The Pirate Girl

Chapter 12

"ALL HANDS TO DECK!"  bellowed the caption, and I dodged to avoid being crushed under the stampeding pirates.

I tried to keep under control as the captain shouted out orders to the crew members, his eyes darting around wildly.  Then those crazy eyes came into focus, right on me.

"You there," he ordered, his voice sharp.  "Come here."

I gulped and slowly walked over to where he was standing.  "Yes, Captain?"  I asked meekly.  "I have a special little job for you."

I gasped as he told me what I had to do.  "No....no, I can't do that!  I'll end up killing myself!"  I protested, trying to keep my voice strong, but wanting to break down in tears.  "Can't you find someone else to do it?"  I tried to reason, but he just shook his head regrettfully. 

 I caught a glimpse of sympathy in his eyes, but it quickly vanished, and he ordered sternly, "The longer you wait, the harder it will be for you, and we're going to make you do it, one way or the other.

I tried to swallow my fear, and I stepped up to the flimsy ladder that lead to the remains of the Bird's Nest.  For those people out there that have absalutly no idea what the Bird's Nest is, it's the round basket  at the top of the ship's mast, where the lookout watched for other ships.

Even I knew that if our ship didn't have one, we were all dead. 

I slowly started my horrible journey up the ladder.  With every step I took, the rope strained, and I silently prayed to every saint out there that I didn't way enough to make the rope rip.

"I knew I shouldn't have eaten all that clam soup at lunch."  I thought angrily, and gasped as the rope started to swing back and forth.

"Please, please please, only a few more steps."  I murmed to myself.  I was so close, if only I could-YES!  I grabbed the top of the Bird's nest, and swung myself up. 

Breathing a sigh of relief, I looked to see what damage had been done to the Bird's Nest.  I knew now why the Captain had insisted on sending me up.  The nest wasn't really that sturdy to begin with, but now it felt like I was standing on paper.  If one of the pirates had done this, it would have crumbled to bits under their weight.

As I looked closer,  I saw that the damage hadn't been so bad after all.  It was mainly the outside of it that had been damaged, and it wasn't nearly as bad as we had thought.

I fixed it up as good as I could, then reached for the ladder, so I could finally go back down.  I smiled to myself, and realized that it hadn't been so bad after all, I had been all scared for nothing.  Then I heard a tearing sound.

A scream was ripped out of my throat, and I looked down in horror at what I had done.  While I had been self congradulating myself, I wasn't paying attention, and I had broke the ladder.  I held that tiny piece of rope that was still in my hand, and looked down, scared of what I would see.

My worse fears had come true.  The rest of the ladder lay crumbled on the deck, a hundred feet below me.

The crew was going crazy down below, trying to figure out how to get me down.  To my astonishment,  Gale walked out of the big mass of paniked pirates, and swaggered his way all the way over to the mast of the ship, which was holding the Bird's Nest up.

"What's he planning on doing?"  I wondered.  He wrapped his hands around the large pole, and did what I least expected.  He shimmied right up, like he had been doing it his whole life!

I clapped my hands in joy, and screamed, "Thank you!  Thank you!"  over and over.  I was going to live!  This was the second time Gale had saved me this week, and I had to say, someone could get used to this kind of treatment!

He finally reached me, and he threw his arms around me.  His hug was warm, and it made me feel safe, and that meant a lot, seeing as we were swaying back and forth in a tiny basket in the middle of a deadly thunder storm, a hundred feet off the ground.  "Miss me?"  he teased, a little to cocky.

It finally hit me-Gale had climbed all the way up here like an expert, doing what I had thought was impossible.  Now that he was up here, how the heck was I getting down!?!?!?!?

Gale seemed to be thinking the same thing.  Finally, he annouced "Get on my back."  "What?"  I spluttered in rage.  No way was I getting on his back, especially not now!  What if he dropped me?

"Just do it." he said, his voice softer now.  Carefully, I climbed onto his back, and he started down the pole.

We're gonna make it!  We were so close, about twenty feet away. 

Out of nowhere, a large bolt of lightning came out of the sky, striking the air about three feet away from us. 

 Gale gasped in surprise, and down we went.  "Lilo!"  he hollered as we fell, "I'm so sorry!" 

 I hit the deck, and somehow, I had managed to land on feet, before falling back onto my butt.  I checked myself, and.... no broken bones, as far as I could tell.  I shakily got up, a victory smile on my face.

  After everything, I was still okay!  I hobbled over to Gale, grinnng.  "Thanks alot!  Last time I'm ever letting you give me a piggy back ride!"  I joked, and looked down at him. 

My whole body stiffened, and I looked down in disbelief.

Gale wasn't moving, not at all.

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Sooooo.... will Gale live???

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