The Pirate Camp

Out of the corner of his eye, Fred saw One-Eyed Jack motion him forward. As the two came closer, a crowd of pirates began to form. Their weapons were at the ready, their scowling faces betraying no hint of welcome. A large man with a bright red feather in his hat stepped to the front and raised his fist. They both stopped. "And what be this?" he asked suspiciously.

"A dragon hunter," One-Eyed Jack answered. Fred remained silent as the man with the red feather eyed him with a thoughtful stare. "You be a King's Man," he said finally, his voice filled with contempt. He smiled then and said with a touch of threat, "I be Captain Roberts the Hawk and this be my crew." Turning to Jack, Roberts asked, "Where did ye find him?"

"On the beach, where the Dragon does dance," he answered. Roberts nodded. "And the bones of another rot still on that beach, Cap'n," Jack added. "Where am I?" Fred addressed the Captain. In the blink of an eye, Roberts unsheathed his cutlass and drew its sharp blade across Fred's cheek. "Speak when spoken to, Lord," Roberts warned. Fred glared at him, not moving to touch the burning cut bleeding on his face. He refused to give Roberts the satisfaction of seeing his pain. And Roberts noticed.

"What be your name and where be you from?" Roberts asked Fred. "Does it matter?" Fred replied. "I no guarantee your life," Roberts smiled, "but if there be any hope of ye ever reaching home, t'would be wise to answer me question." Fred considered his position, and knew they wouldn't think twice about killing him, but if they thought he was of value... "My name is Frederigo D'Honaire and I come from the Great Kingdom." A murmur rose from the assembled pirates. Captain Roberts hushed them up. "You're a long way from home, King's Man," he said with surprise. "You have me at a disadvantage, sir. Where exactly am I?" Fred asked again.

"We be near the waters of the Southern Cross." Now it was Fred's turn to be surprised. Shocked, actually. "But that's...impossible," he almost whispered. "Only yesterday I reached the Mountains of Shreken and entered the Southern Caves. Only yesterday."

One-Eyed Jack heard Fred's words and nodded with wide eyes. "Ye have traveled on waves that no touch this earth. But ye chanced the Dragon's wrath, ye did. And that Dragon be a trickster he is. I reckon it no wonder that ye find yerself so far from home. I wonder though, how long ago yesterday actually was?"

Fred turned to him, startled at the question. "Yesterday was yesterday, Jack. And I left my King on the day of his sixty-first birthday to travel on this quest. That was a month ago." A cackling laugh broke out at the rear of the standing pirates. All eyes looked back at the bent old man hopping up and down on his thick, wooden leg. "Do ye laugh because ye are mad, or has a limerick come to your addled brain, Black Rum?" Roberts demanded of the one legged man.

Black Rum Woody smiled, his mouth a black hole filled with cracked and jagged teeth. "Me favorite nephew lives in Cogan near the Kingdom's eastern border with Aritaine, and when it is the Great King's birthday the whole land knows of it. Tho' I doubt that the whole land drinks to his health." Black Rum broke into another round of cackling mirth. Roberts walked up to him and grabbed him by the collar. "I no have time for you today," he growled. "Tell me what ye know." Black Rum composed himself and then continued, "The king's sixty-first birthday be over and gone a year and more now. They say time flies, but I reckon only if it be on a dragon's wings." Roberts let him loose and Black Rum fell to the sand laughing harder than ever.

Fred simply stood there in shock. The Dragon had taken him across time and space. In the blink of an eye, untold leagues and four long seasons had come between him and his prey. And poor Sir Toby had lost his life. With such might and powerful magic, how could he ever hope to destroy the Dragon? How could he ever hope to survive?

1. Sailing Orders

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