‘They’re going to take us down!’ she cried.
‘They’re just trying to scare you,’ Will said. ‘Don’t let them!’ He grinned at her. ‘If they want my boat, they’re going to have to work for it!’
‘If they want whose boat?’ Annalie retorted.
Closer they came, closer and closer, and the guns waved and the men shouted but still no shots had been fired, and still the Sunfish sailed on, further and further from the coast of Brundisi, and Annalie began to hope that perhaps they might be able to keep running long enough for the pirates to get sick of it and give up. But of course, pirates didn’t give up.
‘Annalie!’ Essie shrieked. ‘Look!’
One of the little boats had swung close enough to let a pirate leap from the moving dinghy directly onto the ladder at the back.
He was on deck in a flash, and his rifle—just like the one Will held—was pointed directly at Annalie. He shouted something, which was probably ‘Surrender, or I’ll shoot.’ Annalie, watching him cautiously, slowly took her hands off the wheel and put them in the air.
The pirate, who was short and wiry and had a red bandana tied around his head, grinned at her and began advancing, step by step, towards the wheel. He shouted something to the other pirates, who were circling in closer now.
Essie stood there in an agony of fear, waiting for Will to make his move. If he was going to take on the pirate, shouldn’t he do it now?
But Will held on, waiting for his moment. He knew he could only surprise them once. If he broke cover too soon, it could all be over very quickly.
Red Bandana shouted something over his shoulder. His dinghy came circling in towards the Sunfish again, and soon the pirates were tying up so more of them could come aboard. Red Bandana turned back to Annalie and Essie and shouted something else, pointing at the sails.
‘I think he wants us to take the sails down,’ Essie said.
‘Yep,’ Annalie said.
‘Should we?’
‘He’s got the gun.’
Unwillingly, Annalie and Essie set to work on the sails. They made slow progress—working at gunpoint was terrifying and Essie’s hands were shaking so much she could hardly control them.
A second pirate came aboard, then a third. The second wore a jaunty blue hat, and he said in accented Duxish, ‘How many you?’
‘It’s just us,’ Annalie said.
Blue Hat and Red Bandana shared an evil grin. ‘Nice boat,’ Blue Hat said. ‘I think I keep.’
He turned to the third, bearded pirate and spoke to him in his own language. Beardy came towards the girls, and for a moment they both froze, afraid of what he might be about to do, but he simply pushed them out of the way and began to take down the sails. He had arms like knotted ropes; in his hands, the sails would be down in minutes.
‘What are you going to do with us?’ Annalie asked, trying to keep the other pirates distracted.
‘You got money?’
‘Yes,’ Essie said quickly. ‘I mean, my father does.’
‘Where he?’ asked Blue Hat. ‘He here? Brundisi?’
‘Back in Dux,’ Essie said. ‘He’s very rich.’
‘He better be,’ Blue Hat said.
Blue Hat turned and gave Red Bandana an order. Red Bandana grabbed Annalie and began to tie her hands behind her back. Annalie struggled, but the pirate was too strong for her. In no time, she was tied up tight, and Red Bandana was lashing her to the mast, where there could be no chance of her making any trouble. Then he went back for Essie.
Will, what’s taking you so long? Annalie wondered, as Red Bandana began tying Essie up too.
Will was still lying concealed, his gun at the ready, trying to decide what to do. There had been three pirates on the first dinghy. From what he could glimpse of the other two dinghies, which were now cruising beside the Sunfish, there were no more than three in either of those—that meant nine pirates in all. He could feel the Sunfish slowing as the sails came down, one by one. Nine pirates wasn’t so many, right? He and Pod could handle nine of them between them, couldn’t they? Especially since they still had the element of surprise.
An engine roared nearby, and he realised the second dinghy was coming alongside. Three more pirates came aboard and conferred with the first group. They looked at the girls tied to the mast and discussed them for a while. Then Blue Hat turned to Annalie and said, ‘Just you two on boat, right?’
‘That’s right,’ Annalie said.
‘We don’t like surprises,’ Blue Hat warned.
Two of the second group of pirates went to the door that led below. They were going down to check the saloon.
Will clutched his gun a little tighter, feeling a surge of adrenalin. As soon as they discovered Pod, it would all be on.
Pod stood behind the door to the cabin he shared with Will, the stolen gun in his hands, waiting. It felt rather strange to be in this position. The last time he’d held a gun, he had been a pirate, and part of a boarding party just like this one.
Before he joined the crew of the Sunfish, Pod had been a reluctant pirate—it had seemed a better fate than being stuck in a dark, stinking slaver’s ship, and at least on a pirate ship he had a job, and the possibility of a future. He had not wanted to be in the business of hunting down boats, stripping them of everything of value, and then ransoming their crews. But you couldn’t say ‘Actually, I’d rather not’ to your pirate master, so during the year he’d spent with the
