“See that rope?” Harry pointed to a tightly wound bit of cord. “Unwrap it on your side, and I’ll do the same on mine. Just hold the last little bit. Don’t let the whole thing loose…” he said, but she had already unwound the rope. It was easy enough. She simply pulled the rope from the sail and cast it off.
Unfortunately, Harry hadn’t even started to unfurl his end of the sail. So the end she had set free caught the wind, jerking the boat toward its starboard side, which was a boating term that Harry would not stop using. Isn’t it just called the right side? she had thought over and over again, but now the word was in her head and she was using it.
“This would have been a bit easier if you had waited,” Harry said grumpily.
“Got that,” she said. The boat was turning rapidly to one side, threatening to pull them off course, but Harry was quick, his fingers nimble. The sail pulled at the ropes, tightening them, but somehow he managed to get the rope unwound, and the entire sail billowed gorgeously into the air.
The ship righted itself.
“Next time we do it together!” he exclaimed, and Uma made no argument. She was eager to get to the necklace and the trident, but she’d already twice seen where a bit of overeagerness got her. She’d nearly fallen into the drink (as pirates called the sea) and partially driven them off course. I think it’s time to listen to directions, she thought.
Uma hated directions. She gave orders; she didn’t follow them.
But she climbed to the next sail as Harry directed. This one had a plank behind it and a rail, so it was easier to balance as she undid the ropes.
“Wait,” said Harry.
“I know. I’m not an idiot.”
He raised an eyebrow.
“Now!” he cried, and they both let loose the next sail. This one blossomed into a perfect half circle, snapping tight in the wind. They undid one more and then moved to the rear, where there were three more sails to unfurl. All in all, it was a lot of work, but each time a sail caught the wind, she felt their speed increase. By the time they’d unfurled the last of them, they were moving at quite a clip—the boat dashing across the waves, sometimes almost skipping from peak to peak.
“See, that wasn’t so bad,” she said as they climbed down the last mast, the mizzenmast, as he’d called it.
“You did nearly fall into the ocean,” Harry reminded Uma. “Twice.”
The boat rocked once more, as if it too were reminding her of what happened. It swung back in the other direction, and both of them spun, catching each other and holding on to the mast to avoid falling to the deck. The increased speed had also added a bit more instability to their ride, making it slightly more dangerous. When the boat rocked, it did so with incredible force. It pitched again, and even Harry went fumbling for something to hold on to. Fortunately, sailing ships are webbed with ropes. He caught one or two and steadied himself.
“Lost your sea legs?” Uma asked.
“Even a good sailor needs a handhold every now and then.”
She nodded as if she didn’t believe a word he’d said.
“Oh, stop it—don’t we have a treasure chest to find?” Harry pointed out.
They did. She’d almost forgotten about it.
Uma stared out over the ocean. She knew the trident was there, and she also knew she was not the only one looking for it. But they were moving faster now, and she had to hope that they would find it first.
“That’s all the sails?” she asked.
“That’s it. I can throw an oar in the water if you want to paddle?”
“I’ll let you do that,” she replied.
“I’m sailing this ship,” Harry said—and indeed he was moving back and forth, checking all of the ropes that wound from the gunwale to the masts, from mast to mast and from mast to sail. And all the while he had to make certain the rudder was set in the right direction. He’d fastened it in place with a lash, but it needed constant correction. “If you don’t head straight into these waves they can knock you over, leaving you on your side. And then you’re done,” he said. “The sea is growing rougher: the waves are certainly higher, and the wind’s stronger. I hope this trident of yours is worth all this effort.”
“It is—trust me,” said Uma. “With that trident, we can buy our ticket out of here.”
Harry shrugged. “I hope so. We’re all counting on it.”
“You think this will work?” asked Lonnie, as she and Ben watched a group of strongmen from Agrabah take sledgehammers to the Great Wall. The stone crumbled underneath their blows, and soon enough, there was a hole big enough to see through to the other side, where a similar group of imperial soldiers was doing the same thing.
“I hope so,” said Ben, waving to Charlie, who waved back from his part of the wall.
When the hole was big enough to walk through, Ben crossed from the desert kingdom into Northern Wei’s territory, the Grand Vizier by his side.
“Welcome to Stone City,” said Charlie, bowing to the Grand Vizier.
“It is an honor to be here,” said the Grand Vizier, bowing low as well. The two shook hands, and Charlie motioned for the group to take a seat on his porch, where they could watch the construction from a safe distance.
Ben had sent a pigeon to carry a message over the wall after he had convinced the Grand Vizier of his plan. Charlie then forwarded the message to the Emperor for approval. The Imperial City had sent its response—a white dove that meant the plan was approved.
And so, for the first time in the history of the Great Wall, there was going to be a door to Stone City on the other side. The people of Agrabah would no longer need to fly their carpets over the wall in order to get access, and the people of Stone City would no longer be aggravated by the noise from the pesky things.
“After all, we are not enemies,” said Charlie. “We are neighbors and friends, and have been for thousands of years. The wall was built for one purpose, but now must serve another.”
“Not enemies at all,” agreed the Grand Vizier, slurping his bubble tea and chewing noisily on the tapioca balls. “What is this amazing concoction?”
Charlie explained the provenance and the ingredients that went into the making of bubble tea, and the Grand Vizier declared he would press the Sultan to serve it during their festival, which was coming up in a month or so.