The Pirate's Revenge Read Online Free Page A

down on the edge of the hatchway, holding the wound in his side. Brasher offered him a water flagon.
    â€˜Take it easy, lad,’ Brasher murmured.
    â€˜Thank you, I will.’ Hussein looked up at Jem. ‘This is what I need you to do. I’ll return to the islands tonight. You will deliver the cargo to a friend near Dingli. You’ll remember him, Lily — Ebenezer Black.’
    I remembered him well: his snarling face, a mocking voice that still sounded in my head: Now you do the bidding of the man who killed your father …
    I shook my head. ‘I don’t think Mister Black will be pleased to see me.’
    â€˜All will be well,’ Hussein assured me. ‘Things have changed since the last time you met.’
    â€˜Are you sure?’ asked Jem. He remembered, too.
    â€˜You’ll just have to trust me.’ I hated it when Hussein said that. It usually meant trouble.
    â€˜What about finding some guns?’ asked Moggia.
    â€˜There are guns aplenty, if you know where to look,’ said Miller. He winked again.
    â€˜What are you talking about?’ I said.
    â€˜And stop that stupid winking,’ snapped Moggia.
    Miller chuckled. ‘You’ve forgotten — we already have dozens of guns,’ he said. ‘The muskets we stolefrom Santa Lucia — they must be still aboard Gisella .’
    â€˜Hopefully they’ve gone to the bottom, with Gisella and her damned captain,’ I muttered. Those guns had cost me my freedom, and many of my fellow Santa Lucians their lives.
    â€˜I’m not willing to seek out Diablo just to get our hands on those muskets,’ said Jem. ‘We’re better off out of his wake.’
    â€˜Those guns have been nothing but trouble,’ grumbled Moggia. ‘First we had to blow up a whole town just to take a few dozen muskets. Hide them in the Lion Cave, Diablo says, but nobody knows where it is. I nearly broke my back dragging those bedevilled guns all over Santa Lucia. Now they are somewhere on the high seas, and they can stay there for all I care. We will find better guns.’
    â€˜Another Diablo disaster,’ said Miller.
    â€˜I’m afraid that was my fault,’ I admitted. ‘My mother and brother were hiding in the cave. When you boys nabbed me, I led you clear away in the other direction.’
    â€˜You what?’ asked Jem, incredulous. ‘You never owned up to that before.’
    Hussein was laughing again. ‘It’s probably just as well, Jem. If Lily is anything like her mother, your men wouldn’t have stood a chance.’
    He stood up, leaning on Brasher for support. ‘It doesn’t matter. Those guns are long gone, and I’d rather look elsewhere than have to deal with Gisella or her crew.’
    He nodded to us. ‘I’ll rest now. Call me when you reach the coast. Lily, set a course for Dwejra Bay.’

3.
The black heart
    We made our landfall at night. Dwejra Bay, dead on. A brilliant price of navigation, although nobody noticed but me.
    I roused Hussein from the cabin. He was still slow on his feet.
    â€˜Are you sure you’re fit to travel?’ I asked.
    â€˜Fit as a rooster,’ he assured me. ‘You are a fine doctor, after all, even if it was your first surgery.’
    I felt myself blushing bright scarlet. ‘Was I that bad?’
    â€˜Not at all. I’ve suffered much worse.’
    He stood up, buckled his sword loosely around his waist, and slid a dagger into the sheath on the right.
    â€˜Lily,’ he said. ‘I’m afraid I couldn’t deliver your letter to Santa Lucia. The invasion intervened.’
    There was nothing I could say. Through all these weeks of waiting, I’d been hoping for only one thing: that my letter had arrived safely; that my mother now knew I was alive and well.
    â€˜But I sent it on with some escapees from the Old City,’ he continued. ‘I can only hope it found its way home for