 
Pirates Vs Fairies

2nd Edition Published by Xax Studios 2013

© Zac Thraves 2011

Smashwords Edition

Please respect the copyright of the author. All characters and situations are the property of the author and cannot be copied in any form without the correct permissions.

For Alicia & Lucas

If you look out of your window you will see a very special tree; I know you will because I know that what you see from your eyes is very special indeed.

I would like to ask you to go to your window, open the curtains and try to see if you can spot this unique and wonderful old hunk of trunk but chances are you are in bed, tucked up, warm and safe from all of life's little monsters. It's also very likely that it is dark outside; which is lovely, because if you were allowed to go and see this tree then you will see a sprinkle of dazzling twinkling lights. But you can't, you are in bed reading this story, so you'll just have to believe me that this tree lives outside your house, and that it is magical.

I say magical, but not in a way you might think; it can't make a handkerchief disappear or pull a rabbit out of a top-hat, I'm not sure of any trees that can do that; no, it is magical because inside its hollow floats a world unlike yours or mine; a world of fantastic heroes; frantic villains and fruitful adventures; a world where anything can happen and usually does.

So open your mind, sift through the wonder of your imagination and I'm sure you'll see and believe.

# Uneasy peace has fallen across the world.

# After years of fighting between fairies, pirates and dinosaurs, a curtain has fallen over the eternal war and each race has limped away to lick its wounds.

#

# Now, under the terrible rule of Fairy King Tobias a new rebellion has occurred. The queen has fled her husband, taking with her a band of fairies who share her same belief: that everyone can live in peace together.

# But her son and the young heir to the throne has suddenly gone missing.

#

# Capden Den, pirate and rogue, hearing the news of this and needing to pay his debts to his arch-rival Dodgy Dave, goes in search of the fairy prince in order to collect the King's reward and free his crew from the debt that has befallen them...

# The beginning

Bang! The heavy iron door to the cellar of the fairy palace slammed shut. The young fairy prince pulled his hand away just in time as the gap between door and wall almost caught his fingers.

He looked out at the empty street ahead of him, imagining his father's people all sleeping soundly in their beds. Above him, the moon cast a soft glow onto the cobbled road that led out of the kingdom.

The prince breathed in deeply, taking in the cold air of the night. His heart thumped angrily in his chest and he shook with nervousness, but there was no way now he was going back. His mother had fled and now all he could think of was getting to her. The king, her husband, was not his real father, and he felt no love towards the man whom he would eventually succeed to become king. But this fairy prince, even at the tiny fairy age of twelve, had far better ideas about how to treat others than his step-father would ever have.

The prince wiped a line of sweat from his forehead and gripped at his wand, a small beam of light appeared from the end of the glittering silver tip and he used the light to tread carefully out of the lumpy grassy bank and into the road. He took one final glance at the giant fairy palace that hung over him, silhouetted in the moonlight, casting a monstrous shadow over his face; then he grinned and ran as fast as he could away from the kingdom and away to the port.

As the sun rose over the rotting rooftops of Pirate Bay, Capden Den, dashing pirate captain of the Anna Stesia, found himself once again in a duel to the death. In front of him, a pirate (he couldn't remember his name, Capden Den was terrible at names) was accusing the captain of trying to steal his bride-to-be. Unfortunately, he was trying to make his point by stabbing at the captain with his cutlass instead of talking it through.

Capden Den brushed aside each attack easily with his sword, all the time trying to get to the bottom of the matter.

"Look, we can talk about this." The captain pleaded.

The angry pirate sneered with manic eyes and black spit foamed around his gnarling teeth.

"I loved her and you took her!" he screamed.

"I didn't take anyone!" Capden Den yelled. "I don't even know who you are!"

This seemed to rile the little pirate even more. He swung aimlessly at the captain, using all his might to put some power behind his sword. But the captain blocked each attack without breaking into a sweat.

"Ok. Tell me, what's your wife's name?"

"She's not my wife!" screamed the little pirate.

"Then what's your problem?"

As they fought, a young pirate on a wooden bicycle rushed past dropping a newspaper between the duelling pirates. This stopped them momentarily and Capden Den glanced down to read the headline. Then he gasped.

He held up his hand to indicate to the little pirate to stop attacking him for a second, then bent down to gather the newspaper up. He flicked it open and took in the front page.

"Fairy prince missing. Huge reward for his return."

Capden Den whistled.

"What about me!" The little pirate roared to Capden Den.

"Oh, yeah right." Capden Den smiled. He took his sword and with one swift flick of his wrist he swung at the pirate's trousers, sending them falling to floor, revealing dirty, brown underpants.

Capden Den looked at this little pirate pitifully.

"Perhaps that's why she won't marry you." He said then clapped the pirate on the back.

"You'll make a good pirate one day, but not today."

Then Capden Den turned away and started to walk purposefully towards the dock where his ship was waiting for him; leaving the little pirate standing with embarrassment in the middle of the square.

### Chapter One of...

Across the sea from Pirate Bay, underneath the dominating shadow of Grouch Mountain, the Fairy Kingdom was waking to another day.

The vast royal palace stood grandly at the centre, overseeing all of the houses, shops and libraries that bowed meekly before it. The palace had in its middle turret a window that resembled an eye, which seemed to move as the sun caught it throughout the day. The palace, together with its watching eye, was oppressive and angry; just like the ruling fairy that dwelt within the palace walls.

Fairy King Tobias was an evil fairy; small and full to the brim with anger. He bullied his subjects daily and anyone who complained was severely dealt with; over the years some had even had their magic abilities stripped from them as punishment.

Such was the sorry state of the fairy kingdom under the current rule of Fairy King Tobias. He ruled with an iron fist, which he clasped tightly around his iron wand and waved threateningly at anyone who dared to question him. No one ever did and no one, ever, ever, was allowed to leave the shadow cast by his wicked rule.

It was on this morning that the kingdom heard an almighty roar coming from the tower, a bellow that bounced around the walls of the narrow streets below. The roar was raging; painful; uncontrollable and it fell out of the thick, white beard of King Tobias. When he shouted, which was often; or laughed, which was seldom; his large white whiskers blew in the gale of his breath.

"Send for Falkirk!" Came the cry from his billowing whiskers and all the courtiers and servants within the palace rushed off, in the vain hope of being the first who could appease the king.

Wise Old Fairy Falkirk was nowhere to be seen. Being old he was of the opinion that no one or nothing was more important than him. He had seen kings and queens come and go, some good, some not so, some very special indeed.

So while Tobias yelled at his subjects day after day, Falkirk had decided to slip away unnoticed to his private space, a peaceful cave within the safety of Grouch Mountain. There he could look out at the ocean and watch pirate ships drift by; stare at the flying fish catching their birds for breakfast, or hear the gentle rumble that came from the dinosaurs on the Third Island of Solitude far over across the sea. He would sit on his mossy stone and stare at the beauty of this land; meditating, listening to the wind and watching the sun's soft elegance or the moon's creamy dull fantasy. He brooded on his life and disappeared into his perfect world of knowledge and peace.

However, his meditation was broken by the bitter anger he heard from the kingdom far below. Falkirk waited for, just as he thought, an hour after the last bark was heard; he could hear the faint beating of wings coming towards him. He knew from the wings ferocious and clumsy whip that it was Chancellor Osborne; the king's closest and most trusted ally.

"Fairy Falkirk?" Osborne panted as he neared the cross-legged figure of the wise fairy.

"Fairy Falkirk!" Osborne repeated, louder and with more purpose.

Falkirk slowly turned to look at the small squinting eyes of this wicked fairy and then put his finger over his lips and told him to "shshsh".

Osborne's narrow eyes filled with hatred and he was about to deliver some very hurtful words towards Falkirk before he remembered, that Falkirk had been sent for by the king and must be delivered in one piece.

Osborne set his feet to the ground and stood over the calm and seated figure of Falkirk, his wings beat impatiently as he paced behind the sedate fairy.

"The king requires your attention." Osborne spat.

Falkirk did not move but spoke dreamily as he continued to gaze out at the sea.

"I feel the sun within my soul, the moon within my heart and the dunes of..."

"Did you hear me Falkirk?" Osborne cut in.

"I feel the dunes of Hippo Lagoon," Falkirk continued. "And the wise old Hippos' tune."

"Old fairy, don't mock me," Osborne snapped. "The king demands..."

Suddenly Falkirk's wings whipped frantically and he leapt up onto his feet then bent forward, glaring at this tiny little fairy slave to the king.

"Demands!" he cried. "Demands, does he?"

"Yes!" Osborne reacted angrily and the opposing fairies met eye to eye.

Falkirk then began to laugh mockingly. "Oh Osborne, you are a slimy little worm, do you not see?"

"What, the sun and the moon and dunes and lagoons?"

"Oh no," continued Falkirk. "I know you can't see any of that. No, do you not see the power in asking rather than ordering?"

Osborne stood for a moment face to face with this awkwardly intelligent fairy.

"I do see Falkirk; I'm not a bad fairy." He sighed.

"No." Falkirk smiled as he calmly returned to his perch with its comfortable moss mat. "You are a power hungry pixie with too much authority and not enough concern for ordinary fairies. You're not bad Osborne, you're terrible."

"Fine!" Osborne cracked the air with his voice and spoke with sarcastic venom. "The king may have ordered your presence, but I'm asking you, pretty please, come with me."

Osborne breathed heavily as Falkirk got up again and nodded.

"Of course," Falkirk smiled with the satisfaction someone old gets when they teach the younger ones a lesson. "You only had to ask".

### Chapter Two of...

Captain Dennis, or Capden Den as everyone knew him, burped loudly into the warm night air. He winced as the grotesque smell that issued from his mouth wafted up his nose. He stood alone in the calming breeze, behind the wheel of his great pirate ship Anna Stesia, and sipped as he steered from a flagon of fizzy cola. With each slurping sip he burped and with each burp the sleeping crew on the deck stirred, before falling back into their deep midnight slumber.

Capden Den looked up at the full moon glowing in the night sky like a brilliant white hot air balloon. He took another sip, burped again and the sails of his ship opened up, as if the stale smell coming from within his tummy was guiding the ship somehow.

The heavy canvas sails billowed like plumped pillows in the wind. They shone a silvery white, wonderfully reflecting the stark light of the moon. The water caressed the sides of the large boat in the calm sea, tinkling as it sprayed over the thick wooden hull.

Capden Den preferred this time, for him being alone at the helm of his galleon made him feel at ease with himself; he would look out at the stars ahead of him and let his mind drift to wondering what was out there, where he could go, what he could find; the true life of a wandering pirate, while he contemplated and stroked his unkempt, salty beard that hung like a fox's tail from his chin.

The deck of the Anna Stesia was quiet; its crew fast asleep and snoring into the night.

Suddenly, far ahead of him, Capden Den saw a black silhouette in the dark blue of the sea; he took his spyglass that hung from his large tanned leather belt and, pulling it open, closed one eye to take a peek.

There, ahead of him, was a boat; a small rowing boat drifting aimlessly on the waves.

"Oh Blimey." Fairies!" Den burped excitedly as he instinctively steered the ship towards the tiny spot on the sea.

Capden Den rung the heavy brass bell next to him and his crew instantly began to wake.

"Come on men, we've found some fairies!" The captain roared.

Everyone's eyes flew open with fear and curiosity. Fairies could not be trusted and every pirate had heard the wicked tales of fairies doing horrible things to pirates in order to get information out of them. One of the worst stories was when the most feared pirate in history was captured by fairies and ordered to wash his hair in soap; his reputation was in tatters after that and he now sits alone, and painfully clean, in his galleon at the dry-dock.

Bosun Bill, Capden Den's trusted old friend, waddled up beside his captain rubbing his eyes awake.

"Is it him captain?" Bill asked, still hoarse from his disrupted sleep.

"Could be." Capden Den clapped. "But there's two of 'em."

"Bit easy wasn't it? We only found out this morning." Bill questioned.

"I know!" The captain laughed. "This is going to pay off Dodgy Dave and the Port Authority. Let's get 'em on board." He sneered hungrily.

Sheltered within this rowing boat, far across the ocean from the looming pirate galleon, slept a pair of fairies; entwined in each other's arms amongst the ropes that acted as a mattress. They slept peacefully, as the tide of the sea gently rocked their dreams.

A dark shadow fell across their blissful faces as the Anna Stesia towered over them and gently bumped wood to wood. The two boats met and kissed each other as if they were old friends reunited after a long time apart.

Shouts from way up on the deck of the galleon floated into the breeze but the two fairies did not wake. They remained motionless as their small boat was hoisted up out of the sea and brought down with a bump onto the deck of the Anna Stesia.

Within the privacy of his cabin, Capden Den lit an oil lamp and watched his two young passengers sleeping. It seemed none of the pirates could wake them. In the hour it had taken to lift their boat out of the water they had tried everything; even Capden Den singing, something that usually sent a shiver down the spine of his crew could not wake them. Nothing, it seemed, could prise them apart.

As they remained tied firmly together in each others arms, Capden Den ordered his men to leave, promising he wouldn't sing again but burped while he spoke, sending a whiff of stale breath towards his men and sending them away, clasping at their nostrils in disgust.

Capden Den paced around his room, fiddling nervously with the frilly and filthy neck of his stained shirt. He was impatient for answers; he wanted them to explain to him how they slept so soundly, because he certainly couldn't sleep as well as that; but most importantly, he wanted to know why these two regal looking fairies were floating on a boat deep within pirate territory.

### 

### Chapter Three of...

Capden Den sighed impatiently. He had been watching these two fairies sleep for at least two hours now and, as the black of night began to fade into the purple glow of the morning through his slatted windows, the captain was getting a little fed up.

Capden Den noisily went over to his desk and loudly tugged open a draw. Inside he found a paper bag; opening it with as much racket as possible he pulled out a nut and immediately put it into his mouth, crunching down noisily and chewing with his mouth open to give his actions more volume. Still the fairies slept.

Capden Den yawned, reached his arms up and issued a long cry from deep within his belly. He stretched out, his bones cracking as he did and breathed in so deeply that he fell into a raging fit of coughing that caused him to splutter. Finally he stopped and immediately stared at the two fairies; still they slept.

Yanking his desk draw open again he rummaged inside; pulling out gadgets and letting them drop onto the floor with a clatter. He banged the draw shut, then opened it again with such force that the whole draw fell out and landed on his toe with a thud. Capden Den yelped with pain and fell backwards onto a rack that held his swords together, sending them toppling. All Capden Den could do was stare wildly as all of the swords fell onto the hard wooden deck with an enormous clatter. As the swords collapsed so did the captain as he lost his balance and he fell onto his bottom, hitting his head on the wall of his ship. He screamed out in agony and then gazed at the two fairies; still they slept.

Capden Den sat where he was, defeated. As he reached over to the bag of nuts that lay on the floor next to him he let out a burp.

The stomach-churning stale smell flew into the air and drifted slowly over to the heavy breathing nostrils of the fairies. Suddenly they stirred, one eye opening after the other, and then they both shot bolt upright causing Capden Den to scream again in shock.

Capden Den hurried onto his feet.

"It's ok." He implored. "You're safe. You're in my boat, the Anna Stesia. It's a ship...pirate ship...it's mine...you're fairies...I'm a pirate and...can you understand me?"

The two fairies did not move; they sat rigid, watching this strange looking man behaving oddly in front of them.

Capden Den smiled and put up his hands as if in surrender. He spoke very slowly to the two fairies, in case they couldn't understand him very well.

"My name is Capden Den. I am captain of this vessel, mmm, do you understand that? It's a boat." The captain corrected and mimicked rowing a boat on water.

The male fairy laughed and copied Capden Den's actions.

"Yes, that's it!" Capden Den said excitedly.

"Anyway, you have a price on your head and because I'm a pirate I need to get the prize. So I'm taking you back to where you came from. The trouble is I'm not sure where that is, can you help?"

Capden Den spoke and his hands tried to communicate his words by acting as if he were looking for something far away.

The two fairies looked at each other and nodded in agreement. Then they both got up so suddenly that Capden Den shrank back in terror.

Then the male fairy walked towards Capden Den and took a piece of paper and a pen from the desk. As he touched the paper, it transformed from yellowed and aged parchment to brilliant white, sparkling new paper.

Capden Den watched, open-mouthed, as the fairy wrote a little message on the paper. He then folded it up and gave it to the startled captain.

Capden Den could not move; he held the paper in his sweaty grasp until he realised what it was he was meant to do.

"Should I read it?" He asked.

The fairies nodded slowly in agreement.

Capden Den nervously opened up the paper, expecting some evil fairy magic to force him backwards but nothing happened, all he could see ahead of him was a glow of words that made his face light up as if it were being covered by the morning sun.

### Chapter Four of...

Capden Den stood purposefully on the deck of the Anna Stesia with his shoulder-length hair shimmering in the morning sun. The fresh breeze flapped at his shirt and revealed a heroic glimpse of his sun-beaten chest. In his hand he had his obligatory flagon of cola and around him stood his crew of a dozen men; a motley and sorry looking bunch, some with teeth, some without; some with hair, some with none; some with beards, some with earrings; some with legs and some with stumps; all though with fierce and excited eyes that stared at their captain with amazement.

For they watched their skipper stand proudly on the deck with two fairies beside him; two fairies who had eaten, been looked after, had slept well (which most of the pirate crew found most upsetting) and were now wearing pirate clothes consisting of striped trousers, flowing un-tucked shirts and large boots. The clothes were far too big and hung like blankets from the two young fairies delicate frames. But they wore them as they had been told, and Capden Den was explaining to his men why.

Capden Den burped as he spoke and the men winced in preparation of his stale breath reaching their nostrils.

"Now men," he waved flamboyantly. "Here are two fairies, two stowaways, deserters, rebels, cast-offs, fairies. Two fairies, though not the one we're looking for, and men?"

He did not wait for a reply to his question.

"They need our help."

There was a murmur of disapproval from the crescent-shaped band of pirates around him. He raised his arm to quiet them down.

"I hear your disgrunt...disagruntle...dis...I hear your moans, but I won't listen to them. This is our time, imagine a world where a pirate can come and go as he pleases..."

Bosun Bill raised his hand and spoke.

"Isn't that what we do anyway Capden?"

Bill's words were followed with a chorus of laughter from the crew.

"Yes. No! Is it? Yes, it is, but imagine my band of bladders, a land where we could actually come and go without being worried about being caught."

The twelve men all looked at each other curiously, all thinking the same thing: had their captain gone mad, had he drunk too much cola or was he under the influence of an evil fairy spell?

Bosun Bill spoke up again. "Have you gone mad, or had too much cola, or are you under the influence of an evil fairy spell?"

There was another caterwaul of laughter as Bill echoed the men's thoughts exactly.

"No." Capden Den laughed nervously, before toppling backwards awkwardly as he took another gulp of cola.

"No my friends, I'm neither mad nor under the influence, I'm optimis...optical, hopeful for the future of our beloved sea."

"Then what is the plan?" Bosun Bill asked with a grin.

Capden Den chuckled with wicked delight, he clapped his hands together with excitement then coughed as the laugh got stuck in his throat; he stroked his small pointed beard and brushed cola from his lips with his sleeve, leaving a dark brown stain on his cuff.

"We're going to turn these two fairies into...pirates."

With that, all of the men laughed uproariously. The two fairies glanced worryingly to Capden Den who just looked calmly back at them and rolled his eyes with amusement.

"They're always like this, they're a funny bunch." He whispered to his two guests.

Capden Den took control of his crew, by stamping his boot loudly on the hard deck of the ship.

"Men!" he boomed. "I need your help, we'll turn these two into pirates and we need to take them to the Fairy Retreat on the far side of the Third Island of Solitude, there we will drop them off and peace will come to the fair world that we call...what do we call this world?"

The whole crew looked about and shrugged their shoulders; no one really knew where they were.

"Oh well," continued Capden Den, "this world that I call, marvellous. Bosun Bill, come with me. We need to give these two young things pirate training. The rest of you, set sail northwards towards the Third Isle..."

"Err, Capden?" one of the pirates spoke up.

"Yes, erm...mate." Den replied, trying to remember the pirate's name.

"We need supplies, we're out of gunpowder, there's no bread or crackers, Whiffy Will needs some perfume and my boot's got a hole in it."

"Blimey!" Capden Den put his hand to his head in disbelief. "Always out of bread, we never have bread. Did you use a slice for your boot?"

"Yes Capden."

"Good. Right, south it is to port, then north to...where did I say?"

Bosun Bill put his hand up to answer. "Third Isle."

"Third Isle it is!" Capden Den confirmed. "Come Bill, you need to teach our two pirate trainees. The rest of you, anchors away old chums!"

### Chapter Five of...

Capden Den lounged on the stolen, red velvet chaise longue in his cabin while Bosun Bill looked over the two castaway fairies; he examined them up and down in their oversized pirate clothes and tutted to himself as he checked them over.

"I can't make pirates out of these." He muttered.

Capden Den stretched an arm out to the floor, where his freshly poured flagon of cola sat in waiting and took a long and satisfying gulp.

"You did with me." He burped.

"But," sighed Bosun Bill. "You were already mad. These two are just utterly...well they have wings for goodness sake and pointy ears!"

"You can't see the wings under those shirts." Capden Den argued.

"You can see the ears though." Bill grumbled.

"Then we'll give them hats!" Capden Den suggested.

The two young fairies stood together in silence. The female fairy, visibly becoming more and more uncomfortable at the situation, nervously reached for the hand of the male fairy and gazed up at him for reassurance.

"Oh my, No!" Bill cried and waved his arms in the air with exasperation. "They're in love too!"

"What?" exclaimed Capden Den with a grin of excitement. "How very lovely," he continued. "How very lovely indeed, is that how you sleep so well?"

Capden Den's eyes sparkled with delight and he bared his yellowed teeth proudly at the two fairies. He instantly sat up and stared at them with wonder; not expecting an answer to his question as pirates and fairies had not spoken for years. Then he remembered who he was and acted like a pirate captain should, pretending to be relaxed and in control, when he actually wanted to jump up and down like a child at Christmas.

Just as he calmed himself down and stopped grinning, a tiny, tinkling sound came from the female fairy; it was a sweet tune, like a chime dancing in the wind or a small bell moving on a Christmas tree.

"We're in love." Came the beautiful noise that echoed around the stale air of the captains' quarters.

Capden Den froze and stared in amazement, first at the two stowaways, then at his right-hand man Bosun Bill.

"They spoke." Bill whispered as his eyes widened with shock.

"I know." Capden Den could hardly contain the wonder in his voice.

"But fairies never..." Bill couldn't believe his ears and couldn't finish his sentences.

"I know." Capden Den agreed.

Then the young male fairy stepped forward boldly and bowed gracefully to Capden Den.

"I thank you sir for helping us." He said in a voice just as beautiful and musical but with more bass to it. "You have been very kind to us and we feel it is only fair that we should treat you as our equals."

"Amazing!" Capden Den exclaimed as he slapped his thigh with his hand. "They spoke to us!"

"I know." Bill nodded as he giddily started to jump up and down on the spot.

The female fairy stepped forward to join her love and she tightened her grip around his hand.

"We have escaped from the fairy kingdom with the help of Wise Old Fairy Falkirk, we need to get to Queen Loukatos and we need to find my step-brother."

"The queen?" Capden Den whistled. "The queen who, so the story goes, upped and abandoned the king to form her own band of do-gooding fairy...people?"

"Yes." The fairy's voice sprinkled into the air. "I'm her daughter, Princess Caldora and this is the son of my mother's cousin, Prince Purplerain."

The young fairy prince bowed again as he was introduced to the two pirates, who both remained perfectly still, eyes wide and mouths opened so wide that dribble was dripping down the tips of their lips.

Then, with sudden purpose, Capden Den shook his head and broke himself away from the beautiful spell that the fairies had unknowingly put them under; he sprang out of his chaise longue athletically and knocked over his cup of cola in the process.

"Oh blimey!" he cursed at the fallen cup as it emptied its contents of brown, fizzy liquid all over his hand-made, priceless (and stolen) rug.

"I need a cloth Bill." He snapped.

But before Bosun Bill could move, Prince Purplerain waved his fingers in front of him and then something magical happened.

A small ball of light appeared from where his fingers danced and, from that ball, tiny stars flew out and gathered together in a glorious sphere. Prince Purplerain blew the stars across the room towards the spill on the rug and in just a few seconds, before two wide-eyed pirates, the mess of brown liquid gently faded before disappearing altogether.

Once the mess had gone, the stars flickered around the fallen flagon and tipped it back upright, re-filling the cup with more liquid. The flagon lifted into the air and floated across the room toward Capden Den's outstretched hand.

"Wow!" Capden Den laughed before looking at the contents of his flagon. He gently put the cup to his lips and took a sip. "Doesn't taste like my usual tipple though." He questioned.

The prince smiled as the ball of light returned to the palm of his hands and softly disappeared back into his fingertips.

"I don't know what it is that you drink." The prince replied softly and with music.

Bosun Bill collapsed onto the floor, his legs falling away in disbelief as if they were made of jelly; the other three instantly turned around to the heap of noisy pirate on the floor.

Capden Den laughed. "Oh Bill, you are such a wet sponge. Do you know what all this means, do you?"

Bill gingerly got himself up and shakily stood to attention, trying to restore some dignity in front of the two royal fairies.

Capden Den leaned forward with mad eyes, looking at all three of them, wanting an answer to what he had just said.

"Well?" He nodded, as if he were giving them permission to speak. "Anyone want to speak?" he continued.

"Anyone know what all of this means?" He repeated.

Bill, Prince Purplerain and Princess Caldora all looked at each other with confusion and shrugged their shoulders.

"No?" gasped Capden Den. "I don't believe it, none of you know what this means?"

Bill, sweeping dust from his trousers, could only whisper. "No."

"Oh for goodness sake!" Capden Den wailed. "What about you two, you're royal, that means you're clever right?"

The princess gazed with puzzlement at the captain. "I'm not sure what it means, no." she tinkled.

"Well that is just perfect!" sighed Capden Den. "That is just brilliant, here we are again, leaving it all up to me to find the answers."

Capden Den paused as thoughts raced through his mind.

"Well, I have no idea either, but it must be something good." Capden Den leaned into the two fairies and grinned mischievously, breathing his drink all over them.

"Now then girls and boys," he continued before they could wince at his stale breath. "Pirate training, step one, the talk."

### 

### Chapter Six of...

Fairy Falkirk's' heavy, leather-booted footsteps boomed about the large marble entrance hall of the Fairy Palace. Unlike most fairies he liked to walk, rather than fly with his silken wings. Being old and wise Falkirk knew that he had six limbs all of equal use and liked to use them equally. In truth his wings were actually getting quite fragile through age and he had decided of his own accord to rest them when he could and let his legs, still young from little use, do most of the travelling. But he would never admit this to any other fairy.

Osborne flew busily beside him, soaking in the attention from his fellow fairies at having found Falkirk and getting him to come before the king. To Osborne those looks were of admiration, in reality they were looks of bitter jealousy.

Osborne reached the large wooden door to the king's throne room and knocked loudly.

"Enter!" Boomed the king's voice from behind the door.

Osborne breathed in deeply and then pushed the heavy frame open.

The king sat on his throne with his large overhanging belly protruding from his tunic and resting on his knees.

As Osborne floated in, followed by the walking Falkirk, the king suddenly got excited; he clapped with delight and a smile could be seen through his long facial hair.

"Falkirk." He gruffed. "Come in old friend, please come in."

Falkirk slowly walked up to face the king and bowed down low, his nose almost touching the cold, hard floor.

"Your majesty." Falkirk said graciously before raising an eyebrow, "Putting on a bit of weight aren't we?" He said mischievously.

The king stared quizzically at this wise old fairy and there was silence for a second until the king laughed, though it sounded more like a dog barking.

"Yes." The king agreed. "How very insightful of you."

"Thank you sire." Falkirk bowed again. "What can I help you with?"

King Tobias glanced at the fairies doting around him and his eyes darted towards the open entrance. They took it as their order to leave and hurried out, closing the door behind them. Only Osborne remained, quietly observing.

Finally happy that they were alone, the king's wings flapped and he drifted up out of his throne to stand opposite Falkirk.

"I have a problem." The king said.

Falkirk looked hesitantly at his king, thinking he knew what he had been summoned for, though he was not going to admit anything to such a despicable king as Tobias.

"I have heard rumour," the king said. "That there has been some kind of development at my wife's retreat in the north glades. Have you heard or seen anything?"

Falkirk stared hard at the king, surprised that the king, a father, had not mentioned his daughter first. Being careful that his mad eyes and quizzical eyebrows did not give anything away, Falkirk paused and nodded graciously.

"What is it that I'm supposed to know?" Falkirk answered the question with a question, which is always a good way of getting out of trouble.

"I've heard that Fairy Otto Mobil has invented a fantastic machine and that he is going to use it to lure all the fairies from our fairy village away from under my nose. I want to know if you know anything about this?"

Falkirk stroked his bare-chin as he searched through the large files of knowledge he kept within his head for an answer. In fact, he knew nothing, but being old he was going to pretend that he knew everything and was always right.

"I've heard of something your majesty." Falkirk lied.

"And what have you heard?"

Falkirk stroked his chin again, and then brushed through his wise old white hair with his fingers. Then it struck him, it came from out of nowhere but the thought was so clear that it could only have come from the wind. He spoke without thinking.

"I've heard of a magical new galleon, based on a pirate's model of a ship, that does not only travel on the seas but also, through the use of some sort of powered forward wheel action, can travel on land. It has already been tested on the salty plains towards Hippo Lagoon and been successful, with a speed of three hundred wing beats per minute."

Osborne choked on something and the king glared at him.

"If you can't stand the heat Osborne, stay out of the throne room." The king roared.

"That should be kitchen, your majesty." Falkirk corrected the king with a paternal smile.

"I know," the king agreed, "but I liked the play on words and that we're in the throne room at the moment."

"Perfect your majesty." Falkirk lied.

Osborne put his hand up to apologise and remained silently on the spot where he was.

The king then glared at Falkirk.

"I knew you'd know, you wise old fairy. Have you seen it?"

"No." came the reply.

"Have you heard it?"

"No." came the reply.

"Do you know how many people it might carry?"

"No." came the reply.

"Oh." The king sighed. "Shame. Then I want you to find these things out for me, if you would be so kind."

Falkirk nodded without even thinking about it, for he knew that when you are in the company of someone you don't like, you should agree to do anything if it gets you out of their company, because once you are far away they won't know what you're doing anyway.

"Then report back to me." The king added.

Falkirk looked straight at the king and met his eyes; for Falkirk, all he could see was anger. For the king, he caught a glimpse of sadness inside Falkirk, the burden of knowing all there is to know.

"I will do my best your majesty."

"Thank you Falkirk, you have served this court excellently over the years."

"Thank you, your majesty."

Falkirk bowed and then turned towards the large wooden door that led out of the room, as he reached the heavy iron handle the king bellowed.

"Oh." Came the rumble from the king's throat.

Falkirk turned. "Yes?"

"My step-daughter is missing, see if you can find her too."

Then the king turned away, dismissing Falkirk, but more importantly to Falkirk, dismissing his step-daughter as nothing more than an after-thought.

Chapter Seven of....

"Haargh-hargh!"

The natural call of the pirates just didn't sound the same when it echoed around the captain's quarters with such beauty, like raindrops falling from the end of a rainbow.

"No!" Bosun Bill sighed. "That sounded like raindrops falling from the end of a rainbow."

Prince Purplerain shrugged. "I can't change how my voice sounds to pirates, no magic can do that." He sang.

Bosun Bill returned to the heavy leather pirate manual that was opened on the chaise longue.

"Try this," he said while reading. "Pieces-of-eight."

Prince Purplerain took in a deep breath and his gleaming chest billowed under his large white shirt like a wonderfully perfect cushion.

"Pieces-of-eight." He sang, like a bird calling the first tune of morning.

Bill slapped his hand to his forehead. "This is not going to work, and try not to flap your wings when you breathe."

"No." The prince agreed shyly, "that has been a problem of mine since I was small."

Princess Caldora, sitting next to the large and aged book of piratical techniques, leant over and took a glance at the pages. As she touched the wrinkled and decaying paper it turned into a brand new book with gleaming paper that had just been opened and not read by anyone.

"That's going to be another problem." Bill muttered as he watched his book glisten in purity then return to its haggard old state. "You can't touch anything."

"It's funny," Princess Caldora chimed. "This doesn't happen at home, only out here where it's all smelly and disgusting."

"This is not going to work." Bill moaned under his breath as he walked over to the porthole in the wall of the quarters and looked up at the sun.

"We'll be at port soon, then we'll be in trouble if you get found out by the Port Authority."

"How long do we have?" The prince chirped.

"I don't know, not long. We'll know when Molly The Crow shouts land ahoy."

Suddenly, from way up high came a shout that drifted in through the open porthole.

"Land ahoy!"

Silence filled the quarters, all three stood motionless, the only noise that came was from Bill, as he gulped nervously.

"Right," Bill bellowed. "Here's the plan, you'll both have to wear gloves and hats and neither of you will be able to speak. Have you noticed that small slithers of light come out of your mouth with every word you say?"

"No." Princess Caldora said and as she breathed out small slithers of light fell from her mouth and nostrils.

"This is impossible. You'll never make pirates but you may pass yourselves off as us if you remain quiet."

"Why can't we stay on board?" Prince Purplerain asked as if he were a choirboy singing a hymn.

"The Port Authority search every boat that docks. If they find you they'll lock you up. The worse that could happen is being locked up by the Port Authority, they just don't have the same hygiene as us pirates."

Princess Caldora and Prince Purplerain looked at each other and their eyes said it all, a pirate complaining about hygiene, whatever next.

Bosun Bill flung open Capden Den's wardrobe and threw out two large black, boat-shaped hats, two large cloaks and two pairs of enormous leather gloves, clearly made for men with extremely large hands.

"It's crude." Bill added. "But it will have to do."

As the two fairies slipped their disguises on, Bill stood back to inspect them, looking them over as if he were a fashion designer checking his models. Bill could not help to notice how beautiful these two fairies were; their short-cropped blonde hair shone as if they were wearing a crown and their soft skin reminded him of milky tea. He looked down at his own tanned and wrinkled hands then inspected his face in the small mirror on Capden Den's table. Bill rubbed his brown face, leathery and beaten after years of being stung by the salty sea. His hair was moving further back towards the back of his head as if it were receding like the waves. He rubbed his portly belly and shook his head in disbelief.

"I have bad feeling in the pit of my belly." He sighed.

Prince Purplerain looked up through the brim of his hat at Bill and smiled.

"Don't worry. This has all happened before."

Grand Hippo Raz slumped her large bulk lazily on the beach, dreaming up at the clear blue sky. The gaggle of gossiping hippos across the sand, equally large though not quite so wise, were discussing Raz's strange behaviour that particular morning. They whispered to each other in their group, while every now and then glancing over to Raz's still body knowing that Grand Hippo Raz could hear every word.

The all-seeing hippos of Hippo Lagoon knew everything, saw everything and listened to everything that went on in the world. Grand Hippo Raz was the greatest of them all; she spent all her days listening to the wind and the waves then blowing all that she had heard back into the wind for anyone to hear if they wanted to. As the hippos listened they would talk and the topic of conversation usually centred around the important things that were unfolding in their world, for they all felt the changes in the air that were about to take place.

But the main focus of their gossip this morning was how Raz had perched herself on a rock that suddenly fell away, sending Raz and her hulking body hurtling into the cool water.

They all noticed the look of sheer panic in Raz's eyes as the rock from beneath her dropped dramatically; some argued that if she were so wise then she would have known a long time previous that she was due to get a soaking; but Raz had been so lost in thought, that the sudden plunge into the cold sea of the lagoon really did wake her up and make her feel like a very silly hippo indeed. So she sat on her own and tried to lose herself in the thoughts that were carried in the soft breeze. For they all felt fear in the air and the fear was coming from the sea.

### Chapter Eight of...

The Anna Stesia settled in at the dock of the Port Authority that was the main entrance to Pirate Bay. As Capden Den's crew threw ropes to moor the large galleon to the pier, Port Authority Officers tethered the boat to the bulbous brass anchors that lined both sides of the wooden pier. Capden Den cried out for his crew to come over so that he could go over the plan one final time.

"Men," he boomed, before remembering that the Port Authority Officers may be listening.

"Men," he repeated in more of a whisper. "We've got to all get off the Anna Stesia and this could be pretty dangerous. The two fair...the two new shipmates will come with me and Bill. Whiffy, you need to have a bath and mate here is going to get more supplies. Make sure you get plenty of bread it's a long way to..."

"The Third Isle." Bill hurried in.

"Indeed." Confirmed Den. "Does anyone have any questions?"

All the pirates looked around at each other, then Molly the Crow stepped forward.

"What happens if they notice that you have two fairies with you?"

Capden Den sighed and waved his arms about in disbelief.

"Always one isn't there, there's always someone who has to see the bad side to everything."

"I was only asking." Molly said sheepishly.

"Well it's a good question to which I have no answer. Anything else?"

The pirates all muttered and shook their heads.

"Good, back here in two hours shipmates."

The Double Doubloon was not the only bar along Pirate Bay but was the fashionable place for any pirate to go. Here deals were made, games were played, rows became tirades and nothing about it was staid. Nothing that is apart from the owner, Heirloom Harry, who was in fact a badger as well as being a former hedge-fund analyst. He really did not want to own a bar, he was after all a badger and liked the quiet life, he was also an accountant by heart and though that made him good with the cash till, he felt inside that he did not belong in a rough pirate bar along a stinky old pirate street set in the worst bay any person could ever wish to find themselves.

So he stayed away and left his bar in the hands of the best barmaid that any bar in any bay in any world has ever seen, Sally; or more correctly, The Barmaid Formerly Known as Sally, as she was now known. Sally used to like being called Sally, until someone told her that Sally was the most common name for a barmaid and this made her mad. So she went and changed her name to Keith, but this didn't go down well with the pirates who came to the bar, so they all began referring to her as The Barmaid Formerly Known As Sally.

The Barmaid Formerly Known As Sally stood behind the bar and polished glasses while she chatted to the hordes of horrible pirates who leant dreamily towards her, everyone loved Sally and they all wanted her to love them back. The pirates would gaze into her large brown eyes and would slip off into a dream about coming home to this beautiful woman who would have supper ready for them on the table with a tempting cake baking in the oven. Sally had that special something about her that made every person who met her want to change their lives and become a different person, a successful and clean living person; not a buccaneer sailing the seas and getting into trouble.

Unfortunately, Sally had eyes for only one man and it just so happened to be the one man who hadn't fallen for her charms, Capden Den. When she saw him it made her dream of her having supper ready for him on the table and a tempting cake baking in the oven. Capden Den was different to all the other pirates, this either made him look silly or wonderful, and Sally thought he was wonderful.

In the darkest corner of the bar, huddled around a table of their own, safely away from the rowdy crowd that filled the flaking walls, Capden Den and Bosun Bill sat either side of two heavily cloaked figures who wore large hats, had collars pulled up from their huge coats to cover their faces and had the most enormous hands you would ever wish to see.

The two royal fairies beneath the coats kept as silent as mice and as still as statues. They hardly dared to breathe just in case something magical would pour out of their mouths and float like a wonderful beam of light across this dark, dingy and rather smelly old place.

Capden Den sipped at his tankard of foaming fizzy cola; he held his burp in, releasing it through the corner of his mouth with hardly a sound so as not to attract attention.

"Keep your heads down." Capden Den burped quietly to the two pirate imposters. They did not reply, but kept perfectly still. Not like the raucous rabble of rousing roughness that echoed around this inn of pirate depravity.

"Capden?" Bosun Bill whispered in the ear of his captain.

Capden Den turned slightly towards his bosun while also keeping an eye on the fairies.

"Yes." He muttered back.

"This plan of yours, it sounds good but we're pirates and the best way to blend into something is to do just that, blend in. For the fairies not to say a word and remain perfectly still goes against all that a pirate is. Pirates are by nature loud, boisterous, ready for action and full of song. They never sit in a bar quietly sipping at a glass of water."

Bosun Bill had tried to explain this earlier while they were still on the ship, but Capden Den either chose not to take his advice, or could have burped when he was told so didn't hear the whole argument and made up in his own mind what Bill had actually said. Either way, Bill was nervous.

Capden Den got up slowly and said, "I'll just go and have a quiet word with The Barmaid Formerly Known As Sally."

Bill sighed as fear filled his eyes. His face fell and he anxiously began to look around the room. Then wished he hadn't, because as he did, his eyes fell on the fierce, raging and steely gaze of the one pirate he did not want to meet; the most feared pirate on the sea, the one man to whom Bosun Bill personally owed a debt, Dodgy Dave.

Capden Den sidled up to Sally who fumbled with the towel she was using to wipe the glasses and then dropped it on the floor; something she always did when Capden Den sidled up to her in the way that he did.

"Sally." He said.

Her eyes widened and began to glisten as he said her name, for he was the only man she answered to in her former name.

"Yes." She beamed as she tidied up her dark brown hair for him.

"Do me a favour?"

"Yes." She replied.

"I need to get a letter off to somewhere, do you mind popping down to Alphabet Street and giving this in to the Pterodactyl Post Office?"

Capden Den produced a small envelope from within his crumpled velvet coat pocket and on it was the address where this letter was to go, The Fairy Retreat.

Sally saw the destination and then dropped the letter as she took it from his fingers.

As she got up from behind the bar she whispered, "Why are you sending a letter there?"

Capden Den glanced either side of him to check no one was listening, and then leant forward to speak into her ear.

"I need to talk to you Sally, I could be in a bit of trouble, but it all feels so right. I need your help, will you help me?"

Sally stared into Capden Den's pleading eyes and swam for a second in the gorgeous green swirl that stared back at her.

"Always." She sighed.

"Thank you, then take this when you finish your shift and get it sent." Den said to her as he pushed the letter across the bar to Sally.

"Why can't you?" she asked, although she was quite happy to do it.

"Do you not want to help?" Capden Den questioned.

"Yes, but I need to know with what."

Capden Den beckoned the alluring face of Sally forward with his finger and she leaned in to meet him, their noses almost touching.

"Over there," Capden Den pointed without looking. "There are two fairies who I've picked up. They need to get to this retreat thingy and have asked me to take them."

"They spoke to you?" Sally gasped.

"Yes."

"I always knew you were special." She gushed.

Capden Den coughed.

"Well," he said matter-of-factly. "I'm going to do it but I can't take them down to Alphabet Street and I couldn't leave them on the ship while the Port Authority check it over, so we'll just hold up here until the authority have finished their...whatever they do, and I can get them back on board."

Sally looked over Capden Den's shoulder, briefly taking a moment to linger at the perfect roundness at the top of his arm, then glanced in the direction of the table where Bill and the two fairies sat.

Then she gulped and her eyes widened with fear.

"I think you should leave now." Sally muttered and pointed across his shoulder.

Capden Den followed her gaze and saw Bill standing on tiptoes, trying to lift himself so that he was face to face with an angry Dodgy Dave. Meanwhile two of Dave's crew tugged at the large black coats of the fairies.

"Oh blimey." He moaned. "I'll be back Sally, give me a minute."

Capden Den winked as he darted over to where a fight was about to start and arrived just in time to stop Dodgy Dave punching Bill hard on the nose. He barged at Dave with his shoulder and sent him crashing on to the table, knocking the cola and water onto the hard floor with a crash.

Someone in the bar shouted "fight!" Then the whole place suddenly fell quiet, Capden Den looked round to see more than sixty eyes all trained on him.

He put his hands up to stop them all from rushing at him.

"It's alright everyone, I slipped, nothing to see here, nothing special about any of this, just an ordinary day with nothing happening, Dave and I are good mates."

As he said that, Dave's broad and thick body got up behind Capden Den and loomed over the thin frame of the captain; then Dave's sturdy and meaty arm went up in the air and his enormous hand thumped Capden Den on the back of his head.

Capden Den fell in a heap on the floor, as Bill, without thinking, lunged at Dave and they collapsed into a huddled fight on the ground. The two other pirates then grabbed at the cloaks covering the fairies and sent their disguises flying off into a corner of the bar.

"Fairies!" One of the pirates screamed in panic and then all hell broke loose.

In a flash, as the two fairies were revealed to the horde of pirates in the murky bar, a brilliant radiance filled the room that halted all the pirates in their tracks. A glow of light shone from the fairies beautiful auras and filled the bar with perfect love and light; for a couple of seconds all the pirates just stood in utter amazement and felt as if they could hug each other.

Until Capden Den got up, dusted himself off then kicked Dodgy Dave painfully between the legs.

Den then bent down to pick up the weakened body of Bosun Bill and began shouting.

"No one comes near!" He roared. "Anyone who comes near will feel the full wrath of these two fairies."

The two fairies stood proudly, trying to put a fierce look on their faces. The two pirates, who had revealed them, could not move; they were stunned into a scared silence.

"We all know what a fairy is capable of and these two show no mercy!" Capden Den continued. "Let us go and there will be no more trouble."

Dodgy Dave crawled over to join the angrily amazed mob that stood between Capden Den and the only way out and then got up with a slight wince of pain.

"You'll have to get through us." Dodgy Dave yelled in his gruff and coarse voice.

"No we won't." Capden Den smiled and he looked towards the two fairies that both nodded back.

"If you fight us," Capden Den stated. "You will lose."

Dodgy Dave's eyes winked wickedly, he stepped forward, drew his cutlass from its scabbard and prepared himself for a duel.

"Then I'll lose." He grinned slyly.

Suddenly, from the bar, there was a chime of empty glasses falling on top of each other as The Barmaid Formerly Known As Sally leapt over the counter carrying a large, splintered wooden bat.

"Nobody comes near!" She screamed with a voice so powerful that she had obviously broken up fights with that bat before.

She stood at Capden Den's side with determination in her eyes and whispered into Den's ear.

"The back door is open."

Capden Den winked back at her as he drew his cutlass and took up his fencing position. As he prepared himself to duel with Dodgy Dave, quick as a flash, he turned his back on Dave and ran from the unruly rabble of pirates while yelling to his mates.

"Run!"

### 

### Chapter Nine of...

Capden Den darted out of the back door, closely followed by Bill, Purplerain and Caldora, with Sally following behind them. They hurried into the busy street outside. Around them pirates drunkenly sang songs, made deals, challenged each other to fights or were simply being ill in the gutter. None of them seemed to notice two fairies radiantly lighting up their grim surroundings.

Sally slammed the back door shut and slipped her wooden bat into the handles between the doors to stop the thirty or so irate pirates getting through.

"Blimey!" Capden Den exclaimed. "Thanks Sally."

"We've got to go!" She screamed. "They can still get out of the front door!"

"Oh blimey." Capden Den sighed.

Suddenly there came screams of horror from all the pirates gathered in the street as they noticed who Den, Sally and Bill were with.

"Fairies!" Came the shriek that bounced around the walls of pirate bay.

Suddenly the whole bay fell into chaos; pirates started running all over the place in a mad panic to avoid being struck by fearsome fairy magic. Grown men screamed like frightened sheep and in the melee market stalls were sent flying, crumbling to the ground as if they were made of paper.

Dodgy Dave and the pirates emerged menacingly from the front entrance of the Double Dabloon and glared at the small huddle of five, standing alone in the middle of the street, who were quickly being circled in by the confusion in the bay. Capden Den realised that he did not have a plan.

"I don't have a plan." He admitted.

"Neither do I." Bill sighed.

Prince Purplerain caught their attention.

"We can carry you." He smiled as his voice sang with a calm assurance.

"What!" Bill snorted.

"Both of us can carry you, I'll take the captain and his girlfriend, Caldora can carry Bill."

"I'm not flying! I hate flying!" Bill screamed almost as badly as the pirates had when they saw the fairies.

"She's not my girlfriend!" Capden Den screamed in a similar way.

"But I do love you!" Sally screamed back.

Capden Den turned with shock towards Sally.

"What?" he cried.

Prince Purplerain's patience was now wearing thin. Just as Sally leaned her lips in to meet Capden Den's he picked them both up in each arm and sent them soaring into the clear blue sky. As he looked down to his princess, she grabbed Bill's arms and zoomed up to join them.

Purplerain heard gasps from the crowd far below. He looked down and saw Dodgy Dave yelling up at them, the look on his face together with the angry pump of his arms in the air told him that he wasn't yelling anything very nice. The pirates had been joined by Port Authority Officers who were also beckoning at them to come down, blowing their whistles into the air in an attempt to stop them.

The high pitch of the whistles slipped painfully into the ear of Prince Purplerain and he began to lose momentum.

"Ouch!" he shrieked.

"Get us out of here! Go left, we're going to go down to Alphabet Street." Capden Den pointed to the building of the Pterodactyl Post Office that had pterodactyls flying in and out at regular intervals from the opening in the roof.

"I can't go there! Dinosaurs hate fairies more than pirates do!" The Prince yelled in panic.

"Trust me, we just need to get out of here, over there will be safer than anywhere else at the moment." Capden Den called back.

Prince Purplerain called towards Princess Caldora and, fighting against the whistles that were making them lose concentration, they raced away at such a speed that all they could hear against the rush of the wind was Bill whooping like a cowboy on a rodeo ride.

Prince Purplerain headed nervously for the Pterodactyl Post Office and landed smoothly at the entrance. He released Capden Den and Sally from his grip while pterodactyls swished low over their heads carrying their large post-bags around their leathery bellies.

Sally, still clutching the letter, planted a kiss on the cheek of Capden Den.

"I'll post this, you lot get out of here."

As Princess Caldora and Bill joined them, Capden Den grabbed the arm of The Barmaid Formerly Known As Sally.

"Wait." He stated. "You're coming with us."

"No." Sally smiled, "You need to do what you need to do, I'll stay here and you can come back for me."

"But..." Capden Den stammered.

"It'll be ok. I need to get my things together and then I can join you. I'll be here waiting for you when you get back."

Capden Den felt his stomach sink; he couldn't understand it but it felt like his heart had been fastened to a lead weight and dropped into a deep well. A look of confusion crossed his face as he glanced around for anyone to tell him what to do.

Bill came to his side. "She's right." He said calmly.

"Yes." Prince Purplerain chimed.

Sally's eyes lit up. "I can hear him!" she said excitedly.

Prince Purplerain went over to Sally and kissed her on the forehead, as he stepped back a small slither of light trailed from his lips to her head and left a sprinkle of glitter where his skin had touched hers.

"Thank you." He spoke, and it sounded like a tiny bell.

Sally could only laugh shyly towards the glowing fairy in front of her. She looked at Capden Den and their eyes met as a small tear formed in the corner of her eye. She smiled at him, turned around, and walked into the entrance of the Pterodactyl Post Office.

Capden Den watched her go until Prince Purplerain jolted him awake by slapping his back.

Bosun Bill joined them as he looked nervously about the empty street. Suddenly, Princess Caldora collapsed in a heap onto the hard cobbled street, quickly joined by Prince Purplerain. They fell like puppets that had just had their strings cut from their limbs.

"What?" Capden Den said to himself.

Then they heard the noise, whistles, coming from a few streets away, getting closer and fiercer and louder.

"Port Authority!" Bill stated to his captain. "What do we do?"

Capden Den stroked his beard then tried to lift the dead weight of Prince Purplerain, but couldn't get enough of a hold of the glowing body. "I don't know." The captain said. "We're stuck."

Bill tried to lift Princess Caldora but her limp body simply slipped through his arms. He cursed with exasperation and listened as the noise of whistles was quickly joined by the thump of running feet on the road.

"They're getting closer!" Bill said with panic in his voice.

"We need to get back to the Anna Stesia." Capden Den said as he tried to lift Prince Purplerain again, but the fairy would not move; Den slumped down to the ground, knowing that there was no way he could get the fairies back to the ship in time.

As Capden Den and Bill sat there wondering what to do they noticed a swarm of pirates moving slowly towards them. As they got nearer the pirates parted and through the middle of the crowd a row of Port Authority Officers emerged, blowing their whistles and looking very authoritative indeed.

Capden Den lowered his head and said to the ground.

"They've got us this time, but I have a plan."

### Chapter Ten of...

Sally stood at the bank of the water behind the Pterodactyl Post Office and watched her letter fly into the air, carried in a sack marked Special Delivery, by a fierce looking pterodactyl. She watched and hoped that the letter would get there in good time and waited for the pterodactyl to become a small speck in the sky as it headed northwards, before she turned and walked back to her apartment to pack her bags.

The sprawling ocean spread like a vast, blue billowing sheet beneath the floating body of the pterodactyl, as it flew above the glistening waves.

In the postbag, neatly strapped around the dinosaur's belly, sat the letter that Capden Den had written for the queen at the Fairy Retreat.

It was a journey that would only take the pterodactyl five hours though it would take the pirate galleon of Capden Den far longer. Imminent was a word that he used in the letter somewhat hopefully; and now it was in ink it could not be changed. Capden Den knew that Pterodactyls could not talk to fairies, so he had to leave it up to the queen to judge quite how long a time was meant by 'imminent'.

The flying dinosaur flew low to cool its body by the spray of the sea, then soared high up into the clouds and breathed in the pure air. The sun was the only form of navigation and these postal reptiles were skilled at using it for the most direct path to their destination.

As the pterodactyl flew across the ocean it skimmed the waves where flying fish, with their sharp teeth and long droopy jaws, gnawed at her belly. Nothing though could penetrate her tough skin except for another dinosaur and instead she lowered her long beak and filled her belly with her favourite snack, flying fish.

The sun began to glow orange as the day reached its end and the pterodactyl soared over her old home on the Third Isle of Solitude. It was a vast island, quite separate from the rest of the world but so central that most had to pass over it or around it to get anywhere. She flew over vast green trees, masses of wide-open vegetation, bubbling volcanoes, deep and treacherous mud pits and the old ruined city that used to belong to the fairies but was now home to the king of the dinosaurs, Tyrannosaurus Rex.

The pterodactyl drank in the comforting calls from her homeland, the roars and moans of her old friends that reminded her of past times. As she looked down into the open plains of grass, she could see tiny specks running at high speeds; the oviraptors liked to run, and she watched with amusement at their games of hide and seek with each other. As she looked she noticed another speck, smaller than the oviraptor and buzzing around as if it were a large insect, playing with the gang of reptiles. For a second she wanted to swoop down as she thought that the speck had the shape of a small fairy and feared for its safety.

But on she raced, knowing that this letter was urgent due to the price that the pirate girl had paid for it. The pterodactyl continued north; over the open mouth of the last volcano on the island and back across the ocean, towards the Fourth and Fifth Isles of Solitude, past Hippo Lagoon and then an easy flight to the Fairy Retreat just beyond.

After a short journey over the water she caught a glimpse of a beach and saw from it a plume of grey smoke dancing in the darkening sky. It came from the camp of the small band of fairies and she pushed her tiring body onwards to her final landing place.

As she swooped in she was met with a gasp by the small rabble sitting calmly around their fire.

The small band of rebel fairies jumped up immediately and huddled together in fear of the reptile that stood majestically before them.

Queen Loukatos got up gracefully from her cross-legged position on the sand and motioned to everyone to calm down. She straightened her long and lean body, her wings fluttered slightly and she calmly walked over to the pterodactyl, which bowed to acknowledge the queen of the fairies.

The queen bowed in return and opened the post-bag that now hung to the side of the pterodactyl. She took out the letter and, with her delicately long fingers, fastened the satchel back up. Looking up through the parting in her long blonde hair, she stroked the nose of the dinosaur and smiled. The two of them looked straight into each other's eyes with mutual respect.

Queen Loukatos then turned her back to read the letter, as she did she heard the large wings of the pterodactyl flapping away. She went over to the fairies and read in silence by the light of the fire before looking up at her group of loyal fairies.

"It's from a pirate." The queen sung in a voice that sounded as pure as the ocean waves. "He's on his way with my daughter and her fiancé. Imminently." She added.

### Interlude

On the Third Isle of Solitude an oviraptor snapped playfully at the wings of a dancing fairy boy. The fairy teased the dinosaur by flying up, then swooping down to kick the leathery hide of the reptile's body.

The boy laughed; a noise that the dinosaur tried to mimic with little success, sounding more like a roar of pain than a cry of pleasure; the other oviraptors in the gang joined in, barking and snapping at the busy little fairy.

Finally, feeling tired, the fairy landed to the ground and curled himself up into a little ball. He rubbed his eyes and looked up at the green, pointed reptilian faces above him, their red crests on the tip of their skulls flapping as their heads moved.

"Do you understand me?" he asked as he yawned.

His only reply was a twinkling in their eyes and slow nods of their heads.

"I only want to be understood, thank you Jim. I'm tired," said the little boy. "Will you take me home, Jim?"

Jim, the oviraptor, gently collected the small fairy boy in his teeth and curled him around his neck.

"Remember to hide me." The fairy child spoke, as he yawned again and clung on tenderly to Jim. The crowd of oviraptors headed home, towards the shelter of trees in the dense forest.

### Chapter Eleven of...

Wise Old Fairy Falkirk reached the Fairy Retreat the following day, just as the rebel fairies were preparing a lunch of nuts, red bananas and mixed green salad.

As Falkirk fluttered in, a small group of fairies cutting up the salad stopped and waved in greeting; Falkirk waved back with a serious look on his face and landed opposite them just beside the still glowing fire.

"Where is the queen?" he asked in his wispy and aged, but ever so intelligent voice.

"I'm here." Came the sweet jingle of bells from the pure but powerful voice of Queen Loukatos.

Falkirk turned and gasped at the sight of his queen; she always looked splendid and was wearing a flowing white gown that seemed to blend into her long golden hair. A glow radiated from her, as if the sun were following her every move. Her eternally youthful features lit up softly as she smiled warmly to her most trusted adviser.

"Your majesty." Falkirk bowed.

"Oh stop that." The queen laughed. "Nothing royal here, just us fairies."

"You look wonderful your highness." Falkirk said as he lifted his head. "It seems this life has given you an everlasting richness."

"Yes." Agreed the queen. "But it's terrible for your nails. Now, are you staying for lunch?"

The other fairies had begun to gather round as word spread that the wisest of all the fairies had come to visit and they all mumbled their approval.

"I would be delighted." Falkirk bowed again.

"Good, but stop bowing please, it makes me feel giddy." The queen laughed.

The lunch was laid out on a rectangular stone slab and all the fairies, about twenty-five of them in total, sat around together to help themselves to the food. As they started to eat, the queen looked at Falkirk.

"So what has my husband sent you here for?"

"To spy." Falkirk replied.

There was silence for a moment, until the queen laughed.

"Not much to report then."

"No." Falkirk grinned. "In fact, the king has told me about something that Fairy Otto Mobil is working on and he expects me to find out about it."

"Oh." The queen looked down at her plate. "How did he hear about that?"

Falkirk shuffled as his bottom sank into the sand. "He has ways...that I don't agree with."

"Indeed." The queen agreed before she turned to one of her fairies. "Where is Otto?"

The fairy she spoke to looked up from his lunch and spoke. "With his car." He stuttered and spat lettuce onto his lap while he did.

The other fairies all mumbled again, this time with disapproval.

"It's alright." The queen assured them. "We can trust Falkirk to tell the king only what he needs to hear."

"You can." Falkirk nodded.

Suddenly, from beyond the trees surrounding this small fairy hideout, there was a loud crack followed by a roar that sounded like thunder. Then came silence, until a huge plume of black smoke came wafting through the tree trunks.

"That will be him." The queen sighed with slight exasperation.

There was another thunderous noise, as if a great bear was about to rush at them, then another black cloud of smoke and all of a sudden the thunderous noise became an on-going, low purr.

The queen stood up instantly with surprise in her eyes.

"He's done it!" she yelped excitedly.

All the other fairies stood up to join her and started to chatter excitedly amongst themselves.

Then Falkirk got up and looked with confusion toward his queen; the queen went over to him and patted him on the arm.

"I do believe that Otto has done it, he's invented something that will change our lives, something so amazing and out of this world that I didn't believe it could ever be done, but he has. We need to go and see."

As they headed towards the low rumble in the trees the dull purr got louder and was interrupted by loud screams of delight. Otto Mobil, a short, slightly balding and excitable fairy with a round black-speckled face, floated busily around the trees laughing and chortling like a mad man.

The queen called for his attention and he came over instantly.

"Oh your majesty, I've done it! I've done it!" He beamed as a sliver of saliva hung excitedly from his lip. "Using nothing more than banana skins, wheels, a beaten galleon and a three cylinder turbo engine that I had in the dark corridors of my mind, I've finally invented what I like to call...the car."

"Very impressive!" Falkirk said.

The queen looked at Falkirk with raised eyebrows, then toward the excited Otto.

"Show me." She instructed with a smile.

### Chapter Twelve of...

The first noise he heard was a soft dripping of water falling onto a hard stone ground; the first thing he felt was cold, deep, real and empty cold that burnt through his skin and seeped deep into his bones. Then he opened his eyes and Prince Purplerain realised that his limbs were shackled by heavy iron chains clamped to a damp wall. The prince tried to take in where he was. In the dim light he could just make out the shape of Princess Caldora chained up like him on the opposite wall. Then he heard snoring, and saw that it was coming from the drooling mouths of Capden Den and Bosun Bill. They seemed to be underground and the room stank with dampness and death. His feet stood on soft ground that slithered like a serpent as his toes curled with the cold wetness. His back arched as it tried not to touch the cold, slimy wall he was chained to. He could feel dirt and grime all around him and it made him feel sick to the stomach, only pirates could sleep in this kind of disgusting prison cell.

For a moment he cleared his mind and listened to the calming noise of the gentle drip of water, until it was broken suddenly, like a bolt of electricity, by Capden Den screaming out.

"Oh my worth...what are we doing?" Den shrieked, still with his eyes closed.

Again it fell silent for a few seconds until another piercing scream from Capden Den roused the other captives.

Princess Caldora was the first to stir; her eyes flittered and a small beam of gold light filtered out from her mouth as she sighed deeply. Prince Purplerain saw this and his chains slipped off his wrists as if they were pieces of ribbon, freed by fairy magic and love; he rushed to the aid of his princess.

"Are you ok?" he sung.

"Yes." The princess tinkled in reply.

Then, to break their perfect harmony, Capden Den cried out again.

"No! No sausages!"

The prince and his princess glanced at each other in surprise before Purplerain flicked his wrist and released her chains.

With a snort, a snore and a cough, Capden Den woke himself up; his eyes darted about with a look of panic. He then looked up at the shackles around his wrist and wiggled his bottom to move it from the damp patch he found himself sitting.

He sniffed the air. You cooking sausages?" He said.

"No." Prince Purplerain replied.

"Good." Capden Den sniffed drowsily. "I can't stand 'em."

As he spoke, Bosun Bill roused himself with a small burp from within his trousers; the prince put his finger to his nose in anticipation of the smell, the princess started to laugh.

"Pardon." Bill snorted, similarly to how his captain had woken.

Bill tried to scratch his head as if he had woken from a long and lovely sleep, then realised that he too was chained to a dank wall in a dismal dungeon with his bottom sitting in a puddle.

"Oh for goodness sake!" Bill moaned. "That was a bloomin' good dream."

"Yep." Capden Den agreed while he tried to scratch his bum without success. "I was really getting into that one."

"Where are we?" Bill enquired with little interest as he still tried to hold onto his dream.

"Dunno." The captain replied. "Must be bad though 'cos I can smell sausages."

"No one's cooking sausages." The prince replied, as he held on tight to his princess.

"Well what's that awful smell then?" Capden Den chided.

"Sausages." Bill moaned.

"Dankness." The princess corrected.

"Really?" Capden Den piped up. "Dankness and sausages. Never put the two together until now."

Bill then shook his arms, as if doing that would release him from the iron grip that held him tightly to the slimy wall towering over him.

"No good." The prince explained. " You're fastened tight."

"How come you're free then?" Bill remarked.

"Because I'm a fairy and you are a pirate." Came the cold reply.

"Aye aye captain, there's something funny going on here." Bill reported.

Capden Den tried to get up, but the chains were so tight around his wrists and ankles that he fell immediately on his face and into a cold puddle.

"Sausages!" he cried. "I hate sausages and sometimes...I hate fairies!"

Prince Purplerain stood up straight and a golden light issued from his chest, brightening the dark and allowing Den and Bill to see the hopelessness of their situation.

"Well sometimes," he chimed. "I hate pirates."

"Good." Capden Den fought back.

There was a pause; each of them took in the room that they found themselves in, lit by the beacon issuing from Prince Purplerain's chest. The floor was littered with bones, aged and glistening in the wet. Around them walls dripped with slimy green moss and above them a high ceiling of wood, about twenty feet up, with a small grill the only source of natural light.

Bill wriggled his arms to try to free them from the wall. Capden Den attempted to casually remove his wrists from the clasp of the iron bracelet, but they would not budge; he then smiled warmly with yellowed teeth to his prince.

"But I don't hate fairies today." The captain grinned.

Prince Purplerain stared at Capden Den with his pleading look; then at Bill, crossing his legs as best he could with his sudden desperate need to go to the toilet; with a flick of his fingers and a spark, the chains around the limbs of the two pirates fell loose.

Capden Den and Bosun Bill instantly rubbed at their wrists as if they were checking that they were still working.

"So," Princess Caldora said, after watching the two pirates eagerly rubbing their wrists. "What's the plan?"

"I need the toilet." Bill added quickly before hurrying off to a dark corner of the room.

Capden Den puffed his chest up, as if he had just seen the whole picture for himself.

"Well," he started. "First we work out where we are, then we get out, steal a boat as mine's probably been dry-docked for the foreseeable future, get to the fairy retreat, dump you two off so you can find your step-ladder...erm...brother, go back, find Sally, marry her, go away for a bit, start having kids then leave the pirate life and become a person who manages banks, what do they call them?"

"Bank managers." Bill cut in while he stood in the corner.

"That's them." Den winked as he spoke. "A bank manager, boring and boring and snoring and boring, but no more sausages, I hate sausages."

"There will be sausages." Princess Caldora spoke up.

"Oh!" Capden Den snapped. "And suddenly you little pinky pixie fairies are experts on pirate life!"

Silence again followed, save for the soft and continuous drip of the water from above and from Bill.

"If there is water," Princess Caldora suddenly realised. "Then there is a way out."

Princess Caldora looked up at the small circular grate, through which the moon's soft glow could still be seen as the morning sky shone a faint purple light. She flew up and touched the iron grill.

"It's wet." She said from up on high.

"It should still be able to move." Prince Purplerain beamed.

The princess, still floating at the very top of the prison cell, closed her eyes and imagined a ball of flame growing from the palm of her hand; suddenly, her finger tips caught fire and she concentrated all her attention on making that small orange dancing glow into a dense and intense rod of white heat. The other three watched from below, craning their necks up, not wanting to blink.

Princess Caldora, carrying the natural blowtorch that she had created in her hand, started to direct the heat deep into the iron; it began to melt and then bits of it fell in small sparks into the puddles around the feet of the watching three below.

"Careful." Capden Den warned as he craned his neck upwards. "You could set one of us on fire." He then turned to the other two on-lookers. "Does anyone else's neck hurt?"

Bill and Purplerain did not pay him any attention; they continued to watch, Bill stood with his mouth open in awe at the princess slowly softening the metal grill and letting it fall. Then with a heavy clunk and clang, the whole grill fell away and landed heavily on Capden Den's foot.

"Sausages!" he cried as he tried to stamp the pain away from his toe, sending water splashing all over Bill and Prince Purplerain.

"Stop it!" Bill moaned as a parent might to a child.

Princess Caldora, without looking down once, then folded her wings gracefully and eased her small body through the tiny hole; in seconds she was through and gone into the crisp morning air.

Again there was silence, as all three men just stood there waiting for some call from outside in the real world. After what felt like longer than ten seconds, Capden Den called up.

"So what now?"

There was no reply.

"Great. There you go your highness," Capden Den turned angrily to the prince. "Women for you, you get them so far then they go and leave you in the lurch; or in a dungeon, or in a church...or wherever they like."

"She will be back." The prince re-assured the captain.

"I was left once in a clothes shop holding ladies knickers, stood there for hours before I realised she'd run off with the salesman; bad day that one, my hair was all over the place; but I kept the knickers, quite comfortable."

As the captain finished, there was another dull clunking sound coming from behind them. They turned instantly and prepared themselves for a fight as the large cell door, cut deep into the saturated stone, opened slowly with a creak and a warming glow fell into the dismal dungeon. From the glow and from the door Princess Caldora emerged.

"There we are, you're free." She smiled with delight.

Prince Purplerain ran to his love and wrapped her up excitedly in his arms, the princess held on to him so tightly that you could hear the prince strain for breath.

"Good." Capden Den spoke to the floor more than to the others. "Thank you." He whispered. "You've done very well, for a girl and a fairy. I just want you to know that had you not done that I did have a plan. While you two slept and Bill and I waited to be captured I had this whole scenario playing out just as it did. So, in case you think you're cleverer than me..."

Bill slapped his captain on the back. "Come on then, we need to get these two fairies to the fairy retreat and get back to what we do best."

"Getting out of scrapes?" Capden Den asked.

"Stealing." Bill corrected.

### Chapter Thirteen of...

Dodgy Dave's boat was a large and very jagged vessel made up of bits of old galleons that he had stolen in the past. It was his trophy of triumphs; at its bough, a large wooden face with wide eyes and a snarling mouth leered outwards as the figurehead, staring with a watchful menace. The stern was jagged and splintered, as if it had been smashed and pieced back together by a very bad surgeon. Heavy black sails billowed in the wind like raven's wings fluttering dangerously as they prepared to swoop to their prey. The ship was so evil looking and so chaotic, that it struck fear into the heart of any pirate that saw it, even when it stood empty at the dock. Quite why it had been named The Positivity was something Capden Den asked himself every time he saw it.

Bill, Capden Den, the prince and princess all crouched behind a small stack of barrels just a small distance from the wooden pier that led to the ship. With no sign of the Anna Stesia anywhere, Capden Den had to come up with another plan and he stroked his straggly beard as an idea began to emerge in his mind.

"Now," he whispered croakily. "Here is what we do my men...and woman, we run to the boat, untie the ropes, hoist the anchor and set sail. Bill, you still got your compass?"

"No." Bill replied.

"Blimey! Then we will have to use you two as our directions." Capden Den looked pointedly at the two fairies as they nodded back in quiet agreement.

"So we're just gonna run?" Bill sighed.

"Yep. Run, leap, hoist and sail." Capden Den smiled at another brilliant plan neatly condensed into four words.

"Not much of a plan. Have you forgotten that we not only have the Port Authority on our backs, we also have Dodgy Dave and nicking his boat is not going any way to clearing up the mess you've created; I mean, come on, first of all we're stealing a boat on dry land which is against all official regulations, secondly it's the boat of the one pirate who hates us the most, thirdly we're hiding two fairies, fourthly we're taking them to territory forbidden for pirates to enter and sixthly..."

"Fifthly." Prince Purplerain cut in.

"Thank you; fifthly we're nicking the galleon of the most feared pirate in these waters and look at it, it's not as if no-one will know it's his boat!"

"You've already said that."

"Well it's important!" Bill yelled under his breath so as not to attract attention.

"You're always so negative Bill, I'm getting fed up with it." Capden Den snorted. "If you want to stay here and sign all the paperwork and ask for Dodgy Dave's permission, then be my guest; but I reckon he'll say no and the authorities will stick us back in that dungeon before we're brought before a tribute...trombone...tribune...a judge. So I'm off, if you want to come you are very welcome."

As soon as he had finished ranting, Capden Den leapt up and ran as fast as he could towards the pier. But once the figure of Capden Den emerged from behind the barrels whistles pierced the air from the waiting Port Authority Officers. It was a trap and Den had walked straight into it. The prince and princess looked nervously at Bill, feeling their powers draining already by the whistles.

"Can you make it?" Bill asked anxiously.

"We will have to." The princess said with determination as she gripped at her love's hand.

"Then let's do it." Bill smiled.

Without hesitation, Bill, the prince and the princess dashed out from behind their hiding place and bounded toward the pier with all the strength they could find. Far ahead of them, Capden Den was already untying the ropes that held the Positivity to the wooden jetty. Port Authority Officers emerged from their huts and ran noisily towards the fence that was between their out-station and the galleon. They whistled loudly as one of them hastily searched in his pocket for the key that opened the gate in the fence. While he tried to find it, all the officers could do was stand there helplessly behind a tall fence, blowing their whistles as hard as they could and shouting for the escapees to stop.

As the whistles pitch reached a crescendo, Prince Purplerain stumbled and fell; the princess stopped to try to gather up her prince but she could not move him.

"Go!" Bill cried to the princess. "Get on the galleon!"

Capden Den heard this as he untied the last rope; seeing the situation he instinctively threw the rope onto the deck and ran towards the stricken prince in Bill's arms.

"Hoist the anchor, we'll be right behind you!" Den yelled as the princess ran past him.

As the captain got to the prince he ordered Bill to make a run to the ship as they heard the large gate within the fence unlock. Den looked up to see angry port officers running towards him.

"Sausages!" Capden Den swore under his breath. "Whistles, I also hate whistles."

The captain gathered the heavy bulk of the prince awkwardly into his arms and started to slowly drag the fairy along the wooden walkway.

"I thought fairies were supposed to be light." He moaned as he struggled to lift the prince.

"I'm sorry, those whistles..."

The prince could not finish his sentence as he drifted in and out of consciousness.

"Stay with me Purplerain, this is not your day to leave us."

But as the captain slowly dragged the heavy body along the pier, the officers were closing in on them and more and more of them were appearing out from their huts whistling and yelling.

"Oh no!" Capden Den exclaimed as the officers started to close in on him and the prince, surrounding him with whistles and sneers.

As it appeared to the captain that there was no way out, a spark of light came from Dodgy Dave's pirate ship followed by a sizzling glow from within its hull; without warning, this was met with a loud bang and a huge explosion divided the space between Capden Den and the Port Authority Officers.

Bill called out from the ship's hull once the noise from the explosion had faded.

"Run!"

"That's it. Now, come on your highness!" Den yelled.

The prince breathed in as much strength as he could and together with Capden Den they ran awkwardly in each other's arms, their legs moving as if tied together for a three-legged race. They marched on to the platform that led up to the ship; Capden Den pulled the prince up and as he reached the deck the captain kicked away the boarding plank.

"Go!" he roared to Bill, then saw Princess Caldora standing at the helm and steering the huge bulk of ship slowly away from the pier.

"Aye aye Capden!" she saluted back with a huge grin on her face.

The officers from the Port Authority bumbled about like winter wasps. All they could do was stand and watch as the galleon floated out of their reach, picking up speed in the wind and quickly becoming a dark silhouette against the warming blue skies. The head of the Port Authority, Security Chief Goodall, came down from his viewpoint in the watchtower and looked disgustedly at his dozy collection of crack soldiers.

"You're all fired!" he barked; then tutted to himself as he walked away, not once taking his gaze from the Positivity as it slowly shrank into the horizon.

### Chapter Fourteen of...

Dodgy Dave sat at his favourite table on the roof terrace of The Screaming Sirens, slowly eating his breakfast of cold ham, pterodactyl eggs and baked cabbage while watching his ship, The Positivity, sail off into the distance. He had watched Capden Den easily outwit those hapless guards of the Port Authority and now he knew he had to take matters into his own hands. Capden Den had caused too much trouble, his time as a pirate was coming to an end.

Security Chief Goodall wobbled his large frame between the tables of the roof terrace and sat down opposite Dodgy Dave. Dave did not look up, he was too furious with this bumbling excuse of a security chief; instead he carried on eating his breakfast.

"Did you see what happened?" Goodall asked with some fear in his voice.

"Yep."

"There will be a full investigation. I can guarantee it."

"Mmm."

"I've sent a boat out to keep track of them."

Dodgy Dave slammed his fists down on the table with rage. He looked up into the small face of the security chief and glared with his enormous, vile eyes, blackened by hatred.

"I don't care about investigations and paperwork; I don't care about tracing them; I don't care for your excuses. They stole my boat with two fairies on board. I was paying you an awful lot of money to keep them locked up and you...you failed!"

Goodall looked down, feeling a little shamed by his inability to please the pirate; in reality Goodall should be telling Dave what to do but such was the power of the fearsome pirate that Dodgy Dave practically controlled everything around Pirate Bay.

Just then, a small figure fluttered across from one of the other tables. A large cloak covered every part of its body and it came over so silently that Goodall jumped at it's appearance. Dodgy Dave, however, simply smiled.

"Hello Chancellor Osborne." He grinned.

The Positivity floated elegantly on the sparkling blue water. Princess Caldora stood at the helm and steered the heavy pirate boat with a look of great excitement on her face. She looked up and over her shoulder to watch the heavy black sails billow in the strong wind. The speed of the boat made the breeze rush through her hair and freshened her face. She couldn't believe how wonderful sailing a boat could be and thought every fairy should try it.

Capden Den studied a map he had found with Bosun Bill in the captain's quarters of Dave's boat. It was an old map of the world, stained with blood, but with a clear indication of where the Third Isle of Solitude was.

"Once we reach the Isle we should be able to work out where the fairy retreat is." Bosun Bill confirmed to his captain and the prince, who all stood in a circle studying the map.

"We need more speed though." Capden Den said as he looked up at the sky. "We've got good wind but it's going to take days to get there."

Capden Den stroked his beard thoughtfully before licking his finger and pointing it up into the air.

"Mmm, cold." He said. "We must be heading north."

A pterodactyl zoomed overhead and the three men looked up from their map to watch it fly gracefully over the top of their sails. Princess Caldora heard the soft beating of the dinosaur's wings and gazed up from her wheel.

"If only we could fly!" She cried back to the others.

Prince Purplerain smiled as he heard this; he put his hands together and started to rub his palms, generating heat between his fingers. His hands began to glow red and from the glow a small shape began to form. As it grew, Capden Den and Bill watched with astonishment as a balloon materialised out of thin air.

"She said fly." Den sighed. "What do we need balloons for?"

Prince Purplerain crouched onto his knees and, without saying a word, continued his hand rubbing, producing more and more balloons. As they appeared they bounced across the deck of the ship.

"Quick." He said. "Get some string."

Bosun Bill hurried into the hull of the ship and a few moments later came back with a huge ball of string.

"Now tie these balloons to the ship." The prince ordered.

"We can't fly using balloons, this isn't some tiny piece of paper with a message on it. It's a boat, y'know, big thing that floats on water!"

As Capden Den spoke the prince looked up and his eyes suggested that the captain should be quiet and get tying.

"Alright!" Capden Den said with a shrug. "I suppose we've got days, may as well waste the time tying balloons to a boat. If this fails we could always have a party."

For about half an hour the two pirates tied balloons all around the Positivity, making it look far less like a feared pirate galleon and more like a clown's birthday party. After about two hundred balloons were tied Prince Purplerain stopped and stood back to wait.

Capden Den couldn't stop his mouth from opening with amazement as the huge black galleon, feared throughout the world, began to lift up out of the water and into the air.

### Chapter Fifteen of...

At the northern tip of the Third Isle of Solitude, a small collection of fairies flew about the modified experimental pirate galleon. Fairy Otto, all crazy white hair blowing in the wind, stood manically and proudly at the helm. Beside him the queen and Fairy Falkirk were rigid, with a look of fear in their eyes.

The large wooden 'car' sat heavily on the beach; its large wheels sinking into the golden sand while the three fairies stood checking the surroundings for any sign of dinosaurs. Once they felt they were clear, the queen turned to her fairy onlookers waiting anxiously in the sand below them.

"Ok." The queen ordered. "Let's do this quickly."

On cue, Otto, Falkirk and a few scientific looking fairies that had been busying themselves below deck, jumped from the boat and their bare feet sank into the soft beach.

"Falkirk." Otto grabbed at the wise old fairy's shoulder. "Would you do me a favour and find me the fastest dinosaur that you can?"

Falkirk gulped. "Erm...yes." He said without really thinking.

"Thank you, I need to fuel up the car. These bushes and dead branches will do."

"Is there anything I can do?" the queen bounded over with her golden hair floating dreamily in the breeze.

"No your majesty." Otto replied. "I just want you to watch."

"Oh." The queen did not look amused. "Well. I'll get us some food then."

"I can do that!" Another fairy called from where he stood at the tip of the forest entrance.

"Oh." The queen called back with disappointment in her voice. "Ok."

As Falkirk disappeared into the dense forest and the other fairies went about preparing this trial run of the 'car', the queen sullenly went off to the beach front and stared up at the sun hanging lazily over the sea; her wide blue eyes drifted across the sparkling waters and caught sight of birds soaring up into the clear sky as some flying fish danced on the ocean's steady waves.

She sat and allowed herself to be lost in thought while excited chatter continued around her. The heat of the day began to take its toll and she could feel her eyes slowly drooping.

After a couple of hours, the 'car' was ready for its maiden test; all they had to do now was wait for Falkirk to return with a dinosaur.

While they waited Otto stroked his wild hair back away from his eyes with dirty hands, leaving a smear of grime going up his face like a scar. He noticed the queen lying back on the beach and went over to her, the tide had started to come in and her bare toes were gently being splashed by the waves.

"No sign of Falkirk your highness."

"No." the queen replied without opening her eyes.

"I must invent a device that can communicate at distance, a walking talking box; a walkie-talkie if you like." Otto said dreamily.

"Sounds good." The queen replied with little excitement in her voice.

"Are you feeling alright your majesty?" Otto enquired, much like a doctor would in a matter-of-fact kind of way.

"No." The queen spoke with fear in her voice. "I sometimes wonder what it is I'm doing, what I'm waiting for. I wish we could find him"

"Of course, your son, I'm sorry your majesty. In all this excitement we seemed to have forgotten that dreadful news." Otto replied.

He sat down next to his queen and stared out at the bejewelled ocean ahead of him.

"Beautiful isn't it?" the queen said as she raised her body up onto her elbows.

"Yes." Otto agreed.

"It was once ours, it once belonged to all fairy-kind, then terrible greed gently allowed it to slip through our wings."

"Yes." Otto lowered his head and stared at the sand glistening between his bare knees.

"The pterodactyl that brought me the message, it didn't fear me; it just stood there and allowed me to stroke its beak. There is a way for this world to once again come together."

"I hope so your majesty." Otto whispered.

As he replied, they were interrupted by a manic rustling in the trees, followed by the screeching cry of a dinosaur. All of the fairies froze, not daring to move in case of sudden attack, they stared in the direction of the noise. With a flash, a large green shape fell out of the trees and onto the sand, it wriggled itself back up onto its feet and standing on its hind legs the creature was about eight feet tall; on the dinosaurs back, Falkirk clung on desperately, his arms and legs wrapped tightly around the neck and belly of the reptile.

"I did it!" Falkirk sang with joy.

The captured oviraptor barked in a kind of reply.

All the fairies stopped and watched, half in fear and half in admiration. The queen rushed over with Otto following her and was the first to come up close to Falkirk and his catch.

The dinosaur stopped wriggling its neck and its eyes fell on the queen, he snorted, sending a brief gust of air powerfully from his nostril, then he stood majestically still and bowed his head to the queen.

"Magic." She whispered.

"Perfect Falkirk. Is he ready to go?" Otto said as he ran his hand over the leathery skin of the dinosaur.

"Sooner the better." Falkirk struggled and forced a smile as he hung on.

Otto turned to his helpers up on the deck of the car. "Fire her up!" he bellowed.

An enormous bang flew into the air as the huge galleon became a glorious cloud of smoke. The engine purred as fire leapt from its stern and the huge ship on wheels began to move steadily towards the top edge of the clearing on the beach.

"Turn her around and face her southward down the beach, there's a good distance there to run!" Otto instructed.

The large bulk manoeuvred awkwardly in the sand and turned to face south, its bow facing an enormous stretch of seafront that seemed to stretch for miles.

Otto turned to his queen. "If you would excuse me your majesty, I'd like to ride this one."

"Of course, go and have your fun." The queen smiled.

Otto galloped off like an excited boy who had been allowed to play with his best ever birthday present.

The queen turned to Falkirk and his dinosaur.

"Is he ok?" she asked Falkirk.

"I think so, I explained it to him and I think he understood me."

The dinosaur nodded slowly and winked one eye at the queen.

"Thank you." She nodded to the dinosaur before turning her gaze to Falkirk. "Are you going to ride him too?"

Falkirk grinned. "Wouldn't miss it for the world!"

As they lined up, the engines of the 'car' purred like a happy cat; Falkirk and his steed lowered their heads into racing positions, if Falkirk were wearing goggles this is the point he would have lowered them.

Otto was wearing his however and he stood at the wheel with a look of steely determination on his face.

"On my mark!" Otto cried from the deck of his creation. "Three – two – one – away we go!"

As the crowd of on-looking fairies all stepped back in unison, sand flew up into the air as the dinosaur was the first one to kick itself away and took an instant commanding lead.

The 'car', once it had got its huge wheels moving forwards in the soft sand, soon started to get good speed in an effort to catch up with Falkirk.

On deck, Otto steered the wheel and his wide eyes stared purposefully through his round goggles like a racing driver.

He shrieked as the speed got faster and faster. "This is fantastic!"

Otto threw his 'car' into another gear and before long the bough of the galleon was at the tip of the oviraptor's tail.

With another blow of smoke from the windows of the captain's quarters where the engine was housed, the car and the dinosaur were level; Falkirk yelped with joy as the wind tore through his wispy hair. Otto waved manically down at his competition then kicked the 'car' into another gear as the wheels gripped the beach and it raced ahead.

This only spurred the dinosaur on more and it somehow found more speed in those powerful legs, spraying sand up behind him; before long they were back to being on equal terms.

Suddenly, while at top speed, Otto noticed that the beach was running out.

"Oh beach!" he said before turning to his crew. "Hold on tight, we're going to hit the..."

Before he could finish, the 'car', made up of bits of wood, an engine from metals found in Grouch Mountain and an old pirate's galleon, hit the waves with a loud splash; water flew up into the sky and trickled down like rain onto the backs of Falkirk and his oviraptor. They skidded to a stop and watched as the ship bobbed about precariously, before finally finding its balance to settle calmly in the ocean.

Then they heard a loud cheer from high up on the deck of the 'car'.

"We did it!" Came the roar from a very hoarse Otto.

From a small rock, neatly tucked away and out of sight from everyone, a small fairy boy sat and watched the race with a huge grin on his face. He watched with triumph as his dinosaur friend, Jim, roared into the air with pride at winning this race against the fairies. The fairy boy punched the air with delight, being careful not to cry out and then disappeared into the trees, safely out of sight.

### Chapter Sixteen of...

High in the sky, drifting through the soft white clouds and keeping pace with wild herds of pterodactyls, Dodgy Dave's jagged galleon soared through the air; held up by 200 balloons tethered to all the crooked bits of splintered wood from the dark vessel.

The boat creaked as the wind pushed it along; the strings of the balloons stretched and moaned with the weight of the vessel.

Capden Den sat with his back leaning into the ship's spiky wood and kept his knees up tight to his chest; he looked up nervously at the collection of brightly coloured balls of rubber holding them up.

"Are they going to hold?" he cried.

Prince Purplerain leaned on the ship's wheel deep in thought. "Yes." His words sparkled like sunbeams.

"Good idea, it would've taken weeks to get to the retreat, this cuts it down by..." Capden Den started to count on his fingers but soon realised he had no chance of doing the sums.

"We'll be there soon." The prince cut in and smiled as he saved the captain from working it out. "It was either balloons or a powered rudder to speed us along, but it's easier to make magic in thin air than it is in thick water."

The prince fluttered his wings and shot upwards towards the tip of the black sails where Princess Caldora sat in the crow's nest.

He smiled, beating his wings to stay level with her. "Still on course?" he asked.

"Yes. Making good time, I can see the tip of the third isle just beyond the 156th balloon." She confirmed as her words sprinkled into the air.

The prince looked out at the rainbow of colour ahead of him and to the 156th balloon.

"Oh yes." He smiled nervously.

"Are you worried?" the princess looked up at her love with a calming look of re-assurance.

"Not really, it's just..."

"I know." Caldora cut in. "Dinosaurs."

"Yes, the T-Rex is the one dinosaur who won't forgive fairies."

"But times are changing." Princess Caldora reassured him and she gave her prince a warm kiss on the cheek.

Grand Hippo Raz rolled around in the golden sand making thick spirals with her heavy hooves; she stared up at the intense glow of the sun as it beat down on her large grey belly. The sea just beyond her feet eased in slowly and gracefully, before falling back as the tide of the waves breathed with a soft tinkling. She listened to its music, to the sound of the sea gently going about its routine.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard a small pop in the sky, as if a cloud had released a tiny burp. She looked up and squinted. She was sure that she could see a small boat blowing across the blue sky with hundreds of balloons. There was another small pop and she saw one of the balloons completely disappear.

Grand Hippo Raz slowly arched her large bulk up onto her feet and called out to her other holistic hippos.

"Girls!" she bellowed. "Did you hear that pop? They're coming."

On the far side of the Third Isle of Solitude, Queen Loukatos stood in the middle of her band of fairies congratulating Fairies Otto and Falkirk on a very successful race; the two brave racers waved back in recognition with breathless excitement.

All of a sudden the queen's attention was diverted to the sky; she looked up as she heard a popping sound from above and the queen saw a boat flying in the sky with a flock of balloons all around it. There was another pop, then another, until suddenly the small ship began to gently fall, its large bulk becoming bigger and bigger to the fairies on the ground.

"Oh my!" she exclaimed and pointed up. "What's that?"

Otto raised his head from where he stood on the deck of his 'car'; Falkirk looked up at the bright sky while gently patting his new dinosaur friend. All of them glanced upwards into the bright sun and shielded their eyes to see a flying boat coming steadily down towards them. Otto snorted with a hint of jealousy and looked away. Falkirk though saw things differently and his wise stare instantly knew the problem.

"Your majesty." Falkirk calmly spoke. "I think that may be your daughter."

As soon as those words left Falkirk's lips the cacophony of popping got louder and more frequent and the fairies watched helplessly as tens of balloons disappeared from the sky all at once, vanishing into thin air as if by magic. The ship lurched awkwardly in the sky, swaying dangerously from side to side and increasingly out of control. Then it fell sharply as another set of balloons from the rear of the boat disappeared. Without being able to do anything, the fairies watched with shock as all of the balloons popped in one huge bang and the jagged galleon suddenly started to descend with fury towards the trees below. The fairies could only look on in helpless awe as the large pirate galleon plummeted down and disappeared at great speed into the dense woods just beyond the beach.

All fell silent, even the sea seemed to stop for a second. Queen Loukatos waited, her heart pounding in her chest until the calm was destroyed by an almighty and painful crash that sent tiny birds soaring with panic into the air.

"Come on!" the queen ordered with steely purpose.

But just as the fairies began to run into the trees they were stopped in their tracks by an enormous roar that sent a chill down the spine of every fairy.

The queen held up her hand to steady everyone then slowly started to tread forward into the forest.

### Chapter Seventeen of...

Bill woke with a start and the first thing he tried to do was remember.

The forest he found himself in was deathly quiet; not a sound or a stir.

Bill slowly got to his feet, each limb aching. He stared down, feeling his bruised knees and bloodied arms; then at his torn tunic, his aching feet and his ripped hands. Wiping the blood away on his trousers, he felt at his face for any cuts and bruises and stared out at the mess on the forest floor. Dodgy Dave's boat was completely broken; a twisted carcass of a galleon that resembled an old dinosaur's skeleton. This would take weeks to fix, if not more, he thought.

Bill looked around for any sign of his friends, he heard a soft murmuring noise from a bush and rushed over to the toppled crow's nest lying awkwardly in between two broad trees; amid the heavy branches and thick foliage Bill saw the tiny hand of Princess Caldora. Immediately he darted over and took hold of it. The princess replied by clasping her fingers around his blood stained and sore hand, Bill winced, but his grip was tight and there was no way he was letting go.

"Come on." Bill's voice was breaking, coarse with pain. "I've got you."

Princess Caldora's knuckles were bruised and raw; small drops of blood on her fingers glistened like little beads of fire.

"Is that you Bill?" came a gentle voice that still sung from within the mess of broken greenery.

"Yes princess, you ok?"

"I think so, just a bit light-headed."

Bill pulled away at the branches covering the princess and as he removed each bit of the heavy foliage he saw her; for a second the sight of the princess made Bill feel so beautiful he wanted to sing.

As he freed her, he stood her up and held the princess in his arms, checking her up and down for any sign of serious injury.

"You look like you're checking if I could make a pirate." The princess chuckled like a delicate bird.

"You look all right, just a few small cuts. Lucky you were in the crow's nest."

"Yes." The princess replied shakily.

Thankful to be alive, she touched Bill's bruised face and leant in to give him a warm embrace. Then they parted and the two of them began to call out frantically for Capden Den and Prince Purplerain.

Bill immediately rummaged and fumbled through the broken bracken and needled leaves like a mad man, he pulled at the knife-like edges of the broken ship, but he could not find either the prince or the captain.

Suddenly the princess called out from a door that led into the hull of the ship.

"Here!" she screamed. "In the captain's quarters!"

A bulky tree trunk blocked the door and had crushed it inwards. Bill groaned as he tried to move it but it would not budge. Finding strength inside him, he pulled again at the weighty wood and gradually moved the thick trunk away from the doorway. Taking hold of the handle, he twisted it and was able to peel open the mangled door. Inside the prince lay on his front, one arm was tucked under his body but with his other he managed to stick a thumb up to indicate he was alive.

"He'll be all right." Bill sighed with relief. He reached in to examine the stricken prince. "Just a few cuts and bruises."

"Thank goodness." The princess whispered.

Bill reached in and got his hands underneath the body of the prince just enough, so that the prince could ease himself up and out of the hole.

"Now then, where's the captain?" Bill said as he looked around the wreckage for any sign of movement.

Bill took in every tiny fracture of the battered hull; surveying carefully for any sign of an arm sticking up, or a boot, or anything. But there was nothing.

"He could be buried anywhere under here," Bill feared. "Or he could have been thrown off before we landed. We may never see him again."

The princess felt tears come to her eyes and looked pleadingly towards her prince.

"We need to face it," Bill mourned. "The captain could be dead."

They all fell silent and looked down mournfully at the deck of the stolen ship.

Suddenly they were startled awake by a clumping coming from the forest. With panic they looked over, only to see Capden Den breezing through the trees carrying an armful of fruit. The captain saw them all looking sadly towards him and smiled.

"Oh. You're awake then?" Capden Den waved.

Bill turned to the fairies and shared a huge grin with Princess Caldora.

"What?" the captain said with a shrug.

None of them could bring themselves to reply.

"What?" Capden Den asked again. He looked down at what he was carrying.

"You never seen fruit before?"

Bill ran over to his captain laughing. "We thought you were buried!" He exclaimed excitedly.

"Well, if I was, you weren't doing a very good job of un-burying me!" The captain replied with a hint of anger.

Bill put his arms around the captain, almost causing him to drop the armful of fruit.

"All right you old softie. I'm ok, are you, is everyone?"

Bill could only nod his answer.

"Go on with you." Capden Den wiped a tear from Bill's eye with his elbow. "Anyone would think you'd missed me."

The prince and princess came over and gave Capden Den a calming pat on the arm. A bemused Capden Den only started to give out the fruit.

"We need to eat." The captain said matter-of-factly. "Before that T-Rex comes we need strength."

Everyone stopped what they were doing and stared in disbelief at their captain. Prince Purplerain dropped the orange he was just about to tuck into.

Bill stepped forward. "T...T-Rex?" he stuttered.

"Yeah." The captain said as he started to peel a banana.

"Have you heard the T-Rex?" The princess spoke anxiously.

"Yeah." The captain said as he took a bite from the tip of his banana.

"And how far away is he?" the prince came forward with absolute fear in his eyes.

The captain looked up at the six eyes staring back at him with wildness and terror.

"What?" the captain laughed as he finished his banana. "Ok, we need to go he's probably near."

Capden Den ambled lazily across the hulk of the battered galleon kicking away at debris with the air of a man who had no cares in the world. The others just stood still, staring at this mad man in shock.

Realising they weren't following, Capden Den turned to his colleagues and sighed.

"Look, you better come now, because the T-Rex has been following me here and if he gets to us then we're all in for it, he had a hungry look in his eyes, made me go all shivery."

The other three continued to stare hard at their captain, open mouthed. Capden Den shrugged and laughed as he watched Bill and the princess each drop the fruit they were holding, one after the other.

"Come on, it'll be fine, I've got the better of him so far." The captain laughed.

Capden Den waited for his colleagues for a moment; then slapped his thigh with bemusement.

"Fine, stand there like statues if that's what you want. But if you want to be safe then you'd better stick with me."

With that, Capden Den turned to meet the fierce green eyes and ferocious smile of a hungry T-Rex standing directly over him.

### 

### Chapter Eighteen of...

The giant T-Rex bent down low and stared into the vacant eyes of a stunned Capden Den; then let out an almighty roar that pierced the air.

The captain could only stand there in shocked silence while his hair was swept back by the force of the stale breath from the dinosaur. Sticky yellow saliva from the throat of the beast flew onto Capden Den's face, plunging into his open mouth. Finally, the dinosaur finished its roar and fell silent with a satisfied glint in its enormous eyes, watching the small figure of the captain and waiting for a reaction; all Capden Den could think to do was wipe his eye of the gooey spit with his sleeve, so he did.

At this apparent lack of respect for the king of the dinosaurs the beast roared again with even more venom and power than before; forcing Capden Den to fall backwards a little, as he struggled to stand upright in the howling gale blowing from the T-Rex's stomach.

As the raging thunder continued, Capden Den peered through sticky eyes deep into the huge mouth of fierce teeth and spongy tongue ahead of him; he then took his banana peel that he was still holding and threw it into the gaping throat of the reptile.

The roar was silenced instantly as the T-Rex began to gag; it wriggled in discomfort as the banana skin sat uncomfortably on the back of its tongue; it flailed uncontrollably while fighting to breathe.

Capden Den turned to his three pale-faced on-lookers.

"Run!" he cried.

Capden Den took the lead, heading away from the mammoth reptile into the dense forest, with the others instinctively running with him; then Bill started to slow down.

"Where are we going?" he bellowed.

"The beach!" The captain replied while running. "This way!" He pointed.

"The beach? Why the beach?" Bill cried.

"Because dinosaurs hate sand."

Bill stopped dead in his tracks.

"Who told you that?"

The captain skidded to a halt and turned to his first mate, keeping an eye on the writhing body of the suffocating T-Rex in the distance.

"I don't know some expert...on eggs...an egg-expert."

"And he knows about dinosaurs?"

Capden Den sighed. "How do I know...I just presume...assume...accuse...I just guessed that if he knew about eggs he'd know about dinosaurs."

Bill looked at his captain in disbelief, and then shrugged. "Ok."

"Come on then!" the captain barked as he began to run again with the two fairies.

But Bill split off in another direction.

"Where are you going?" Capden Den called.

"The beach! This way!" Bill pointed.

Capden Den stared at his two panic-stricken fairies, waved his hands in the air with exasperation, before running towards Bill.

But before any of them could reach Bill, angry and enormous jaws appeared from a dense hiding place in the trees and swept Bill's body up in an instant.

There was a massive cry from Bill as his body flailed like a doll in the powerful lock of the T-Rex's bite.

"Bill!" Capden Den screamed.

In a second, Prince Purplerain flew up into the air and landed hard on the head of the hungry reptile; he pounded with his fists at the tough leathery skin but it had no effect as the beast's huge teeth tore at Bill's body. As the mighty dinosaur ripped at Bill, he shook the fairy prince off, swatting him away as if he was nothing more than an annoying fly. The prince flew through the air and landed painfully against the trunk of a tree.

Capden Den hurried over to take the beast on and rammed his weight into the thick and heavy leg of the creature, bouncing off it as if he were nothing more than a beach ball.

"Leave my friend alone!" the captain screamed passionately as he used all his strength to grab hold of the massive green stump, in an attempt to make the dinosaur lose balance.

The T-Rex simply flicked his foot up and kicked the captain off, his body flying into the air and landing hard in a nest of bushes.

There was another excruciating cry of pain from Bill before the T-Rex released his grip and sent the stricken pirate soaring high into the air and across the forest canopy, to land with a thud in a small clump of green bracken.

Princess Caldora immediately flew over to where Bill had landed as the T-Rex turned his attention to the captain and the prince.

Suddenly there was a loud crack in the sky and a ball of flame appeared from out of the clouds, the flame shot across the air landing perfectly onto the tip of the T-Rex's head. The monster roared in pain as fire dripped into his eyes and mouth. Without a moments thought, the reptile turned away in surprise and fled into the forest, disappearing as quickly as it had arrived. Princess Caldora watched the reptile go and saw a small figure hiding in the bushes with another, smaller dinosaur leaning over his shoulder behind him.

The princess stared in amazement at the small boy in the bushes.

"Paxtol!" She cried. "It's me!"

The boy watched her and she noticed his eyes glistened with tears.

"Wait!" she screamed towards the hiding figure and leapt forward, but before she could reach him, she saw two wings flutter busily away and vanish into the darkness of the jungle.

All fell quiet; the wind whistled high above them in the canopy of trees. Capden Den, bruised and bloodied, got up and nursed his aching back. Prince Purplerain rubbed his sore knees that were battered by the harsh ground when he landed awkwardly. Princess Caldora emerged from the small clump of foliage and faced Capden Den.

"Captain," she whispered in a sad song. "You'd better come over here quickly."

"Bill!" Capden Den grieved as he ran over to where the princess was standing. The prince quickly ran over to join them.

They all looked down at the stricken body of Bill; He was covered in deep gashes along his stomach and across his arms. The creature's teeth had torn at him ferociously and he laid still, semi-conscious, his body distorted and his lungs struggling for each painful breath.

Bill slowly opened his eyes and looked up at his captain and friend.

"Captain." Bill said weakly.

Capden Den knelt down beside Bill's ruined body and clasped his hand.

"Bill." Den whispered.

Bill smiled and his eyes filled with tears. The princess, standing over Bill's body, moved closer to her prince and wrapped herself in his arms.

Capden Den wiped at Bill's face, feeling the warm water of his tears on his fingertips.

"I wish I could..." but the captain's voice broke as his eyes started to well up.

"There was nothing you could do." Bill coughed as he breathed. "Thank you."

Bill's eyes glistened and softened as he stared hard at his captain, not wanting to take his eyes off him.

Capden Den stroked Bill's blood matted hair. "We had some fun didn't we?"

"We did." Bill smiled. "Make sure you get them home, safely. Forget about that bounty now." Bill said, his eyes motioning towards the two tearful fairies.

"Yes, you're right, I will." Capden Den whispered, trying to hold back his tears.

"You have power captain, you need to know something..." Bill coughed again as his body began to shut down.

"Don't speak, just lie still." The captain whispered as he clasped tighter at Bill's hand.

"No." Bill struggled. "You need to know captain, I found you, here in these woods; I found you and you were not like me...you were like them."

"Like who?" Capden Den muttered.

Bill's eyes turned again towards the two fairies. "You're a fairy, captain, you're not a pirate." Then Bill laughed quietly, as if he had just told the best joke in the world, wincing, as the pain in his chest got steadily worse. "Shouldn't laugh, it hurts. But you made a good pirate." He finished.

Capden Den knelt in silence and smiled at his friend. He squeezed at Bill's hand as tears began to fall from his eyes.

"Stay safe captain..." Bill spoke very quietly. "I will miss us."

And then Bill closed his eyes and his head fell gently to the side.

The three of them watched as Bill took his final breath; then the forest fell silent again.

Capden Den took the hand he was holding tightly and placed it gently over the stricken torso of his former second in command. Then he got up and without looking at anyone or anything, he walked away.

"Where are you going?" the princess called after him.

"The beach." Capden Den mumbled through his tears.

Chapter Nineteen of....

Capden Den trudged slowly through the forest; kicking his feet through the brown leaves and dead branches on the ground and even though birds sang above him and trees moaned in the breeze, the captain heard nothing inside. Capden Den looked down at his hands, covered in Bill's blood. He still wanted to feel the warm tears on his fingertips. What was he going to do now? He thought. Without Bill, there is no Capden Den.

As he walked he became aware of a presence nearby; looking up, he saw ahead of him two adult fairies; for a moment he thought it was the prince and princess and paid them no attention, wanting to be alone and with his thoughts. Until he noticed that one of the fairies had glittering silver hair and another had a perfect golden light covering her body like a protective shield, matching her flowing gold hair.

For a split second the captain thought he had been walking for years and not realised that the prince and princess had grown so old, so he stopped and stared closer at the two fairies. Ahead of him, Queen Loukatos gasped.

"You!" She cried with shock.

Capden Den looked around to see if they were talking to someone else, but there was no one behind him.

He pointed to himself. "Me?" he asked.

"Him?" Falkirk looked to his queen.

"Who?" Capden Den asked again.

The queen walked towards the grief stricken pirate and touched his arm gently with her sparkling hand.

"I thought that you were dead." She spoke quietly.

"He is...I'm not." The captain mumbled, indicating to where Bill still lay.

The queen smiled warmly, took the captain in both her arms and wrapped them around his body; all the captain could do was sink into the welcoming embrace of the fairy queen as he started to cry.

The queen stroked the captain's hair as if he were her child; she turned to Falkirk and called him over.

"Make sure that the T-Rex has gone then find Prince Purplerain and my daughter; I need to know that they're safe."

Without a word Falkirk flew off in the direction the captain had come from, leaving the queen supporting the crumbling pirate in her arms.

"The fairies never thought you were alive, but here you are and a pirate too; ironic."

Capden Den sniffed and blew his nose on the perfect white linen of the queen's gown.

"Let it all out." She said softly.

"Did you do it?" the captain bawled into the shoulder of the queen.

"Do what?" the queen asked gently.

"Save us."

"No, did someone save you?"

Falkirk hurried towards the two fairies still standing still in the clearing over Bill's body.

"Are you two hurt?" Falkirk bellowed with concern.

"A little, but we're fine." The prince said flatly.

Falkirk saw the half eaten body of Bosun Bill on the ground. He turned his gaze up towards the prince and princess.

"Princess Caldora, your mother is talking to a pirate, I presume part of the same crew as this man." Falkirk said as he indicated towards the body of Bill.

Princess Caldora sobbed a little.

"They are good men, they helped us and they've suffered for it." She cried.

"We should get out of here." Falkirk said with unease.

But the princess did not move. She looked at her prince then toward Falkirk, whose ancient eyes darted about the forest searching for any sign of danger.

"There was someone over in the bushes a few yards away, he had a dinosaur standing over him and he saved us."

"Really?" Falkirk said without really listening.

"I think it was Paxtol, my brother."

Falkirk was suddenly alert and his attention instantly turned to the princess.

"Where?" He demanded.

"He's gone." The princess replied.

"Are you sure?"

"He's not there anymore." The princess spoke with a little anger.

"We need to find him." Falkirk said like a man possessed until the prince took hold of Falkirk's arm.

For a moment Falkirk was so enraged that he wanted to scream at the prince.

"We'll find him. He's on this island that's the important thing." The prince said firmly. "For now we need to make sure Bill's body is dealt with and take the princess to the queen." The prince instructed.

Falkirk grudgingly agreed, knowing that the prince was right, but hating every thought of being told what to do by someone so young.

Capden Den remained wrapped in the arms of the queen of the fairies. Sobbing away and making a mess with his tears and bogies on the queen's beautiful white gown.

"Do you know me?" the captain asked while still in the arms of the queen.

"Do I know you? Why, do you not know you?" Queen Loukatos replied.

"Yes, but...no."

The queen lifted Capden Den's head away from her dripping gown so that she could look at him. She saw pain in his bloodshot eyes and she wiped away his tears tenderly with her fingertips.

"Well you have changed, suppose you had to, but you're still in there." She smiled.

"Am I a fairy?" Capden Den enquired with curiosity and fear.

"You were." The queen said as she stroked lovingly at the captain's face.

Falkirk returned with the sad and sorrowful figures of Prince Purplerain and Princess Caldora.

As the princess saw her mother she ran to her and the queen gently released her grip on the captain to take her daughter in her arms.

"My darling, are you alright?"

"Yes mother, but Bill..."

The queen squeezed her daughter tightly then spoke to everyone.

"You've had quite a journey; we should head back to our camp and you can tell me everything that has happened."

As soon as she spoke there was a loud rumble and Prince Purplerain immediately tensed himself for another fight with a T-Rex.

There was a bang, a huge cloud of black smoke and an enormous galleon on wheels crashed through the trees, stopping just before them.

Capden Den watched in disbelief and burst out laughing.

"What in the name of all the hippo's in the world is that?" he bellowed.

"It's a car." Falkirk sighed.

"A car? It's a ship...on wheels." The captain, in the uncontrollable emotions of his grief, suddenly found he could not stop laughing.

"No, it's the future, travelling at high speeds on land, it could change the world." Falkirk argued.

"But it's a pirate ship, on big wooden wheels, not very good wheels either."

Falkirk looked at the captain with slight disgust.

"This has taken years to modify, it's state of the art."

But the captain could not control himself.

"State of the art?" he cried. "It's certainly a state and I wouldn't call it art."

Falkirk glared at this idiot pirate while the queen and her daughter looked on in amusement. Falkirk then turned his back in disgust and walked towards the car, grumbling to himself as he did.

Capden Den lifted his hands up to the sky and looked at his skin. He studied himself curiously, checking his face and rubbing his hands over his beard. Then he stopped and turned to the watching group of fairies.

"If Bill was right and I'm a fairy," he asked. "Why does my skin not glow?"

### Chapter Twenty of...

Grand Hippo Raz sat in her usual position on her beach and did her usual thing of watching the sky with its gently drifting clouds. As she listened to her breath softly inhaling and exhaling, she could hear the breeze whisper to her of all the things that had gone on that day.

The sun had gone, leaving behind a brightening moon lighting the thick clouds that were as grey and dense as her tough leathery skin.

The great and wise hippo sniffed deeply to breathe in the evening air, and soaked up the words as they travelled upwards to the moon; something dreadful and painful was lurking on the horizon. The breeze sighed. A storm unlike any this world had ever seen.

As Raz lay deep in thought she felt a large shadow fall over her and for a second she saw this as a sign of dark days to come. She opened one eye to check and saw the enormous bulk of fellow hippo, Rememberto. Not so grand or wise, but equally as large.

Raz looked up and smiled invitingly, "Sit down Rem."

Hippo Rememberto lowered her body onto the sand next to Raz and wriggled her bottom into a comfortable position.

"Can you feel it coming?" Raz asked mournfully.

"I feel something." Rememberto agreed.

"It must be strong then." Raz mused.

Rememberto shuffled before asking, "What is it?"

Raz looked up once again at the intense sky then down towards her younger friend.

"War, my dear." Raz sighed. "A great and terrible war in which there will be no winners."

Rememberto whistled through her large teeth, as if someone had told her how much her beach cave was worth; then the two sat in silence for a moment.

Finally, Rememberto spoke up. "The girls keep gossiping." She said to break the solemn silence.

"What about this time?" Raz asked.

"When you fell in the water."

Grand Hippo Raz blushed through her dark cheeks then let out a small chuckle.

"That was funny." Raz agreed between giggles.

"They keep saying that you should have known that was going to happen."

Raz turned her face and her other eye met Rememberto's gaze.

"How do they know I didn't?"

Rememberto could not think of an answer, she just nodded, like a student who had been told something very wise from her teacher and mentor.

Raz continued to speak in her gentle but knowing way. "Just because we can see things, doesn't mean we have the power to alter the outcome."

"No." Rememberto agreed.

"I remember Rememberto," Raz rolled on to her side and turned her body fully for her little lecture. "The great dinosaur war between the fairies to the south and the dinosaurs to the north; terrible, hurtful time, we hippos were caught right in the middle of it all. The T-Rex asking us for guidance as much as the fairies; trouble was we would tell them and then they would go and do something different for surprise, of course, we knew that would happen too. It was a bitter and long war, lots of death...too much. Not sure this one will be quite so bad, but it will change things. Now he now knows who he once was."

Rememberto nodded again in wise, pupil-like agreement, though she really had no idea what Raz was talking about, as she was born after the great dinosaur war. She had seen it in her studies, but Rememberto struggled to remember facts like that.

"I think," Raz continued. "This will finally bring some peace to our world, certainly between two of the races, but at what cost? War has a habit of asking a high price."

Raz finished her speech and indicated this by shifting her body back around to stare back up at the sky.

Rememberto just sat there nodding for no reason, like a toy dog in the back of someone's car. But unlike a nodding dog, Rememberto nodded in wise, if slightly confused, agreement.

### Chapter Twenty-One of...

Queen Loukatos sat on the matted floor of her wooden hut; it wasn't palatial by any means, but when she decided to leave the oppression of her husband's selfish rule she wanted something entirely different from what she was used to. First of all, she stopped using the title of queen, though people still called her your majesty; then she gave everyone equal power to make decisions, though everyone looked to her for the final say on things; finally, she decided that she would live like all her fellow fairies, no luxuries, no unfair distribution of food, complete fairness. The trouble was, everyone gave her gifts and made sure she was well looked after.

Queen Loukatos sat in her hut facing the roaring fire and the sad, sunken body of Capden Den; she gently bathed his cuts and bruises from a bowl of water and ragged leaves, while the thought kept coming to her that the time to face her husband was approaching.

"How are you feeling?" the queen asked the captain as he stared down at his lap.

"Empty." The captain whispered.

"Have some hot tea, that should help."

The queen lifted a cup of warm green tea that was beside her and offered it to Capden Den; slowly he took it and gently sipped at the earthy liquid.

"Oww!" he cried as the tea burnt the tip of his tongue.

"It's hot." The queen warned.

"I know that now!" Capden Den glared then smiled at the golden glow of the fairy in front of him. "I know you from somewhere don't I?"

Queen Loukatos blushed a little and her heart skipped a beat, her eyes could no longer meet his and she decided the best thing to do was look down at her lap.

"Yes." She muttered with embarrassment.

Capden Den thought for a moment, but it came to nothing.

"Am I really a fairy?" he asked.

"Yes." The queen said to her lap.

"But I don't have any wings."

"No."

"Why not?"

Queen Loukatos met the gaze of the captain and a tear fell from her eye.

"They were taken from you, together with your magic. It's amazing to see you alive, and looking so well."

"But I don't remember anything about that, I know Bill found me and took me in, but before that, there's nothing."

The queen looked sadly at the captain, wanting to tell him, but afraid that too much information so quickly would do some damage to his already fragile state of mind.

"Maybe it will come back with time." She said with a soft smile that sent sparkles of light onto Capden Den's nose.

"I hope so." The captain replied.

"So do I." The queen agreed.

As a silence fell in the hut, Falkirk burst in excitedly.

"You had better come quickly your majesty!" He snarled with fear in his voice.

Queen Loukatos shot up and turned swiftly to Falkirk.

"What?" She ordered.

"Just come. You too." Falkirk pointed to the pirate huddled on the floor.

As the queen left her hut she emerged into a frenzy of chaos on her beach. Fairies flew around busily, gathering their belongings and shouting angrily to each other. As Capden Den came out all of their scorn poured to him. The queen glared at Falkirk.

"What's going on!" she raged.

Falkirk said nothing, instead he pointed out to sea and to a large galleon sailing quickly towards them.

"It seems your pirate has been followed and more pirates are on their way."

Queen Loukatos spun around to Capden Den, who squinted out to sea trying to make out who the boat belonged to.

"I didn't bring them, but I did steal a boat, perhaps they're after that...oh no!" Capden Den exclaimed with sudden realisation.

"What?" the queen struggled to keep her voice from sounding angry.

"It could be Dodgy Dave."

Falkirk laughed with exasperation.

"Who? Dodgy Dave? What kind of name is that?"

"It's not his name you should be worried about." Capden Den snorted in reply.

The captain then sprung to life and turned to the queen.

"Get out of here your majesty, get everyone together and go, this is my fight."

The queen ordered all of her fairies to gather in the 'car' immediately and they all hurried to obey. Luckily, living as they did, they did not have much to pack away. As the pirate ship got closer and closer the final fairy clambered up into the 'car'.

Falkirk waved up at Otto Mobil, who stood poised and ready at the helm of his creation, then turned to the queen.

"The car is packed and everyone is on board. We need to leave soon if we're going to beat the storm that seems to be coming." Otto cried.

"Which storm?" the queen sighed, looking up at the moonless sky and then at the large galleon.

Shouts could be heard from the oncoming ship, angry noises of wild pirates ready to fight.

"That one." He bellowed.

Capden Den sat alone on the beach while all the fairies prepared to leave. His thoughts kept racing from Bill, to Dodgy Dave and to the reward that he had now refused to pursue. He knew none of these fairies trusted him, if that was the case then how could he be a fairy himself?

The queen looked over to Capden Den, trying to find some semblance of the man he once was. For a moment she was lost in the past while she stood at the gangplank that led to the deck of the 'car'. Queen Loukatos fought back a tear and then tried to disguise it with a small nervous cough; she turned her attention to Falkirk standing next to her.

"Get the engines ready. We're going." She ordered.

Falkirk nodded at his queen, glared at Capden Den, then darted up the plank into the 'car'.

The queen was the last aboard and went straight over to the helm where Fairy Otto stood proudly.

"Ah, your majesty, all ready." He confirmed. "I've put all the food we can carry in the hold, there's plenty of sleeping space and we can fit all the fairies on board comfortably. You have the room at the back, the captains' quarters. I'll stay here at the helm...wheel...not sure what to call...still undecided...anyway your highness we are ready. She's got a full tank of fuel and your daughter has agreed to be our navigation from the skies, I likened her to a sort of satellite sending instructions from high up in the air; almost like a satellite navigation service...sat-nav. Brave girl your daughter is, wonderful, she even told me how to fix the broken axle."

The queen raised her hand to quiet down an excited Fairy Otto.

"Thank you." She said. "I want to speak to everyone before we go."

"Come with me your majesty, there's a perfect platform on board for you to give your pearls of wisdom; great place, these pirates must give wonderful speeches all the time." Otto rambled as he indicated to the bridge of the ship.

As the queen moved to the centre of the deck the small band of rebel fairies gathered around her in silence and expectation. Their voices fell to a hushed whisper as the queen took to the small stage. She looked out at her loyal and respected audience, the night cast a blue glow on the faces of her daughter, Prince Purplerain and Falkirk; she smiled and then spoke with a gentle nervousness.

"Fairies, first of all thank you for the last few days, we really have come far. But now we face a threat and must return to finish what it was we started six months ago. We must go back to our kingdom, to our friends and relations and get back what it was that my brutal husband so foolishly took away, our freedom. We fairies should be a fair race, we do not have hate in our heart, we have magic and love, it is time we showed this world what true fairies are and bring unity to all the islands. It will be hard and we will have to fight, but if we can get enough fairies on our side then we can be strong; we may be small at the moment but because we are right we will grow. So thank you and hold this truth in your hearts, we are doing the right thing, for us and for everyone else who shares this world with us."

As the queen stopped there was silence; all the fairies just stood there agreeing, but waiting for something that would tear them away from their thoughts and give them a reason to set sail.

That someone was a small fairy boy, charging along the sand on the back of a dinosaur.

"Mummy!" The boy yelled, waving with one hand and holding on with the other.

"Oh my..." the queen could not finish as her eyes lit up when she saw her son bounding towards her.

"Mother!" The fairy boy cried again as he put both his hands up in the air.

The queen laughed with complete excitement and replied, "Yes!"

Otto Mobil did not see or hear any of this and the calls of the small prince were drowned out by the deafening roar of the 'car's engines.

"No!" the queen screamed toward Otto.

The 'car' tilted forwards and began to move gently into the dark water. As the queen leapt over the helm towards her son, Prince Purplerain blocked her way.

"You stay on board. I'll go down with the captain and protect them both." He said.

"But that's my son!" the queen screamed as she struggled to release the prince's grip.

"Your majesty." the prince said calmly. "You need to get out of here, I can cope with the pirates and the captain is as good a man as I have ever met. We'll meet you at the port to the kingdom."

"No!" The queen yelled.

The huge galleon on wheels hit the water sending enormous waves flying up into the air. Capden Den watched as it steadied itself in the sea then he looked out at the galleon carrying Dodgy Dave and all his crew. He could hear the anchor being lowered and from up on its deck, lit by flaming torches, a rowing boat was being launched into the sea below.

Prince Purplerain called to Princess Caldora, who hurried over.

"I'm going after your brother," Purplerain howled to his princess over the noise of the 'car'. "Stay here with your mother and make sure you get to the kingdom. I'll bring the captain and your brother back safely."

Princess Caldora nodded and took her mothers shaking body.

"Is he to be trusted?" Queen Loukatos screamed at her daughter.

But the princess did not reply, as the car on wheels began to move away at speed; using its powerful engine to break through the waves and away from the little bay of the fairy retreat, out into the open sea.

### 

### Chapter Twenty-Two of...

The young fairy prince struggled to control his flailing body as he rode dangerously on the back of Jim the Oviraptor.

"Come on Jim!" Paxtol screamed but it was no good, Jim knew that the boat was too far away and he kicked his claws to a halt in the sand as the ship sped away into the horizon.

Paxtol leaned forward into Jim's neck, watching the ship disappear into the distance and wanting some comfort from his dinosaur friend.

"Oh Jim." The boy said through a tear. "We've blown it."

A hard slap from a hand on the boy's back made him suddenly turn and glare at whoever dared to touch him.

"Hello." Falkirk smiled. "I'm Falkirk, remember me?"

Prince Purplerain ran over to where Capden Den sat motionless on his rock.

"The queen has asked me to..."

But the prince's words were cut off as the captain got up from his rock and pointed out towards the ocean.

"We may have a problem." Capden Den stated.

"How did you know I was here?" Prince Purplerain asked, as he sidled up to the captain.

"Instinct." Capden Den said.

"They've gone, what do we do now, fight?"

"Fight." The captain agreed.

Fairy Falkirk called from behind them and they turned to see an old fairy, together with a small young fairy, both riding on the back of a dinosaur.

"There's something you don't see everyday." The captain smiled.

As they neared, Falkirk leapt off the oviraptor's back and strode over purposefully to the captain.

"His name's Jim. Do you have a plan?" he said gruffly.

"Yes." Capden Den replied.

The prince coughed nervously.

"I do have a plan." The captain remarked, glancing at the prince. "Who's he?"

Falkirk turned to the fairy boy and the dinosaur he was riding.

"This is Jim the Oviraptor and Prince Paxtol, the queen's son."

"Oh I'm not interested in him anymore, but Dodgy Dave may be, so keep him out of trouble. I'm a pirate and he's a prince who's scared of whistles, so this could end up really bad." Capden Den barked with annoyance.

Falkirk and Paxtol glared hard at Capden Den. Suddenly there was a bitter cry from the small boat nearing their beach. It was the voice of a man who Capden Den knew very well.

"Decided to face me have you?" Came the yell from the gravelly voice of Dodgy Dave.

"Yes!" Den yelled back.

"You owe me a boat!" Dave roared back.

"You owe me a..." Capden Den stopped and leant over to prince. "I can't think of anything he owes me."

"Then just say that he owes you a chance." The prince whispered into Den's ear.

"You owe me a chance!" Capden Den roared out.

Capden Den waited for a reply but all he could see was Dodgy Dave shrug his shoulders and ask his men what that meant.

The beach fell silent; Capden Den, Prince Purplerain, Paxtol, Jim the oviraptor and Fairy Falkirk stood with uneasy expectation and a little fear, as a the small rowing boat stopped just short of the beach.

"We could hide." Capden Den said to his tiny crew.

"No." the fairy boy instructed.

"You fairies, you're all..." Capden Den stopped, a faint glimmer of memory rushed inside his head. He suddenly had the feeling that he was flying and buzzing around a small garden that shone beautifully in rich sunshine. He floated effortlessly around the garden and caught sight of a woman laughing with him, a woman flying around with him and glowing with gold. Just as the face of the woman emerged from its blur, Capden Den felt a massive thump on his head.

Capden Den fell to the floor, suddenly waking up from his dream; he looked up to see Prince Purplerain using his spells to fight off three really mean and ugly pirates.

Falkirk was with two other pirates, trying to argue his way out of a fight. Then he noticed the giant figure of Dodgy Dave glaring over him.

"Get up." Dave ordered.

"No." Den replied.

"You're nothing but a yellow coward, yellow as custard."

"Sweet as custard too." The captain grinned.

"Why did I not kill you a long time ago?" Dave snarled as he picked Den up by his shirt.

"You know what Dave? I think you need a bath."

Without any warning, Capden Den smacked Dave around the ears with his arms, immediately Dave's grip loosened and Den dropped to the ground. As Dave's ears rung with the blow, Capden Den booted Dave in the rear and sent him sprawling back into the sea.

Dave sprang to his feet with rage and stamped through the shallow water back to a waiting Capden Den. Den, putting his feet into the sand to steady himself, pumped up his chest ready to take the full weight of Dodgy Dave, who was charging at him like a raging bull.

Through the corner of his eye Prince Purplerain could see Dodgy Dave steaming towards Capden Den like a runaway train; with a flick of his wrist, a small beam of energy flew from the fingers of the prince and formed a tiny shield around the captain. As soon as Dodgy Dave hit the energy, he bounced backwards and landed on a rock, knocking himself unconscious with the force.

Capden Den puffed his chest up again with even more pride at what he had just done, not realising that Prince Purplerain had actually saved him from being squashed. Looking around and full of confidence, Capden Den turned his attention to the two pirates arguing with Falkirk. The captain took a large wooden log and whacked it over the heads of the two pirates. Then he skipped over to the three pirates fighting the prince and punched one on the nose.

"I wish I had my sword." He exclaimed. "This hurts my knuckles."

The prince pressed his fingers together and released a cloud of water that sprayed over the remaining two pirates, as soon as they breathed it in they instantly fell to the floor and started to snore loudly.

"Done!" The captain said as he clapped his hands with satisfaction.

"Where's Prince Paxtol?' Falkirk cried in panic.

Capden Den noticed a small silhouette of the pirate's rowing boat heading towards the large galleon, carrying a dinosaur and a fairy.

"Oh blimey!" Den roared.

"Sausages!" he stamped his foot with anger.

"Piles of potent pants!" he screamed with rage.

Falkirk called out to Prince Paxtol. "Come back. It's not safe!"

"It's safer than with you!" was the faint reply that came back from the boy.

"I'm going after him." Prince Purplerain said.

Falkirk pulled him back. "We can't fly that distance over water. You won't make it."

"I can swim." The prince uttered unconvincingly.

"Really? You'd be the first fairy who could." Falkirk mocked with raised eyebrows.

Capden Den looked around at the fallen pirates that littered the beach starting to stir back to life.

"We may have a problem." He said as he stroked his beard.

### Chapter Twenty-Three of...

Prince Paxtol flew up from the rowing boat and onto the deck of the pirate vessel, carrying Jim in his arms. There were no pirates on board and all he could hear was the wind thudding against the folded sails on their masts. Suddenly, they heard footsteps and the figure of Fairy Osborne appeared from below deck. For a second they both looked startled at seeing each other; Osborne at catching the fairy prince and a dinosaur and the prince at seeing Osborne on a pirate ship. But then the slimy Osborne quickly recovered himself.

"Your majesty." Osborne smirked.

"Get him, Jim." The boy ordered without hesitation.

In a swirl of green haze, the dinosaur hurtled towards the fairy chancellor and, with one kick of its muscular hind leg, sent the fairy flying into the hard wooden hull of the ship, knocking Osborne out cold.

The prince chuckled as he nodded appreciatively to Jim. He went over to the large hoist that pulled the chain of the anchor and waved his wand over it. It began to move with a painful screech and, slowly, the anchor began to lift up. As the large metal weight lifted from the seabed, the ship started to drift away.

The fairy swept over to the helm, as Jim bounded up to stand beside him; using his magic, all the sails fell from their tethers and flew open.

"Let's get out of here." Prince Paxtol smiled.

### Chapter Twenty-Four of...

Capden Den tied the last pirate up to the rock and checked his handiwork.

"Now what?" he asked.

Falkirk grumbled under his breath and Prince Purplerain stared out at the boat getting smaller and smaller.

"Follow that ship." The prince instructed.

"Yes, but how?" The captain moaned.

Falkirk started to jump up and down, for a minute the captain and the prince thought he needed the toilet, but in fact, Falkirk suddenly had an idea.

"Fairy Otto had a few goes at making a 'car' and he used a few ships to do it." Falkirk mused. "Somewhere on this island is another boat that may still be sea-worthy."

Capden Den screamed with delight, like a cowboy on the back of a horse.

"Yee-hah! Then what are we waiting for!" he shrieked.

"Well, I'm not sure where he would have put them." Falkirk replied matter-of-factly.

"Another thing," the prince cut in. "We're not sure where they are heading."

Falkirk nodded knowingly, much like an old man does when he knows he is older and wiser than those around him.

"They're heading to Hippo Lagoon." He said.

"How do you know?" Capden Den squealed.

"The wind told me."

"My wind doesn't tell me things like that that." Capden Den moaned.

Capden Den stared at his two new crewmates and began to move around, thinking while he paced.

"Right then," he started. "First of all we need to find a boat. Then we need to get it working and head to Hippo Lagoon to get the boy. After that we need to head to the fairy kingdom and hope that the queen has not been killed by her evil husband. Once that's been done I need to find Sally, marry her, start a family and then tell her there's every chance I could be a fairy, then I need to find out if I'm a fairy or not. But if that weren't enough my friends, if that wasn't enough for you, we also have another thing to think about."

Falkirk and Prince Purplerain glanced at each other, then at the captain, then back at each other. They shook their heads, shrugged and looked back at their captain.

"Oh it's always me isn't it? I thought you were wise, you stupid old fairy."

Falkirk glared angrily at Capden Den and before he could raise his voice to challenge this rude pirate, the captain continued.

"We also have to try and get these irate pirates on our side to help, or we're not going anywhere. And trying to get Dodgy Dave to do something he doesn't want to do, makes all the rest of what I've just said sound like a holiday."

Prince Purplerain gulped as his eyes fell on the unconscious and tied up body of Dodgy Dave.

Fairy Falkirk continued to glare at the captain for daring to call him stupid.

Capden Den burped as he stared out at the ocean; then he gulped as the large body of Dodgy Dave began to stir.

"Oh well, looks like we're going to have to start now."

Chapter Twenty-Five.

As Grand Hippo Raz smouldered on her beach, she felt a break in the flow of the wind. She opened one eye and saw an odd shape floating in the sky above her. As the tiny speck got nearer, shimmering in the heat of the day, it began to resemble a small dinosaur with fairy wings. Suddenly intrigued, Raz lifted her heavy weight up and walked over to the edge of the beach, letting her toes connect with the waves. The winged dinosaur landed softly on the golden sand beside her.

Grand Hippo Raz bowed low to the fairy prince and his oviraptor called Jim.

"Your majesty." She said. "I've been expecting you."

To Be Continued...

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank the following people:

Samantha; Steve B; Dani; Steve H; Roger; Nat; Joe; Alice; Anne; Glenn; Ty; Alan and everyone who has shared my enthusiasm for writing; finally, Amanda, for all your belief and perseverance, drive and love.

Published 2011 © Zac Thraves This edition 2013 Xax Studios

zacthraves@email.com

zacthraves.wordpress.com

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