Captain Nemo_ The Fantastic History of a Dark Genius - Kevin J Anderson [56]
Anger simmered within Nemo as he remembered how this ferocious pirate had coldly executed Captain Grant. Now he’d dispatched his henchmen to explore while he remained safe aboard the Coralie. Apparently, Noseless would not venture into danger until he discovered who waited for them on this island.
The longboats came ashore where Nemo hoped they would, and he loosed his first desperate defense before the marauders expected anything. For just a moment, he had the advantage of surprise.
Eight pirates climbed from each longboat and stood on the shore. Two brigands pointed at the signs of habitation on the cliffside. The men made their way toward a slope of broken rock jarred loose by recent seismic tremors.
From his southernmost window opening, Nemo pushed several boulders he had lined up. The heavy rocks tumbled down the cliffs, striking more boulders on the steep slope, ricocheting and gaining momentum, carrying others along with them in a building avalanche.
The pirate shore party looked up as countless chunks of stone fell and bounced with a cracking, roaring sound. The brigands scattered on the beach. One boulder crushed a pirate like a cockroach under a bootheel; the rest of the rockfall plunged down the cliff, across the beach, and into the sea. Several large stones splintered and sank one of the longboats.
Nemo had struck the first blow, and he found it very satisfying.
He looked over to see the Coralie’s gunports opening up. So, the pirate captain had been watching. He retreated deep into his caves as Captain Noseless launched a full broadside from the ship. An instant after he heard the boom, cannonballs pounded the cliffside. The front of Granite House splintered, and the main chamber filled with smoke and rock dust. As the air cleared, Nemo saw that the cliff face had been blasted away, leaving him vulnerable.
Below, the shore party cheered, then ran howling as debris rained down from the cliffs above. Noseless would be preparing a second broadside, and so Nemo ducked deeper into the back tunnels heading for escape onto the plateau.
The landing party, frustrated because Nemo had destroyed his stairs and ladders, ran along the beach, searching for a different way up. From the Coralie, Noseless launched a third longboat, and more brigands swarmed ashore.
Panting, smeared with smoke and rock dust, Nemo tried to plan what to do next. He was running for his life.
ix
The raiding parties landed at different points on the coast and crawled upland. The marauders, enraged by his first attack, drew their cutlasses as they climbed the steep slopes, fought through the jungles -- and searched for Nemo.
He knew it had been years since this band had come to the island. Did they know the terrain, or was this just an occasional stopping point? Though jungle thickets might have hidden him better, he fled higher up the volcano’s slope. He preferred room to move, a vantage from which he could see his enemies coming. He had to outsmart them.
Breathing hard, Nemo worked his way up the rugged hillside toward the heights of the crater, careful to stay hidden among the boulders. From time to time he looked down at the Coralie still anchored in the lagoon. More longboats came ashore. When he saw smoke curling into the sky from the vicinity of his home, he realized they had set fire to his corral and his storage sheds. By now the pirates would have lowered themselves with ropes into Granite House. They would smash his hand-made furniture and destroy his belongings. More destruction, more loss.
Yes, they all deserved to die. Rage simmered within him. He had hidden some supplies, and he could always rebuild . . . but he hadn’t anticipated the extent of damage Captain Noseless and his men would inflict. Nemo vowed to stop them, to strike back in every way he could.
When he saw seven men climbing