Read Fair Wind to Widdershins Online
Authors: Allan Frewin Jones
Fair Wind to Widdershins
ALLAN JONES
GARY CHALK
C
ONTENTS
1. On the Twelfth Day of Greengrow
2. Plum Cake and Strawberry Tea
5. The Worshipful Guild of Observators
8. The Highmost Chancellor Takes a Nap
About the Author and Illustrator
T
he legends say that once—long, long ago—there was a single round world, like a ball floating in space, and that it was ruled over by six wise badgers. The legends also tell of a tremendous explosion, an explosion so huge that it shattered the round world into a thousand fragments, a vast archipelago of islands adrift in the sky. As time passed, the survivors of the explosion thrived and prospered and gave their scattered island homes a name—and that name was the Sundered Lands.
That’s what the legends say.
But who believes in legends nowadays?
Well … Esmeralda Lightfoot, the Princess in Darkness, does, for one. According to Esmeralda, the truth of the ancient legend was revealed to her in a reading of the magical and ancient Badger Blocks—a set of prophetic wooden tokens from the old times. And her reluctant companion, Trundle Boldoak, is beginning to believe, as well—especially as they have already found the Crystal Crown, first of the six lost Badgers’ Crowns. They also have a new friend to accompany them on their quest—a light-hearted minstrel by the name of Jack Nimble.
But there is a problem. Someone else is also hunting for the six Badgers’ Crowns. His name is Captain Grizzletusk, and he’s the meanest, bloodthirstiest, wickedest pirate ever to sail the skies of the Sundered Lands. And worse than that—he’s hot on their trail. In fact, he’s right behind them!
“H
old on tight!” yelled Esmeralda. “We have to tack! Release the windward jib sheet and keep your head down!”
“What?” screeched Trundle, clinging on for dear life as the little skyboat heeled over and made a tight curve around a chunk of floating rock. “I don’t know what that means!”
“I do!” shouted Jack. “Leave it to me!”
He snatched hold of a rope and raced from one side of the skyboat to the other, dragging the long boom along behind him. The sail snapped and emptied of wind, falling slack against the mast.
The skyboat stalled in the air, throwing Trundle forward so he bumped his nose on the mast. “Ow!” he yelped. “Steady on!”
“Well done, Jack!” yelled Esmeralda. “Now transfer the sail!”
Jack raced back, almost trampling on Trundle on the way.
“Hey! Careful!” Trundle yelped, ducking as the boom came sweeping back over his head.
The wind caught it, and they were off again, darting like an arrow through the rock-strewn sky.
“Nice going, Jack!” howled Esmeralda. “That’ll show ’em!”
Trundle peered over the stern of the skyboat. For a few moments, all he could see was the fast-receding chunk of rock, but then a fearful sight hove into view: a great ironclad pirate windship, its bloodred sails billowing and straining, its hull bristling with cannon.
“They’re still coming!” howled Jack.
“I’ll jibe ’em till their eyes spin!” shouted Esmeralda. “We’ll fill the sail on a new tack, then we’ll run before the wind!”
“But that will mean going straight into the middle of the Goills!” shouted Jack, sounding alarmed.
“I know!” hollered Esmeralda. “That’s the whole point!”
Clutching on to the mast, the wind whistling about his ears, Trundle turned to look ahead. His legs buckled and his prickles stiffened with fear at the sight that met his eyes.
The whole sky ahead of them teemed with massive rocks and boulders, and with great fists and crags of stone that stretched out in all directions.
This was the dreaded Goills—a scattering of sky rubble into which no sane sailor would ever venture. Trundle had read about the place in books, but he had never imagined being taken into it.