Descendants watching the vks past and Present

Chapter 120: The Sorcerer's Snare

Uma paced the top deck of the Lost Revenge confidently.

"I have to admit that the 'Lost Revenge' is a much better name than the 'Jolly Rancher'." Peter Pan said.

Milah shook her head, resisting the urge to scream at him, he knows why her husband named his ship the Jolly Rancher, and how much that name means to him.

With Harry and Gil at her side,

"Well of course."

she'd assembled a solid squad—a bona fide pirate ship with a bona fide crew. No matter that Gil was so dim he often forgot to call her by that horrid nickname; Harry and his wharf rats were ready to cut up anyone who stood in their way. She surveyed the work pirates were doing to bring the ship up to task.

They were busy provisioning the ship, bringing on food and water from Ursula's as she'd ordered, as well as a whole host of supplies. All sorts of things could go wrong at sea,

"As god of it, I know full well." Poseidon said with a nod.

and you couldn't exactly head home if you have a problem, so they needed extra lengths of rope and sail, boards that could be used to fix the hull, and all the tools and hardware to make those repairs. Plus, Harry insisted that every inch of the ship had to be checked. Every length of rope was inspected for rents or frayed edges. Rats loved to chew on ropes, and they tended to choose that most undesirable places to snack to them. If the pirates didn't check every inch of the ropes, their main sail might just sail free the moment the wind caught it, or their anchor line might snap in two just as it took hold.

"Wow, now that would be a nightmare." said Jessica, Flynn, Mollie and Milah all at the same time.

The crew went over every length of sail, and they checked all the winches and pulleys as well, making certain that each was sound, replacing a few, fixing others. They checked the mast for cracks and the rubber for soundness, and made certain it worked in proper coordination with the captain's wheel. Things seemed to be coming together. But there was one particular problem that caught Uma's attention. Apparently the Lost Revenge had as many holes as the ship had boards.

"Oooh, that's bad." Jessica said.

Wooden sailing ships always take on a bit of water, she knew. But the Lost Revenge took on water by the bucketful, and when they'd tried to push off the dock the problem had only increased, with more water rising faster, threatening to turn her sailing into a gigantic bathtub.

"So what do we do?" she asked Harry, who, had spent his whole life on this ship.

"Well," Harry started, clearly excited that she had decided to consult him on that matter. "We should have her lifted out of the water, the hull scraped clean and repainted, then—"

"Something tells me she won't like that."

"Stop. That's not happening. We need something about the state of this ship, but we don't have time to lift it or do anything major. Be serious."

"Knew it."

"Yeah, I guess. Okay, so then maybe it's just a matter of resealing the boards. When the ship was built, the joints were all watertight, you know, fitted together closely so no water could pass through them. But ships age, and boards flex and rot and chip, and pirate ships have a way of getting rammed into or ramming into things, taking cannon shot, the usual stuff. It ruins the hulls and the boards that make them up."

"Thank gods for that."

"Wonderful history of sailing, thanks, but I have no interest. Get to the point, will you?" she growled.