The White City (26 page)

“Would you believe me if I said it was a fish?” Redfeather quipped.

Piglet gave a quick frown of confusion and then barked, “We’re sinking. Time to get out of here. Follow me!”

Jolie and the others were abandoning the cannons. As Ray reached her, he grabbed her hand and crouched to take cover from the gunfire as they came out on the deck. The skies were an ominous green-black. Heavy, whipping rain lashed across the deck. Pirates were ducking behind the bulwarks, firing rifles at the two steamers bearing down on either side. The other pair of steamers that the
Snapdragon
had rammed were far behind now, their broken paddle wheels no longer able to propel them. Gunmen returned fire from the vessels, outnumbering the Pirate Queen’s crew five to one.

The deck lurched to one side, taking on waves. Piglet lowered a dinghy from the davit. “Get in! The Pirate Queen ordered you six off first.”

“But if you’re boarded, you’ll need us to fight!” Conker roared.

“You can’t be captured!” Piglet shouted over the groaning of the sinking steamer. “Captain’s orders. You don’t have the Nine Pound Hammer, and this is a gunfight. We’ll hold them off as best we can. Now get!”

Marisol climbed into the dinghy first, followed by Redfeather. “She’s right!” Si said, pulling Conker by his hand. “Get in.”

The
Snapdragon
’s cannons fired again, but with the sharp angle the sinking steamer was tilting, the shot fired high over
the pilothouse of the nearest of the pursuing ships. Then a cannon blast tore into the
Snapdragon
’s aft hull, throwing splinters of metal and broken boards into howling pirates.

Conker snarled as he followed Si into the dinghy.

Mister Lamprey was roaring orders from behind overturned boats on the deck. Big Jimmie, Malley, and the others were firing with their rifles, blunderbusses, and scatterguns. The glass had been blown out in the pilothouse, and the Pirate Queen struggled to steer her sinking ship.

The black-suited agent called through the megaphone, “Turn over the Nine Pound Hammer and your ship might still be salvaged!”

“What did he say?” Conker barked.

Ray looked back toward the steamer in confusion.

“Hurry!” Piglet shouted at him. Jolie was already in the dinghy. He was the last still on deck, and as he started down, he saw a small boat ahead, bobbing among the rocking waves off the bow.

“Now!” Piglet said, grabbing Ray’s arm.

A man was rowing the small boat toward the
Snapdragon
.

“What’s that?” Ray said.

Piglet looked up. “Some fisherman too stupid to get out of this storm.” She shoved Ray, and he toppled into Conker’s arms in the dinghy. Redfeather rowed them out from the
Snapdragon
, trying the keep the pirate’s sinking vessel between them and the line of sight of the Gog’s men.

“They’re done for!” Si shouted.

Ray looked for the little rowboat, but the wind—which was already heavy—rose up, throwing water in his eyes. The others
in the dinghy staggered as it struck them too. The strange wind blew harder and harder until Ray braced himself in the bottom of the leaping dinghy. He looked back to see the pirates cease their firing to grab onto railings and brace themselves against the force of the cyclonic wind.

“What is happening?” Jolie shouted into Ray’s ear.

The
Snapdragon
pitched up behind them on a huge wave, rising so high that Ray had to look up to see the steamer suspended atop an enormous swell of black water. With the steamer half filled with water and sinking, the
Snapdragon
slid back down as the wave rushed forward. The wave rose higher until it collided with the two steamers pursuing her.

The boats rocked over on their sides from the force of the wave and continued rolling until their bilges were exposed like vulnerable bellies. The steamers began to sink, their paddle wheels turning helplessly to catch water. Agents called out to one another from the waters as the boats went down around them.

“What just happened?” Ray murmured.

Redfeather fought with the oars to turn their dinghy. With the
Snapdragon
slowly sinking, the pirates began abandoning their steamer in the assorted dinghies and pirogues.

“Where did that wave come from?” Si asked.

“From him!” Conker pointed out into the storm.

Ray twisted in his seat. The raindrops poured into his eyes and he had to wipe back his sopping bangs from his face.

The little boat was rowing closer now. Through the dark, Ray saw a figure raise a hand in greeting. “Hoy!” he shouted.

“Who—?” Si began.

“Tempestuous night!” the figure bellowed with a laugh. “I’ve been ferreting you out for days. Had not the faintest expectations to locate you in this foul weather, but here I am.”

Conker roared with laughter.

“Who is it?” Ray asked.

“It’s Nel,” Conker said. “Nel’s here!”

A
S THE BOW OF THE
S
NAPDRAGON
SANK BENEATH THE STORMY
waves, the crew caught up with Ray’s dinghy. The Pirate Queen stood at the back of her pirogue and watched with a cold ferocity as her beloved ship disappeared. Rosie rose up from the bottom of the boat between Mister Lamprey and Buck and snapped her jaws glumly at her mistress.

The Gog’s men had made their way from the water to the remaining two steamboats, but with the paddles broken, the vessels drifted harmlessly away on the tide. “I’d murder every last one of them if I could,” the Pirate Queen growled, her voice choking momentarily on the last word.

The worst of the storm had blown off to the east, but a cool, steady rain fell, masking the sunrise with steely, swift-moving clouds. Nel led the small battery of boats up the lake.
They came ashore on a wooded beach about a mile south of the Expo’s grounds.

Ray stared in wonder at the old pitchman. His silver mane of hair was as wild as ever, and his cheerful eyes sparkled from his dark face as he opened his arms wide. Ray’s gaze fell to Nel’s leg, now returned, and even though Sally had already told him, he could not help but gasp.

“How did you find us?” Si said as she hugged Nel.

“Your telegram, of course,” Nel said, wringing out his fez and gesturing with the wet hat to Redfeather and Marisol. “I received your message that you were traversing to Chicago. And the news that you were alive, Conker.”

The old pitchman’s eyes softened as he looked up at Conker. The two embraced for a long moment before Nel pulled back to whisper, “But I could not bring myself to believe it until this very moment. My dear boy.”

Redfeather pulled his boat up in the sand. “Those agents will get word back to the Gog. They’ll be after us.”

Nel turned to the Pirate Queen. “Yes. Is there anywhere that we can take refuge?”

“Nearly two dozen pirates and some Ramblers,” the Pirate Queen said, sneering. “Sure, we’ll take lodging at a hotel. Won’t even cause a second glance.”

“There’s someone who might harbor us, my lady,” Mister Lamprey said.

The Pirate Queen scowled. “Who?” Then she rolled her eyes and sighed. “Jasper?”

Mister Lamprey shrugged. “Well, not Jasper, exactly …”

“All right,” she said, casting a pained glance back at the lake. “Piglet, you come with me. Lamprey, tend to the
wounded. The rest of you, hide the boats in the trees and stay out of sight until I return. Hammers cocked at all times, boys. The daylight will be upon you soon, and if anyone comes this way, shoot first and make introductions afterward.”

A small whoop answered her as the pirates set to work. The Pirate Queen headed out on foot with Piglet. Conker knelt by Buck, offering to carry him, but the old cowboy brushed him away and rose weakly to follow Nel and Ray. With the pirates hauling boats and camouflaging them with brush, the group moved away from the beach and into the thick of the forest.

“What about Shuckstack?” Ray asked. “We heard the Gog sent men.”

“Sent men, he did … and a Hoarhound.” Nel gave a meaningful frown. He braced Buck’s elbow as they stepped over a log. “But they did not find Shuckstack. They found me.”

“What do you mean?” Conker asked.

“I had ventured out to Mother Salagi’s cabin,” Nel said as they reached a clearing dripping with rain and settled to the damp earth.

“I was returning home with young Gabe and Tom. We realized we were being followed. We attempted to hide, we endeavored to escape, but no matter where we turned or what charm I devised to throw off its pursuit, the Hound knew where I was. Something drew the Gog’s beast to me.

“I sent Tom and Gabe back to Shuckstack, hoping the Hound would follow me. As I ventured farther from home, and the Gog’s agents continued to hunt me, my suspicions were confirmed. I could not return, lest the children were put in danger. The charms that protect Shuckstack would keep them safe, but only if I was no longer there.”

“How was the Hound able to track you?” Ray asked.

Nel clapped a hand to his knee. “My leg. Mother Salagi warned that it was bringing some danger. I realized what it was almost too late. It was a Hoarhound that severed my leg. And once my leg was returned, a connection of sorts remained. Connecting me to the Gog’s Machine. His Hound has infected me in a way. The Gog’s clockwork servants are drawn to me. But I can also feel the Machine, ever so faintly, and it is growing stronger.”

He smiled gently at the worried faces around him. “Take heart. That is actually good news, because it means Grevol has not yet completed his Machine. And we must hope he still has much more to do before he can unleash his Darkness.”

“So what happened to the Hound?” Redfeather asked.

“I destroyed it, but mind you it was not easy.” Nel plucked his briar-wood pipe from his soaking-wet jacket. “And I escaped from the agents, as they were no longer able to track me. I surmised another Hound would be sent for me and, well, there was only one place to go.” He held out his hands and smiled. “Chicago. And here I am.”

“And it’s true,” Conker asked, “you made that wave out there that saved us? Your Rambler powers are returned?”

“I walk as a Rambler once more.” Nel chuckled and stomped his foot. “In more than one way. But it is clear that I cannot stay with you. My presence will attract danger to you all. So quickly tell me before I go everything that has transpired. Leave out not a detail.”

As the morning continued with a steady chill rain and the group waited for the Pirate Queen’s return, Ray and Buck and Si, Conker and Jolie, Redfeather and Marisol all took turns
telling their parts in the long journey. As the story brought Nel to the battle in the lake, Conker sat upright as if remembering something. “I thought I heard that agent tell the Pirate Queen to give over the Nine Pound Hammer.”

“I heard him say that too,” Si said, sitting up straighter. “Why would they think we’d have the real hammer?”

“Maybe they don’t know the hammer I took from the Gog’s hall was a fake,” Conker said.

“But that would mean …,” Redfeather began, his eyes blinking rapidly. “What does it mean?”

Ray said, “It means the Gog might not have the real Nine Pound Hammer.”

“Then who does?” Nel asked. All eyes shifted around to one another, hoping someone would have the answer.

Buck rose from where he had been resting on the ground and staggered to the log by Nel’s side. “I was there when Stacker gave the Nine Pound Hammer to Grevol,” he said in his gravelly voice. “I could feel its presence. It was the real hammer. But then later, when I was escaping Grevol’s hall, I tried to go back for the hammer, to where the agents had said it was displayed, but I couldn’t feel it.”

“So somebody switched the real hammer for the fake one,” Conker said.

“Who would do that?” Ray asked.

“The Gog can sense intent and truth in people,” Buck said. “He knew things about me. With that stick he carries. But not from Stacker. When Stacker brought me to the Gog, I got the feeling that Grevol could not draw truth from Stacker Lee.”

“He has strange powers,” Jolie agreed.

Buck wheezed, “Only Stacker could hide something from the Gog. Stacker must have the Nine Pound Hammer. He must have hidden it somewhere.”

“Why would he do that?” Ray asked.

A grim smile appeared on Buck’s face, and then he broke into a ripping cough. Nel put his hand to Buck’s back as the cowboy doubled over. When the cough had settled, Buck sat up weakly and wiped his knuckles across his lips. “There’s only one reason why,” Buck said. “To redeem himself.”

Conker snarled, “That killer has no desire for goodness. After what he did to Si!”

“Buck, are you all right?” Jolie interrupted, leaning toward the cowboy.

Buck stared at his hand. Slowly he brought it down to rest in his lap. Black oily blood was speckled across his palm.

When night fell, the Pirate Queen returned. They gathered their scant belongings and set out under the cover of dark. Buck would not allow Conker to carry him but walked at Nel’s side for support. Ray looked back to see the Pirate Queen kneeling to plant a kiss on Rosie’s nose before the alligator waddled out into the lake. She would give some poor fisherman a fright, Ray thought.