A/N: Hehe, wow… I finally updated! LOL Sorry for leaving you guys in the dark for so long. Ok, THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT! I have decided to change a few things in the previous chapter and a few details in the beginning and such. There might even be a name change (?). So if some of this stuff doesn't make sense to you now it will after I change the other stuff. So don't freak on me if you don't get something or if something doesn't coordinate with something else I wrote previously, it will make sense next time I update! Promise! Now, enough of my rambling. ENJOY!

Disclaimer: Narnia is all Lewis'

THE BLACK FIRE

Chapter 9

The Deliverance

A bright ray of Narnian sunlight rested on Wade's face, and his eyes fluttered open only to be temporarily blinded. Cursing the daylight, he shut his eyes not wanting it to be morning yet, but defying his thoughts, he slowly stood up and stretched. The American looked around and saw the slumbering King resting against a tree only a few yards away. Yawning, he then walked between two trees and stepped out onto Glasswater's sparkling white sandy beach. Wade made his way to the water's edge, letting the high tide roll over his shoes. A lump began to form in his throat as he looked at the large, dark ship floating about a half mile out in the water. It looked so sinister, so forbidden with its dark wood frame, black tattered sails, and the eerie shadow it cast on the water.

The teen's thoughts were interrupted by a moaning noise as the King awoke from his sleep and rose to his feet. Seconds later he was standing next to Wade.

The Narnian looked out over at the ship. "So that's it, huh?"

"I guess." Wade replied kicking his foot into the sand. "Goll, why did I have to lead Mallory here in the first place? Then this never would have happened." He said mostly to himself, but partially to Matt.

"Everything's going to be alright." Wade was then reassured by a pat on his back. "I suppose we should get out there then. How do you feel about swimming?"

"Considering swimming is the only choice we have," the American paused and shrugged his shoulders, "might as well give it a go." Both males then sat down on the warm sand and began taking off their shoes.

"There is one thing I think I should warn you about, Wade," the King began with a small smirk building on his face. "We have to be careful when we get farther out in the water because that's where the sea serpents and sharks tend to roam."

Wade's eyes grew wide and stared at the King in disbelief with his mouth half open, but soon relaxed when the Narnian started to laugh.

"I'm just fooling with you!" he chuckled, obviously pleased with his joke. Grinning, Wade just shook his head and continued taking off his shoes. Matt then continued in a grave voice. "They usually prefer to roam the coastline."

Wade laughed mockingly and threw a handful of sand at the jokester. "Very funny."

Still amused at this conversation, Matt stood up, brushed the sand out of his brown hair, and pulled his tunic up and over his head, revealing his tanned and fit upper body. Wade then rose and did the same, shedding his shirt and bearing his moderately tanned skin and decent muscles, proof of the hard work he did on the family farm that summer. Suddenly a noise of a startled horse cut through the air.

"What was that? It sounded close," Wade inquired with look of puzzlement.

"Ha, it's Thunder." The King pointed over to a prickly bush where the large black horse was trying to eat the fruit on the it's sharp branches. The horses' saddle and bridal were all askew, and his tail and mane were adorned in thorny plants, twigs, and leaves. "We're definitely in the right place," the King confirmed grimly. "Broady or whoever-it-is-that-supposedly-kidnapped-Mallory stole Thunder and used him as a means of transportation."

"Should we tie him where Victory and Sampson are?"

"Oh, he'll be all right until we get back."

"Well," Wade began with a serious look pasted on his face, "let's get this party started."

Swimming their eleventh interval of thirty seconds underwater, both Wade and Matt's heads popped above Glasswater's cool water.

"I swear this water is getting colder by the second," Wade managed to say between chattering teeth and tired breaths as he treaded water.

"I never said it was going to be warm. We're almost there. See? Can even read her name."

"Deliverance," the younger said quietly.

"What an appropriate name," Matt replied sarcastically, then quickly switched gears. "Alright, let's swim thirty more seconds, but swim fast and hard so we can reach the side of the Deliverance undetected. Now, you see the netting off her side?" He pointed a now prune-like finger toward the netting and continued after Wade nodded. "Then we'll take a quick rest at the bottom, and climb up and see what's going on."

"Okay. Three. Two. One." Both males took a deep breath and plunged underwater.

Thirty seconds later, Wade and Matt were hanging onto the netting off the Deliverance's side, trying to regain their energy. So far they had made it undetected. Minutes later Matt looked at Wade as he held his pointer finger to his lips signaling to be very quiet and then began to scale the netting making as little noise as a field mouse.

Unexpectedly, a gun shot pierced the silence, followed by an earsplitting scream and a commotion of running feet on deck, gruff voices, and strings of profanity that filled the air. Matt and Wade froze about 2 yards shy of the top of the deck. The American turned his head and looked at the King and nervously watched as his neck constrict as he swallowed.

"Hey," Wade whispered, but knew he didn't have to because of the uproar above, "why don't we have guns?"

"Uh," Matt started uneasily, "the Calormen developed that sort of weapon in these parts, but the invention was never brought to Narnia because the Narnian court ruled it would make war and fighting unfair."

"Squawk, awk… ooooo. Hoo ez theez?"

"What the-" Matt's head jerked upward as he looked directly above him. There, perched on the Deliverance's railing was a rather large Macaw peering down at the two.

"You don't think…" Wade asked in bewilderment as he stared up at the colorful bird.

"It-it couldn't. It wouldn't… would it?" stammered the young King.

"Oooowhowho do ve ave ere?"

"Oh crap!" moaned Wade.

"Oh, who's a good birdy?" cooed Matt. "Who's a g-"

"SQUAWK! SQUAWK! CAPTAIN! CAPTAIN!" called the Macaw.

"No, no, no. Shh, shh!" hissed Wade.

"CAPTAIN MARCUS!" the bird screeched one last time. The hubbub that was happening on the deck suddenly ceased at the animal's last CAPTAIN MARCUS, and all became quiet.

"What is it, Mr. Caw?" barked a deep, raspy voice. Then without warning, loud, heavy footsteps rang throughout the air as their owner walked slowly to the railing. And just as abruptly as the footsteps began they stopped. There was a brief silence that was proceeded by a clicking noise. Wade knew it to be the sound of a pistol being loaded.

The wide-eyed King elbowed the American in the ribs, and, once getting Wade's attention, he moved his lips to fit the word jump. Wade's stomach twisted into an even bigger knot when he looked down at the water about fourty feet below. He looked back up at Matt and shook his head in panic. The King's eye's got even bigger as he motioned with his hands a threat to push him off the netting. Wade looked down again, then back to Matt for reassurance who mouthed after you. He closed his eyes, and was just about to jump, when he subconsciously opened his eyes and looked up at 'Mr. Caw.' The American's heart nearly stopped, and his blood ran cold as he instead looked up at a man with a gruff disposition pointing a pistol at him and Matt.

The man's face broke out into an evil toothy grin displaying his yellow bicuspids. "Ello', boys. What do you think you're doing?" he spat. "You both have two choices. One, you can jump now and I shoot ya. Or two, you come on board and I'll kill ya later."

Matt took a deep breath as he and Wade climbed the last few feet to the poop deck. "I think we'll take choice number two."

They both climbed over the railing and were greeted by Captain Marcus and two ruthless looking men who pinned their arms behind their backs.

As they were led by their captors to a pile of barrels, Mr. Caw could be heard cackling in the background. It appeared as if all of the Deliverance's crew was on deck. They were a fierce looking bunch. Nearly every single one had a visible tattoo displayed on their body, and most of them had beards as well as stringy hair. There was a peg-leg here and an eye patch there, nothing too horrifying. But as Matt and Wade were led over to the barrels to be tied up, they paid little attention to the crew. For there, tied on a fancy, high-backed chair near the starboard side of the ship sat Mallory. All except for a medium sized scrape on her cheek, she looked perfectly fine. She sat dumbfounded as both members of her search party was tied to a barrel and forced to sit on the wooden floor. The friends all exchanged worried glances as the Captain made his way over to his two new captives.

"What brings you two to my ship?" the pot-bellied Captain inquired. Neither answered. "Very well then," he sneered as he turned his back and walked over to Mallory's chair.

"My dear, I have an idea that--"

"You need a brain to have an idea," mocked Mallory. Wade and Matt both stifled a small laugh at Mallory's comment and Captain Marcus' appalled expression.

"As I was saying," the Captain continued, "I believe that these two came here to rescue… you. Am I correct?"

The two new captives held their breaths as Mallory pondered her answer. "I'm afraid I don't know either of them," she replied matter-of-factually.

Lowering his voce, the Captain leaned in and looked Mallory square in the eye. "I highly doubt that," he hissed. "Broady!" he then ordered. Wade and Matt jumped at the name and looked over as a dark haired man made his way through the crowd and over to his leader. "Take the boy," the Captain made a vague gesture over to his new captives. "Untie him. Shackle his feet together and attach a weight."

"Yes, sir. But, which boy?" replied a stone-faced Broady.

"The blond-haired one, you fool. Don't you know? The other one is the King of Narnia. I have a different death sentence more appropriate for a King." the Captain leered.

Broady saluted as he walked over to Wade and began to until him from the old whisky barrel.

"No," choked Mallory in a soft voice as tears began to rim her eyes. Just as the tears started to flow freely, a loud voice startled her.

"Captain!" the King of Narnia said in a commanding voice. "Please, spare my friend. I will go in his place." The now free Wade gawked at his new crony as the Captain pondered this proposal.

"Fine, fine. Let's just get on with this. Broady, retie the boy. Chip, untie the King." Chip, a short, red haired man marched over to Matt and began to until him.

As Wade was brutally retied to his barrel he looked at Matt's face. It was steadfast and unwavering. "Matt…" he managed to say. Matt looked over at Wade. The American looked him right in the eye and could see sadness etched on the King's face. Once Matt was free from the barrel he was forced to his feet and led over to another ship mate who was ready to shackle the King's feet and attach the weight.

Wade felt so helpless as he sat tied to his barrel only able to watch everything unfold. He could faintly hear Mallory's crying through the pirate's loud voices. By now most of the crew was surrounding Matt where they were mocking him and calling him names. Wade could feel a familiar lump building in his throat.

"Now," began the Captain as he casually walked over to the weeping Mallory, clearly enjoying his torture, "see, you do know these boys, don't you?"

Mallory squinted her red eyes at the vile man. "You are a cruel, cruel, man," she managed to say between sobs.

"I'm so sorry you feel that way. But I'm only doing one's duty. I found all three keys, but you refused to tell me where you found yours." With a motion of his hand, Matt was pushed onto the plank that was attached to the Deliverance. He was a bit hunched over as he struggled to hold the metal weight attached to his shackles.

"So, I'll ask you one last time, little miss. Where did you find the key?"

"I'll never tell!" Mallory nearly screamed.

"Very well," replied the Captain casually. "Young King, you may walk the plank!"

All the crew began to chant as Matt staggered down to the end of the board. He paused when he was at his last step and hung his head. Then took the remaining step, plunging deep down into the water.

A/N: Soooo…. how was that? Sheesh! That took me forever to write. I'm not even kidding! Now, some things to think about: What will happen to Matt? And what the heck is up with the keys the Captain Marcus was talking about? Mallory seemed to know… And most importantly how will Mallory and Wade escape? Remember to review! ;-)

erin!