The Pilgrims of Rayne

IBARA

We traveled quickly through the predawn silence of Rayne. I could hear the sounds of the all-night party in the distance. Everyone was either still dancing, or asleep. Everyone but the Jakills, that is. And me. I had to shake off the grogginess while trying to keep up with these stealthy rebels as they moved quietly toward their target.

I was having second thoughts. If we failed and were caught, I had no idea what punishment the tribunal would slam on the Jakills. For me it was different. I was an outsider. If outsiders were executed for being outsiders, I didn’t want to think about what they’d do to one for trying to hijack one of their cool new sailing ships. Had I made a mistake? Was this the best way to hunt down Saint Dane? I decided it was too late to worry about it.

Everyone seemed to know exactly where they were going. Everybody but me. We moved silently along the shore and into the jungle. The narrow trail wasn’t much wider than my shoulders. Thick vegetation clawed at me from either side. If not for the light coming from the sky full of stars, it would have been impossible to see anything. As it was, the only way I could stop from running headlong into the jungle was to keep my eye on the silhouette of the Jakill in front of me.

The trail led us around the rock outcropping where Siry and I had stood the day before to view the colorful fleet of ships. Instead of climbing, we stayed at sea level. After about twenty minutes of dashing through the dark jungle, the silhouette in front of me slowed to a walk. We were approaching the beach. As if on cue, everyone stopped and crouched down. The Jakill in front of me tugged on my shirt and silently motioned for me to move forward on my own. I crouched low and moved quickly to the front of the line.

Waiting for me was Siry. He knelt on the edge of the jungle, scanning the rocky beach with an intensity I hadn’t seen in him before. The cocky rebel was gone. There was no fooling around here. He had his game face on. Or maybe he was just scared. Whatever. This was serious. Waves crashed against the volcanic stone, creating a steady white noise that would hide any sound we made.

“We all know how to sail,” Siry said softly. “All we need to do is get on board and the ship will be ours.”

“What’s the plan?” I asked.

Siry motioned for me to follow him out onto the beach. He looked back quickly to the others and motioned for them to wait. He crept ahead, staying close to the edge of the jungle. I followed right behind. We got only a few yards when he stopped and pointed. I looked to see the first of the five long piers about a hundred yards farther up the shore. Tied along our side was a ship with its bow pointed out to sea. In the starlight it looked to be a light yellow color.

“Each ship is guarded by five men,” Siry explained. “Three on the pier, two on board. There are sixteen of us, including you. Ten will get in the water and swim to the ship, using blowguns to stay low and breathe.”

“Like snorkels.”

“Like what?”

“Never mind, keep going.”

“The ten swimmers each have cords with hooks, to climb aboard. I’ll be with the second group onshore. As soon as I see the swimmers start to climb, we’ll move into position near the pier. When I’m sure the swimmers are on board, we’ll use the blowguns to knock out the guards on the pier and board the ship. From there we know how to get under way. You don’t have to worry about that.”

“What do I have to worry about?”

“You’ll be one of the ten swimmers,” he explained. “You can swim, right?”

“What if I said no?” “We’d leave you here.” “I can swim.”

“Once you get on the ship, your job is to take out the two guards on board.” “Take out?”

“It was the weakest part of our plan,” Siry explained. “The blowgun darts won’t work after they get wet. The only way to get past those guards is to fight them. None of us would be able to handle one of those guards, let alone two. But you-“

Ahhh, now I knew where this was going. They looked at me like some kind of fighting-commando-dude. I didn’t.

“I’m no different from you guys,” I said quickly.

Siry shot me an incredulous look that said, “Give me a break.”

“What would you do if I wasn’t here?” I asked.

“You are here,” Siry said. “You said you wanted to help?

This is it. I don’t know where you came from or why you’re really here, but maybe this is the way it was meant to be.”

I shot Siry a look. “Where did you hear that?”

He shrugged. “It’s something my father always said.”

How could I argue with that? Though I didn’t like being thought of as some kind of professional “muscle.” Loor gave me training and tools to defend myself, not to go around “taking out” people. That couldn’t be the way it was meant to be. Could it?

Siry continued, “We’ve got to be quick and quiet. If the other guards hear trouble, they’ll come running and people will get hurt.”

“We don’t want that,” I said.

“We really don’t want that,” Siry echoed. “They’ll think we’re Flighters.”

“What does that mean?” I asked.

“They’ll kill us.”

Oh.

“Understand?” he asked. I nodded.

He motioned for the others to come forward, then reached into a cloth sack he had strapped to his back. He pulled out one of those short blowgun weapons and a small coil of rope that had a three-pronged hook tied to one end. He held them both out and gave me a dark look. “Don’t cross us, Pendragon.”

I took them. “Don’t worry.”

The other Jakills had reached us. They sat crouched along the edge of the jungle. Siry faced them and whispered, “Once we start, there’s no going back. We’ll be criminals. We may never be able to return to Rayne. If anyone has second thoughts, this is your last chance.”

Nobody spoke. Siry smiled.

“There’s a huge world out there. It’s ours to explore.”

Everyone exchanged excited looks. They were ready.

“Be careful,” Siry added. “Be smart. Let’s go.”

There was no cheering, obviously. The Jakills moved quickly and quietly forward, creeping along the edge of the jungle toward the pier. I felt a tug on my arm and saw the blond thief, Loque.

“You’re with me,” he said, and kept moving.

I gave Siry a quick look. He nodded. I followed Loque. When we got halfway to the pier, Loque motioned toward the water. Instantly he and eight more Jakills split off from the main group. They got on their bellies and crab-walked toward the ocean. I went belly down and followed. The distance from the edge of the jungle to the ocean was about forty yards over rock. I was feeling pretty good. Physically, I mean. The bee stings weren’t bothering me anymore, and my strength was back. It’s amazing what a little food and sleep will do. It also helped that I was bursting with adrenaline. We got close to the water and dropped down behind low rocks a few yards from the crashing surf. We looked to the ship. There was no movement. No alarm had sounded. So far so good.

“Now what?” I asked Loque.

“Now we swim” was his answer. “Time the waves. Get in quick and move out beyond the break.”

Yeah, no kidding. The waves weren’t huge, but they were breaking directly on the rocky shore. If we didn’t time this right, we’d get thrown right back onto the rocks. Getting bashed would end the mission very quickly. Everyone had their wooden weapons gripped between their teeth and their cords wrapped around their waists. I did the same. They had practiced this. I wished I’d been to a few of those practices. Loque crept closer to the water, scanning the surf. A big set was coming in. Three waves bashed the shore, one after the other.

“Now!” he called out in a strained whisper.

We all ran the last few yards across the rocks and dove into the water. I did a fast crawl to get past the break before the next set came in. It was a jumble of thrashing arms and kicking legs. A couple times I got rapped in the head, but it wasn’t the time to stop and complain. A few seconds later we were all floating beyond the break.

With no further instruction, everyone started doing an easy breaststroke toward the ship. We made very little sound. It was more about silence than speed. The breaststroke might not be fast, but it’s quiet. As we slowly approached the ship, I wondered how I had gotten involved with this crazy commando mission. Here I was with a bunch of kids who weren’t even as old as I was, and who were going to hijack a ship and head off across the sea in search of something they weren’t even sure existed. We were about to become outlaws and traitors. Was I nuts? The only thing I could hang on to was that Siry was a Traveler, whether he liked it or not. Whatever was going to play out on Ibara, Siry would have to be part of it. I had to believe that his passion for learning the truth about their history was justified. I just wished we didn’t have to go on such an extreme adventure to get there.

When we were about twenty yards from the ship, the Jakills took their weapons out of their teeth and put the ends in their mouths. They did it without a command or signal. Again, they had practiced this. I followed their lead. The wooden tube wasn’t the best snorkel in the world, but it allowed us to keep our heads low in the water. That was good, because I caught sight of two people walking on the deck of the ship. The guards. They didn’t see us or they’d probably have been pointing and shouting. Instead they looked to be walking casually and not all that alert. Why not? Nobody had ever attacked one of their ships before. Until tonight.

Five of the swimmers broke off and made their way toward the bow of the ship. I shot a questioning look to Loque. He took the snorkel out of his mouth and whispered, “Five on this side, five near the bow on the far side. On my signal swim to the ship and wait. I’ll stay here to observe the guards. When the deck is clear, I’ll signal to toss the hooks on board. Climb up as quickly as you can. Once you get on board-“

“Yeah, I know. Take out the guards.”

“Watch,” he said, pointing to the ship. “They walk the same route. From the bow to the stern and back again. All night. Once they leave the bow, I’ll signal. You’ll have until they reach the stern and turn back to get yourself on board.”

I looked to the ship to see exactly what Loque described. Two guards walked toward the bow. They weren’t in any hurry. Maybe they were bored. They were going to become unbored very soon. When they reached the bow and started back, Loque gave the command.

“Go,” he whispered.

Four of us swam quickly and quietly toward the ship. We reached it in no time and hovered there, treading water. The swell from the waves wasn’t too bad, so we were able to hang there without getting thrashed against the hull. Looking up, I guessed the deck was thirty feet above us. It wasn’t going to be an easy climb. I followed the others’ lead as they gripped their snorkels in their teeth to free their hands and unwrap the cords from around their waists. We spread apart along the hull so we wouldn’t catch one another with the hooks when we tossed them. Siry made it sound so easy, but as I bobbed there I wasn’t even sure I could throw the hook high enough to catch the deck. Why did I agree to this? What was I thinking?

I kept my back to the hull and watched for Loque’s signal. He looked like a dark bubble bobbing on the surface. I hoped I’d be able to recognize his signal when it came. I don’t mind admitting that I was getting jittery. We must have floated there for five minutes, waiting. Waiting made me nervous.

Finally I saw a quick movement near the dark bubble. Was that the signal? I looked to either side to see the Jakills throwing their hooks up to the ship. It was time. I grabbed my hook, did my best to wind up, and tossed it. It barely reached halfway up to the deck. It make a lame arc and fell right back toward me. I had to cover my head to avoid getting hit by the falling hook. Pathetic. I tried again. While kicking my legs to get as much of my body out of the water as possible, I held the cord in my left hand while dangling the hook with my right. Like a lasso, I wound up and let it fly. This time the hook hit the hull with a thunk and fell back into the water.

A quick look showed me that all three of the other Jakills had gotten their hooks up top and were pulling themselves out of the water. I felt like an idiot, but c’mon! I hadn’t practiced this! I was about to try again when I felt the cord being pulled out of my hand. It was Loque. He took the cord, swam back a few feet from the hull, wound up, and let it sail toward the rail. The hook shot straight up and landed on the deck. With a quick tug, Loque imbedded it into the wood. He pulled hard on the cord, making sure it was secure, then handed it to me. I didn’t take time to thank him. We were behind schedule.

The other Jakills were already halfway up the side of the ship. Was there still enough time to get up and onto the deck before the guards returned on their next lap? Waiting and wondering wouldn’t help things. I grabbed the cord, put my feet against the hull, and started to climb. I saw how the other Jakills did it, and copied them. With my feet against the side, I sort of walked up while moving hand over hand on the cord. The thin cord had several small knots along its length, so it was easy to grip. Climbing was tough at first, because the water created a suction, but once I muscled my way out of the water, it got easier. While gripping the wooden snorkel in my teeth like some soggy pirate, I inched up toward the deck.

I soon realized I wouldn’t have trouble making the climb, and my mind shot ahead to the next challenge, which was all about me. I had to get rid of the guards on deck. How was

I supposed to do that? I couldn’t just jump them and start wailing away with my wooden snorkel. That would be, like, barbaric. I’m telling you, fighting isn’t like what you see on TV. People don’t get dropped with one punch and conveniently fall asleep. Hitting somebody hurts. And it could hurt them, too. I couldn’t count on knocking them unconscious, so what was I supposed to do? As I climbed the last few feet to the edge of the railing, I decided that the best thing would be to get on deck, pull up the cord, and hope that I could take them on one at a time and tie them up with it. I figured there might even be someplace on board where I could lock them up. I didn’t know why Siry thought I could pull this off, because I wasn’t sure at all.

The other Jakills clung to their cords, each hanging about a foot below deck level.

I wondered why they didn’t climb up and over. Maybe they were waiting for me.

They weren’t. The one nearest to me held out his hand to signal “Stop!” He pointed above. I could guess what he meant. The guards had returned. The extra time I had taken to climb up had cost us. I figured we’d wait until they got to the bow, turned, and walked past us again. Trouble was, we couldn’t see up to the deck, so there was no way to know when it was safe to go.

Loque pulled himself up next to me. While still gripping the cord, he stuck out a finger to me as if to say, “Wait.” Cautiously he pulled himself up higher to peer over the rail. It was a risky move. For all he knew, the guards were right there. We watched him slowly rise and peek onto the ship. I can’t speak for anybody else, but I held my breath.

I didn’t know how long we’d been hanging there, but my arms were getting tired. Tired arms weren’t good in a fight. Finally Loque put one hand on the deck and used the other one to motion for me, and only me, to climb up on deck. It was time. There was no chance to think or reconsider or plan out a strategy. The show was about to begin, and I was the first one to step on stage. Hand over hand I climbed the rest of the way and scrambled onto the ship. I hit the deck and rolled back toward the wooden rail, hoping to make myself inconspicuous.

The deck was empty. No guards. No alarms. Nothing to alert anyone that a scabby commando was about to hijack their yellow ship. Though the ship was new, it looked to me like something out of olden times. The deck was made of long strips of wood. There was a wooden cabin structure near the bow that looked about the size of a large shed. Another larger cabin was to the rear. The ship had two heavy masts. I don’t know much about sailing ships, but I guess you’d call this thing a square-rigger, because it looked like the sails dropped down from horizontal poles that were positioned about halfway up the masts. A second, smaller horizontal pole was farther up each mast. There was a complicated tangle of lines everywhere. I hoped Siry was right when he said the Jakills knew how to sail this thing, because I sure didn’t.

The only sounds came from the roar of the ocean and the groaning ship as it pulled against the ropes that held it to the pier. For a fleeting instant I felt as if I had stepped into another world, and I was on an ancient pirate ship. Stranger still, I was the pirate.

Looking out from the deck, I saw the other nine ships at their piers. They were just as quiet. Just as empty. My confidence grew. I thought maybe the delay I had caused might have made this mission all the easier. It gave the guards the chance to do another lap back to the stern. If Siry and the others attacked with their silent blowguns, maybe all the guards were taken out at once, and my job was over. It was suddenly looking like a piece of cake. I was so confident that I stood up, leaned over the rail, and looked down to the other Jakills.

“All clear,” I whispered… an instant before I was jumped from behind.

“Ahhhh!” screamed the guard as he grabbed me and threw me to the deck. Where had he come from? He must have heard us climbing aboard and ducked into the wooden cabin near the bow to lie in wait. It was the only place he could have come from so quickly. It didn’t matter. The surprise was over. The guy was going Tasmanian on me. The battle for the yellow ship had begun.

I hit the deck on my back and saw I wasn’t being attacked by one guard, but two. The second guard was waiting for me, and I obliged him by landing right at his feet. He wound up to kick me. I rolled away. Both guards pounced. They were bigger than I was, but whatever advantage they had in muscle, they lacked in agility. And experience.

I realized that right away. They both charged like a couple of bulls. I was able to bounce to my feet and dodge them easily.

They didn’t give up. One guy charged again. I ducked him, but got speared by the second guard, who followed right behind. He drove me backward, slamming me into the wooden cabin. At the same time, he and wound up, ready to drive it into my ribs. He swung the weapon toward me. I blocked the downward thrust with my right arm, then whipped the same arm up to catch him across the cheek. He never saw it coming. I didn’t think these guys had ever been in a fight with somebody like me. I had learned from the best and practiced to fight against seasoned warriors. These two tropical guards may have been big and imposing, but they didn’t stand a chance. That was the good news.

Bad news was they were about to get help.

A loud horn sounded, tearing through the predawn quiet. Huge spotlights flashed on, bathing the ships in bright, white light. The surprise was really over. This was no longer about taking down a handful of guards. The entire security force that watched these ships would soon be headed our way.

I caught a glimpse of the other swimmers pulling themselves up and over the railing near the bow. I thought they were coming to help me. I thought wrong. They ran to the cabin and jumped inside, headed for I didn’t know where. The others spread out along the pier side of the ship and quickly began to cast off the lines. They weren’t coming to my rescue; their job was to get this ship under way. The guards were my problem.

It was going to be a race. The Jakills had to get the ship away from the pier and under way before the rest of the security force arrived. All I could do was keep the two guards who were already on the ship occupied, so the Jakills had a chance. I had sent the one guard reeling backward with my backhand punch. The second grabbed me from behind in a bear hug. I bent forward, lifted him up, pushed backward, and drove him into the mast. He barely grunted. I quickly crouched down and shot both my arms forward, which forced him to release his grip. I ducked and swept my leg backward, knocking him down.

The first guard was on me an instant later. He swung. I ducked. He swung again. I dodged. He was getting tired. I had a chance to put this guy away and took it. He swung one last time. I ducked. He overrotated. Perfect. I drilled him in the back of the head with the bottom of my foot. A perfect side kick. He went reeling forward toward the railing. He was stumbling out of control. I could have stopped him. I didn’t. Instead, I gave him one last push from behind, and he went tumbling over the side and into the water.

One down. Literally.

I felt the ship rumble. Whatever engines it had were growling to life. I didn’t even know this ship had engines. But it did, and the Jakills were firing them up.

Shouting came from somewhere on the shore. A few hundred yards away I saw a group of security thugs running along the rocks toward the pier. If they got to us before we shoved off, we’d be done.

The second guard was on me. He’d learned from his mistakes. He didn’t charge or throw himself on me. He stood a few yards away, knees bent, fists up, ready to fight. This was trouble. If he was going to come at me with more control, he’d do much better, and there was every possibility I’d be joining his friend in the water. I looked for an advantage, and saw one. My back was to the rail. The Jakill’s hooks were still dug into the wooden railing. I turned my back to the guard. I don’t think he knew what to make of that, because he hesitated. That was all I needed. I grabbed one of the cords. When I sensed the guard charge, I spun around and lashed it at him like a whip. The wiry cord slashed across the guard’s arm. It must have stung, because he yelped in pain. It was probably just as much surprise as pain though. He probably had no idea what hit him. I took the moment to yank the hook out of the wood.

I had a new weapon: a cord with a sharp, nasty three-pronged hook. With the cord in my left hand and the hook dangling from my right, I swung it back and forth, trying to intimidate the guy. His eyes went wide. He didn’t want to get impaled. That wouldn’t last long. The hook was only valuable as a threat. If he charged, what would I do? Swing it at him? The worst that would happen is it would cut him a little. All I could hope was that he wouldn’t realize what a lame weapon this really was. I needed time. The longer I kept him away, the more time the Jakills had to get this boat the hell away from the pier.

I felt the ship lurch. We were moving! Would it be fast enough? My heart leaped. So did the guard. He realized what was happening and knew he had to make his move. He lunged at me. I reared back to throw the hook. Suddenly the guard stopped short. It was as if he froze in his tracks. His mouth hung open. What the heck? A second later he fell to his knees and tumbled face-first onto the deck with a sickening thud. Ouch. He hit and didn’t move. I looked up to see that standing behind him was Siry, holding his wooden blowgun to his lips. Sticking out of the back of the guard was a small, green dart.

“Pretty exciting, isn’t it?” Siry said, pleased with himself. He was actually having fun. He and the Jakills went looking for adventure. They had found it already.

“Are we going to make it?” I asked.

“We’ll know soon enough,” he said, sticking his blowgun into his belt. “Help me.”

He bent down to pick up the comatose guard. I grabbed his shoulders while Siry grabbed his legs. We struggled to carry him over to the pier side of the ship.

“Lower him over,” Siry commanded.

He dropped the guy’s legs over the side and I stretched out as far as I could before letting him go. The sleeping guard fell to the pier and crumpled like a rag doll.

“I hope we didn’t hurt him,” I said.

“Better than letting him drown,” Siry answered.

Rat boy ran up to us and pointed toward shore. “Here they come!” he shouted.

Sure enough, the gang of security thugs had turned onto the pier and were sprinting toward us.

“Speed would be good,” I said to Siry.

Siry ran for the ship’s wheel. It was an enormous, round wooden wheel that was positioned in front of the rear mast.

“Throttle up!” he screamed.

The ship’s engines hummed. I heard it, and felt it in my feet. Slowly, we moved away from the pier. The security thugs screamed and sprinted toward us. It was going to be close. The ship was moving, but painfully slowly. We were seconds from getting away.

“Push off!” Siry commanded.

I looked over the pier side rail to see several sets of hands reach out from portholes just above the water’s surface. They each had long, wooden poles that they used to push the ship away from the pier. We didn’t need to get far away, just a little farther than jumping distance from the pier. It struck me that Siry had thought of everything, even down to having the Jakills stationed down below to make the final push off.

The security guards sprinted along the pier to the stern of the ship, too late. One made a desperate leap. His hand barely brushed the railing as he tumbled into the water.

We were away. The engines powered up, and in no time we were moving quickly away from the pier and out of harm’s way. I couldn’t believe it. We’d made it! This group of kids had actually hijacked a ship. I had gotten so caught up in the adventure that I didn’t stop to think of how impossible a task it was. Maybe that was a good thing, because as it turned out, it wasn’t impossible at all. I looked back to the pier to see the dozen or so security guards standing there, helpless, watching one of their beautiful new ships motoring away.

All the Jakills ran on deck, cheering and hugging. I didn’t know how long they had been planning this, but it was definitely a moment of victory.

Loque came up to me and shook my hand.

“You had me worried for a minute,” he said.

“Not half as worried as I was,” I replied.

“I’m glad you’re aboard, Pendragon,” he said sincerely.

We were on our way, but to where? Siry guided the ship along the coast, headed toward the mouth of the bay that led to the village of Rayne. Far in the distance, over the ocean, the sun was rising. It was a beautiful sight. It was the beginning of a new chapter in the history of Ibara. It was an awesome moment.

That didn’t last long.

Boom! Without thinking, I dropped to the deck. The Jakills didn’t. A second later something whistled over our heads. The Jakills stood there, confused.

“Get down!” I screamed. “They’re firing at us!”

“‘Firing’? What do you mean?” Siry cried. “What was that sound?”

Boom! Another explosion. Nobody moved but me. I covered my head. I heard another sharp whistle as something flew

By.

“Get down!” I screamed again.

Siry truly didn’t know what was happening. I saw nothing but confusion on the faces of the Jakills. Not fear. Confusion. I realized that they had never heard of weapons that fired missiles, or cannonballs, or whatever it was that was being aimed at us. There was no reason for them to be afraid. That is, until we were hit.

“What is happening?” Loque yelled.

“I don’t know!” I screamed back. “But if we get hit, this ship is going down.”

“I don’t understand,” Siry cried.

“They’re trying to sink us!” I yelled. “Get away from shore! We’ve got to get out of range of their weapons.”

“No!” Siry yelled. “There are no weapons in Rayne that can do that!”

Boom!

“Then what was that?” I yelled, before covering my head again.

The missile landed close to the ship, kicking up a geyser of water that buffeted us.

Rat boy squealed, “How can they do that?” “Look,” Twig said calmly.

She was pointing out to sea. I got up and joined the others as they ran to the railing to see.

There was another ship. It was a few hundred yards off our port bow and on a collision course.

“What ship is that?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” Siry answered. “It didn’t come from Rayne.”

Boom! Another explosion. This time we saw the source. A plume of smoke erupted from the mystery ship. Whatever it was, it had cannons and it was firing at us. Another missile landed a few yards off our bow with a huge splash.

“What is that?” Loque asked in awe.

Siry answered, “I think it’s our first look at the world beyond our own.”

In all of Siry’s planning, he hadn’t figured on being attacked by a mystery ship with weapons like none they had ever seen.

And the day was only beginning.

(CONTINUED)