The Eye of Neptune (16 page)

‘What are you going to do?’ Georgia gasped.

‘Load up those Sea Arrows.’ Dakkar grinned. ‘We’re going to put the
Liberty
through her paces. I’m really angry now.’

Dakkar turned the
Liberty
on and slammed her to
Full Ahead
. The motors whined and she began to accelerate. Bushes and branches whipped past. Something banged heavily against the hull and flew into the undergrowth. A flock of birds exploded from the trees, disturbed from their night rest.

‘We’ll crash!’ Georgia screamed from below. ‘You can’t destroy the
Liberty
.’

‘The
Liberty
rammed a British Navy frigate and sent her to the seabed,’ Dakkar snarled. ‘With enough speed, she’ll easily ride the bank of the creek and smash Lafitte’s shack.’

‘You’re mad,’ Georgia said faintly.

‘Absolutely! I’m tired of asking questions and getting no answers,’ Dakkar yelled. ‘I’m tired of sneaking around and I’m tired of pirates. Now fire, Georgia!’

Dakkar heard Georgia thump the buttons at the side of the
Liberty
, first one then another. A comic
boing
cut over the whirr of the engines. Dakkar saw the arrows glisten in the moonlight. He saw Martinez, wide-eyed and open-mouthed. He saw Renzo dive headlong into the water. And then the swamp lit up fiery yellow as the two arrows exploded into either side of the cabin.

The cabin rocked in the blast, wobbling from side to side like a jelly. Dakkar gripped the wheel until his knuckles cracked, and he screamed at the top of his voice. The shack grew nearer and nearer, filling the portholes. Pirates leapt from windows and doors as the
Liberty
ploughed through the creek towards it.

A loud
whump
reverberated through the
Liberty
as she skipped across the water like a flat pebble sent spinning by some giant child. Dakkar flew up out of his seat, banging his head against the roof as the speed of the
Liberty
sent her up on to dry land.

The doorway of the cabin cracked and splintered as the
Liberty
crashed through the flimsy wooden structure. The world was filled with the rending of wood and the creaking of timber. Dakkar glimpsed Lafitte standing slack-jawed amid the carnage, and then the back wall came screaming at him. Another bang took the
Liberty
through the rear of the shack. She landed with a splash back in the water on the other side of the tiny island. Pirates floundered in the shallows, staggering around in disbelief.

Dakkar grabbed the friction machine wheel, wound it ten times and stabbed the red button. The swamp was lit up blue this time and Dakkar watched as Lafitte’s men slumped into the water like puppets with their strings cut.

Not wasting a second to explain, Dakkar leapt up and out of the hatch. He slid down the side of the
Liberty
, splashing through the water and across the island to where Lafitte stood, dazed. He still held the handle of his shattered tankard in his hand. The beer stained his once-fine tunic.

Recognition washed across Lafitte’s slack features as Dakkar charged towards the pirate. Lafitte dropped the tankard handle and fumbled at his belt for his pistol. With a yell, Dakkar swung his fist. The pirate’s bristly chin scratched at Dakkar’s knuckles and the shock of the blow numbed his arm. A sharp right followed the left blow and then Dakkar brought his leg in a high swinging arc into the side of Lafitte’s head. With a muffled groan, Lafitte tumbled to the ground.

Dakkar grabbed the pirate’s collar, dragged him back through the ruins of his shack, into the water and up to the side of the
Liberty
.

Georgia stood on the deck, her hands to her face.

‘Oh my,’ she said as she surveyed the smouldering wreckage of the cabin surrounded by the twitching and moaning remnants of Lafitte’s crew. ‘Remind me never to cross you.’

‘Hurry!’ Dakkar hissed. ‘Help me get him inside the
Liberty
before they come to their senses.’

Georgia grabbed Lafitte and helped Dakkar manhandle him up to the top of the craft. He wasn’t a tall man – maybe an inch taller than Dakkar – but he was stocky, and once they had him at the edge of the hatch they let him go. The pirate fell with a heavy thump straight through both hatches and into the lower cabin.

‘Oops!’ Georgia giggled, leaping in after him, her cheeks flushed with excitement. ‘I’ll tie him up. You get us outta here!’

Dakkar grinned back, slammed the hatch shut behind him and bounced into the captain’s seat. He steered the
Liberty
round the wrecked island cabin, knocking over a few dazed pirates on the way. A musket cracked, its bullet whizzing close by a porthole. Dakkar pushed the
Liberty
to
Full Ahead
, drenching the stumbling pirates in his wake.

‘Where d’you learn to fight like that?’ Georgia called up from below.

‘My father taught me,’ Dakkar replied. ‘A prince should always be able to defend himself.’

‘Well, I guess you did that all right!’

Dakkar gave a tired grin, rubbed his aching shoulder and set a course for the open sea – and Count Cryptos.

Chapter Nineteen

The Mysterious Island

‘What makes you think I will help you find Cryptos?’ Lafitte snarled, straining against the ropes that pinned his arms to his sides.

He looked a mess. Swamp water and spilt beer stained his clothes and he had a bruise on his forehead where Dakkar had knocked him out.

‘Georgia!’ Dakkar called up from the lower cabin.

‘Right,’ Georgia replied, and turned the submerging wheel.

‘Mon Dieu!’ Lafitte bellowed as the
Liberty
began to sink beneath the waves. ‘We are sinking! What kind of devilry is this?’

‘You’ve seen what the
Liberty
can do, monsieur,’ Dakkar said. ‘Now will you help us or will you go for a swim out there?’

‘Very well,’ Lafitte growled, narrowing his eyes at Dakkar. ‘But you must untie me.’

‘No,’ Dakkar said, sprawling a sea chart over the table. ‘We’ll let you go when we get to Cryptos. Now show me where he is.’

‘This is so undignified,’ Lafitte grumbled, shuffling over to the map. ‘If we ever meet again, I will make you pay for this humiliation. But that is unlikely.’

‘What do you mean?’ Dakkar said.

‘Few people meet Cryptos and live to tell the tale,’ Lafitte sneered. ‘I hope he boils you in oil.’

‘Who is this Count Cryptos?’ Dakkar said.

‘He is a devil,’ Lafitte said, the colour draining from his face. ‘A ruthless killer. I don’t know what he wants with your precious friends but I doubt that they still live.’

‘We don’t know for sure that he has them,’ Georgia muttered from the captain’s cabin above.

‘So where is he?’ Dakkar asked, changing the subject.

‘Here.’ Lafitte pointed to the map as best he could. ‘A small volcanic island, a day’s sail from here.’

‘We’ll be there in no time,’ Dakkar said.

‘This is a truly wonderful machine,’ Lafitte said, staring around. ‘Imagine what a pirate could do with such a craft.’

‘I shudder to think,’ Dakkar said, glaring at the Frenchman.

‘Did your friends make this boat?’ Lafitte asked.

Dakkar shrugged.

‘If they did, this will be the reason Cryptos has them,’ he declared. ‘And this may be why he is looking for you also.’

Dakkar pursed his lips and took the chart up to Georgia, who set the
Liberty
in the direction of the island.

They travelled in silence for a while. Every now and then, Lafitte would curse and test his bonds.

‘Look, why don’t you untie me?’ Lafitte said finally. ‘My arms are numb and I can’t do anything anyway – we’re under the sea.’

‘I don’t think so,’ Dakkar said, curling his lip.

‘Please,’ Lafitte said, his voice rising. ‘I swear I won’t try anything. What could I do? I do not know how to sail this machine.’

Georgia looked at Dakkar for a moment and then nodded.

‘Very well,’ said Dakkar. ‘But any tricks and we’ll sink to the bottom of the ocean and you’ll be trapped there.’

Dakkar untied the ropes and Lafitte swung his arms and stamped his feet.

‘You would do well to find a way to get on to his island by stealth and cunning,’ Lafitte said. ‘I’m sure Cryptos has many guards and defences.’

For some reason, Dakkar thought of Oginski’s castle and the caves in the cliff. ‘We could explore the perimeter of the island underwater first,’ he said, peering at the map. ‘Maybe there are tunnels or caverns we could use.’

Georgia submerged the
Liberty
further
, much to Lafitte’s great consternation. He pressed his face against the glass porthole and peered up at the surface. But soon he was crying out in wonder as dolphins or a sea turtle swam by. Once he swore he saw a wreck deep below them and the glitter of gold. As the journey wore on, he fell silent, watching the undersea world pass by. In the end he dozed off, and Dakkar felt it safe to sleep too.

‘Well, we should be here,’ Georgia announced as she brought the
Liberty
to the surface. ‘We just need to check we’re in exactly the right place.’

‘Bon!’ Lafitte declared, and began to climb the ladder for the upper cabin. ‘I will leave you here and swim ashore.’

He stopped abruptly as Georgia pushed a pistol against his nose.

‘Sorry, monsieur,’ Dakkar said, holding out the rope. ‘But I think we should tie you up again.’

Lafitte grumbled but extended his hands for Dakkar to bind his wrists.

The
Liberty
bobbed up through the mass of bubbles and Dakkar peered through the portholes. In the distance, he could see a tendril of smoke trickling upward from a cone-shaped peak. Dense jungle clustered around the volcano, finally giving way to rocky beach.

‘It doesn’t look inhabited,’ Dakkar muttered, wiping the condensation from the glass.

‘Believe me,’ Lafitte murmured over Dakkar’s shoulder, ‘the devil himself lives on that island.’

‘We have to believe you,’ Georgia called down from the captain’s cabin. ‘But, I swear, if you’ve taken us on a wild goose chase, you’ll be looking in from the other side of that porthole.’

‘I’m sure of it!’ Lafitte said, pulling a face at Dakkar.

‘We’d better submerge and see if there are any caves or tunnels we might use to get into the island,’ Dakkar said, turning away from the view and indicating to Georgia that they should submerge.

Dakkar couldn’t stop marvelling at the beauty of the seabed. Multicoloured fish danced in and out of huge banks of coral while seaweed swayed with the tide.

They skirted the island, getting closer and closer.

‘What’s that?’ Georgia called out.

Dakkar peered through the larger portholes of the lower cabin. This side of the island rose in a series of plateaux, like a stepped mountain, from the seabed. And a huge cavern entrance gaped in the side of the steps.

‘Let’s see what’s in there,’ Dakkar said quietly. Suddenly it felt very warm in the
Liberty
. A bead of sweat trickled down his back.

‘Do you think it is wise, mes amis?’ Lafitte whispered.

‘I don’t know,’ Dakkar replied. ‘But we’re about to find out.’

Georgia steered the
Liberty
towards the cavern entrance. Dakkar couldn’t help thinking about the fish-men he’d seen in the castle cave. They were a distant memory after all that had happened since then.

Georgia gasped. Clusters of stalactites and stalagmites lined the cavern’s entrance like rows of wicked teeth. Strange, brown coral twisted its way around the rocks, mottling the walls.

‘It looks like a huge mouth,’ Georgia said, shuddering as they drifted nearer.

Dakkar scrambled up next to her and peered through the gloom. There was something not quite right. A few air bubbles drifted up from the corner of the entrance. The seaweed didn’t grow out of it so much there as around the edge.

‘Pull back,’ Dakkar snapped.

The stalactites were close now, sharp and pointed. They weren’t jagged rock. They were bone.

‘What?’ Georgia said, frowning at him. ‘But we –’

‘It
is
a huge mouth!’ Dakkar yelled, snatching at the wheel and sending the
Liberty
careening to port. ‘Pull back now!’

At that same instant, the whole side of the cliff moved and the cave mouth widened. Two glowing eyes appeared through a cloud of swirling mud as a massive fish snapped down its teeth. Georgia screamed and rammed the lever to
Full Ahead
as the teeth grated down the polished wooden side of the
Liberty
.