The Turning Tide (7 page)

C
arolina was up at dawn the next morning, watching the sun rise over the peaceful gardens of the women’s quarters. She couldn’t believe that Company agents might come storming in at any minute to destroy all this. Sri Sumbhajee’s palace seemed so safe and far away from everything.

She hadn’t forgotten about the would-be assassin, either. And since everyone else was still asleep, she decided the only thing she could do was keep trying to solve that mystery.

A nut flew out of a nearby tree, hitting her in the head. Carolina looked up and spotted Toolajee’s face grinning mischievously down at her.

“Good shot,” she said, rubbing where the nut had bounced off.

“The monkey did it!” he said, pointing. Next to him on the branch, the furry animal chittered and blinked innocently.

“You really are going to be a perfect pirate,” Carolina said.

The boy’s mischievous grin grew a little wider. “Yeah. But only if I can get out of here. I hate living in the women’s quarters! I want to go on a ship! I want to see everything!”

“You should ask Sri Sumbhajee to take you with him when he goes out pirating,” Carolina suggested.

Toolajee swung his legs, looking grumpy. “He won’t take me. He thinks I’m too little.” He gave her a fierce expression. “I’m not too little! I’m bigger than any of the other seven-year-olds at court!” He yanked another nut off the tree and hurled it into the distance.

“I’m sure you are,” Carolina said diplomatically.

“Maybe I could come with you!” Toolajee said suddenly. “You are pirates. I mean, I know you’re not as great or fierce or powerful as Sri Sumbhajee, but at least you have a ship! I could be helpful!”

“No doubt,” said Carolina, smiling at the innocent little boy’s pirate dreams and remembering her own. “But you wouldn’t like it on our ship. For one thing, there aren’t nearly enough sweets. And Marcella is there. She’s really hard to avoid.”

Toolajee’s face darkened. “I could make sure we leave her behind,” he said. “My mom is really good at getting what she wants. She’d do anything to make me a Pirate Lord.”

“Really?” Carolina said thoughtfully.

“If you won’t take me,” Toolajee said, “maybe I’ll just hide on your ship, and then by the time you notice, it’ll be too late to bring me back!”

“Being a stowaway is no fun,” Carolina assured him. “I’ve done it. You get SO hungry. And you wouldn’t believe how many rats there are in the hiding places on a ship. Besides, Captain Sparrow isn’t very fond of monkeys—I don’t know if your little friend would be safe.”

Toolajee’s monkey jumped into his lap and threw his arms around the little boy’s neck.

“We could leave Jack behind, too,” Toolajee offered. “Maybe
you
could be captain. Or me! I could be captain!”

Carolina hid a smile. “I’ll think about that,” she said. “Can you tell me where the kitchens are?”

Toolajee pointed. “But you’re not allowed in there,” he said.

“I’m just taking a look,” Carolina explained and wandered away. She hoped she looked nonchalant; she didn’t want Toolajee following her out of curiosity.

She could smell the kitchens before she spotted them; the cooks were obviously already up and preparing breakfast. Parvati had told her the kitchens were carefully guarded, but Carolina wasn’t expecting the high walls she found when she followed her nose. The path ended in blank red sandstone, twice as high as the other walls, with no holes in it for her to peek through. She could see smoke rising when she looked up at the sky; most of the kitchen was an open courtyard, which was why they had to keep the walls too high for anyone to climb over. Parvati had explained that poisonings were a fairly common problem in Sri Sumbhajee’s family.

Carolina followed the wall until she found the only entrance to the kitchen. A pair of whip-thin guards stood in front of the closed wooden doors, holding long, pointed spears. Wicked-looking curved swords hung from their belts.

Carolina tried to saunter right past the guards, but their spears clashed together in front of her.

“You’re not allowed in here,” one of them said sternly.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” she said quickly. “Toolajee asked me to get him some sweets. I didn’t think anyone would mind—I’ll just be in and out.” She started forward again, but the spears still blocked her way.

“No one is allowed in,” growled the second guard.

“And don’t try to bribe us,” said the first. “We were specially selected because we care for neither food nor money nor”—his gaze traveled over her—“anything else.”

Carolina frowned, pulling her shawl further around her. “But what should I tell Toolajee? I would hate to make him angry.”

“Doesn’t matter to us,” said the first guard. “He gets enough sweets from his mother anyway. That’s probably what’s wrong with him.”

Carolina gave the second guard a pleading look, sensing that he might be a bit more sympathetic. His eyes shifted to the ground.

“Nisha will be getting her breakfast soon,” he said gruffly. “He can get something from her.”

“All right, thanks,” Carolina said, backing away. An idea was forming in her mind. But could she make it work? She pretended to wander off slowly, glancing back now and then. As soon as she caught both guards looking in the other direction, she ducked behind a bronze statue of a man with the head of an elephant.

More and more birds started twittering in the trees as the sun rose and Carolina waited. Finally the kitchen doors opened, and a woman emerged carrying a tray of food. She was covered from head to toe in a long sky-blue cloak, with only a slit for her eyes. The guards nodded as she went past them.

Carolina crouched lower as the woman passed her hiding place, and then, checking to make sure the guards were looking the other way, she hurried after her.

Several corridors later, Carolina saw the woman stop at a carved wooden door and knock. Carolina hid around the corner and peered out, watching as the door opened a few inches and the cloaked woman slipped inside. There was no one else in the hallway. Carolina crept up to the door and pressed her ear to it, but the wood was too thick; she couldn’t hear anything.

Suddenly the door opened and the woman came out again. Carolina didn’t have time to run; she jumped out of the way, so the person inside didn’t see her—but the woman in the cloak certainly did. Her eyes blinked rapidly at Carolina as the door closed again.

“Sorry,” Carolina said. “Um—I was just wondering—I know this is going to sound strange—but I was wondering if I could borrow your cloak for a little—”

“Sure,” the woman said promptly, before Carolina could even finish her sentence. She lifted it over her shoulders and shook her hair loose. “It’s awful. It weighs as much as an elephant.” She threw it at Carolina, who staggered as she caught it. It really was heavy.

“Oh,” Carolina said, startled. She’d been sure she’d have to come up with an elaborate explanation. If it was this easy—had it happened before? “Um—”

“I’m Sara,” said the young woman. She looked like a younger version of Jhumpa; Carolina wondered if they were sisters. “I’ll let you borrow it if you give me those gold earrings.”

Carolina touched her ears. “I would, but they’re not mine. Parvati only loaned them to me.”

“Oh,” Sara said with a shrug. “Well, a few minutes of peace is fine, too. Are you trying to sneak into the kitchens?”

“Um,” Carolina stammered. “I—um—”

“Don’t worry, I don’t care,” Sara said. “The longer I can stay out of those hot, awful kitchens is fine by me. I’m trying to get promoted. If I’m lucky, she might make me her official dresser.” Sara tilted her head at Nisha’s door. “And then I’ll be handling silk saris and precious jewels all day instead of hot pans and heavy buckets of water.”

“So you’d pretty much do anything Nisha asked?” Carolina said, slipping the cloak over her head. Such as lend her your cloak for a short visit to the kitchens? Or slip poison into someone’s food at her request? she thought.

“No question,” Sara said. “And she’s an odd one, I warn you.”

“Warn me?” Carolina said. It was dark and stuffy inside the cloak, and very difficult to see out through the slit in the front.

“Well, you have to go back in there and get her tray when she’s done—unless you give the cloak back to me, and then I can do it,” Sara said. “But you can snoop around the kitchens first. You have about half an hourglass.”

“Thank you,” Carolina said.

“I’ll be asleep in that garden when you come back,” Sara said, heading for a patch of tall grass under a magnolia tree. “Don’t be late.”

Carolina nodded and hurried away down the hall. She’d memorized the twists and turns that led back to the kitchens, so it didn’t take her long to get back. And this time the guards didn’t even look at her as she walked between them.

On the other side of the door she was hit by a blast of heat. Small cooking fires were burning around the courtyard and a huge wood-burning oven blazed from one of the walls. Cooks were bustling here and there, tasting sauces and wrapping bread and chopping vegetables and turning spits of meat. Nobody even looked at Carolina.

She tucked herself into a corner, watching quietly from inside her cloak.

With luck, she was going to catch the poisoner in action.

M
eanwhile, out in the pavilion where the pirates were assembling for breakfast, things were not going quite so well for Jack and Diego.

“Nobody can get into the fortress of Sri Sumbhajee!” Askay insisted. “We are too well hidden! Our defenses have never been successfully assailed since pirates first came to this island!” Seated between his aides, the Pirate Lord nodded firmly, flapping his beard up and down.

“Yes, but they know your secrets,” Diego said anxiously. “They know about the illusion of the rocks and where the hidden harbor is. I’m telling you, they’re on their way to attack you right now.” He glanced around, wondering where Carolina was. Nearly everyone in the palace was there, seating themselves on the cushions and murmuring to each other in the cool chill of the early morning.

“If this were true,” Pusasn said, “Sri Sumbhajee would know about it!”

“You mean his beard would know about it,” Jack pointed out politely. Sri Sumbhajee glared at him.

“Why should we believe you?” Askay demanded. “Tell us again—you were
where
exactly when you heard this alleged infiltrator?”

“Uh,” Jack said guiltily. “In the—uh, gardens.”

“I see,” Pusasn said, casting him a suspicious look. “In the middle of the night. When you were supposed to be in your room, under watch.”

“I got up to go to the toilet,” Jack tried, “and got lost. You might want to consider having a smaller palace if you don’t want people wandering around accidentally, savvy?”

“This could be a trap,” Pusasn said. “Jack Sparrow is notorious for his wild stories, and somehow they all end up benefiting him in some way.”

“Hello,” Jack said, pointing to himself. “Pirate!”

“In any case,” Askay said firmly, “we have more pressing concerns.”

“
Really
,” Jack said. “More pressing than the imminent destruction of your stronghold? Do tell.”

“We must find the black-hearted cur who is trying to poison Sri Sumbhajee!” Pusasn cried.

“A murderous snake is slithering through our very home! He is here among us! And he must be stopped!”

“Oh, the assassin?” Jack said. “I know who that is.”

Silence fell across the pavilion. Slowly everyone turned to stare at Jack, including Diego.

Mannajee and Jhumpa looked as placid and uninterested as ever—but perhaps that very lack of reaction signaled a keen ability to mask their true feelings. Kneeling next to Sri Sumbhajee, Parvati looked astonished, but not guilty. It was impossible to tell what Lakshmi’s expression was behind the scarf wrapped around her face, but he saw her hand reach for Jean’s. Was that a clue? Was she worried?

“Sorry,” Jack said, giving everyone a wide-eyed, surprised look. “I assumed you knew,” he said to Sri Sumbhajee. “I mean, what with your mighty supernatural powers and all.”

Sri Sumbhajee’s face was turning red.

“Sri Sumbhajee demands that you explain yourself,” Pusasn growled.

“Well, it’s obvious, isn’t it?” Jack said, waving one hand in the air. “All you have to do is figure out who the stupidest person in your court is.”

A shocked murmur ran around the room. Askay’s mouth opened and closed like a fish a few times. Sri Sumbhajee kicked Pusasn in the shins and made a sharp gesture.

“What are you saying?” Pusasn sputtered. “You mean—” He tried to recover. “You mean that only a truly idiotic person would even try to assassinate our great Pirate Lord?”

“Oh, no,” Jack said. “I can see lots of logical reasons for wanting to assassinate your Pirate Lord. But you’ve got to be smart about it. I mean, why even try if you’re just going to do it in the stupidest way possible?”

Diego gazed around again at all the shocked faces and wondered what in the world Jack was up to.

Meanwhile, in her corner of the kitchen, Carolina glanced up at the sky worriedly. The cooks were starting to gather the trays to carry out to the pavilions. Soon she would have to go back and return the cloak to Sara. And she hadn’t seen anyone do anything suspicious to the food. Had the assassin given up? Had Carolina missed it?

Back outside, Jack was still pleading his point…whatever point it was he was trying to make.

“Think about it,” Jack said. “Which is obviously more than this assassin can do. Our culprit keeps poisoning your food—over and over again—even though you clearly use a food taster, and it’s obviously never going to work. All that’s accomplished is a lot of dead food tasters.

What kind of blithering numbskull wants that? I’m telling you, no imagination, and barely a modicum of sense.”

“I suppose you can think of a better way to assassinate my lordship,” Parvati said icily.

“Yes, lots,” Jack said. “Lots of much smarter, cleverer ways. Which is why it’s very clear. The assassin can’t be very smart, right? In fact—ipso facto,
cogito ergo sum
,
quid pro
quorum domino mulberry—it must be the stupidest person in your court. And I’m sure you all know who that is.” He began to turn around slowly, raised an eyebrow and gazed at the suspect.

In the kitchen, the trays were lifted high in the air. The man holding the first tray was shaking with fear. He wiped the sweat from his brow with a small handkerchief and took several deep breaths, steadying himself. Carolina’s eyes were fixed on the tray. She hadn’t seen anyone but him touch it. And he wouldn’t have poisoned it himself.

All at once she heard a familiar sound…a smug, gleeful chittering. She looked up at the top of the wall, above the door.

Toolajee’s monkey was perched there, holding a vial out over the tray of food as it passed below him.

“I’m not stupid!”

The entire court gasped. Jack smiled.

Toolajee leaped to his feet, his fists clenched. His body quivered with rage and he stamped his foot. “I’m not! I’m not stupid! It would have worked eventually! I know it would have!”

“Toolajee!” Parvati’s eyes rolled up in her head and she fainted.

“I knew it!” Marcella yelled. “Horrible, little, diamond-stealing brat! It figures!”

“What?” Diego cried. “But he’s—but you’re—you’re only seven!”

“That doesn’t make me stupid!” Toolajee snapped. He marched over to Jack and glared up at him. “I had to be so clever! I spent months training my monkey! I planned this forever! All by myself ! I was going to kill him and then Mannajee, and then
I
would be the Pirate Lord, and I could sail on ships all the time if I wanted to, and nobody could stop me—nobody!”

Running footsteps were heard from the nearest corridor. Carolina burst into the garden, red silk trailing behind her. She had dropped the cloak off with Sara and run as fast as she could.

“It’s Toolajee!” she shouted. “Toolajee is the assassin!”

“Yes, love,” Jack said. “Everyone knows that.”

“We—oh,” Carolina said, stopping in her tracks. “We do?” She glanced around at the tableau of shocked spectators and fierce little Toolajee. “Um—good. OK then.”

Sri Sumbhajee whispered in Askay’s ear. Askay nodded and straightened up.

“Toolajee,” the aide said gravely. Diego had a horrible sinking feeling. Surely they weren’t about to feed a little boy to the crocodiles? But how could they punish him? Sri Sumbhajee must be furious!

Then he saw the look on Sri Sumbhajee’s face. It was almost…proud.

“Toolajee, Pirate Lord Sri Sumbhajee has seen your heart. He knows now that you are a true pirate,” Askay intoned.

“He is most impressed at your skill and your conniving, deceitful nature,” Pusasn added.

“What?” Carolina and Diego cried simultaneously.

“Sri Sumbhajee declares that Mannajee is no longer his heir,” Askay announced. “Instead it shall be Toolajee who inherits his Piece of Eight, granting him the title and power of the Pirate Lord of the Indian Ocean!”

“Oh, thank the gods,” Mannajee said. Jhumpa kissed his cheek fondly. Parvati blinked, awakening.

Toolajee’s eyes were shining. “Does that mean I can come on your pirate expeditions?”

“Of course,” Pusasn said as Sri Sumbhajee nodded. “Your training must begin at once. Although your natural talent is great, there is still much for you to learn.”

“I can’t believe this,” Carolina said.

“
I
can,” Jack offered.

“On one condition,” Askay said. “You must stop trying to kill Sri Sumbhajee.”

“Until you are at
least
eighteen,” Pusasn added.

“I promise,” Toolajee said eagerly. “I want to learn everything about being a pirate! Will I get to throw someone overboard?”

“We’ll work on that,” Askay said. Sri Sumbhajee gave his young half-brother an indulgent smile.

“Right. Glad that’s sorted out,” said Jack.

“What I want to know,” Jean interjected, “is whether or not we get to eat this time.”

“As long as no one touches that first platter,” Carolina said. “That’s the only one the monkey poisoned.”

Jean breathed a huge sigh of relief. “Thank goodness,” he said. “If I had to miss one more meal—”

“My lord!” a voice cried from the top of the wall. They all looked up and saw a guard waving his spear frantically at them. “Sri Sumbhajee! My lord!”

“Who dares interrupt Sri Sumbhajee’s breakfast?” Pusasn demanded.

“I’m sorry, my lord,” the guard called down. “But something terrible is happening!”

Diego, Carolina, and Jack looked at each other. They knew exactly what it was. The panic in the guard’s voice made it very clear.

“My lord, the outer defenses have been breached! We’re being attacked!”