Dead Reckoning
Chapter Seven
Days earlier in Neverland…
Somewhere deep within the forest that made up the island where no one ever grew old, the Lost Boys who still remained danced around a large fire they built to light up their camp and to keep warm from the cold night air. Since the loss of their leader and friend, they had lost sight of the importance in sending out scouts throughout the island to keep a watchful eye, and when the right time was to attack whomever they believed were a threat to their lives instead of just doing so on a whim. They had become Neverland's true savages, hunting and playing like wild animals. If they had sent out scouts as Pan would have done, they would have seen the mysterious ship arrive not far off from the island through a portal, bringing with it a dangerous man who was no stranger to Neverland, or to the Lost Boys who now ruled it.
When a small boat from the ship rowed to shore, a bald, dark skinned brute with a thin mustache and beard, and at least two silver teeth that could be seen when he sneered stepped off first, followed by his three crewmen that came over with him. The leader was well armed as he wore a large axe on his back, as well as numerous other weapons that included a cutlass at his side, two pistols and a dagger in his belt, and another one in his right boot.
He smiled cruelly as he looked at the island ahead of him and then he spoke with a heavy accent and a deep voice saying, "I had begun to believe I would never find my way back. But now I have. And at long last, I will see that my enemy is brought to his knees as I steal his life with the blade of my axe."
His right hand man came up to stand beside him as more of their men came over from the ship behind them, then he responded, "Neverland is just as you said it was. Thank you for trusting me and my men to help you to find your way home, Bishop. But it won't be easy to find him. And even more difficult to kill him. You know that better than the rest of us because this is our first time here to this island. But from all the stories you've told us…"
"Pan may have magic that protects him and keeps him the child he is, but he is not invincible," the sinister man known as Bishop interrupted darkly when a strange whistle or bird call sounded from within the forest. "He can be killed, and he will be by my hand."
"Is it true we will never grow a day older?" another of the men asked as the crew followed their leader deeper into woods now surrounding them with their weapons drawn in case of an attack. "This island doesn't look as magical as you made it sound. It's dark and eerie."
Bishop began to use his sword to slash through the thickets and undergrowth that blocked their path as he answered, "If you were expecting a land filled with rainbows and treasure ruled by magical fairies, then you have joined the wrong crew. This land may be darkened through villainy and evils that you cannot begin to comprehend, but it is my home and where I belong. If it was not for Pan, I would still be a boy of fifteen, not a middle aged man thirty-two years older than when I was banished. I will have my revenge on Pan for his dishonor."
All of a sudden, the brute froze where he stood and without a word to his men behind him, then he swiftly snatched something hidden within the brush beside him and roughly pulled out a boy who had been spying on them since they first entered the forest as he angrily cried out, "Let me go! Filthy pirate. I'll kill you!"
"We aren't pirates, boy," the crew's first mate replied coldly while their leader held the boy up off the ground as he held him tightly by his shoulders. "At least nothing like those who run with Captain Hook or Black Beard. Who are you?"
"I'm no one," the boy responded as he continued to struggle against the huge man's grasp, then finally relented. "I'm Oscar. Who are you?"
Bishop finally released him as the boy fell to the ground, but to keep him from running off, he swiftly stomped down on the child's chest and then answered, "Who we are is of no importance to you. But you on the other hand… you are of great importance. You are a Lost Boy. And you can take us to Pan. If you refuse, if you try to run again when I move my foot from your chest, I will kill you with the snap of your neck and find Pan without you."
Oscar glared up at the large man before him as the brute lifted him from off the ground and stood him on his feet, then he replied smugly, "If you've come to Neverland looking for Pan, then you're clearly not from this world. Or you've been gone a long time."
"What do you mean?" the leader asked when he suddenly grabbed the boy by his throat and began to squeeze until he loosened up just a little so Oscar could talk.
"Pan doesn't rule over Neverland anymore," Oscar sneered, despite the hand around his neck. "He's dead."
Bishop squeezed his throat harder again as he angrily responded, "That is not possible. Pan has been ruler of this island for centuries and knew this island's magic and tricks better than anyone who has ever lived here. Not one of you children have the strength or the knowledge needed to kill that villain."
When the brute shoved the Lost Boy up against a tree and released his neck once again, but held him in place, he answered, "It wasn't a Lost Boy who killed him. And Pan didn't die here in Neverland."
"Who killed him?" the men's leader asked gruffly when he pulled out one of his daggers and then forced it back up against Oscar's throat in order to force him to tell him what he wanted to know. "Tell me!"
"Rumplestiltskin killed our leader," another of the Lost Boys replied when he stepped out from behind one of the trees as a number of Neverland's inhabitants unexpectedly surrounded Bishop and his men with their own weapons raised. "The Dark One and Pan's own son. Now we rule Neverland. Have you come here to kill us, Badrick?"