Overboard! Read online

  “How exactly do you disguise a 32 cannon galleon?” asked Boom curiously.

  “Bunting and stuff.” said Neep simply.

  “Bunting?” enquired Daisy. “Listen Mister Neep. If you don’t have anything sensible to say, then please don’t say anything at all.” Neep made a huffing noise in the sudden darkness. “Just pretend you are not here if you are not going to make any sense.” finished Daisy.

  “Well why am I here exactly?” said Neep rather more loudly than he had meant to. “It’s not as if you need me for anything, is it? All you ever do is say how useless I actually am.” Neep trailed off into a petulant silence as the others turned to watch him.

  “It is quite simple Mister Neep.” said Daisy, a cold edge to her voice. “I have, as you know, told Captain Jenkins that you hold information with regards to the treasure map that is essential to him being able to make some sense of the damned thing.”

  “But I don’t.” said Neep sulkily.

  “Well he doesn’t know that does he?” hissed Daisy, “It’s called subterfuge Neep. I told you the other day. Look it up in your damned pirate manual.” Neep stopped still as if thinking, his eyes cast to one side. “Where is your manual anyway?” continued Daisy. “I would love to sift through it when I have an idle moment or two. I imagine it may be quite amusing.” Neep pointed to his head.

  “It’s all in here.” he smiled. “All fifteen hundred pages. Much easier than having to carry it around all of the time.”

  “The whole thing is in your head?” smiled Daisy as if indulging a child.

  “Yes.” said Neep simply as if that much at least was evident.

  “Right.” said Daisy. “Of course it is.” she said dismissively. “Just be aware Mister Neep that I have absolutely no intention at all of letting you out of my sight. Captain Jenkins thinks you are valuable to him, which in turn makes you valuable to me. Once I have secured the map then it is entirely up to your good self what you do. Until then you are my property and I intend to keep a very close eye on you. Understand?”

  Neep nodded meekly. “Do you mean the big brown map with the little squiggles in the corner and what have you?” asked Neep innocently, “Looks like writing or symbols or something?” But Daisy seemed to be impatient to get away from the docks as soon as possible, her head scanning their surroundings as far as they could see in the darkness.

  “The same.” she said dismissively, though she looked as if her attention was already elsewhere. “We need to head back to the Inn. There is nothing to see here. I will be damned if I know what Jenkins is up to, but his ship has not docked as of yet.” Mister Bucket and Boom stood and began to move back through the crates surrounding the quay in the direction of the warehouse district and then the back streets and alleys that would take them across the city to the Inn.

  “Ah. I found it.” Said Neep. “Sneaky. It was under Page three hundred and twenty-two, paragraphs seven to eight. Subterfuge.” said Neep, trailing after them. “Deceit used in order to achieve a set goal. I overlooked it the other day mainly because of the strange way it is spelt in the manual.” he mumbled, but he was not sure if anyone was actually listening to him at all. “Though having seen the definition I do rather suspect that it has been misspelt on purpose.”

  The journey across the city was uneventful, though Daisy did seem to Neep to be taking the long way round to get back to the Inn, constantly sticking to the shadows and from time to time pausing as if listening. A moment or two would pass and then they would set off again. They were in a small alley that Neep recalled as being just a few minutes away from the Inn when Daisy stopped suddenly and threw herself into the shadows. After a brief moment of confusion everyone followed suit, hiding in the shadows as the moon broke through the clouds once again, lighting up the rooftops above them and casting thin beams of pale blue light down into the passage in which they stood. Close to hand a cat wailed and then was suddenly and somewhat suspiciously, silent.

  “We are being followed.” hissed Daisy from the darkness, and there came what may have been the sound of her drawing her sword. Neep pricked his ears up to see if he could hear what Daisy had heard but he could not hear anything unusual at all. He did see Mister Bucket move silently off to his left across the alley however, and Boom crouched down as if ready to spring. To Neep’s surprise he saw that Daisy seemed to have vanished altogether, and just then the moon went behind the clouds and the passage became pitch black again.

  There was a sudden loud thump from nearby and a sound as if someone was falling to the ground.

  “Here!” hissed Daisy from across the alley and the three of them stumbled in the darkness towards the sound of her voice. As the moon broke free of the clouds again Neep was surprised to see what looked like a small pile of what resembled pile of black rags at Daisy’s feet, from where came a low groaning sound.

  “Take our friend here to the Inn.” said Daisy to Mister Bucket who picked up the rags, revealing it to be a darkly cloaked figure. “Follow me, the rest of you and keep close. Our friend here may not be working alone.”

  The rest of the journey, short though it was, passed quickly as the four of them fled towards the Inn, Mister Bucket carrying the figure roughly over his shoulder with little apparent discomfort. When they reached The Drowned Duck Daisy shot inside, holding the door open for Mister Bucket and Boom, who entered into the light inside quickly. Neep was the last in and as he entered the familiar surroundings of the Inn he turned out to the street for one last look.

  As he peered into the darkness of the night his eye was drawn to the roof of the building across the street, a slow movement catching his eye. As he looked up he saw a figure standing on the roof looking down at him, silhouetted against the moon. Neep shivered as the indistinct black figure suddenly flew up into the air as if hauled up on a rope of some sort, vanishing as he did so. Neep rubbed his eyes as if to check whether he was seeing correctly, but when he peered into the night again, the figure was gone, the moonlit rooftop across the street completely empty.

  ***

  Neep had great difficulty in deciding whether the person tied to the chair in the centre of the Inn lounge was a man or a woman. Daisy didn’t seem to care however, judging by the sword she was resting almost casually under the person’s chin. The figure tied to the chair had its hood now pulled down revealing stark, angular features, long lank hair and eyes that seemed almost dazzled, as if darkness was this person’s natural habitat, and the light offended it.

  “Name?” asked Daisy, smiling at the figure.

  “Jep.” came a surprisingly high pitched voice, and Neep realised then that the person tied to the chair was in fact a woman.

  “Excellent.” said Daisy, though she did not move the sword in the slightest. “Tell me Jep why were you spying on me?”

  “I’m not no spy miss.” came the reply, a scowl crossing the woman’s face. The occupants of the Inn watched closely, but made no sound. Even Bones seemed frozen in place. “Spying ain’t got no business with the art of assassinin’ an’ all.”

  “So you are an assassin?” said Daisy, an eyebrow rising. There was a low murmur from around the room.

  “I dabble.” said the woman reluctantly.

  “So you came here to assassinate who?”

  “Oh I ain’t doin’ no assassinin’ today, miss. Oh no. Just a bit of spying for the old Beak is what I am doing now.”

  There was an even louder murmur from around the room and Daisy cracked a broad smile.

  “Bugger.” said Jep. “Big mouth I ‘ave ‘an that’s a fact. Don’t go and be telling the Beak I told you miss or I’ll be for it.”

  “The Beak is the least of your worries right now, Jep. You have me to concern yourself with at the moment, and so I would consider your answer to the next question very carefully. Do you understand?”

  The woman nodded her head wildly, an expectant look on her face. Daisy continued.

  “What does the Beak want me watched for?”

 
; Jep gave a confused look.

  “No idea Miss.” she said, and although it was most definitely the wrong answer, it was obvious that the woman was telling the truth. “I just watches you and reports back to The Beak with my findings.”

  Neep stepped forward towards the woman and Daisy turned to look at him, a look of surprise on her face.

  “Sorry captain.” he said, “I had no time to tell you but when I came into the Inn I saw a figure on the rooftop watching the Inn.” Daisy gave Neep a look of appraisal and nodded her head.

  “Thank you Mister Neep.” she said, turning back to Jep. “So who is your accomplice and what are their intentions I wonder?” The woman tied to the chair looked confused.

  “I ain’t got no accom… acompan…”

  “Accomplices.” finished Daisy, and Jep nodded her head gratefully.

  “I works alone, so I do. Old Jep ain’t need no help.” Neep stepped a little nearer.

  “Hard to say of course because it was so dark.” he said, “But a tall figure dressed all in black.”

  “Could be lots of people I know could that.” said Jep testily. “Not known for wearing bright colours and so on are assassins.”

  “Disappeared very quickly too.” said Neep, remembering how the figure on the roof had disappeared almost instantly. “Almost like I blinked and when I looked again the rooftop was empty.”

  The woman in the chair went suddenly pale, then continued to lose colour rapidly until she took on the appearance of a particularly dishevelled stick of white chalk.

  “It be the demon.” she whispered almost, and then a wail broke from her mouth. “Bless us and save us, the demon nearly got me!”

  “The demon?” asked Daisy and finally dropped her sword from the woman’s throat. Jep nodded wildly.

  “All over the city it has been seen. Ain’t a thief in Nine Wells not scared to their boots that the demon will find them and deliver them over for justice. Found strung up at the scene of the crime some of ‘em are so to speak, and all they can say for sure is the demon descended upon them from above.”

  Neep noticed the room had gone very quiet. It looked like there were very few things that could get a pirate so on edge as a demon.

  “They say it is in the shape of a bat.” Whispered Jep, and a loud muttering rippled around the room.

  “Didn’t look much like a bat to me.” said Neep, rubbing his chin. He was sure that it had not looked like a bat at all. “Definitely man shaped.”

  “Whatever it is, the whole city’s criminals sleep uneasy because of the demon. If it were watching you miss then I will pray for your soul, so I shall.”

  Daisy realised that she had got from the woman all that she could and so she instructed several of the pirates there to take her to the centre city square and release her. The Beak’s game was up now she reasoned, and there was nothing to be gained from killing the woman.

  Eventually the pirates settled down and Neep took a seat at Daisy’s table as Bones and Boom discussed the woman's tale.

  “Did it look like a bat?” asked Boom to Neep.

  “Not at all.” said Neep. “But whoever it was moved fast. Very fast. I blinked and the figure was gone.

  “A vigilante, eh?” said Daisy, a wry smile appearing on her face. “How sweet.” She paused before smiling even broader. “How very, very sweet.”

  Chapter 19

  ~ Masquerade~

  Two days passed in a flurry as deliveries arrived at the Drowned Duck in either very small or very large packages with hardly any middle ground between them. Daisy was suspiciously absent from the common room and all the deliveries made their way pretty rapidly up the stairs to her room upon their arrival. On the Friday morning most of the crew occupying the Inn were surprised to find when they made their way downstairs for a hearty rat breakfast that Daisy was already sitting there with both Boom and Bones at hand. They were leaning over the table they had taken, whispering conspiratorially, though they did stop when the room started to fill up.

  As per usual Neep was almost the last to arrive, but a seat was set to one side on Daisy’s table for him. After breakfast Daisy rose and banged her hand on the table to get attention. Slowly the room fell into silence.

  “Thank you.” said Daisy, smiling. “Not just for your attention now but your patience during our stay here also.” There was a general murmuring about the room as if in expectation. Finally, they were going to do something!

  “As you know I have been invited to be a guest of Mister DeNeuf’s masquerade ball this evening. An invitation that we know that The Beak has shown such an interest in that he has been observing our movements extremely closely. I feel also that Captain Jenkins will be in the city already, and ready to show his hand at the ball.” A ripple of agreement ran around the room. It was after all just the kind of thing that mad pirate captain would do.

  “So to that end we have a plan ourselves. We need the map Jenkins has, and he needs the key that we have. He has taken the bait I feel and comes to liberate Mister Neep in the hope that he has knowledge of the key, which of course he does not.” Neep smiled at Daisy, silently attempting to reconcile her position with his view of piracy. His conclusion was not terribly flattering, the words “decoy” and “sacrificial lamb” looming large in his mind.

  “Nevertheless we need that map. So to that end I will attend the masquerade ball with Mister Neep with the aim in mind of securing the map…” Daisy paused, turning her attention to Neep who was sitting with one hand stuck straight in the air as if he were attempting to get the attention of his teacher. “Yes Mister Neep?” she asked.

  “You want me to go to the ball with you?” he asked simply.

  “Yes. As I have already stated, Captain Jenkins thinks you have information he needs. It is best I keep you close to hand. There is also the small matter of raising hi interest if he thinks that you are there as well, of course.”

  “Could just throw him in the brig to keep young Mister Neep out of harms way.” Came the suggestion from a table by the door.

  “Entomb him in a cave.” said another pirate from the other end of the room. “Buried alive with chest overflowing with doubloons and skeletons chained to the walls.” Said another gleefully.

  “Thanks, guys.” said Neep, blushing furiously. In his mind he considered all of these options to be much more preferable than attending a ball. After all, at a ball there was a very serious chance that he may have to dance and what have you.

  “I think Mister Neep is best kept where I can look after him.” laughed Daisy. “For the rest of my plan we require a little shall we say insurance, so under the captaincy of Mister Boom we shall position The Magpie just a little further along the coast within striking distance of the city walls and in particular The Black Tooth. We shall see how confident our friend The Beak is when he is staring down the barrels of our cannons.”

  There was a loud cheer from the room as Daisy grinned at their approval. She continued. “Mister Bones will infiltrate the ball by his own means. Our aim is to secure the map above all, for once we have that we can leave and let it take us where it will.” Daisy clapped her hands together loudly. “Gentlemen!” she announced. “We have work to do! Let us be about it!” There was an even louder cheer and the pirates began to disperse. Bones set about paying Lucetta the bill, and Daisy called Neep to her side.

  “We shall check your costume.” she said, smiling. They made their way upstairs and Neep followed her into her bedroom which he was not in any way surprised to find was much larger than his own. By the window stood two tailors dummies, on each of which were hanging masquerade costumes. Neep noted that Daisy’s looked like a swirl of red cloth cut dangerously low, with huge petticoats and a headpiece that would cover her face completely, the eye holes standing out in what appeared to be a sea of sequins and glitter. The outfit was topped with two impossibly long and brightly coloured scarves: one a crimson red, one a deep blue.

  “Finally being taught tailoring as a child cam
e in useful.” winked Daisy, touching the cloth. “What do you think?” She asked, looking at him for what Neep thought may just have possibly been approval.

  “Very low top.” muttered Neep, “Though I am sure it will look nice.”

  “Nonsense!” laughed Daisy. “No lower than usual!”

  “Is this mine?” groaned Neep looking at the other costume.

  “It is.” said Daisy. “Do you like it?”

  Neep gave the long yellow cloth and beaked mask a disparaging look.

  “What is it?” he asked, trying not to sound too disappointed.

  “It is a rooster.” laughed Daisy.

  Neep looked the costume up and down glumly. It didn’t look much like a rooster to him, in fact he thought that perhaps if he wore it then he would look like a broom handle draped in tinsel. He racked his brain but there were definitely no entries in the SOPE manual with regards to either glitter, sequins, tinsel or broom handles. He sighed deeply.

  Daisy measured it against him and deciding that it would be best if he tried it on in his own room and so let him leave with it. When he put it on however his mood became even darker, and he hurriedly took it back off again.

  ***

  The day dragged. Eventually the crew began to make their way back to the ship, though this time they left all at once, Daisy reckoning that it gave The Beak something to think about, and if he was watching them then they may as well give him something to watch. Before they left Neep noticed Bones, Daisy and Ensephilephtor Boom gathered together, Daisy clearly giving Boom instructions on what his role in the attempt to secure the map would be. The ex-founder member of The Sons of The Pinched Fuse seemed to be particularly pleased with his promotion to the role of temporary captain of the Magpie, and Neep could see that already he was keen to return to the ship.

  When they did eventually leave Neep was surprised to see that Bones did not seem to be going with him.

  “What about you, Bones?” asked Neep and Daisy smiled before answering,