Sebastian Darke: Prince of Pirates (43 page)

He knew in that moment that he was not going to make it; that he was going to die there in the water in full sight of his friends and the woman he loved. His arms were aching, his chest was ready to burst and he felt a terrible sadness enclose him, just as surely as the jaws of the kelfer would swallow him down.

He felt the advancing surge of water, smelled the kelfer's awful stench, and he steeled himself for the impact of those terrible teeth; but then something came between Sebastian and the glare of the sun. A figure was diving down from the rail of the
Sea Witch
; a small figure clutching a dagger in his teeth. For a moment Sebastian imagined that it must be Cornelius, recovered from his faint and leaping down to help his friend. But no, it wasn't Cornelius. It was the Kid.

An instant later he landed with a thud on the kelfer's striped back, and Sebastian turned in astonishment, just in time to see the Kid's right hand lifting the dagger and driving it down, down into the beast's black, vacant eye. There was an unearthly scream, the like of which Sebastian had never heard before. The kelfer's powerful tail thrashed the water as it went into its death agonies, the movement throwing the Kid aside like a child's toy. Then the creature was spiralling down into deeper water, a crimson cloud streaming from its stricken eye, and others of its kind, alerted by the smell of blood, were following it down, intent on feasting on its massive body.

'That was for my dad!' yelled the Kid, staring down at the diminishing shape in the depths. He turned in the water and grinned at Sebastian. 'You OK?' he asked.

At first Sebastian couldn't find the words to tell him how he felt. Instead, he gave the Kid a fierce hug.

'All right, all right, there's no need to get all mushy,' said the Kid, pushing him away.

'That was the bravest thing I ever saw,' gasped Sebastian. 'You . . . you saved my life.'

'Yeah, I did, didn't I?' said the Kid. And he laughed at the realization that he had just done something incredibly heroic.

The two of them started to swim back to the
Sea Witch
. In moments they had reached the hull and the crew were lowering ropes to pull them to safety.

Sebastian had never been more grateful to climb aboard a ship. Jenna was waiting for him and they embraced while the crew roared their approval. Everyone wanted to shake the Kid's hand and tousle his hair, and then his father was there, hugging him and crying with delight at what he had done.

'You killed him, Beverly!' he cried. 'You killed the beast that's haunted me all these years.'

The Kid looked embarrassed. 'Please don't call me Beverly,' he hissed.

Sebastian and Jenna were still hugging each other as though their very lives depended on it.

'You can cut that out for a start,' said a familiar voice; and there was Max, dripping wet and as cantankerous as ever. 'It's a wonder I didn't kill myself crashing through that rail,' he moaned. 'Whose idea was that ridiculous charge, anyway? I could have drowned.'

Sebastian laughed. 'It was a funny time to go for a swim,' he said. He looked anxiously at Jenna. 'Cornelius?' he asked.

'Over here,' she told him. She led him across the deck to where the little warrior lay covered in a blanket. His face was still unnaturally pale, but at least he was conscious and able to muster a weak smile.

Sebastian knelt beside him. 'How are you?' he asked.

'Oh, I'll survive. As soon as the ship's surgeon is free, he's going to stitch up this leg. I dare say I'll be left with a limp, but it could have been a lot worse. For a moment, back there, I thought I'd lost the whole leg.' Cornelius narrowed his eyes and fixed Sebastian with an admonishing look. 'You're making a habit of going it alone,' he said. 'Or I'm making a habit of avoiding the action – one of the two. I'm told you fought like a hero.'

Sebastian laughed at that. 'I fought like a very clumsy hero who had luck on his side,' he said. 'Not to mention a gigantic kelfer.'

'You can thank Captain Donovan for getting you to the boat,' Jenna told Cornelius. 'That ship went down so fast at the end, it's a wonder you weren't lost along with everything . . .' Her eyes widened in realization and she turned to stare at the spot where the
Marauder
had vanished, where now there was nothing more than a swirl in the water and a few motley pieces of wreckage bobbing forlornly in the waves. 'The treasure!' she gasped. 'I forgot all about it. It must have been somewhere aboard the
Marauder
!'

'Oh no.' The words came to Sebastian's lips automatically, and yet he said them with no real trace of regret. After all, they had hung onto the most precious thing of all: their lives. He didn't bother to tell Jenna that he'd actually seen the packs lying on a table in the captain's cabin.

'Well, that's just typical, isn't it!' complained Max. 'That just puts the ruddy cap on it! We go all that way, struggle through the worst odds, face the most terrible dangers . . . and for what? Our wonderful treasure ends up lying at the bottom of the sea.'

Sebastian shrugged. 'Well, Max, that's the way it goes. You win some, you lose some.'

'Oh no, I'm not going to be reasonable about this. I was owed a share in that treasure and I earned it as much as any of you. Have you any idea how many fresh, ripe pommers I could have bought with that kind of money?'

'I'll buy you some pommers,' said Sebastian. 'As soon as we get back to land.' He looked at Jenna. 'Forget about the treasure,' he advised her. 'It's gone where we can never reach it. And besides, we know where there's plenty more, don't we?'

Cornelius moaned softly. 'Grant me one favour,' he murmured. 'Let's wait a little while before we go looking again. To tell you the truth, I could do with a bit of a rest.' He closed his eyes and slipped back into unconsciousness.

'Yes, go ahead, sleep,' muttered Max. 'I probably won't sleep for a month! All that lovely treasure, gone. It's enough to make you want to spit!' And he stomped off along the deck with a sour expression on his face, muttering angrily to himself.

Sebastian got to his feet, and he and Jenna walked to the ship's rail. She was still watching the spot where the
Marauder
had vanished, as if hoping against hope that the treasure would come floating to the surface again.

Sebastian put an arm around her shoulders. 'What are you thinking about?' he asked her.

'I'm wondering how I'm going to explain to the crew that they're not getting paid for this trip,' she said glumly. She turned and fixed him with a soulful look. 'And I'm thinking that even if I'm not rich, I've still got my ship and my crew . . .'

'And me,' he prompted her. 'Don't forget me.'

She laughed. 'How could I do that?' she said and she hugged him close. There was a long moment in which Sebastian found himself thinking that he had found exactly what he was looking for; that he would never need to go adventuring again.

Then Jenna stepped away from him and turned to shout to her crew. 'All right, boys, let's rig those sails. We're heading home.'

The crew ran to carry out her orders. Willing hands heaved on ropes, canvas flapped in the gathering breeze, and in a short while the sails were billowing full and the
Sea Witch
was gathering speed, leaving the scene of devastation behind.

It was a long journey back to Ramalat, but an uneventful one.

Sebastian stared across the tavern table at Jenna. He couldn't believe what she'd just told him.

'Two moons?' he said. 'The trip's going to take two whole moons? You are joking, I hope.'

She shook her head sadly. 'No, I'm deadly serious. Sebastian, I really don't have any choice. My crew are patient men, but if they don't get paid soon, I'll have a mutiny on my hands.'

They had been back in Ramalat a matter of days; time enough for them to get to know each other better; time enough for Cornelius to be able to limp around the place without too much trouble; and time enough for Max to eat his way through a massive number of pommers. So when Jenna had asked Sebastian to meet her at the Spyglass Inn, he had expected to laugh and drink a couple of tankards of ale and not much else. But she informed him straight away of her plans. She had signed a contract to carry a cargo of cloth right round the coast to the southern shores of Mendip. The trip was a long one and she would be away for at least two moons. Fifty-four days. It seemed like a lifetime.

'It's not as though you didn't expect something like this,' she reminded him. 'We talked about it before, remember?'

'Well, yes, but I hardly expected it to be for so long.'

She frowned. 'I know it's a long trip, but it's a fairly easy one and it will pay good money. Two hundred gold crowns. I'll be able to give the crew all their back wages
and
have a healthy bit put by to tide us over. And . . . well, it's not as if you're bringing in any money, is it?'

He gave her a reproachful look. 'That's not fair,' he said. 'You know I've been trying to find something.'

'Maybe . . .' She glanced at him warily. 'Maybe you could go back to your old jester's act. I'm sure you'd find the odd booking.'

He shook his head. 'There's no way I'll try that again. I already told you, I'm just not cut out to be a jester. No, my plan is to raise enough money to finance another trip to the treasure cave.'

'Oh, Sebastian, I don't know – it nearly killed us all last time!'

'Yes, but this time we'd do it
right
. But we'd need to equip ourselves properly, and of course that takes money. Big money.'

Jenna sighed. 'It always comes down to that in the end,' she observed. 'I thought Cornelius was hatching some kind of scheme to raise the finance.'

Sebastian shrugged. 'Well, yes, he did say he wanted to introduce me to somebody. I'm supposed to meet up with him in a café later on. Only I'm not sure I'm in the mood now, you giving me that news and everything.'

'Don't be such a baby!' She studied him for a moment. 'I suppose . . . you could always come with me,' she said.

But he knew from the sound of her voice that this really wasn't a serious option. He would only be in her way. And besides, he wasn't cut out to be a sailor. After his last trip across the sea he had pretty much decided to cross that off his 'to do' list.

'I don't think so,' he said. 'Sailing isn't for me. I've gone right off water after that close brush with the kelfers. It's just . . . well, how am I supposed to occupy myself while you're gone?'

'Oh, you'll think of something. Besides' – she fluttered her eyelashes at him – 'I've heard that absence makes the heart grow fonder.'

'Not possible, in my case.' He reached out and placed a hand on hers. 'When will you leave?'

She gave him a sheepish look. 'In three days,' she said.