Crown of the Cowibbean

by Mike Litwin

  “Just when I started to believe!” Dakota continued, letting his temper fly. “Some adventure! Some treasure hunt! It’s all just another stupid fairy tale!”

  “No…it’s not!” Chuck’s eyes went wild and his jaw went slack. He held out the spyglass and pointed ahead. “Look! LOOK!”

  Marco snatched the spyglass. Squinting through its grimy lens, he saw exactly what Chuck had just seen. Spidercrab Rock was right in front of them.

  “Mamma mia!” Marco gasped. He pulled the spyglass away and rubbed his eyes in disbelief. “The island is invisible!”

  Now they understood why this crusty old thing was so special. Only through its magical lens could they actually see Spidercrab Rock. Without the spyglass…nothing. Through the spyglass…island!

  “‘A spying eye sees when our own eyes do fail,’” Chuck recited the poem.

  “‘Into the nothingness…BRAVELY WE SAIL!’” Marco crowed, finishing the line. He fluttered up to the top of the mast. “Onward, buccowneers! Ha ha ha! I knew you little cows would bring good luck!”

  Ribeye piloted the Swashclucker into the nothingness. Had anyone been watching, they would have seen the ship suddenly vanish into thin air. All at once, the crew found themselves surrounded by a glittering blue fog on the water. They could now clearly see the island without the spyglass, although no one on the outside could see them. As long as they were inside this magical mist, they were invisible.

  Marco molted feathers with excitement as they glided toward Spidercrab Rock. The island rose high up out of the water like a giant boulder, and was chiseled into a colossal temple that towered above them. Two sparkling waterfalls poured from the sides of the rock, cascading down into the sea.

  Chuck wrinkled his brow. “Why is it called Spidercrab Rock? It doesn’t look anything like a spider crab. They should have called it ‘Weeping Rock’. Those waterfalls make it look like the rock is crying.”

  Carved at the top of temple was the same pattern of curly waves that was on the spyglass, along with the shape of a crown. They all agreed that the Coral Crown must be inside.

  “How do we get in?” Dakota asked. The temple had no doors or windows, just four steep sides and a flat top.

  “It looks like the only way in is through there,” Marco pointed to a small cave at the base of the island beneath the temple. “But it’s too small, even for a rowboat.”

  “We can use a bubble!” Chuck said. “Dakota, play ‘The Fishes’ Breath’!”

  Dakota felt his belly quiver nervously as if it were full of goldfish. As Ribeye steered the Swashclucker closer to the cliff, ripples began to disturb the water. The whole ship began to shimmy and shake. The water between them and the cave began to bubble as though it were boiling.

  Then, out of the simmering water rose a monstrous spider crab. He was even bigger than the Swashclucker! His long legs were like tree trunks, and his eyes were the size of melons. He loomed over the ship with claws that looked as though they could crush through stone.

  “Oh…” Chuck said, “that’s why it’s called Spidercrab Rock.”

  The enormous crab blocked the entrance to the cave, flexing his legs and snapping his claws.

  “Another shellfish!” Marco clucked. “Stay here, little ones! Marco shall slay this beast!” He immediately flapped off toward the crab, swinging his sword and crowing furiously. But he was no match for the beast, who swatted at Marco with a monstrous leg. Marco spiraled down into the water with a splash. But the crab didn’t attack any further. He just stood between them and the cave, silently waiting for his next challenger.

  Marco emerged from the water. He was sopping wet, hopping mad, and ready to take a second stab at the beast.

  “WAIT!” Chuck yelled. “Stop! He won’t attack you if you don’t attack him!”

  But it was no use. Ribeye had already leapt from the ship onto one of the crab’s legs, and Marco was already trying to poke holes at him. The crab thrashed his legs around, trying to shake them off.

  Chuck quickly ran through the poem in his head. His tail twitched as he looked for their next clue. “I’ve got it! ‘The beast shall sleep at the Sea Cows’ song.’ We have to make him sleep!”

  “But the Mana Ti’i don’t sing until sunset!” Dakota argued. “It’s not even noon yet!”

  Chuck recalled how they’d fallen asleep when Dakota played the hornpipe. “‘Song o’ the Sea Cow’! Play ‘Song o’ the Sea Cow’!” Chuck squealed.

  The giant crab now gripped both Marco and Ribeye in his massive claws.

  “Cover your ears!” Chuck told them all. “Play, Sea Cow! Play!”

  They covered their ears as Dakota played the familiar lullaby. As its calming notes filled the air, the giant crab relaxed his grip on Marco and Ribeye. He wobbled on his legs for a few minutes. He dropped Ribeye and Marco as he sank into slumber on the water.

  Ribeye swam back to the ship with Marco perched on his head. “Serves him right, that beast,” Marco said as he climbed in and shook the water off his feathers.

  “He’s not a beast. He’s just a guard,” Chuck said. “He’s making sure no one finds the crown who isn’t supposed to.”

  “Who’s going to find it?” Dakota pointed out. “The whole island is invisible.”

  “Ribeye, guard the Swashclucker,” Marco ordered, wringing the water from his hat. “We’re going in.”

  Dakota played a few quick notes and a bubble surrounded him, Chuck, and Marco. Ribeye watched from the ship’s wheel as they plopped into the water and disappeared into the dark cave. He didn’t notice a familiar black parrot creeping out from the Swashclucker’s cargo hold, where he’d been hiding since Waterdown. No one saw the spying bird quietly fly off into the mist to find his master, the Kingfish.

  Chuck, Dakota, and Marco pedaled their bubble deeper into the darkness. They could see nothing but a tiny dot of light at the cave’s mouth. The end of the cave caught them quite by surprise, bursting their bubble against a rocky wall and plunging all three of them into the water.

  “Marco?” Chuck blindly splashed around in the dark. “Marco?”

  “I’m here,” Marco’s voice echoed in the dark. “But I’m not too fond of swimming. Someone light the torch.”

  There was an awkward silence. “No one brought a torch?” Marco scolded.

  “I could make some light,” Dakota said. He put the hornpipe to his lips. It was too dark to see any sheet music, but having played “Fire in the Heavens” twice already, he did the best he could from memory. Dakota felt the hornpipe shimmy and shake in his hands. He pointed it straight up as the fire trail shot out again…but this time, something different happened. The flames collided with the ceiling and stretched out in all directions. A ribbon of fire ran across the rocks overhead, bathing everything in a warm light. When they looked up, they saw a large granite dome over their heads, spanned by a sea of burning stars.

  “Wow!” Dakota said. “We made stars! ‘Stars of our own’!”

  Everywhere they looked, dozens of stars glowed above and around them like constellations made of fire. Directly overhead, in the tallest part of the dome, were eleven bright stars arranged in the shape of a crown.

  “Look!” Chuck pointed. “A crown constellation! A crownstellation!”

  The three of them stared up at the ceiling with no idea what to do next. The next line of the poem told them to “reach for the skies.” Chuck reached up his arms, but the dome was very high and he was still trying to tread water.

  “We need the tide to be higher,” Dakota said in a hollow voice. They all looked at the hornpipe, knowing what had to be done. The last time they played “Tempest and the Tide,” they whipped up a typhoon. Should they play it again?

  “Lightly, Sea Cow,” Marco said. “Play lightly.”

  Dakota played very lightly. A whirling breeze swirled through the cave. The water rose slowly, bringing them higher and higher. The closer they got to the crown constellation, the brighter its stars glowed. But that wasn’t t
he only thing that was glowing. The coral key in Chuck’s pocket was shimmering brighter and brighter as they neared the top.

  Kicking with his feet, Chuck reached up and held the glowing key to the ceiling as they approached the crownstellation. He breathed in sharply, unsure of what was about to happen as the tip of the key hovered inches from the dome.

  “Get ready,” he said, squeezing his eyes shut. He touched the key to the ceiling. Sparks flew, flames spurted, and a glowing portal of light opened up above their heads. All of a sudden, the three of them felt themselves being stretched like taffy as the portal began pulling them upward. It sucked them up faster and faster into the blinding tunnel of light. A rushing noise like a thousand crashing waves filled their ears, and a fierce wind blew against them.

  “Where is it taking us?” Dakota screamed into the deafening noise. Then, just as suddenly as it had started, everything became still and quiet.

  Chuck peeked his eyes open. They were laying on a small, flat ledge of marble. Above them was the open sky. Below them he could see the water, the Swashclucker, and even the giant crab…still sleeping like a baby.

  “We’re at the top of the tower!” Chuck said. “The crown isn’t IN the temple. It’s ON the temple!”

  In front of them was a giant clamshell with a keyhole on the front. Carvings of the eleven noble creatures decorated the top of the clamshell.

  “Look!” Dakota gasped. “It’s all the noble creatures! Just like Lyra told us!”

  Light streamed from the keyhole in the clamshell as the key in Chuck’s hooves jumped and dipped with a mind of its own.

  “This is it!” Marco crowed. “At long last! The Coral Crown! Open it! Open it!”

  They put the key into the keyhole, and…nothing! It refused to turn.

  “The key won’t turn!” Marco squawked. “Why won’t the key turn?”

  Chuck searched his brain for a clue, but was interrupted by a loud THOOM! from below.

  “What was that?” Dakota asked, jerking his head down toward the water. Every muscle in his body tensed as they watched the Tyrant emerge through the mist.

  “The Kingfish!” Chuck wailed. “How did he find us?”

  They heard another THOOM! as a blast shot out from one of the Tyrant’s cannons, followed by a chunk of the temple being smashed away.

  “Hey! Are they shooting at us?” Dakota said.

  “They’re pirates, you kau’pai!” Chuck snapped.

  11

  CROWN OF THE COWIBBEAN

  The Kingfish’s pirates started their attack immediately. The spider crab, who had been sleeping peacefully, awoke angrier than ever at the sound of the Tyrant’s cannon. He thrashed and gnashed, defending the cave. Dozens of prawn scuttled all over the spider crab, chomping at him with their own claws. Ribeye drew his sword as a cluster of hard-shelled lobsters climbed aboard the Swashclucker.

  “Keep working on that clamshell!” Marco ordered. “We’ll take care of everything below!” He fluttered down to the battle.

  Down below, the spider crab threw shellfish left and right. Ribeye faced off with the lobsters on the Swashclucker’s deck. Marco flapped around the crayfish who were working the Tyrant’s cannons, making it impossible for them to see what they were doing.

  The Kingfish, however, cared nothing about Marco, or Ribeye, or even the spider crab. While everyone was fighting, he climbed the tallest mast of the Tyrant, using it to reach the bottom of the temple. He grasped the sides of the temple with his fins, shimmying his way up. His eyes looked wide and crazy, and his whiskers curled and wiggled like snakes coming from his chin. Chuck’s and Dakota’s eyes got bigger and bigger with fear as the vile catfish flopped his way higher and higher. For a fat, sloppy fish, he was very good at climbing a wall.

  Rushing back to the clamshell, they pulled and tugged and jiggled the key, but it still wouldn’t turn.

  Dakota pounded his fist on the clamshell. “What do we do? There’s no hornpipe song for this!”

  They heard a crashing sound below as the spider crab splintered one of the Tyrant’s masts. He started smashing both ships with his enormous legs.

  “The poem says the crown will ‘sing to a key of her kind.’” Chuck thought frantically. “Maybe…maybe…we’re supposed to…sing?”

  Dakota did a double take. “Sing? Now? Sing what?”

  “The poem! What about the poem?” Chuck mooed. “Sing that!”

  Dakota cleared his throat. Chuck took a deep breath. Trying to remember the words as best as they could, they sang together:

  “Circle of darkness, horn of the heavens,

  A watery grave where the clock strikes eleven.”

  The key began to glow brighter in the lock. For a few moments, it felt like time slowed down. The crown, the crab, the cannons, the Kingfish—everything seemed to happen at once in slow-motion.

  “A spying eye sees when our own eyes do fail,

  Into the nothingness, bravely we sail.”

  “Get ready, sweet little hamburgers! I’m coming for you!” the Kingfish yelled from below. The spider crab spotted the Kingfish and began climbing the temple wall after him.

  “The beast shall sleep at the Sea-Cows’ song,

  And we shall be guided by stars of our own.”

  Ribeye knocked three lobsters into the water, as a dozen more jumped onto the ship.

  “Whatever you’re doing, do it quickly!” Marco squawked from below. “We cannot hold them much longer!”

  “Reach for the skies and a sea rover finds

  The crown she doth sing to a key of her kind.”

  Another cannonball rocketed into the side of the temple as the pirates fired at the spider crab. The spider crab roared. The Kingfish cackled as he neared the top of the temple.

  “And guard thy heart, hearties, where wishes do dwell,

  For those who bring ruin shall earn it as well.”

  As their song finished, the key turned itself in the lock…and the shell opened.

  “Peek-a-booooooo!!!” the Kingfish sang as his head popped up into view. But just as he appeared, a blinding light shined from the clamshell.

  Chuck reached into the clamshell and removed the crown. It was even more beautiful than they had imagined. It was an elegant ring of golden coral that looked thousands of years old. Clusters of seashells decorated the bottom, and a sparkling gem was at the top of each of its eleven peaks. It didn’t shine or sparkle in the light. Rather, golden rays flashed from it, as though the crown itself were made of light.

  “I want that crown!” the Kingfish blubbered. “It’s mine!” He rushed for Chuck and Dakota, chasing them around the top of the temple. Dakota put the hornpipe up to his lips, but he tripped and dropped the hornpipe before he could play a single note. It clattered down the side of the temple and BLOOP! It disappeared in the water.

  Chuck and Dakota tossed the crown back and forth, keeping it away from the Kingfish. They were so busy avoiding him that they did not notice Nwar flying up behind them. The black parrot snatched the crown in midair.

  Chuck and Dakota froze in terror as Nwar brought the crown to the Kingfish. As he slowly lowered it onto his slimy head, his body tripled in size. He loomed over them, roaring with laughter that shook them to their very core. The crown billowed black smoke that curled around his evil face.

  “You little fools!” the Kingfish bellowed in a deep voice that shook the heavens. “I already told you! It’s my ocean! I’m the Boss! I’m the KING!”

  Dakota had never seen a fiercer beast in his life. But he suddenly remembered that there was one creature more feared, more terrifying, and more legendary than this giant catfish: HU’MANS.

  “No, you’re just a bully!” Dakota stood up tall. “And even the meanest bully has something he’s afraid of!” With that, Dakota pulled off his cow mask, showing his true face to the monstrous catfish.

  The Kingfish’s thunderous voice withered to a frightened squeal. “A hu’man? A hu’man?! It’s not possible!”


  Dakota crept toward the Kingfish, smacking his lips. “That’s right, I’m a hu’man! And I’m hungry for a big…baked…catfish!”

  Backing up in fear, the hefty Kingfish began to slip and slide on the temple’s smooth, flat top. His huge new size was difficult to balance on top of the temple. He stumbled and tumbled, falling down, down, down…right into the mouth of the spider crab. The giant crab happily swallowed the king-sized Kingfish, crown and all.

  The stunned pirates looked up at Dakota, standing at the top of the temple.

  “Is that a hu’man?” they shrieked. “Run! He’ll boil us! He’ll fry us! He’ll eat us with butter!” Shellfish scattered into the water, swimming away in every direction without looking back. The spider crab let out a monstrous BUUUURRRRRRRPPP! Then he disappeared below the waves, and all was quiet.

  Marco flapped up to the top of the temple. Dakota hadn’t put his mask back on yet. He hoped Marco and Ribeye would not see him as a monster.

  “I guess the Kingfish got too big for his own good,” Marco said. He quoted the last line of the poem, “‘Those who bring ruin will earn it as well.’ That pirate brought this on himself.”

  Marco looked at Dakota’s worried hu’man face. He picked up Dakota’s cow mask and handed it back to him. “As I said before, little one…I have seen many horrific monsters. But you are not one of them.”

  “Please don’t tell,” Dakota whispered. “I don’t want to be kicked off the island yet.”

  Marco smiled, “Don’t worry, little one. This is a story no one would believe!”

  They all gazed down at the spot where the spider crab had disappeared. “The crown is gone,” Marco moaned. “After all this time, all this way…I would very much liked to have just held it.”

  “No one was supposed to have it,” Chuck said.

  “I suppose,” Marco sighed. “It was the spider crab’s job to guard the crown. Now he gets to do that forever.” He closed the clamshell’s lid. “Come, little ones. If we set sail now, we can be back in Bermooda by sundown.”