A Pirate's Curse (Legends of the Soaring Phoenix) Read Online Free PDF Page A

of this mess, but she had failed last night to save her crew. ’Twas her fault everybody died. Why would today be any different?
    She slumped onto the hard oak floor. The sole lantern in the room dimly lit the corridor and black shadows flickered on the wall like bats. Looming, twirling, menacing.
    She frowned and huddled her knees against her chest . She leaned her head back against the wall.
    Not real. Not real. Not real.
    Footsteps shuffled down the hallway. A large billowy shadow drifted along the wall. Fear shot through her and pooled at the bottom of her toes. She jumped to her feet, rushed to her father and dug her fingers into his shoulders. She shook him.
    Not doing this alone.
    He r father snorted and spit flew into her mouth. She gagged and slapped him across the face. “Father, wake up!”
    H e groaned, his eyes fluttered, but remained closed. “Father, please wake up.”
    She leaned over and whispered into his ear. “We’re aboard a pirate ship, get up. Someone’s coming to take us to the captain.”
    But her father didn ’t answer. A red stain spread over behind his head. “You’re bleeding.”
    “Who’s bleeding?”
    Hannah jerked her head up. “My father. He needs help. Do you have a doctor on board?”
    “Aye,” Cook said. “But the Capt’n wants a word with ye.”
    She tilted her chin. “The devil with the Captain. My father’s hurt. He needs help. The man called Doc, he’s a surgeon? Will you send him to my father?”
    Cook scowled. “You’ll have to take this matter up with the Capt’n himself.”
    “Then take me to him,” she demanded.
    “Aye, follow me,” Cook nodded. “You’ll have to ask the Capt’n himself, laddie. Capt’n don’t cotton to bossy cabin lads.”
    She scrambled to her feet and pushed her shoulders back. “Fine, lead the way.”
    Cook led them through a galley. His shoulders brushed against the entryway. Different sized copper pots and pans dangled from hooks nailed onto the wall. Latches locked the cabinets, keeping whatever was inside from crashing onto the floor from the shifting of the ship.
    Hannah wiped her bloody hand onto her dark breeches. She had to make the Captain listen. What if her father bled to death? What if the Captain didn’t care? Should she run through the ship and hunt for Doc?
    Cook motioned at two oak French doors. “Capt’n’s waiting. Open it.”
    The door creaked open. Her pounding heart sent blood rushing through her, thumping between her temples. This was it. She’d know her fate. Did her disguise work or fail?
    A soft glow lit the room. There were three long rectangle wooden tables, and ten chairs surrounded each table. The smell of oil and citrus infiltrated the air. The wood furniture and floor were clean and polished. She arched her eyebrow. Pirates and cleaning? Strange. Who’d be so meticulous in doing this? Did they have slaves?  
    Iron lanterns burned on either side of a painting of a gray castle on the riverbank with sleepy willow trees and lilac bushes growing along the water. She walked over to peer at the picture and noticed a poem written on a faded parcel in a splintered frame hanging next to the picture.
    May luck be our companion
    May friends stand by our side
    May history remind us all.
    Of Ireland’s faith and pride.
    May God bless us with joy
    May love and faith abide.
    Even stranger . What kinds of pirates have a poem hanging on the wall about love, faith, and joy?  
    In the far corner, something moved.
    Do n’t panic.
    Soft glimmer traced the figure of a man. Dark shadows masked his face and body. When he stepped out of the murkiness, light flickered in his emerald eyes under long dark eyelashes. He pierced her with a penetrating gaze. A thin white scar traveled down the man’s face from his left temple to his jaw bone. Without it, he would have been another pretty boy, like the ones who begged her to dance at the balls in London. Folding her arms across her chest, she swallowed. Did he suspect