Voyage of the Owl (16 page)

On the way through the saloon he picked up several gold ingots and stuffed them into the pockets of his breeches. He crept back onto the deck and sauntered to the helm where Carl steered, peering anxiously over his shoulder to check on the progress of the Sedah ship.

‘Gaining on us, are they?’ asked Otto.

‘Steadily,’ replied Carl. ‘If we can just make the Nine Isles …’

‘Oh, I have a better plan,’ smirked Otto, pulling out one of the gold ingots and rubbing it possessively. ‘A little diversion might help us, and make us very rich!’

‘What are you talking about?’ demanded Carl in confusion.

‘We put the brats and Fox and all their menagerie in the rowboat and set them adrift,’ Otto crowed. ‘I’m sure the Sedah would be very interested in a certain group of children, especially that curly-haired witch. The
Sea Dragon
will stop to investigate, giving us
time to escape with the gold! We can retire as rich as princes of Sedah!’ Otto slipped the gold ingot into Carl’s hand with a knowing wink.

‘You can’t do that, you murdering pirate,’ Carl argued, dropping the gold bar in disgust. ‘The Sedah will kill them!’

‘Oh yes, I can,’ replied Otto, pulling his wicked dirk from its sheath and pressing it into Carl’s throat. ‘Be very careful who you call a pirate, Carl. You are either with me, or you are in the rowboat. What will it be, Carl?’

Carl swallowed and nodded. Otto laughed joyously. Then he yelled a loud, whooping cry.

Saxon, Lily, Roana and Ethan ran at his call. They all stopped suddenly when they saw the shirtless Otto holding the dirk to Carl’s throat. Ethan automatically drew his bow and nocked an arrow in one fluid movement.

‘You shoot, he dies,’ Otto barked. ‘Put the bow down.’

Ethan slumped and obediently dropped his bow onto the deck.

Aisha growled, her hackles raised and the fur standing up all along her back.

‘Hold the dog,’ Otto ordered. ‘If the dog so much as whimpers, Carl dies.’

‘Now, all of you, you are going for a little ride in the rowboat,’ Otto smirked again. ‘Go down and get Fox and that dratted monkey. He’s going with you.’

‘No!’ exclaimed Lily. ‘If we move Fox, the bleeding will start again. He will die. You must leave him alone.’

‘So?’ shrugged Otto. ‘You are all going to die anyway when the Sedah pick you up. Go and get him. I want Fox to see the stern of his precious
Owl
sailing off without him.’

Lily pulled herself up to her full height. She pointed her finger at Otto, closed her eyes and started to mutter and murmur under her breath.

‘Stop it,’ barked Otto, pressing the dirk closer into Carl’s neck. A bead of blood welled up.

‘I just put a curse on you,’ announced Lily calmly. ‘If you move Fox or touch him, you will come up in horrible suppurating boils and die a long agonising death from the Black Pox.’

Otto’s eyes widened in fear.

‘I don’t believe you,’ he spluttered.

‘But I am a witch,’ Lily replied smoothly, staring at Otto boldly. ‘Besides, while you have been chatting the
Sea Dragon
is nearly upon us.’

Everyone turned to the stern to see the
Sea Dragon
steadily bearing down upon them. Otto
calculated the time required to haul the unconscious Fox up on deck, and decided against it, regardless of the witch’s curse.

‘Get in the rowboat,’ barked Otto. ‘Take your wretched dog and that evil cat. Leave all your weapons on the deck. And please give my regards to the captain of the
Sea Dragon
, won’t you?’

There seemed nothing else to do. Lily scooped up Charcoal and climbed down the rope ladder into the rowboat. Roana followed cautiously. Saxon dropped his daggers; Ethan dropped his quiver and knife.

Something hard knocked gently against his thigh. Ethan reached into his pocket and his hands closed upon a small hard object. Not a weapon. But a musical instrument.

It was the perfectly formed coral pipe that the Merrow maid had given him. The Merrow girl had indicated that if ever they needed help he just needed to play on the pipe and the Merrow would come. The Moon Goddess knew they certainly needed help now.

Ethan lifted the coral pipe to his mouth and urgently started to play. A strong lilting melody rang over the ship.

‘Can it, piper,’ barked Otto. ‘There will be plenty of time for playing where you are going. Get that dog off this ship now.’

Together Ethan and Saxon tried to heave and
haul a very reluctant Aisha down into the rowboat. Jack stood by, feeling sick with anxiety, but there was nothing he could do to save the children.

‘Hurry up,’ barked Otto impatiently, waving his dirk threateningly. ‘The
Sea Dragon
is nearly in firing range.’

At last Aisha was safely in the bottom of the boat. Ethan resumed playing his pipe faster and louder.

Otto let Carl go and ran to the stern. He gloated down on the four children and the animals in the small rowboat. He picked up the mooring rope in one hand and the sharp dirk in the other. The dragon on his arms shimmered with sweat.

‘Ta ta,’ he called mockingly. ‘Play all you like, piper boy. Nothing will save you now.’

Otto stood up with a theatrical flourish, ready to sever the mooring rope.

A loud explosion, followed by a high-pitched whining sound, gave him a moment’s warning. He looked up towards the
Sea Dragon
, just in time to see a huge black cannon ball flying towards him. Otto dropped his dirk with a yelp and threw his body to the side.

The children saw a glimpse of the broad dragon on his back twisting, its muscles rippling as if ready to fly. But the dragon could not really fly or save
Otto now. The cannon ball flew over the stern, taking Otto with it.

The cannon ball hit the water with a loud splash, sending water metres into the air and rocking the rowboat wildly. Otto and his dragon disappeared without a trace, weighed down by the heavy gold ingots in his pockets.

Roana and Lily screamed.

Carl immediately turned his concentration back to sailing the
Owl
. He steered the ship deftly to port, so the next cannon ball narrowly missed its target.

‘Get up here now,’ he yelled to the stunned occupants of the rowboat. ‘All hands on deck.’

They leapt to obey. With Fox incapacitated and Otto gone, they would need every one of them to sail the
Owl
.

Carl’s return to concentration gave the
Owl
a much-needed spurt of speed, which put her back in the race. The dark smudge of the Nine Isles grew steadily closer. The
Owl
neatly flew out of cannon range once more. Ethan played his pipe again, but there was no sign of Merrow – no sign of help.

Jack, his burnt arm still in a sling, and Carl worked to plan the best strategy for sailing the
Owl
out of trouble. As they neared the lee of the land, the breeze became fluky.

This favoured the more manoeuvrable
Owl
over the heavier
Sea Dragon
. The
Owl
could also skim close to land, while the
Sea Dragon
had to keep its distance from the shallower channels.

They could now smell the warm, loamy scent of the land and the rich aroma of exotic blossoms. They could see the white glimmer of seabirds wheeling and diving around the grey rocks. Dark shapes wallowed on the rocks, the fat bodies of black seals sunning themselves.

Still, the
Sea Dragon
was very close and would not give up. A clumsy tack put the
Owl
back in firing range. This time the
Sea Dragon
’s cannon ball found its mark. A boom snapped and tore like matchwood, dragging down the sail with it.

The
Owl
slowed down drastically, dragging its broken wing through the water like a lame seabird.

‘They’ve got us,’ yelled Carl in despair. ‘We have no chance of outrunning them now.’

‘Why aren’t they shooting again?’ asked Roana.

‘I think they mean to board us,’ Carl shouted in response. ‘They are avoiding sinking the
Owl
outright. They could blow us to smithereens in a moment if they wanted to.’

Ethan dug his hands in his pocket in frustration. His bow and arrows would be no match against a fully armed Sedah warship with twenty-eight cannon and an army of soldiers armed to the teeth with cutlasses, dirks, pike staffs and swords.

Once more he felt the pipe hidden there. Once more he pulled it out. The pipe was carved from several branches of pure white coral, engraved with strange symbols of dancing porpoises and spouting whales.

Ethan played the delicate Merrow pipe again. This time he put all his energy, his heart, his soul into playing. An exquisite haunting, whistling melody rang out over the water.

Lily listened, enraptured. She remembered the night she had first heard the Merrow pipe playing at Smuggler’s Cove, and then the thrilling starlit ride on a dolphin’s back, escorted by the magical Merrow folk. She rubbed the Merrow pearl at her throat. It filled her with calmness and hope.

The music played on. This time there was a response.

‘Look,’ called Lily in excitement.

To starboard, two beautiful exotic faces had broken the water. Clouds of green tresses floated
out on the surface of the water like velvety dark seaweed.

One face was that of the Merrow maid, serious and questioning. The other was her solemn, bright-eyed sea baby, with spikes of green all over his head, and his thumb stuck firmly in his mouth.

The Merrow maid opened her mouth to speak in her soft singsong voice.

Lily listened carefully and subconsciously rubbed the Merrow pearl at her throat.

At first the gentle voice sounded like rolling waves, a warm soft breeze and fish leaping in delight. But then the words separated in Lily’s mind and began to make sense.

‘Greetings, son of the earth,’ the maid began. ‘My name is Serena and this is my babe, Hagen. Why have you called me through the ocean?’

Ethan did not reply because he could not understand her.

Lily knelt down on the side of the
Owl
. Mellifluous sounds bubbled up from her throat.

‘Greetings, Serena of the sea,’ Lily replied softly. ‘I am Lily. We desperately need your aid. The ship behind us, the ship of the Sedahs called the
Sea Dragon
, seeks to destroy us. Is there anything at all you can do to help us?’

A look of fury crossed the face of the Merrow maid.

‘The Merrow hate the Sedahs,’ she cried. ‘They hunt and kill the great wild whales and our gentle friends, the dolphins. They take what is not theirs to take. They take more than they need, and they leave insufficient for the other creatures of the world. I will help you. You might want to stop your friends’ ears.’

With that the Merrow maid dived underwater and disappeared, with her gorgeous wide-eyed baby.

Ethan, Roana and Saxon stared at Lily in wonder.

‘What was that all about?’ asked Roana. ‘You were making the strangest noises.’

‘I can talk to her,’ breathed Lily in wonder. ‘I couldn’t last time we met them, but I can understand her now. Perhaps it is the pearl she gave me. It forms a kind of special bond.’

‘What did she say?’ asked Ethan.

Lily related the conversation.

‘What does she mean by “stop your friends’ ears”?’ asked Roana.

‘I don’t know but whatever she’s doing, I hope she does it fast because the
Sea Dragon
is putting down boarding craft, and they look like they mean business,’ Saxon added grimly.

They all turned to look. The
Sea Dragon
was only fifty metres away and had turned broadside towards them. Swarms of armed soldiers were busily launching boarding craft and preparing grappling hooks. A troop of archers gathered in the bow. They shot a volley of arrows.

‘They are shooting way too high,’ snorted Ethan in derision.

‘They are not shooting at us,’ retorted Carl. ‘They are aiming for the rigging. They want us totally disabled.’

True enough, the arrows sliced through the rigging, cutting through ropes and sheets as they flew. Ethan picked up one of the arrows that had fallen nearby. Instead of the usual pointed arrowhead, this one had a head shaped like a sickle moon, with its edge as sharp as a razor. The arrows sliced through the ropes of the rigging as if they were fragile spiderweb.

Another sail crashed to the deck, bringing the
Owl
to an almost complete stop. Five longboats were now brimming with black-armoured soldiers and rowing speedily towards the
Owl
.

Ethan and Roana strung their bows and stood watching anxiously, an arrow nocked ready to fly. Saxon, Carl and Jack had armed themselves once more with their daggers.

Lily had run down to the cabin. The phrase ‘Stop your friends’ ears’ rang in her head. Down in the cupboard in the galley she found a block of beeswax, which was used for polishing the timber-work until it shone.

Hot coals still burned in the stove from breakfast time. She gently warmed the beeswax until it was malleable. Up on deck she could hear shouts and yells. The longboats must be very close now. She pulled off pellets of soft, warm wax and melded them between her fingers as she ran up on deck.

Carl had the small cannon from the
Owl
and was firing at the longboats. Ethan and Roana were shooting arrows as fast as they could draw them. Saxon tried to steer the crippled
Owl
away from the longboats. Jack, one arm in a sling, was valiantly trying to reload the cannon.

The five longboats rowed on relentlessly. Now they could see each lethal soldier quite clearly and count each one of their terrible weapons.

‘Come on,’ whispered Lily. ‘Come on.’

Softly, slowly, above the sound of weapons clashing and men yelling, Lily could hear a gentle melody. At first nothing happened. No-one else seemed to hear.

Then gradually the longboats slowed their rowing. The men fell silent, and the music rose sweetly and hauntingly.

The music was irresistibly sad. A song of love and loss.

Lily was entranced. So too were the others on the ship. Ethan had dropped his bow and arrow. Saxon had let go of the steering wheel so they were drifting uselessly on the current.

Carl let the cannon muzzle drop and was meandering over to the railing, trying to get closer to the music, closer to the rocks. He reached over the side as if he was going to drop into the sea to swim to the source of that magical music.

Lily smiled. How sweet! Saxon wandered over to the side of the ship too and leant far over the side.

Sitting on the cruel jagged rocks in the golden sunshine was an entrancing figure. From the waist up she appeared to be human, with long flowing green hair, decorated with shells and pearls. From the waist down, she had a long, slim tail glittering silvery green in the sunlight. The Merrow maid played on her white coral pipe, and this was the source of the entrancing music.

Lily could see the Merrow maid more clearly now, with a babe by her side, as they drifted towards
her rocks. Lily could not believe how irresistibly beautiful she was. Nor could anyone else who could hear that Merrow music.

Even Mia the monkey came up from Fox’s cabin, the first time she had left his side since his injury. She climbed up into the rigging, swaying to the music and chattering softly to herself.

Aisha alone was not bewitched. She howled and howled. Aisha ran around the deck trying to distract her humans. Finally she jumped up on Lily, knocking her flying to the deck. The ball of soft beeswax flew from Lily’s hand and rolled along the deck.

‘Naughty Aisha,’ murmured Lily without much conviction. Her bottom hurt where she had fallen. She stared at the beeswax rolling across the deck.

Why had she been carrying beeswax? Why had she been kneading it? Suddenly Lily remembered the Merrow maid who was singing the song of enchantment from the rocks. Suddenly she remembered the maid’s words: ‘Stop your friends’ ears.’

The spell was broken. Lily ran first to Carl, leaning out so dangerously over the sea. She hauled him back from the edge and crammed beeswax in his ears. At first Carl fought her. He wanted to hear. But the combination of fighting Lily and the muting
of the music by the wax broke the spell for him too.

He realised the
Owl
was drifting helplessly towards the rocks. Carl swore strongly and leapt to the helm once more.

Lily ran to Saxon, then Ethan, stuffing plugs of beeswax in their ears. Once they could no longer hear the music, the spell was broken and they helped her stop the ears of Roana and Jack, and Fox down in his cabin.

The crew of the
Sea Dragon
did not stop their ears. The longboats drifted across the water, away from the
Owl
and towards the sharp rocks guarding the Nine Isles. Men fell from the decks of the
Sea Dragon
and swam towards the source of that mystical music.

As if in a dream, the
Sea Dragon
itself was moving slowly but inexorably towards the shallow channels and hidden rocks.

Carl tapped Ethan on the shoulder and pointed to the bow of the
Owl
. He picked up his dagger and mimed a sawing action, and then with his arms mimed a gathering action and a flying action.

Ethan looked where Carl pointed and saw the
Owl
with her broken wing, the sails and rigging dragging in the sea. Ethan distracted the others
and they all set to work once again, dropping the shredded sail and dragging in the broken boom and its tattered rigging.

Carl kept the
Owl
’s nose pointed up into the wind, to keep her still while they worked. The sails flapped and argued angrily. At last the job was done. Carl gently pointed the nose away from the wind and the
Owl
set sail once more – battered, injured but, slowly and painfully, moving away from the enemy.

Everyone looked back to the south. The scene was one of total chaos.