The Pirate's Map

by J. N. Cao

  Silence fell over them.

  “You can visit me if you like,” said Matilda.

  “Oh, that would be wonderful.”

  “I have a question,” said Matilda.

  “Of course, go ahead.”

  “That letter?”

  “Oh, yes, don’t worry about it. You can keep it. I’m not after the treasure, even though your father told me to get it. I only wanted it so badly before because I thought it might say that he is still alive somewhere. He only ever writes if there was something important to tell me. But I truly think he’s gone now.”

  “Why does the brown ink appear near fire?”

  “Oh, you discovered my secret. Well, very few people knew about it. Before I met your father, I had another lover, but his parents wouldn’t allow us to marry. He was rich, and I was poor. So we decided to get married in secret. We talked to a priest, and he was happy to arrange it for us. During that time, my lover and I needed to exchange letters without his parents reading them, so the priest taught me how to write it in lemon juice.”

  “Lemon juice?”

  “That’s right. The lemon juice is invisible on paper, but when heated it will turn brown. The priest learned it from another priest in Greece. Eventually, my lover broke the engagement and then I taught it to your father because he had so many enemies and sometimes needed to tell me secretive things.”

  “I see.”

  “Now I have a question,” said Katherine. “Who is that boy, Will. A lover of yours?”

  Matilda’s cheeks warmed, “No.”

  “He seems kind. He helped me in Oxford, despite how I was. And he was very worried about you.”

  “That’s natural. I’m his friend.”

  “I see.”

  “It’s late. I’d better go now.”

  “Yes, err, here, this is yours,” Katherine said as she pulled out Matilda’s moustache from her dress pocket.

  “Thank you.”

  “Wait,” said Katherine, and she went over to a chest to unlock it and take out a pouch with money inside. She came over to Matilda, “Here. Take this for your journey.”

  “No, I can’t take that.”

  “Please. I haven’t done anything for you. I’ll feel better if you take it.”

  Matilda took the pouch. “Thank you,” she said, followed by a quick, shy smile.

  Katherine beamed at her.

  It was almost midnight when they were outside the manor. Ralph and Roger climbed onto the front driver’s seat. Gilbert, Rose and Katherine were also outside to see them off. Gilbert took a peek into the carriage and gasped. Then he stepped away, looking at Ralph. “My god, it is him.”

  Matilda turned to Katherine, “Goodbye.”

  “Goodbye.”

  Then she climbed into the carriage next to Will. As the carriage started to move, Matilda saw Katherine wave at her, and she waved back.

  Chapter 19

  The Duke Returns

  They soon arrived in Esterwall, in a different carriage that they had bought from a previous town. They had decided not to send a letter all the way to Oxford as Matilda thought it was cruel to leave the King alone for days before his people found him, despite how terrible she thought he was. Instead, they decided to leave him in the carriage with the horses in the Royal Forest, just outside Esterwall palace. This forest was reserved only for the King for his hunting, and those that were caught in the forest would be punished.

  The reason they planned to leave the horses with the carriage was to fool a particular person. They noticed that this person, dressed in a black hat and cloak with a full bushy beard, had been seen in every town or village that they had stopped. He was an elusive character because every time Ralph was about to turn to confront him, he was gone.

  In Esterwall, they secretly paid an innkeeper to buy a new carriage and horses and have it ready at the north end of the Royal Forest. Ralph told his companions that he knew some particular hours at night when it was safe to go into the forest, and he knew some people, whom he would not name, that had sneaked into the forest to hunt small animals, and collect fallen timber or berries. And so, by nightfall, Ralph and Matilda rode the current carriage to the forest, well aware that the man in black was following them on his horse.

  As they entered the forest, Matilda watched the man stop just outside the forest, hesitant go in. There were no roads that led into the forest, making it quite difficult to navigate the carriage. Soon they could not go much further and had to stop as the forest got thicker.

  They abandoned the carriage and made their way out northwards. Once they were in the clearing, they saw the new carriage with Will and Roger waiting for them. Then they continue their journey onto a road leading them to North England. They expected the King to be found tomorrow either by guards or through a letter that they told the innkeeper to send to the palace the next day.

  Queen Isabel lived in Kensington Palace in York. When Matilda and her companions arrived there, they asked for Sir Laurence. Unfortunately, Sir Laurence and the Prince had not returned from their voyage but Captain Richard gave them the address of Matilda’s new home and told them to stay there, and he would inform the Prince of their arrival.

  So they set off and arrived at their new estate by midday. Their house was a charming manor, smaller than Katherine’s, and was situated on the outskirts of the city. When they knocked on the door, it was answered by Martha, carrying Luke.

  “Goodness, it is you,” cried Martha. Martha quickly gathered them all inside. The next moments were full of hearty embraces.

  Then Grandfather Tom appeared, and he gasped in surprise.

  “Grandpapa!” said Matilda, and she ran to embrace him. Matilda released him. He looked quite confused, “Is that you Matilda?”

  “Yes, it’s me.”

  “Why are you dressed like a man?”

  “I will tell you all about it later.”

  Grandfather Tom smiled and embraced Matilda. “You’re back,” he said with tears in his eyes. Those eyes then moved onto Ralph. Ralph gave a light sigh and made his way to his father, “Come here, old man,” and they embraced.

  Martha was looking at Will. “And who is this young man?”

  Will then introduced himself, and they all sat down in the drawing room to share their stories.

  On that day the King was found. For the next two days, he stayed in bed, recovering from the distress that he had endured. He was still in bed on the third day but he was well enough to call for a sketcher to his bedchamber. Beside his bed was the Chamberlain who had just returned from Oxford.

  “Would you say his nose was longer, Chamberlain?” asked the King, looking at the sketcher’s picture of Ralph.

  “Yes, I believe so, Sire. A bit longer on the nose, Louis,” said the Chamberlain.

  Louis then made some alterations to the sketch. Once he was done, he presented the sketch to the King.

  “Yes, that’s him all right, and his name was Ralph, er.”

  “Ralph Burley, Sire.”

  “Yes, that’s right. Now for the next one. That young one with the moustache. What was his name again?”

  “I believe it was Matthew Dudley, Sire.”

  The king shook his head, “Someday I’ll get my hands on him. I can still remember his face clearly in my mind.”

  Then the King proceeded to direct Louis to sketch out a portrait of Matilda in her disguise.

  “Chamberlain, do you remember what the other two looked like or what their names were?”

  “No, Sire.”

  “Never mind. If I can get Matthew Dudley and Ralph Burley, then getting the other two won’t be a problem.”

  Just then the groom arrived. “Your majesty, His Grace the Duke.”

  The Duke walked into the bedchamber, looking weary and glum.

  “Ah, Duke. I trust that you have returned from the voyage, making me a richer King.”

  The Duke looked annoyed for a moment, but then his face softened, “Unfortunately, Your Maje
sty, we only found few shipwrecks.”

  “That’s a shame,” said the King. “I might as well carry out the plan to invade North England.”

  “War is expensive, Sire,” said the Duke. “We should discuss this more carefully another day when you have fully recovered.”

  “Ah, Duke. But I have just learned that North England is a terrible state. Their harvest was destroyed by bad weather, and they have not completely recovered from the sea war. I think I will take the advantage and invade.”

  “If you wish, Sire,” said the Duke, who was only half-listening. He had noticed the sketch of Matilda and walked over to study it.

  “Sire, this person, who is he?” said the Duke.

  “That’s Matthew Dudley. The person who was the cause of all this,” said the King. “But at least I have Walter Cooke. And I will make sure that he will suffer when I’m back on my feet.”

  “And who is this person, Sire?” asked the Duke.

  “Ralph Burley,” said the Chamberlain.

  “Hmm, a Burley,” the Duke said to himself. “If I’m not mistaken, Sire, this Matthew Dudley is a woman.”

  “A woman?” said the King.

  “Yes, and not only that, she was once a maid in my household, Matilda Burley.”

  “Duke, it is very important that we find them because they have Victor Harte’s map,” said the King.

  That confirms it. But it’s pointless now, thought the Duke.

  Then the King began to tell the Duke how he had obtained the map but lost it afterwards in Oxford. The Duke pretended to listen attentively. Soon he dismissed himself and left the bedchamber. The Duke could not have felt any more miserable. He had spent the last few weeks in the Morocco deserts looking for the gold, with fruitless results. Every day he watched his men from his tent, digging in the desert. And almost every night he would study the map, trying to find any crucial information that he might have missed. Soon his men were so close to death from starvation and the hard labour in the sun, that he finally gave up.

  As he closed the bedchamber doors, he saw a guard making his way towards the King’s chamber.

  “The King is about to rest. Unless it is important, you can come back later,” said the Duke.

  “Your Grace, it might be important,” said the guard.

  “What is it?”

  “A prisoner, Walter Cooke, won’t stop asking for the King. He claims to know about a map belonging to Victor Harte. Something about it being in Portugal.”

  “Portugal?” said the Duke.

  “Yes, Your Grace.”

  “Very well. Leave it to me. I will inform the King when he wakes up. You may return to your post now.”

  “Yes, Your Grace.”

  Later that night the Duke went to Walter Cooke’s cell. Walter was sitting on the floor with his foot manacled and the chain bolted to the wall behind him. He was no longer wearing the false bushy beard.

  Sir Devon dismissed the guards and then unlocked the cell door; the Duke stepped inside the cell.

  Walter stood up.

  “I am the Duke. I heard you have something to tell the King?”

  “Yes. If he can spare my life, then I will tell him what I know about the map.”

  “The King is very ill. So he sent me here to hear what you have to say,” said the Duke.

  “I know the map is with a young man. I don’t know his name, but I know what he looks like. He has a moustache and ——”

  “You have mentioned Portugal to a guard. Explain.”

  “Yes. You see, the map that the King wants is with the young man. But it’s not the real map. The real map is in Portugal.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “I don’t know the full details, but I saw them heat a piece of paper, a letter I believe, and from their reaction, I knew they had discovered something important. So I sneaked up close to hear their conversation. I couldn’t hear everything, but I managed to hear that the real map is in Portugal.”

  The Duke remembered the letter that came with the map. He wondered if Victor Harte had left a secret message in the letter revealing where the real map was.

  “Were you following them?” asked the Duke.

  “Yes. After the revolt, I was meant to leave. But I stayed behind, hidden in the woods while the young man was still in Oxford Palace holding the map. I waited until I saw them pass in a carriage and from then I followed them at a safe distance.”

  “If I were you, I would have left the country,” said the Duke. “But you stayed back. Do you desire the map that much?”

  “Yes.”

  “How did you end up here?” said the Duke.

  “Some nights ago, they went into the Royal Forest. I did not go in after them. I didn’t think they could go very far. It was too dense for a carriage, and I didn’t dare go after them in case it was a trap. I was outnumbered you see. I thought it was all very strange, but then I thought maybe they wanted to leave the King in there. So I waited for them to come out. I thought they would return from the forest because I knew the other two were still at the inn. Or so I thought. Then I thought maybe they had already left the forest and that had I missed them because it was quite dark. So I went back to the inn but I made the mistake of returning to the forest just before dawn. Eventually, I found the carriage with the King inside, but a guard saw me and I was arrested.”

  “So they are now heading to Portugal?”

  “Not right away.”

  “Why?”

  “They are going to North England.”

  “North England?”

  “I don’t know what business they have there. But I did hear a mention of the Prince and a Sir Horace … er”

  “Sir Laurence.”

  “That’s right.”

  “I see. Is there anything else?”

  “That’s all, sir.”

  “You have done well.”

  “Do you think the King will let me go?” said Walter. “Will you please do me the favour of convincing him?”

  “I know that the King is set on torturing you,” said the Duke. “So I will do you the favour of killing you.”

  The Duke unsheathed his dagger and thrust it through Walter’s chest. His movements were swift and precise. Walter gasped in surprise and pain. Soon he was lifeless.

  The Duke sheathed his dagger and then left the cell. He turned to Sir Devon, “Put a knife through the wound and report that he smuggled it in to kill himself.”

  “Yes, Your Grace.”

  Chapter 20

  The Expedition

  Matilda had spent the last few days relaxing in her new home. One day a herald arrived at their house and delivered a letter to Ralph.

  After the herald had left, Ralph and Roger read the letter.

  “Right, I’d better go find Matilda,” said Ralph after reading the letter.

  Ralph went outside behind the house where there was a large grass field. He squinted his eyes at two figures riding their horses in the distance. He recognised them to be Matilda and Will.

  “Matilda! Will!” he called.

  They rode back at full speed. Will arrived first and Matilda, who was a close second, halted so quickly that she almost ran into Ralph.

  Eventually, she managed to steady her horse and came to a complete stop.

  “What are you doing Matilda? Almost killed me there,” said Ralph now helping her get off her horse. She was wearing a dress.

  “Sorry, Uncle. I was racing Will back.”

  Then Will came over to them.

  “Well, I just got a letter from the Prince. He will see us in the palace this afternoon.”

  “And from the looks of things, we will let him know about the map,” Matilda said to Ralph.

  “Yes. And I thought it over,” Ralph said. “Don’t really care too much about the gold. I think my life here is quite comfortable, though I wouldn’t refuse a share of the gold. But I will not miss out on seeing it for the first time.”

  “I think we all feel the sam
e,” said Matilda.

  By afternoon they were waiting in the drawing room at the Prince’s headquarters. Soon the Prince and Sir Laurence entered the room. All four of them greeted him accordingly. They made their introductions, and once that was done, they all sat down. They sat at a wooden table, with the Prince at the end.

  “I am glad that you managed to get to North England safely without my guards. They told me that you were kept in Oxford,” said the Prince to Matilda. “And we also learned about the revolt.”

  “Yes. It was not surprising given the way your King rules,” added Sir Laurence.

  “Now, is there something you wanted to discuss?” asked the Prince.

  Matilda looked at her companions first before speaking, “Yes, Your Highness. There is.”

  She continued, “Well before I start, I assume the Duke did not find any gold, is that correct?”

  The Prince and Sir Laurence seemed a little surprised at the question.

  “Yes, he did not. In fact, we found him in Morocco, digging endlessly. We did not return until we were sure that he had found nothing and returned to his country,” said the Prince.

  “It turns out that there is no gold,” said Sir Laurence. “And I’m sure the Duke had realised that earlier when the map led him to a desert, and there was no cave. But he must have been desperate. We intended to tell you this, but it seems like you already know. But how?”

  “That’s because the map is fake. Completely made up by Victor Harte,” said Matilda.

  “What?” said the Prince. “How do you know this?”

  Matilda handed him the letter and explained how she revealed the secret message.

  “Extraordinary,” said Sir Laurence as he read the letter.

  “I am glad that you brought this to us,” said the Prince. “But why? You could have easily gone for the treasure yourself.”

  “We are grateful for our home here,” said Matilda, “and I trust the Queen will use the gold for the wellbeing of her people.”

  “Of course. The Queen will be delighted to,” said the Prince.

  “But we do wish to come along, Highness,” said Ralph.

  “Do you mean all of you?” said the Prince, looking at everyone and then at Matilda.