The chest held nothing more surprising than a dagger. Not a fabulous golden dagger with a jewel-encrusted hilt; just a rusty old thing with an odd metal handle fashioned in the shape of an X. Sebastian stared at it in disbelief. He couldn't believe they had risked so much and come so far for this.
'Is that it?' he cried incredulously. 'The famous treasure of Captain Callinestra?' He reached into the chest and lifted out the dagger. 'This old thing?'
Cornelius spread his hands in a gesture of helplessness. 'I don't understand,' he said. 'How could that be it? Who'd go to so much trouble to hide something like that?'
'Look at it!' cried Sebastian. 'It hasn't even got a proper blade! You couldn't cut butter with it!'
'Let me see that,' said Jenna calmly. She took the dagger from him and studied it for a moment.
Sebastian didn't even notice. He was intent on giving Cornelius a piece of his mind. 'I knew there was something wrong with that map!' he cried. 'The instant you told me that man in the hospital sold it to you, I knew it had to be some kind of confidence trick. Five gold crowns you paid for it!'
'But . . . the map was genuine enough. It led us to this place, didn't it? And whoever put the dagger here had to brave so much. The yarkles . . . the sheer climb . . . that walk across the void. Somebody went to a lot of trouble to place that dagger here. But why?'
'Why? How do I know why? Perhaps somebody was stark staring bonkers!'
'Or perhaps it's not just a dagger,' said Jenna. She picked up the lantern and walked across the cave to a section of wall opposite them, where somebody had scratched a short sentence deep into the grey stone.
X marks the spot, it said.
'It has a very distinctive shape, the handle,' observed Jenna.
'So?' snarled Sebastian. 'What's that supposed to mean?'
Jenna didn't reply. She was examining the wall closely now, outlining the deeply etched words with her fingertip. She traced the whole sentence before returning to the X at the start of it, which seemed to be incised much more deeply than the rest of the words. She looked at the handle of the knife for a moment, then back at the hole in the wall again.
'Jenna, what do you think the dagger is?' asked Cornelius, intrigued.
'I think it's a key,' she said; and with that, she slotted the handle into the X on the wall and pushed it hard. It went in with a satisfying click.
There was a long, deep silence. Then the cave filled with the sound of an ominous rumbling, as unseen machinery began to work for the first time in many long years. As they watched in stupefied silence, in a great swirl of dust a whole section of the cave wall to the left of where Jenna was standing began to rise, revealing another opening.
Sebastian opened his mouth to shout something but the noise of the machinery had disturbed the legions of bats above them and, quite suddenly, they came flapping down from the ceiling in a great repulsive leathery-winged cloud – so many that, for the moment at least, he could see nothing. He gave a grunt of revulsion as dark shapes flapped past him, inches from his face, and instinctively threw up his hands to cover his head. The shrieking bats whirled round the astonished intruders and then, as one, zoomed out of the cave through the opening in the rock. For a while it was impossible to see anything other than the dark flapping shapes. But finally the creatures were gone.
And as the dust settled and the light from the lantern began to penetrate that inner darkness, they saw an amazing sight.
A great glittering mound of booty was piled haphazardly on the ground in front of them. Sebastian's jaw dropped open and he could barely suppress a cry of astonishment.
He was looking at more wealth than he could ever have imagined.
CHAPTER 33
CALLINESTRA'S SECRET
There was a long moment of total silence before they came to their senses. Sebastian's eyes took it all in, and he could barely believe what they told him. In front of him, in a careless heap, lay a fabulous hoard of treasure that must have been looted from every corner of the known world.
There were gold coins in their thousands, great dazzling mounds of them, pressed with the imperious faces of long-dead kings and queens; there were heaps of precious stones, shimmering with every colour of the rainbow. There were beautifully crafted weapons of many kinds: silvery swords in velvet and gold scabbards, their hilts decorated with emeralds and rubies; fancy daggers with inscribed blades; massive embellished battle-axes; fearsome spears; and ornate shields made of hammered bronze that glowed dull red in the light of the lantern. There were pieces of armour that must once have been worn by mighty warriors; there were metal figurines and beautifully crafted ornaments, golden goblets inlaid with sapphires and diamonds, and dark wooden chests holding who knew what other wonders.
The three adventurers were rooted to the spot for a long while, hardly daring to believe that their expedition had paid off so handsomely. It was Sebastian who recovered first. He started to move towards the opening.
'Wait!' Cornelius's barked command stopped him in his tracks. 'Let's not let excitement overrule our caution,' he said.
'But, Cornelius' – Sebastian pointed a shaking finger towards the vast pile of wealth – 'it's right there,' he finished lamely. 'The . . . the treasure.' Whatever you called it could not hope to do justice to the sight that lay before them.
'I appreciate that,' said Cornelius. 'But we've almost walked into one trap; who's to say there isn't another?' He thought for a moment, glanced quickly around the cavern and then went over to the entrance to pick up the skeleton that was slumped against the wall. Beside it he found an old spear and, hooking this into the dead pirate's ribcage, he lifted the skeleton in front of him and raised it to the height of a man. Turning back, he walked towards the opening with the frightful thing held out before him.
'Sorry about this,' he told the pirate. 'But whatever happens, it isn't going to make much difference to you.' He stepped up to the opening and thrust the skeleton over the threshold, into the inner chamber. Nothing happened and Cornelius shrugged, then smiled self-consciously. 'Maybe I was being over-cautious,' he said, and took another step forward.
There was an abrupt twang from somewhere to his right and a great wooden spear came flying out of a hole in the cave wall. It pierced the skeleton's ribcage with such force that pieces of bone flew off under the impact, and the pirate's remains were ripped from Cornelius's spear and propelled across the chamber to smash to pieces against the far wall.
There was a short but very deep silence and Cornelius let out a slow breath. 'And then again, maybe I did the right thing,' he observed. He gave Sebastian a disparaging look. 'Now I think it's safe to go inside,' he said.
Sebastian swallowed and nodded.
Cornelius edged through the opening, looking left and right, holding himself ready to dive to the floor if anything else should come at him. But after several long moments of indecision he allowed himself to relax; then he was down on his knees beside the treasure, his hands experiencing the unfamiliar feel of immeasurable wealth.
'Bring the lantern,' he said.
Sebastian and Jenna hurried to join him. Sebastian set down the lantern and they crouched there in silence, searching feverishly through the loot in the warm glow of light, picking up pieces that caught their eye and examining them in more detail. Then the three of them seemed to realize all at once what was happening. They looked at each other and exchanged grins of sheer delight.
They had done it! They had set out to find the treasure of Captain Callinestra, and against all the odds they had succeeded. They began to laugh delightedly, the sound of their voices echoing around the cavern. Sebastian grabbed a gold tiara and, removing Jenna's three-cornered hat, set it in place on her head. He found an ornate bronze helmet and threw off his tricorn to jam it down on his own head.
'We're rich,' he announced delightedly. 'Richer than we could ever have believed possible. Cornelius, I'm sorry. I was a fool to ever doubt you!'
Cornelius chuckled. 'No need to ap
ologize,' he assured his friend. 'To tell you the truth, I had more than my fair share of worries along the way. When we found that dagger . . . well!' He glanced at Jenna. 'It took someone smarter than both of us to work out what that was for.'
Jenna smiled. She set the tiara at a rakish angle. 'What do you think?' she asked Sebastian. 'Perhaps I'll give up the ways of the sea and become a lazy noblewoman, with servants to do my every bidding.'
'Why not?' said Sebastian. 'You can be whatever you want to be now. We all can.'
'We'd better not get ahead of ourselves,' said Cornelius soberly. 'We still have to get what we can carry back to the ship.' He gestured to the mountain of wealth in front of them. 'We'll hardly be able to shift a fraction of this,' he said. 'We'd better load as much as we can into the packs.'
Sebastian frowned. 'It's hard to know what to take,' he said. 'There's so much of it.'
Cornelius nodded. 'I'd advise you to concentrate on the precious jewels. They're lighter than gold and worth much more than the coins and statues. But don't forget, now we know where this place is, we can come here any time we like.'
They set to the task of cramming as much as they could carry into their packs. Sebastian followed Cornelius's advice about the jewels, but he did choose for himself a splendid sword with a gold-embellished hilt to replace the weapon he had left buried in the belly of the yarkle. Cornelius insisted that his two companions each take a metal helmet to guard their heads against the stinging stones of the waterfall when they made their way back. The packing accomplished, they stood up, backed away and gave the interior of the treasure chamber one more awed look before stepping out into the main cavern.
'I don't much like the idea of leaving it all on display like this,' said Sebastian, lifting the lantern to take one last look.
'Maybe we don't have to,' said Jenna. She reached up to grip the blunt blade of the dagger, where it stuck out from the opening in the wall and, with a grunt of effort, pulled it free. At first nothing happened. Then there was a rumbling sound, and the wall began to descend again until it hit the ground with a loud thud. There was no longer anything to tell a chance traveller what lay behind that ingenious screen.
Jenna slipped the dagger into her belt. 'Now nobody can get at the treasure but us,' she announced gleefully. 'It's perfect.'
Cornelius studied her for a while and Sebastian thought he was going to order her to hand over the dagger. But the moment passed and he seemed to dismiss the notion.
'Come on,' he said. 'We'd better get moving. Sebastian, you lead the way.'
Sebastian hefted his heavy pack onto his shoulders, jammed the metal helmet down securely onto his head, then moved obediently to the entrance. He set down the lantern. 'Last one out, put out the light,' he said. Stooping, he climbed out into the already unfamiliar glare of daylight and began to edge his way past the rushing torrent, painfully aware that his loaded knapsack obliged him to lean forward. But though his clothes were soon soaked, the bronze helmet protected him from the falling stones. He could hear the dull clunks as they bounced off it, and he wondered how much time Captain Callinestra and his crew had spent ferrying their precious booty to its hiding place.
He glanced back and saw that Jenna was following him, looking decidedly odd in the oversized warrior's helmet she was wearing. She grinned, gave him a thumbs-up, then winced as an extra-large pebble bounced off her armour-plated head. Cornelius followed close behind her, and soon the three of them had edged their way out from behind the waterfall and were heading back towards the huge crevasse, where the narrow tree trunk stretched ahead, daring them to risk crossing it a second time.
'I'll go first,' announced Sebastian, still haunted by his poor showing on the way across and determined not to put this off a moment longer than necessary. Jenna and Cornelius exchanged doubtful looks, but then Cornelius nodded, and they said nothing as Sebastian climbed up onto the trunk and prepared himself to cross.
'You'll be all right,' Jenna assured him. 'Just keep moving forward.' She gave him a brief, nervous smile.
'I'll be fine,' he told her.
He moved quickly out across the terrible space, his arms extended on either side to maintain his balance. The spray from the waterfall was soaking him with its icy chill and he was horribly aware that the heavy pack had increased his weight considerably. It seemed to him that the slender trunk was bowing more alarmingly than before as he moved towards the centre, but he seemed to be handling the crossing well.
He lifted his gaze to stare at the far end of the trunk, and that was when he saw a figure emerge from the narrow opening in the rocks up ahead. It was a woman dressed in a long hooded cloak. She came to a halt a short distance from the edge of the crevasse and lifted her hands to pull the hood back from her face. She stood there, smiling, her eerie tawny eyes burning into his.
'Hello, Sebastian,' she said. And he froze in his tracks, staring back at her, unable for the moment to move a muscle.
CHAPTER 34
ICE-COOL REUNION
Sebastian was frozen to the spot, staring at Leonora in dull surprise. He couldn't believe she had managed to find them again, but he also knew that he wasn't imagining things. She was studying him intently, her full lips curved into a wicked smile.
'Well, well,' she said quietly. 'I was beginning to think I'd never catch up with you. But here you are at last.'
He looked beyond her, fully expecting to see Captain Trencherman and his crew massing for an attack, but for the moment at least, Leonora seemed to be alone. Sebastian just stood there, not knowing what to do.
'Did you find what you were looking for?' she purred.
'I don't know what you're talking about,' said Sebastian, aware as he did so that big beads of sweat had broken out on his forehead.
She laughed at that, throwing back her head and cackling, sounding more like an old hag than a beautiful young woman.
'Oh come now,' she said. 'You know you can't lie to me.' Her expression changed suddenly and her voice became hard and commanding. 'Bring me that pack you're carrying.'
Sebastian shook his head, but already he was aware of his feet moving to obey her. He took a step forward, but then Jenna's voice made him stop again.
'No, Sebastian! Turn round and come back!'
He paused and looked over his shoulder, but the action nearly made him lose his balance. His legs wobbled and he threw out his arms, flailing wildly before he recovered himself. He was horribly aware of the terrible distance below him, and once again his heart was pounding in his chest.
'Sebastian!' Leonora's voice again. He looked back at her and her eyes seemed to be shining with an eerie malevolence. 'You cannot disobey me. I order you to cross over to me.'
Sebastian's head seemed to fill with a dull red glow and there was a whining noise in his ears. He licked his dry lips and told himself that he could deny her, but again he felt his feet shuffling forward as though they no longer belonged to him. Then the tree trunk dipped alarmingly beneath his feet, and he thought it was going to break and drop him into the empty air that waited below.
A few seconds later he was shocked to feel a hand grasping his arm from behind. He realized that Jenna had walked out onto the trunk and was now standing right behind him. Her mouth brushed against his ear.
'Sebastian,' she whispered. 'Listen to me. We're going to cross back to the other side. Just move with me—'
'No!' Leonora's face contorted into an expression of dark rage and she pointed an accusing finger at Sebastian. 'He's mine; he does as I say!'
Sebastian Darke: Prince of Pirates Page 24