The Book of Wonders (7 page)

She continued on course. However, as they drew level with the stranded boat and she saw the desperation on the young man's face, Zubeyda's frightened eyes, glittering with tears, floated in Zardi's mind. They couldn't just sail past.

“Please, Captain,” she implored, turning to Assam. “Can't we help him?”

The captain scowled at her, but after a moment's more thought, nodded tersely. “Hakeem,” he barked, looking up at the crewman on the mast. “Trim back the sail and get down here. Zee, take us in toward the boat, not too close, we don't want to get trapped by the reeds as well. Rakin, drop the anchor on my count, and Rhidan, go and fetch some rope from the cargo hatch. We're going to pull that boat onto the river.”

Rhidan, who still looked a bit green, agreed readily, and the rest of the crew set about their tasks. Zardi steered the
Triumph
in toward the bank, carefully skirting the olive-colored reeds that reached upward from the riverbed. Once she'd brought them as close to the bank as she dared, Assam went to the port side of the boat and instructed Rakin to drop anchor.

Zardi peered over at the banked boat and its passenger. The stranded boatman's face was deeply tanned and was all sharp angles, but he was much younger than she'd thought initially, maybe thirteen or fourteen.

“What do you suppose he's doing on that boat alone?” Rhidan asked, padding over to Zardi with the heavy rope slung over his shoulder. “Even I can see it's too big for him to handle by himself.”

Zardi frowned. It was almost as if Rhidan had plucked the words straight out of her brain. “Perhaps the rest of his crew have gone to get help,” she reasoned, even as a feeling of unease began to creep through her.
What if this is some kind of trap?

“Rhidan, the rope,” Captain Assam bellowed, making her jump.

“All right, I'm coming,” Rhidan called back. “Would a ‘please' hurt?” he muttered under his breath.

“You too, Zee,” Assam beckoned. “The tiller will be fine unmanned for a moment.”

Zardi and Rhidan joined Assam and his crew at the boat's railing and looked out at the smaller boat that was now only a few arm spans away.

“Thank you so much for stopping,” the boy shouted. “I can't tell you how many boats didn't.”

“Are you alone?” Assam asked.

The boy shook his head. “My brother's gone off to ask the marsh people to help get us out of these reeds. He hasn't come back—” He broke off, a worried look on his face.

At once, Zardi knew this was not a trap. The note of fear in the boy's voice was too real. He needed their help.

Assam must have felt the same because he took the rope from Rhidan and tossed one end of it over to the boy. “What's your name?” the captain asked.

“Nadeem,” the boy replied.

“Nadeem, listen to me closely. Tie that rope tightly around your figurehead,” Assam instructed. “We're going to pull you out.”

Zardi watched as the boy tied the rope around the bird-shaped figurehead of his boat. There was something about the carved bird of prey that nudged some recent memory, but she couldn't quite grasp it.

Assam grabbed the other end of the rope and Zardi and the rest of the crew followed the captain's lead and fell in line behind him.

“All right, on my count,” Assam shouted. “ONE, TWO, THREE!” The five of them heaved as one. Zardi braced herself for the point of tension, the point where they'd surely meet resistance as the boat freed itself from the reeds that imprisoned it, but there was none. Instead, the smaller boat shot forward, its figurehead smashing into the hull of the
Triumph
and wedging there. Assam's boat rapidly began to take on water; the fractured boards that surrounded the carved wings of the figurehead became teeth in a gaping mouth.

The captain said a word that Zardi had never heard before and then dropped to his knees and desperately began bailing water out of the bottom of the boat with his hands. Rhidan, Hakeem, and Rakin joined the captain, but Zardi was frozen.
The little boat was not stuck
, she realized.
It was never stuck
.

Her gaze met Nadeem's. There was no regret in his dark eyes. Instead, they burned ember-bright with excitement. His mouth curled into a satisfied smile, and Zardi knew that the worst was still to come.

Looking past him, she saw several figures in black drop from the trees that lined the bank. They wore daggers at their waists, and their faces were covered by thick strips of black material so only their eyes were visible. The men dove into the river and slithered like black eels through the water toward Nadeem's boat.

“Captain!” Zardi yelled, not caring this time that the pitch of her voice was all wrong. “We're under attack!”

Assam's head shot up, and his eyes narrowed as he spotted the first of the figures in black to climb up onto Nadeem's boat and stalk toward the boy.

The man was tall and powerfully built, and Zardi wondered if she'd been wrong about Nadeem and whether this man would harm him. She was about to cry out a warning when she saw the two of them shake hands. Nadeem then pointed at the boat and bowed with a flourish. The tall man ruffled the boy's hair and murmured something, while Nadeem beamed with pride. There could be no doubt now—this had been a planned ambush.

“PIRATES!” Assam threw the rope over the side. “We have to push ourselves off this figurehead. NOW!”

Zardi launched herself at the carved wooden bird that had taken roost in the
Triumph's
hull, barging it with her shoulder. The figurehead's cruel face mocked her attempts, and she was relieved when Rakin and the captain joined her and rammed the full weight of their bodies against it. To her side, she could hear Rhidan and Hakeem continuing to bail water from the bottom of the boat.

Her shoulder ached fiercely as she continued to push at the figurehead, but it refused to budge. The wooden wings of the bird of prey had hooked onto the inside of the
Triumph
and would not release their grip. Looking over, Zardi saw the rest of the pirates climb up onto Nadeem's boat, and then, as one unit, stride across the deck toward them, using the smaller boat as a bridge to Assam's vessel. With the bird of prey still holding them hostage, there was nowhere the riverboat could go.

Zardi whirled from the wooden figurehead toward the cargo hatch to grab her bow and arrows. She was too late. The attackers swarmed the boat like locusts, and two men blocked her way, daggers drawn. Yet more pirates had swum around the back of the
Triumph
and now climbed onboard. The two men advanced on Zardi, pushing her into the center of the boat where Assam, Rhidan, Hakeem, and Rakin also now stood. They were surrounded.

“Who is the captain of this boat?” The tall man who had ruffled Nadeem's hair asked commandingly.

“I am,” Captain Assam spat out, eyeballing the other man defiantly. “And I demand that you get off it.”

The man in black wagged a finger. “That's the wrong answer, my friend. I am the captain of this boat until I deem otherwise.”

“You? A captain?” Assam's voice dripped with disdain. “A captain holds his head high and leads his men. You hide your face and steal from those who work for a living. You are no better than a hyena stealing from a mighty lion.”

The pirate narrowed his eyes and then nodded his head once. Two of his men grabbed Assam and dragged him over to their leader. The tall man then put his hand to his dagger and with deliberate slowness drew it from his belt.

“Don't!” Zardi cried, trying to break through the ring of pirates. “Please, don't hurt him.”

“Be quiet,” the pirate leader roared, turning to her with a glare that could cleave iron. “Say another word and I will remove your tongue. Is that clear?” The viciousness of his words snatched the breath from Zardi's throat.

“The same goes for the rest of you.” The pirate's gaze raked over Hakeem, Rakin, and finally Rhidan. Zardi frowned when she saw the pirate flinch as he looked at her friend. He turned his head swiftly, but not before Zardi saw an angry kind of fear in his eyes. The crescent-shaped scar just by the pirate's left eye was jerking crazily. She gasped. She'd seen that crescent scar before. She'd heard this man's voice before.

It was Sinbad the sailor.

Z
ee, stay back, boy,” Assam called out. “I don't need you to fight my battles. This man is nothing but a jumped-up thief.”

Sinbad turned back to Assam and held the blade under the captain's nose. “You're mistaking me for a man who will tolerate argument.” He spoke softly. “I
will not
. There are fifteen men on this boat, and I will call for more if need be. I want to know what you have on this ship, and I want to know
now
.”

Captain Assam looked sullenly at Sinbad and pursed his lips together firmly. With a growl, Sinbad lowered the blade toward the captain's neck.

“The cargo hatch,” Hakeem yelled. “All we carry is in the cargo hatch. Some bolts of silk and some sacks of grain, that's all we've got.”

Assam scowled at Hakeem but still didn't say a word.

“I wouldn't look so annoyed if I were you,” Sinbad told the captain while his men headed for the hatch. “Your crewman just saved your life.” The pirate nodded, and the two men holding the captain dragged him over to where Zardi stood with Rhidan and the rest of the
Triumph's
crew.

Zardi was pleased that the captain had escaped the taste of the pirate leader's steel, but her mind could not stay still. Sinbad was
here
, on the
Triumph!
That was why the figurehead of Nadeem's boat had seemed so familiar. It was a falcon, the namesake of Sinbad's ship. She knew that every ship carried at least one spare lifeboat—Nadeem's boat must be one of the
Falcon's
. She glanced over at Rhidan. His face was strained, but no trace of hope or excitement shaded his expression. Sinbad clearly recognized Rhidan, but her friend didn't have a clue that the man they were searching for was standing right in front of them.

The pirates were busily throwing the bolts of silk up on the deck and soon emptied the hold of all its contents, including Zardi's bow and arrows.

“It hardly seems worth it,” she heard Rhidan mutter under his breath. “All this effort for some scraps of silk and a few sacks of grain.”

Sinbad stiffened. “Your boat was the only one foolhardy enough to stop,” he snapped, still refusing to look at Rhidan directly. “Those annoying marsh people kept on warning boats that we were waiting for them.”

Rhidan's eyes widened. “So
that's
what all the waving was about.” He looked over at Assam guiltily. “I'm sorry, Captain, I didn't pay them any attention”—his voice became small—“on account of all the throwing up…”

Zardi shook her head in disbelief. Rhidan had ignored the warnings, and she'd persuaded Captain Assam to stop. Together, they'd caused his boat to be captured. Her eyes fell on the quiver full of arrows and her bow.

Perhaps
…

Sinbad must have seen where her gaze lingered because he picked up the archer's belt and unclipped the bow from the quiver, examining it with interest. “Impressive workmanship,” he mused, turning to face her. “Is this yours?”

“My father gave it to me,” Zardi managed to say through gritted teeth. “It was a birthday present.”

“Touching,” Sinbad replied. “But you must be far from home, young man, if you have a father who can afford a bow of this craftsmanship.” He clipped the bow to the quiver and slung the belt over his shoulder. “It is far too nice for you, young one.”

A red-hot surge of anger lanced through her. How dare Sinbad take things that didn't belong to him? How dare he enjoy it so much? He was just as bad as the sultan. Her disappointment in the man she thought might be able to help her defeat Shahryār turned her anger to rage. She couldn't see Sinbad's smug smile through his disguise, but she was determined to wipe it right off his face.

“Actually, I have something else that might interest you.” She reached into her pocket and pulled out the wooden carving of the falcon that Sinbad had given her a mere four days ago—it felt like a lifetime had passed since then.

“Zee, what are you doing?” Rhidan asked in a baffled voice.

She ignored him and held the falcon out to the pirate leader. “This was given to me by a sailor in Taraket four days ago. He told me he'd just come back from Kadrijt, where he'd battled a ferocious beast.” A deathly quiet descended on the boat. Sinbad's men became as still as scared rabbits as they stared at her. The apprehension in their eyes gave Zardi a thrill of power. “Oh, what was the sailor's name again?” She rubbed her chin. “It seems to have escaped me.”

“Sinbad.” Rhidan's voice was a croaky rasp.

Zardi turned and saw sudden understanding dawning on her friend's face as he looked at the pirate leader.

Sinbad took a step forward, and Zardi lifted her arm in defense, expecting a blow. Instead, he snatched the wooden carving out of her hand.

“I've heard of this Sinbad,” the pirate leader said, fixing her with a piercing gaze. “He is a great sailor, admired by many, and foolishly kind to children who turn up in the strangest of places.”

“Why are you talking about this Sinbad?” Assam growled. “I want you off my boat. You've got what you wanted.”

Sinbad looked over at his men. “He's right, we're finished here. Pick up all that you can carry and move out.” He turned to Zardi and Rhidan. “You two will join me.”

Zardi's mouth went dry. The steel in Sinbad's voice told her he would not leave them on the
Triumph
. Not when they could identify him to the authorities in Sabra.

“Show us the way, Captain,” Rhidan said. His voice sounded squeaky, whether from fear or excitement she could not tell.