Doctor Who: Rebellion on Treasure Island by Bali Rai & Doctor Who

Author:Bali Rai & Doctor Who [Rai, Bali & Who, Doctor]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Juvenile Fiction, Science Fiction, Time Travel, Action & Adventure, Pirates, Fantasy & Magic, Media Tie-In, General
ISBN: 9781405952347
Google: ciJhEAAAQBAJ
Barnesnoble:
Goodreads: 60216376
Publisher: Random House
Published: 2023-06-21T23:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Trelawny turned to a deckhand. The ship sat at anchor, several miles off Skeleton Island. A slight breeze buffeted the three sets of rigging attached to its three masts. A large brown rat scurried between barrels, holding a chunk of mouldering bread in its jaws. Beyond the rails, the sea was barely visible.

‘Gather the men, upper deck,’ he instructed. ‘The time is nigh.’

‘Yes, sir,’ said the deckhand. ‘Are we to be given orders, sir?’

‘Indeed,’ said Trelawny.

‘This fog is very sudden,’ the deckhand added. ‘Foul weather ahead.’

‘Perhaps,’ came the reply.

Half an hour later, all fifty remaining crew members had assembled, Fisher among them. Malnourished, angry and a little scared, they whispered to one another. Rumours flew from man to man, none of the stories very appealing.

‘I heard we’re being stalked by pirates,’ said one man. ‘They’re ghost pirates, me mate says. Come to take us away, like them others.’

Their voyage to the New World had taken weeks. Upon reaching Port Royal, Jamaica, they were given a day to rest. Since then, they’d been back at sea, half of them barely venturing above deck, on strict orders from Trelawny. The men who had seen daylight had not returned, and the crew was decimated. Fisher had returned alone, newly mute. He took to crouching in the shadows below decks, rocking on his heels, his eyes devoid of recognition.

‘They say Fisher seen the devil,’ one crew member had said to another. ‘Took his voice and ate his soul.’

‘I hear it was mermaids,’ said his mate. ‘They sang to him and lured his mind away. There’s all kinds of terrible things in the New World, so they say.’

Now, as they stood awaiting orders, perplexed by the intense fog, those rumours resurfaced.

Trelawny heard every thought, and wished he could throw them all overboard. But these wretches were important for now. Fun would have to wait until they had served their purpose.

‘SILENCE!’ he demanded.

As soon as the vapour started to swirl round the ship, some of the men grew scared. Fisher, still unable to speak, began to tremble in terror. Trelawny despised them. They hadn’t experienced real fear, not yet.

‘You are to pick up cargo from a nearby island,’ he told them. ‘From there, you will protect that cargo on its journey north, to the coast of New England …’

‘At last!’ shouted one of them. ‘We tire of doing nothing, sir!’

‘Patience,’ Trelawny advised. ‘Soon you will beg for boredom and inaction.’

The fog began to pour over the sides of the ship. It snaked downwards, before swirling round the crew.

‘You will defend the cargo with your lives,’ he continued. ‘No matter who attacks us – pirates, enemy nations, even our own British navy!’

‘That’s treason!’ yelled some of the braver men. ‘We won’t fight against our own!’

Heads began to shake, and expressions turned to bewilderment and anger.

‘You do not question me!’ Trelawny replied, quivering with anger. ‘You are not of my standing, wretch! Follow my orders or you will face my wrath!’

‘NO!’ cried those crewmen who could still speak.

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