From Princess to Pirate: Part Five

     No wonder why, she thought.

     “Why can’t we just rescue her now?” Polie asked. She was becoming antsy and Gingy had told her more than once that she had to relax and not get too overexcited. She tried to trust his judgment; he was part of the First Valiant Command after all. They were always the best Neopians loyal to Brightvale.

     Gingy sighed. “I explained this already, Princess. We must have patience.”

     The hours ticked on and Gingy explained to Polie the entire layout of the ship. He made her mesmerize the pathways and the secret storerooms like these. Gingy was going to create a distraction in the early hours of the morning, before the boat left port. While those awake were tending to his mishap, Polie was to rescue her mother and get off the ship as quickly as she could.

     “As long as you get to the deck, the Unis will see you. They are patrolling the harbor.”

     Polie nodded in understanding. They were three decks below the main deck and she knew that it would be hard making it through the twists and turns to the top. She yawned and rubbed her eyes tiredly. She was very sleepy.

     Gingy frowned at the young Princess. He knew he was putting a lot of pressure on her to rescue her mother, but he had orders to not compromise his position no matter what. Polie didn’t know how dangerous these pirates were and he didn’t want to frighten her.

     And he knew that the Unis would have no reason to search this vessel, nor the others in the harbor. They would wait for suspicious activities and when none occurred, they would have to let them leave the port and venture off to do their other biddings.

     Gingy was going to try his best to get Polie off the ship before that happened.

     * * *

     “Polie, it’s time to wake up.”

     Polie heard the nicer Gingy’s voice as she slowly stirred awake. She had been dreaming of her mother, her smiling face and her kind eyes. Polie really wanted to show her mother the painting she had done and it was that that helped fueled her to wake much more quickly than she may have done had she been back at the castle.

     She sat up and her stomach rumbled. Gingy handed her a biscuit and she chewed on it nervously. The young Kau went over all of the information in her head, but she was still nervous about what she was going to do.

     “Just remember the plan,” Gingy reminded her. He stood and Polie noticed he had changed from the night before. He must have returned to his quarters while she was sleeping in the storage room and changed, as well as taken some of the food from the crates she had passed on the way. Polie nodded in reply to the Kougra and he grinned at her.

     He put on his pirate voice and slouched his shoulders some. “Well, Princess, you better get to the kitchen. We are hungry.”

     Polie shook her head and suppressed a giggle as Gingy winked at her. He slipped out of the storage room and she knew that he was going to make his diversion. Polie sat and counted, just like Gingy had told her to.

     When she reached three hundred she slipped out of the storage room and made her way through the lowest deck of the ship. It was a lot easier than she had originally thought. The halls were relatively empty and every once in a while she saw someone pass her by, but they took no notice to the young Kau walking through the halls.

     She edged closer to the storage room in which her mother was being kept. Two guards sat outside the door, a yellow Techo and an orange Yurble. Gingy came running in a panicked state to the orange Yurble.

     “Lippy, there’s been a spill of potion on the second deck; it’s leaking into the crew quarters and turning everything to liquid!”

     Lippy straightened up in his seat and his eyes went wide. “My quarters are on the second deck!” He got up quickly and made haste in the direction that Gingy had come from. That left the yellow Techo guarding the door. Polie glanced up and down the hall to make sure the coast was clear.

     She started walking, sneezing and coughing loudly. The Techo turned his eyes to her and made a face of utter disgust. Polie made a point of sneezing without a tissue.

     “What do you think you’re doing? You’re getting germs all over the place!”

     She sniffled loudly and turned to the Techo. “I can’t... help...” Polie mock-sneezed again, right at the Techo. “...it.”

     He made a face, disgusted with the germs that Polie was spreading. “I have to go wash my hands. Guard this door. Do not let anyone in!”

     Polie sniffled and nodded her head. She opened her mouth and breathed in as if she was going to sneeze again, but the Techo ran off before she could. Polie breathed easy as she clasped her mouth shut and turned towards the door. Polie pressed her ear up against it, but she couldn’t hear anything through the wood.

     She knocked lightly on the door and heard nothing. Polie frowned and tried the knob, but it was locked. She didn’t want to talk loudly, but she knew she would have to get inside somehow. There was a padlock on the door that she hadn’t noticed. The Techo must have taken the keys with him.

     Polie kicked at the door and yelped as she felt the pain in her toe. She hopped around on it for a couple of minutes before the slight inconvenience faded away. Gingy had only guaranteed her so much time. And she was running out of it.

     Glancing around the room, Polie noticed an upturned pail in the corner. There was also a large block of wood. She skipped over to the wood and picked it up. It seemed heavy enough. Polie hurried back over to the door and swung the large block down hard. It scratched the padlock, but didn’t help. She swung it again, just hearing the dull clank of wood against metal.

     Polie dropped the wooden block and moved for the bucket. It was made of a metallic material that was foreign to Polie. All that the young Kau knew was that the bucket was hard; hard enough to hit the padlock and crack it open with.

     She rose the bucket high up over her head and little droplets of water dripped down on her. Shaking them off, she swung the bucket down hard against the metallic padlock. The bucket dented slightly as it hit the hard metal, but the lock had slight damage as well.

     Polie raised the bucket up for a second time and swung it down with more force. Her heart was racing as she watched the lock slowly start to break apart. She hit it again and again as sweat started to form on her brow. She was exhausted by the time the lock fell to the floor, but she couldn’t feel it.

     All she could feel was accomplishment. She smiled broadly as she swung the door open. Her eyes glanced around the room: her mother was sitting at the edge of a long cot, anxiously awaiting the person pounding at the door. Upon seeing her daughter, the purple Eyrie ran forward and hugged her daughter.

     “Poliana, what are you doing here?”

     “I came to rescue you!” Polie explained, her words coming out very quickly. “We have to hurry. Gingy’s distraction won’t last for long.”

     “Gingy?” her mother asked, raising an eyebrow. “That not very nice Kougra?”

     Polie stifled a giggle as she grabbed her mother’s hand. “He really is nice.” Polie peeked her head out the door to make sure that no one was coming. She ran over the layout of the ship in her mind again, taking a right turn as they left the storage room in which her mother was being held.

     “I can’t believe you are here, Polie. You shouldn’t have come,” her mother whispered as the two skulked through the lower part of the ship. Polie ignored her mother’s comment; she realized the night before that she was in way over her head. But she had come this far and she wasn’t about to give up when she was so close to rescuing her mother.

     Polie led her mother through the lower level. Occasionally, the two would see a passing pirate and would have to hide in empty storage closets. Polie and her mother picked up food along the way and nibbled on it, if only so they would have something to do other than worry.

     They made it up through the lower decks with relative ease. When they reached the crew quarters deck, Polie found her memory of the ship dwindling. She closed her eyes as they hid around a corner and tried to picture the map that Gingy had drawn for her of each deck.

     “I think we have to go this way.” Polie pointed. They could hear the hum of voices nearby, but it was impossible to tell in which direction that it was coming from. Polie knew that she should follow her gut instinct. Her gut instinct told her to go left.

     Her mother had nothing to do but follow her daughter: for better or for worse.

To be continued...