I caught a glimpse of the other swimmers pulling themselves up and over the railing near the bow. I thought they were coming to help me. I thought wrong. They ran to the cabin and jumped inside, headed for I didn’t know where. The others spread out along the pier side of the ship and quickly began to cast off the lines. They weren’t coming to my rescue; their job was to get this ship under way. The guards were my problem.
It was going to be a race. The Jakills had to get the ship away from the pier and under way before the rest of the security force arrived. All I could do was keep the two guards who were already on the ship occupied, so the Jakills had a chance. I had sent the one guard reeling backward with my backhand punch. The second grabbed me from behind in a bear hug. I bent forward, lifted him up, pushed backward, and drove him into the mast. He barely grunted. I quickly crouched down and shot both my arms forward, which forced him to release his grip. I ducked and swept my leg backward, knocking him down.
The first guard was on me an instant later. He swung. I ducked. He swung again. I dodged. He was getting tired. I had a chance to put this guy away and took it. He swung one last time. I ducked. He overrotated. Perfect. I drilled him in the back of the head with the bottom of my foot. A perfect side kick. He went reeling forward toward the railing. He was stumbling out of control. I could have stopped him. I didn’t. Instead, I gave him one last push from behind, and he went tumbling over the side and into the water.
One down. Literally.
I felt the ship rumble. Whatever engines it had were growling to life. I didn’t even know this ship had engines. But it did, and the Jakills were firing them up.
Shouting came from somewhere on the shore. A few hundred yards away I saw a group of security thugs running along the rocks toward the pier. If they got to us before we shoved off, we’d be done.
The second guard was on me. He’d learned from his mistakes. He didn’t charge or throw himself on me. He stood a few yards away, knees bent, fists up, ready to fight. This was trouble. If he was going to come at me with more control, he’d do much better, and there was every possibility I’d be joining his friend in the water. I looked for an advantage, and saw one. My back was to the rail. The Jakill’s hooks were still dug into the wooden railing. I turned my back to the guard. I don’t think he knew what to make of that, because he hesitated. That was all I needed. I grabbed one of the cords. When I sensed the guard charge, I spun around and lashed it at him like a whip. The wiry cord slashed across the guard’s arm. It must have stung, because he yelped in pain. It was probably just as much surprise as pain though. He probably had no idea what hit him. I took the moment to yank the hook out of the wood.
I had a new weapon: a cord with a sharp, nasty three-pronged hook. With the cord in my left hand and the hook dangling from my right, I swung it back and forth, trying to intimidate the guy. His eyes went wide. He didn’t want to get impaled. That wouldn’t last long. The hook was only valuable as a threat. If he charged, what would I do? Swing it at him? The worst that would happen is it would cut him a little. All I could hope was that he wouldn’t realize what a lame weapon this really was. I needed time. The longer I kept him away, the more time the Jakills had to get this boat the hell away from the pier.
I felt the ship lurch. We were moving! Would it be fast enough? My heart leaped. So did the guard. He realized what was happening and knew he had to make his move. He lunged at me. I reared back to throw the hook. Suddenly the guard stopped short. It was as if he froze in his tracks. His mouth hung open. What the heck? A second later he fell to his knees and tumbled face-first onto the deck with a sickening thud. Ouch. He hit and didn’t move. I looked up to see that standing behind him was Siry, holding his wooden blowgun to his lips. Sticking out of the back of the guard was a small, green dart.
“Pretty exciting, isn’t it?” Siry said, pleased with himself. He was actually having fun. He and the Jakills went looking for adventure. They had found it already.
“Are we going to make it?” I asked.
“We’ll know soon enough,” he said, sticking his blowgun into his belt. “Help me.”
He bent down to pick up the comatose guard. I grabbed his shoulders while Siry grabbed his legs. We struggled to carry him over to the pier side of the ship.
“Lower him over,” Siry commanded.
He dropped the guy’s legs over the side and I stretched out as far as I could before letting him go. The sleeping guard fell to the pier and crumpled like a rag doll.
“I hope we didn’t hurt him,” I said.
“Better than letting him drown,” Siry answered.
Rat boy ran up to us and pointed toward shore. “Here they come!” he shouted.
Sure enough, the gang of security thugs had turned onto the pier and were sprinting toward us.
“Speed would be good,” I said to Siry.
Siry ran for the ship’s wheel. It was an enormous, round wooden wheel that was positioned in front of the rear mast.
“Throttle up!” he screamed.
The ship’s engines hummed. I heard it, and felt it in my feet. Slowly, we moved away from the pier. The security thugs screamed and sprinted toward us. It was going to be close. The ship was moving, but painfully slowly. We were seconds from getting away.
“Push off!” Siry commanded.
I looked over the pier side rail to see several sets of hands reach out from portholes just above the water’s surface. They each had long, wooden poles that they used to push the ship away from the pier. We didn’t need to get far away, just a little farther than jumping distance from the pier. It struck me that Siry had thought of everything, even down to having the Jakills stationed down below to make the final push off.
The security guards sprinted along the pier to the stern of the ship, too late. One made a desperate leap. His hand barely brushed the railing as he tumbled into the water.
We were away. The engines powered up, and in no time we were moving quickly away from the pier and out of harm’s way. I couldn’t believe it. We’d made it! This group of kids had actually hijacked a ship. I had gotten so caught up in the adventure that I didn’t stop to think of how impossible a task it was. Maybe that was a good thing, because as it turned out, it wasn’t impossible at all. I looked back to the pier to see the dozen or so security guards standing there, helpless, watching one of their beautiful new ships motoring away.
All the Jakills ran on deck, cheering and hugging. I didn’t know how long they had been planning this, but it was definitely a moment of victory.
Loque came up to me and shook my hand.
“You had me worried for a minute,” he said.
“Not half as worried as I was,” I replied.
“I’m glad you’re aboard, Pendragon,” he said sincerely.
We were on our way, but to where? Siry guided the ship along the coast, headed toward the mouth of the bay that led to the village of Rayne. Far in the distance, over the ocean, the sun was rising. It was a beautiful sight. It was the beginning of a new chapter in the history of Ibara. It was an awesome moment.
That didn’t last long.
Boom! Without thinking, I dropped to the deck. The Jakills didn’t. A second later something whistled over our heads. The Jakills stood there, confused.
“Get down!” I screamed. “They’re firing at us!”
“‘Firing’? What do you mean?” Siry cried. “What was that sound?”
Boom! Another explosion. Nobody moved but me. I covered my head. I heard another sharp whistle as something flew
By.
“Get down!” I screamed again.
Siry truly didn’t know what was happening. I saw nothing but confusion on the faces of the Jakills. Not fear. Confusion. I realized that they had never heard of weapons that fired missiles, or cannonballs, or whatever it was that was being aimed at us. There was no reason for them to be afraid. That is, until we were hit.
“What is happening?” Loque yelled.
“I don’t know!”
I screamed back. “But if we get hit, this ship is going down.”
“I don’t understand,” Siry cried.
“They’re trying to sink us!” I yelled. “Get away from shore! We’ve got to get out of range of their weapons.”
“No!” Siry yelled. “There are no weapons in Rayne that can do that!”
Boom!
“Then what was that?” I yelled, before covering my head again.
The missile landed close to the ship, kicking up a geyser of water that buffeted us.
Rat boy squealed, “How can they do that?” “Look,” Twig said calmly.
She was pointing out to sea. I got up and joined the others as they ran to the railing to see.
There was another ship. It was a few hundred yards off our port bow and on a collision course.
“What ship is that?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” Siry answered. “It didn’t come from Rayne.”
Boom! Another explosion. This time we saw the source. A plume of smoke erupted from the mystery ship. Whatever it was, it had cannons and it was firing at us. Another missile landed a few yards off our bow with a huge splash.
“What is that?” Loque asked in awe.
Siry answered, “I think it’s our first look at the world beyond our own.”
In all of Siry’s planning, he hadn’t figured on being attacked by a mystery ship with weapons like none they had ever seen.
And the day was only beginning.
(CONTINUED)
IBARA
We were under attack. The first few volleys of cannon fire from the mystery ship had come dangerously close to hitting our small pirate ship. I didn’t know how well our ship was made, but I didn’t think it would hold up very long if we started getting nailed by cannon fire. I’m no expert on naval warfare, but as cool as this little ship was, it wasn’t an armor-clad battlewagon.
I ran to the bow to try and get a better look at the approaching ship. It was hard to make out because the rising sun was in my face, making the ship more or less a silhouette-like a ghost ship. It was much smaller than the ship we were on, with a low profile and a sharper bow. There were no sails or masts, which meant it was also more modern than our sailing ship.
Boom! Smoke erupted from the attacker’s deck. I dropped down and covered up, holding my head tight until I knew if the shot would hit or miss. It missed. Another huge splash of water kicked up. Strangely, it missed even wider than the earlier shots. Either the people firing the weapons had gotten lucky before, or they weren’t trying to hit us.
I peeked over the railing as Siry came up next to me. He had an old-fashioned brass telescope that he used to peer at the attacking ship.
“You sure that ship didn’t come from Rayne?” I asked.
“I’ve never seen anything like it.” He sounded more curious than frightened. His confidence was back. “It’s shooting some kind of projectiles.”
Some kind of projectiles. Oh man. I still didn’t understand how Ibara worked. On the one hand they had power and lights and running water; on the other hand they had no clue about modern weapons. At least the people of Rayne didn’t have a clue. Obviously there was somebody else on Ibara who knew all about them, because they were shooting at us.
Another shot erupted from the cannon. I ducked, but didn’t need to. It splashed down even farther in front of us.
“I don’t think they’re trying to hit us,” I concluded.
“Then what are they doing?” a confused Siry asked.
I looked at the shore off to our right. We were moving parallel to the beach, approaching the break that led into the large bay, and Rayne. I think I wrote before, the entrance to the bay was a couple hundred yards wide. The shoreline was rocky beach, then came the opening, then farther on, the rocky beach continued. Between those two rocky spits of land was the gateway to the perfect green bay and the village of Rayne.
Siry frowned.
“What?” I asked.
He raised the telescope and looked to the ship again. “Flighters,” he growled. “It’s not about us. They’re headed for Rayne.”
He handed me the telescope. Our position had changed enough that the attacking ship was no longer in complete shadow. The thing looked military. It was about long, with a low flat cabin. At one time it had been gray, but the paint was peeling, and big patches of rust were everywhere. I even saw the faint outline of military-style markings on the bow. I couldn’t make it out though, because it was mostly worn off. It looked like one of those old PT boats you’d see in World War II movies. Whatever it was, it was long past its prime. The craft was so full of holes and rust I didn’t know how it stayed afloat. There was only one thing about it that didn’t look old and rusted: the cannon mounted on its bow. That thing worked just fine.
Five people were on deck. All looked like men, but I couldn’t tell for sure. Two were at the cannon, the others were in the stern driving the boat. They all had long hair and raggy-looking clothes. Flighters. When I say the ship we were on was like a pirate ship, I’m talking about the kind of pirate you’d see in the movies. Idealized pirates. Fictional pirates. Disney pirates. The Flighters on this other ship weren’t about to sing “Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum.” No way. They were the real deal. They were a desperate-looking bunch of outlaws on a ship that wasn’t the least bit romantic.
“They’re trying to scare us off,” Siry said, his eyes focused. “They’re making a run for the bay.”
Several of the other Jakills joined us at the bow.
“What are they doing?” Twig asked nervously.
“They’re headed for Rayne,” Siry declared.
Loque added, “They could hurt a lot of people with that weapon.”
Everyone stood dumbfounded, staring at the ship, which was about a hundred yards away. It was going to pass in front of us. Siry was right. The shots were a warning to keep us back. They were going to attack Rayne.
Siry faced his group of young rebels. He scanned their eyes as he had earlier, before beginning their mission. “What do you think?” he asked.
I wasn’t sure what he meant. I was the only one. The other Jakills knew exactly what he was talking about.
“Our families are in Rayne,” Twig said in a small, shaky voice.
“We don’t have a choice,” rat boy added.
Siry asked, “Does anyone disagree?”
Nobody reacted. I didn’t know what the heck he was talking about, so I couldn’t agree or disagree. I probably didn’t get a vote anyway.
Loque said, “If we do this, the quest will end before it begins. We may never get another chance to live beyond our shores.”
“If we don’t do this,” Siry countered, “we won’t be able to live with ourselves.”
Loque nodded. “You’re right.”
I felt another excited buzz go through the group. What were they talking about?
Siry actually smiled. “We wanted an adventure. We got one.” Everyone cheered. Siry ran back to the ship’s wheel, barking commands. “Engineers, down below. Raise the sails. We’ve got a race!”
They all ran off to some predetermined post. I was left alone, feeling stupid. Did I mention how confused I was about everything on Ibara? I had no idea what to do, so I followed Siry and watched as he took his place behind the wheel.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“We’re going to stop the Flighters.”
“How? You don’t have any weapons. No, you don’t even know what weapons are!”
I heard a loud flapping sound as the large main sail was raised. With a crack it filled with air, and our small ship lurched forward.
“I told you, Pendragon,” Siry said with pride. “We’ve been piloting boats around these waters our whole lives.”
“But you don’t have any weapons!” I repeated.
Siry smiled slyly and said, “What about the one you’re standing on?”
Huh? It took a few seconds for me to get what he meant. When it finally clicked, I
wished it hadn’t.
“You’re going to ram them?” I gasped.
“Our engines aren’t powerful,” he answered. “But the wind is with us. We can catch that little gray monster and slice her in half.”
“What if it shoots back, and this time they try to hit us?”
“Either way we’ll sink,” he answered. “We can’t let the Flighters into that bay,”
I wanted to argue. I really did. But he was right. The people of Rayne were sitting ducks. We were the only ones who could stop them. Of course, I wished I wasn’t along for the ride on that kamikaze torpedo. All I could do was keep my head down and hope for the best.
Siry and the Jakills kept surprising me. They were a bunch of rebellious kids with no respect for authority and had no problem stealing a ship. But they weren’t a bunch of thrill seekers out for a joyride. They really wanted to learn the truth about their world. They felt so strongly about it that they were willing to become exiled outlaws. Now they were throwing their dreams away to protect their village. At best, they’d stop the Flighters but lose the ship and return to Rayne to be arrested. At worst, well, I didn’t want to think about that. Either way, their dreams of exploring the rest of Ibara were about to end. There wasn’t even a debate. Everybody was As I watched these young sailors expertly guide their ship toward suicide, I realized something important. Whatever happened with this sea battle, whatever became of the Jakills, it was this kind of spirit and curiosity that would guide Ibara through its turning point and into the future. I can’t find the words to describe the respect and admiration I had for this small band of curious kids. It wasn’t until that moment that I knew for certain I had made the right decision. I was glad to be with the Jakills.
The sails added speed. The distance between our yellow ship and the war ship closed quickly. It helped that the Flighters didn’t pick up any speed. As we got closer to their ship, I heard the loud chugging of its engines. From the throaty, belching, misfiring sound of things, the engine of that warship was just as decrepit as its hull. If they were able to pour on the speed and get away from us, they would have. I tried to guesstimate when our paths would cross, and figured we’d collide just before it reached the opening to the bay. The only way they could stop us would be to shoot us out of the water.
The Pilgrims of Rayne tpa-8 Page 22
