The Lost Prince (23 page)

What the devil was a roll? Suddenly, it struck him.

Roll!

Dean grabbed the port side of the boat and pulled hard to starboard, rolling the kayak up and setting himself aright. He gasped and air filled his lungs. He was alive! He had won no points for style with such an ugly trip down the waterfall, but that meant less than nothing. All that mattered was that he’d made it. The hard part was over, and thanks to Jin’s advice, he had made it through. His suspicions about his guide seemed unjustified.

Dean hunched over in a painful fit of coughing. He blinked his eyes clear, trying to get his bearings. He didn’t see Jin or anyone else. The merry line of onlookers that had followed him up the mountain had ended at the edge of the falls. Dean watched them shrink from sight as the river carried him down and away through a dark forest glade. The jungle grew thick and the shadows grew long with vines hanging down from above.

“I don’t believe it,” Dean heard Jin say. “You made it.”

“Jin? Where are you?” Dean twisted around, searching for his second. He found him paddling in from the river’s edge. “I lost my paddle,” he added helplessly.

“Did you? Here, take mine.”

Jin lifted his paddle out of the water and swung it like a sword. It struck Dean like a cannonball to the brow. His head snapped back. He slumped over his kayak, reeling in pain and shock.

Dean moaned and tried to get up, but he couldn’t move. He tasted blood as it dripped down his face. A red line ran across the hull of his kayak, and the splashing water washed it away. Dean watched the process repeat, over and over. He didn’t get knocked out, but he was struck dumb, to be sure. Woozy and drifting, he felt Jin steering his boat, guiding him toward … something. What was going on? When his head stopped hurting long enough to hold a thought, he looked up to see that he and Jin were parting ways. His second was on the opposite side of the river, paddling off. Before he left, Jin turned and saw the clarity in Dean’s eyes. “Oh, good, you’re back. I was afraid we wouldn’t get to say good-bye.”

Dean rubbed his aching head, still a bit groggy. “What is this? What are you doing?”

“Isn’t it obvious? You’re such a natural, I thought you were ready to take the fast way down. Without me. How does that sound?”

The river split in two and a heavy current carried Dean toward
the sound of more rushing water. Without a paddle, he had no way to change course. He was trapped. “I should have known. The regent doesn’t quit, does he?”

“The regent?” Jin laughed derisively. “If you think I’m doing all this for the regent, you’re dumber than my brother. How he failed to feed you to the snapdragon, I’ll never know. Blind luck, I suppose.”

Dean blinked. “What?”

“That’s the trouble with luck,” Jin said. “It runs out. Farewell, my prince!”

Jin barked out a smug laugh and departed safely at the fork in the river. Dean was left to brave the rapids alone. Abandoned by his traitorous guide, he didn’t waste time swearing revenge on Jin. Dean set his sights dead ahead and went to work looking for a way out of the mess he was in. He had to get his feet back on solid ground, but how? He couldn’t fight the current with his hands. Without a paddle, just staying in the boat was a challenge. The river charged ahead like a team of wild horses, bucking hard as if angered by Dean’s attempt to ride it. He couldn’t steer and he couldn’t use the kiteboard to escape, either. The thick jungle canopy didn’t allow for enough wind to give him lift.

The next waterfall loomed large and deadly. It was louder than the last one and, at this point, unavoidable. Dean took a deep breath as he drifted toward it. With no paddle to make use of, he stuck his hand in the river as the current sucked him in. The last
thing he saw before a barrage of water enveloped him was a drop of at least seventy-five feet down. Dean hugged the hull of the kayak as the rushing water engulfed his body, certain that his boat and bones would soon be crushed into matchwood.

His descent was like tumbling through the riptide of a wave, and at the same time, so much worse. Dean felt as if the great Lord Neptune had taken all seven of his seas and poured them down upon his head at once. The force was incredible. It flooded his ears, eyes, and nose. Dean thought it would never stop. When he reached the bottom, he didn’t even know it. He felt as though a fist made of water had pulverized his body, and now he was inside that fist, spinning in endless dizzy circles.

The spinning did end, eventually. The water pouring down from the falls pushed him out and away from the rocks they ran off. Dean found himself drifting slowly away, alive and whole. He felt at his chest and flexed his fingers, confirming that everything was still in working order. It was a miracle. The water was calm in the pool at the foot of the falls. He had a few moments before the current swept him away again. He could make it to the river’s edge. He was nearly there!

“Ha!” Dean shouted. “I’d like to see the look on your face now, Jin Ralian!” Instead, Dean saw a blue tiger with orange stripes prowling around the riverbank. “Okay, maybe not,” Dean said, reversing his course and pushing away as fast as he could. The tiger showed its teeth and growled at Dean as he made a hasty
retreat. Several more blue tigers stalked the river’s edge in the places where it was safe enough to swim, and by the time they were gone, it no longer mattered. Dean scowled as the kayak picked up speed again and the current pulled him back down the river. “Nothing so fierce as the snapdragon,” he muttered. That was what the regent had said. “So much for that!” Dean watched the garish blue cats shrink from sight as the third and final waterfall drew near.

Time was running out. The massive two-hundred-foot behemoth falls next to the palace would be Dean’s final fall in more ways than one. He was desperate to find something—anything—that might save his skin, when suddenly the trees thinned out and the forest opened up. Dean grabbed the kiteboard and unwrapped the sail, flapping it open in a single motion. Seconds later, he had traded his kayak for the board and was out of the water, being pulled by the wind to the falls. “Thank you, Ronan!” he shouted as he took to the air, riding up over rocks and splashing downstream. A strong wind carried him down the river. He rode the current right up to the falls and over the edge. The kayak flew out unmanned and was lost in the water. Dean breezed down safely, gliding peacefully beneath the kiteboard sail.

A large crowd had gathered at the base of the falls outside the Aqualine Palace. Everyone was looking the wrong way. They all expected him to paddle in on his kayak by way of a stream that ran around the falls. As he descended, Dean searched the
crowd for Waverly. The regent was there, as Verrick had promised, but he was alone. When he turned and saw Dean floating down over the massive waterfall, his eyes went wide. One by one, the other people saw too, and as a wave of recognition washed over the crowd, their exultation shook the castle walls. Once again, Dean had not only survived the trial, he had conquered it in spectacular fashion.

A reveling sea of people rushed to greet Dean as he landed, crowding the water’s edge. Of everyone present, Lord Kray cheered the loudest. He even waded out to meet Dean, dressed in all his noble finery. The regent showered Dean with exuberant praise. “Amazing! Simply amazing! You finished the course with half an hourglass to spare! Over the great fall no less!”

“Where is Jin?” a voice called out. “Where’s my son?”

Dean looked and saw Arjent Ralian standing with Junter and Jarret. They were the only people not applauding. “That’s a good question,” Dean said.

As if on cue, Jin paddled into sight. He was rowing across the same stretch of river that everyone had expected to see Dean arrive on. The look on his face suggested disbelief and wonder. Dean could tell he was terrified.
As well he should be.

“You’re alive?” Jin said meekly.

Dean crossed to Jin and greeted him like a brother. “Of course I’m alive! You worry too much.” He turned to the regent. “Jin insisted on taking the long way down. Some people have no
sense of adventure. More is expected from a prince.” Dean helped Jin out of the water and put his arm around him as though they were mates.

“I don’t understand,” Jin said.

“Neither did I. Until now.” Dean patted Jin on the shoulder and gripped his side in the same place he had stabbed the failed assassin two nights earlier. “I learned a great deal from this one.” Dean smiled as Jin winced in pain. “A great deal indeed.”

CHAPTER
22

W
e shouldn’t be here,” Rook groused.

“Where’s that?” asked Dean. “Here on this island or here hiding in these bushes?”

“Take yer pick,” Rook said. “We oughta be lootin’ this rock with a fleet of pirates, not sneakin’ around like—”

“Spies?” Dean cut in. “That’s what we are, in case you forgot.” Night had fallen and the three boys were watching the watchtower, waiting for it to empty out.

“The time for spyin’s come and gone,” Rook said. “I’m a pirate. Ask me, it’s high time we got back to piratin’. Why don’t we send the bird out and tell One-Eyed Jack where we are? He’ll turn this
island upside down and shake its gold from every tree branch and pocket. We don’t have to be wastin’ our time like this.”

“Stow that talk,” Ronan told Rook. “I told you I’m not going to see One-Eyed Jack lay waste to this island. It’s not going to happen. Not by my hand.”

“Nor mine,” said Dean. “You want to call in One-Eyed Jack, you should’ve done a better job of finding the orchard.”

“It’s been two days and we haven’t found a single golden leaf,” Rook said. “Let alone a whole orchard! For all we know, there isn’t any gold left to find. It’s probably all been harvested and sent out with the traders. We’re running out of time, and we wasted all day today trying to get into that blasted watchtower.”

Ronan took umbrage at that. “We didn’t waste anything. I got us into that tower.”

“So? We didn’t find anything.”

“We found out how the Watchers do their job.”

“We didn’t find out nothin’ worth
nothin
’,” Rook spat. “We don’t know where the orchard is or when the storm is gonna break next. If we’re not careful, we’ll end up completely empty-handed.”

“That’s why we’re here tonight,” Dean said. “Insurance.”

His plan was to sneak into the watchtower and find out when the traders would ship out with next year’s harvest. If Dean and the others got that information to One-Eyed Jack, he could be ready with the whole Black Fleet when they did. A king’s ransom,
his for the taking. He’d have to wait a little while for it, but that was better than nothing. If worse came to worse and the golden orchard couldn’t be found, Dean could at least give him that much.

“Insurance,” Rook said, mocking Dean. “One-Eyed Jack wants his gold now, not some poker chip he can’t cash in till next year.”

“We’ll get him gold,” Dean said. “There has to be something here worth stealing. We just have to think smaller. Find trees bearing gold that didn’t bloom in time for the trade ships. We’ll give One-Eyed Jack Zenhala’s bearing, the great storm’s timetable, and whatever gold we can find. That ought to be enough. That ought to hold up our end of the bargain.” He nudged Ronan. “Right?”

Ronan gave a nod that was lacking in confidence. “It
should.
”

They both looked at Rook to see what he thought. Rook smirked as if they were signing their own death warrants. “You better hope so. It’s yer funeral, if it don’t. Yers anyway, MacGuire. Seaborne won’t be leavin’ this island alive. We know that much.”

“That’ll do, Rook,” Ronan growled.

“I’m not sayin’ nothin’ he ain’t already figured out hisself,” Rook countered. “There’s been a knife at his throat since we first got here.” He turned to Dean and jerked a thumb in Ronan’s direction. “This one I understand. He’s all wrapped up in Gentleman Jim’s idiot code, but you … why’re you so soft on these people who’re all tryin’ to kill ya?”

“They’re not
all
trying to kill me,” Dean said.

Rook shrugged. “Only takes one. I’m just lookin’ out fer ya here. No one else is. Not yer mate Ronan, and not yer pretty little lady, either.”

“Leave her out of this.”

“Hah!” Rook cackled. “That’s what I told ya to do, remember? But you wouldn’t listen. A boy like you’s got no business with a girl like that. I’ll wager she knows it too. Ain’t stopped her daddy from tryin’ to kill ya, has she?”

Dean frowned. “No.”

But Dean wasn’t so sure Waverly’s father wanted him dead. Not anymore. Back on the river, Jin had said he wasn’t working for the regent. Whether Jin was the regent’s man or not, he wasn’t likely to admit it, but Rook’s taunting stuck in Dean’s craw just the same. He had sworn not to be taken in by Lord Kray again, but despite everything that had happened, Dean still found it hard to see the man as a killer. He just didn’t get that feeling about him. Dean had known bad men in his day. Bad men were all he’d ever known. Waverly’s father didn’t fit the bill.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t take the chance of being wrong. He couldn’t go to the regent with the Ralians’ treachery. Not when it was still possible that he was the one behind it. He couldn’t tell Waverly what Jin and Junter had done, either. She’d want to tell her father, and then Dean would have the same problem all over again. Dean did trust Verrick. He could tell him what was
happening, but Verrick would cause such an uproar that the regent might be forced to call off Dean’s last trial. He couldn’t have that. Dean knew the trial was a death trap, but it didn’t change the fact that he needed it to distract the islanders while Ronan and Rook searched for the orchard. Dean was trapped, same as always. The only course he could plot was none at all.