Free The Pirates and the Nightmaker by James Norcliffe Page B

Sophie. ‘She could clap them in irons, I suppose. She could maroon them on an island or she could return them to the jolly-boat. But I rather think she will do nothing at all except keep a close watch on them.’
    ‘But they are plotting mutiny,’ I said.
    Sophie laughed again. ‘One unarmed man and a drunken sot of a doctor against Jenny Blade and her loyal crew?’
    ‘And Mr Wicker?’
    ‘The mysterious Mr Wicker? As you say, he would not join with the doctor and the captain. Besides, he needs my mother’s help to get his precious astrolabe. He would not betray her.’
    I was not so sure. I felt that Mr Wicker was loyal only to one creature on earth and while he might not betray Jenny Blade while he had need of her, I would not vouch for his loyalty beyond that.
    Something else had been puzzling me, though.
    ‘Sophie,’ I asked, ‘what
is
an astrolabe?’
    I had heard talk of this thing, but had no real knowledge of it. I had an idea it was some kind of device to help in navigation, but I had never seen one.
    ‘I am not sure. Old-time sailors used them I think to read the stars and measure latitude.’
    ‘Does your mother use one?’
    ‘I think nobody uses them anymore,’ said Sophie. ‘I have not seen one.’
    ‘Then why would Mr Wicker want one?’
    ‘I believe,’ said Sophie, ‘that Mr Wicker desires a particular astrolabe, a very particular astrolabe.’
    ‘There must be something about this astrolabe, then, for him to travel across the world in pursuit of it.’
    Sophie said, ‘I know not what it may be. My mother thinks that it might simply be because it could be precious. She says they were often intricate and beautiful objects so this one may have been made of some precious metal and perhaps encrusted with jewels. Who knows?’
    I thought about that, but I was not convinced. Something was driving Mr Wicker but I could not believe it was gold or precious stones. It may have been; I hardly knew my new master. However, even given that love of money, as my mother had often told me, was the root of all evil, I felt that something even darker was driving this strange man.
    ‘I must leave now, Loblolly Boy, for I have delayed too long and must to my mother with this intelligence regarding the captain. What will you do?’
    I did not know what I would do. I did not feel especially sleepy, and was not even sure whether sleep, like thirst and hunger, was now a thing of the past.
    ‘Perhaps to the crow’s nest,’ I said. ‘I will not be disturbed there.’
    ‘Good night, then,’ whispered Sophie. ‘We will talk again on the morrow?’
    ‘I trust so,’ I said, as she turned and hurried away.
    With one last look about the deck, I leapt into the air and flew up to the crow’s nest on the main mast. I sat myself down on the small platform and leaned against the mast. It was not especially comfortable but I did now feel tired and closed my eyes. My mind was tumbling with questions: questions which either had no answer I could imagine, or questions with answers that were distinctly unpleasant.
    It had been a tumultuous few hours beginning with Jacob Stone’s lunge towards me with his upraised dagger. Mr Wicker had saved me from certain death at Stone’s hand, but at what cost? I had experienced the unbelievable wonder of flight and seen the world spread beneath me like a beautiful map. At the same time, I was invisible. How long, then, would I be cut off from the world of people? What was this strange existence I had been thrust into? Who else inhabited it? Was there only to be Mr Wicker and Sophie in my future?
    These questions had no answers. However, one question did have an answer: what purpose did Mr Wicker intend for me? It was becoming quite clear now that somehow I was to be used in his on-going quest for the astrolabe that obsessed him.
    This was the reason I would not be given my humanity back. This was the reason I was bound to Mr Wicker by some invisible chain and could not escape