Fire over Swallowhaven (3 page)

“You know all there is to know of the ways and means of battling pirates?” he asked in a quavering voice.

“Sure thing,” said Esmeralda. “Ask away!”

The bear gazed past her. “Junior Grand Warden, these animals must join our invincible fleet. Take them to Grand Admiral Agrocrites Firwig. They will make excellent scouts in the coming strife.”

“Here, wait a minute,” Esmeralda exclaimed as several pairs of hands reached for her. “That wasn’t the plan at all!”

“So?” Trundle whispered pointedly. “How exactly do you intend to get us out of this mess?”

Esmeralda frowned at him. “Give me time. I’m thinking.”

“Thinking is good,” murmured Jack. “Thinking before you talk us into trouble is even better.”

Esmeralda gave him a quick glare but said nothing.

“Do you think your aunty will be with the pirates?” asked Trundle, a shiver running down his spine as he remembered all the trouble that wicked old lady had caused them.

“Not her,” said Esmeralda. “She’ll be snug in her caravan, plotting horrible plots, if I know her. I think this attack on Swallowhaven is probably all Grizzletusk’s idea. A quick way to add to his coffers!”

They were back aboard the
Thief in the Night
, heading for one of the city’s internal wharves. A Swallowhaven warden was at the tiller, and another sat in the prow with a drawn sword across his lap.
Escape was not an option. Coming up fast on their starboard bow was a flamboyantly decorated five-masted galleon, with billowing golden sails and glittering gilt deck rails. As they came closer, Trundle saw its name in gold leaf at the prow: the
Gilded Lily
.

He gazed at the gaudily adorned windship, thinking of the
Iron Pig
, with its bloodred sails and its ironclad hull and its formidable cannon. Only the pirates knew the secret of the exploding blackpowder that fueled their cannon and their muskets and pistols. He could see this fancy galleon being blown into tiny fragments within five minutes of the battle getting started.

We’re doomed, he thought. Totally doomed.

“Is this the only windship you’ve got?” Jack asked the warden at the tiller. “Only—no offense, it doesn’t really look up to engaging with the
Iron Pig
.”

“It was thought prudent to put as much of our wealth as possible beyond the reach of the coming
enemy,” the warden replied stiffly. “Most of the rest of the invincible fleet was mostly used to transport most of our treasures into hiding in Mousehole Reach.”

“Well, that was
mostly
a bit silly, wasn’t it?” said Esmeralda. “How exactly were you planning on fighting them?”

“We’re rich,” the warden commented, with a snooty curl of the lip. “We can afford to pay
other
people to do the actual fighting.”

They came alongside the
Gilded Lily,
and the little skyboat was quickly secured. The wardens escorted Trundle, Esmeralda, and Jack aboard the galleon, and they soon found themselves on the forecastle, under the stern gaze of an elderly goat in a dazzlingly
braided and bemedaled uniform. Above his long, mournful face, he wore a cocked hat spouting gold plumes.

“Admiral Agrocrites Firwig, I presume?” said Esmeralda. “Are you in charge of this woeful excuse for a navy? You do know you’re all going to be killed, don’t you? If you’ll take my advice, you’ll pack your bags and head for Mousehole Reach as quickly as the wind will take you.”

Admiral Firwig adjusted his monocle. “I don’t think that will be necessary,” he announced. “We have assembled a formidable fleet of paid soldiers.” He looked at Esmeralda and Trundle and Jack with a doubtful eye. “I’m informed that you
persons
will be useful in the thick of the battle as scouts and expert observers.”

“In the thick of the battle?” echoed Jack in alarm. “I’m not so sure about that.”

“Would you care to take a tour of our defenses?”
Admiral Firwig continued, ignoring Jack’s comment.

“Yes, why not?” said Esmeralda. “Show us what you’ve got, admiral.”

Firwig muttered some orders to a nearby officer, and a few minutes later, the
Gilded Lily
had set sail and was gliding on a curved course out from the city. Ahead of them, Trundle saw a row of ten windships hanging motionless in the sky, each with a chunk of powerstone secured to the mainmast. Not for the first time, he found himself marveling at the properties of powerstone.

Without this extraordinary rock, there could be no sailing through the skies of the Sundered Lands; buoyant as cork in water, it allowed the windships and skyboats to float in the air. Every vessel had a chunk of powerstone onboard, usually kept in a wooden basket at the head of the mast. Any vessel that lost its powerstone was doomed to plunge down into the black, frozen nothingness that lurked in the unfathomable
depths beneath the lowest of the islands.

“These are converted merchant vessels,” the admiral explained as they hove to, next to the becalmed fleet. “As you will see, they are not entirely unprepared for warfare.”

The
Gilded Lily
sailed sedately along the front of the line of windships. They had names like the
Spice Gales
, and the
Sarky Cut
, and
Trades Increase
. Trundle could see that big rectangular shields had been arranged along the bows of the windships, and there were many archers and soldiers aboard.

“The archers’ arrows have been dipped in dark lotus juice,” the admiral explained proudly.

“Never heard of it,” said Esmeralda. “What is it?”

“A poisonous brew made from the stamens and pistils of the dark lotus flowers, found only in the jungles of Spyre,” explained the admiral. “Even the slightest scratch of a lotus-dipped arrow will cause hallucinations and hysterics and raving lunacy.”

“Hmm,” said Jack. “Handy, that. But we were
told that Captain Grizzletusk has a fleet of twenty-five windships. Even with that nifty juice, you’re outnumbered two and a half to one. And they have blackpowder!”

“This is merely the visible part of our fleet,” said the admiral. “I will now show you the rest.” Another order sent the
Gilded Lily
speeding forward.

A loud female voice boomed out. “Admiral Firwig! Captain Dolly Wideawake seeking permission to come aboard the flagship, sir.”

“Permission granted!” the admiral called back. The
Gilded Lily
hove to, and the formidable figure of a badger in half armor, with a plumed beret at a jaunty angle on her head, came swinging over on a bosun’s chair, a contraption made up of a wooden seat suspended from ropes.

“And who are these little fellows?” boomed Captain Wideawake, fists on hips as she stared at Trundle and his friends.

“They are experts in the tactics and gambits required to fight pirates,” explained the admiral.

“Hurrumph!” snorted Captain Wideawake. “Just let my Swallowhaven Amazons at ’em, that’s all I ask. Why, the crew of the
Bolt from the Blue
could clear the skies of pirates singlehanded, and that’s a fact!”

“May I remind you, captain, that your crew consists entirely of ladies of the Guild of Seamstresses?” the admiral said mildly. “Remarkable as they are, I feel a little extra help
might
come in useful. Would you care to accompany us to Underhaven so our newfound friends can meet our trusted allies?”

“I will that,” said Captain Wideawake. “Although whether soldiers whose loyalty can be bought for a hatful of sunders are going to prove trustworthy, we’ve yet to find out.”

“Captain Wilde and Captain Darkside are honorable animals,” said the admiral.

“Hurrumph!” said Wideawake.

The admiral ignored her. “Make sail for Underhaven!” he called.

The
Gilded Lily
described a long, graceful arc through the sky, turning to approach the city but steadily swooping lower and lower until Trundle realized they were going to sail right underneath the island.

They swept on, the underside of the island of Swallowhaven passing massively above them like a rugged and jagged ceiling—all craggy, barren rock honeycombed with caverns and pits and gullies. Hidden from the beams of the sun, it was a dark place where chill winds wafted and sneaked.

And then Trundle saw the two fleets of windships, lurking down there in the deep shadows. The closer fleet consisted of six war galleons, painted bright red, armed with rams and fitted out with harpoon launchers shaped like great crossbows. That looked more hopeful, he thought, although he also noted
with a quiver of unease that the crews of these ships were made up of wolves and foxes.

“My old dad told me never to trust those creatures,” he whispered to Jack. “He always said, ‘While the wolf keeps you talking at the front door, the fox is busy in the larder.’”

“These look a decent bunch,” Jack replied lightly. “I think we should give them the benefit of the doubt.”

“Hmm,” said Trundle dubiously.

As the
Gilded Lily
sailed by, a dandified wolf in a silver helmet launched himself from the poop-deck rail of the
Scarlet Scavenger
and swung over on a rope. He landed lightly, sweeping the helmet from his head and bowing low.

“Captain Amery Wilde at your service,” he announced with a flash of white teeth. He stepped forward, lifting Dolly Wideawake’s plump paw and planting a kiss on it. “A pleasure, as always.” He
straightened up, his eyes sparkling with dash and brio. “Admiral Firwig, my men are at your command. Give your orders and we will obey.”

“As soon as the pirate fleet appears, I want your windships to speed from cover,” said the admiral. “Use your normal tactics, captain—ram them, harpoon them, and then board them.”

“It shall be done!” said Captain Amery with a flourish. “We will smite them hip and thigh, admiral, with sword, ax, and halberd.” His eyes gleamed. “And as we agreed, any ships we capture are ours to take and sell?”

“They are indeed,” said the admiral.

“Admirable!” said Amery Wilde. He smiled at Trundle and Esmeralda and Jack. “Forgive my discourtesy, my fine fellows,” he said. “I have pressing work to attend to, but I hope we will have time for introductions later. We shall drink together from the cup of victory when the battle is won!” And so saying,
he caught hold of the rope again and swung back to his own windship.

“Well, he was a nice enough fellow,” said Jack. “And a good chap to have with you in a tight corner, I dare say.”

Trundle nodded, reassured by Captain Wilde’s breezy and friendly manner.

As the
Gilded Lily
sailed on, it became clear that the second of the secret fleets was a different proposition altogether. It consisted of four rather odd-looking windships, which seemed to be made entirely from dull gray iron. The hulls were of riveted iron strips, as were the decks and the featureless pilothouses; even the masts and the large powerstone baskets were iron. From the center of each of the pilothouses jutted a strange iron funnel, spouting thick smoke. The curious windships were also strangely noisy: clankings and rumblings and clangings reverberated from their iron hulls. Trundle also noticed large, weirdly shaped
objects on the decks, hidden under gray tarpaulins.

The lead windship was called the
Black Velvet
. Standing on the quarterdeck, small and grim in a frock coat and two-cornered hat with a black cockade, was a mole whose eyes were all but hidden behind blue-tinted spectacles. Their lenses were as thick as the bottoms of bottles. The silent crews of the four windships were also moles, clad in grimy dungarees and tinted eye-concealing glasses.