Free Vampirates 1.5:Dead Deep by Justin Somper

Chapter One
Shore Leave
    “Forty-eight hours!” said Bart with a grin.
    “Two whole days and two whole nights !” Jez beamed.
    Together, the young pirates cried, “Shore leave!” before high-fiving each other, low-fiving each other, and whooping.
    Their friend Connor Tempest shook his head with a grin. At fourteen years old, he was one of the youngest pirates on board their ship, The Diablo —but that didn’t stop his friends from wanting to lead him astray at every opportunity. He knew how excited they were to have shore leave, in spite of being dedicated members of Molucco Wrathe’s crew. “There’s only one thing better than beinga pirate on a pirate ship,” Jez had declared as they’d sailed away from The Diablo a few hours earlier, “and that’s being a pirate on shore leave with time on his hands and gold in his purse!”
    Neither Jez nor Bart had stopped grinning since they’d set off from The Diablo in the small boat. Now Connor calmly steered them into a cove crowded with ships, while Bart andJez jumped up and down like excited kids, causing their craft to rock dangerously.
    “So,” Connor called across to them, “is this the place?”
    “This is it!” Bart said. “Calle del Marinero…the strip of sin!”
    “Erm, that’s not exactly a literal translation,” Jez said.
    “Quite so, Mister Stukeley, quite so,” said Bart,clearing his throat. “A literal translation would be…the Street of Sailors.”
    Connor looked up at the steep and inhospitable ridge beyond the mass of ships. Daylight was fading fast and the land was looking darker and more forbidding by the minute.
    “Where exactly is the street?” asked Connor. “Right now, all I can see is a rocky outcrop. I thought you said thisplace was crowded with bars and taverns and stuff. How long a walk is it going to be when we get on land?”
    “Are you blind, Mister Tempest?” said Jez. “Look around you!”
    “We’re not going on land ,” said Bart. “ This is Calle del Marinero—right here. It’s a floating city!”
    As he maneuvered their small boat through the mass of ships toweringabove them, Connor looked more closely at the other vessels. They were crowded with people and strung with lights. Music was blasting out—a deafening cocktail of rock, folk, and thrash-shanty. He felt a charge of excitement. The boats themselves were the taverns!
    Ahead was a regal junk, each of its red sails bearing the silhouette of a bird in various stages of flight. As theysailed nearer, Connor read the name on the side of the ship: The Bloody Parrot .
    “Ah,” said Jez with awe, “ The Bloody Parrot ! I heard that its crew sailed in one night for a look-see and never left!”
    “We’ll have a drink there later,” said Bart.
    “We’ll have a drink on every ship later!” said Jez.
    Connorshook his head. He could see how this shore leave was going to shape up. Who knew what state Jez and Bart would be in by nightfall on Sunday? That was when The Diablo was due to pick them up from Calle del Marinero.
    “Aw, don’t look so worried,” Jez said, ruffling Connor’s hair.
    “No, no, Mister Tempest,” added Bart, “we shall take good care of you!” Heclimbed up onto the side of the boat. “After all, we are—are we not?—the Three Buccaneers!”
    Connor nodded. A fellow pirate, Cutlass Cate, had come up with that nickname, and it had stuck.
    “One for all…” cried Bart, his voice booming over the music drifting down from The Bloody Parrot . From its top deck, curious revelers paused to look for a moment at the pirates’small bark.
    “And all for one!” cried Connor and Jez.
    At last, Connor spied a mooring slip and eased the boat expertly up to the wooden pier.
    “Nicely done!” cried Bart, jumping down onto the wooden gangway and making light work of the requisite knots.
    Jez dragged Connor off the boat and onto the pier. “Don’t dawdle! Weonly have forty-eight hours!”
    Connor found himself propelled along the