Sebastian Darke: Prince of Pirates by Philip Caveney Read Free Book Online Page A

over his mouth. Even the ordeal he had just endured hadn't cured him of his instinctive need to defend her. 'Sorry, but . . . well, you're not being fair.'
     
'Fair?' cried Cornelius. 'Not fair? Let me see now: first they put you under an enchantment. Then they try to steal our treasure map. Then they turn into bloody great panthers and try to kill us—'
     
'Yes, but it was Adam who did all the bad stuff. Leonora probably did her best to talk him out of it.'
     
'Oh yes? And who do you suppose found out about our mission in the first place? Who was it who sent Adam out to collect us and bring us back to the cave?'
     
Sebastian looked at him blankly. 'But . . . she just wanted to help us, didn't she?'
     
Cornelius made a gesture of exasperation. 'Come on, let's just leave. The sooner we're out of this infernal forest, the better.'
     
'Hang on a moment!' complained Max. 'I've got great big claw marks on my bottom, my lungs are about to burst, my legs are aching and you two won't give me any time to rest!'
     
Cornelius shrugged. 'Take as long as you like,' he said. 'But I should perhaps mention that Leonora is still out there: she can still change into a ravening beast and she blames us for the death of her brother.'
     
Max frowned. He considered for a moment, then shrugged his massive shoulders. 'Perhaps I'll have a rest later,' he said.
     
And without further argument he set off along the track.
     

C HAPTER 7

     

A FOLLOWER
After the excitement of the morning, the rest of the day's journey was mercifully uneventful. The well-travelled track led onwards across rolling stretches of moor, rising occasionally to ridges and falling down again into shallow valleys. Occasionally large flocks of black birds traversed the unbroken blue vista of sky but otherwise they saw no signs of life.
     
'Would somebody mind telling me what actually happened back there?' asked Max eventually.
     
Cornelius glared at him. 'Which bit did you not understand?' he growled. 'We stayed the night with a pair of shape-shifters, one of them put an enchantment on Sebastian, and then they turned into panthers and we killed one of them. Simple really. Oh yes – and the female one put a curse on us. Mustn't forget that bit. Not that I believe in any such mumbo-jumbo.'
     
'Well, I hope you're right,' said Max. 'We've had enough bad luck on this trip; a curse would be the last straw. Shape-shifters, you say! Mind you, I can't say I'm surprised. I knew there was something funny about that Adam the minute I saw him. His eyes were too close together.'
     
'Hmm . . . funny you didn't mention it at the time,' muttered Sebastian.
     
'Well, I could hardly say anything with him standing there, could I? I could hardly say, "Ooer, look at him, don't you think his eyes are too close together?" That would have gone down very well, wouldn't it? But I knew he was a wrong 'un. And as for Leonora . . . well!' He rolled his eyes. 'You wouldn't want to trust her any further than you could butt her.' He glanced slyly at Sebastian who, for the moment at least, wasn't going to be drawn on the subject.
     
They moved on in silence for a while and then Max lifted his head, looked around and made a big show of sniffing the air.
     
'You know, this landscape is beginning to look vaguely familiar,' he said. 'We can't be all that far from the Darke homestead. Maybe we should make a little detour – drop by and see if your mother's all right. We could spend a night or two resting up before we continued on our—'
     
'Mother will be fine,' Sebastian assured him. 'She'll have received those gold crowns by now, so she'll be living in the lap of luxury.'
     
'Yes, well, I wouldn't mind experiencing a bit of that myself,' said Max wistfully. 'There've been very few luxuries on this trip. When I think of that lovely warm stall in the stables of Keladon—'
     
'What's the matter, shaggy?' asked Cornelius. 'Getting too old to rough it, are we?'
     
'It's nothing to do with age! It