The Longest Halloween, Book Two. Frank Wood
The Longest Halloween, Book Two
The Hunt for the Forever Kingdom Amulet
Frank Wood
Copyright © 2013 Frank Wood
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2013-07-13
Dedication
To J-squared, where I found Jasper’s adventurous spirit and incessant curiosity and to Toni, who always discovers the best recipes this side of the Spanish Main.
Acknowledgments
Thanks again to Melody Culver who kept an unruly and active litany of characters at bay and true to themselves.
Prologue: Pieces in Play
Halloween: King Leonidas’s palace grounds, Portugal, at the close of the nineteenth century
Leonidas strode through the ruined palace doors. It was hard enough to see his kingdom in smoldering ruins but to also see his palace gutted and desecrated … it was almost too much for him. He could feel the mounting tension in his ten sons, who followed him into the palace, talking of vengeance and restitution for this grave insult. Leonidas focused on the women and children who had been left behind to stand up against this plunder.
His first stop was the anteroom where his oldest grandchild was recovering from wounds sustained in the battle with the interlopers. “Grandpapa,” he called from the bed amidst his worried attendants, “I fought bravely against the pirates.”
“There’s my little warrior,” Leonidas said, his eyes filling as he gently stroked his ailing grandson’s dark locks of hair. “Never will I be worried to leave my kingdom in such small but capable hands.”
“He got away with Tia, though,” the boy said.
“You don’t worry about Tia,” Leonidas assured, “we’ll see to her safety. You rest. Get your strength back, wolf.”
“Yes, Grandpapa.”
Leonidas rose from the bedside, more incensed than ever.
His sons clustered about him. “We must destroy this one, Papa,” one son seethed. “Say the word, we’ll amass our navy and chase him to the very gates of Sheol!”
“You stay with your son, mi hijo,” Leonidas ordered. “The pirate will not escape us.”
“Papa, he has our women and he has our treasure, the treasure of Venga Tu Reinu!”
“I know what he has, son,” Leonidas returned vociferously. “He will not escape!”
Elsewhere, Sebastian Silverbeard tended to the wounds he had received in the battle with the young prince, the prince who had dared to stand in the way of his ultimate plan to make off with the Forever Kingdom treasure. Above him on the deck, the boys had begun the merriment and the carousing. He glanced at the treasure chest, carefully stowed away with his traveling wares. He hadn’t had second thoughts about what he aimed to do until just now; and while the mateys would indeed hate him for it, it had to be done, nonetheless. They weren’t his native crew anyway, he didn’t owe them a thing; and in the end, it was always every pirate for himself.
“Take this to the boat,” he ordered his accomplice—the ship’s cook, Anderson.
“Cap’n!” a loud voice called from outside the cabin.
“Wot now?” Anderson asked.
“Just take that and go,” Silverbeard ordered. “Wait for my lead!”
Anderson disappeared with the bags that Silverbeard had shoved in his direction.
“Cap’n!” a voice called again. Jeremiah Needlander, his would-be first mate, flung the door open and lolled his long body against the doorframe.
“The boys ‘ave warmed the deck, won’ ye come and join us in splicin’ the mainbrace?”
“Aye, matey, I can think of nothing I’d desire more,” Silverbeard replied.
“She’s beautiful, ain’t she though?” Drunk, Needlander sloppily crashed to his knees before the ornate treasure box.
“That she be, matey.” Silverbeard forcibly removed his mate’s hand from stroking the treasure chest. “She’ll serve us for many a year to come.”
“Yes, she will at that,” Needlander agreed, hoisting to his feet. He threw all of his considerable weight about the captain’s thick neck. “Come an’ join us, Cap’n.”
“Aye, and bring up the lassies too!” Silverbeard said.
“Capital suggestion!” Needlander returned with a smile.
With his crew distracted by the lovely prisioners taken from Portugal, Sebastian Silverbeard saw his opportunity and took it. It didn’t take him long to complete the gathering up his wares, including the treasure chest, and load them into one of the lifeboats, aided by his loyal cook Anderson. By the time he and Anderson made contact with the waters below, the celebration was in high gear. It was no small thing for a captain to leave his ship, but Silverbeard had captured the ultimate treasure. All else was pittance.
“Farewell, me hearties,” he growled low as he heaved away from the ship, “fair winds and high seas to ye.”
Back in Portugal, Leonidas completed his ritual, one that he he didn’t perform as often as he would like. Rare was the time now when he tapped into his wizarding background, but current circumstances had forced his hand. With eyes deep in concentration and muscles of his face drawn taut, the king murmured an inscrutable incantation to enchant the purloined treasure chest. With the spell complete, though the pirate believed himself to be the victor, he would never be able to enjoy the spoils of his triumph. The chest would not open to him or to anyone, not for at least a century, far past the time of natural living. In the end, Leonidas would have the last laugh. The spell pronounced and the treasure chest sealed, Leonidas’s heart was a bit lighter as he emerged from his chambers. But such news greeted him next that would dispel any respite from the debacle.
“Sire, we tried to alert you, but you were predisposed,” one of his stewards spoke.
“What happened?” Leonidas asked.
“The princes,” the steward sighed, “all of them … they’ve taken our best galleons… . they’ve given chase to the pirates!”
“Fools!” Leonidas exploded. It was too late to do anything now. His sons had the advantage of a remarkable head start and would give swift pursuit to the pirate armada. Their high seas battle rocked the Atlantic Ocean; pirates and princes locked in conflict were a battle for the ages. Though the pirates had the strength of their victory, the princes not only had the furor of the wronged, but they also brought something else to the battle … the fury of the wolf. The pirates had contended without the knowledge that the sons of Leonidas were more than mere princes; they were werewolves, powerful and mighty, who could tear a man apart with their talons, jaws and fangs. And though the pirates eventually would fall in defeat to the lupine princes, the sons of Leonidas would come up empty handed in the quest for their father’s stolen treasure.
It was a cold night as the somber howls of werewolves cut the stillness of the now-peaceful, lapping water that had claimed all of Silverbeard’s mighty armada as her own … all but one small vessel whose crew had been wise enough to see that they were indeed up against a force they had underestimated.