The Secret Invasion of Port Isabel (13 page)

Reginald
looked down, silent. Everyone in the hall watched and listened
attentively. It was clear to Flossy that there was more unsaid than
said, that there was a history here that she didn’t know.

‘We have not
forgotten the Troubles, Reginald. All remember with perfect
sadness, especially those who lost someone. The Troubles are long
in the regrettable past. We deal now with the redeemable present.
Every citizen has a right to the presumption of innocence…’

‘Iscariot
Snake is no citizen! He spends more time in the Wilds doing
who
knows what
than in Port Isabel,’ said Reginald, defiance
flashing in his eyes.

The big snake
hissed, his diamond head darting at Reginald but falling well
short.

The Mayor
spoke chidingly. ‘Absence does not exclude citizenship, Reginald.
He is
of
us and so he will remain, even should he again
travel the wide, flat earth and return. As you know, only a court
of law has the power to exclude citizenship and then only under the
gravest consideration as penalty for a suitably grievous crime. In
our long history, such a sentence has yet to be passed. Even the
owls found none so deserving. You came to us from Twin Rivers, a
stranger. Yet Port Isabel welcomed you with open arms and conferred
upon you the rights of a citizen from the first. How much more do
the rights of citizenship rest upon one born and raised among us,
as has been Iscariot Snake?’

The Mayor
paused and surveyed the silent crowd. It was as if mention of the
Troubles had cast a spell of sadness. Flossy wondered what had
happened and whether the big snake had somehow been involved as
Reginald was suggesting.

‘Iscariot
Snake enjoys the rights and protections provided to all citizens of
Port Isabel. As for his connection with the Troubles of times
past…’

‘Some are
beyond redemption!’ said Reginald with surprising conviction.

The big snake
hissed, fangs bared.

‘But all
deserve a shot at it, Reginald,’ said the Mayor.

‘Mr Mayor, I
beg of you …’ pleaded Reginald. ‘For the sake of…’

‘I have made
my decision,’ said the Mayor with finality. ‘Mr Snake will second
Miss Fairweather Human. There is much to prepare, the Port Isabel
Navy must be ready to sail at first light.’

‘May I make a
strategic suggestion, sir?’ asked the big snake, slithering
forward. His tail flicked out at Flossy but she saw it coming and
jumped clear.

‘Yes, of
course.’

Flossy glanced
at Reginald. The elephant was staring at the floor.

The snake rose
up so his arrow shaped head was level with the Mayor’s. ‘Let us not
rely on one point of attack. Pirate Pratt may be just a wild animal
but he’s reputably and undeniably a brilliant tactician. How else
has he avoided capture all these years? He’ll be expecting a rescue
attempt. He may have even taken the possum and sloth hostage for
just that reason; to draw us out. He will be prepared.’

‘A wise
insight, Mr Snake. What other point of attack should be tried?’

‘A second
force should be prepared, one Pirate Pratt won’t expect. If the
first fails, the second won’t.’

‘A failsafe,
then! A most prudent strategy,’ nodded the great lion. ‘Tell us
more.’

‘Our fastest
vessels carrying our most capable fighters should strike first;
head on and in broad daylight. Our largest, slowest vessels should
approach broadside under the cover of the afternoon fog. If the
fight is already won, they can assist… cleaning up. If not, the
surprise will turn the tide of battle in our favour.’

The Mayor
turned to Flossy. ‘Do you agree with this strategy?’

‘I do, sir,’
answered Flossy. ‘A battle plan only lasts until the first shot is
fired. Having a contingent force waiting in the wings makes good
strategic sense.’

‘And do you
object to having Mr Snake as your second-in-command?’

Flossy
hesitated before answering. She didn’t trust the big snake, and it
was clear she wasn’t alone. Reginald had connected him with the
‘Troubles’. Whatever they were, they were a point of sadness that
had touched the lives of many. He had raised the matter of
Iscariot’s untested character and the way the snake had treated
Reginald at the café was telling of some past conflict between
them. Still, he had good ideas and the Mayor said ‘if he should
lead others would follow’. She would have to get past her
prejudice—snakes always gave her the creeps and this one was large
enough to swallow a camel by accident.

In the
briefest time, all of these thoughts and more flashed through
Flossy’s mind. Unconsciously she weighed each until only one
remained; one more persuasive than the rest. An old sailor on the
Enterprise
named Jack Bundy once said to her: ‘You’re wise
t' keep yer mates close, young Flossy but always reckon t' keep yer
enemies closer still.’ She didn’t know whether she could trust the
snake but if he was second-in-command she’d always know what he was
up to.

‘No objection,
Mr Mayor,’ Flossy replied gracefully. ‘I should be honoured by his
good counsel.’

‘Then it shall
be so.’ The Mayor turned to Iscariot. ‘Who shall we appoint to lead
the covert second strike force?’ he asked.

‘We should
choose an experienced sailor, sir,’ replied the big snake without
pause. ‘It should be someone who knows how to make best use of the
prevailing winds, ocean currents, tides and fog. It should be
someone who knows how to sneak up on the enemy undetected; who will
be cautious in the extreme and who knows how to be invisible.’

Flossy
wondered who Iscariot had in mind.

The Mayor
raised his eyebrows then nodded knowingly.

‘Everyone
deserves their shot at redemption, Mr Mayor. You said so yourself,’
said the snake.

‘Are not some
beyond redemption?’ the great lion asked.

Flossy had the
sense she was missing something crucial; like there was some hidden
meaning understood only by the Mayor and the snake.

‘It would be
good also to have a shipwright in charge,’ said Iscariot,
deliberately ignoring the Mayor’s question.

‘How so?’

‘Because the
fastest ship should lead the second force, and it’s not quite
finished.’

‘Fastest ship?
Do you mean the
Happy Trader
?’

‘No, there’s
one that’s faster still. Harry Possum’s ship, Mr Mayor: the
Serendipity
.’

From high upon
the dais, rimmed by the town’s leading officials and backlit by the
joyful stained glass window depicting monkeys at play amongst
banana palms, the Mayor addressed the gorilla guards standing at
attention below. ‘Please seek out Assam Tortoise, we wish to speak
with him.’ Then he turned and addressed the rhino who had led the
squad that had liberated Stanley. ‘And would you please fetch
Sergeant Boar, Captain Rhino. There will be no need to bind him, in
case you’re tempted. He will be second-in-command to Mr Tortoise.
What Assam Tortoise lacks in courage will be made up by Sergeant
Boar’s penchant for acting without too much thought. A good
tension, just what the second force needs. And both will have their
chance at redemption.’

The crowd
behind Flossy grew loud with chatter, hoots, whinnies, and—from her
fan club, no doubt—overenthusiastic bleats. Others were clapping or
stamping hooves or trotters according to their custom and ability.
The hall’s vaulted ceiling resonated with the town’s determination
to deliver a blow the pirates would never forget. Only her close
proximity to the Mayor allowed her to hear him mumble: ‘I may even
get a shot at redemption myself.’

Stanley
approached and nudged Flossy with his nose. She rubbed his neck
affectionately and picked a bur off his tangled mane as the
realisation hit home: she would be responsible for the lives of
many; a great force would be hers to command, for good or ill.

Her hand
rested on the pommel of her sword and her face hardened with
resolve. She would rise up and fall upon the pirates like the
raptors of old once fell from the sky upon their prey. Like them
she would brook no mercy. She would not fail Harry and Sally and
she would once again be reunited with her parents. All this or she
would gladly forfeit her life in the attempt.

_CHAPTER
15

_{THE END OF HARRY POSSUM}

There wasn’t anything
Harry Possum could do. He was tightly bound, hands and feet
immobilised, rope painfully cutting into his wrists and ankles. A
dusty sack covered his head, blinding and silencing him. Sally
Sloth was near. He had heard her pleading with the pirates but her
attempts had been futile and judging by the growls, she had
eventually just made them angry. They didn’t appear to understand
Latin and he wasn’t even sure whether the barks and grows were any
kind of language at all.

Sally and he
were lying in the bottom of a small boat under sail in choppy seas.
They had been sailing for more than an hour but it was impossible
to tell where they were heading.

‘Are you
okay?’ he whispered.

‘Yes, tired
and worried and uncomfortable but otherwise okay,’ Sally whispered
back.

‘Can you
move?’

‘Not really, I
seem to be jammed between the side of the boat and a coil of
rope.’

‘I think there
are only three of them. If I could get free, I might be able to
overpower them.’ He strained with all his might but the ropes were
too tight. The pirates were experts in the art of tying knots.

‘Anything I
can do to help?’ whispered Sally.

‘Can you get
free?’

‘I don’t know.
I’ll try.’

Harry listened
while Sally struggled with effort. Her long, curving claws were
naturally suited to unpicking knots but as they were probably tied
behind her back like his, they were as good as useless.

‘It’s no use,’
she whispered breathlessly.

‘Don’t give
up, Sally. This may be our only chance. I think they’re taking us
back to the wreck of the
Interloper
. Once we’re there,
there’ll be far too many of them to overpower. Try again.’

The boat was
rocking in the swell as it was pushed before the strong breeze.
Water had collected in the bottom, its icy fingers penetrating
Harry’s thick fur. His head was pressing uncomfortably against a
sharp protrusion, the least of his problems. He listened to Sally’s
struggles for a while trying to think of a way to get free.

‘I can’t do
it, Harry. I’m too tightly bound,’ she said after a time.

‘That’s okay.
Don’t worry, we’ll think of something.’ They both fell silent.
Harry listened to the wind slapping a rope against the mast. Every
now and then he heard the pirates growling and barking
unintelligibly.

‘What will
they do with us, Harry?’

He had a good
idea what the pirates would do, but telling Sally would just add a
measure of hopelessness to an already terrifying situation. It was
better to hold back bad news as long as possible, at least until a
reason for hope presented itself. In this way a person had
something to cling to when things got too dark to see clearly.

‘I don’t know.
There’s not much we can do about it now anyway, so perhaps we
should try to get some sleep. Things will be clearer in the
morning, and its then we’ll need our wits about us.’

Sally yawned.
‘Yes, I think you’re right.’

‘Good night,
Sally.’

‘Good night,
Harry.’

He lay in the
dark, listening to the motion of the boat and the wind in the
sails. He was cold, wet, and a little worried that he was in over
his head. He thought back to the brief moment before the pirates
had bagged him. There wasn’t much to work with. They were fierce
looking with canine teeth. Some wore garments that reminded him of
Flossy’s attire, others were strapped with daggers and swords. They
were organised and skilled in their trade; the worst kind of enemy
to take on single-handedly.

Wriggling to
get comfortable, Harry wondered how Sally’s husband and daughter
were coping with her abduction. He’d not met her husband but Elise
looked adorable wearing his far-to-large sunglasses.

His
sunglasses! What had become of them? They’d been knocked off in the
tussle when he’d fallen from Stanley’s back. Hopefully someone had
picked them up or the pirates had kept them safe. In daylight, life
without sunglasses was unbearable for a nocturnal animal. His eyes
were perfectly adapted to the nightlife of Treehaven; the town he
had left behind for the metropolis of Port Isabel.

Harry’s
sunglasses were of ancient manufacture and irreplaceable. They had
been made during the Machine Age by some lost-art and using unknown
materials. They were incredibly light and cancelled the sun’s glare
in a way that no other glasses of modern manufacture could. They
even allowed him to see beneath the reflection of the sun on water,
which was like having magical vision. And they fitted perfectly,
which made them even more precious. The heads of animals varied so
much in size and shape that the chance of finding a pair of Machine
Age sunglasses that fitted was next to nothing. Yet, he had found
them, or rather, had been given them by a travelling merchant who
had not appreciated their true value or antiquity. Reginald said
they were probably found at the base of a retreating glacier. Such
finds were common, though he had not before seen ‘Ray-Ban’
sunglasses. He had been at Harry for years to hand them over to the
museum for proper conservation and cataloguing. Harry replied that
he might as well lop of his own tail, which would not happen if he
could help it.