43
THE LOST BUCCANEER
“This is the last of them,” Captain Quivers told Captain Grammont as she shepherded the junior class through the wooden doors into the Rotunda. Lisabeth Quivers looked back across the lawns of Pirate Academy, out past the harbor arch, to the mass of ships locked in conflict. She realized that she could no longer tell which belonged to her comrades and which to the enemy armada.
“Quick now!” Captain Grammont addressed the students, leading them across the floor of the Rotunda. “Onto the platform! Okay, that’s enough for now.”
The impromptu elevator began its descent to the subterranean bunker. There were excited looks on the young kids’ faces; it seemed that even during times of stress, there were small pleasures to be derived. The rest of the class lately ushered in by Lisabeth Quivers stood by, eagerly awaiting their own turn on the elevator.
As the platform returned to draw level with the mosaic floor, Captain Grammont beckoned over the next group of students. As he did so, there was a sudden clinking noise overhead. Looking up, Grammont saw that the cases of swords were vibrating. He couldn’t help but wonder what might prompt such unusual movement. Dark thoughts of incendiary devices on the roof crossed his mind but he gritted his teeth and maintained his sangfroid.
Captain Quivers’s eyes had also been drawn up to the glass cases. Their movement was becoming more and more agitated. Determined not to alarm her young charges, still she exchanged an anxious glance with Captain Grammont. They were all standing directly beneath the rattling cases. The cases had begun to strike one another now. Glass chimed on glass, sending out a discordant sequence of notes, which made an ugly music with the ever- present wail of the “under attack” sirens.
“Should we…” Captain Quivers began. Before she could complete the thought, the cases suddenly shattered and shards of glass rained down from above.
“Run, everyone!” Grammont cried. “This way!”
The kids screamed, racing for cover. The falling glass was the least of it. As the cases broke, the hundred or more swords contained within them began their own descent. Razor-sharp steel and silver began hurtling down toward the students.
Captain Quivers pulled two of the youngsters within her grasp out of the danger zone. She saw Grammont do the same from the other side.
But then, the strangest thing of all happened. Before the swords could reach any of the pirate apprentices, the weapons vaporized before their very eyes.
“What the…” began Grammont, from the sidelines.
“But how?” asked Captain Quivers, her arms tightly hugging the students she had rescued.
Mercifully, miraculously, they had escaped with only minor cuts and grazes. Now they all looked on in wonder.
“Where did the swords go, Headmaster?” asked one of the young students.
Captain Grammont was unable to answer. He just shook his head.
On the deck of
“Thanks!” Bo flushed with pride. She was having fun, momentarily pushing aside all thoughts of the stakes of tonight’s battle and enjoying implementing all her expert training.
Bo Yin and Jasmine looked along the length of the deck. During the course of the fighting, it had thinned out because of the casualties, but now it was suddenly full again.
“Do you see what I see?” Bo Yin asked.
Jasmine nodded. Her first response was alarm. Where had this new crew sprung from? She wasn’t aware of any new ship pulling up alongside.
“Jasmine!” Bo Yin said. “Look around the deck.” Her tone was full of wonder.
Jasmine soon understood why. The deck had suddenly been infiltrated by new combatants. But the new fighters had not arrived from any ships, conventional or otherwise. They were utterly familiar.
“There’s Osbert,” Jasmine said, “who died five months ago. And Bima. We lost her when we took back
Bo Yin nodded. “That’s right, but she’s back again—and she doesn’t seem to have lost any of her combat skills.”
Jasmine’s eyes were wide and her heart was racing. “I don’t know how this happened, Bo, but our dead have come back to join the fight.”
They watched as a Vampirate’s sword passed clean through one of the new arrivals. The dead pirate swiftly staked the Vampirate for his troubles. Jasmine turned to Bo Yin, awestruck.
“It’s as if the swords of our dead crew members are even more lethal than ours!”
“Yes,” Bo agreed, elated. “But it’s not
Jasmine gasped. “You read about them in history books? Can this really be happening? Have the dead come back to help us win this battle?”
Just then, Jasmine saw a familiar figure materialize right before her eyes.
“Commodore Kuo!” she exclaimed.
“At your service!” said the commodore with a smile. He rested his hand on her shoulder. Jasmine’s eyes turned to his hand. How could the swords of the enemy plow uninterrupted through the bodies of the dead pirates and yet she could feel John Kuo’s hand as if it were live flesh? He smiled at her now and it seemed that he had read her thoughts.
“Only our enemies cannot touch us,” he said. “Now don’t let me put you off your game, Deputy Peacock. I’ve been hearing such good things about you.”
Renewed with energy and purpose, Jasmine and Bo raced back into the fray, supported on all sides by their comrades, old and new.
On
She felt a sudden stab of pain in her leg. Glancing down, she saw blood pooling through a slit in her leggings.
“You took your eye off the ball, there,” Stukeley reprimanded her. “Rookie mistake.”
He was right. She was angry with herself. “It won’t happen again!” she said, launching into another intricate series of moves, devised in partnership with Lorcan.
But this time, though the moves themselves were impressive, somehow Stukeley guessed the angle she was coming from and cut off her attack before she had launched it.
“Is that the best you’ve got?” he taunted her. “After all the time, effort, and money you’ve put into developing a revolutionary combat strategy, I expected more.”
