The Trophy of Champions (21 page)

‘If it's a pirate yer looking for then ‘e's as good as sausage meat,' said a second wombat, lumbering past. ‘Them crustaceans took care of every pirate they could get their filthy claws on.' She snorted loudly in disgust. ‘They're long gone now, but I wouldn't hang around if I was you. The Blue Claw'll be back with reinforcements, mark my words …'

Ignoring the wombat's warning, Whisker took off in the direction of the supply tent. He reached the demolished structure to see Ruby and the Captain staring at a torn piece of canvas with the words
Pirates never prosper
written in blood-red letters. There was no sign of the Hermit.

‘Tell me it's not …' Whisker gasped.

The Captain reached down and touched the sticky, red substance with his fingers then raised his paw to his lips.

‘Tomato sauce,' he said, sticking out his tongue, ‘The crabs must have found Horace's sauce shooters.'

Whisker felt a wave of relief pass through him.

‘But where's Grandfather?' Ruby asked, looking around anxiously. ‘And Smudge? You don't think they've been captured, do you?'

Before the Captain could reply, there was a tiny buzz of wings and Smudge crawled out from under the canvas, dragging a small metal object behind him.

‘Smudge!' Ruby cried, her voice filled with panic. ‘Have you seen the Hermit?'

Smudge gestured over his shoulder to the collapsed tent.

‘He's in there?' Ruby exclaimed.

Wasting no time, the Captain began scrambling through the debris shouting, ‘Father, can you hear me?'

THWUMP, THWUMP, THWUMP
.

A loud tapping sound echoed from a lump in the centre of the tent. The Captain drew his sword and sliced a hole in the crumpled canvas roof, uncovering Pete's impenetrable iron chest and a pile of shredded books.

THWUMP, THWUMP, THWUMP
.

The tapping sound came directly from the chest. Ruby threw the books aside, then grabbed the lid with both paws and tried to prise it open.

‘It – won't – budge,' she groaned.

‘You'll never get it open that way,' Whisker said, pointing to the key hole. ‘It's got a self-locking mechanism. As soon as it closes, the lock activates. You'll need the key.'

‘Well, we don't have the key,' Ruby snapped.

‘But fortunately Smudge does,
'
the Captain said, picking up the tiny brass object from the ground.

He handed the key to Ruby. She hastily inserted it into the lock and gave it a twist. With a loud
KERTHUNK,
the lid sprang open and the Hermit leapt out like a jack-in-a-box, clutching the Book of Knowledge in his arms.

‘Hermit – is – safe, yes, yes,' he said, gasping for air.

‘Thank Ratbeard for that,' the Captain rejoiced.

‘Hermit hid in chest when crabs arrived,' the Hermit panted. ‘Claws no match for sturdy lock, no, no!'

The rest of the crew bounded up behind them, overjoyed to see Smudge and the Hermit alive. Granny Rat leapt off Fred's shoulders and threw her wrinkly arms around her husband. Caught up in the moment, Whisker wished he had someone to hug.

‘Here comes Gustave,' Horace coughed through a thick cloud of smoke. ‘Maybe he can tell us what's going on.'

Gustave hopped towards them, looking more like a dishevelled vagabond than a rich Baron. The ends of his ears were singed black, his purple coat was covered in burnt patches and his white fur was now a dirty grey colour. Out of breath, it took him some time before he finally spoke.

‘Blue – Claw – attack,' he puffed. ‘Four Claws-Of-War on ze eastern side of ze island.'

‘A tip off?' Pete said.

Gustave shook his ash-covered head. ‘Ze Sea Dogs vere practicing on ze firing range at sunset and must have caught ze attention of a passing patrol ship. Several platoons of crabs came ashore and captured Brawl's crew before ambushing Penelope and her girls in ze waterhole.'

‘What about the others?' Horace asked.

‘Ze penguins vere out fishing and ze marmosets and Cat Fish escaped up trees,' Gustave explained. ‘Unfortunately, half ze spectators vere also arrested.' He pointed to a column of smoke where the bell tower once stood. ‘Ze Blue Claw torched ze tower and Death Ball arena before ransacking ze athlete's village. Luckily zey did not make it as far as ze marina.'

‘Can we do anything to help?' the Captain asked, surveying the flattened remains of the camp.

‘My sons have ze fire under control,' Gustave replied. ‘I suggest you salvage your belongings and make your vay to ze marina.'

‘But what about the trophy?' Whisker exclaimed. ‘You can't just cancel the competition.'

‘Cancelling ze cup would be a symbol of defeat,' Gustave replied bluntly, ‘and
defeat
is not a vord I use. Ve vill simply have to go to Plan B.'

‘Plan B?' Horace repeated.

‘Yes,' Gustave said. ‘Every Pirate Cup has a Plan B. It is not ze first time an incident like zis has occurred.' He pulled out several sealed envelopes from a coat pocket and handed one to the Captain.

‘Zis envelope contains a secret map of ze backup Pirate Cup location,' Gustave explained. ‘It is not as lavish as ze current site but it vill be sufficient for ze remaining events – vhich, I might add, vill be condensed into two final days of competition.'

Whisker glanced at the writing on the front of the envelope:

‘Now if you vill excuse me,' Gustave said, stuffing the remainder of the envelopes into his pocket, ‘I have much to do.' With a polite bow, he turned to leave, colliding with Rat Bait in a puff of ash. Rat Bait tipped his hat in apology and Gustave hopped off into the smoke.

‘Something tells me the Blue Claw didn't stumble upon this island by accident,' the Captain said quietly, as he opened Gustave's envelope.

The crew huddled around him as he slowly unfolded the secret map.

‘Ratbeard save us,' Pete gasped, pointing to the location. ‘Surely this is a joke.'

‘What?' Fred grunted. ‘It looks like a lovely place to me.'

‘That's because you can't read!' Pete snapped. ‘Baron
Reckless
has chosen the least secretive location on the entire Isle of Aladrya: the hill at the top of Two Shillings Cove.'

Plan B

It was raining steadily when the Pie Rats finished loading their sauce-splattered belongings onto the
Apple Pie.
Their entire arsenal of finned pies and bulrush-arrows had been destroyed and only a few tents and a handful of spare uniforms were salvageable from the wreckage.

Ruby was relieved to find her silver bow half-submerged in a patch of mud near the tavern. She wiped it clean on a patch of grass and examined it closely. Apart from a few claw marks on its upper edge, the weapon appeared undamaged.

‘I've got real arrows on the
Apple Pie
,' she declared loudly, throwing the bow over her shoulder. ‘The next nasty pest that comes into range is history!'

The filthy look she shot Whisker told him that she had not forgotten his dance floor disappearance.

To avoid yet another uncomfortable journey, Whisker chose to sail with Rat Bait and Smudge aboard the
Golden Anchor.

The one-masted vessel scouted ahead, scanning the ocean for Claws-Of-War and other unwelcome ships.Whisker was glad to be aboard his family's boat again, and he was equally happy to have a scoundrel and a mute fly as his travelling companions.

Smudge was perfectly content keeping lookout, and Rat Bait was more interested in discussing Plan B than prying into Whisker's affairs.

‘Did ye get a look at Gustave's map, young Whisker?' Rat Bait asked, raising one of Athena's bright pink umbrellas above his head.

‘Only briefly,' Whisker replied, brushing his soggy fringe out of his eyes.

‘Well yer'd best take another look,' Rat Bait said, removing a familiar envelope from his pocket.

‘Hey!' Whisker cried. ‘I thought the Captain had the map.'

‘He does,' Rat Bait shrugged, removing the contents. ‘I be procurin' a second map from Gustave when he bumped into me.'

‘You pickpocketed Baron Gustave?' Whisker gasped.

Rat Bait shrugged again. ‘That be one way o' lookin' at it. I figured that with Capt'n Brawl and Lady Pond Scum in the clink, there be plenty o' spare maps to go ‘round.'

He handed his umbrella to Whisker and began unfolding the map. Whisker immediately recognised the Fish ‘n Ships Inn in the lower left corner of the map. A large farm was visible above it, accessed from the Hawk River via a steep flight of stairs.

‘The remainin' pirate crews have been instructed to dock their ships on the small wharf just below the farm,' Rat Bait explained. ‘The bulrushes will provide plenty o' cover to the south an' there's li'l danger o' boats passin' by, with the rocks upstream t'wards Oakbridge. Sailin' through the cove is the tricky bit, but we should escape attention at this hour o' the night.' He ran his finger to the lower right corner of the map. ‘Gustave intends to moor the
Velvet Wave
on a fishin' jetty further down the river. He's a regular guest at the Fish ‘n Ships Inn, an' I doubt his ship'll raise any suspicions.'

‘How do you know all of this?' Whisker asked suspiciously.

‘I be listenin' in to a conversation or two through a patch o' smoke,' Rat Bait said with a grin. ‘It's all in me job description. Anyway, with twelve hungry sons to feed, not to mention the Blue Claw ambush, Gustave's supplies are runnin' low an' he's plannin' a dock delivery for tomorrow evenin'.'

‘You don't suppose he'd like a couple of Trojan Pasties added to his order?' Whisker murmured.

‘Aye,' Rat Bait replied. ‘If ye can get the pasties baked in time.'

‘Oh,' Whisker said, sensing a snag in his already flawed plan. ‘That could be a problem. Mama Kolina's stove was destroyed in the raid, and I doubt the galley oven is big enough for a Trojan-sized anything.'