Snowbone Read Free Page A

They were down below, safely secured in the
Mermaid
's hold. But Barkbelly and Griddle, the
Hope
's cook, had been treated differently. Griddle was now the pirates' cook, and Barkbelly was allowed to roam freely about the pirate ship.Snowbone wondered why. She also wondered about the
Hope.
Where had it been going when the pirates attacked it? And why was it carrying hundreds of wooden eggs, packed away in crates?
    Barkbelly had been the only Ashenpeaker on board the
Hope.
He wasn't very old, but he was a big, brawny lad with an honest, friendly face. And Snowbone had realized that, young as he was, Barkbelly had knowledge. He had seen something of the world.
    And so she had asked him what he knew, and Barkbelly had told her. It wasn't much. He hadn't grown up on Ashenpeake, so he couldn't tell her about that. And until the tiddlins were born, he had never even
seen
another Ashenpeaker, so he couldn't tell her how a wooden body worked. But, based on his own experience, he could tell her two important things. If a bit was chopped off—a hand, say—it would grow back, good as new. But if it were
burned
off—no. It wouldn't grow back. He showed her the stump of a missing finger to prove it.
    “Fire is deadly,” he said. “It brings us to life, but it can kill us, I know it can. Keep away from it, Snowbone. Keep away.”
    Then he told her what he knew of the
Hope.
She had been heading for Farrago, a seaport on the east coast of the Nova Land. The Nova Land was a newly discovered country, far across the Indigo Ocean. The eggs would have been sold as slaves.
    Snowbone was outraged. “Why is slavery allowed?” she stormed. “Why has no one done anything to stop it? Doesn't anyone care?”
    “I care,” said Barkbelly, “but I don't know what's to be done.” And he shook his head sadly and said no more.

Chapter 5
    he pirates sailed north, along the coast of Ashenpeake to Puffin Island. When they arrived, the beach was clamorous with wives and children, and any thought of unloading the ship was abandoned. A safe return, a ship full of booty—it was time to celebrate! So it wasn't until the following morning that the tiddlins began their lessons.
    “Lessons? What lessons?” said Snowbone. “I don't understand. I thought we were unloading the ship today.”
    “No,” said Lord Fox, elegantly wagging his finger at her. “The
men
are unloading the ship.
You
are having lessons. I may be the cruelest pirate ever to sail the seven seas, but even I would not be so heartless as to abandon infants without some instruction. No! You must learn how to take care of yourselves, and
these
lovely people”—he indicated the pirates' families— “will be teaching you. You have just
one day
to learn these things, so use it well. Tomorrow, armed with your knowledge and boatloads of provisions, you will be taken by my men over to the main island … and left there.” He smiled devilishly. “Alone! Abandoned! Marooned! Oh, you poor things!”
    And so the lessons began. The pirate boys showed the tiddlins how to whittle an arrow, fire a bow, throw a knife, track a deer, set a trap. The girls taught them how to spear fish, make fires, grow vegetables, find fresh water. The elderly men, excused from lifting and carrying because of old wounds and bad backs, energetically demonstrated how to make shelters and build defensive fortifications. The wives showed them how to cook and make clothes.
    “We don't need clothes,” protested Snowbone when it was her turn to learn sewing. “You're human. You wear them to protect your skin and keep warm. But we're wooden. We don't need them.”
    The women smiled indulgently.
    “There are many reasons why people wear clothes,” said Squid's wife. “Ashenpeake is a civilized island where people go about their business properly dressed, whether they are wooden or not. If you won't wear clothes, what will you wear?”
    “Smiles,” said Blackeye.
    “You'll need clothes!” insisted Squid's wife.