“Hold on to something!” echoed throughout the circus. They recognized it to be Mal’s voice. Xoey groaned. She hoped it wasn’t that, but somehow…she knew. With fear and excitement rolled into one, she climbed onto Hiddle’s back. He giggled as he jumped up in the air, landing next to Nadine.
“Get into the hole!” Nadine screamed.
Hiddle could not find Decyl. He whimpered, even as Ramos picked him up and tossed him into the ground where the box had been. Xoey jumped into the box, followed by Nadine and Ramos.
The machines crowded around them. One of them lifted up its foot to smash down and squish them. They screamed and huddled together. The elevator lift moved down, and as the darkness shrouded around them, then they heard the wind. Above them and out of sight, the sawdust swirled. The remains of the outer yellow and blue canopies ripped from their holding places and joined the whirlwind. The machines beckoned and howled as the torrent of wind ripped them to shreds. The ground shook and rattled the bones of the children tucked away. As quickly as the wind arrived, it disappeared into the sky.
Ramos punched through the lid of the lift and helped the others out. Everything around them was chaos. There were the remains of scrap metal, pieces of broken wood, tattered cloth—there were even pieces of coins and candy loitered all along the path of destruction.
Decyl and Mal stood side-by-side, and Hiddle cheered at the sight of Decyl. “I thought you—”
“Never doubt a gnome’s instinct,” said Decyl.
“Your instinct is to play dead?”
Decyl shook his head. “Usually not, but this time fortune favored.” He led them to a trap door. He motioned for Mal and Nadine to open it. They both grabbed the rope handle and pulled it open together.
Roe and Nell squinted at the light. The children didn’t wait for their parents to fully step out, they tackled their mother and father with glee. Roe squeezed them both. “You have no idea how happy we are to see you.”
“Oh, we have so much to tell you! Don’t we, Xoey?” Nadine turned to find that Xoey was not there.
The group walked back to the remains of the circus to find Xoey pulling on a warped metal pole. “I’ll save you,” she said. Her father stared straight up, unblinking and unmoving. She cried as she tugged and the metal barely budged.
Roe stepped forward. “Xoey…” he said softly. “I’m afraid I have to be the one to tell you the unfortunate news.”
Nell placed a hand upon her husband’s shoulder. She looked at Xoey with a solemn expression.
Xoey wiped her brow. “Help me!”
Hiddle ran past the parents, but Decyl held him back. He shook his head at the youngest curious expression.
Roe moved over to Xoey. “He’s not your father.”
She pointed at the familiar face and sobbed. “Yes, he is!”
Roe lifted up Bran’s sleeve. The crushed arm was filled with gears and intricate pulley systems that seemed to have been powered by an internal source. Xoey stumbled back. “He was created by Nix after your ship was destroyed. He was able to ascertain your father’s appearance by capturing pirates and promising them life after they gave him what information he sought. Then he was used to trick pirates to give away the locations of where they hid in Grittle. All is not lost,” he added. “He informed Gesler where Amorina and Taire are.”
Hiddle sniffed and cried into Decyl’s arm. Decyl, reluctantly, patted the boy’s back.
Xoey looked up as tears streamed down her face. “I don’t care! We can put him back together again. He can be my father!”
Roe knelt down. “No. It is not wise.”
Nell moved in and wiped Xoey’s tears. “Please. I’ll do anything! You are the Tinkertons. You can save him,” cried Xoey.
Mal chewed on his lower lip. Nadine stood behind her brother. Roe shook his head. “Xoey, your father died saving you. He cannot be replaced by something that you’d always know to be Nix’s creation.”
Nadine said softly, “You have us.” She knew it wasn’t the same. She also knew that Xoey wouldn’t stay on land for long.
Hiddle pulled away from the gnome and knelt beside Xoey. “I don’t have a family either, but we can be one together.”
Xoey didn’t answer, but she grabbed Hiddle by the arm and held him tight as they cried into each other’s shoulders.
Chapter Sixteen
The Docks
Over the course of the next few days, Mal explained how Rochelle’s ship was strewn into pieces by the second wind tunnel, but he swore he saw a smaller ship fly out from the raging winds. Taire and Amorina were found underneath Old Town in a building that was set to be condemned within the next few hours.
The house of the Tinkertons was rather crowded. Roe created tents and hammocks for the additional children to sleep in. Ramos found Xoey resting in a magenta hammock. She licked the corner of a page and flipped it to continue reading the book. He rested his arms along the side of the hammock. “I won’t be going with you.”
Xoey looked up from the book. “What?”
He regarded her with calm eyes. “Amorina invited me to train with the Shinobi. You know, as well as I do, that they train on the island south of Spearesfoot. I need the training to protect you.” He refused the Ichen Lager for his mouth. It was puffy, but healing well on its own. Taire and Amorina had pulled his dislocated shoulder back into place. He could lift his arm without too much trouble now.
She reached over the hammock and hugged her friend. “I know. I’ll miss you.”
Ramos smiled a gentle smile. He patted her head. “I’ll miss you, too.”
There was a knock on the doorframe. Nadine and Mal waved. “We have a visitor.”
Xoey spun out of the hammock and followed the siblings down the stairs. Amorina stood next to Isena. The Elder of Yorego smiled upon seeing the group enter. “Well, I see you have started on the long path before you.” She walked over to Xoey with the aid of her red wood cane. Her orange eyes peered down at the pirate. “I trust you have questions.”
“Who will run Grittle?”
Ramos leaned against a wall. He listened to the conversation. “That all depends,” she said. “While rumors stir within the cities regarding Nix and his imprisonment of the Djinn—they appear to be more concerned with leadership. I’m certain they will pick a person to rule. Whether he or she rules well, that is another story for another time.”
“Why don’t you or one in your coterie do it?” She gestured to the red wood cane. “You all have the same wood pieces.”
Isena’s wrinkles deepened as she laughed. “We are too old and too set in our ways to rule an entire continent. No, a younger power would be best, but it takes time for the young to grow into adapted leaders.”
Nadine stepped in from the kitchen. “Like one of us?”
“Perhaps, child. Perhaps. You have much to do before you even consider taking rule of Grittle.”
Hiddle loudly rocked in the rocking chair. “What about me?”
Isena turned to regard the youngest. “You will go with Xoey.”
Mal snickered. “He’s going to drive the crew insane.”
“Does this mean we have to say goodbye now?” asked Nadine.
The old woman shook her head. “We will say it in Yorego. We shall have a feast in your honor.” She gestured the cane to Decyl and the children. “Come now. Our ride waits.”
Outside, a large rope ladder hung down before them. Xoey looked up at the sky to see the ship of the Tinkertons. Isena stepped in beside her. “You did leave it at our port.”
Hiddle climbed up the ladder with glee. He beckoned the rest to join him. One by one, the group followed. When they reached the deck, Hiddle was already somewhere in the belly of the ship running rampant.
Taire escorted Xoey to the forecastle deck. He knelt beside her. “I know I’m not the best person to be offering this. I
can’t stay in one place, let alone understand what it is like to sleep in one bed night after night.” His brilliant dark lined eyes looked up at her. He pushed back his dark hair away from his forehead. “I’d like to be your guardian.”
“You’re a bard. You belong out in the world. I ain’t going to be the reason a bird gets caged.”
He sighed. “I was afraid you’d say that.” Taire placed his hands on her shoulders. “I’m not young anymore. My knees creak and my bones ache. I think I’ve slept in enough strange beds for a lifetime. Let me, at least, try. That’s all I ask.”
“Well, you don’t get just me, but Hiddle, too.”
Taire grinned. “The more the merrier.”
“So you say,” said Xoey with a grin.
They looked out at the departing horizon of Upper City and Old Town.
The small village of Yorego was wrapped in floating lanterns and red ribbon. In the center of the town, a large table was decorated with steamed fish, shelled creatures, and some green straw-like stuff that Xoey swore she’d avoid. The village buzzed to life as they walked to the table. Isena stood before them. Nadine pushed the food out of Hiddle’s hand. “Wait.”
“There is much to say about these children,” she paused, “and the gnome before me. They have proven to us that fate still keeps her claws in the sands of time, but it is not always as we think or even as fate decides. And so, upon this night and from every year on, we shall celebrate the victory of Xoey and her dearest friends for their bravery. Each and every one of you will have one thing done in your honor. Nadine, we shall hone the most beautiful shell we can find in your honor.” Nadine blushed and smiled.
“Mal, we shall create the most illustrious invention of our time.” Mal’s face brightened.
“Decyl, we shall always have a gnome be our guide, for all time.” Decyl bowed his head in respect. He appeared humbled for a change.
“Ramos, every warrior we find, we shall place him, honorably, against you in battle.” Ramos nodded, content.
“Hiddle, as the wind stirs in one direction one day and in another, the next, we shall dance in your honor.” Hiddle giggled.
“And Xoey, you were destined to be born as the ocean and the moon deemed it so. We shall always give our thanks by lighting our homes with the purest white candles, so you can never forget that it was not us who cast you out.”
Xoey whispered, “Thank you.”
Isena nodded. “Now eat.”
The village roared to life as the feast started. They laughed, shared stories of their travels, and in the end, they danced. It was a time to be remembered, indeed.
The next morning, three ships waited along the docks. Xoey rubbed her eyes and yawned. Only one was there the night before. She shuffled to get a better look at the ships. The one on the left was a black ship with black sails. She knew it to be the Shinobi.
The center ship captured her attention. The dark red-wood shone brightly in the rising son. The vessel, intricate in the design, stood tall and proud as the white sails waited to embrace the wind. A gold figurehead stretched out in the front of the ship. She embraced the waves and beneath her was a creature Xoey recognized—Shiro Tamashii. It all made sense. This ship was hers. There were bay windows to show off her quarters, twenty-two cannons, four masts, and it would need a crew of more than forty men. Xoey ran up the gangplank and almost knocked over a man. He kept his balance and turned. “Hello, Xoey.”
She gasped at the sight. “Zaren!”
He picked her up. “Thought I was a goner, eh, kiddo?”
“How did you survive?”
He smiled. “There are always hands in the plans.” He nodded to Isena.
Hiddle ran up onto the ship. “This is…my new home?”
Zaren set Xoey down. “You must be Hiddle.”
He nodded in awe.
The man offered his hand. “Welcome aboard Captain Xoey’s ship.”
Amorina joined her brother. Taire moved in beside her. “Whenever you’re ready.”
“I have to say goodbye.”
Mal and Nadine waited on the dock. Nadine hugged her first. “Remember, you promised we’d see each other again.”
Xoey smiled. “I did. A year isn’t too long of a wait. Ramos will have breaks every now and again and we’ll sail over.”
Mal and Xoey hugged. “See you soon, pirate,” he said.
She chuckled. “I’m sure you’ll think of an invention to communicate when we can’t see one another.”
Mal’s eyes lit up. “I should!”
Hiddle hugged them both by squeezing their necks super tight.
Xoey looked down at the somber gnome. “I’ll miss you, Decyl.”
“Gnomes don’t cry.”
She hugged her furry friend. “I’ll be back.”
Decyl whimpered with a nod. “I know.”
Hiddle tackled Decyl as soon as she let go. They growled at one another and then patted each other’s head.
Ramos stood in front of the dark clad ship. He bowed his head slightly. “I don’t think you’ll save me,” she said.
He looked at her, eyebrows furled in confusion.
She smiled. “You already have.” Xoey hugged Ramos tight. “I’ll miss you the most.”
He nodded without a word.
She and Hiddle walked hand in hand up the gangplank. She taught him to never put his left foot first onto the plank. It was bad luck.
Luck or not, she had friends. Friends that would be there for each other, no matter what. She was a pirate, after all.
About the Author
Laura started writing at a young age when she discovered it was an outlet for her crazy imagination. Though she will forever have the South in her heart, she currently lives in New Hampshire with her beau and their four-legged children, Mr. Clyde Barker, and Ms. Bonny McBunnyears.
When she is not working on her latest story, you can find her in a comic book store, watching ghost stories, or indulging in her unhealthy habit of collecting antique books.
Publisher’s Note
The publisher would like to thank the following for their invaluable assistance with the production and publication of this work:
Dean Henry, for the wonderful illustrations he provided for Xoey, Mal, Ramos, Nadine, Hiddle, and Decyl. He can be found here: https://facebook.com/oopsart1
Megan Benjamin-Evans for her narration work on the audiobook edition, and also for her invaluable work as AAP’s resident intern extraordinaire.
The ever wonderful Becket, assistant to renowned author Anne Rice, and respected and beloved author, musician, and human being in his own right, for the kind words he gave this book upon reading it.
Special thanks to Greg Wilkey for the same.
Also, thanks to Maggie and Zoe Infield, Shane and Ezra Boyle, and Suze and May Saiers for reading an advance copy of the book and providing invaluable feedback.
Kevin G. Summers, for his expertise in formatting and making both the paperback and Kindle editions look fantastic.
Last but not least, the publisher wishes to acknowledge all of the people who more than a year ago came together to help see a dream come true. Those of you who contributed to the Indiegogo campaign that got Auspicious Apparatus Press off the ground will forever have our deepest thanks.
We hope to bring you many more books in the future!
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Adventures of Captain Xdey Page 18
