Free Captain James Hook and the Siege of Neverland by Jeremiah Kleckner, Jeremy Marshall

die.”
    “It will be done,” said Bertilak.   “But in truth, we are out of healing herbs.   A small patch grows in the desert sand on the far side of the mountain.   It is green with furry almond leaves.   Get it and your man will live.”    
    I hesitated for a heartbeat.   The idea of running an errand didn’t sit well in my stomach, but I was asking for a miracle on command.   That type of thing didn’t come for free.  
    “Starkey, stay with him.   The rest of you are with me.”   I dug into my bag and handed Starkey the books.   “Lord Knight,” I called out, “These are collected histories and stories from my time.   Consider them offerings of friendship.   Mr. Starkey, here, knows them well.”
    “Much thanks to you, Captain,” Bertilak said.   The gate screeched open and four armored knights pushed the two large doors wide.   They grabbed Gustavo’s cot and carried him behind the outer wall.   Starkey followed.   I motioned to the rest of the men and we readied our formation.  
    “Captain,” Bertilak said, “be wary.”
    “The beasts and the savages, I know.”
    “It is more than that.   The island hides many dangerous secrets.”
    “You told me.”
    “Yes, but I do not feel as though you yet believe.”
    “Belief is not necessary.   There is what there is.”  
    “Not here, Captain,” Bertilak said.   “Here there is also what is not.”
    I turned an led my crew into the Crescent Wood.   Up hills and down again, the four of us worked our way around the base of the mountain.   The castle disappeared as we rounded a bend two hundred yards to the south.   The path was rocky and and was bordered by trees that were grouped in patches like gangs of men.   We traveled another three hundred yards when Smee began grunting loud enough for me to hear.   I waited him out until Smee could no longer hold his tongue.   Noodler and Cecco scouted ahead and the Irishman burst.  
    “So we’re whores now?”
    “Gustavo earned this,” I said, standing on a high rock.   I raised a hand to shade my eyes and peered over a line of stout, bristly trees.  
    “He’s dead by now,” Smee said.   “He and Starkey both.”  
    “You don’t know that.”
    “It’s what you’d do.”
    I lowered my hand and stepped down onto the grass.   “It is exactly what I would do, but only to those who wronged me.   Bertilak and I are much the same in that respect.”  
    “And you know this?” Smee asked.   Red blotches rose to his cheeks.  
    “It is more of a feeling.”  
    “You’re betting five lives against one on this feeling of yours.”  
    I paused for a moment.   “Yes.”  
    Smee’s face soured.   Just then, Cecco and Noodler stepped back onto the path.   Smee stepped over and asked, “Which way, then?”
    “There be a break in another hundred yards,” Cecco said.   He guided us through the woods until we came to a wall of thin, wispy trees with bare branches.   “It should be beyond that.”   A noise cut in as Cecco spoke.   I put a finger to my ear.   The men hushed and listened.   For long moments it was silent in a way that no living forest should be.   Then a single noise rose from behind the wall of trees.   It was soft and slow, like the whine of a dog.  
    “Find the plant with almond leaves.   Nothing more,” I said.   Smee and Cecco headed left.   Noodler and I worked our way around to the right.  
    We followed the border until we found an opening.   We pushed through and stepped onto a sprawl of brown sand, roughly twenty paces across.   Along the inside perimeter, a row of tall and flat leaves were held upright against the trunks of their trees by taut vines.  
    We walked past these until we found a pod laying in the center.   There was a faint movement that I first dismissed as the shifting sand.   It moved a second time and I put a hand on Noodler’s shoulder.   A short moment later, the pod writhed and whined softly.  
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