The Pirates of Pompeii
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| The Pirates of Pompeii | |
 First edition, paperback bookcover. |
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| Author | Caroline Lawrence |
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| Cover artist | Richard Carr |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Series | The Roman Mysteries |
| Genre(s) | Historical novel |
| Publisher | Orion Books |
| Publication date | 21 Nov 2002 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 208 pp (first edition, paperback) |
| ISBN | ISBN 1842550225 |
| Preceded by | The Secrets of Vesuvius |
| Followed by | The Assassins of Rome |
The Pirates of Pompeii is a children's historical novel set in Roman times by Caroline Lawrence. The novel is the third in The Roman Mysteries series; sequel to The Secrets of Vesuvius and prequel to The Assassins of Rome novels.
[edit] Plot
The story begins as Flavia and Nubia look over the devastation of Vesuvius. Jonathan ben Mordecai is in a coma, and Nubia and Flavia search for a flower that will cure him. They find the flower, as well as a little girl, Julia, whose brother, Rufus, has been kidnapped. Julia tells them how she had been living with her grandparents, and how Rufus had fought off the scary men by kicking them very hard. He told Julia to stay in the cave, but he disappears. Soon, Jonathan awakes from the coma. Nubia meets a person who claims to be Kuranto of the Jackal clan. Rufus is not the only one kidnapped; Flavia, Jonathan, Nubia, and Lupus learn that children are disappearing everywhere. This soon leads them to meeting and befriending a man known as the patron, Felix, and his spoiled daughter Pulchra, and her two younger sisters.
They live at Felix's house for a while, thinking he may be behind the kidnappings of the children. They learn how poorly Pulchra had been treating her slave Leda, and Flavia starts treating hers, Nubia, almost as poorly. She commanded Nubia to play her flute. When Nubia disappears, the children find out that Pulchra had caused her to leave. She wanted to see Nubia's flute, but Nubia wouldn't let her, so Pulchra beat her and broke her flute. Flavia askes Felix for help but he rejected her request. The children decide to look for her themselves, only to find out that Pulchra and her slave have been following them. Flavia and Pulchra get into a fight, and didn't see the men coming, while Lupus got away. The kids soon come face to face with a band of men known as the Pirates of Pompeii.
Flavia and Jonathan meet many kidnapped children, and tried to tell jokes to make them laugh. Meanwhile, Lupus goes to Felix's wife for help, writing (he can't speak) that Pulchra had been kidnapped. The wife, Polla, seems insane, and Lupus decides to go back to the place where the kidnapped children are. He tells Pulchra that her mother said that Felix is in Rome, but Pulchra thinks her mother doesn't always know what she's saying. The children attempt to flee, but the kidnappers recapture them, threatening to kill Flavia if they didn't return, but Lupus got away again, and prayed that Felix would be back at the Villa Limona and that Pulchra was right.
Meanwhile, Nubia is with Kuranto and sever other runaway slaves. The pirates force the children and Kuranto's group to board a slave ship. Only when Nubia realises the runaway slaves are getting their hands tied, does she realise Kuranto had tricked her and that she had made a terrible mistake. Nubia takes a powder from Jonathan, and mixes it with the wine the pirates are having, supposed to put them to sleep. The pirates, however, start seeing things, and they realise it was the wrong powder.
The pirates start acting crazy, and one of them, Lucrio, stabs a knife into the wall inches from Rufus's shoulder. The kids realise the pirates are hallucinating, and Rufus grabs Lucrio and throws him overboard. Flavia pretends to be a lion and Sorex, one of the pirates, jumps overboard. Suddenly, they spot the pirate ship Vespa coming, and on it the chidrens' hated enemy and slave-dealer Venalicius.
The children and runaway slaves hatch a plan, and the slaves pretend to be the pirates trading the children. The children spill chickpeas and many of Venalicius's crewmen slip and fall. Jonathan and Nubia take aim and use gold coins and a wine jar to knock the crewmen unconscious. Finally, Jonathan uses a gold coin and shot it at Venalicius's forehead. Nubia swung from the top of the ship and attacked the slave dealer, and attempted to put a knife to his throat, but couldn't. Pulcra saves Nubia by headbutting Venalicius in the stomach. Lupus arrives with Felix, and the children decide to go to the Villa to rest. However, Lupus stood over Venalicius, and attempted to kill him with the knife, and sliced off part of the slave dealer's ear. Felix grabs the knife and hurls it into the ocean, and Lupus bursts into tears. Back at the villa, Flavia decides to free Nubia. At first she did not accept, but soon accepted but decided to still stay with her friends. She was very happy to see the rain clear away the ashes of the volcano.
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