by Ted Bell
Nick’s heart was beating fast, ratcheting up, as they pushed through the door. Kate was nearby. He could feel it in his bones. There was an elderly black man pouring red wine into a glass on a small wooden tray. There was also a plate of something Nick couldn’t identify and wouldn’t eat even if he was starving.
“Eve ning, Lucius,” Sabrina said.
“Why, Miss Sabrina! Dis is your free night. What you doin’ here at de Crow?”
“Lucius, these are my two new friends, Nick and Gunner. They’ve come looking for Nick’s little sister.”
“Little thing? Bright red hair and big blue eyes?”
“That sounds like Katie!” Nick exclaimed, hope suddenly lighting up his face.
“That’s her. Katie. Lordy, what a little angel. This is her supper I been fixin’ right here. On my way upstairs to her with it.”
“She’s here, Gunner! She’s here!” Nick cried.
“Don’t let us interrupt your work, Lucius,” Gunner said. “We’ll just follow you upstairs, if you don’t mind.”
Sabrina moved to the door, taking her leave, and said, “I’m very happy you’ve found her. But the faster you can get that child away from here, the better. This time of night, Old Bill’s probably right in the next room with a bellyful of rum in ‘im. Glad I could be of some help to you gentlemen.”
Nick moved to her and took her hand. “I owe you a huge debt of gratitude, Miss. And someday I’ll come back and repay it. I promise.”
“We owe you our lives, too, ma’am, and we thank you kindly for everything you’ve done,” Gunner added.
“What floor is she on?” Nick asked Lucius after Sabrina left.
“Child on de third floor—you jes follow me.”
Gunner and Nick followed the old fellow’s slow progress up three flights of wooden steps. Halfway down the hallway, he paused outside a door and pulled a big brass ring of keys out of his pocket. He knocked first, inserted the key, and opened the door.
Kate was sitting at a desk, chin resting in the palms of her hands, staring out the window at the evening stars and the light mist of rain.
“Miz Kate, you got some visitors,” Lucius said.
She turned around and saw her brother, Nick, and Gunner standing just behind Lucius, smiling at her. Without saying a word, she leaped from the chair, ran to Nick, and wrapped her arms around him.
“I told Cecily you were coming, but she didn’t believe me!” Kate said.
“Who’s Cecily?” Gunner asked, looking around for another captive in the tiny room.
“You know Cecily!” Kate said, holding up the doll.
Nick nodded to Gunner, who turned to Lucius and said, “If you don’t mind putting down the tray, we’d like a little time alone with the child.”
“Nossuh. Fine with me. I got fish to fry.”
Gunner followed him to the door and waited until Lucius had disappeared down the staircase. Then he pulled the Tempus Machina from inside his jacket and separated the two halves.
“Kate,” Nick said, “we don’t have much time. Blood’s just downstairs, and we’ve got to get out of here. He might show up at any second. When Gunner has finished entering our destination, we all place our hands on the ball, understand?”
“I know how it works, Nicky. I came here with Blood and Snake Eye, remember?”
“Right, let’s be off, then.”
“Nicky, I have to show you something first.”
“There’s no time, Katie. We have to go now, while we still have a chance.”
“This is very important. You’ll understand when you see it. It’s in the next room.”
“Oh, all right, but make it quick. Gunner, could you stow the orb until we’re ready to go?”
He nodded, screwed the two halves back together, and slipped it back into his hidden pouch.
The adjacent door was locked. Gunner forced it easily, slipping his knife blade between the lock and the doorjamb. The large room was bare save a large wooden desk in the center. Nick asked Gunner to remain at the door, a lookout.
“It’s in that drawer, Nick. Open it. You’ll see,” Katie said.
Finding the drawer also locked, Nick used his knife to trip the lock and pop it open. Inside the drawer were charts and documents.
“What is this?” Nick asked.
“Only Captain Blood’s plans to use his armada to take over the world, that’s what.”
Nick looked at Gunner, his eyes alight.
“You were right to show me these charts, Kate,” her brother said, ruffling her hair, as he quickly scanned Blood’s secret papers.
“I know,” Kate said. “I find I’m usually right at least most of the time.”
Nick instantly rolled the lot of them up tightly, stuffed them down the front of his trousers, and buttoned his jacket. He closed the drawer carefully so that it would look undisturbed, then looked at Gunner standing guard. “Clear?”
Gunner stuck his head out the door for a fraction of a second. He jerked it back inside and turned to Nick. “Sounds coming from the front staircase. Sounds like someone coming up maybe. Just reaching the second floor now, I’d guess. No time to use the orb, Nick.”
Kate’s hand flew to her mouth. “Oh, what will we do, Nicky?”
“We’ll go down the back steps and hide under the bridge!” Nick cried. “Gunner, take Kate in your arms and fly down those back steps. I’ll be right behind you!”
But as Gunner and Kate turned the corner into the rear stairwell, Gunner saw a sight that froze his very blood: Captain Blood starting up the steps. Right behind him, five or six of Blood’s crew.
Nick saw Gunner turn and shout, “Blood! We’ll have to try the front steps!”
They raced toward the front steps. They were halfway down the hallway when Snake Eye appeared at the far end, grinning evilly. Then Nick heard Blood’s eerie voice behind him.
“Why, if it ain’t the McIver boy and his mate Gunner. What, yer early, right are ye? Lucius told me the child had visitors, but I didn’t expect you two till the morrow. Welcome to the Black Crow, gents.”
“I want my sister,” Nick said, trying to control his temper.
“And I want yer golden orb, boy. That’s how kidnapping works. Have ye brung it?”
“Yes, I’ve brought it all right. And I’ll exchange it for her freedom, but only on one condition.”
Blood laughed. “You’re in no position to make conditions, little swabbie. But tell me, what is it you want?”
“You must first swear to use the orb to return the three of us safely home to Greybeard Island.”
“But that was me plan all along. Port Royal’s no place for the likes of you.”
“Swear it.”
“I do so solemnly swear. Now, let’s all go below. The boy and I will make the formal exchange and celebrate with a tot of rum afore I takes you three home.”
Nick nodded yes, his mind racing, desperate for a way to get Kate away from Blood, a man in whom he had no trust at all.
“Snake Eye, you take the girl until we’ve made the swap.”
The tattooed Frenchman went to Gunner and took Kate from his arms. She had her eyes squeezed shut, and she wasn’t about to open them.
Snake Eye, Kate in his arms, led the way, and they all descended the staircase, Billy Blood bringing up the rear. When they entered the pub on the ground floor, Nick took a deep breath to calm himself. The gun in the small of his back was little comfort now; things were spinning rapidly beyond his control.
The room below was filled to overflowing with drunken pirates. All stone silent and staring daggers at the three visitors. And coming through the door were the four angry mates of the man Gunner had recently shot, a mob of angry pirates hard on their heels.
31
“OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!”
Blood banged his golden hook on the bar and shouted at the barmaids, “Rum, rum for all these scoundrels I call mateys! We’re going to have a proper farewell soiree for our three new friends here before we send t
hem off!”
“Huzzah!” everyone cried in unison, lifting their sloshing mugs in a salute to their infamous leader.
“This boy here claims to have brought the old Blood a gift. A gift of gold, ain’t that so, boy?” he said, squeezing Nick’s shoulder painfully with his one good hand.
“It is so.”
“Well, let’s have it then! Complete our transaction.”
“You’ll have it. But not until my sister is released and returned to Gunner’s arms.”
“You don’t trust me, lad?” He grinned and the crowd roared with delight.
“No.”
“Smarter than you look, ain’t you? All right. Snake Eye, return the little angel to her guardian.”
Safe in Gunner’s arms once more, Kate hugged him around the neck and whispered into his ear, “Don’t worry, Gunner. I’m not afraid. Nicky will get us out of this. I just know he will.”
“Of course he will,” Gunner whispered back, but he didn’t believe a word of it. They still had their guns, but they were useless against an enemy this size.
“Now!” Blood cried out. “ ‘Tis time for the completion of our bargain, Nicholas McIver. I lost my right hand the last time I held the object of my desire. I don’t see that happening tonight. Hand it over!”
Nick reached inside his jacket and pulled the gleaming golden ball out of its pouch. Blood’s face lit up at the sight of it. “Put her there on the bar where I can admire it whilst my comrades join me in a toast to my new possession.”
Nick placed it carefully right in front of Blood, who began stroking it lovingly with his left hand. Then Blood raised his mug and turned to regard his men. “Join me in a salute, boys?”
“Aye!” they shouted back.
“Three cheers for the Brethren that rules the seas!”
“Huzzah! Huzzah! Huzzah!” they all cried.
“Now, now, my little friend,” Blood said, slipping the orb into the side pocket of his crimson velvet captain’s coat. “I’ve arranged a very special send-off for you and your friends. A parade of sorts. There’s a mule and a cart waitin’ outside that door, ready to take you on a tour of the harbor, all the way out to Fort Blood, where you’ll depart from. I understand the streets are lined with citizens and mates of mine who want a glimpse of you three before yer departure. I hope that suits you?”
“Just take us home,” Nick said, staring into Blood’s eyes, his own eyes hard as stone. If nothing else, he’d not give Blood the satisfaction of seeing his worry and fear.
“Home, he says! Why, that’s exactly where you’re headed. Come along, let’s get on with the celebration.”
The throng of pirates parted to make way for Captain Blood, followed by Nick and Gunner, who held Kate in his powerful arms. As Blood pushed through the heavy wooden door, Nick was stunned at the sight that greeted him.
Both sides of the harbor road were lined with the mostly unsavory citizens of Port Royal. In some places they were standing five or six people deep. Many were holding flaming torches aloft, casting an orange glow upon the whole scene. He saw young boys sitting on rooftops and in the limbs of trees. There were women, too, many of them dressed similarly to Sabrina, smiling and laughing.
Sabrina stood among them, her eyes filled with sorrow.
Gunner, too, was dumbfounded by what he saw. As he lifted Katie high up and put her in the mule-drawn cart full of straw, he could think of only one thing. This was the way a crowd looked and acted prior to witnessing an execution. He climbed up into the wooden cart, sat down, and took Katie into his arms. Nick, who stumbled once climbing up, was heaved roughly by two men up into the cart.
Blood, mounted atop a huge black stallion, sat smiling at his three captives as the cart started to roll forward.
“Where are you taking us?” Nick screamed at the grinning man.
“Why, to Fort Blood, of course.”
“Fort Blood? Why there?”
“Because that’s where you’ll be makin’ yer departure, lad.” And then he threw his head back and laughed, the silver skulls braided into his beard sounding like tiny sleigh bells. He kept his mount just a few feet behind the cart so that he could keep an eye on them and make sure they didn’t try to escape.
It was not a pleasant ride for the occupants of the wooden cart.
All along the route to the fort, the inhabitants of Port Royal hurled insults and worse at them. There was a wicked tone to their taunts and shouted curses, Nick thought, as though they were screaming for blood.
At one point Gunner was hit in the back of the head by a rotten tomato. Nick, furious, stood up and cleaned the mess off his friend as best he could with the sleeve of his jacket.
More rotten fruit and vegetables were thrown at the occupants of the cart. Nick remained on his feet, batting some of it away or just taking it, darting around Gunner and Kate so he, Nick, would be hit and not them.
As the cart neared the towering stone walls of the fortress and finally rattled across the wooden drawbridge into a cobblestone courtyard, Nick bent and whispered urgently into Gunner’s ear. He deliberately spoke softly enough so that his sister would not hear what he said.
“Nod your head if you think they’re going to kill us,” he whispered.
Gunner nodded his head violently.
“Me, too. Our only chance is to use our guns and try to shoot our way out.”
“Too many of ’em.”
“I know. But it’s still our only chance.”
“Maybe not.”
“What? What are you thinking?”
“If you can somehow stand real close to me, stay between me and Blood, maybe I can slip the machine out and enter time and destination.”
“But if he even glimpses a second ball, we’re as good as dead—he’ll draw his pistols and shoot us where we stand.”
“It’s only a chance, Nick. I think we—”
But at that moment the cart lurched to a halt. Blood rode his horse right up the rear of it and unlatched the flimsy wooden door.
“All out,” he said. “Quick-like.”
Nick jumped to the ground and held up his arms for his sister. Gunner handed her down gently and Nick noticed she was silently weeping.
She knows what’s coming, Nick thought, and the knowledge was a knife piercing his heart.
“I want to walk,” she said. “Please hold my hand, Nicky. Gunner, you hold the other one.”
Their pirate guards had their guns out now, and they prodded Nick and Gunner in the back, directing them toward the fort’s entrance, two heavy wooden doors, with iron bands.
As the crowd ahead parted to let them through, Nick caught a glimpse of a strange wooden contraption the French had invented. He’d seen a picture of such a device in one of his history books. It was a guillotine, like that used during the Terror in France.
It was a simple machine. A tall, upright frame, from which a heavy razor-sharp blade was suspended. The victim put his head on the block; the executioner raised the blade all the way to the top with a rope and then released it. The blade fell swiftly and stopped with a thud. A basket stood ready to catch the decapitated heads.
“You didn’t invent it, you know, Nick,” Gunner said as they got closer to the guillotine.
“What’s that?”
“Being afraid.”
“Close your eyes, Katie,” Nick said.
“Why?”
“I’ve told you before that there are things best not seen by little girls. Now, close them.”
“Do you know what I wish, Nicky?” Katie said, squeezing her brother’s hand. “Right now?”
“What, Katie?”
“I wish I had a pair of invisible wings and we could all hold hands and fly away.”
Nick tried to keep the despair from his voice. “I wish so, too, Katie. I wish so, too.”
As they approached the guillotine, Nick found himself whispering his old prayer for courage in desperate times. And these were as desperate as even he’d faced.
> Nelson the strong, Nelson the brave, Nelson the Lord of the Sea.
Gunner looked over at Nick, and the boy saw there was not even a trace of fear in his eyes. “This is it, then, Master Nick. Quick and painless, so I’ve read. I’ll go first.”
“No. I’ll go first. You stay with Katie and cover her eyes. Ask someone for a blindfold for her. It’s the very least they can do.”
“A blindfold for the child, you scurrilous dogs!” Gunner shouted at the top of his lungs.
“No,” Katie said, her voice barely above a whisper, “I want to see.”
Nick allowed himself a small smile. If he was going to die, he could not imagine braver companions to face his executioner with.
But when they reached the terrible beheading machine with the waiting basket, the crowd behind kept pushing them forward. And, they kept walking! Went right past the guillotine and up the stone steps to the fort’s entrance. Blood was leading the way now, and there were countless pirates, buccaneers, and as many citizens as could fit in the courtyard, all screaming for the prisoners’ heads.
They passed through many rooms and halls and finally reached a set of steps leading down into the gloom. Nick lost count of how many levels they went down.
“Where are you taking us?” Nick suddenly asked Blood. “You swore to take us home with the machine.”
“Never trust a pirate’s word, lad. Never.” Blood laughed.
“I asked you a question. Where are we going?”
“To the dungeon. To a very special place called the oubliette. The crowd out there wants yer heads to roll, of course; they love to see heads roll and blood spill. But I’ve decided the blade is far too quick for the likes of you. All the trouble you’ve caused me deserves special treatment. A long, slow end is what yer facing, boy, you and yer sister and yer friend. Won’t be a pretty way to go, I’m a’feared. But you’ve earned every minute of it.”
Finally they reached the bottom. There were no cells there, just a wide round room of moldy brick, lit by guttering torches mounted on the ancient walls. In the very center of the room was a hole about five feet in diameter. It looked like a deep well.
About twenty of Blood’s crew filed into the room and lined the wall, all with their pistols drawn and aimed at the victims. Nick knew now that the guns given him by Lord Hawke were utterly useless.