"So then! The dastardly pirate captain turns to face them and says, 'if that's the best you've got, you better start praying'. 'No, you e the one who should be praying, for your black soul,' cried our heroine and rushed at the pirate." Sword in hand, Wendy ran towards the opposite wall. In one quick movement, Katherine grabbed up the other sword and stood up into her cousin's path. As their swords meet, the group's imagination transforms Katherine into the pirate captain. Now, as both young women were excellent swordsmen, it was quite some time before the story recommenced. When it did, of course, the heroine gained the upper hand and, finally, killed the pirate captain. The young lady collapsed to the floor, Wendy's sword jammed between her ribs and her arm, to great acclaim from the boys and Nanny.
Just as they had agreed that it was
bedtime and the girls were about to leave the nursery, the window was
flung wide and in flew that pesky forest sprite, Peter Pan.
Katherine
shrank back against the door-frame, like most of her species, she has
a fear of the unknown.
Who was this boy, who had just flown in?
And that was another thing, how could he fly?
"Peter!" cried Wendy in childish delight.
'Peter? Surely not... Peter Pan?' thought Katherine incredulously. She had been gone for four years, but, on the very first night of her visit, Wendy had told her all about their adventures in Neverland.
"And who be this?" asked Peter, swooping down on her.
"Oh, that's our cousin, Katherine," John told him.
"Lady Katherine Hambragh and you are?" she said, coolly, and held out a hand.
"I'm Peter Pan, King of Neverland," he laughed, grabbed her by her hand and flew through the air with her, before depositing her on Michael's bed. I think, I hardly need tell you that our star was less than impressed.
"Now, who fancies a trip to Neverland?" Peter asked, excitedly.
"Pe-ter..." said Wendy, warningly.
"Just a short trip. Just to see how it's all changed. One last trip, before you're too old."
"OK. Just one, short trip, then," Wendy conceded.
"So... how are we going to get there?" Katherine asked, somewhat self-consciously.
"We fly! Remember?" yelled Michael, joyfully.
"Here," said Peter and gently shook Tinkerbell over Katherine's head.
"You have to think happy thoughts and they lift you into the air," John said, excitedly. She thought of her past adventures, but nothing happened, and then she thought of Carla and she shot up into the air.
KR
Once they were all airbourne, Peter
led the way out through the window. They flew through a multitude of
colours and Katherine could have touched stars, if she had cared to
reach out her hand.
Suddenly, they were careening around
gold-edged, pink clouds. Peter was leading them down towards his
forest home, when a cannon ball screamed through the air between
Peter and Michael's heads.
"Come on!" called Pan and dived for the pirate ship.
"I thought, you said, that Hook was dead," Katherine yelled, over her shoulder, to her cousins.
"I
thought he was," responded Wendy, but then they were flying in air
that was thick with cannon and musket balls.
Katherine swooped
down to the ship's deck and picked up a fallen sword, but she had to
land, to use it. A couple of minutes later, Wendy was fighting
shoulder-to- shoulder with her.
"Look, at the two little girlies all on their own," leered a voice from behind them. The pair turned as one and ran him through together.
"I think, it's a tad too hairy to stay down here. Come on," said Wendy, soaring into the air. Katherine took a deep breath and leapt into the air, too. She fought back three or four pirates and then flew over to the poop deck, where the other four were battling. There, by the helm, exchanging blows with Pan, was Hook. He was everything Wendy had said and, to Katherine's more mature eye, much more. She dived into the fray and, a few minutes later, she came face-to-face with the pirate captain. Instead of clashing swords with him, she circled round him and plucked the large hat from Hook's head, which she then donned, careful to catch up her plait.
"Oi! You filthy, little gutter-snipe!" cried Hook in outrage.
"Gutter-snipe?!
I'm not a gutter-snipe, I just like the hat." The pirate captain
paused and surveyed the young woman before him.
Katherine's hair
was much darker than Wendy's, more like Marmite than honey. Her skin
was also darker, tanned from many long hours working under the
African sun. She struck an odd figure in her nightgown and his
plumed,
burgundy hat with a cutlass in her right hand.
"Well, I suppose, it does suit you," he admitted with his most charming smile. Then he lunged at her. "But I demand its return." The pair fought hard, they were both gifted fighters.
After several passes, Peter called for
everyone to leave. Katherine was about to follow the others, but
Captain Hook tried to retrieve his hat again. She turned back and
fought him off. Then she flew out over the water, but had barely gone
ten feet from the ship, when she started to descend. She was unable
to fathom it, she was still exuberant from the sword fight. It was
then that she noticed that Wendy, John and Michael were also
dropping. Suddenly, Katherine was dropping like a stone as were the
Darling children. Peter dived after Wendy, not that Katherine noticed
as she plunged into the sea. She tried to swim, but it was impossible
in her calico nightdress.
As hard as she struggled for the
surface, her water-logged attire dragged her down. Just as her
strength was about to fail her; strong, warm arms closed around her.
The man swam with her to the ship and, once safely aboard, Katherine
passed out.
