by Scott Nash
“Crossbill!” called Jay.
“Yes, sir?”
“I need those sails!”
“Yes, sir!”
No more than one hundred feet away, the crows began their battle cries. “CAW! CAW! CAW!” Switches and swords were clearly visible in the talons of the angry, bloodthirsty horde.
Jay waited with his cutlass raised. The crows came closer and still he waited . . . waited . . . waited until finally he could see Avery’s eyes lock with his. At that precise moment, he dropped his arm and cried, “NOW, Snipe! CUT!”
Snipe cut Gabriel’s line, and the gander’s sudden release caused the Grosbeak to plummet straight down through the flock of attacking crows, scattering them in all directions. It was a brilliant delaying tactic. While the crows were in disarray, Jay screamed orders to the kedging sparrows: “Keep flying! Pull, mates, pull!” The sparrows responded by doubling their efforts. The ship stopped falling and then more gradually began to gain altitude.
The crows, recovered and regrouped, rushed back to attack the defenseless, kedging sparrows.
Gabriel looked to the captain, bewildered and confused.
“HARASS THEM CROWS, GABRIEL!” Jay called to the goose. “KEEP TH’ SCOUNDRELS AWAY FROM OUR KEDGERS!”
Gabriel dove into action, flying straight into the mob of crows and knocking more than a few senseless with the sweep of his powerful wings.
“THAT’S IT, GABRIEL!” shouted Jay. “CLEAN THE SKIES OF ’EM!”
Jay looked expectantly up at the mast. The crew on the yardarms seemed to be struggling with fouled lines and the ties that held the sails. Jay hobbled toward Crossbill. “I need those sails, Bill! Order them to cut the ties!”
Crossbill shouted to the riggers, “CUT TIES, MATES! GET THEM SAILS OUT AND CINCHED RIGHT OFF!”
The riggers sliced the tie-offs with their knives, and at last the sails unfurled completely. They billowed and filled with wind, setting the Grosbeak sailing once again. The crew cheered as the ship finally rose, heading south.
A few of the kedgers fell in exhaustion and had to be pulled up by their tethers. Still others had been struck down by crows. In the sky just over the masts of the pirate ship, Junco, Gabriel, and the sparrows were still fighting valiantly against Avery’s mob. The smaller birds, who had armed themselves with switches and swords, proved effective at throwing the crows off-balance. And Gabriel was magnificent — he showed a force that neither the crows nor anyone else had expected.
“Gor!” said Chuck. “Look at that! That goose is not of this world, I tell you!”
Unencumbered by weapons or kedging lines, Gabriel seemed to gain strength with every beat of his wings and every beat of his heart. The wind against his feathers filled him with power and urgency. “NOW! NOW! NOW!” he honked, knocking four crows out of the sky with a stroke of his wing. “NOW! NOW! NOW!” he honked, sending another cluster of crows reeling.
Avery came spinning up beneath Gabriel in a fury and struck a mighty blow to the goose’s side with his switch. There it stuck. Gabriel ceased flapping his wings and hung in the air for a long, agonizing moment. Then, with a tremendous sweep of his wing, Gabriel sent Avery careening to the earth. With effort, Gabriel pulled the switch from his side and lost not a drop of blood. Triumphantly, he threw the switch down and honked, “NOW!”
October 13, 1617, was, by any measure, a very good day for the pirates of the Grosbeak. In the end, it was luck and circumstance that won the day. Jay had a feeling that he would cross paths with the crows again, but for now the future seemed full of possibility and excitement, even hope.
“To think it all started with me strange egg.” Jay chuckled. “Me egg that would hatch that hissing gosling. The great, stumbling godling; now our swift warrior Gabriel, batting crows from the sky!”
On that cold, sunny afternoon, all animals living in Paxwood Forest witnessed a remarkable sight: a vision so strange and magnificent that it would become the source of myth. Crossing the cloudless blue sky, they saw what appeared to be the wreck of a ship, its wooden ribs exposed and its sides crumbling, yet moving under full sail and manned by a large crew of what appeared to be sparrows! The ship was flying the colors of a pirate: a black flag bearing a skull and crossbones, better known as the Jolly Robin. And flying in front of the ship, a large Branta gander was leading the way like a fantastic figurehead come to life.
Later it was said that on that day, what the animals of Paxwood saw were the ghosts of Blue Jay and his crew being escorted to the afterworld, after having been killed on the shores of Echo Lake in a gruesome battle. Their escort — an enormous goose — was actually a god tasked with delivering the dead pirates to the offices of the afterworld. It was also said that, en route, Jay managed to charm the administrators of the next world into allowing him and his crew to remain on earth under the condition that they help poor and needy migrant birds. Thenceforth, Jay came to be known as the Blue Ghost, the hero of countless tales told to generations of hatchlings.
In truth, after its crew prevailed over Teach and his mob, the Grosbeak limped along the sky toward Oak’s Eye Cay, where Jay and company would rest and procure provisions for their long migration south.
The Grosbeak’s repair would take some time. It had a hole in its keel that ran half the length of its hull. Its once-smooth weave was now akimbo with sticks poking out in all directions. The broken spars had been lashed together and the sails patched as much as possible. Because the crew had thrown nearly all of the cargo overboard, the ship was “sailing wobbly,” creaking and bending with the wind. The masts themselves swayed like saplings in even the hint of a gust.
“Steer us well below the airstream, Junco,” instructed Jay, standing on the upper deck with Crossbill, Poppa Fox, and Hillary. “It would easily rip us to bits in our present condition.”
“Aye, Captain!” Junco was sublimely happy to be at the helm of her beloved, if crippled ship. No matter, she was under sail once more.
Hillary the mole sat facing west, transfixed by the sun that had begun to set. He sat with his chin on the gunwale and the fingers of his nose wiggling as if trying to touch, to comprehend, the vast array of blurred colors that his weak eyes could barely discern.
“It’s going be a dramatic sunset, eh?” said Jay, noticing the mole’s interest.
“Aye,” said Hillary dreamily. “First one I’ve ever seen.”
“Really?”
Hillary chuckled. “What can I say? I lived underground. But now that I’ve experienced one sunset, I hope never to miss another!”
“I daresay you are going to enjoy life on board,” said Jay. “It’s hard to miss a sunset when you’re a sailor,” he said, gesturing around the ship. Then he, too, chuckled and added, “Unless you are this crew.” The lower decks, the railings, and the rigging were covered with sleeping pirates and sparrows in clusters, all oblivious of the specifics of wind, sun, and currents but content in the general pleasure of being on board. Some of the homeless sparrows on board would later settle in the south, while Henry, Covey, Cyrus, and Poppa Fox would remain with the Grosbeak, becoming a permanent part of the pirate family.
Jay strode over to Junco. “Let me have a wing at the wheel, mate. I’m eager to feel how she’s sailing.”
Junco stood aside. “She’s sailing a bit better, sir, now that the wind has steadied and the crew’s settled.”
“Aye, she’s all sail now,” agreed Jay. “Once we’ve patched her up, she’ll be fine.”
The two were silent for a while, the ship creaking a bit as Jay steered the course.
Then Junco blurted out, “Have you had any, um, visions lately . . . sir?”
Jay scratched his chin and said, “Not since that goose out there. At the moment, he is vision enough for me.” He continued, “You know, Junco, you were right about that hatchling bringing adventure. Now let’s see if maybe he can bring us a bit of treasure, eh?”
“Aye, sir!” said Junco. But she thought, Adventure, yes, but not treasure
. Instead he will bring good fortune. That will be the difference with Gabriel.
“How about you?” Jay asked. “Have ye had any more of your, ah . . . feelings and whatnot?”
Thankfully, Henry interrupted the conversation, sparing Junco from having to answer. Henry lit on deck, sporting new pirate garb: a black cap, a striped shirt, and a red sash. He also sported such an earnest, determined expression that both Junco and Jay had to stifle a laugh.
Poppa Fox, however, spoke right up. “Lor! Don’t you look the part!” he said. “Ye look a proper pirate now!”
Henry, uncomfortable with the attention and eager to begin his first watch at the helm, saluted and announced, “Henry Clay reporting for duty, sir!”
This did cause Jay to laugh aloud. “Crayee, Henry. Ye can take the helm, but I’m ordering you not to salute me again, understand?”
“Yes, sir!”
“Very well, then! Come over here and I’ll teach you a bit about steering a ship.”
With Jay distracted for a time, Junco took the opportunity to slip away. She was dead tired and wanted sleep. Before she could sleep, however, she wanted to check on Gabriel. Junco flew to the bow of the ship and gazed out at her friend, who filled up so much of the sky in front of her. The goose’s transformation amazed her. There was little hint that Gabriel had ever been an awkward gosling, dependent on others for so many months. He had fledged completely into a sleek and powerful gander whose wingspan, as promised, exceeded the length of the Grosbeak. It was incredible to believe that she and Gabriel were both birds, let alone shipmates, yet easy to grasp the bond between them.
Gabriel spotted Junco on deck and honked joyfully, proclaiming to the world that these birds were indeed at last heading south. “NOW! NOW! NOW!”
Gabriel’s call could be heard for miles. To the birds working in the fields below, it was a cry of hope and a call to action.
“NOW! NOW! NOW!”
To the crows in the forest, it was a threat, an audible warning.
“NOW! NOW! NOW!”
To the Thrushians, it was the rumble of a coming storm, the sound of an approaching revolution.
“NOW! NOW! NOW!”
To the pirates and sparrows on the Grosbeak, it was simply Gabriel, calling them confidently out of the dark night and into the light of the next day.
“NOW! NOW! NOW!”
made his picture-book debut in 1997, providing the illustrations for Saturday Night at the Dinosaur Stomp, written by Carol Diggory Shields. Since then, he has illustrated more than forty children’s books, including Tuff Fluff: The Case of Duckie’s Missing Brain, his authorial debut.
Before Scott Nash ever turned to children’s books, he was a major player in the kids’ media market and continues to be an imaginative thinker and innovator in the field. For more than twenty-five years he has consulted, designed, produced, and branded; he has taught and mentored; and he has invented and reinvented everything from logos to brands to television programs to toys to start-ups to college curriculums.
Inspired by his own childhood readings of classics like Treasure Island and Robinson Crusoe, a lifelong love of bird-watching, and an urge to take on a new challenge, Scott Nash began imagining, writing, and illustrating his first novel, The High-Skies Adventures of Blue Jay the Pirate. The sweeping tale relates the adventures of Captain Blue Jay and his crew aboard the sky-going vessel the Grosbeak. It has been a journey of more than five years from Scott’s first feathery visions to bound book, his most ambitious writing project to date and a swashbuckling good yarn, presented in a volume that requires only the patina of age and the wear of repeat visits to make it complete.
Scott Nash lives in Maine with his wife, artist and frequent collaborator Nancy Gibson, whom he met in high school.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or, if real, are used fictitiously.
Copyright © 2012 by Scott Nash
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in an information retrieval system in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, taping, and recording, without prior written permission from the publisher.
First electronic edition 2012
The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition as follows:
Nash, Scott, date.
The high-skies adventures of Blue Jay the pirate / [text and illustration by Scott Nash]. — 1st ed.
p. cm.
Summary: Blue Jay and his band of avian pirates sail the skies searching for ships laden with cargo, avoiding run-ins with the dastardly crows, dodging doldrums and bad weather, and evading the long arm of the Colonial army.
ISBN 978-0-7636-3264-9 (hardcover)
[1. Birds — Fiction. 2. Pirates — Fiction. 3. Fantasy.] I. Title.
PZ7.N17355Hi 2012
[E] — dc22 2010050563
ISBN 978-0-7636-6210-3 (electronic)
The illustrations were done in tinted crow quill and ink.
Candlewick Press
99 Dover Street
Somerville, Massachusetts 02144
visit us at www.candlewick.com