Phoenix Rising (4 page)

“Nah.” Crocker rubbed his hands on his greasy trousers. “No chance. Dudo.”

“You sure, Crocker?” Dee raised an eyebrow. “Eighteen dice out.”

“I can count. I’m challenging.” Crocker licked his lips. “Dudo.”

“Fine. Show your dice.”

Crocker moved his legs to reveal his. Two sixes, one three. No fives. That left fifteen dice and seven fives still to find.

Marcus held his dice on his thigh. He lifted one hand. A one, a two and a four. That left twelve dice and six fives to find.

Dee’s dice showed two threes and a six.

Nine dice, six fives to go. Toby turned his eyes to Rahul, pressing his nails into his hand. Rahul moved his foot to show two ones and a six.

Toby nodded. Six dice. Four fives remaining.

Uma grinned and opened her palm: two threes and a one.

Three dice left; Toby’s own. Three fives left to count. Crocker was already grinning, his chest swelling. He reached out a hand to Toby. “Come on,
boy
, hand over a die.”

Toby met Crocker’s eyes then, without looking at his own dice, he opened his knees.

“A one and two fives, Crocker. That makes seven.”

Crocker’s lip curled. “You little…”

“You challenged and lost, Crocker. Throw in a die.” Dee’s voice was low and calm, but they all knew she was the captain’s second for several excellent reasons, not least her ability to out-think and outfight most of the pirates on the ship.

“Fine.” Crocker threw a die so hard it bounced off Uma’s shoe and landed beneath Rahul’s. “There’s still a long way to go. My start.”

They shook again and looked to Crocker. He glowered directly at Toby. “Three threes.”

They went round again, until the betting reached Toby with Uma’s bet of five fives.

Marcus had bet fives, too. Toby glanced at his hand. Twos and threes. He shook his head. “Dudo.”

“Show your hand.” Dee turned hers up and Toby’s heart sank. Marcus and Dee both had fives and ones.

With a sheepish grin Toby tossed a die. Now he and
Crocker both had two dice and the others remained with three.

Round and round they went, until Polly flew off to sit on the gunwale and Marcus threw in his last die with a groan. “It looks as if I’ll be working my free time tomorrow.”

Rahul was next to go out. He dropped his vitamins on to the deck next to his last die. A shout from the card game propelled him to his feet. “I’m going to see how Nisha is doing.” He limped over to the prow.

Crocker grinned evilly. “Last
man
standing, eh.”

“Stop it, Crocker.” Uma shook her dice with an angry flourish.

“Right though, aren’t I? I’m playing with women and boys now. Maybe you should just give me all the winnings. Save us some time.” He reached for Rahul’s abandoned vitamins.

Uma’s club materialized above the packet. “Touch them, Crocker, and I’ll break your fingers.”

“Humourless cow.” He curled a lip again. “Only joking, wasn’t I?”

“Maybe you should stop talking, Crocker.” Toby glared at him. “You’re the one losing. Down to one dice, aren’t you?”

“So’s Dee,” he snapped.

“Yes, but Uma and I have two.”

“We’ll see who wins,
boy
.” He pulled his hand back.

Toby’s eyes narrowed. “Stop calling me that.”

“It’s what you are, isn’t it? We’ve all seen you grow up. Except you ’aven’t grown up much, ’ave you,
boy
.”

“That’s enough, Crocker,” Dee warned.

Uma sat silently.

“We all think it. He’s never been off ship. Never been in a fight. A pirate what’s never been in a fight! He’s a
child
.”

Toby launched himself sideways at Crocker. Immediately Polly’s shriek rang in his ears and Uma blocked him from behind. “You can’t fight Crocker, Toby. He plays dirty. Look at him, distracting you from the game, trying to make you bet bad. He’s after winning. No less.”

Crocker laughed like sewage gurgling down a drain. “Yes, Toby, let Mumsy protect you from the big bad
man
.”

Polly landed between Crocker and Toby, hissing through her beak. Crocker aimed a kick in her direction. “Filthy bloody bird.”

As Toby struggled, Dee got to her feet.

“That’s enough, both of you. Without Toby, Marcus would’ve been hanged or drowned in the salt. You’re nothing but trouble today, Crocker. It’s time you left.”

Crocker smiled a narrow, self-satisfied smile. “No can do, Dee. A bet’s been bet and accepted. The game has to be played out. That’s your own rules, ain’t it?”

Dee stood for a long moment, fuming. Uma’s arm tightened around Toby. His whole body felt like a combustion chamber ready to burst. But he didn’t dare take his rage out on Uma. He sagged, and Dee sat, dragging him to her side. Polly scuttled to press her body against his thigh, glaring with her yellow eyes at Crocker.

“We play,” Dee murmured. “But quickly.”

Uma bet first. “Two threes.”

“Two fours,” Toby ground out.

“Two fives.” Crocker grinned and rubbed his remaining die between his fingers.

“Three threes.” Dee licked her lips.

Uma hissed. “Only six dice left.” She looked at Toby. “Four threes.”

“Five threes,” Toby snapped, without thinking it through. Then he froze. To win there had to be five threes and ones showing in only six dice. No chance. He had just given the game to Crocker…

“Who’s a pretty birdie?” Polly grumbled. She knew he’d lost, too.

“No take backs,” Crocker crowed. “Dudo.” He jiggled his shoulders.

“Let’s see it, Crocker.” Dee gestured and Crocker opened his hand. “A five, there’s a surprise.” Dee looked at Toby as she showed her single dice. “A three.”

Uma opened her hand. “Two threes.”

Toby swallowed and lifted his own hand from his thigh, where his dice were waiting. “Two ones, Crocker. That makes five for me.” He could barely believe it.

“Your last die, Crocker.” Dee held out her hand. “Give it here.”

Crocker leaped to his feet. “Cheats,” he growled.

Uma rose slowly. “How dare you!”

“I saw you look at Toby back then. He knew what you had.”

Uma shook her head. “Pathetic. You’re out, Crocker. Bring the sausage and eggs to Dee and give us your die.”

Crocker shook his head. “Cow!” Then he threw his die towards the sea as hard as he could.

Toby rose and the four of them watched as it disappeared from view.

“You owe me a die, Crocker, and you won’t be playing with us again.” Dee shook her head. “You’re a louse.”

“No,” Crocker shook his head. “I’m a
man
. And there ain’t no one can argue with
that
.”

Crocker marched off, his bow legs joggling beneath his windcheater.

Toby turned back to the others. “I—”

“It’s all right, Toby.” Dee pressed his arm. “One day you’ll be bigger than he is, then you can whip him from
bow to stern and no one will say a word about it.”

“His brother will,” Toby swallowed.

Dee pressed a little harder. “By then you’ll be able to take him, too.”

“Right.” Toby glowered down at his feet, too big for his legs; his legs, too lanky for his body; his wrists, too thin for his arms. His shoulders were starting to broaden but everyone still thought of him as a boy. Even Marcus, and Toby had saved his life.

“You know –” Uma’s voice came from above him – “I think I’ll forfeit. I’m not into the game any more.”

“Me, too.” Dee smiled down. “Here, Toby.” She reached inside her windcheater behind her back and pulled. Toby gasped as her hand came round clutching a short sword. “Take it.” She offered it to him and he blinked.

“You’re forfeiting?” Toby hesitated and Dee nodded, reversing the blade so that the pommel faced Toby. “It’s yours.”

Toby’s hand closed on the rounded handle. He gave an experimental swish and Polly whistled.

“Ha, I believe your parrot’s impressed.” Dee laughed. “It’s just like your belt knife really.” She guided his hand. “Callum can give you pointers next time you have combat training with him.”

Toby nodded, eyes bright. “This is brilliant.” The blade
winked at him in the sunlight; Dee had polished it to a high shine. The pommel was wrapped in leather. Toby lifted the blade to see it more closely. “Is this…?”

“A phoenix. Well, the best picture of a phoenix I could do with a chisel.” Dee laughed.

“It’s wonderful. It really looks like a phoenix should.” The tail feathers swooped around from the blade into the pommel and the head was held high, beak pointing up to the point of the sword. “She’s wonderful.”

Uma nodded sagely. “Will you give her a name?”

“A name?” Toby blinked.

“Every great weapon has a name. Ask the captain if you don’t believe me.”

“Like what?” Toby frowned at his sword. “Betty?”

Dee folded in half. “No,” she said when she had stopped laughing. “Like Excalibur, Mjölnir…”

“Or Siegfried’s Nothung,” Uma put in. “Although I quite like Betty.”

Dee glared. “I’ll have her back first.”

Toby stroked the blade. “How about … Nix. Short for
Phoenix
.”

“Nix.” Dee tilted her head. “Which means: ‘to make something become nothing’.
I like it
.”

“And in my own country,” Uma smiled, “a nix was a water spirit. It’s a wonderful name, Toby.”

Toby couldn’t take his eyes from the sunlight glimmering on the sword blade. He twirled it. “Nix,” he said. “She’s perfect.” He tore his eyes from his prize to look at Dee. “Thank you, Dee.”

The captain burst through the hatch beside him, propelling Polly skyward.

“That salvage,” he roared, looking for Toby. When his eyes fell on his son, they gleamed. “That salvage is … wonderful. Enough fuel left in her to get the old engine running for a while and some excellent machine parts. Suitcases full of clothes and –” his beard split in a wide grin – “best of all, she was a Médecins Sans Frontières plane.” The crew cheered and Toby breathed out with a blend of relief and joy. “They must have been taking medical supplies to one of the principalities after the war. They had vaccines, penicillin, bandages, painkillers, anaesthetics. There’s stuff I haven’t even heard of.”

Uma was already moving when the captain gestured at her. “The crew is stacking it up below for you, Uma. When you’ve catalogued it, let me know what we’ve got.”

“Penicillin,” she whispered. “Anaesthetic.”

“Let me know if there’s anything we don’t need. Anything we can trade,” the captain shouted, as she disappeared below. Then he turned to Toby. “The team is pumping fuel into the lines right now. Well done, son.
You found us a grand prize. Cheers for Toby.”

The crew around him raised their voices.

Then the captain lifted a hand. “We have enough fuel to make our objective, so it’s time to tell you. The old man we traded with at the last port gave me the location of solar panels.”

“Solar panels,” Toby breathed.

“Yes, there’s a whole cargo container full. The ship went down before the riots, before all the solar panels on land were smashed. No one bothered salvaging it at the time, because the panels were useless without the sun. Now the sun’s back. The old man knew where his captain’s ship went down, but hadn’t the resources to go back for it, so he was willing to trade his notes on her location.”

“With solar panels, we can fit the
Phoenix
so she goes and goes.” Toby couldn’t resist a small cheer.

“That’s right. No more reliance on salvage, no more slow sailwork, no more scrabbling for engine fuel. We’ll be unstoppable.”

“It would change everything.” Toby looked around at the ship as if seeing her for the first time. He pictured a solar array on deck, reflecting the sun like a piece of trapped sky, and imagined electric lights blinking inside her dingy passageways. He stared at his hands, closing his palm around the black lines that told his story – he couldn’t
recall ever seeing his hands clean. No more brushing soot out of the boiler. No more pressure to seek the dwindling combustible junk they needed to keep the boiler running. And who knew what they would find in deeper waters? Acid-free salt, fish that hadn’t been poisoned…

“Then we can search for
the island
,” Dee added.

“That’s right.” The captain nodded.

“The island!” Crocker snorted from the back of the group. “Bah, it’s a myth.”

The captain shook his head. “I don’t think it is a myth. When Yellowstone erupted there were several landmasses that rose from the seas and sunk back again, but some of the larger ones remained. We’ve all heard of the atolls that ringed Hawaii.”

The crew nodded.

“Then what’s so strange about a whole island rising and not sinking back?”

“It’s a children’s story,” Crocker sneered. “No one’s ever found it.”

“It’s real,” the captain snapped. “A whole island, untouched by man, with its own natural resources, free of governments and their military Greymen.”

“You just want it to be real,” Crocker suggested.

The captain raised his hands. “What do we do if we’re not looking for the island, Crocker? Sail aimlessly our
whole lives, hiding from Greymen, slinking from port to port? The island is our goal. If you don’t like it, I can put you and your brother in at the next stop and you can take berth in another ship. The
Banshee
perhaps.”

Toby’s heart rose. Were they about to get rid of Crocker and his terrible brother?

Crocker disappointed him. “We can’t stay any time on land. You know that, Captain. We’re wanted men, me an’ Peel. An’ we like the
Phoenix
, she’s a solid berth.” Crocker patted the railing absently. “We’re useful to you, ain’t we? My brother’s the best cook you ever ’ad. An’ he saved your life, way back when.”

“Then get on board, Crocker.” The captain lowered his head. “We’re going for the solar panels and once they’re installed, we’ll be putting all our resources into searching for the island. We’ll sail deeper into the ocean than we ever have and further from any port. We’ll comb the seas until we find it. Then we’ll settle down. That’s the aim of the
Phoenix
and that’s what we’re going to do.”

“Here, here,” Marcus raised his voice and the rest of the pirates joined him.

Toby couldn’t resist. “The island!” he cried, mainly to annoy Crocker.