by Jon Mayhew
‘Looks like trouble to me, Renzo,’ Martinez said, spitting into the water. ‘Lafitte needs to know right away.’
Martinez nodded to Dakkar and Renzo offered a hand to pull Dakkar up. Georgia climbed up after him.
Dakkar weighed up the distance between Martinez and himself. If he made a sudden move, the pistol would blow a hole in him.
‘Keep your hands up, lads,’ Renzo said, producing his own pistol.
The third pirate, a thin, scrawny boy not much older than Dakkar, remained silent and followed them as they trudged towards the cabin. They stood on the veranda and the whole building rocked slightly. It seemed to Dakkar that the swamp was busy sucking the building back into itself. The planks were rotten and the curtains billowed ragged through broken windows. Martinez shoved Dakkar in the back and he stumbled through the flimsy wooden door, falling to his knees.
The warm and smoky atmosphere made Dakkar’s eyes water as he was hoofed into the cabin. The interior was just as decrepit as the outside, with rotting plank walls, a sagging floor and vegetation encroaching through some of the gaps in the walls. Lafitte’s men sat at the worn wooden tables and looked up in surprise at Dakkar and Georgia. Some even leapt to their feet, hands gripping the hilts of daggers.
Dakkar clambered to his feet, rubbing his skinned knees. He glanced over to meet Georgia’s glowering eyes.
‘And who or what do we have here?’ said a heavily accented voice behind them.
Dakkar turned. A short dark-haired man sprawled in a high-backed wooden chair, leaning his pointed chin on his bejewelled knuckles. His rich red tunic and fine-leather knee-high boots marked him out as the leader of these ragged pirates.
‘Children, Jean,’ Renzo said, waving a hand at Dakkar and Georgia as if he were a magician and had just conjured them up.
‘Imbecile!’ Lafitte snapped, straightening in his seat. ‘I can see they are children! Where did they come from?’
‘We found ’em in the water,’ Martinez said, his eyes widening. ‘They were sneaking up on us.’
‘Sneaking up on us?’ Lafitte echoed. He jumped out of the chair and stared up at the hulking pirate. ‘All two of them?’
‘Uh, yeah,’ Martinez muttered, breaking eye contact with Lafitte.
‘It’s a good job I put you on watch, Martinez,’ Lafitte sneered. ‘Anyone else could have been overpowered by such overwhelming odds!’
Laughter rippled among the other men as Martinez stood there looking in bewilderment from Lafitte to Dakkar.
The pirate captain turned to face Dakkar. ‘What are you doing here?’
‘I am an American citizen and demand that you treat me accordingly!’ Georgia said, her cheeks reddening.
‘The last “American citizen” I met was the captain of a navy frigate.’ Lafitte grinned as he paced around her. ‘He went overboard to talk to the sharks. Perhaps you are spies, sent by the American government.’
‘Do we look like spies?’ Georgia snorted. Her neck was red now as she glared at Lafitte.
‘In my experience, mademoiselle,’ Lafitte said, smirking, ‘spies seldom look like spies!’
‘They’re just little ones,’ Martinez murmured, recovering from Lafitte’s joke at his expense.
‘Nevertheless, they could have been sent by the navy,’ Lafitte said, squinting at Dakkar. ‘Nothing surprises me with these Americans.’
‘S’il vous plaît, monsieur,’ Dakkar said, stepping forward. Georgia stared at him wide-eyed and Lafitte’s eyebrows arched in surprise as he continued in fluent French. ‘We mean you no harm. We have come here seeking my guardian and this girl’s uncle.’
‘You speak like a Frenchman,’ Lafitte replied in the same language. ‘Where are you from?’
‘My name is Dakkar. I have travelled from England, sir,’ he replied.
‘You speak French well for an Englishman and yet you look like no Englishman I’ve ever met,’ Lafitte said. ‘You could be from India or the Far East. Who is it that you seek?’
‘I’m looking for my mentor and guardian, Count Oginski,’ Dakkar said, trying to meet Lafitte’s gaze.
Lafitte pursed his lips. ‘Oginski,’ he said simply, and looked at Georgia. ‘And you, my dear, what is your uncle’s name?’ he said in English.
‘It’s familiar to you,’ Georgia said, narrowing her eyes. ‘Robert Fulton. You worked for him last year.’
‘Maybe I did, maybe not,’ Lafitte said, shrugging. ‘But why have you come to me if you’re looking for them?’
‘Because we think that someone you know might be interested in them,’ Dakkar said. ‘Does the name Cryptos mean anything to you?’
The men around Lafitte gave a collective hiss and shuffled back an inch or two.
‘That name upsets my men, mon ami,’ Lafitte said. ‘Choose your words carefully or I cannot vouch for your safety. You think this Cryptos has taken your precious guardians?’
‘We do,’ Dakkar said hastily. ‘But at the very least he may be able to help us find them.’
A strange look of horror and amusement twisted Lafitte’s dark features. ‘Then we should make you as comfortable as possible,’ he replied. ‘And see if we can help you find him. We’re all very helpful around here, eh, mes amis?’
Lafitte gave a grin and looked around at the pirates. They responded with a horrible chuckle.
‘Martinez,’ he continued, ‘could you show these two to the guest rooms?’
‘Yes, Lafitte,’ Martinez said, leering at them. ‘Come this way.’
Frowning, Dakkar followed Martinez, with Georgia close behind. They crossed the dilapidated room and Martinez threw open another door. It was dark and dank inside but empty.
‘What’s this?’ Dakkar began, but a sharp kick sent him sprawling into the room and Georgia landed on top of him, winding him.
The door slammed shut, leaving them in pitch blackness. Dakkar groaned and rolled over.
‘Georgia?’ he said, squinting into the dark.
‘I’m here,’ she whispered. ‘But I don’t think much of Lafitte’s guest room.’
‘It’s nothing personal, mes amis,’ Lafitte called through the door in French. ‘You wanted to meet Cryptos? Well, I suspect he might want to meet you too. I’ve heard rumours he’s been hunting for someone and I think I can turn a dollar or two out of it.’
Dakkar launched himself at the door but it proved surprisingly robust considering the rotten wood from which it was made.
‘Save your energy.’ Lafitte laughed. ‘You’ll need it when I sell you to Count Cryptos!’
Chapter Eighteen
The Wrath Child
Dakkar hurled himself at the door once again. Pain lanced up his shoulder but the door didn’t budge. He staggered back on to the floor and groaned.
His eyes became accustomed to the gloom and Dakkar saw Georgia’s pale, worried face.
‘We’re trapped,’ she whispered, ‘but maybe it’s not such a bad thing. I mean, Lafitte is taking us to Cryptos, after all. That’s what we want, right?’
‘I’d rather meet him on my own terms, not shackled and delivered like some prize,’ Dakkar muttered, searching the floor and walls. Finally, he gave a hiss of triumph and pulled at a vine that poked its way through a tiny crack in the corner of the room.
Outside, the talk had become louder, more raucous. Someone played an accordion and sang for a while. Dakkar could hear the clink of tankards as the men drank.
‘Let me help,’ Georgia said, hurrying over to Dakkar and pulling at the vine.
Gradually the crack widened. Rotten wood crumbled away in shards but the hole was only big enough for them to get their arms through. Dakkar grabbed the edge of the floorboards with both hands and listened to the ebb and flow of the singing and talking.
‘I know this song,’ he whispered. ‘There’s a chorus coming – it might be loud enough to cover the sound of this plank coming up.’
The singing reached a crescendo. Some men shouted and banged their tankards o
n the tables. Dakkar heaved at the plank. With a crack, the nails popped from the joists beneath. He could see the ground below. He paused, waiting to hear the door opening or the alarm being raised, but the tuneless wailing continued. Another chorus came up and Dakkar pulled again. Another board popped.
‘Now, quickly, through the hole and underneath the cabin,’ Dakkar said.
Georgia slipped into the darkness and he followed her silently.
The ground under the cabin felt damp and thorny. Dakkar bit his lip as he dragged himself through the undergrowth. Footsteps thumped above his head and the singing droned on. It dawned on him that the cabin sat on an island in the middle of the creek. Bridges from one patch of dry land to the next had brought them there once they had been caught.
Dakkar slid into the water at the side of the cabin, pressing his finger to his lips as he noticed Martinez and Renzo on the veranda, grumbling to each other.
‘This is the second watch I’ve had to do in three days,’ Martinez said, kicking the side of the cabin. ‘And every time a night watch.’
‘Me too,’ Renzo sighed. ‘And I love a good sing-song.’
‘Maybe they don’t like your singing.’ Martinez laughed.
Keeping to the edge of the creek and crouching in the water, Dakkar and Georgia slipped past the two pirates. Soon they had made their way back to the Liberty.
‘What now?’ Georgia muttered. ‘We’re no nearer getting to Cryptos.’
‘No, but Lafitte knows where he is,’ Dakkar said, pulling the hatch down and climbing into the captain’s seat. ‘We just need to persuade him to tell us. And stealth is not the best tactic for that.’
‘What are you going to do?’ Georgia gasped.
‘Load up those Sea Arrows.’ Dakkar grinned. ‘We’re going to put the Liberty through her paces. I’m really angry now.’
Dakkar turned the Liberty on and slammed her to Full Ahead. The motors whined and she began to accelerate. Bushes and branches whipped past. Something banged heavily against the hull and flew into the undergrowth. A flock of birds exploded from the trees, disturbed from their night rest.
‘We’ll crash!’ Georgia screamed from below. ‘You can’t destroy the Liberty.’
‘The Liberty rammed a British Navy frigate and sent her to the seabed,’ Dakkar snarled. ‘With enough speed, she’ll easily ride the bank of the creek and smash Lafitte’s shack.’
‘You’re mad,’ Georgia said faintly.
‘Absolutely! I’m tired of asking questions and getting no answers,’ Dakkar yelled. ‘I’m tired of sneaking around and I’m tired of pirates. Now fire, Georgia!’
Dakkar heard Georgia thump the buttons at the side of the Liberty, first one then another. A comic boing cut over the whirr of the engines. Dakkar saw the arrows glisten in the moonlight. He saw Martinez, wide-eyed and open-mouthed. He saw Renzo dive headlong into the water. And then the swamp lit up fiery yellow as the two arrows exploded into either side of the cabin.
The cabin rocked in the blast, wobbling from side to side like a jelly. Dakkar gripped the wheel until his knuckles cracked, and he screamed at the top of his voice. The shack grew nearer and nearer, filling the portholes. Pirates leapt from windows and doors as the Liberty ploughed through the creek towards it.
A loud whump reverberated through the Liberty as she skipped across the water like a flat pebble sent spinning by some giant child. Dakkar flew up out of his seat, banging his head against the roof as the speed of the Liberty sent her up on to dry land.
The doorway of the cabin cracked and splintered as the Liberty crashed through the flimsy wooden structure. The world was filled with the rending of wood and the creaking of timber. Dakkar glimpsed Lafitte standing slack-jawed amid the carnage, and then the back wall came screaming at him. Another bang took the Liberty through the rear of the shack. She landed with a splash back in the water on the other side of the tiny island. Pirates floundered in the shallows, staggering around in disbelief.
Dakkar grabbed the friction machine wheel, wound it ten times and stabbed the red button. The swamp was lit up blue this time and Dakkar watched as Lafitte’s men slumped into the water like puppets with their strings cut.
Not wasting a second to explain, Dakkar leapt up and out of the hatch. He slid down the side of the Liberty, splashing through the water and across the island to where Lafitte stood, dazed. He still held the handle of his shattered tankard in his hand. The beer stained his once-fine tunic.
Recognition washed across Lafitte’s slack features as Dakkar charged towards the pirate. Lafitte dropped the tankard handle and fumbled at his belt for his pistol. With a yell, Dakkar swung his fist. The pirate’s bristly chin scratched at Dakkar’s knuckles and the shock of the blow numbed his arm. A sharp right followed the left blow and then Dakkar brought his leg in a high swinging arc into the side of Lafitte’s head. With a muffled groan, Lafitte tumbled to the ground.
Dakkar grabbed the pirate’s collar, dragged him back through the ruins of his shack, into the water and up to the side of the Liberty.
Georgia stood on the deck, her hands to her face.
‘Oh my,’ she said as she surveyed the smouldering wreckage of the cabin surrounded by the twitching and moaning remnants of Lafitte’s crew. ‘Remind me never to cross you.’
‘Hurry!’ Dakkar hissed. ‘Help me get him inside the Liberty before they come to their senses.’
Georgia grabbed Lafitte and helped Dakkar manhandle him up to the top of the craft. He wasn’t a tall man – maybe an inch taller than Dakkar – but he was stocky, and once they had him at the edge of the hatch they let him go. The pirate fell with a heavy thump straight through both hatches and into the lower cabin.
‘Oops!’ Georgia giggled, leaping in after him, her cheeks flushed with excitement. ‘I’ll tie him up. You get us outta here!’
Dakkar grinned back, slammed the hatch shut behind him and bounced into the captain’s seat. He steered the Liberty round the wrecked island cabin, knocking over a few dazed pirates on the way. A musket cracked, its bullet whizzing close by a porthole. Dakkar pushed the Liberty to Full Ahead, drenching the stumbling pirates in his wake.
‘Where d’you learn to fight like that?’ Georgia called up from below.
‘My father taught me,’ Dakkar replied. ‘A prince should always be able to defend himself.’
‘Well, I guess you did that all right!’
Dakkar gave a tired grin, rubbed his aching shoulder and set a course for the open sea – and Count Cryptos.
Chapter Nineteen
The Mysterious Island
‘What makes you think I will help you find Cryptos?’ Lafitte snarled, straining against the ropes that pinned his arms to his sides.
He looked a mess. Swamp water and spilt beer stained his clothes and he had a bruise on his forehead where Dakkar had knocked him out.
‘Georgia!’ Dakkar called up from the lower cabin.
‘Right,’ Georgia replied, and turned the submerging wheel.
‘Mon Dieu!’ Lafitte bellowed as the Liberty began to sink beneath the waves. ‘We are sinking! What kind of devilry is this?’
‘You’ve seen what the Liberty can do, monsieur,’ Dakkar said. ‘Now will you help us or will you go for a swim out there?’
‘Very well,’ Lafitte growled, narrowing his eyes at Dakkar. ‘But you must untie me.’
‘No,’ Dakkar said, sprawling a sea chart over the table. ‘We’ll let you go when we get to Cryptos. Now show me where he is.’
‘This is so undignified,’ Lafitte grumbled, shuffling over to the map. ‘If we ever meet again, I will make you pay for this humiliation. But that is unlikely.’
‘What do you mean?’ Dakkar said.
‘Few people meet Cryptos and live to tell the tale,’ Lafitte sneered. ‘I hope he boils you in oil.’
‘Who is this Count Cryptos?’ Dakkar said.
‘He is a devil,’ Lafitte said, the colour draining from his face. ‘A ruthless killer. I don�
�t know what he wants with your precious friends but I doubt that they still live.’
‘We don’t know for sure that he has them,’ Georgia muttered from the captain’s cabin above.
‘So where is he?’ Dakkar asked, changing the subject.
‘Here.’ Lafitte pointed to the map as best he could. ‘A small volcanic island, a day’s sail from here.’
‘We’ll be there in no time,’ Dakkar said.
‘This is a truly wonderful machine,’ Lafitte said, staring around. ‘Imagine what a pirate could do with such a craft.’
‘I shudder to think,’ Dakkar said, glaring at the Frenchman.
‘Did your friends make this boat?’ Lafitte asked.
Dakkar shrugged.
‘If they did, this will be the reason Cryptos has them,’ he declared. ‘And this may be why he is looking for you also.’
Dakkar pursed his lips and took the chart up to Georgia, who set the Liberty in the direction of the island.
They travelled in silence for a while. Every now and then, Lafitte would curse and test his bonds.
‘Look, why don’t you untie me?’ Lafitte said finally. ‘My arms are numb and I can’t do anything anyway – we’re under the sea.’
‘I don’t think so,’ Dakkar said, curling his lip.
‘Please,’ Lafitte said, his voice rising. ‘I swear I won’t try anything. What could I do? I do not know how to sail this machine.’
Georgia looked at Dakkar for a moment and then nodded.
‘Very well,’ said Dakkar. ‘But any tricks and we’ll sink to the bottom of the ocean and you’ll be trapped there.’
Dakkar untied the ropes and Lafitte swung his arms and stamped his feet.
‘You would do well to find a way to get on to his island by stealth and cunning,’ Lafitte said. ‘I’m sure Cryptos has many guards and defences.’
For some reason, Dakkar thought of Oginski’s castle and the caves in the cliff. ‘We could explore the perimeter of the island underwater first,’ he said, peering at the map. ‘Maybe there are tunnels or caverns we could use.’
Georgia submerged the Liberty further, much to Lafitte’s great consternation. He pressed his face against the glass porthole and peered up at the surface. But soon he was crying out in wonder as dolphins or a sea turtle swam by. Once he swore he saw a wreck deep below them and the glitter of gold. As the journey wore on, he fell silent, watching the undersea world pass by. In the end he dozed off, and Dakkar felt it safe to sleep too.