Chapter 29
Liza woke the next morning with light streaming in from the large
windows, flooding the room with a bright Caribbean sun. There was a soft knock
o the door and Adi came in.
“Bonjour! Good Morning!” She said.
Liza sat upright, groggy.
“Did you sleep well?”
“Yesh.” Liza yawned. She climbed out of the large bed. “Did we take Henri’s
bedroom?”
“No mater, he prefers to sleep on deck anyway.” Adi said as she gently
shook Mary awake.
“Mary wake up, this is Adi I was telling you about. She woke up last
night for a bit. I made her drink more of the juice you left.”
“Good, good. My name is Adi, how are you now Mary?”
Better, I suppose. But sore. And the worst headache…”
“Here, drink some of this. It is ok, just lemon and water. You stay here
and rest. Liza, when you are ready please come up to the deck.”
“I am ready, just let me get a jacket…”
Adi gave Liza a once over but did not say anything. Liza found a small
mirror on the large table in the middle of the room and picked it up.
“Ok, ok, maybe I could get my hair together first,” She laughed.
Moments later Liza was standing on the deck, blinking in the bright
sunlight. She fairly ran to see Will, Moto, the Colonel and her grandfather.
“You seem well enough” she said to Will as they stood under the watchful
eyes of a group of pirates. “If not a little ruffled.”
Will snorted. “You need a mirror lassie!”
“What?” Liza said, feigning insult.
Just then the tall figure of Henri appeared over the balcony of the
tower. He gave a small wave but did not smile. He just pointed behind them.
Liza and the rest turned around to see three more large ships floating towards
them.
“Plus famille!” He shouted.
The three new ships were not as large or as grandly decorated as the one
they were on, but they were still sizable ships and all in the same mid-18th
century style as theirs. From a small mas ton the bow of each flew a flag that
Liza guessed must be the family crest- it was a white flag with a large green
stripe, in the center was the figure of a large lion with a small man trapped
under its claws.
They watched as the lead ship came up alongside of theirs and men on
board the other ship threw over several large ropes to the waiting crew on
their ship. Quickly the two crews tied the ships together and set up a set of
steps leading from one ship to the other. Then a small group of both men and
women crossed from the other ship to the one Liza and the others were on.
The group was led by a tall, very good looking young man that Liza
quickly figured out had to be related to Henri in some way. Henri had come down from the tower and walked
over to tightly embrace the young man.
“Mon Fils!” Henri said, proudly as
he guided his son over to the group.
“Hello and good morning to you all!” the young man said in a rich deep voice.
“I am John Boukman, son of General Henri Boukman. I received word last night
that you were my father’s guests and decided to come as soon as I could.”
“You do not have an accent!” Liza said, immediately regretted her exclamation.
John smiled.
“You, however do. So it is true that you are Englishmen? Or should I say
just English?”
“Oh yes, sorry.” Liza said. “Where are my manners. I am Liza Pankhurst…”
She in turn introduced the rest of the group. “I apologize for the remark about
your accent, but really, your English is excellent.”
“Thank you. In the interest of furthering my education father sent me to
an American school in Cuba for the past several years.”
“Really?”
“You seem surprised. True, we do like to spend most of our time above the
clouds, but that does not mean we are disconnected from the world below. Now,
tell me Ms. Pankhurst-“
“Liza, please.”
“Liza, I was told there were two beautiful young ladies, but I only see
you.”
Liza smiled and gave a short laugh. “Mary you mean, she is below,
recovering from an earlier… encounter.”
“You were in Havana?” Will asked. Liza shot him a look but he ignored it.
“Yes I was there.”
“How is it? I hear it suffered some damage in the war…”
“Not much, be assured. It is still a jewel of the Caribbean. You have
been there?”
“Yes, when we, I mean, myself and others not here, were exploring the
skies around here. We were stationed out of Havana, before the war.”
John stood there for a moment and then smiled. “You are not telling me
that you are that Cogsworth? I recall
the papers… Well, no wonder father did not know whohe had, he never reads the
papers! It is an honor Mr. Cogsworth!”
John eagerly shook Will’s hand for would not let go.
“Will, if you please..”
“Will, yes I recall reading about the unfortunate accident in the papers.
I and others here suspected there was more than what the papers told us, am I
correct?”
“Well, it is a long story.”
“I knew it!” John turned to his father and in a long burst of French told
him what he knew. Henri looked surprised and then walked over and shook Will’s
hand.
“Father says you must tell us what you saw.”
“Well, not much, but I am guessing I landed on the Dyab city… unless
there are more people up here yet?”
John’s face went serious. “Yes, if you did not see our ships you will
have seen those of the beast. Come now, let’s not dwell on that for now, later
you can tell us. Now, I have brought up some very good mango from the lands
beneath us. Let’s have breakfast!”
John and Henri led the group across the deck to where several baskets of fruit
had been set up. There were also baskets of rolls and two large urns.
“Coffee. Not that junk from the Dominican Republic, this is Cuba’s
finest.” John explained to Liza as he poured her a cup. “Father finds it too
much, he prefers Haitian coffee.”
“I hear Cuban coffee is very strong, is that why he does not like it?”
Liza said, eying the cup of steaming liquid suspiciously.
John laughed. “No, he says it is too weak! Here, try the mangos…”
Liza looked up. A bell began to ring, loudly and quickly.
“What-“
“Get below, all of you!” John told them. He began to shout in French as
everyone on board began to scramble around.
“John, what is it?” Liza asked, trying to keep up with him as he strode
across the deck.
“Get below please Liza, and take the others with you. We are under
attack, most unusual.”
“Attack, from who?”
“The Dyab of course. No worries, our guns will take care of them, it is
our advantage.”
Just then a loud report echoed across the sky, then another. John looked
wildly around. He was shouting again. Then he turned back to Liza.
“Go! Now. I do not understand!”
“What!” She yelled as he ran to cross back to his ship.
“Somehow, they have guns now!”
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