The Last of the Sky Pirates
The Last of the Sky Pirates was the fifth book in The Edge Chronicles, the seventh book chronologically, and the first book in the Rook Trilogy.
Plot Summary
Rook Barkwater was a lowly under-librarian living in the network of sewer-chambers beneath the city of Undertown, in which a society called the Librarians Academic had established itself, secretly opposing the cruel Guardians of Night. He dreamed of becoming a Librarian Knight, though he believed that the honor would go to his best friend, Felix Lodd.[1]
His story begins with a dream of woodwolves and his parents, Keris and Shem, followed by stealthy mission to the seventeenth floating sumpwood lectern of the Great Storm Chamber Library. He went there to read Varis Lodd's treatise, A Study of Banderbears' Behaviour in Their Natural Habitat, which she had written on the same journey in which she had rescued him from the Deepwoods. Rook was admonished for accessing the treatises by overzealous Under-Professor, Ledmus Squinx.[1]
The next morning, Rook and Felix woke up to the sound of a tilderhorn, reminding them of the Announcement Ceremony, where three apprentices would be chosen to travel to the Free Glades and become librarian knights.[2]
On their way to the Blackwood Bridge, the site of the ceremony, Rook and Felix encountered a muglump. Rook threw a dagger at the muglump and managed to hit it, but the creature escaped.[2]
To his astonishment, Rook was chosen in the Announcement Ceremony , along with Stob Lummus and Magda Burlix.[3]
Rook, Magda, and Stob made their way along the Great Mire Road with the help of a few allies. While on the road, Rook helped an imprisoned sky pirate, Deadbolt Vulpoon, to escape from the shrykes. Finally, Rook, Magda, and Stob arrived in the Eastern Roost. With the help of a shryke-mate by the name of Hekkle, the three made their way across the Deepwoods, eventually arriving in the Free Glades.
Shortly after their arrival, Rook, Stob, and Magda were joined by Xanth Filatine, a disguised Guardian of Night who was secretly channeling information to the Guardians so that they could ambush librarians traveling to the Free Glades. Unaware of this, Rook became friends with Xanth. Rook, Stob, Magda, and Xanth constructed their skycraft in their first studies. Xanth broke his leg in a skycraft accident, and could not embark upon his treatise-voyage, the journey for which the knights were studying. A few months later, Rook, Varis Lodd, and Knuckle raided the Foundry Glades to free the banderbears enslaved by Hemuel Spume, but Xanth had tipped off the Foundry Master, and the three of them fell into a trap. Despite this, they managed to free the banderbears. During the raid, Rook took a poisoned arrow to the shoulder to save the life of one of the banderbears, and became sickened by fever. During Rook's illness, a guilt-wracked Xanth confessed his treachery to Rook before fleeing back to the Tower of Night.
A few months after this, Rook embarked on his treatise-voyage, with the aim to witness the mythical Great Convocation of Banderbears, and to write a treatise with a similar name, An eyewitness account of the great mythical convocation of Banderbears. He wrote the treatise between 84 and 86 ᴇ.ʏ.
At first the voyage was uneventful, with Rook being reminded of Stob and Magda by spotting a Hammelhorn, and a Woodmoth hatching, and Rook wonders if any of them have completed their voyages yet. After a few months of nothing Rook finally stumbles upon a scratching post, where he stays for a few days waiting for a banderbear to appear, but to no luck. He continues to look for signs of them, either an area barren of food, or a nest that one has slept in, but again, to no luck.
One day when he almost blacks out due to dehydration while flying, he seeks out a watering hole, and eventually finds one. He watches from a distance as he waits to see if their is any danger, and sees some Banderbear tracks, they seem rather small, but he is sure they belong to a young Banderbear, and he decides to wait there until he finally sees a Banderbear.
A small female eventually approaches the pond, and he watches her for a while. She returns many times over the next week or so, and he makes notes and drawings on how she walks, to her eating habits and what time she comes to drink. After a while he decides to lay some Sallowdrop fruit out for her, keeping the insects away with his slingshot. She approaches and eats the fruit happily, he repeats the process over the next few days, she eats it every time. But then one day he hides behind a nearby tree and leaves no fruit out, she seems sad that her bounty of fruit is not there this time, but then Rook approaches her with the fruit and she takes it, making the connection between the fruit that was left out and the fourthling who is approaching her.
They build up a good relationship over the coming months, with rook slowly learning the language of the Banderbears, as some mentions of it were in Varis Lodd's treatise, he finds it relatively easy, yet starts off rocky, saying things like "The pinenuts are good, my nose is fat", and he eventually finds out the Banderbears name, Wumeru, "She with chipped tusks who walks in moonlight"
Rook at first documents everything, the language she speaks and the accompanying movements and how she builds her nests at night, and the pair become good friends. But then Rook stops writing things in his journal, and neglects his treatise. After a short while something amazing happens, she pulls him aside and utters this word "Fr-uh-nz" Which we can only assume was taught to her by Twig.
But then suddenly Rook waked up to find that Wumeru has gone, he hears remnants of some Banderbear calling about the Valley of a Thousand Echoes and that the meeting must take place now. Rook instantly assumes that this means the Great Convocation and packs up his things, dropping his flame cap for his kettel over the side, and chooses to leave it, and follows her.
From a distance at first, he notices that she is merely tearing through the undergrowth, and is not her usual sneaky self. He eventually lands and meets with her, but she almost kills him and says that it was forbidden for him to follow her path, but he follows her anyway. They soon arrive at the Valley of a Thousand Echoes, and Rook watches from a distance at first, but then climbs onto a branch that goes over the valley, and listens to the banderbears.
He hears them say where they come from, ranging from the Ironwood Groves to the Lofty Edgelands, and writes down everything he hears in his treatise log. But he soon loses his grip and falls into the valley and is picked up by a huge black banderbear, who threatens to kill him, but the Banderbear he saved at the foundry glades speaks up for him, saying that he saved her life and took the arrow for her. They consider this and name him "He who took the poison stick" or Uralowa, and call him a true friend to Banderbears, the only one, apart from captain Twig.
Rook finds twig in the edge of the valley, and they begin to talk, Twig tells him tales of how he used to be a famous sky pirate and how he tried to rescue his crew from riverise, and Rook tells him of the guardians of Night and how Twig's friend Cowlquape is still alive. Twig instantly decides to form a crew to take the still moored Skyraider to rescue Cowlquape from Midnights Spike. They recruit a strong banderbear called Wuralo, who is the Banderbear that Rook saved in the foundry glades, a male with a hug scar called Weeg, the giant black banderbear called Rummel, a pair of twins called Meeru and Loom and a small female called Molleen. Last of all they recruit Wumeru, as a ships cook.
The journey to the edgelands was short yet took them a while, as the older two, Twig and Molleen, were slower, and as Rook flew above in his Skycraft, they form a long line with Rummel at the front and Molleen and the back.
They soon find the edgelands with the Skyraider still attached to Gloamgloazer Rock, and they find the flight rock in perfect condition and set off. They soon reach The Tower of Night and they begin to attack.
While Twig and the Skyraider kept the Guardians busy, Rook snuck into the tower on his skycraft and made his way through the ledges, with the aid of a cowardly guard called Gobrat, he eventually freed Cowlquape, who escaped aboard the Skyraider. As Rook was about to fly away, however, a rope became snagged and the skycraft was stuck. Rook was then confronted by Xanth, who, upon recognizing Rook, sliced through the rope with his crossbow and helped Rook escape.
The Skyraider, meanwhile, was losing buoyancy as its flight-rock crumbled. Four of the banderbears and Cowlquape flew to safety on parawings, but Twig, mortally wounded by a crossbow bolt, stayed aboard the Skyraider. However, as the Skyraider dropped over the Edge, Twig was rescued by the Caterbird, who carried him off to Riverrise.
References
Editions
| Books in the Edge Chronicles series, by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell |
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Quint Trilogy: The Curse of the Gloamglozer •The Winter Knights • Clash of the Sky Galleons Twig Trilogy: Beyond the Deepwoods • Stormchaser • Midnight Over Sanctaphrax Rook Trilogy: The Last of the Sky Pirates • Vox • Freeglader The Lost Barkscrolls: Cloud Wolf • The Stone Pilot • The Slaughterer's Quest • The Blooding of Rufus Filatine Nate Book: The Immortals Cade Trilogy: The Nameless One • Doombringer • The Descenders Other Books: The Edge Chronicles Maps • The Sky Chart Blogs: Weird New Worlds |