Ship of Dragons (Quest of the Nine Isles Book 3) Read online

  “All I’ve got is my dreaming ability and a magic minute glass I can’t use without killing myself,” I told him. “Beyond that, I’m as helpless as, well, you.”

  The calm Basil had displayed a moment ago disintegrated now. He snatched off his hat to rake his fingers through his hair, making it stand on end. His hands were shaking, I saw.

  But he pulled himself together quickly. “Maybe it isn’t too late,” he said. “If they haven’t seen us yet, we can still turn back.”

  I clamped my hand down on the ship’s wheel before he could turn it. “We’ve come all this way, and we’re not sailing back without Skybreaker and the boy,” I insisted.

  I didn’t know what we could possibly do for the captives, the two of us unarmed and up against a whole fleet of Gold Ship Voyagers. But something in me wouldn’t let us run away. Not when we were so close. Not after last night’s dream, when I had seen how cruelly Skybreaker was being abused.

  Basil’s face reddened, and I prepared for an argument. But then his eyes slipped past me and widened.

  I turned around to see what he was staring at now.

  One of the gold-sailed ships, the largest one that trailed in the rear, had broken away from the others. It seemed to be turning around. Basil and I watched tensely as it began heading our way. So much for hoping they hadn’t spotted us.

  “They probably don’t recognize who we are yet,” Basil said, following my thoughts. “To them, we’re just a smaller ship ripe for plundering. It’s a habit of the Voyagers.”

  There was something familiar about the ship heading this direction and about the symbol of a sun and moon depicted on its gold sails. My mind rushed back to my dream.

  “Skybreaker is aboard that one,” I said aloud.

  “You can’t know that,” Basil said. Then he cast me a sidelong glance. “Can you?”

  I didn’t answer. I was reaching out with my thoughts, trying to contact the mad dragon through our bond, trying to show him I was nearby. I didn’t know what good that would accomplish, but maybe it would bring back his fighting spirit at least. But it was no use. I had never tried touching Skybreaker’s mind across such a distance, and I couldn’t do it now. My grasping thoughts brushed against nothing but emptiness.

  “What now?” Basil asked, beginning to pace the length of our deck as the gold-sailed ship continued its lazy approach.

  I knew he longed to run. But this time there was no place to flee. We were stranded on the water, miles from any shore except for the rocky little spit of land in the distance. Even if we could get to it before the enemy ship reached us, we would fare no better on the tiny isle than out here on the open waters.

  Even as I looked to the isle, my eyes were caught by movement.

  “Basil,” I said urgently, calling his attention back to the present. “What’s that?”

  I pointed out toward the island. Something was emerging from behind it. The prow of a ship separated itself from the isle. Then masts and upper decks became visible. The hulking vessel had been hidden until now, concealed behind the rocky shore. Now it sailed ahead at full-speed, cutting a straight line between us and the gold-sailed ship steadily approaching.

  With a chill tingling down my spine, I recognized the newcomer. The dark vessel dwarfing both our ship and that of the Gold Ship Voyagers was not unfamiliar to me.

  Basil recognized it at the same time I did. “The Sea-Vulture.”

  He was right. I had seen the pirate vessel only once before with my waking eyes, but it was fresh enough in my nightmares that there was no mistaking it.

  Basil and I watched as the two ships set themselves on a collision course, the gold-sailed vessel making for us and the pirate ship positioning itself to intercept.

  “What are they doing?” I murmured, not really expecting an answer.

  A booming noise suddenly burst from the direction of the Sea-Vulture, a deafening sound that rolled across the distance like a clap of thunder. At the same time, a flash of fire and smoke exploded from the side of the ship. Before I could understand what was happening, a section of water between the pirates’ vessel and that of the Gold Ship Voyagers erupted, fountaining up in a great splash that sent rough waves rippling outward.

  “It’s a warning shot,” Basil said as the waves reached us and rocked our boat.

  “A warning what?” I eyed the Sea-Vulture fearfully, noticing for the first time the long, dark barrels protruding from its side.

  “It’s cannon fire,” he explained. “They have guns mounted on the ship, like the Big Thunders you saw at Port Unity.”

  Vaguely I remembered the strange weapons used to keep the peace at the port town. So this was what cannon could do. I didn’t know whether to be impressed or terrified by the powerful display.

  “Why are they shooting into the water?” I asked.

  “The pirates are trying to chase the Voyagers away,” Basil answered. “They’re claiming us as their prize.”

  “They’re fighting over us?”

  Even as I asked the question, I wondered which outcome would be worse. A pirate victory? Or to be killed or taken by the barbarous Gold Ship Voyagers? It seemed we would die equally quickly in either scenario.

  “Are they likely to shoot on us?” I asked.

  “No. They don’t want to blow us to pieces. At least not yet. They want to take whatever cargo we’re carrying.”

  “Which is none.”

  “Yes, but they don’t know that,” he said grimly.

  As we watched, the gold-sailed ship seemed to hesitate on its course. What were they doing? With the rest of the Voyager fleet in the background, the gold-sailed ship could easily outnumber the pirates. In comparison to the sleek and speedy Voyager ships, the pirate vessel was slow and heavy, looking like a clumsily built relic from a previous century. Yet the Gold Ship Voyagers seemed intimidated by the pirate ship’s guns. From what I could see, they appeared to have no such weapons of their own. Maybe the Voyager captain thought a prize as small as us wasn’t worth the risk of taking damage. After all, they couldn’t possibly recognize me across this distance as the girl with the magic hand, the bonder of the dragon they had taken. Or perhaps they thought better of deviating from their current mission.

  For whatever reason, the Voyager ship didn’t answer the pirates’ challenge. Instead, it veered off and changed course. Basil and I could only stand as helpless spectators as the sleek vessel turned around and chased after the rest of its fleet on the horizon.

  Now we were at the mercy of Captain Ulysses and his pirates. Our fate had been decided even if we didn’t quite know what it would be.

  “Should we run?” I asked Basil.

  It sounded like a plan he would approve of. But for once, my cousin thought better of the idea.

  “It would be foolish to flee,” he said. “Remember, they can blow us out of the water at any time they choose. It’s not in their interests to do it right now, but they would likely destroy us before letting us get away.”

  “Then we have no choice,” I realized as the hulking pirate ship headed our way. “All we can do is wait to be boarded.”

  * * *

  I used the short space of time we had available before the enemy reached us to hide the magical minute glass I still carried inside an inner pocket of my tunic. The metal armbands I usually wore around my biceps went into the same place. Unlike the minute glass, the trinkets had little value. But they were etched with the interlinking symbols of the Nine Isles, and I had few enough possessions left to remind me of home. I wasn’t going to lose these to a lot of greedy pirates.

  I stashed away a few magic-tinged ingredients I had taken from among the mapmaker’s things as well. We might yet need them in the unlikely event we survived whatever was about to happen. The unfinished map itself I had no place to stash. Because of its size, there was no choice but to leave it among our provisions.

  As the Sea-Vulture drew up alongside us and our smaller ship fell under its shadow, I looked up to s
ee a row of hard, weathered faces looking down on us. Remembering the last time we had been prisoners aboard this vessel, dread settled into my stomach. Before, we had escaped Captain Ulysses and whatever mad scheme he had planned. I knew we would not be so lucky again.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Aboard the pirate ship, we were shoved around by our captors and roughly searched for weapons. The small possessions in my secret inner pocket were not discovered. Glancing down over the ship’s rail, I saw the sailors who had boarded our smaller vessel swarming over the deck, searching for anything worth taking. I had the faint satisfaction of knowing they would find nothing worthy of their trouble. All Basil and I had on board were our provisions, and even those were beginning to run low.

  Our enemies cursed and threatened but stopped short of seriously harming us. I wondered what held them back.

  I didn’t have to wonder long. The collection of men around us grew hushed and suddenly parted as someone approached.

  “And so, we three cross paths again: the captain, the horned girl, and the quaking betrayer of bargains.”

  I winced at the familiar voice that cut through the gathering, even before the speaker became visible. In another moment, Captain Ulysses appeared before us.

  The pirate captain looked as I had seen him last, during my recent dream. He wore his usual flared coat of deep blue and the broad-brimmed hat with its big buckle on front and colorful plumes drooping down the side. In his ears were the earrings shaped like tiny skeletons that jiggled when he moved. His face was bronzed by the sun and scarred by the years, his cold eyes alert. The madness that sometimes seemed to grip him did not have hold at the moment.

  He continued, “The last time you two were our guests, we hardly had time to get acquainted. You departed in the night so suddenly that a good deal o’ business was left unfinished.”

  He let the words hang on the air for a moment, as if awaiting an explanation. I was careful to keep my eyes on the captain and not let my gaze flit over his crew, seeking out the face of Basil’s sister. We must not give her away as the traitor and our secret ally.

  When no response was forthcoming, Ulysses shrugged and changed the subject. “You put me in a place of great temptation today. It be no easy thing, resistin’ the chance to blow those filthy Gold Ship Voyagers out of the water. But we couldn’t allow ourselves to be distracted from our mission. Pluckin’ you, undamaged, from the water was more important than the satisfaction of sinkin’ the barbarian scum.”

  “We’re grateful for your rescue,” I said dryly.

  Ulysses flashed his teeth. “It was a small sacrifice,” he said. “The Voyagers’ time will come another day, and then my patience will be rewarded.”

  I heard noises behind me that announced the boarding party had abandoned our empty ship and was returning to this one. I ignored their arrival.

  Basil cut into the conversation. “Why have you hunted us down?” he asked the pirate captain. “Why are we worth so much?”

  Ulysses barely glanced at him. “You, my cowardly Seastrider, be worth nothin’. You live merely so your life or death can lend motivation to the girl.”

  “Motivation for what?” I asked.

  The pirate captain looked at my hand, which glowed faintly with its usual reddish-purple light. “I see you still haven’t managed to break free o’ the bracelet I gave you on our last meetin’,” he said.

  I wouldn’t be distracted by the taunt. “What is it you want from us? Where are you taking us and why?”

  “Where?” Ulysses repeated softly, as if considering the question. “We be settin’ sail for the Bleak Coast. As to the why, I have told you that before. We go to do battle with time itself.”

  I bit back the observation that his statement made no sense. Something told me the most dangerous thing to do with a madman was to call out his lunacy.

  I glanced back over my shoulder and saw that we were shoving off from the smaller ship and sailing away, leaving our abandoned boat behind. The pirates must have stripped it already of anything they wanted. Seeing it bobbing empty on the water as the expanse widened between us, my heart sank. With that ship, we were leaving behind our only connection to the larger world, our only possibility of escape. From here on out, it was just us, the pirates, and the endless miles of surrounding sea. Then too there was the unfinished map we had been forced to leave on board the ship.

  I snapped back to the moment to realize that the pirate captain was gone. Through the cluster of crewmen, I glimpsed his broad blue-coated back as he walked away, returning to his cabin. It appeared our interview was over. I wondered what was supposed to happen next.

  I didn’t have to wonder long. A pirate with a scarred cheek and a pair of dark braids moved in closer, a sneer on his face. I recognized him as one of our guards from the last time we were aboard this ship.

  “Since ye didn’t care for our brig last time, we’ve found a more comfortable place for ye, Seastrider,” he mocked Basil.

  The pirates had always had more venom for my cousin than for me, due to a bargain he had broken with them in the past. They had also never figured out that he and I were related.

  “Ye’ll get lots of light,” the pirate with the braids continued, “and plenty of fresh air. Ain’t that right, boys?”

  His companions, gathered around, nodded and laughed knowingly.

  What was in store for us now? Where could they keep us that would be worse than before?

  I heard a grinding rattling sound then and looked to where a couple of pirates at the foot of a mast were working chains slung from a yardarm above. A pair of heavy metal boxes that had been suspended from the chains landed on the deck nearby. They were constructed of iron bars and shaped like open cages intended to house wild beasts.

  “Enjoy yer new accommodations.” A one-eyed pirate laughed as he seized me and shoved me into one of the tall cages.

  Beside me, Basil was pushed into the other prison. Then a string of pirates took hold of the chains and hauled on them until Basil and I were hoisted up into the air, dangling by the iron links that suspended us from the yardarm.

  Looking down at the deck far below, I couldn’t move without setting my cage swinging wildly. The height and motion were dizzying. Worse, the box of bars that held me was so small I couldn’t stand upright but had to fold myself at an awkward crouching angle. I kept still in the center of the cage to balance it and tried not to look down or think about what would happen if the chain supporting my weight was to break.

  Basil, hanging from the opposite yardarm, was in the same precarious position as me.

  Just when I thought my spirits couldn’t sink any lower, a great booming sound like the crack of thunder made me start. My motion set the cage jiggling, but I was too distracted to care. I looked to see smoke wafting up from one of the ship’s cannons below. Then there came a crashing sound of impact. It took me a moment to realize what the pirates were shooting at.

  Then I saw it, far back behind us. The small ship that had been bobbing on the water, my ship and Basil’s, had just erupted in a shower of splinters and debris. I watched as its remains sank quickly beneath the ocean, nothing but a strip of canvas sail and a few broken timbers still clinging to the surface. I thought of the map I had been forced to abandon and knew the mapmaker’s unfinished work was forever lost.

  * * *

  As the day wore on, it grew warm, swinging in our cages beneath the glaring sun. At least we had the sea breeze to offer us some relief. But we were given nothing to eat or drink.

  My mouth soon grew parched, and I thought longingly of our waterskins, now in the pirates’ possession, like everything else.

  Birds began to alight on my cage and peck at me through the bars. These weren’t the nervous white gulls I was familiar with but larger, bolder birds with black feathers. I swatted at them, but they weren’t easily frightened away.

  With nothing else to do, I unwound the bandage Helia had wrapped around my forearm the other day and che
cked on my injuries. The salve must have been powerful stuff. The wounds made by the jungle cat’s teeth were healing quickly. Soon there would be nothing left but a row of scars shaped like puncture marks, assuming I lived long enough to develop the scars.

  Watching the pirates scuttle around on the decks below all day, I was unable to ascertain what their long-term plans for us were. I was grateful we hadn’t been killed immediately but couldn’t help wondering if we were being kept alive to suffer some fate worse than instant death. Maybe they meant to leave us in these cages until we died? But that seemed unlikely. Captain Ulysses had gone to a great deal of trouble to hunt me down not once but twice. Right from our first meeting, he had been fascinated by the glowing magic I carried in my hand. I was positive he had a use in mind for my power. I just didn’t know what it was.

  One thing was sure. If we were left to hang in these cages beneath the sun much longer, we might not survive to reach the mysterious Bleak Coast Ulysses had spoken of. Without water, we wouldn’t last long.

  The sun burned its way across the sky, and the shadows of masts and sails grew long across the deck below. Still no one paid us any attention. Once, Basil tried to shout down to a cluster of pirates that we needed water. But if they heard him they pretended not to. The crew busied themselves with their work, seeming to forget we hung suspended above their heads.

  It wasn’t until the setting sun was painting the sky with hues of rose and gold that our situation changed. I was slumped in the bottom of my prison, reexamining the wounds on my arm, for lack of anything better to do, when something squishy splatted against my back.

  I gave a startled exclamation and looked down to see who was throwing things at me.

  “Take that, you filthy cowards! It’s no worse than you deserve,” shouted a voice from below.

  I looked down to see that a single pirate, this one scrawny and dressed in a ragged coat, was standing directly below, hurling bright round objects up at us. My hand shot out between the bars of my cage to catch the next missile before it could strike and splatter me with its sticky liquid. Turning the orange ball around in my hands, I discovered it wasn’t rotten food as I had first thought but a fresh, juicy orange. Just the smell of it made my mouth water.