The Time Pirate (34 page)

Nick allowed himself a small smile. If he was going to die, he could not imagine braver companions to face his executioner with.

But when they reached the terrible beheading machine with the waiting basket, the crowd behind kept pushing them forward.
And, they kept walking! Went right past the guillotine and up the stone steps to the fort's entrance. Blood was leading the way now, and there were countless pirates, buccaneers, and as many citizens as could fit in the courtyard, all screaming for the prisoners' heads.

They passed through many rooms and halls and finally reached a set of steps leading down into the gloom. Nick lost count of how many levels they went down.

“Where are you taking us?” Nick suddenly asked Blood. “You swore to take us home with the machine.”

“Never trust a pirate's word, lad. Never.” Blood laughed.

“I asked you a question. Where are we going?”

“To the dungeon. To a very special place called the oubliette. The crowd out there wants yer heads to roll, of course; they love to see heads roll and blood spill. But I've decided the blade is far too quick for the likes of you. All the trouble you've caused me deserves special treatment. A long, slow end is what yer facing, boy, you and yer sister and yer friend. Won't be a pretty way to go, I'm a'feared. But you've earned every minute of it.”

Finally they reached the bottom. There were no cells there, just a wide round room of moldy brick, lit by guttering torches mounted on the ancient walls. In the very center of the room was a hole about five feet in diameter. It looked like a deep well.

About twenty of Blood's crew filed into the room and lined the wall, all with their pistols drawn and aimed at the victims. Nick knew now that the guns given him by Lord Hawke were utterly useless.

They'd been condemned to death in the most cruel way imaginable. The oubliette. Nick had read about them in his history books, too.
Oubliette
came from the French word meaning
“forget.” They threw you into a deep hole . . . and forgot about you. Eventually, insane with hunger and thirst, you died of starvation. Men cast into the pit were known to kill one another and eat human flesh, starvation driving them to cannibalism.

And forgotten for all eternity. It was not the way Nick McIver had intended to die.

Blood and Snake Eye walked to the center of the room and stood on either side of the yawning black hole, evil grins on their faces.

“Who wants to go first?” Old Bill asked, drawing his sword. Nick saw instantly what Blood was thinking. It was like walking the plank. On shipboard, if the victim showed the least hesitation to leap to his death in open seas, he was prodded along to his death by the tip of a sword.

Gunner looked solemnly at Nick. “I'll go first, lad. I can catch Katie. Break her fall. Then I'll catch you.”

Nick nodded, knowing that Gunner, who was immensely strong, just might be able to do as he promised. And then Gunner walked forward, glaring at the smirking Captain Blood. It was all he could do not to disarm the old monster and shove him into his own hole. But that would just get them all shot.

“I'll see you in hell someday,” Gunner said to Old Bill, pausing at the edge.

“You'll certainly precede me.” Blood smiled. “Do you wish to jump or be persuaded? Either is fine by me.”

Gunner said nothing, just stepped off the edge and disappeared. Nick heard no cry of pain from the depths below. He didn't know if that was a good thing or a very bad thing.

“Next?” Blood asked, with a little bow.

“My sister,” Nick said, walking with a trembling Katie in his arms, constantly whispering encouragements to be brave
in her ear. “Almost over now, don't worry. You won't get hurt. Gunner and I always take care of you, don't we? And we will now and forever.”

When they stood at the edge, he said, “It's all right, Katie, I promise. Gunner's down there. He'll catch you. Then I'll be right behind you. We'll all be together again. Are you ready?”

“Yes. I'm not scared, Nicky. I've got you.”

Nick hugged her to him, then put his hands around her waist and held her out over the opening. He looked down into the well and thought he could make out Gunner standing at the bottom with his arms outstretched.

“Gunner?” Nick shouted down into the hole, “Ready?”

“Aye” came the hollow reply from below.

Nick McIver dropped his little sister into the oubliette.

There was no cry of pain, which surely meant Gunner had caught Katie safely.

Nick turned to face his mortal enemy. “You will regret this someday, Captain Blood. You have my word on it. However long it may be, whatever it may take. I am going to make you sorry you ever saw my face.”

“I'm already sorry, you mewling little pup,” Blood spat and viciously cracked Nick across the shoulders with the flat of his blade. Nick pitched headfirst into the hole. He could hear the echoes of Blood's laughter all the way down.

He landed in Gunner's powerful arms, hard, for it was a long drop.

“You all right, lad?” he heard Gunner say in the semi-darkness, as he lowered him gently to the ground.

“Yes. Where is Katie?”

“Right here beside me where she belongs.”

“Oh, Nicky,” she sobbed. “Look at all the bones. Are we all going to die in this horrible place?”

It was indeed horrible. The skeletons of countless victims lay scattered across the dirt floor, and Nick could see many sitting where they'd died, backs to the wall. Fresher victims, their flesh torn from their bones as if they'd been attacked by wild dogs, lay nearby, and the smell of rot and worse was well-nigh insufferable.

“Katie,” Nick said, “didn't I promise you I'd take care of you? Have I ever lied to you?

“No. B—but this place is so terrible. How are we ever to get out?”

“Would you like to go home, dear Kate?” Nick asked, kneeling and pulling her toward him in the gloom.

“Home? Oh, yes, Nicky! More than anything in this whole wide world!”

“How about you, Gunner?”

“Home sounds such a lovely word.”

“No time like the present then, as I always say, wouldn't you agree?”

“Aye, let's abandon this monster and his foul prison, Nicholas.”

“Indeed. Mr. Gunner, sir, would you please hand me that small round object you have carefully concealed on your person?”

Gunner reached into his secret pouch and brought Nick's authentic time machine out of its hiding place.

“Would you like to set our course for home, Master Nick?”

“Indeed I would, sir!”

Nick carefully took the Tempus Machina in both hands and turned each half counterclockwise. The moment he separated the two, the faces of each half began to glow brightly, illuminating the jeweled dials. He entered the exact time he wanted to return to, time to be home for supper on July 15,
1940. And then, from memory, he entered the exact latitude and longitude coordinates for the Greybeard Inn on Greybeard Island.

He could already feel the steady pull of the two halves toward each other, but he had one more thing to do before he closed the machine.

“Blood?” he called upward, “can you hear me?”

He saw Blood's face appear far above, peering over the edge of the oubliette, a torch lighting his face.

“What's that bloody light down there?” Blood cried.

“What might you think it is, Captain?” Nick called up.

“What is it, I say, tell me now!”

“Why, it's my Tempus Machina, Captain. The one I gave you is lovely, but a poor substitute for the real thing. We'll bid you farewell now.”

Nick rejoined the two halves, as Kate and Gunner placed their hands over his on the gleaming orb.

A second later, a red-faced Captain Blood was howling in an absolute rage of anger and frustration. He'd just seen his three prisoners disappear. Right before his disbelieving eyes.

That boy, that damnable boy, had tricked him again.

· Greybeard Island—July 1940 ·

N
ick nearly wept for joy at the look on Katie's face. She stood stock-still for a second, looked around, and suddenly realized where she was. Home. And then all three of them burst into peals of laughter. The three time travelers had arrived back on the lovely green island in the summer of 1940. They found themselves standing just outside the front door of the Greybeard Inn. It was a beautiful midsummer afternoon, few clouds, and the golden light striking the lighthouse in the far distance.

His sister, Kate, still remembering her captivity, was actually pinching herself to see if this miracle was possibly true.

It was. She'd escaped the horrible nightmare. Blood had meant them to starve to death in that terrible hole filled with skeletons and horrible rats. But now she was home! She leaped up and flung her arms around her brother's neck, kissing him on both cheeks.

“Oh, Nicky,” Kate said, “do you know the very last thing Mother said to me? ‘Make sure you and your brother are home in time for supper.' And, look, the sun's still up! We
will
be home in time.”

Nick put her down and looked at Gunner. “When did you realize Blood had made such a very stupid mistake?”

“I thought for sure we'd lose our heads. But then, in the bowels of the dungeon, I saw you make that tiny smile, looking longingly at that black hole. That oubliette. Then I knew we'd got the best of him.”

“He's going to be very angry.”

“We've not seen the last of him, I'll grant you that.”

“He's not half so clever as he thinks he is. Which works decidedly in our favor. But now he's got a powerful armada, the Brethren of Blood, to back him up.”

Gunner said, “Why don't you and Kate come inside for a wee moment? I'll serve up some hot tea and cakes. Of course, if you want to go straightaway to check up on your parents, I'm understanding of that. And have you told your sister about yer recent misfortune?”

“What misfortune?” Kate said.

“The Camel,” Nick said. “I had to ditch her.”

“Ditch her? What kind of ditch?”

“He means she went into the drink,” Gunner said. “All the way to the bottom.”

“Oh, Nicky. That beautiful old aeroplane is gone?”

“ ‘Fraid so.”

“Have you told Father?”

“No. I haven't seen him since it happened.”

“When did it happen?”

“Right before Gunner and I came to Port Royal to bring you home.”

“Do you think Father will be terribly angry?”

“I don't think so. Sad perhaps but not angry. I'm sad, too, Kate. I loved that flying machine. And I had a lot of big plans for it, too. But accidents happen.”

“I been thinking on it, Nick,” Gunner said. “My theory is, it ain't the worst thing in the world that could have happened, the old girl going down. Seeing as how you escaped, of course.”

“What do you mean, Gunner?”

“I mean those Nazis have a bone in their teeth. They'd have found that aeroplane in the barn sooner or later. And then they'd have come looking for who owned it. People around here are scared. Somebody would have spilled the beans. And then where would we be? You and me and your dad?”

“Prison.”

“Or worse, most likely. In one night you took out almost an entire squadron of Messerschmitts. And most of their ammunition. Enough to earn the lot of us the unfriendly attentions of a firing squad, I'd wager.”

Nick nodded. Gunner was right. One good air raid was all he was ever meant to get out of the Camel. And by all that's holy, it had been a jolly good one!

He smiled and pulled the stolen roll of Blood's charts from inside his trousers and handed them to Gunner.

“I think Kate and I should hurry right home now, Gunner. But first thing in the morning, we should all gather up in the Armoury and have a look at all the charts. And hear what Katie has to say about Blood's armada and his intentions. Knowing his plans, it might be nice to make them go seriously awry.”