OVER HERE, PIRATE!

May 18th 2011, 10:19 by E O Hatterpol | 223 AU FROM SUN

Thum-pink!  Thum-pink! The pirate's footsteps were coming closer; we could tell he had a peg leg.


"Quickly!" Ravisius hissed.  "Go find the pirate & bring him back here - bring him RIGHT back to this spot."


"Do what now?  Go towards a pirate instead of away?" I asked.


"Just go do it - now!"


I stepped out into the aisle, knees shaking.  Every part of my being wanted to run away like I had done earlier, but I knew I couldn't do that.  Who knew?  Ravisius & I could have been the only good guys left on the ship by that point.


Thum-pink!  Thum-pink!  The pirate came around the corner; when he saw me, he was clearly surprised.  He stopped to process what was happening - probably too much rum back in his day - so I gripped the leather belt tighter, pulling the bookshield to my chest.  I readied my broken beer bottle sword.  Then I said the first thing that came to my mind:


"Nanny, nanny, boo-boo
Pockets full of doo-doo
Your peg leg - I admire it
Come here & catch me, pirate!"


He flew into a rage & set after me with nicked blade aloft - thumpink!thumpink!thumpink! - so I retreated back to the bookshelves, but Ravisius was nowhere to be found!


"Oh, snap - I'm screwed!" I said.  "That slush pile left!"


I got down into a crouch & made my energy noises.  I don't know why I make sound effects; they just help me overcome the paralyzing fear I feel when facing murderous space pirates.  You'd have tricks, too!


"I've got you now, likkle Flybrarian," the pirate said, advancing slowly now that I had been caught.


Thum-pink.  Thum-pink.  My killer was calmly approaching.  I readied my spin attack.  And then-


"BRRAUGH!"


Ravisius busted out of the bookshelf where he had been hiding, arms outstretched in ambush.  Books flew off the shelves in a magical stream, forming Ravisius' body as they separated from the stacks.


The pirate turned, screaming.  It must have looked like the books themselves were coming alive to defend the library.  The pirate fell under the avalanche of hardcovers and paperbacks; I couldn't see him under the pile of books.


I watched in horror as the pirate struggled to free himself from the crushing weight of a hundred authors.  Soon, there was no more struggle.  The books pulled away in a loose pile, then built themselves into the shape of a human body.


"Let's go," Ravisius said.


"But- but you just killed that pirate!  He suffocated!  I'm not going with you anywhere!" I yelled.


"He was going to kill you, E O.  His sword was drawn."


"Yeah, but-"


"But nothing.  People have already died - good people.  The library itself awakens to avenge them."


"That's - damn.  That's bad-ass, dude.  Is that how you got away from me that one night?  Disappeared into the bookstacks?"


"Yes.  The pile of books you fell on weren't knocked loose by you - I had pushed them out of the way to hide."


I took a moment to remember how hard I had smacked into those bookstacks; after two weeks, my ribs had almost healed completely.


"I don't know you," I said at last, "but you just saved my life.  You've got to be better than those pirates."


I bent down & closed the dead man's good eye.


"I'm ready," I said.


Then we tore off towards the bow without another word.