The Dagger X (The Dagger Chronicles)

by Brian Eames

  Sarah chewed on a knuckle now and willed herself not to cry. “Yes, it might be a good thing.”

  I do not see William, either,” Kitto said finally. “I would have thought he would be on deck.” His eye caught sight of a small, dark figure moving about, hauling a bucket with him.

  “Akin! I see Akin!”

  Now Van snatched away the telescope and peered through it. “It is him!”

  “Stay down, lower to the rocks,” X counseled.

  “Now why is Akin the only one not locked away?” Van said.

  Kitto held a hand to his brow. Without the telescope he could just make out the blur of activity on the deck.

  “First boat is down in the water. Men are climbing into it.” One of the men wore an oversize hat. Could that be Spider? Van handed the spyglass back to X, but Sarah stepped forward and snatched it away before he could take it. X scowled.

  “I thought I was the captain here!” he said, but did not reach for the instrument. He turned to Van and Kitto.

  “Please, boys. Check on my baby. She is there still, eh?”

  Kitto motioned for Van to follow and together the two of them clambered over the rocks to the crack that looked down into the darkness of the cave below. While Kitto had served watch that day, Quid had fashioned a wooden leg for him out of a tree limb and the split bottom of a coconut shell. He attached straps to it with materials taken from the jolly boat stores, and with these Kitto had been able to put it on in little time after he had returned. The straps around his thigh and leg were not comfortable, but Kitto adjusted instantly to the contraption, and found it made movement a bit easier. He still carried his crutch, too, as he worried that putting all his weight on the healing stump would be both painful and detrimental to the healing process.

  The crack was quite narrow, just wide enough for Kitto to pass through. He doubted that Van could fit. It was roughly six feet from end to end, and perhaps ten inches wide in the middle. The boys lay down on their stomachs and craned their necks.

  “Don’t fall in,” Van advised.

  “Good idea. There! Look at all the shells,” Kitto said, pointing. He and Van had inched forward to poke their heads into the opening. It took a moment to see in the dim light, but once his eyes adjusted, Van too could see the wreckage of broken shells littering the sandy bank toward the back end of the cave.

  “Pippin’s been eating like a queen.”

  “Can you see her?”

  “Hold my legs, will you?”

  Van held while Kitto wriggled himself farther into the crack so that his shoulders passed through and he was able to peer deeper into the dark recesses of the cave. He squinted into the gloom.

  Was that Pippin? There was a shiny something toward the back of the cavern, but whether it was the crocodile or just the pool that reflected the light he could not discern. Then Pippin made it easy for him by waddling out into the light.

  “Hello, Pippin!” Kitto called. The reptile held a half-crushed turtle in her jaw that dropped to the sand when Pippin lifted her head to look up at Kitto with a dull curiosity.

  “No, I am not coming in,” Kitto said. “But be sure to eat anyone who does, right? Especially Morris or Spider. And chew slowly.”

  Kitto reached back for Van, who pulled him back roughly.

  “Pippin there?”

  “And looking tired of turtle.”

  “My baby!” X called. “She is well?”

  “Yes, Pippin is fine. Any sign of Duck?”

  Sarah still had the spyglass trained on the ship. Her sober look told Kitto enough.

  “Have they lowered another boat?” X asked her.

  “What? Oh . . . yes, they have. Still I cannot see Duck, though. Or William. Where can they be?” she fumed. X reached out for the instrument but Sarah pushed his hands away. X stuck his tongue out at her, then furrowed his brow.

  “We shall not have long to wait now,” he said. “If they know about the cave, they should make for it directly.”

  “I hope Spider goes in first,” Van said. X settled his hat tighter onto his head.

  “Bad for Pippin’s digestion, that trash, but I think she could survive.”

  After an hour X was still hunkered low to the rock. He had finally cajoled the spyglass from Sarah. The boats had reached shore and the men had unloaded supplies well up from the cave entrance. Kitto and Van and Sarah awaited news.

  “Jolly boat coming this way! Three men, is it? Two, and a boy.”

  “Boy?” Sarah sat up expectantly.

  “A dark one.”

  “Oh.”

  Kitto risked a peek over the rim of rock. He could see the boat approaching, and from the looks of it, Spider was at the oars.

  “Ah, yes. John Morris, the pig!” X spat. “He sits in the stern. They are rowing directly for the cave entrance.” X turned to Van. “See how close you can get, but do not be seen,” he said.

  “Aye, aye, Captain,” Van said, and turned to scrabble his way along the scree closer to the edge that overlooked the water. The wind swept his blond locks back as he crept along, agile and sure.

  “I have waited a long time for this, Spider,” Morris said. He dabbed a kerchief at the holes of his severed nose, then pulled back the fabric to glare disapprovingly at it. “A long time.”

  “Aye, Captain, that you have, sir,” Spider said between strokes. “We have all waited for this day. I believe it when I sees it for myself.”

  Morris swept roughly at the sleeve of his black frock coat. “You saw Quick, Spider. There was no fight left in him after we took his ship. I do not believe he could have lied.”

  Spider turned to spit, intentionally missing Akin by only a few inches. “Aye. I think he was sweet on that woman, too. The one lost to sea. And the cripple. He kept looking out for them when we had him up on deck and transferred him to the naval frigate.”

  “No doubt they ended up with the sharks,” Morris said. He pointed toward the base of the cliff. “That was a fortunate encounter with the HMS Portsmouth, Spider. A ship of the line of her size will not have any problems to contend with between here and Port Royal, a perfect escort for the Blessed William.”

  “Aye, sir. No Spanish ship would dare take her on.”

  “I do hate it that Quick is not here to watch us retrieve his pilfered treasure, though,” Morris said. “He was a beaten man when we left him, yes, beaten but not broken. Seeing the barrels full of nutmeg come out of hiding and into our hands . . . I think that would have done the trick.”

  “And the other treasure, sir? The . . .”

  “Ssst!” Morris hissed in warning. He raised a hand to his lips. Morris pointed a bony finger at Akin. His gaze turned to the cliff.

  “There, Spider. That dark part of the rock there, just above the waterline. That is precisely how Quick described it. Row in as close as you are able.”

  Spider pulled away with the oar in his left hand, veering the rowboat in the direction his captain had indicated. A minute later they had drawn to within ten feet of the cliff.

  “That is it. Remarkable. How is the depth here, boy?” Morris called up to Akin.

  Akin stood at the bow and peered over the side into the water. “Ten feet, Captain! Deeper even.”

  Spider exchanged a meaningful look with Morris, then turned to Akin. “Look again, boy. I ain’t wanting to run aground here and scratch up this fine boat.” Spider eased one oar out of the oarlock.

  Akin could see the bottom clearly and knew his first reading to be accurate, but he wanted to look as compliant as he could. That was important. He had been the model of obedience since Morris first granted him the chance to be his cabin boy after he had promised that he detested William Quick and his horrid crew. With his freedom he had been able to keep Duck supplied with food up until Akin had been assigned to the Port Royal after they had met with the frigate.

  Duck . . . Akin stared down into the clear water, wondering how the little one had fared, hidden in his barrel, bound for Jamaica.
/>   Alone.

  “I am looking, sirs. I see . . . I see . . . a turtle?” Spider lifted the oar free, turned it in toward the boat, and with its tip he jabbed hard.

  “Take a closer look!” Spider said with a laugh. The oar blade struck Akin in the buttocks, knocking him forward and over the bow. He landed with a splash, then came up sputtering. He glared daggers at Spider while he treaded water.

  “Well, look who knows how to swim!” Spider said, grinning widely.

  “I have told you that I know how . . . sir!”

  “Now, boy,” Morris said to Akin. “Time to show your mettle, lad. That is a tunnel there in the wall. You see it?”

  Akin turned in the water. He could see it easily, though how far back it went or where it led he was afraid to consider. “Aye, Captain.”

  “There is a cave inside, boy. A cave. Quick said there would be enough daylight to see by. Head back into that cave and have a look around. There should be a collection of barrels. Find them, then come back out and give us the news.”

  Twenty feet above them, cowering behind a bulge in the crag, Van rolled over to look up at the heavens.

  Oh, no!

  * * *

  CHAPTER 15:

  * * *

  Akin

  “Kitto! Kitto! There’s something wrong!” Van scrambled back over to where his companions awaited him.

  X waved angrily at him. “Would you not scream it out, boy!” he hissed. “Quiet!”

  Van ignored him. “Kitto! It’s Akin.”

  “What? What of him?”

  “Spider pushed Akin into the water. They just told him to go in first.” Kitto blanched, then hurried over to the crevice and peered in. Nothing.

  Think. Think. He looked up at Van.

  “Quick now. Run back and fetch a rope.”

  “What for?”

  Kitto looked down into the darkness again. Still nothing. “Akin can fit through this crack for sure. We can pull him out.” Van nodded, then took off, clambering madly over the crags back to camp.

  “Mum, please.”

  “What is it, Kitto?”

  “Would you go too? You can get the pistols.”

  “No pistols!” X said. “Are you mad?” He eyed Kitto, surprised at such a ludicrous suggestion. Kitto ignored him.

  “You might need to shoot at Pippin to keep him from Akin.” Sarah nodded and ran off in the direction Van had now disappeared.

  X said nothing until Sarah was out of earshot. He cocked a head toward Kitto.

  “I am not so quick as you, Kitto Quick: boy who would lie to his mother.” Kitto shot X a look. X wagged a finger at him. “Boys, they should not lie to their mothers,” X said with a rueful shake. “She cannot use the pistol. Not only would it hurt my baby, but it would announce our presence to Morris.”

  Kitto lowered his head down into the hole. Still no sign of Akin. Pippin’s shadowy figure twitched at the edge of the freshwater pool. Kitto lifted his head out again.

  “I am the only one of us who can fit through here,” he said.

  “And this your mother could not tolerate,” X said with a nod of respect.

  Kitto held out his crutch to X. “Perhaps you could lower me part of the way,” he said.

  At that moment, below the rocky outcrop that hid Kitto and X, Akin was weighing the importance of obedience. He treaded water outside the passage.

  “You are sure, sirs?” he said brightly, feigning a smile. “This is the correct tunnel? I cannot see a cave inside,” Akin said. He gripped the rock above his head.

  “If we was sure, we wouldn’t be asking you to go in, now would we?” Spider growled. “Get in there like the captain said!”

  “Yes. Aye, aye.” Akin turned around to face the darkness of the passage that wound toward blackness into the rock. He gulped. What were those old prayers of his people? He wished that he could remember one, but it had been too long. Akin reached out to paddle forward into the gloom when a sudden movement inside the passage stirred the water. Akin startled and pushed off from the wall, eyes wide in panic, until he saw the source of the movement. A tiny turtle a few inches across swam toward him, then dove down into the water and disappeared.

  “Turtle!” Akin said, breathing a deep sigh. “I am not frightened of turtles,” he told himself. He put his head down and started swimming forward into the darkness.

  Above, Kitto lowered himself legs first with X’s help as far into the crevice as he could go. X gripped him about his shoulders. With one hand Kitto reached about, dragging his fingertips along the stone below the lip of the opening. His fingers chanced upon a deep groove, and exploring it hastily, he found it fit most of his hand.

  “There is a hold here,” Kitto said to X. “I am going to try it.”

  “You want for me to let go?” X said in surprise. “Are you so brave, or a bit mad, too?”

  “Just hold the crutch down to me so that I can grab for it if I need to,” Kitto said. “Go ahead and let go,” he said. X shook his head in disbelief, but slowly pulled away his fingers. Kitto lowered himself through the crack until his arms had straightened and he was dangling in empty space over the shining pool below.

  “You are good?” X said, but Kitto did not answer. Instead, he scanned the sloping walls of the cave in search of a climbing route. He heard a faint splashing noise come from what seemed to be the passage leading out to the ocean. He twisted about to look down at Pippin.

  The crocodile had heard it too. Pippin’s head raised a few inches off the sand, but she remained otherwise still. Kitto risked unwedging his left hand so that he could run it along the dark rock face in the hopes of finding another hold. Above him X dangled down the end of his crutch, watching him and chewing the corner of his lip.

  If I can find a way to climb down, then Akin can climb up. There must be a way!

  His fingers felt something. Yes! Sure enough there was another crack, not quite so deep as the first, but still ample for a good grip. Kitto reached for it, and in so doing his body pendulated open to face the cave. He looked down, and saw that he hung perhaps eight feet from the surface of the water in the larger pool.

  X pulled out the crutch and stuck his head into the crevice.

  “What a stallion!” X said with undisguised admiration. “Better yet, a monkey!” He turned to Pippin, whose head had perked up at the sound of X’s voice. “Hello, my pretty baby, baby, baby,” he cooed. “You don’t want to eat any skinny English boys today, do you, pretty baby? No, no, no. You save your appetite for the smelly Irishman, yes. He be here very soon, baby.”

  Akin swam through the passage and emerged from the darkness into the relative light of the cave. Quite a sight awaited him when his feet found purchase in the sandy bottom. To his left, hanging in space, was Kitto, spread-eagled, and farther along on the ceiling the head of a strange man with a tangle of a beaded beard emerged from a fissure of light and whispered sweet nothings toward something unseen deeper in the cave.

  Akin rubbed the water from his eyes, then looked again. A smile of intense joy spread across his face.

  “Kitto!” he said, flashing an incredulous smile. “Kitto, is that you? Why are you in the air?” He splashed closer to Kitto, away from the passage and into the center of the pool.

  The speaking head at the ceiling spoke more loudly.

  “Yes, Pippin, the stupid boy is talking, and making you think you are hungry. But no, you are not hungry.”

  “Akin!” Kitto hissed. “There is no time to explain. There is a crocodile back there. A crocodile!”

  “No, Pippin. No, Pippin, dear!” The crocodile took three decisive steps forward so that she now stood in a bright patch of sunlight at the edge of the sandy bank overlooking the large pool. Akin looked up at the huge beast atop the rise. His eyes, wide with surprise and joy, now widened further with terror, the whites seeming to shine in the dim light.

  Crocodiles have excellent vision, but the bright sunlight streaming down on Pippin left her dazzled for sever
al moments, and the only movement she could see came above her in the form of Kitto’s gently swinging foot and stump.

  “I gave my love a cherry,” X sang in a rich vibrato, “that had no stone. I gave my love a chicken—” X never finished the line, for just at that moment, Spider, who had swum underwater through the passage, came thrashing up at its entrance a few feet from Akin.

  “What the devil!” Spider said, as the first thing he noticed was Kitto hanging from the ceiling. “You’re alive!” he hissed. He sloshed in Kitto’s direction just a single step, then he turned to look up at the sandy bank to his right.

  Both her appetite and her curiosity truly piqued, the massive reptile launched herself forward. Pippin slid down the sandy bank on her belly and into the water, leaving a groove in the moist sand behind her. Before her front feet had entered the water, both Akin and Spider bolted for their lives. They dashed madly through the thigh-deep water in Kitto’s direction.

  Distracted by a tumult of bubbles underwater, Pippin’s attention was drawn away for an instant by a large turtle that had chosen an inopportune moment to return to its breeding ground. Pippin whirled on the turtle, her massive tail sweeping out and knocking both Akin and Spider off their feet and into the water.

  Kitto looked on in helpless terror. X spat off a series of orders without realizing he spoke in Dutch. Spider found his feet first and grabbed Akin by the arms, holding him out like a shield in the direction where he thought the crocodile might surface.

  Pippin’s head broke through at the far end of the pool. In her mouth was half of the turtle, shell and all, shards jutting out between her teeth. Pippin whipped her head and the turtle hunk flew off and clattered against the wall of the cave. She eyed Akin and Spider with an expression that bore an uncanny similarity to a smile. Slowly Pippin lowered her head so that just the top of her snout and her eyes were above the surface, and she began to swim slowly toward the two figures at the far side of the pool.

  “Let me go!” Akin struggled against Spider’s terrible grip, but the man’s crushing strength—fueled by his own terror—easily outmatched his. Closer inched the crocodile. Closer.