try what?” Zoe said. “There’s little we can do hanging here like this.”
“Perhaps,” the sailor said. “But he doesn’t trust you. Neither do I.”
Bryan kept his eyes focused firmly on the sailor, and tried to ignore what was oozing down his fingers and hands. He shifted his arms slightly so the liquid would roll over his restraints and wrists, but gave no outward indication he could feel it.
“Your father is an artist, isn’t he?” Zoe said.
The sailor’s eyes moved to the side.
“The cartographer we met, the one who drew the map for us, was your father,” Zoe said. “You have his chin. He asked us to tell you to return home.”
“My name is First Mate,” the sailor said.
The skin around his eyes and mouth tightened.
“He’s a good man,” Zoe said. “Kind and just. He wanted to help us because there was nothing he could do to help rescue you.”
“Shut up,” First Mate said. “He’s an old fool who sent me here. It was no choice of mine. And I…”
He turned his head to one side, tears stinging his eyes. Bryan took the opportunity to use the oil to slip his right wrist free of his restraints. He quickly raised his hand back up, as First Mate raised his eyes once again.
Bryan was free. But he wasn’t really free until he could take care of First Mate. He didn’t want to hurt him, but judging by Zoe’s lack of success at talking with him, a little violence was unavoidable.
He would knock the boy out somehow—a hard strike across the skull perhaps? No. Bryan couldn’t bring himself to harm an innocent, even if it prevented Bryan and his family from escaping.
He could tie him up and make him the prisoner. Someone would discover him eventually, but it was the only thing he could think of to do under the circumstances. He just needed to pick the right time to take action and prevent the cartographer’s son from making any unnecessary noise.
“I am lucky to be here,” First Mate said. “I serve Admiral, the king, and his honor.”
“Your father is a good man, a great man,” Bryan said. “He tried to help us rescue Zoe’s son, Aaron. And when we return the map to Stoneheart at Hollow Cove, we’ll have your father to thank, not his traitorous son.”
“Bryan,” Zoe said, alarmed at how much of their story Bryan was giving away. “What are you doing?”
Bryan didn’t break eye contact with First Mate.
“He wanted to be proud of you,” he said, increasing the pressure. “But you’re a disappointment. I’m glad he never got to see the kind of fool you’ve become.”
“You don’t know a thing
about what I’ve been through,” First Mate said through gritted teeth. “The kinds of things I’ve witnessed.”
“Witnessed, but never lifted a finger to prevent,” Bryan said. “You’re a disgrace to your father.”
First Mate tightened his fists, knuckles turning white. He moved forward. He was going to loosen his anger at Bryan with both barrels, who was powerless to defend himself.
Except that wasn’t true. His hands were free.
He ducked First Mate’s blow and wrapped his arm around the boy’s neck. He kicked and flailed, but Bryan kept hold of him. He waited for the boy’s flailing limbs to cease, his eyes bulging like he was going to die.
Out of breath, Bryan got to his feet and helped Zoe and Cassie with their bonds.
“You killed him?” Zoe said. “But he’s just a boy!”
“I didn’t kill him,” Bryan said. “He’s just unconscious.”
Zoe bent down and pressed her fingers to First Mate’s neck. She breathed a sigh of relief.
“How did you do this?” she said.
“A self defense course I took once,” Bryan said. “I never thought it would actually be useful.”
“God bless self development courses,” Cassie said.
“What are we going to do with him?” Zoe said.
“Tie him up,” Bryan said. “Give me a hand.”
Together they tied First Mate up on the floor. They stuffed his mouth with a dirty handkerchief from Bryan’s pocket to prevent him from shouting for help.
“Someone will come find him eventually,” Zoe said.
“Sure,” Bryan said. “But with any luck we’ll be long gone by then.”
Bryan scooped up their map and tucked it in his pocket.
Cassie swayed on her feet, reaching out to steady herself on a table.
“Woah!” she said.
Bryan and Zoe felt it too, as the boat moved beneath their feet, almost sending them sprawling on their asses.
“What was that?” Cassie said.
“It’s the boat,” Zoe said. “We’re moving. We’re casting off.”
33
THE CABIN DOOR creaked open, a long high-pitched whine like it really didn’t want to commit the action. Bryan listened first, and then edged out into the corridor.