The Pirate's Legacy: New Identities

Chapter 34: Night Terrors

The little tear that the Draconian soldier had sliced into the main mast's topsail ripped wider because of the wind that blew through the canvas. Other sails had holes from wayward gunshots and cannonballs. The holes on the main deck were unpleasant to the eyes but tolerable. So were the severe scorch marks on the wood around the main hatch. Diamante had smashed a lit fire bomb accidentally when the rifle shooters on the other ship had discovered him and Joshua as the reasons for the flames. In the lower decks, where cannonballs had ripped into the ship's gut, the floors were flooded. If not for Joshua's quick thinking that got the crew to break empty gunpowder barrels and use the wood to cover the holes, the ship would have moved more slowly and probably had missed the deadline.

Among the dead was Godsworth's best friend, Briggen. The stout, burly man had been at Briggen's side when he died from infection on Joshua's operating table. During the fight, a loose cannon on the second deck had fallen off of its wooden base support and had crushed Briggen's left foot. Joshua had to amputate the limb from the knee, but these efforts had failed to save the pirate's life—and some would say they had even contributed to his death.

Godsworth was overcome with grief for his best mate. He was inconsolable and refused anyone's company for the rest of the journey to Helaine. Either such was his anguish or a festering resentment toward Joshua, the man whose table Briggen had died on, Godsworth barely ate food. The men and Em worried for him, but he rebuffed their interference. Only Dread Robin did not partake in the fruitless attempts to comfort him, but the captain kept a sharp eye out for any indication that Godsworth would try to exact revenge on Joshua for his lost friend.

Pirates are always a superstitious breed, and even though their dead were given a proper sailor's send out to sea, a few men were very sensitive to the tragic way Briggen had died and Godsworth's grief. Some feared Briggen's spirit, with its missing leg from the amputation, would haunt the ship and its sailors. That is why on the fourth night after The Jolly Roger arrived in Helaine's harbor, no one was surprised or angry when a handful of the crew packed up and left permanently for Politicka's capital city as soon as the ship was anchored at a dock.

The delegate decided to stay aboard the pirate ship for the night, but he did send a message to Magistrate Setarcos's villa about their arrival. Em, Roger, and Diamante slept in their former sleeping arrangements. Roger was in his captain's quarters, and Em and Diamante took the separate rooms on the second deck. Leo slept with the crew, which Roger had ordered initially out of spite toward the aristocratic nobleman, but the captain and the lieutenant had regained grudging respect for the other since the sea battle.

On that night before Em, Diamante, Roger, and Leo were supposed to present themselves in front of the High Council, the captain ordered a night watch that changed groups to let the men have their sleep.

In the middle of the night, when everyone but those on duty was asleep, Daryl was the only person awake in the crew's quarters on the third deck. He couldn't get to Hypnosis's dream realm. To him, tomorrow meant the end of the delegate's time on the ship, and he couldn't sleep because of it. When Diamante had returned to the ship in Cola Port, the Politickan scholar and Daryl had rekindled their odd friendship, much to his twin's annoyance.

Now the delegate would be gone in the morning. They'd had so little time together.

Not wanting to let slip their last moments, Daryl swung out of his hammock and then put on his boots. Craig snorted in his sleep, which caused his brother to freeze, but Hypnosis had Craig deep in his realm and the boy didn't wake.

Daryl snuck up the stairs, avoiding the creaky floorboards that would have woken someone up and gotten him in trouble. As soon as he stepped off the landing, he spied someone's leg sticking out from a stack of gunpowder barrels piled next to one of the portside cannon. One of the night watches must have fallen asleep while on duty. This didn't bode well for the fellow should Dread Robin find him there.