Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Pirates
    Pirates
    Pirates
    Ebook246 pages3 hours

    Pirates

    By Paul Kater

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    It's amazing how the encounter with a big, stubborn dragon can bring about new adventures. Dragging a big, stubborn dragon around makes William and Hilda run into pirates, but unsurprisingly that encounter happens in the weirdest of places. Our magical couple will of course try to put everything in place again. However... odd magic, a dangerous witch and a particular queen don't make that very easy.

    Sail along with pirate captain Hilda and discover treasures in places where you might not expect treasures! She'll get you 'hooked'. Arrrr!

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPaul Kater
    Release dateAug 2, 2016
    ISBN9781370997466
    Pirates
    Author

    Paul Kater

    Paul Kater was born in the Netherlands in 1960. He quickly developed a feel for books and languages but ended up in the IT business despite that. Books and languages never ceased to fascinate him, so since 2003 he's been actively writing, encouraged by friends on the internet. The internet is the reason why most of his work is in English. A friend asking for writing help is why some of his writing is now also in Dutch. Paul currently lives in Cuijk, the Netherlands, with his books, possibly with cats, and the many characters he's developed in the past years, who claim he is a figment of their imagination.

    Read more from Paul Kater

    Related to Pirates

    Titles in the series (25)

    View More
    View More

    Related ebooks

    Humor & Satire For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Forfeit

      Jan 1, 2021

      Forfeit
      7 min read

    • Article

      Pond Water

      Feb 1, 2019

      Pond Water
      5 min read

    • Article

      Doodlebug & Dandelion

      Mar 1, 2020

      Doodlebug & Dandelion
      3 min read

    • Article

      10 Literary Witches To Hex Trump

      Mar 24, 2017

      In case you hadn’t heard, witches across America—including Lana Del Rey—are uniting to take down Trump via a binding spell, which calls on the spirits to keep the President from doing harm (it already seems to be working). Covens, communities, and so

      5 min read

    • Article

      How to Feed a HUNGRY DRAGON

      Sep 1, 2021

      ONCE, LONG AGO, there lived dragons. They were wild, these dragons, and scaly and scary, breathing fire at every living creature they met and then gobbling them up. Why? Because they were hungry, of course. “Could we feed them?” someone finally asked

      6 min read

    • Article

      The Squirrel Supremacy

      Apr 21, 2023

      The Squirrel Supremacy
      7 min read

    • Article

      The Kobold in the Corner PART 1

      Oct 1, 2022

      THE CARVING HAD stood off to the side of the chimney for years upon years, so long, in fact, that Friedrich had forgotten when it was put there, or why. It was a curious thing, fashioned from elm wood in a crude yet appealing style. It looked like a

      6 min read

    • Article

      Creatures Of Habit

      Oct 14, 2022

      I was once taught a rhyme in case I met a bear: “Bear brown, lie down; bear black, fight back.” In The Golden Mole: and Other Living Treasure, Katherine Rundell writes crisply that this advice “requires exceptional presence of mind in the presence of

      2 min read

    • Article

      The Very Wicked Witch and the Village Play

      Oct 1, 2019

      The Very Wicked Witch and the Village Play
      4 min read

    • Article

      Leander And The Red Cap

      Oct 5, 2022

      Leander And The Red Cap
      4 min read

    • Article

      Flights Of Fantasy

      Dec 9, 2020

      Flights Of Fantasy
      5 min read

    • Article

      Fitting In

      Oct 1, 2021

      Fitting In
      6 min read

    • Article

      Carry On Again Up The Jungle

      May 18, 2023

      Carry On Again Up The Jungle
      14 min read

    • Article

      Marked with SILVER

      Jan 17, 2024

      Marked with SILVER
      12 min read

    • Article

      Protected

      Aug 26, 2022

      Protected
      2 min read

    • Article

      Deer-ly Loved

      Apr 4, 2024

      Deer-ly Loved
      3 min read

    • Article

      Best Books For Children

      Nov 4, 2020

      The sugar glider possum may be the smallest creature in the rainforest, but when Santa’s reindeer Comet sprains her ankle, Snap decides to audition for stand-in. Warren the Wallaby just laughs. But will Snap have the last laugh? This illustrated hard

      4 min read

    • Article

      Kruger’s Living Legends

      Feb 11, 2022

      Kruger’s Living Legends
      10 min read

    • Article

      Saving Freyfaxi

      Feb 1, 2024

      Saving Freyfaxi
      8 min read

    • Article

      Milla’s Dandelion

      Sep 10, 2022

      The sun blinded Alchemilla as she entered the meadow. It was hidden deep in the forest, too deep for anyone to venture in without a reason. She didn’t mind the isolation, and if anything, it made her work easier. After her eyes adjusted, she took off

      12 min read

    • Article

      Goodbye Gordon

      Jan 21, 2022

      Goodbye Gordon
      7 min read

    • Article

      A summer OUTING

      Jun 21, 2022

      A summer OUTING
      4 min read

    • Article

      The PROMISE

      Sep 8, 2021

      The PROMISE
      9 min read

    • Article

      Wyrmstooth

      Jul 13, 2021

      Wyrmstooth
      5 min read

    • Article

      A Summer Outing

      Jul 1, 2021

      A Summer Outing
      4 min read

    • Article

      The Hero’s Daughter

      Oct 1, 2023

      AS USUAL, THE other kids wanted to meet at the statue of her father. It was located at the edge of their village and made a great base for games of hide and seek. Deeyah found it mildly annoying. Though she was very proud to be the daughter of a reno

      6 min read

    • Article

      The Right Time

      Oct 14, 2019

      The Right Time
      5 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Pirates

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Pirates - Paul Kater

      1. A not so lazy day

      Watch out for that tail! Hilda yelled as quickly as she could but the men her words were meant for didn't listen fast enough. The dragon's tail knocked a dozen of them over and some of them would need help getting up again. The witch hoped they would stay down so they didn't risk more injury. A very rare dragon from the species 'Dagurashibanipal' had erred itself to the Sunrise area, which was the name of the village Hilda and William lived near. Usually that kind of dragon lived far away. Very far away, and that was good because the Dagurashibanipal were fire spitters. William charged at the dragon from above, throwing magical bolts at it to distract the animal. With the dragon's attention on the wizard, some of the men from the village managed to drag their injured fellow citizens out of the danger zone.

      The Dagurashibanipal raised its muzzle towards the wizard and opened it to release another plume of stinking smoke. Hilda was very glad that this was a very old model of the species. The older they were the larger they were and that had a positive effect on their environment. Dagurashibanipals needed a lot of body heat to generate their fire but when they reached a certain size they needed most of their inner fire to stay warm, so all they coughed up was smoke. It stank horribly but it was quite harmless apart from that. The problem with these older dragons was that they were very curious and had no problem investigating everything. Their size made them practically invulnerable and also very good destruction machines, as they didn't have to care where they touched down. This one had turned six houses in Sunrise to heaps of debris.

      William! Hilda pointed at the dragon's hind legs. Fire that up! The soles of the hind feet of a Dagurashibanipal were the only sensitive parts of these dragons, and ironically these were particularly sensitive to heat. That was a bit of evidence that nature had a sense of humour. The wizard didn't need any more encouragement. As the dragon sluggishly turned around to fly back to the village, William dove beneath it and prepared a fire spell the likes of which he'd never prepared before. He also was ready to fly away from the dragon very fast because he suspected a rather immediate change in behaviour and demeanour of the animal.

      The Dagurashibanipal proved to be very predictable. The fire beneath its hind claws made it angry and the creature roared with pain. The village was no longer important. It wanted to lash out at the nearest thing. In this case it was the largest oak tree in the area. This of course meant that it was no longer the largest oak, nor recognisable as a tree. This frenzy however gave the witch and the wizard just enough time to manifest a lot of honey over the dragon's snout. It was something they had agreed on to do, Hilda supplying the knowledge and William just supplying magic to make the honey appear. He was still puzzled as to why she'd chosen honey but Hilda had told him to watch and learn. "We'll need a lot of honey, she said, so make sure there is plenty. Cover the whole head if you can."

      He'd magicked up insane amounts of honey as the dragon was of an identically insane size, using dead wood, a few small trees and raw magic as its source. After applying what had to be a train wagon load of honey to the dragon he saw why. The dragon's warm surface turned the honey into a droopy, sticky mass that seeped into all its crevices, effectively shutting the animal down. Its eyes closed, it shut its nostrils and its mouth. Disengaged like that, the animal forgot to spread its wings. The impact of the dragon's descent was felt in Sunrise itself. Too bad about that big tree, William commented from a safe altitude.

      Hilda joined him. Nice work, honey, she grinned.

      Together they took in the damage. It was extensive but things could have been far worse. What about the dragon? William had no idea.

      We can do several things, said Hilda. Leaving it here like that is an option. It will live for about another thousand years without harming anyone but that's not the proper life for a Dagurashibanipal, is it? We can kill it but I'm very strongly against that. Or we can move it to somewhere else, take the honey off it and let it go. They didn't need to discuss this. The dragon would be moved and released.

      There was of course the little matter of where to move the enormous dragon to. Not every kingdom would welcome such a beast. We could take it to the mountains where we met, William suggested. That's a desolate enough place for such a beast.

      Hilda thought about that suggestion. A bit dry though. This species needs water to cool down its internal fire. Maybe we can find a spot along the sea that would be remote enough.

      Sounds like a good plan. We can first go up and have a look around. That shouldn't take too long. We can ask Charisma to look after the cats.

      Wizard, my sister doesn't like to have our cats because they eat her mice, remember?

      Oh. Right. There's that. Maybe we can ask someone in Sunrise. As he said that, William tried to think of a victim but came up with no one suitable.

      Or we drop them off with Walt and Velma... Hilda grinned and loved the twin grin on William's face.

      -=-=-

      Cats? King Walt knew the animals well but the question surprised him.

      Not just any cats, your Kingship. Our cats. We don't want to leave them with just anyone, you see, and we have this big dragon to take away. We could of course deal with our cats and leave the dragon in your capable hands.

      Queen Velma made a very unqueenlike sound, as if she was a child being offered the surprise of a lifetime. Walt, two kitties! Let's say yes! I love kitties! This sealed the deal because King Walt wasn't the kind to deny her such a simple pleasure.

      Of course we will look after your cats, the royal man said.

      Oh, they'll look after themselves, Hilda assured him. Just don't bother them too much and they'll find their way. They're special cats.

      You must love your kitties so much, said Queen Velma, all the cat lovers call their cats special.

      "These are special, William emphasised. They're ours."

      Isn't that just adorable? Velma nudged her husband, causing a small tidal wave of wine to jump from his goblet. Oh, Walt. What have you done? There's wine all over you. She then turned back to the wizard and the witch. We really appreciate that you trust us with them. Hilda's motive was that the cats would have enough space to run around here without creating too much havoc but she went with the queen's interpretation. That was easiest.

      Wonderful. We'll only be away for a few days to move the dragon, and then we'll pick them up again.

      Queen Velma looked at the windows nervously. Somewhere buried in her memories there was something with another dragon but she didn't see anything. Yes, of course. That will be fine.

      Hilda then took Grim from her shoulder and told her that she was going to spend a few days here. Don't do what you wouldn't do at home, understood? That basically gave the cat all the liberties, but it would leave a good impression with the royal listeners. Grim meowed, jumped to the ground and walked to Queen Velma's feet where she curled up and fell asleep. Obsi had heard Hilda's words and followed his sister's example near the king's feet. Just not that close to them as King Walt was rather jumpy.

      Are you sure the cats will be safe here? William asked it as a safety as they were walking down the long corridor to where they had parked their brooms.

      Absolutely. I'm not vouching for the people in here but that's their problem. Hilda grinned at the idea of returning to a small mess in this castle. Once airborne they set course for the dragon to make sure it was still where they'd left it. The leviathan was still in honey as Hilda called it, and that was a good thing. The theory worked.

      What theory? I had thought it was proven fact.

      Of course. Now it is. We don't have many Dagurashibanipals around so no one here ever actually used the honey-trick, but we did it and it worked.

      But wait. What if it hadn't worked? William feared the answer.

      Then we could have told everyone that the theory's wrong. Now let's see how we transport this honey-snout.

      William's heart needed a few moments to calm down. Then he joined Hilda in checking the size and weight of the dragon. Both were more than considerable. We'll need more than an extra broom to get that out of the way, that's clear.

      Yes. You'd almost think so, was the surprising answer. We'll simply make it fly with us though.

      Will you ever stop surprising me? William asked. We disabled the beast and now you want to make it fly with us?

      Of course. That will save us a lot of trouble. See, what we'll do is make use of what it already can do, only that we do it for it. Hilda could tell that her words didn't reach William the right way. Okay. The Dagurashibanipal has wings so it can fly. It's also out for a while so it won't fly. What then is easier than us making its wings move so it flies?

      Holy Bejeebus, witch. Your logic throws me every time. William had to sit down on his hovering broom to let all of that sink in. He was thinking of a squadron of Chinook helicopters to get this animal out of the way. She made it all sound a lot simpler. Especially since this world had no helicopters.

      Hilda first pointed out the direction in which they would initially move the enormous dragon. We should avoid high mountain peaks because keeping this thing airborne will be quite a lot of work already. We need a path as straight and smooth as possible, and whatever happens: don't drop it on a village. That particular statement made sense. A dragon of this size would mean the end of at least two dozen people, provided they stood far apart. Then the witch explained how they would make the dragon's wings flap. You take the left one, I take the right one. Stay far away from the animal because that wingspan makes a lot of airwaves and those can blow you out of the sky. I've seen it happen with a stunned Nobbleback and it's not pretty. Hilda looked serious to emphasise her words.

      Maybe we should practise the flapping a bit before we take it up, William suggested. I'm not a licensed flapper yet.

      Good idea. Hilda then explained how he should make the wing move. And we should do that at the same time otherwise the dragon will flop about. Hmm, we should be on our brooms when we do that. Ending as a smudge beneath a flopping Dagurashibanipal isn't my idea of a fun death. The two mounted their brooms and rose up high. Hilda looked around to make sure no ordinaries were near because those would suffer the consequences of any potential flopping. There were none. First they used a few spells to get a good grip on the massive wings.

      Holy Bejeebus, these are big, William said as he had the left wing under control.

      Your sharp perception almost makes me fall from my broom, wizard, Hilda grinned. Now let's see if we can make them move at the same time. Moving the wings at the same time proved easy enough. The problem was making them move in the same way.

      Stop, stop, this isn't going to do it, said William. His wing would move in a wider stroke and as soon as Hilda adjusted her wing he was already adjusting to her smaller stroke. The dragon would get quite nauseous from that, despite its withdrawn state. How far are you going to make this wing flap? It took them a few more tries to agree on a degree of flappiness and after that the dragon actually lifted off.

      Keep it going, William, Hilda said as she saw her plan actually work. We got it now so we should keep it going. She feared that getting the animal into the air one more time would get them back to square one of flopping and misflapping.

      2. Arr

      The journey they had to make wasn't far but it took a long time. The temporarily autistic dragon wasn't cooperating much during the flight so the magicals had their hands and wands full to keep the animal on course and altitude. Crappedy crap, dragons should come with a built-in broom. Several times they had to readjust their course as irregular movement and large wings catching wind had made their load move to where they didn't want to go.

      Are you still coping? Hilda noticed that William was a bit panicky at certain moments. That was hardly surprising. Hauling off a dragon half the size of Sunrise was not an everyday job.

      Doing as well as you do, William replied. He appreciated her concern. Keeping his own broom going, staying away from high trees and peaks, battling gusts of wind, and keeping out of reach of the wing he was moving required a lot of coordination.

      We're getting there, Hilda encouraged him. That didn't mean they were approaching their goal quickly but every little bit helped.

      Do you have any idea if we need to park our dragon somewhere for lunch? William asked.

      Do you really want to put an oversized dragon down for some food?

      Absolutely, the wizard replied, knowing that her unspoken answer was no. With this matter resolved they flew on for a few hours.

      Hilda sniffed the air. It had a salty scent to it. We're coming close to the water.

      Close? How close? A little close? Very close? William was getting fed up of flapping the dragon's wing. It was boring but required lots of attention to make sure the beast wouldn't deviate from its course and nose-dive into some poor unsuspecting village.

      I can't see it but I smell it. It's behind the next hill, Hilda knew. She had been here before. A bit more lift now, William. Together they hoisted the huge bulk over the hilltop in front of them, and then William saw their relief as well. A large, blue expanse of water. We'll put it down halfway there. There's a village at the foot of this hill and we don't want them to be bothered by our little friend. Halfway there still meant almost an hour of flight but in the end the Dagurashibanipal was lowered to the ground.

      Phew. I'm glad we got that done, said the wizard.

      So am I. Now we have to start removing the honey from its face, Hilda said. Scrape off a bit and see what happens. Then scrape some more. Once it starts moving and snorting we have to be out of its reach because from that point on it'll break out of the honey and be its happy little self again.

      "Yeah, sure. Little." William grinned at that. They made sure to be out of reach of the dragon and then they used magic to break away bits of solidified honey from the animal's muzzle. By the time it was all de-honeyed the dragon still lay there.

      Give it some time. It'll figure out it's free again soon enough. We can go and have something to eat. I'm sure the village at the foot of the mountain has a tavern. And so they left the Dagurashibanipal to fend for itself. William and his sweetwitch flew to the village which was locally known as Nobbletown. As they were looking for the eatery of Nobbletown they asked what had given the town that remarkable name.

      That is because of the Nobbleback hunter who lived here a long time ago. The man explaining this was kind enough to escort the magicals to the Grub Spot, which apparently was the best tavern in the area. Seeing that Nobbletown was the only village in the area and the Grub Spot had no competition in town, that would make sense.

      Nobbleback hunter? Hilda was puzzled. We saw no Nobblebacks here.

      That's because of her, the man said. She was an amazing dragon hunter and made all the Nobblebacks move away. He nodded in appreciation of the fact.

      She? Hilda liked that. A female Nobbleback hunter. That must have been a shiny woman!

      Yes. She. Her name was Nellie, said the man who was turning into their personal tour guide. There was a statue of her but Cornelius destroyed it. He was a Nobbleback hunter too but not a good one and he hated Nellie because she was better. By then they had arrived at the Grub Spot, and there the man left them after wishing them a pleasant stay in Nobbletown. Hilda and William thanked him and entered the tavern.

      I see why this place deserves its name, said William after they had recovered from their initial surprise. There were lots of spots where grub had found a final resting place, or at least that was how it looked. Amazingly enough there were lots of people inside, all of them eating and clearly enjoying what they shovelled into themselves. Maybe the spots of grub were carefully applied in order to give the place some atmosphere.

      The food smells good. Let's try it, Hilda decided, and marched to a free table. Almost before they had sat down someone raced up to the table and skidded to a halt.

      "Welcome, welcome! If you are looking for grub you found the right spot, the man said. Hilda closed her eyes and waited for the inevitable. The Grub Spot!" That was hopefully the last of that.

      We want something to eat, she said. No more fancy talk. We're magical. Say something we don't like and we'll make you eat your words. The wicked witch was not in the mood for this kind of entertainment after carrying a huge dragon around for a while.

      Oh. Uhm. Of course, honourable witch, the man said, toning down his performance dramatically. After informing them about the choices the kitchen had available he took their order and made himself disappear before the witch would assist him in that. The magicals took their time to look around and listen to a few conversations. Most visitors to the tavern were quite loud-voiced so they were hard to miss. Some of them complained loudly about the lack of dragons in the area. Apparently Nobbletown had prospered during the early days when many visitors came to stay. Visitors who, indeed, hoped to catch a glimpse of a Nobbleback dragon.

      I wonder if we should tell them about the little present we dumped here, William said.

      Of course not. The dragon will stay close to the water. Some of these folks will go there too, and so they'll find it by themselves. Why would we take the blame for that? Hilda's idea about that sounded legitimate.

      Hello, a big man roared as he entered. I need a drink! His enthusiasm was shared by several others who were already present. He joined

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1