Desperately Seeking Sally
Chapter Seven
As Rena took over the pilot's wheel, I scanned the Armada fleet with my spyglass. The fleet consisted of two frigates each leading two gunboats and they moved to attack us now.
"Prepare to fire!" The Clutterbuck brothers shouted as their men hurried to reload their cannons. A gunboat from both sides moved for a broadside attack, and the men shouted as both sides fired their cannons simultaneously.
The damaged Aquila sailed onwards as the two gunboats sank beneath the clouds, and the remaining Armada ships formed two lines to our broadsides with the gunboats leading to try and finish us off.
"Swivel guns!" I shouted, and while the men hurried to reload, the swivel guns swerved to fire round shot at the gunboats, sinking them just as the men finished reloading.
Four broadsides exploded upon Port Regal Skyway as cannonballs, sparks, and splinters went flying all over the decks of all three ships. Not finished yet, some of them threw grenades onto the decks of the Armada frigates, thinning out the Clockworks manning them.
The Armada frigates came about as the Aquila turned to starboard, and they sped towards us as we reloaded our cannons.
At Richard's shout, the starboard side raked the bows of the frigates with round shot, exposing their powder stores. The swivel guns turned to fire upon the Armada frigates' powder stores, sinking them to the cheers of the men.
While the men were repairing the Aquila, we returned to Catbeard in his lair, where he was aboard the quarterdeck of the Catspaw, enjoying afternoon tea with Mabel.
At Catbeard's nod, I pulled up a chair for myself, and while he was pouring me a cup of tea, I told him what happened. "Expertly done, Matthew – I couldn't have done better myself! Well, perhaps not much better."
"We have the Armada's attention, so it's time to stoke the fires. Oh yes. Go assault the dreadnought the Clockworks are building near the Stormgate." Catbeard said as Mr. Norrington brought out a map of Port Regal Skyway, and a diagram of the dreadnought.
"Take these powder kegs and blow up the machines at the dreadnought's core. If I know the Clockworks, which I do, they'll blame Marleybone for the attack." Catbeard said as he pointed to the dreadnought's core.
"Once the deed is done, you'll race back here before the Armada can catch you. Stay the course, Matthew, we're almost finished! Good hunting!"
I nodded as I took the plans from Catbeard, and as soon as the men finished loading the powder kegs onto the Aquila, we set sail to the north, where an Armada dreadnought was under construction near the Stormgate.
Floating fortresses made of steel, dreadnoughts like the one before us now were armed with heavy long-ranged firepower and were only deployed for the most vital missions.
The Four-Power Treaty signed by Marleybone, Valencia, Monquista, and Polaris after the Polarian Wars limited the number of dreadnoughts their navies could own to prevent an arms race, with the Armada being allowed the most, unfortunately.
Before we had even caught sight of the dreadnought, I had ordered the men to fly the flag of the Armada, and so the Aquila managed to make port at the dock extending from the dreadnought.
Rena and I put on our Clockwork disguises, and as we walked down the gangplank to the dock, an Armada officer came over to question us.
"Who are you? Why are you here with this ship?" The Armada officer asked me in the mechanical voice of the Clockworks.
"I am Corvo Imperiale, first lieutenant aboard the Raven, and this is Ala Alba. We captured this ship as a prize and we were sent to deliver gunpowder for the guns here." I lied in the same mechanical voice. The Armada officer nodded and stepped aside for me to pass.
A few steps later, I heard the sound of a Clockwork falling onto the dock, stunned, and I glanced behind me to see Bonnie high up in the rigging with a smoking Scaramanga.
Rena threw the Armada officer overboard the dreadnought, and while the men, pretending to be the defeated crew of the Aquila, were taking the gunpowder kegs to other parts of the dreadnought, Rena and I snuck below deck to blow up the machines in the dreadnought's core.
We split up and placed small charges of gunpowder in key mechanisms of the machines, and I sprinkled a trail of gunpowder linking each one to the other so that they could be ignited all at once and destroy the machines, as we couldn't blow up the dreadnought's core itself without going down with her.
Suddenly, I heard a Clockwork soldier shout: "Intruder, you will identify yourself and surrender! Comply or be terminated!"
I hurried around the dreadnought's core to find a trio Clockwork musketeers holding Rena at gunpoint, and firing my musket at one of them, I then hurled the musket at another Clockwork musketeer, stabbing him through the breastplate with the bayonet mounted on the musket.
Rena seized her chance and quickly drawing her pistol, shot the last musketeer in the breastplate. "Over here, Matt!"
As I hurried over with her to a safe distance, Rena took aim with her musket and fired a burst of electricity at the trail of gunpowder, igniting it and blowing up the machines. "We have some powder left, Matt – let's go sabotage the room above on the way out."
I nodded and followed her upstairs to where the Clockwork marines assigned to watch the men while they took the powder kegs to the store were now struggling against their assumed prisoners, who had hidden their daggers in their clothing.
Picking off the officers with our guns, the Clockworks were soon defeated, and we put the powder kegs all in one pile for Bonnie to ignite with her Scaramanga.
As the last man boarded the Aquila, Bonnie pulled the trigger at the bottom of the gangplank and she ran like hell back up the gangplank as the gunpowder kegs exploded, disabling the dreadnought, shouting: "Go! Go! Go!"
The Aquila unfurled her sails with the wind to her stern, and we raced back to Catbeard's lair, where the Cat himself was waiting aboard the Catspaw.
"Welcome back, Matthew! My, you're every bit the scoundrel the rumors say you are. The deed is done – we have ourselves a war!" Catbeard said as he rubbed his paws together in satisfaction.
"Stage one of my grand plan is complete. It's time to play for keeps. So much has happened while you were away. Now, where do I begin?"
"While you were assaulting the dreadnought, Marleybone captured an Armada leader and locked him in Fort Elena, just as I predicted."
"So now the Armada's laid siege to Fort Elena - the fort's troops is distracted and its walls are crumbling. The perfect time for a jail break, ingenious!"
"All you have to do is get inside the fort, find Napoleguin and Sally, and slip away. I have a Dog on the inside. Find Lieutenant Benedict – he can help."
We left Catbeard and sailed north, where we could see the battle of Fort Elena off the bow. A dozen Armada ships-of-the-lines were bombarding Fort Elena, while the redcoats responded with cannons.
Skirting the fort and avoiding confrontation, we found a gently shelving beach to drop anchor at the back of the fort. I led my trusted associates in leaping off the bow's railings and rolling onto the sand to break our falls, and we sneaked inside the fort.
As we closed the gate behind us, we heard the sound of guns cocking, and we turned to see a firing line of eight redcoats aiming their muskets at us.
Suddenly, there was a loud cry, and a redcoat stumbled forward, falling over his comrade on one knee in front of him, throwing the firing lane into disarray.
The redcoats got up to surround their attacker, a jackrabbit with antlers, also known as a jackalope. It charged at one redcoat, and used its back legs to kick another redcoat in the shin, and the redcoat clutched at it in pain. The other redcoats scattered, leaving the jackalope bounding towards us.
I suddenly recognized the jackalope from a photograph, and I bent down on one knee and held out my hand. "Here, Gwendolyn."
Gwendolyn the jackalope tentatively sniffed my hand and allowed me to scratch her head between the antlers. "Guys, meet Gwendolyn, the pet of our good friend Hezekiah William. He must be somewhere inside the fort."
Gwendolyn also allowed the others to pet her, and as we stood up, she bounded ahead. We followed her to the fort's prison, where we surveyed the walls of the prison.
"This is some plan Catbeard had! How the blazes are we supposed to get in, Captain?" Bonnie asked as we regrouped in front of the door.
"We'll turn that cannon about, and we'll blast our way in through the door." Ratbeard answered, indicating a nearby thirty-two pounder. We all pitched in to aim the thirty-two pounder at the door and load it with some nearby shot and powder.
"Here goes nothing!" Jack said as he lit the fuse. We all ducked down as the thirty-two pounder fired its round shot, blasting open the door.
"It worked!" Bonnie exclaimed.
"Of course it worked! Now let's get in there, double quick!" Ratbeard said as he drew his cutlass and pistol.
Drawing our weapons, we entered the prison, where a redcoat aimed his musket at us. "Where is Lieutenant Benedict?"
The redcoat lowered his musket and relaxed. "That's me. Did Catbeard send you?"
I nodded, and Lieutenant Benedict continued on. "Here, quick – take these keys! They'll open the cells. The Little Emperor is on the lower level. The stairs are at the end of the block. Good luck!"
As we ran through the block, we heard a familiar voice shout at us. "You come to taunt me? HA! No prison can hold the Brass Monkey! I curse your name! I will have my vengeance, do you hear?"
We ignored and passed by, where we soon came across a group of Penguins, dressed in the blue uniforms of the Polarian army.
"Is one of those penguins the…" Ratbeard began, but Bonnie shook her head. "No, Benedict said he's down the stairs. Those are just… other Penguins, I suppose."
As we passed by a Polar Bear, dressed in a barrister's wig and black suit, Gwendolyn put on a new burst of speed, and she led us straight to our old friend, Hezekiah William, trapped in a cell.
He had short white hair and squinty green eyes, and in place of the rags he wore when we first met him, he now wore a sailor's garb.
"Thank god, give William a pistol." William said as he stood outside his cell. Handing him one of my pistols, I began filing through the ring of keys to find the one to William's cell.
Just as I opened the cell door, a voice said: "So little worms – wormed your way down here, have you? You'll never free my little birdies from their cages, I swear it!"
I turned to see a Bulldog wearing a red jacket and black trousers and shoes holding a whip in his hand, flanked by two redcoats with muskets, so he must've been the warden.
William took aim with his pistol and shot the warden, and cracks of gunfire went off as both sides pulled the triggers of their muskets.
The redcoats went down stunned, but they'd managed to stun poor Gwendolyn and catch Rena's leg. As she fell, I managed to catch her before she hit the cobblestone floor of the prison. "Hey, are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." Rena said, nodding. We looked at William, who had carefully taken Gwendolyn up in his arms, and after a moment or two, he then said darkly: "They're going to pay for this!"
Gently slinging Gwendolyn over his shoulder, William picked up a musket and ran on ahead, and I slung Rena's arm across my shoulder and supported her as we followed.