A Red Sky Rising Page 19

  As he stood up, Riggs noticed the expression on Admiral Carter’s face change. It was complete and utter disbelief. A fairy, a creature in which only children believed, was standing just yards away from him. His arm fell to his side, almost as if it was limp as he gawked at the group of misfits. The pistol dropped to the ground, unable to harm anyone.

  Noticing the Admiral’s blank stare, Eli was not waiting any longer. The time to escape was now, before the Navy officer could realize exactly what it was that was staring him straight in the face. The group ran as fast as they could into the woods, leaving behind a surprised Admiral.

  All five of them ran like their lives depended on it. They could hear Jonathan’s terrible shrieks as he rushed after them, demanding to know what they had done to him. An orange glow followed right behind them as the trees burned from the fire of Old Magic.

  “What’s yer plan?” Riggs yelled to Jack.

  “Ain’t got one. We just need to get away from whatever Warner turned into,” his crewmate shouted back.

  White beams tore into the trees, just barely missing the group. Bark flew by the five as Jonathan screamed at them, both in terror and in complete hatred of the crew. Riggs dragged Sapphire to the ground, just barely avoiding being crushed as a tree smashed into the ground where they had been running. Jonathan’s beams of magic tore holes through the tree trunks, forcing the pirates to dodge the falling debris.

  “Get to the beach,” Riggs shouted from behind.

  Nobody needed any coaxing. Without any questioning, they ran toward whatever looked like the sea. About a hundred yards away, they thought they saw the sea, rushing as fast as they could towards it.

  “Get back here, you damn pirates. Tell me what you did to me!”

  Dodging even more erratic blasts, the crew broke through the tree line, finally seeing the cliffs straight ahead. There was no turning back now. If Jonathan caught them there, he could pick them off one by one. They ran toward the cliffs with all of the speed they could muster.

  “Get ready to climb, mates,” Riggs ordered.

  “No, jump,” screamed the fairy.

  “What?!?”

  “Just jump!” she screamed as another blast of magic dug into the ground.

  They all leapt into the air the moment the ground gave way beneath them. Riggs could sense his death coming. As he fell, he could feel his stomach drop. He held his breath, waiting for the sudden splat. Both he and his crew plummeted to the ground like rocks. Nothing could stop it.

  Just as they were about to smack into the rocks below, there was a flash of blue light. After that, everything went black.

  There was nothing but darkness and noises.

  Weakly opening his eyes a bit, Riggs saw Jonathan standing at the top of the cliff. Because of the glowing eyes, he could not tell if the monster could actually see them or if he was still looking for them.

  Suddenly, a blue light shot out of thin air, hitting Jonathan right in the chest. Stunned, he grabbed at his chest and tumbled over the side of the cliff. Riggs could not see where he landed.

  As he started to sink into unconsciousness, the pirate captain saw a small blue light land on his chest. Squinting his eyes a little, he saw a tiny Sapphire standing on top of him. It was like she had shrunk herself.

  “Don’t worry, Riggs. Everything will be alright,” he heard her say.

  He tried to say something, but his vision went black. He faded into the black abyss of his own mind as he listened to the fairy repeat one phrase.

  “Everything will be alright.”

  “All hands on deck! Navy ships approaching.”

  Julia ran onto the deck of the Red Sky just in time to see the fires starting to consume Block Island. Strange lights dotted the island as smoke billowed into the air. Three ships sailed toward them, two of which were small when compared to their leader. The HMS Salvation towered over its fellow Navy vessels and over the Red Sky. It even made the Commodore’s former ship, the HMS Magistrate, look like a toy. It carried with it a terror that no pirate ever wanted to face.

  Caught off-guard, the crew rushed about the ship, dropping the sails immediately. Men ran past Julia, their arms filled with muskets and pistols. Others hurried to cannons, trying to load them as quickly as possible. With no one to lead them, the pirates panicked, readying the ship to attack in whatever way they knew how. In all of the chaos, one question was on Julia’s mind.

  Where was Riggs?

  Clint was hurrying to steer the ship away from the island so that they could head out onto the open sea. Bounding up the stairs to the helm, Julia grabbed the wheel, stopping the navigator for the moment.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” she asked, flabbergasted, “They’re still on that island.”

  “Aye, but we’ve got problems of our own to worry ‘bout. If we don’t get away from this island, then there won’t be a ship fer them to come back to.”

  “You’re just going to leave them?”

  Managing to turn the wheel some more, Clint said, “Unfortunately, yes, lass. If I know Riggs, he’ll find a way to get out of this mess.”

  “I certainly hope you’re right, Mr. Wayko.”

  K-BOOM K-BOOM

  The Navy ships had started firing away at the pirate ship, luckily missing their first couple shots. As the red sails filled with wind, Julia ran to help Petey One-Eye and Valera ready the starboard cannons.

  K-BOOM

  “Where’s Ripper when ye need ‘im?” Petey asked himself as he loaded a cannonball into the chamber.

  BOOM BOOM BOOM

  The pirates returned fire as quickly as they could, forcing the smaller Navy vessels to break off from the leading ship.

  K-BOOM

  A cannonball crashed through the rail just as the Red Sky started to pull away from the barrage. The smaller ships pursued, leaving the Salvation to deal with what was happening on the island.

  As Julia stared back at Block Island, a pain started to grow in her chest. She was fleeing without even knowing the fate of her love. How could she have found herself in such a situation? No matter what Riggs had said, she should have gone with him to search for the treasure.

  Petey noticed the look on the girl’s face and made his way over to her. In a nice gesture, he laid his old, wrinkly hand on her shoulder, trying to provide reassurance.

  “Clint’s only doing it for the good of the crew,” he said.

  Sniffling, she replied, “I know, Pete.”

  He gave the girl a knowing smile and said, “Riggs’ll find you. He always has, and he always will.”

  Julia watched as the island shrank, the smoke mixing with the clouds until they were indistinguishable. With two ships on their tail, they needed as much distance as they could get.

  Holding onto Petey’s hand like a girl would to her grandfather, Julia said, “I certainly hope so… I really do.”

  Riggs awoke to Sapphire sitting right on top of him. She had returned to her normal size, no longer the shrunken fairy from when he had fallen unconscious. Startled, he tried to push her off of him, but there was no space. Both of them were nearly encased in rock.

  “Wha-what happened?” he asked, rubbing his aching head.

  “Oh, right… sorry about the rough landing. It was my first time trying it.”

  That was most certainly not what Riggs wanted to hear.

  “What do you mean ‘it’?” he asked, unsure of what the answer could be.

  “Just a bit of magic to cushion your fall.”

  “And it was your first time tryin’ it? Ye could’ve…”

  The fairy jammed her hand over his mouth, trying to keep him quiet. Frustrated, he pulled it away. She raised a finger to her lips, shushing him.

  “Why should I be quiet?” he whispered through his teeth.

  Pointing to one side of the rock capsule, she said, “Because you’ve got soldiers waiting to get to their ship right next to you.”

  “Their ship? What about MY ship?” he asked, trying
to stay as quiet as possible while still being quite concerned.

  “The black one with the red sails?”

  “Aye,” he said, waiting for an answer. He needed to know what had happened to it, regardless of whether it was good or bad.

  “It got away safely,” said the fairy, easing his concern for the moment.

  “How long ‘til we can get out of here?” he asked, starting to feel a bit cramped.

  “Let me check,” she said, touching her wand to the rock.

  A small segment of the rock turned transparent, filled with the red coats of the soldiers and the blue uniforms of the sailors. Riggs and Sapphire watched as the last large group of them vacated the beach, piling into a longboat to board the HMS Salvation. None of them even bothered to look back at the island. Their eyes were focused on the grand majesty of Admiral Carter’s vessel. The pirate captain could see their passion for their cause in their eyes. It was that passion that would send the pirates to the gallows. After the men were onboard and the ship started letting out its sails, Riggs started pounding away at his stone prison.

  “Riggs, they’ll hear you,” warned Sapphire.

  “Saph, that ship’s my only ticket off this island. If I don’t get meself onto it, then the Red Sky is as good as gone.”

  With a hard kick, Riggs broke a hole in the side of the rock. He rolled himself out as quickly as he could, stumbling to his feet on his way to the water. By now, the Salvation was sailing away from the island, all of its sails catching as much wind as they could handle. It was already moving, but Riggs had to try to pursue it.

  He ignored Sapphire’s pleading for him to stop. Treading through the knee-deep tide, he pushed against the unstable sand with all of his remaining might. He did not care if the salt water would bring more pain to his wounds. He needed to get his ship and Julia back.

  Just as he was about to dive into the water and start swimming out to the Navy ship, Sapphire blasted him in the back, the water around him reflecting the blue light. Whatever she had done drained his energy as he fell forward into the water.

  The salt water did not hurt as much as before. Totally sapped of his strength, he floated back to the beach, crawling out of the crashing waves as the fairy looked on nervously.

  “Why… did ye do that?” he asked, spitting water out of his mouth.

  Fumbling with her wand, the fairy said, “Because I wanted to save you.”

  “I could’ve made it,” he said, raising himself to his knees as the tide lapped against his boots.

  “No,” said Sapphire, “No, you couldn’t have. Even if you did, you wouldn’t be able to hold off that many men by yourself.”

  Riggs glared at the timid fairy, but he knew that she was right. She was right, but he could not bring himself to admit it. Even if he was in his best possible shape, he could not have even come close to taking over the HMS Salvation. The odds were simply stacked against him.

  Shakily getting to his feet, the pirate captain watched as Sapphire tapped her wand against two other rocks. One cracked open to reveal Coral Jack, and the other nearly burst open to set free Ripper and Eli. The carpenter immediately started gasping for air once he was let out.

  “Teensy bit crammed, don’tcha think?” asked Ripper, stretching out his limbs.

  “How in the blazes did we end up in there?” Jack asked Sapphire.

  “I used my magic to shield you in there from the soldiers,” she said.

  “You do still have the treasure, right?” Jack asked eagerly.

  Stumbling over to their side, Riggs said, “Treasure? I don’t see any treasure.”

  His crewmate wagged his finger at the Captain, saying, “Ah, but that’s the beauty of it. Show ‘im, Saph.”

  With an excited smile, the fairy reached to the side of her dress and opened up a pocket for Riggs to see its contents. Inside were a bunch of tiny gold coins and jewels, along with miniature boxes full of real silk and linens. Regardless of the size, it was a relieving sight for the Captain. At last, he could say that they had found Kidd’s treasure.

  A grin appeared on his face for a second as Riggs said, “The rum’s on me when we get back to Rebelde, but…” he turned to Sapphire, “… how’re we goin’ to find my ship?”

  Sapphire’s eyes lit up like she had just thought of something brilliant. With all of the excitement of a child, she rummaged through the pockets of her dress, searching desperately for something. At last, she pulled out a tiny chain. At its end was a piece of wood, no bigger than the fairy’s little finger.

  Unconvinced, Riggs raised his eyebrow, saying, “I really don’t think a tiny piece o’ flotsam is gonna help us get back to the Sky.”

  “It’s not just a piece of flotsam,” Sapphire snapped.

  Looking at the small scrap of wood with sorrow in her eyes, she said, “For years, it was the only thing I had to remember Will. When he still had power, he enchanted it and told me that all I needed to do if I wanted to leave the island was to touch it to the sea, and it would show me something beautiful. I never wanted to leave so I just kept it by my side, hoping he would come back.”

  Riggs took another glance at the piece of wood. It had seen its fair share of bad days, making it difficult to tell from whence it came.

  “Any ideas as to what your friend was meanin’?” he asked Sapphire.

  “No… but I’m willing to find out.”

  With the pirates following along behind her, the fairy waded out into the water, gently fluttering her wings to keep them from getting too wet. When the water reached her waist, she stopped, took a deep breath, and unhooked the chain from the wood. Closing her eyes, she dropped the wood into the water, unsure of what would come next.

  Nothing happened.

  Sapphire looked down at the small piece of scrap floating in the water. Carefully reaching out, she laid a finger on it, pushing it below the surface of the water. It just rose to the top again, floating with the sea foam as the current gently brought it away from the fairy.

  The pirates watched as Sapphire’s wings and shoulders drooped, like she had just been let down. She had waited for years to see what Kidd had left her, only to be met with disappointment.

  As calmly as he could, Riggs made his way to Sapphire’s side. Tears had already started running down her face as she watched the item that she had cherished for all those years simply float away. Riggs understood how she felt in that moment. His father had betrayed him too, and he had scars that reminded him of it every single day.

  “I’m sorry, Saph.”

  Not saying a word, the fairy latched onto Riggs and wept. The Captain waved his crew off, knowing that the Sapphire did not need anyone pestering her about why Kidd’s enchantment did not work. She just needed to let out her feelings and emotions. Riggs could feel her shaking as her wings dipped into the water. She no longer cared.

  “I trusted him,” she squeaked.

  Gently holding onto her, Riggs said, “Try not to think about it. Maybe the magic wore off.”

  “I trusted him,” she said, her breathing getting a little heavier.

  The pirate could feel her starting to change from sadness to anger. Her movements were getting more violent.

  “Sapphire, calm down,” he said, trying to hold her still.

  “I trusted you!” she screamed as loud as she could, pushing Riggs so hard that he fell.

  Whipping out her wand, she let loose a torrent of magic, pounding against the water where the wood had vanished. Plumes of seawater blasted into the air as the fairy let out all of her frustrations. She was angry. She was sad. She was just utterly devastated.

  Turning her back on the sea, she trudged out of the water and back onto the beach. Riggs was left by himself, wincing as the water soaked through his clothes and into his wound again. Holding his hand over the gash, he stood up, ready to walk back to the beach.

  Before he could even take three steps, he felt the ground beneath him starting to rumble. The sea around him started to get choppi
er. Turning his head, he saw a ring of light shining out of the water right where Sapphire had blasted her magic.

  “Saph, I think ye’ll want to take a look at this,” he shouted, drawing the fairy’s attention.

  Sounds started to come from the light, sounds like creaking and waves lapping against something. Something was starting to appear, but Riggs could not even begin to guess what it was.

  A blast of light pushed the waves away, creating a crevice in the water. Whatever was appearing was growing out of that area. Right at the surface of the water, Riggs could see tiny sparkles, like miniature fireworks, spinning around in a circle. Wherever the sparkles flew, something would appear behind it. The object displaced more and more water as it grew in size. Now, Riggs, Sapphire, and the rest of the crew could see it was wood.

  The sparkles started whirling around even faster, becoming like a lightning bolt. Rising up in the air, they soon revealed the large hull of a ship. With a rhythmic clunking, forty-six cannons materialized in the portholes. There was no sign of any previous use.

  What was now a band of crackling light shot upwards, after which several masts appeared. The wood branched out, and with an explosion of shining bits of dust, white sails dropped down.

  The glass of the captain’s quarters reassembled itself with thunderous crackling. Color appeared on the outside of the stern, blanketing the captain’s quarters in dark green. A bright red ran across the bottom of the rail, a muted blue flying beneath that, and a subtle cream strip cutting across the middle of the ship. The bottom half changed to a beautifully stained brown.

  There was no indication that the ship had ever seen any battle. There were no battle scars, no patches, no blemishes. None of the pirates had ever seen a ship look that pristine.

  Sapphire especially was surprised. Her tears of anger had changed to tears of joy. She stood on the shore, her mouth agape as she watched the last bits of the ship appear.

  “The Prize… he left me the Adventure Prize,” she said breathlessly.

  When he heard what Sapphire said, Riggs was not completely certain that he had heard correctly. If he heard what he thought he heard, then it was impossible.