The Buccaneers' Code Read Free Page A

tremble. Hilary hoped he wouldn’t start dripping all over again. “I’m sure they’ll find the person they’re looking for,” she added.
    By now, Mrs. Westfield had managed to remove herhand from the door frame. “I’ll have the coachman drive our visitors home,” she said, as though that would solve everything. “It wouldn’t do for them to walk; the snow is still ferocious.”
    â€œThat’s very good of you, ma’am,” said Flintlock. He bowed to Mrs. Westfield and ducked out of the parlor, with Partridge and Worthington at his heels. “If it’s acceptable to my new acquaintances,” he said, “I’ll instruct the coachman to take us to the Salty Biscuit, where we can weather the storm around the grog barrel. You’ll find us there, Terror, if you change your mind.”
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    From
    The Illustrated Queensport Gazette
    YOUR GATEWAY TO THE CIVILIZED WORLD!
    MUTINEERS STILL AT LARGE,
ENCHANTRESS SAYS
    PEMBERTON, AUGUSTA—It has been six months since Miss Eugenia Pimm, Enchantress of the Northlands, disappeared mysteriously from her home in Pemberton and was rescued by the pirate Hilary Westfield. At this time, however, the queen’s inspectors have not made any arrests in the case. Miss Pimm still maintains that she was kidnapped by a band of villains calling themselves the Mutineers. “They wanted to replace me as the Enchantress,” she told the Gazette. “They hoped to take all the kingdom’s magic for themselves,and I must say they came remarkably close to succeeding.”
    According to Miss Pimm, the Mutineers’ ringleaders are the former naval admiral James Westfield; the pirate captain Rupert Blacktooth; his sister, Mrs. Georgiana Tilbury; and Mrs. Tilbury’s daughter, Philomena. “The Mutineers specialize in theft and treachery,” Miss Pimm told this reporter. “To be perfectly frank, they are not nice people.”
    So far, however, inspectors have been unable to confirm Miss Pimm’s story. Admiral Westfield was arrested nearly two years ago for attempting to steal a sizable stash of magic, and he currently resides in the Royal Dungeons, making it impossible for him to have played a role in the kidnapping. As for Captain Blacktooth and the Tilburys, Inspector John Hastings says there is no evidence linking them to the alleged crime. “Mrs. Tilbury tells us that Miss Pimm fell ill on a visit to Tilbury Park,” Inspector Hastings said. “She was in no state to travel home, and she began making up fanciful stories about villains and kidnappings. Now I suppose she believes those stories are true, but I suspect her illness has addled her mind, for I have never heard of the Mutineers, apart from the tales I’ve been told by Miss Pimm and her friends. I have no reason to believe they exist.”
    When told of Inspector Hastings’s remarks, the Enchantress reacted in a surprisingly unladylike manner. “That man is a dratted fool!” she said. “Of course the Mutineers exist. It’s only a matter of time before they make another attempt to control the kingdom’s magic, and they’re not likelyto fail twice. Perhaps Inspector Hastings will finally believe me when the Mutineers blast him into the next kingdom over.”
    Unfortunately, Captain Blacktooth and the members of the Tilbury family could not be reached for comment. Mrs. Georgiana Tilbury is confined to Tilbury Park under a royal guard’s watchful eye after stolen magical items were discovered in her possession, Miss Philomena Tilbury refuses to speak to the press, and Captain Blacktooth fired a volley of cannonballs at this reporter when she tried to approach his pirate ship.
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C HAPTER T WO

    W HEN THE PIRATES’ carriage had disappeared down the lane and Mrs. Westfield had retreated to her private rooms to recover from the morning’s excitement, Hilary walked down the long hallway