Free Wild Waters by Rob Kidd Page A

storming through the door.
    “I was going to say ladies first,” Jack called after her.
    The other pirates bundled through the door en masse, drawing daggers, swords, and pistols in a swarm of red kerchiefs and rotten-toothed grins. Just inside the door was a small round vestibule and a long hallway leading to a set of stone stairs and two doors. Jack guessed that at least one of the doors probably led into the kitchen, which could often be found on this level in forts like this. For one thing, it made it easier to drag dead carcasses straight from the hunt to the cooks for cleaning and roasting.
    “Don’t forget!” Jocard called above the fray. “King Samuel is mine!”
    Jack bowed pleasantly as everyone tumbled past him. He was perfectly happy to let other people be the first ones into battle. Cleaning up afterward was more his line of work. Picking up any treasure that got accidentally dropped along the way, for example.
    He nipped inside after the last pirate had entered and turned to close the door behind him. The footsteps of his crew’s boots were pounding away down the hall as the door clicked shut.
    Suddenly he felt cold steel pressing into his neck, and he froze. “I’ve been waiting for you, Jack Sparrow,” said the voice of Benedict Huntington.

C HAPTER T EN
    “W aiting for me?” Jack said, looking down at the sword pointed nastily at his neck. “That’s terribly thoughtful, but you didn’t have to do that, mate.” He tried to take a step back in the cramped space, but Benedict pressed the sword more forcefully into his skin and Jack winced. He could feel a trickle of blood sliding down his shoulder. How very inconvenient. Bloodstains were horribly difficult to get out of shirts.
    “I’m not your mate ,” Benedict snarled. “I am your death.”
    “Ah, but see, that’s where you’re wrong,” Jack said blithely. “Bad news, I’m afraid. I have it on good authority that the pet beastie is the one who’s going to kill me. So I’m afraid that if it’s going to kill me, then you can’t. Savvy?”
    “Stop blithering,” Benedict said. “I’m going to read you a list of your crimes before I execute you.” He fished a scroll out of his coat pocket with his free hand and unrolled it dramatically.
    Jack looked pained. “Oh, dear. Couldn’t you please just kill me instead?”
    “For the crime of piracy on the high seas; humiliating a superior officer of the East India Trading Company—”
    “Aw, did I hurt your feelings?” Jack said. “I hear that a lot—Good God, what is that ?” He stared off over Benedict’s shoulder with an astonished, horrified expression.
    Benedict snorted. “As if I would ever fall for a stupid trick like that.”
    Jack’s horrified expression didn’t change.
    “Sparrow, stop being a simpleton. I’m not a fool, you know.”
    Jack relaxed his face and shrugged. “Well, it was worth a try.”
    “Idiot,” Benedict growled, glancing back down at his list. “Destruction of royal propertyyyeeeeeeEEEEAAUUUUUGH!” Benedict’s chilly recitation turned into a high-pitched shriek as something lifted him off his feet and threw him down the narrow stone hallway.
    “Told you!” Jack said smugly, then he dodged as the “something” turned and came for him.
    It looked like some kind of man-beast with black fur and enormous, bulging arms. Its nose was large and flat and its brow hung heavily over its eyes. At first Jack had barely noticed it in the shadowy corner of the vestibule; he’d assumed it was a stuffed hunting prize or a statue. That was until it moved.
    Now it was moving again, and moving fast , with a rolling gait powered by its front knuckles. Jack sped off down the hall, his arms flapping wildly as he ran. He leaped gracefully over Benedict, who was still scrambling backward with terror written all over his face.
    “ARRRRR!” roared the beast, charging after Jack. There wasn’t time to get up the stairs so he whipped open the nearest door. As