Cornelius gazed around slowly and then looked back at Sebastian. 'How else are we supposed to get across?' he asked. 'Fly?'
Sebastian frowned, all too aware that it was his own reluctance to step out above such a terrible drop that was prompting him to delay the matter. But he just couldn't help himself. He was afraid of heights, and his desperate fight with King Septimus at the top of Keladon's highest tower hadn't done anything to help him conquer his fear.
'The tree could be completely rotten,' he argued. 'Who knows how long it's been standing here soaked by the spray from that waterfall? It could snap like a rotten twig and send us tumbling to our doom. And besides, you can see there's nothing on the other side but a sheer rock face! How are we supposed to climb up that?'
Cornelius studied the map again. 'I don't think we'll need to,' he said. 'There's just the one verse left so we must be very close now.' And he read out:
'If the treasure you would hold,
Then let courage make you bold.
Ignore the blows that sting and hurt
And look behind the grey maid's skirt.'
Cornelius raised his eyes from the page and looked at Sebastian. 'That's all there is,' he said. 'It's the final clue.'
Sebastian stared back at him in exasperation. 'Well, what's it supposed to mean?' he cried. 'The grey maid's skirt! Do you see any women standing around over there, waiting to be searched?'
'No . . .' admitted Cornelius.
'Then . . . what?'
'I haven't any idea,' Cornelius assured him. 'But it's obvious we're meant to go across this crevasse – it's as simple as that. Maybe we'll find more clues on the far side.' He tested the end of the tree with one foot. It swayed a little, but seemed strong enough. 'I think it'll take the weight,' he said. 'Provided we go one at a time. Now, if you two are not up to this, you can always wait here.'
'No way!' cried Jenna. And she too clambered up onto the trunk. Sebastian stared after her for a while and then realized that he would have to follow or be for ever tortured by the thought that he'd lost his nerve in front of his two friends.
A moment later he was standing on the tree beside Jenna, staring apprehensively over her shoulder as Cornelius set off across the void.
CHAPTER 31
ACROSS THE ABYSS
'The trick is not to look down,' announced Cornelius calmly, as though he was about to take a gentle stroll across a meadow. 'Just keep your gaze fixed firmly on the way ahead and then you won't— Oops!'
He tripped on the broken-off nub of a branch and fell face down on the huge log, which sagged visibly beneath him. Sebastian winced and watched, hardly daring to breathe, as Cornelius wrapped his arms around the slender trunk and waited a moment for it to stop quivering. 'On second thoughts,' he said, 'maybe it's not a bad idea to look down occasionally.'
He got himself back onto his knees and then, very carefully, his feet. He straightened up, spreading out his arms to keep his balance, and began to move slowly forward again. As he reached the very middle of the trunk, the spray from the waterfall began to soak him and he suddenly stopped walking.
'Shadlog's beard!' he cried.
'What's wrong?' gasped Sebastian nervously.
'The grey maid's skirt! It's the waterfall, isn't it? We're to look behind the waterfall!' He began to move again, placing his feet carefully on the wet, slippery wood, edging slowly forward step by step until, after what seemed like an age, he reached the far side and the safety of the stone ledge. Sebastian let out a long relieved breath, but then, almost instantly, Jenna started forward.
'Wait!' Sebastian grabbed her arm. 'Maybe there's no need for you to go over there,' he said. 'Why don't you leave the rest to Cornelius?'
She flashed him a disbelieving look. 'Are you kidding? I didn't come this far to give up at the last hurdle. I'll be fine. You've got to remember, I've been shinning up masts since I was a little girl.' She studied him sympathetically for a moment and lowered her voice. 'But look, if you can't handle heights, nobody will think any the worse of you if you wait here.'
'Me?' Sebastian gave what he hoped was a devil-may-care laugh. 'Oh, I'm all right. I was just worried about you . . .'
'So maybe you do care about me a little?' she said.
'Oh, er . . . I didn't mean . . .'
Jenna laughed at his embarrassment. 'Relax, Sebastian,' she said. 'I'm only pulling your leg.' She glanced briefly down into the abyss. 'Maybe not a good idea, right now.'
She turned back towards the trunk, extended her arms and started moving forward as though she did this kind of thing every day. She was heavier than Cornelius and the supple trunk bowed alarmingly when she got to the midway point, but she didn't slow her pace, even when the spray began to hit her, and in a matter of moments she had made it to the far side. She turned, smiling, to look back at Sebastian; and he realized with a cold sense of dread that he was going to have to try and make it across.
A thick sweat of terror broke out all over him but he made himself move forward, placing one foot carefully in front of the other. He tried to keep his attention fixed on Jenna's face, but remembering how Cornelius had tripped, he kept glancing down. As he moved out over the edge of the crevasse, he couldn't help but catch a glimpse of the dizzying depths that waited below. He gritted his teeth and kept going, hoping that his terror didn't show on his face – though Jenna's serious expression suggested that it did.
'Are you all right?' he heard her shout.
He tried to give her a reassuring grin but it must have come out wrong, because now she looked really concerned.
'Sebastian, maybe you'd better go back.'
'I'm fine!' he assured her.
But he wasn't fine. He was terrified. In his mind's eye he kept seeing himself falling from the trunk into the dark depths below; in vain he tried to shake off the image.
He took another step forward and the trunk sagged beneath him with a crack. His blood seemed to turn to ice in his veins, but perspiration was running into his eyes and he could hardly see where he was going. He stood there in an agony of indecision for a long time and then decided to take another halting step forward. The midpoint of the log was slippery with the constant soaking from the spray that billowed out across the cavern, and finding a secure footing was difficult.
'Just keep moving forward!' Jenna shouted to him. He nodded and took another step. Then his foot slipped sideways off the wood, and for a terrible moment he thought he was going to fall. But instead, he came down heavily astride the trunk and grunted with the pain of it. He was in danger of tilting sideways, but he managed to wrap his arms around the tree and hang on for dear life. He crouched there, trying not to think about what lay directly beneath him. He was shaking from head to foot, soaked by the icy spray from the waterfall, and he doubted that he had the strength to move from where he was. In the ensuing silence, the roar of the falling water seemed to rise to an ear-splitting crescendo.
Then the trunk sagged even more and, glancing up in alarm, he saw that Jenna was coming back, one hand held out to him.
'Jenna,' he hissed, 'it's too dangerous – go back.'
'Not without you,' she said firmly. She was beside him now, right in the middle of the trunk, and the wood was bending beneath their combined weight.
'Be careful, Jenna,' called Cornelius from the far side. 'I don't think it will take both of you!'
'It's all right,' said Jenna, without looking back at him. She held out her hand to Sebastian, gazing at him all the while. 'Now,' she said. 'Forget about trying to stand up again. Just move yourself forward any way you can.'
Sebastian shook his head. 'No,' he whispered. 'I'll have to stay here.'
'You can't,' she told him. 'We'll all need to come back this way once we've found the treasure.'
Sebastian nodded. 'The treasure,' he murmured. 'Yes. Of course.' The thought of it gave him a little courage. He took a firm grip on the tree trunk and scooched himself forward.
Jenna moved back a little to give him
more room. 'Good,' she said. 'And again . . .'
He repeated the move. Another cracking noise came from the wood and he cringed, convinced that it would splinter and break beneath them, tipping them into the void.
'It's all right,' said Jenna soothingly, pulling him upwards. He got one foot up onto the trunk and raised himself to a crouch. Then he was standing, looking directly into Jenna's brown eyes. 'Now come on, follow me,' she whispered. 'It isn't far.'
Jenna continued to move slowly backwards, never taking her eyes from his; and Sebastian had no option but to go with her, inching his way forward. And gradually, in this way, the two of them made it to the far side.
Sebastian nearly wept with relief when he got his feet back on solid rock. He hugged Jenna so tightly she had trouble drawing breath.
'I'm so sorry,' he yelled into her ear, because on this side of the crevasse the thunder of the waterfall drowned out every other noise. 'Thanks for coming back for me! I was useless out there!'
She dismissed the matter with a wave of her hand. 'Everybody is afraid of something,' she shouted back. 'I'll just have to remember not to send you up to the crow's nest when we're back aboard the Sea Witch.'
'If we ever make it back,' yelled Sebastian.
'Of course we'll make it back,' she assured him.
They turned to look for Cornelius, but he was already moving on. He was standing as close as he could to the waterfall and they noticed that he had one arm up to protect his face. They moved to join him and then they understood why. Sebastian felt something glance off his cheek and lifted his own arm to shield his eyes.
'Ignore the blows that sting and hurt,' yelled Cornelius. 'There must be stones coming down in that water the whole time.' As if to illustrate the point, something clunked off the top of his helmet and careened off into the falling water. 'But I think' – he pointed into the seething, pounding cascade – 'I think I can see an opening back there, behind the waterfall.'
Sebastian stared hard and realized that Cornelius was right. He could discern a kind of shadow back there. But how to get to it? The rushing water was too powerful to just step through: it would most likely sweep him off his feet and fling him headlong into the crevasse. No, there had to be another way.
'Maybe there's a gap between the water and the rock,' suggested Jenna. 'If we put our backs to the wall and move sideways . . .'
Cornelius nodded. 'That makes sense,' he agreed. 'Here, I'll go first.'
'No,' said Sebastian, who was still feeling bad about his poor showing over the crevasse. 'I will.' He pushed past Cornelius and pressed his shoulders up against the sheer rock face. Then he started edging closer to the water. After a few steps he could see that Jenna was right. There was a narrow gap between water and rock, but unfortunately heavy pebbles were raining down and he had only gone a little way when the first one bounced off his tricorn hat, making him wince. He lifted his arms over his head and shouted a warning to the others over the roar of the water. He kept moving, and now it was his hands and arms that took the brunt of the stinging blows. Soon he was behind the thundering veil of water and then, in the strange bluish half-light back there, he saw what Cornelius had glimpsed – a small opening in the rock wall. He ducked gratefully inside, and the sound of the waterfall diminished in volume.
He found himself in what seemed to be a large cavern, but it was pitch dark in there and he couldn't see very far. In the dim light around the doorway he spotted a couple of old lanterns, still with tallow candles in them. He felt in his pockets for his tinderbox and, kneeling down, set about trying to light one of them. Then Jenna, backing in through the opening, nearly fell over him.
'What are you doing?' she asked him.
'Trying to get some light in here,' he told her. He struck sparks from the tinderbox, and in the sudden flashes of light he could see that the cave was much bigger than he had first imagined. He managed to get a candle alight just as Cornelius backed into the cave.
'I'm nearly knocked out!' he muttered. 'Even with my helmet on, some of those stones are big enough to—'
He broke off in surprise as Sebastian lowered the glass of the lantern and stood up, illuminating the interior. They were looking at a hideous grinning face, peering at them from the shadows to one side of the entrance. Sebastian had to bite back a gasp of astonishment, and he felt Jenna's hand tighten on his arm in silent terror. But then they realized that they were looking at a skeleton, slumped against the wall of the cave and still dressed in the ragged finery of a pirate. A plumed hat was pulled down just above the empty eye-sockets and a tattered silk shirt covered the ribcage. Sebastian let out a sigh of relief and Jenna released her grip.
'Looks like they left somebody behind to guard their treasure,' observed Cornelius. 'An old pirate custom, I believe.'
They turned to survey the interior of the hideaway. They were in a huge high-roofed cavern, extending deep within the rock. Great multi-coloured stalactites hung from the ceiling, looking like the remains of giant wax candles that had been allowed to melt; and further back, in the shadowy hollows of the roof, they could see hundreds of tiny glittering eyes staring balefully down at them.
'The bats we saw!' exclaimed Cornelius with an expression of disgust. 'Filthy things – this must be their home.'
'Never mind them,' said Sebastian impatiently. 'Where's the treasure? Are you sure the map doesn't give any more clues?'
'Of course I'm sure. But it has to be here somewhere.'
'Look,' said Jenna. She was pointing across the uneven floor to the very centre of the cave, where a flat-topped stalagmite jutted up to waist height. Lying on top of it was a small wooden chest.
They moved closer and Sebastian held out his lantern to get a better look.
'That can't be the treasure,' he muttered. 'It's too small.'
'Perhaps there's another clue inside the chest,' suggested Jenna.
'Maybe.' Sebastian reached out a hand for the box but Cornelius grabbed his arm.
'Not so fast!' he said. 'Don't you think it's a bit obvious, just sitting there like that? It's as though somebody wants you to pick it up.'
'Well, of course,' said Sebastian. 'What else?'
'Let me find a stick or something. It could be booby-trapped.'
'Oh, come on,' said Sebastian. 'How likely is that?' He pushed Cornelius's hand away and picked up the box.
They all heard the loud click from the top of the stalagmite.
CHAPTER 32
X MARKS THE SPOT
Sebastian opened his mouth to say something, but in that same instant Cornelius dived at his legs and threw him to the ground. A second later, something big and heavy came hurtling out of the darkness and scythed the air above their heads. Sebastian felt the wind of its passing and the shadow seemed to take an age to pass over him. He saw with a feeling of relief that Jenna was standing far enough back to be safe from the booby trap. He started to sit up but Cornelius put a hand on his head and pressed him to the ground.
'Stay still, you idiot!' he snapped.
Immediately the big shape came swinging back again and only now did Sebastian realize what it was. A heavy tree trunk, suspended from the ceiling on ropes and somehow set to hit whoever picked up the wooden chest. As it swung backwards and forwards overhead in a series of gradually diminishing arcs, he saw that some charmer had fixed a series of metal spikes to the leading end of the trunk, and he shuddered to think what would have happened to him if they had met their target. He glanced at Cornelius, who was glowering at him in the light of the lantern, which by some miracle hadn't been broken.
'How likely indeed!' hissed Cornelius.
'Sorry.' Sebastian picked up the lantern and they crept out from beneath the tree trunk. Sebastian set the wooden chest on the ground and they all crouched down to examine it. They could see that it was secured with a stout padlock. There was no evidence of a key anywhere, so Cornelius found a large stone and pounded the clasp until it broke open. The others watched in silent expectation as
he opened the chest, stared at its contents in silence for a moment, then placed it carefully on the floor at their feet.
Sebastian Darke: Prince of Pirates Page 23