Sebastian Darke: Prince of Pirates

by Philip Caveney

  'But that's what pirate ships do, isn't it?' said Sebastian.

  'Yeah, I know that, but it never sat easy with me. Dad always said I had too much of a conscience to be a good pirate. Maybe he was right.' The Kid shrugged before continuing.

  'And then Trencherman started in on us. He harried us from port to port. He didn't want to sink the ship – just get rid of me and take it as a prize. I lost a lot of good men to his guns. In the end I got tired of running; decided to try and catch him unawares.' He glanced at Jenna. 'I was giving him a right good stuffing before you sneaked up on me,' he said proudly.

  'That you were,' she agreed. She looked at him warily. 'But even in the heat of battle, you should always keep an eye out for the unexpected.'

  'Yeah, well, thanks for the tip. But you didn't play fair.'

  Jenna looked at him in disbelief. 'You're saying I cheated?'

  The Kid studied his feet for a moment, his face red. 'I'm saying it was sneaky,' he insisted.

  She smiled at him. 'Well, if it's any consolation, you managed to do quite a bit of damage to the Sea Witch. So much that we're going to have to put in to Lemora to make some repairs.'

  Cornelius and Sebastian looked at her in surprise.

  'Is that a good idea?' muttered Sebastian.

  'Frankly, no. But it's either that or we turn round and follow the Marauder back to Ramalat and undertake repairs there.'

  'How serious is it?' asked Cornelius.

  Jenna frowned. 'When we bumped hulls with the Black Hand, somebody got off a round of shot at close range. It breached us just below the waterline. At the moment we've got a slow leak down there. I've had a temporary patch put on, but it's only going to get worse. It needs to be fixed properly.'

  'So surely somebody can do that?' said Cornelius.

  Jenna shook her head. 'I won't send men to do it in these waters – there are too many kelfers around. There'll be even more of them once the Black Hand goes down with all those dead pirates aboard.' She glanced apologetically at the Kid, but he waved a hand in dismissal. 'No, we need to pull into a dock to do the job properly. We can be in Lemora by early tomorrow morning. I still have a few friends among the carpenters there.'

  Sebastian sniffed. 'Pirate carpenters?' he said.

  'Carpenters who work with pirates,' Jenna corrected him. 'But to be fair, they'll work with anyone who has the money to pay. They're just trying to make a living, the same as anyone else.'

  Cornelius shrugged. 'Well then,' he said, 'Lemora it is. You know, I've always had a fancy to take a look at that place, but everyone says it's dangerous.'

  'Oh, it's not so bad,' said the Kid. 'People keep themselves to themselves in Lemora. It's only out on the ocean that they show their true colours. That's when you have to look out for yourself.'

  Sebastian studied the Kid for a minute. 'Look,' he said, 'what's your real name? We can't go on calling you Kid all the time, can we?'

  The Kid looked uncomfortable at this. 'Sure you can,' he said evasively. 'I'm not bothered.'

  'No, come on, it's ridiculous. You must have answered to another name before you took over your father's ship, surely?'

  'Well, yes . . . but . . . it . . . well, it's a stupid name, that's all.'

  'Nonsense,' said Cornelius. 'It's the name your parents gave you; you should be proud of it. Now come along, tell us what it is.' He gave the Kid a probing look. 'I could always go down and ask some of those pirates in the cells,' he threatened.

  The Kid sighed, looked at his feet for a moment, then shrugged. 'It's . . . Beverly,' he said glumly.

  'Beverly?' Sebastian felt an impulse to laugh out loud and quickly glanced around at the others. 'Well . . . er . . . that's a perfectly good name, isn't it?' he said, a little too loudly.

  'Marvellous name,' said Cornelius quickly.

  'Yes, very nice,' added Jenna. There was a brief pause. 'Though if he prefers Kid, I see no reason why we shouldn't continue to call him that.'

  'Oh no, absolutely,' said Cornelius. 'If that's what he wants.'

  'Of course,' added Sebastian. 'Whatever.'

  The Kid regarded them sullenly. 'See?' he said. 'I told you it was a stupid name.'

  'So listen, what exactly happened to your father?' asked Sebastian, trying to change the subject. 'Jenna told me that he was killed but you said—'

  'He disappeared!' cried the Kid angrily. 'He didn't die, he just went missing!'

  'I see.' Sebastian tried to pick his words as carefully as his throbbing head would allow. 'So . . . how long has he been . . . er . . . missing?'

  The Kid's glum expression seemed to deepen. 'Over two summers now. He was out on the Deeps, south of Lemora. I wasn't with him on that trip; I'd stayed home 'cause I had a fever. Bones and Sully told me that they attacked a merchant ship they came across, and during the fight Dad was knocked overboard.'

  Cornelius studied the boy for a moment. 'You've already said you don't trust those characters,' he observed. 'You're sure they told you the truth?'

  The Kid glared at him. 'They wouldn't know the truth if it bit them on the backside,' he said.

  'You said that they wanted control of the Black Hand,' Cornelius reminded him. 'It could be that they made damned sure your father didn't return from that voyage. Maybe they even ran a sword through him in the heat of battle—'

  'No!' Now the Kid's eyes were blazing with anger. 'You think two dogs like them could beat my father in a fight? No way! He's missing, that's all. And he'll be back one day. I know he will.'

  There was an uncomfortable silence. Sebastian tried to think of something to say but couldn't come up with anything appropriate; and then, at the worst possible moment, the cabin door opened and Lemuel stuck his balding head into the cabin.

  'The pirate ship's going down if anybody's interested,' he said.

  The Kid's face registered shock, and for a moment Sebastian thought he was going to burst into tears; but somehow he managed to hold his emotions in check. 'Why not?' he said quietly. He got up from his seat and made his way out of the cabin. The others followed, Jenna supporting Sebastian, who was still feeling decidedly dizzy.

  Up on deck they watched the Black Hand, which was listing so badly to starboard that water was starting to creep in over the rails. A couple of sailors flung out a last few bits of salvage and then jumped into the water, where their comrades pulled them aboard a boat and started rowing frantically back towards the Sea Witch. At the last moment there was a commotion as numerous rats came scurrying out of their hidey-holes in the pirate ship and leaped into the sea, where they started swimming desperately towards the rowing boat, or climbed aboard bits of floating debris.

  'Always happens at the very end,' observed Jenna thoughtfully. 'It's the only thing that will shift them.'

  The ship's timbers gave a mighty creak, and then the bows dipped dramatically beneath the surface of the water, churning the sea into violent bubbling motion. The waters closed over the decks, taking the Black Hand into a cold, deadly embrace, and then, in eerie silence, the hull of the ship began to slide slowly into the depths.

  Sebastian glanced at the Kid and saw that despite the look of grim determination on his face, there were tears in his eyes and his hands were clenched into fists. It couldn't have been easy for him, seeing his father's ship go down like this.

  'At least now Trencherman will never get his greasy hands on her,' he said quietly.

  The last they saw of the Black Hand was the very top of her foremast, where the skull and crossbones still flapped defiantly. But then she slipped beneath the surface and was gone. For a little while Sebastian could make out the dark shape of the ship's hull, going down, down into that seemingly bottomless ocean, and for the first time he felt a chill of real apprehension ripple through him, for he realized that it could so easily have been the Sea Witch sinking like that.

  A series of huge bubbles came floating to the surface from its wake, gurgling obscenely, and then Sebastian saw the bodies of the dead pirates drifting
up from the decks like life-sized rag dolls. And then he noticed a last chilling detail: a series of triangular fins cutting the surface of the water as the kelfers came cruising in, looking for a meal.

  The others turned away in disgust and started towards the cabin, but glancing back, Sebastian noticed that the Kid remained standing at the rail, staring down at the swirling waters where the Black Hand had passed, as though hoping against hope that she might somehow rise again.

  CHAPTER 20

  ALL ASHORE

  Early the following morning the Sea Witch nosed her way through a slight mist towards the harbour of Lemora. Scores of ships of every shape and size rode at anchor in the bay, but the dock seemed deserted. Standing on the prow, Cornelius and Sebastian eyed the wooden wharf and its grubby collection of waterside shanties with understandable suspicion. The memory of their visit to the lawless city of Brigandia was still fresh in Sebastian's mind and he remembered only too well how they had only just escaped with their lives.

  'Seems quiet,' observed Cornelius. 'There's hardly anyone about.'

  'They're probably in hiding,' replied Sebastian. 'Waiting to jump out at us with knives and swords.'

  'Oh, you're too pessimistic.'

  'Even so, there's no real reason to go ashore, is there? Unless . . .'

  'Unless what?' asked Cornelius.

  'I've been thinking about the Kid.'

  'Oh yes?'

  'I was reminding myself that if we do take him back to Ramalat, they'll hang him. I don't know about you, but the thought of letting a young lad go to the gallows is not one I can easily accept. Especially when it turns out he never really wanted to be a pirate in the first place.'

  Cornelius smiled and nodded. 'I'm with you on that,' he said.

  'So maybe we should have a quick look around Lemora.'

  'Yes. And while we're there, it might just be that young Beverly manages to escape from us. All those narrow streets and everything . . . Well, it would be pointless looking for him in a labyrinth like that, wouldn't it?'

  Sebastian grinned. 'Sounds like a great idea. What about his crew?'

  Cornelius's expression hardened. 'Oh no, they're adults. They're also robbing, murdering scum. I've no problem with seeing the likes of them hang.'

  'You're all heart,' said Sebastian.

  Jenna came walking towards them from the stern. 'What are you two conspiring about?' she asked as she approached.

  'Nothing!' said Sebastian, a little too quickly.

  'We were just saying,' said Cornelius, 'that Lemora seems like an interesting place to explore.'

  Jenna looked doubtful about that. 'I wouldn't recommend any stranger to go into that hell-hole,' she said flatly. 'Not without a small army to back them up.'

  'Oh, but we'll have an expert guide,' said Cornelius. 'Where is the Kid this morning?'

  'Still eating his breakfast, I believe. You know, that boy could charm the birds out of the trees. He's got Thaddeus to whip him up a batch of pancakes. I've never known that cantankerous old coot do that for anyone.' She looked suddenly thoughtful. 'You know, I've been doing some thinking . . .'

  Sebastian and Cornelius exchanged knowing glances.

  'If you insist on taking the Kid into Lemora, you might want to consider coming back without him.'

  Cornelius raised his eyebrows. 'What? But he's a pirate, Jenna. He and his crew would have plundered the Sea Witch without a thought if they'd had the opportunity!'

  'I know, but . . . well, he's just a kid.'

  Sebastian shook his head. 'Pay no attention to him. We've already planned to let him get away.'

  Jenna smiled, which seemed to light up her entire face. 'I'm glad,' she said. 'I was dreading the thought of taking him back and letting Trencherman have his revenge. Well, I'll leave the details up to you. I'll be here, supervising repairs.' She studied Cornelius for a moment. 'You'll be stepping into a den of thieves. Perhaps you'd like to leave the treasure map with me for safe-keeping?'

  Cornelius shook his head, smiling. 'Oh no,' he said. 'I think I'd rather keep that with me.'

  'Really, Captain Drummel!' she cried, in mock horror. 'Anyone would think you didn't trust me.' She chuckled. 'Anyway, I'd better go and see about bringing this old tub into harbour.' She started to turn away but Sebastian put out a hand to grasp her arm.

  'Captain Swift?' he said. 'Er . . . Jenna? Could I ask a small favour?'

  She turned back to look at him, her dark eyes flashing, and smiled in a way that was designed to make his heart flutter but was wasted on a man so enchanted. 'Of course. What is it?'

  'Do you think . . . well, do you think that Max might be allowed to accompany us into Lemora?'

  'Max?' She looked puzzled, as though struggling to remember the name.

  'My buffalope. He's going crazy cooped up in that hold. I had a long conversation with him last night—'

  'I can imagine,' murmured Cornelius, rolling his eyes.

  '– and he told me that if he didn't get his feet on dry land soon, he would go crazy. And, well, when a buffalope goes crazy, he's liable to smash into anything that gets in his way. Could cause a lot of damage down there.'

  Jenna frowned. 'We don't want any more damage than we already have,' she said. 'Well, yes, I'm sure somebody in the harbour will have a hoist. I could use the opportunity to send somebody down there to do some mucking out.'

  'Oh yes, he's very embarrassed about that,' Sebastian assured her. 'But there really was nowhere else for him to go. And besides, he was frightened. The noise of the sea battle and everything . . .'

  Jenna nodded. 'Oh dear,' she said. 'I'm sorry if I . . . embarrassed your buffalope.' She gave him a strange look: either she found him interesting or she thought he was some kind of dangerous lunatic – it was difficult to tell which. Then she strode away, shouting orders to her crew, as the Sea Witch swept into the shallow waters of the harbour.

  Sebastian turned back to Cornelius to find that his friend was giving him a cool look of appraisal.

  'She's really after you,' he said.

  Sebastian gave him a look of total innocence. 'Oh, I seriously doubt it.'

  'Come on, man! I haven't much experience of affairs of the heart but . . . I think she's very interested in you, Sebastian. What a pity you're already committed to another.'

  'Huh? What are you talking about?' Sebastian glared at him. 'If you're referring to Leonora, you know perfectly well that whatever hold she has on me is against my will.'

  'I wasn't, actually.'

  'Then who?'

  'That ruddy buffalope!' Cornelius shook his head in disbelief. 'Taking him out for a stroll? You'll be tucking him in and reading him a bedtime story next!'

  'That's not fair! Max has been in the Darke family for a very long time . . . And in case you've forgotten, he's saved your neck on one or two occasions.'

  'I appreciate that,' admitted Cornelius. 'But you seem to forget, Sebastian, that he's just a simple beast of burden, not some relative of yours. Little wonder that Jenna gave you such a strange look!'

  'I thought you said she was interested in me?'