The Guardians of Island X (17 page)

“Yes, that basically sums it up.”

He held up the lantern and looked at her closely, as if to determine whether she was lying. “So this is what your crew does?”

Scarlet shrugged. “Not usually. But that’s another story altogether. Right now you need to get your men ready for an attack. The pirates’ll probably be here soon.”

He heaved an enormous sigh. “Fine. Fine. I’ll tell the men. We’ll stage a counterattack, take prisoners, and be off tomorrow morning. And you’ll meet me here.”

Scarlet looked up. “Tomorrow? No. I told you, Father. I can’t go with you.”

His eyes narrowed. “Scarlet. I’m sure you feel you have to stay and protect this…this treasure. But it’s not worth it. A mountain of rubies wouldn’t be worth it.”

“It’s not just about the rubies,” she insisted. “The entire island needs protecting—the aras, the trees, the pigs, and…and…” She gulped. “The Islanders.”

“The who?”

She spoke slowly, hoping once again she’d made the right decision. “That’s why I asked you to teach me our old language yesterday. Two Islander children survived the fever, and now they’re helping us protect the treasure. At least, I hope they’ll stay and help…”

“Islanders?” Her father looked positively stunned.

“Islanders,” said Scarlet. “I thought you should know because…well, it gives us another reason for being here and protecting the island. It’s for them, too.” She bit her lip. “I can’t leave.”

After a long silence, she spoke again. “I have to go now, Father. And so do you. The pirates will be coming soon.”

Her father stood so still that she might have mistaken him for a statue.

“I have to go,” she said again. “Take care of yourself.”

And she extended a hand, just as Sina had done to her earlier. When she pressed Sina’s gift into his hand, his mouth opened in confusion. But before he could say anything, she was off again.

The jungle reverberated with nocturnal noises: buzzing insects, throaty toads, hissing…something-or-others. Scarlet tried not to think about all the strange creatures hanging over her head or slithering around her bare feet. The sky was now thoroughly dark, so she had to rely on her senses and memory to get back to the clearing.

She was deep in concentration when she heard a noise that most definitely didn’t belong to any insect, frog, or reptile. She paused and held her breath, hoping her ears had played a trick on her. Or perhaps some nocturnal bird had gotten very good at imitating—

“Would ye get off me foot, ye oaf?”

Scarlet spun around and saw them, not twenty yards to her left. A very dim lantern illuminated their shadows, but Scarlet didn’t need another speck of light to know with all certainty that these were the
Dark Ranger
pirates.

“Sorry. Didn’t see ye there.”

“Shut up, both of ye!”

What are they doing?
she wondered. They’ve gone right past the King’s Men’s camp. Are they lost? Or are they…oh
no
.

Scarlet inched toward their light with a very bad feeling about what she was about to find.

The entire
Dark Ranger
crew clustered around a few lanterns. Voices drifted up from the middle, and Scarlet knew she’d have to get closer to hear what they were
saying. She looked around and found the perfect tree, with long branches leaning out over the pirates’ huddle. She scaled it as quietly as she could, holding her breath when a few leaves drifted down, narrowly missing a pirate’s bare head. Scarlet lay on her stomach on the overhanging branch and pulled herself along it until she had the perfect view of the events unfolding below.

Captain Wallace stood in the center of the huddle with Pete and Lucas behind him. Every now and then one of his right-hand men would stick out his tongue or cross his eyes at the other behind the captain’s back.

“Oh, I know they’re only children,” the captain was saying, “but you never know what kind of beast will burst out of the trees to protect them. So be ready. Kill anything in your path.”

Blast
, thought Scarlet.
They
are
coming for us.
But what about the King’s Men? Weren’t they supposed to be first?

“Think they know we’re comin’?” one pirate asked.

Captain Wallace turned to Lucas for the answer. Unfortunately, he turned just in time to see Lucas pulling his lips apart with his fingers to bare all his teeth at Pete. The captain jumped at the sight of Lucas’s yellow teeth, and Lucas snapped his mouth shut. Pete grinned.

“Pay attention, stupid,” the captain snarled. “Do the Lost Souls know we’re coming?”

Lucas cleared his throat. “I told Gil we’d raid the King’s Men’s camp first. So they won’t be expecting us yet, anyway. We’ll take ’em by surprise.”

Now it was Scarlet’s turn to snarl. What she would give for a big, long stick to bean him with. The King’s Men weren’t going to be attacked after all—at least, not until after the pirates had the treasure. And here she was, so far from her crew. Cursed Lucas Lawrence!

“And you think the child believed you?” Pete challenged him.

Lucas grinned. “Gil was stupid enough to trust me in the first place. And stupid enough not to realize that we had what he was looking for.”

Captain Wallace looked at Lucas like a proud father. “Good work, boy.”

Lucas puffed out his chest and shouted, “Bring forth the prisoners!”

The captain cackled, then stopped. “Wait, that’s my line.”

The crowd parted, and two men were shoved into the center. One was very tall with enormous shoulders, and the other much shorter and rounder.

“Uncle Finn and Thomas!” Scarlet hissed, then bit her knuckles. She almost hadn’t recognized them because…she squinted into the lantern light. Because both men had sprouted abundant heads of hair! Thomas’s was long and brown and silky, while Uncle Finn had thick, unruly curls. “Sink me!” Scarlet whispered. “The cure for andro-alo-whatsit!”

Their hands and feet were bound, and each was gagged with a dirty handkerchief. Pirates walked behind them, daring them to run with the prick points of their cutlasses.

“If the Lost Souls make one false move, the hostages will die!” Lucas yelled. The pirates cheered.

“Stop that! You’re stealing all the good lines!” Captain Wallace whined.

Scarlet took that as her cue to slip back down to the ground. This was no time to sit and watch. She had to get home and prepare her crew for battle.

She’d expected to find them all asleep when she burst out of the jungle and into the clearing. It was, after all, the middle of the night. But instead she found them sitting near the pool, whittling arrows and stringing bows by the light of a few jars of fireflies.

“Scarlet!” Ronagh cried when she saw her captain approaching. “She’s back!”

The other Lost Souls turned to greet her as well, but without the usual panic she’d lately come to expect. They looked more determined and focused than they had since leaving the
Hop
.

Scarlet found Jem at the center of the crowd with Sina and Kapu on either side of him. He grinned at her. Good old Fitz! She knew he could do it.

“Where were you?” Elmo asked when Scarlet reached them.

She paused for a moment, then decided she’d tell them the whole truth later. “I was…out scouting. And I found the
Dark Ranger
pirates.”

“Attacking the King’s Men?” Tim asked.

Scarlet shook her head. “They aren’t attacking them first after all. Lucas told Gil that to make us think we had time to spare.”

“What?” Gil cried. “Why that big—”

“Wait. It gets worse,” said Scarlet. “Not only are they on their way here, they’ve got hostages.”

“Hostages?”

Jem jumped to his feet. “Uncle Finn!”

“And Thomas!” Smitty leaped up beside him.

Scarlet nodded grimly. “So now we’ve got to protect the treasure and fight off the pirates without putting Uncle Finn and Thomas in any more danger.”

“But Thomas is a giant,” said Smitty. “He can fight back.”

“I don’t know if even Thomas can take on forty pirates at once,” said Scarlet. “He needs our help.”

“Blimey,” Jem said shakily. Then he cleared his throat. “Well, at least we’re prepared. Sina’s been teaching archery, and a bunch of us made really good bows and arrows. And other people set traps around the edge of the clearing. Kapu and I tried to build the tree house, but it got dark before we could finish it. So it’s just a platform, and I’m not sure how sturdy—”

“I bet it’s great, Fitz. Excellent work. So we’re ready?”

“Ready as we’ll ever be,” Jem replied. “I even went and spoke to the smelly wild pig chief—”

“You did? You asked him for help?” Scarlet could only imagine how badly that conversation had gone.

Jem shook his head. “Just to advise him to hide his band and tell him that we’ve got this all under control.”

Scarlet marveled at Jem’s new confidence. She hoped he was right.

“We also decided we don’t really need elaborate costumes,” Smitty added, stealing a glance at Sina. He held up the leafy hat he’d been weaving. “Just some simple camouflage will do.”

“She laughed at the Deadly Parrot of Death,” Ronagh whispered to Scarlet.

Despite their situation, Scarlet grinned. “Camouflage,” she said. “Always a good idea. Too bad we can’t use it to protect the…” Her voice trailed off as an idea suddenly popped into her mind. She stared at Smitty’s handiwork, wondering if she’d gone completely loony or if it just might work.

“Captain?” Jem said. “What’s up?”

“I think…I’ve got an idea,” Scarlet said. “It’s worth a shot. We’ve only got a few minutes. Fitz, get those bromeli-whatsit samples from Uncle Finn’s pile. Not the ones that erased Thomas’s memory. Then meet me under the aras’ nests.”

“Okay.” Jem sounded uncertain.

Scarlet gestured for Sina and Kapu to come with her. “The rest of you, get ready. The pirates’ll come from that way.” She jerked her thumb over her shoulder.

Jem ran off across the clearing, and Sina and Kapu followed her toward the aras.

“If this works,” Scarlet told them, “it could save the treasure. Maybe even all of Island X!” She explained
the plan, then instructed Kapu to fetch the stilts he’d brought. Then Jem arrived with the plant samples.

“You sure about this?” he asked.

“Not a bit,” Scarlet said. “But sometimes it’s the crazy ideas that work best.”

Jem saluted and ran back to the clearing.

Scarlet scrambled up the closest tree until she reached the spot where she usually sat to watch the birds. None of the feathered bodies moved, but she could tell they were aware of her presence. And that they trusted her.

“Let’s hope this works,” she muttered, then she called upon all the Islander words she’d learned that day, hoping the aras wouldn’t be too confused if she forgot a few.

She began to explain the plan: “Now this is very important. My friends are going to visit each of your nests and give you a snack. And while you eat, they’re going to redecorate your nests. Trust them, and no biting. We’re doing this to keep you safe.”

She signaled to Sina and Kapu on their stilts, and the pair moved in closer, handing out bromeliad snacks and moving the rubies inside each nest. The birds looked baffled but pleased with the late-night snack.

Once they were finished, the trio met on the jungle floor. Scarlet gave each of her friends a hug and told them they were brilliant.

“How soon will it work?” Sina asked.

Scarlet looked over her shoulder at the rookery, then to the east where the sky was growing light. “No idea. Fingers crossed for right away.”

And then she felt a tremble deep inside her, and although she couldn’t tell which animal or reptile or insect or Islander it came from, she knew without a doubt what it meant.

Tim snuffed out their lantern, leaving the Lost Souls in the half darkness of the hour before dawn. Scarlet stuck a fist in the middle of their huddle, and two dozen fists piled on top of it.

“No prey, no pay, mateys.”

“No prey, no pay.”

“And may you die peacefully rather than be tossed in the Boiling Lake by that dog Lucas.”

“Die peacefully!”

“Everybody in their places. And be quiet!”