Chapter Two
    James viewed the strange land below him. It was pretty large sized island, with a mountain in the middle, and everything you could think of all around it. It looked like a painter had wanted to paint a fantasy island, but couldn't decide what to put in it, so he painted hundreds of different ones, and just mashed them into a single picture. It was wonderful.
    "This is it." Peter explained.
    James only half listened. He was more concerned with the great feeling he had. He was flying, among the clouds, with the sea air whipping through his hair. The dawn had just begun, and made the clouds around them dance with the colors of gold, pink, and orange. "This is the greatest feeling in the world!" he said, attempting a rather clumsy flip in the air. "Flying is the best!"
    Peter grinned, but not in agreement. "Come on," he said, "I want to show you the mermaids." He did a flip, obviously showing James up for his clumsy one, and dove down toward the island of Neverland, with of course, Tinkerbell following.
    James did the same, and was led to a small cove opening into the ocean, complete with waterfall. There, 'basking' on the rocks, were six or seven multi-colored mermaids. Their hair were all the colors of the rainbow, with, usually, matching fins, and their skin glittered as if they had fallen into a vat of stars.
    Peter landed on a ledge overlooking the cove and mermaids, but stayed hidden from them. James joined him.
    "See," said Peter, "mermaids."
    "Wow..."
    "Watch this." Before James could react, Peter jumped down from the ledge, and down to the mer-women. "Hello, ladies!" He called as he glided to a stop, hovering just feet above the water.
    All of the mermaids immediately put down their mirrors and brushes which they had been using to 'groom' themselves, and looked up. "Peter!" they chorused.
    "Hi, Peter..." said a mermaid with green hair. She leaned as far over as she could in the rock where she lay, and batted her eyes.
    Peter grinned. "Hello all. I have a friend with me today." He turned and waved for James to follow him down.
    "A friend?" A bright red-haired mermaid asked, curiously. "Is he anything like you?"
    Peter shrugged. "A little." He again turned to where James hid. "Come on down, James." he called. "They want to meet you!" Reluctantly, James flew down into the cove, and as gracefully as he could manage, landed on a rock just big enough for him to stand on. All of the mermaids rushed over to examine the new boy, grabbing at his clothes, and the sword that hung on his belt.
    "He looks like a pirate to me!" a blue mermaid said with a sneer.
    "A sword! A sword!" said the green, pulling on it. "He's got a sword!"
    "No, he's got two!" said the red, "He's got a smaller one on the other side!"
    "Why don't you have a sword, Peter?" a mermaid with bright, almost unnaturally yellow hair asked.
    Peter scratched his head. "Gosh... I dunno..."
    James wasn't listening, he was pre-occupied with the mermaids. "Hey, get off! Leave my swords alone! That one belonged to my father!" He yelled, trying to kick the water women away, but they kept coming.
    "I think you're a pirate!" The red one yelled, "We don't like pirates!"
    "I am not a pirate!!" James snapped, "Never was, never will be! Pirates killed my father!"
    The mermaids didn't care. They all began to talk at once, and tried to push James off the rock. "Hey!" he yelled, "Stop it! This isn't funny!"
    "We think it's funny, don't we, Peter?" the yellow mermaid asked, but Peter wasn't listening. "Peter?" The mermaids all stopped their taunts and looked at Peter Pan curiously. "Peter, what's wrong?"
    Peter was sitting in mid-air with his hand to his chin as if in deep thought. Then, he suddenly snapped back into reality with a huge grin on his face. "I've got an idea!" he exclaimed. With a swoop, he grabbed James by the wrist and pulled him into the air. "Let's go!"
    "But, where are we--"
    James didn't get to finish his sentence. Peter turned around and waved as he continued flying. "Bye ladies!" He then looked down to one of the rocks. "Come on Tink, we're going to Pirates cove!"

    James examined the jewel encrusted sword. It was just one of many weapons and jewels and gold to be found on this abandoned pirate ship. It was obviously old, but well-kept, probably by Peter, and, by the condition of the anchor, it hadn't been moved from the spot in a long, long time.
    "If this ship is here," James asked, standing, and putting the sword back where he found it, "then where are the pirates?"
    Peter was swinging back and forth in a hammok by the Captain's bed. He shrugged. "I dunno. This place has been here for as long as I can remember. Tink and I fixed it up to serve as a hideout from the Indians. They don't like me, y'know."
    James looked around the room which had once been a pirate captain's quarters. "And you never thought to do anything with all this wealth?"
    Peter shrugged and blew into an instrument which looked like a group of flutes all tied together in a row. Then, after a moment, he said, "What would I do with it?"
    James didn't know the answer. "Well, why don't you take one of the swords? There's a lot to choose from. Sure, some may need some polishing, but I'm sure you could find one you like."
    Peter continued playing his pipes for a moment or two, then stopped. "I don't know how to swordfight." he admitted, "I wouldn't know what to do with 'em." He resumed his playing, but only for a minute before stopping again. He slowly leaned over the side of the hammok and down at James. "Hey, you know how to swordfight, don't you?" he asked.
    James nodded. "I've known how to use a sword sinse I was seven years old." he replied proudly, "My father taught me."
    Peter thought for a moment, then did a flip out of the hammok and onto the floor. "I know, you can teach me!" he said, "Teach me how to swordfight and we can play pirates! We've got the ship..!"
    James pulled out his sword and grinned. "Sounds like fun..."

    "No, no, no." James sighed in frustration. "You're holding the sword all wrong. Here, let me show you." He walked to the boy and lifted his elbow just a bit so that Peter held the sword at a slant. "That's how you start the fight, so you can easily move about and block your opponent's attacks." He took a step back. "Okay, now do a few exercises for me."
    Peter shrugged, and waved the sword around doing a bunch of fancy moves just to show off. When he finished, he turned to James for a comment. "Well? How'd I do?"
    James shook his head slightly. "You're still tense." he said. "You're wrist is too stiff. For a sword like this one, you need your arm to flow with the movements. Like water."
    Peter looked confused, as if he didn't know what James was talking about, but he didn't want James to know he didn't know. "Okay, let me try again." This time, Peter only made a few swipes in the air, then stopped. "Better, right?"
    "Not too bad." James agreed. "But now you need real practice, with a real opponent."
    "En guard!" On to Chapter Three
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