A Pirate and a Princess - pt 8

Ch. 8 – The Pirates Attack

As the pirates landed on the ballroom floor, the majority of the guests were already in large panicked crowds climbing the staircases that led to the two exits to the ballroom at opposite sides of the room. When they saw the terrifying vision of the monster pirates, the screams increased double fold.

Jim pulled Cinderella to her feet, gripped her hand tightly, and broke into a run. He pulled her toward the nearest exit, which led to the front of the palace, which was unfortunately clogged with a hundred other people with the same idea. The huge insect-like pirate Scroop raised his blaster gun and blasted the front exit way of the ballroom, causing the ceiling to crumble down and block the doorways. He laughed wickedly as Jim turned and glared at him. Then the pirate turned and aimed the blaster gun at the back door. Jim launched into a sprint and flung himself at Scroop. They crashed into the floor together, and the blaster gun went spinning across the floor. Jim's head knocked into the ballroom floor with a sickening thud, and he lost consciousness, sprawled on the floor with a bleeding forehead.

"Jim!" Cinderella shrieked, gathering up her gown and running toward him. It took a moment for Scroop to pull himself back up on his multiple legs. He reached out for the blaster gun on the floor, but by that Cinderella had already sprinted there, and had only time to give it a good kick with her glass-slippered foot. The blaster gun went flying out of the pirate's reach, and ricocheted off a wall.

The rest of the pirates were engaged in fights with the Prince's guards, but the aliens were faster and larger than the humans, with more advanced weaponry. They had quickly knocked out or disarmed all of the guards, and now were watching their new leader, Scroop, and the girl standing up to him. They now spotted the sparkling glass slippers on Cinderella's feet. One grabbed her from behind, holding a dagger to her neck. Cinderella struggled wildly, looking at Jim's prostrate form lying on the floor, but the pirate was twice her size and held her fast, holding her arms firmly behind her back. "Those pretty shoes must cost a fortune," the alien breathed in her ear. "Hand them over, girlie, and you'll keep your pretty throat."

All of the guests trapped inside the ballroom were watching the scene play out before them. The Prince and King, the two most important figures in the room, were both being held tightly by a few pirates on the other side of the room. They could be ransomed back later for a very high price. The guards were either lying unconscious, the same as Jim, or were disarmed and stood helplessly with the other guests. The pirates were blocking the back staircase, the one exit remaining. Everyone was looking at Cinderella with wide eyes, as if she could somehow save them.

"I have something else," Cinderella announced, thinking quickly. "Something much more valuable to you."

"And what would that be?" Scroop scoffed, scuttling toward her with an ugly mocking grin.

"The map to Treasure Planet."

Each and every one of the pirates froze in their tracks, looking at the girl in surprise and bafflement.

"How can a human girl on this backwater planet know anything about Treasure Planet?" Scroop demanded, gesturing violently at Cinderella as the larger pirate held her fast.

"I know you'll never find it without the map," she said firmly. "And I will only give it over to you if you release everyone here," she demanded, her chin held nobly in the air. "Including that boy." She nodded to the unconscious Jim laying on the floor. "Without hurting anyone. And then you must leave immediately."

"We came to this castle to sack some loot," one pirate argued, looking at Scroop, their leader. "We figured all the rich folk would be at this ball, and we'd take all their jewelry, and sack the palace as well. We're not leaving empty-handed."

"But if we get the map," another said, "we'll find treasure greater than anything we could sack on this pathetic little planet."

"Very well," Scroop said, eyeing Cinderella. "Hand over the map, and then we'll leave."

"You can hardly blame me for not trusting you," Cinderella replied. "Let everyone else go first, and then I will hand you the map."

"How are we to know you've really got the map?" Scroop argued. "Let's see it. Just one look. Otherwise, it's no deal."

Cinderella pulled free of her captor, as Scroop nodded for him to let her go. She backed up a few feet, then reached for the silver handbag around her wrist. She fiddled with it in her hands for a moment, then revealed a smooth orb laying in the palm of her hand. She pushed some buttons and twisted the pieces of the orb, and then the glittering map of the galaxy sprung from her hands, thrown across the high ceilings and walls of the ballroom. Everyone in the room gasped at the beauty of the miniature galaxy. Just as quickly, Cinderella snapped the orb shut, and the galaxy retracted back into the orb. She held the map tightly, glaring intently at Scroop.

"Hand it over," he entreated.

"First, tell all of your pirates to drop their weapons, and stand on the other side of the room," she demanded. "Let everyone go, including the Prince and the King."

"Do as she says," Scroop commanded the pirates. The pirates reluctantly dropped their weapons, and the swords, daggers, and guns clattered on the ballroom floor. Then they gathered at the far side of the room, as all the guests gathered toward the opposite end, heading for the clear exit way. Some of the men dragged the unconscious solders and the unconscious Jim toward the exit as well.

As the last of the guests were filing through the exit, Cinderella was left alone in the ballroom with the pirates. She handed Scroop the orb. "Now leave, and never come back," she said, glaring intensely at the pirate. She spun around, gathered up her gown, and headed toward the exit after the rest of the guests.

Scroop cackled over the map, spinning it round in his claw-like hands. The other pirates gathered around him in awe.

Cinderella was walking through the doorway to the outer terrace of the palace, holding her breath in fear. Suddenly there was an angry shout, followed by many more shouts from different voices, and Cinderella turned around to see a pink blob zooming toward her through the air.

"It's not the real map!" Scroop screamed in rage.

Morph squeaked and circled Cinderella a few times before landing on her shoulder. "Good job, Morph," she whispered. "Now we better get out of here fast."

"You'll pay for that, girl," Scroop shrieked, scuttling toward her with a fearsome scowl. "Trying to pass off Silver's blasted shape-shifting pet as the map! Well, now you've made a mistake, because I know you have the real one. And I'll get it off you, no matter what it takes!" He charged toward her, and the rest of the pirates followed him, all sneering in rage at Cinderella.

The crowd of guests in front of Cinderella began screaming again and running away. Cinderella stood and faced the pirates, as the Prince, the King, and the braver of the crowd stopped and watched from a distance behind. Morph hovered at her shoulder, sticking his tongue out at the pirates.

"You can't have it!" she yelled defiantly as the pirates charged toward her, Scroop in the lead. "But you can have my slipper!" She pulled up her gown, reached down, and took one glass slipper in her hand. With a careful aim, she launched the slipper through the air, and it hit Scroop directly in the forehead. He swayed, tottered, and fell unconscious to the floor with an unpleasant crunching noise. The slipper bounced off his unconscious body and landed intact on the floor beside him. The pirates stopped stupidly, standing around their prostrate leader, completely lost without someone capable of leading them.

The Prince stepped up before them, aiming Scroop's blaster gun at them. He had found it on the floor, where it had landed after Cinderella kicked it. The pirates reached to their sides for their weapons, but they were all disarmed. They had dropped their weapons in the ballroom when Cinderella had commanded it. They looked back at the Prince's blaster gun with hopeless expressions.

"Nobody move," the Prince commanded regally. "Guards, arrest them!" The guards stepped up, tied the pirates' arms, legs, tentacles, and other limbs with ropes, and led them off to the dungeons. The pirates were a pathetic sight, being lead away by humans half their size - but disarmed and leaderless as they were, they dared not defy the holder of the blaster gun. The guards then dragged Scroop's limp body out of sight.

Most of the guests had run away, but a small crowd was still standing around at the top of the staircase. The Prince turned to Cinderella with a grateful and admiring expression. "You've saved us all," he said. "I don't know if there is anything great enough we can ever do to repay you, but I will try my best to see you are rewarded amply."

"It was my civic duty, Sire," Cinderella said with a curtsey, Morph still hovering at her shoulder. "I need no reward."

"There must be something you'd like," the King added, stepping up beside his son. "Money, land, a title – we could make you a Duchess! All will be yours."

"Thank you, Sire," she said, bowing her head. "But I want no reward – at least, nothing that you can give me, with all due respect."

Jim, still unconscious, had been dragged to a corner and left there when the pirates had charged out of the castle. Now he awoke slowly, sitting up, rubbing his eyes, and looking around in confusion.

"This is nonsense," the Prince was saying. "She absolutely will be rewarded, whether she likes it or not-"

Just then, the clock struck midnight. Cinderella spun around and looked up at the clock tower. "Oh!" she gasped, interrupting the Prince. "I'm very sorry, but I have to go!"

"What?" the Prince demanded. "You can't save our entire kingdom and then just leave, just like that! You haven't even told us your name!"

"Good-bye!" Cinderella called out behind her; she had already gathered up her gown and was running down the grand, sweeping staircase, Morph flying quickly behind her. She had only one glass slipper left; the other was still lying on the floor, where it had dropped after she had hit Scroop with it. The crowd standing around the top of the staircase turned and watched her in surprise and bafflement.

"Hey!" the Prince called after her. "Someone stop that girl! Guards!"

The guards, however, were preoccupied with the pirates down in the dungeons. Everyone else was watching Cinderella flee down the staircase, transfixed by the spectacle of the girl in the shimmering starlight-silver dress running away with only one shoe.

"I'll go get her," Jim said, shoving past the Prince and breaking into a run down the staircase.

"Good man!" the Prince called at Jim. "Bring her back here for me!"

Jim ran down the staircase, chasing after Cinderella and Morph, though his head was still dizzy and pounding. "Ella!" he shouted at the top of his lungs, but she didn't stop. "Cinderella!" he shouted.

As she ran ahead of him, her second glass slipper fell off her foot. She turned around to grab it, but saw Jim close behind her, so she left the shoe where it was and continued running. The slipper sat glinting on the stair. Jim ran past it, chasing after the girl who looked like a fast-moving shooting star in his still-blurry eyes.

"Please, Cinderella!" he shouted, reaching the bottom of the stairs. He saw the girl hop into a carriage that was waiting for her, and Morph flew in behind her. The footman closed the door in a hurry, and the driver snapped the reigns as the horses reared and broke into a gallop. Jim gave up his run and slowed to a halt in the road, watching the carriage escape through the palace gates. The clock was still ringing loudly.

Jim kicked the dirt in frustration. He had lost her again. He turned around dejectedly and headed back for the staircase, where he saw a glint like starlight on one of the stairs. It was the second slipper. The clock struck twelve. Jim stepped up to the slipper, picked it up gently, and pocketed it before anyone could see.

At the top of the staircase, the Prince had found the first slipper, the one that had knocked Scroop unconscious. "Father," he addressed the King, holding the shoe tenderly, "I know just how to reward that young woman. I will make her my princess."

"Are you certain, lad?" the King asked, looking delighted.

"Yes. I will have no other woman as my bride except the one who saved my kingdom from the pirates."

"But Chartreuse, you don't even know her name! No one does!"

"But I have this," he said, looking at the shoe, shimmering like a star in the night sky above. "Tomorrow we will search the kingdom and try this shoe on every young lady. Whoever fits this slipper, will be my bride. By royal command."

The crowd listening to his speech broke into applause. Jim stood dejectedly on the staircase. No one noticed as he turned and wandered away, down the staircase, down the road, and into the forest.

He hurried through the trees until he found the hiding place of Silver's boat, where Silver was untying the anchor ropes and preparing for launch. "Silver!" Jim shouted, running up to the boat.

"Jimbo!" Silver said, straightening up with the ropes in his hands. His face fell when he saw Jim. "No bonnie lass, I see."

"No," Jim said miserably. "It didn't quite go according to plan."

"Well, I'm sorry, lad," Silver said, throwing down the ropes, "but if we don't leave now, we won't make it off the planet-"

"I'm staying," Jim said abruptly. Silver stopped and looked at Jim. "I can't leave without her," Jim said. "Go on."

"Lad," Silver said in concern, "you realize this could be your only chance to ever get off this planet, to go home and see your mother again-"

"Will you do me a favor?" Jim interrupted. "Will you go find my mother – Sarah Hawkins, of Montressor – and give her a message for me?"

"Aye, lad," Silver agreed.

"Tell her, I'm sorry that I made so many mistakes, and that I didn't fix things like I said I would. But, I'm setting something right now for somebody else, and I think it will make up for everything else I've done wrong. Tell her I love her. And tell her, I found my own course, and I'm sticking to it."

Silver smiled sadly, looking at Jim. "I can feel it," he said with a laugh. "The light, comin' off your sails! And oh, is it bright! She's a lucky young lady, that one, and she's a special one too – she must be, if she could make your sails throw off light like that."

"It was you that did it too," Jim said, smiling.

"I wish I could stay with ya, lad," Silver said sadly, "but I'm a space rover at heart. I couldn't bear to stay on one planet the rest of my life."

"I know," Jim said. "So go on. Time's a-wasting. Morph is with Cinderella, but I know she's taking good care of him. I wish I had the map to give you, but she has that too."

"She has more than that," Silver said with a roguish grin. "Well, if you're certain, Jimbo-"

"I am."

"I know you are." Silver smiled at the boy. He picked up Jim's old spacer clothes out of the boat, and tossed them to the boy. Then he revved the engine, and the boat lifted into the air, emitting blue flames and smoke.

"Stay out of trouble, you old scallywag!" Jim shouted up to the boat, as it floated up over the treetops.

Silver laughed heartily. "Jimbo, lad," he called down with his roguish smile, "when have I ever done otherwise?"

The boat lifted higher and higher into the air, and then launched up into the starry night, becoming a comet that streaked across the sky. Jim watched the star shoot away into the distance.

Then he turned and trekked back to the palace, and found the Prince, the King, and the rest of the crowd still goggling over the glass slipper of the mysterious girl who had saved them.

An inner turmoil had been struggling inside Jim over what he was about to do next, but he had made his decision, and he stuck to it. He walked up to the Prince, who was holding the slipper on a pillow.

"Tomorrow, when you go searching for that girl," Jim said to him, "I think I can help you find her."



---
At the stroke of midnight, Cinderella's carriage had transformed back into a pumpkin, landing stationary in the middle of the road. Cinderella found herself back in the tattered pink gown, sitting atop the pumpkin. The horses were mice again, the driver was her horse, and the footman was her dog Bruno. Morph was hovering on her shoulder, gurgling to himself. She looked down and sat that her feet were barefoot, as she had lost both slippers on her escape. But she reached into the folds of her ragged torn dress and pulled out the treasure map.

"I still have the map," she said, and her animal friends craned their heads to look at it in wonder. Then she looked up at the sky and thanked her fairy godmother, wherever she may be. Even if she had been attacked by pirates, and almost been killed, and had to run for her escape, she would have done the entire thing over again, just for those few minutes spent with Jim. Even though they had argued with each other at the ball, she still cared for him. And once again, she was faced with the realization that she might not see him again. He had said he had to launch in his boat tonight. She had been hurt by him, and so had run away and left him, and he was probably launching in his boat right now, without her. Still, for those brief happy moments, waltzing with Jim, it had been the most magical night of her life, and she would remember it forever. "Thank you," she said to her fairy godmother, wherever she may be. "Thank you so much."

Then she returned home to the Tremaine house, her animal friends following beside her, the precious treasure map held tightly in her hands.