Desperately Seeking Sally
Chapter EightAs we went downstairs to the lower cells, we found a brown Mustang woman wearing a pink dress and a pink rose in her black hair in the first cell. "It's Mustang Sally!"
"You look familiar – do I know you?" Mustang Sally asked, frowning as she looked at me.
"My name is Matthew Exeter, and we've met before in Flotsam." I said. "That reminds me…"
I punched Ratbeard in the stomach, and he clutched at his stomach. "What was that for, Captain?"
"She asked me to belt you one in the stomach, and I've been waiting for thirty-eight chapters." I explained. "Now that the brick joke's dealt with, Catbeard and your father sent us to get you."
"My father, what…" Mustang Sally began, but then she shook her head. "No, no – tell me later. Get me out of here!"
Bonnie bent down on one knee to unlock Mustang Sally's cell door, and she stepped aside to allow her to get out. "Benedict's keys worked like a charm – Mustang Sally, you're free!"
I drew one of my swords and handed it to Mustang Sally, just as the Clockworks entered the lower cells. "Pacify the area – secure the target!"
We leapt out of the way of the Clockwork musketeers' electrical bursts, and Mustang Sally and Rena, who had recovered enough to fight, leapt into the fray. As Mustang Sally deflected a Clockwork musketeer's bayonet, Rena stabbed him from the side.
Putting Gwendolyn out of harm's way, William aimed his musket and pulled the trigger, stunning an Armada marine about to chop Jack just as he decapitated a Clockwork soldier down on his knees with his cutlass.
Old Scratch waved his staff, and purple energy surrounded it in the form of a blade, and as he parried an Armada marine's halberd, he melted the marine's mask off using the Eye of the Snake.
Ratbeard slammed the edge of his cutlass into a Clockwork musketeer's head just as he was about to shoot him at point blank range, and removing his cutlass, decapitated an Armada marine about to attack him from behind.
Emmett, having armed himself with two more pistols from the Aquila's storeroom, fired his four pistols in rapid succession, taking down two Clockworks that were about to shoot Bonnie.
Bonnie took aim with her Scaramanga and fired an electrical burst that ran along the barrel of a Clockwork musketeer's musket before hitting him in the eye.
As an Armada marine lunged at me with the point of his halberd, I deflected it with my sword in a right-handed reverse grip, and turning while drawing a pistol from my bandolier, shot the marine in the face, sending him onto the cobblestone floor before stabbing him through the breastplate.
Sheathing our weapons, we regrouped and as we continued on to Napoleguin, we saw a familiar black-and-white mask inside a cell.
"Well, hello there! We meet again, and here, of all places. Aren't you supposed to be in Cool Ranch? Deacon shall be most displeased." Phule said with the white smiling half of his mask facing towards us. Then the black scowling half of his mask turned to face us.
"I don't know what you intend to accomplish here, but know this: Deacon will find you. When he does, the map will be ours! El Dorado will be ours!" Phule then turned his head so that the white half of his mask was facing us.
"It seems you've become quite the thorn after all. Well done. I'm sure you didn't come all this way to see me. Run along, children."
We looked at each other in slight confusion, and then shrugging, we continued on our way. At the end of the hallway, we found Napoleguin sitting in his large cell, which was well furnished enough to be considered house arrest.
Napoleguin himself was, contrary to the Polarian War propaganda, no shorter than any of the Penguins I had met on trips to Polaris, which meant he reached my waist, with two yellow crests above his eyes like eyebrows.
He wore a blue coat with gold epaulettes and red hems open over a small white shirt with golden hems and matching trousers, and black Hessian boots. A red sash decorated with medals ran across his chest, and at his side was an empty scabbard.
"You have come – it certainly took you long enough. I will not see years of careful planning undone by the mistakes of cretins." Napoleguin said. "Release me!"
"It looks like Catbeard's plan worked." I said as I unlocked the cell door. Napoleguin gave me an annoyed look. "The Cat told you this was his plan? Nonsense! Everything has proceeded according to my design. My superior intellect triumphs once again!"
"Listen! I refuse to leave this place until you do one more thing for me. In the guardroom at the end of the corridor is something sacred to me. Bring it to me, and then we shall depart. Go quickly!"
We ran down to the guardroom, where a cubbyhole with Napoleguin's name above it held one thing: a feathered two-cornered black hat with golden edges and tassels at the ends, and a dress sword made for the use of a Penguin.
Mustang Sally also found her foil with her name on it on a rack of weapons, and she returned my sword to me.
"Why, it's nothing but a hat!" Bonnie exclaimed as she took the hat from the cubbyhole.
"Vain little tyrant. Let's take it to him." Emmett remarked as he took the hat from Bonnie and dusted it off. We then heard the sound of guns cocking behind us, and we turned to see a firing line of redcoats standing outside the door with their guns ready.
Drawing a pistol from behind my waist, I quickly aimed it at the redcoats and fired a large blue orb of energy at them with Gunnery, which sent them flying back from the door.
After stunning the redcoats with our guns, we returned to Napoleguin's cell, where Emmett offered the hat to Napoleguin through the open cell door. Napoleguin rudely snatched the hat away from Emmett and put it on without saying thanks.
"You think that we'd get a thank you for risking our lives for his hat." Rena whispered quietly to me as Napoleguin stepped out of his cell.
"Very well, we will now proceed upstairs where you will free my valet, Nicholas." Napoleguin said as he walked past us.
"His plan is getting worse all the time!" Ratbeard said to me as he pointed to Napoleguin's back. Suddenly, a group of redcoats burst out from behind the corner, and Napoleguin jumped back in surprise.
"Stop them! The penguin must not escape!" A redcoat shouted as he aimed his musket at us along with the rest of the group.
Crossing my swords in front of me, I blocked the bursts of electricity fired from their guns with a Valor's Shield, and as I shattered the shield, I began running towards them while they hurried to reload.
I blunted my swords with blue energy and slammed one of them down on a redcoat's head, and narrowly avoiding the thrust of a bayonet, I slammed my other sword into the side of the offending redcoat's head.
As I threw the firing line into disarray, the others charged and soon, we had locked the unconscious redcoats inside one of the larger cells.
As we ran up the stairwell to the upper cells, we saw a patrol of Clockworks standing guard, and the musketeers now aimed their muskets at us.
"I say, it seems some uninvited guests slipped through the breach!" Jack said.
"Attack them, you insufferable dolts! Must I tell you everything?" Napoleguin said as he pointed at the Clockworks.
As the Clockworks pulled the triggers of their muskets, I blocked the bursts of electricity with a Valor's Shield and then immediately shattered it so that Bonnie, Emmett, William and I could return fire.
The Clockwork marines stepped in front of the Clockwork musketeers, and intercepted the ten bursts of electricity fired from our guns with their shields. Holstering my pistols, I drew one of my swords, and pointing it at the Clockwork marines, I cried: "Artillery!"
I launch blue energy blasts from the tip of my sword to bombard the Clockworks with a series of small explosions, and as the last Clockwork soldier fell, Napoleguin began to hurry through the smoke coming from the chinks in the Clockworks' armor.
"Swiftly, swiftly, he is here!" Napoleguin said as the smoke cleared, and we could see him standing outside the cell door of the polar bear.
I unlocked the cell door, and Napoleguin's valet stepped calmly outside the cell. "Thank you for rescuing me, my Emperor. Shall we release your honor guard as well?"
"What? They did not immediately fall upon their bayonets in shame for allowing me to be captured?" Napoleguin asked, scandalized. Nicholas shook his head. "No, my Emperor, but if you will recall, you gave the men three days leave just before you were taken."
Napoleguin seemed surprised at this revelation, and then shrugged his shoulders. "Well, we cannot leave them here to the mercy of the Dogs, I suppose."
"No, my Emperor, we cannot." Nicholas said, shaking his head.
"No! We will take them with us so that they may stand trial and hang for their incompetence. You! Pirate! Release my guards forthwith!" Napoleguin said, pointing at me.
"At this rate, more Penguins will leave this place than pirates." I heard Emmett mutter near me.
"Idiot, you have the keys! Use them!" Napoleguin shouted at me.
"We'll have to fight our way to them! Look!" Ratbeard said as he pointed behind us, and we turned to see a line of Clockwork marines about to charge at us with the point of their halberds.
As they ran towards us, Rena and I ran towards them and ducked beneath their weapons, sweeping two of the Clockworks' feet out from under them.
Stabbing them through the breastplate, we saw the others draw their guns and press against the walls to avoid the charge, and leap to shoot the marines from behind.
The few remaining marines moved to engage my trusted associates one-on-one, and as my opponent slashed horizontally with his halberd, I lunged forward with the point of my sword to stab him through the breastplate.
I saw Rena pass her tension wrench to Mustang Sally before drawing her dagger, and as she deflected the marine's halberd to her left, she spun to stab the marine in the back as he stumbled past her.
Bonnie spun out of the way of her opponent's halberd and slammed the butt of her Scaramanga into the back of the marine's head, and as Emmett's opponent lunged forward, Emmett shot his hand and head with his pistols.
Jack swept his opponent's feet out from under him before stabbing him through the breastplate, and Ratbeard.
Old Scratch covered his staff with purple energy in the shape of a blade to pass through the marine's shield and chop off the lower half of the marine's arm.
Old Scratch then made his hand ghostly to pass through the marine's breastplate, and as he removed his hand, the marine fell with smoke pouring out the chinks of his armor.
While the Clockworks were distracted, Mustang Sally unlocked the door to the Penguins' cell with her hairpin and Rena's tension wrench, and they hurried outside the cell door.
"Emperor, you have saved us! We stand ready to…" A guardsman began, but Napoleguin held up a flipper to silence him. "Be silent! You may grovel before me later. Now follow these pirates – they will lead us to safety."
"Now, let's fight our way out of here!" Ratbeard said as more Clockworks came in through the door. Picking up the muskets of the fallen Clockworks, the guards rallied to defend their Emperor, and they shot down every Clockwork soldier that appeared within their line of fire in record time.
As we passed his cell, Count Brastillo de Brass, also known as the Brass Monkey, shouted: "This is not over, pirate! If I must break every bar in this fortress and sail every Stormgate in the Spiral, I will find you! I will be avenged!"
Sneaking out of the fortress, we ran back to the Aquila, where the gangplank was waiting for us. Running up the gangplank, I took the wheel from one of the crewmen and we sailed back to Catbeard's lair.