The Pirate's Map

by J. N. Cao

  The Prince slowly stood up. He looked about the sea for the ships. “Where are they? They can’t all be destroyed.”

  “I think the waves took us too far,” said Will.

  “Oh no, the map,” the Prince said suddenly. “It was on the ship.”

  “Didn’t Sir Laurence make another copy?” asked Will.

  “Yes, but I don’t know if he has it with him. Or is he even alive?” said the Prince.

  Eventually, they decided to walk along the shore, hoping to spot the ships. They did not walk for too long when they heard the sound of rhythmic drumming. They followed the sound until it took them to a pathway in the jungle. As they walked along the pathway, they heard something rustling in the bushes. Instinctively, Prince drew his sword and was alert. The rustling stopped, and they resumed walking along the pathway while the Prince kept his sword out. Then the drumming stopped.

  Finally they came to a large clearing and saw little houses made of stone and clay, with thatched roofs.

  There were people about, mostly women and children engaged in their activities. These people had dark hair and were tanned. Many of the women wore skirts and blouses, while the men wore tunics that reached their knees. Then a woman spotted the Prince and Will and she screamed in a language they had never heard before, pointing at them.

  Immediately, over twenty other men with spears and knives appeared in front of them. The Prince quickly extended his sword at them.

  They remained like this for a moment. Then Will turned to the Prince, “I think you should put your sword down.”

  “Are you mad? Look how many of them there are,” said the Prince.

  “There are women and children amongst them. They wouldn’t want to fight unless they have to. Put it away. You’re coming off as a threat.”

  Will raised both hands in the air level with his shoulders and then took a few steps forward, “We come in peace.”

  The prince watched him and then sheathed his sword and also raised his hands in the air.

  The village men slowly lowered their weapons.

  Matilda opened her eyes to an unfamiliar face. It was a tanned-skin little boy, about five, who stared back smiling. She blinked in surprise and before she could say anything the boy got up and ran outside. Matilda got up and released that she was in a small hut.

  When she stepped out of the hut, she saw people with dark hair and tanned skin. They all soon noticed her. Then the little boy returned, followed by a white man. He was about mid-forties and had a full beard.

  “Hello. My name is James Curtis,” said the man.

  “Hello. I’m Matilda Burley,” Matilda said back.

  “Oh, I see you speak English then,” said James.

  “Did you bring me here?” said Matilda.

  “No. That was Atoc and his wife, Cuca. They found you on the shore.”

  Then James called two people in a language unknown to Matilda.

  “This is Atoc and Cuca,” said James.

  Matilda bowed her head to them, “Thank you, for bringing me here.”

  James turned to Atoc and Cuca to translate. They said something to Matilda and smiled.

  “They said you’re welcome.”

  Then it started to rain.

  “You had better follow me. It’s going to pour harder soon,” said James. Then he led Matilda to a bigger house where she found a woman and two children inside.

  “This is my wife, Quilla, and our children, Sisa and Antay.”

  Quilla ushered Matilda to sit on a mat. Matilda sat down and was given some food.

  James also sat down on the mat. “Now tell me. How did you end up on these shores?”

  “I was travelling by ship and we got caught in a storm.”

  “I see. There was one last night. And where were you travelling to?”

  Matilda paused before she answered, “I was with some explorers.”

  Then she continued, “Did you see any ships at sea?”

  “No. But I’m sure my friends will let me know if they see any.”

  “Where am I?” said Matilda.

  “You’re in a small village called Pacari.”

  “And have you always lived here?”

  “Well, for the last twenty years or so I think. I’ve lost count. Back in London, I was a carpenter. Lost my job really, and then got a crew job on a Spanish ship. And it sailed here. Afterwards, I didn’t feel like going back to London, and this place interested me, so I stayed back.”

  Eventually, James asked Matilda where she was from, and then he carried on talking to her about the village.

  The rain did not stop all day, so Matilda stayed indoors for the majority of the time. She decided to stay overnight at James’ house and look for the ships the next day.

  Chapter 22

  The Cave

  The next morning Matilda woke up and found that James had gone. Quilla told Matilda that James had gone to another village nearby and that Matilda should wait for him.

  So Matilda waited outside of the house for James and watched the villagers go about their day. She noticed the little boy that she had seen yesterday. He was playing with some toys that he had in a small bag. The boy looked up from his toys and saw Matilda watching him. Matilda smiled at him. Then he gathered all his toys into a bag and quickly made his way to Matilda.

  “Hello,” said Matilda as he came to her and sat down on the ground.

  The boy said something she did not understand.

  Matilda pointed to herself, “Matilda.” Then she pointed to the boy and waited for a response.

  The boy replied in a long sentence.

  “Yeah, I’m not very good with names.”

  The boy then eagerly started to show her all of the toys he owned, tipping them out of his bag. He showed her a ball, then some clay figurines, a large dead beetle, a large bone, and then, as he pulled out another bone, Matilda saw something in the bag that caught her eye.

  “What’s that?” she pointed, and the boy picked a gold coin out of the bag to show her.

  She took the coin and looked at it. It was the very same coin that had been found in the chest in the Duke’s study. Then the boy showed her two more of the same coins from his bag.

  “Where did you find this?” Matilda asked the boy holding the coin at him.

  He understood her and jumped to his feet. Matilda watched him run to the edge of the village and stop at a pathway. He turned around and beckoned for Matilda to follow him. Matilda was hesitant, knowing that James wanted her to wait for him in the village.

  The boy beckoned her again and called something at her. Then he started to run along the pathway. Matilda ran after him. She had to be quick as she followed him on the path because he did not walk, he preferred to skip and run.

  The path became more narrow and difficult to walk along; trees and leaves getting in the way. Then the boy left the path and went through a grove. Matilda followed and eventually was led to a spring.

  The boy then walked along the spring and, as Matilda followed, she could see cliffs and mountains ahead.

  Finally, the boy stopped near the bottom of a mountain. There were many rocks and boulders at the foot of the mountain. Matilda could see some of the boulders blocking parts of the spring that flowed out of the mountain.

  Then the boy squatted at the spring and watched it as if he was waiting for something to happen in the water.

  Matilda watched with him, but nothing happened for some time. It must have been about five minutes until Matilda decided to stop waiting. She wondered if the boy had found the coins in the spring and, if so, then perhaps the treasure was within the area. She looked at her surroundings, but nothing interested her except the mountain. Plants and vines almost covered the rocky mountain. She started to survey the area. By this time the boy had lost interest in the spring and watched as Matilda climbed onto a small boulder.

  Matilda climbed onto another boulder further up, then she stood up on the boulder and noticed a ledge above her. She thoug
ht she could get a better view by standing there so she made her way up there by walking along a narrow trail. Small bushes and other vegetation were growing on the surface of the ledge.

  Matilda looked down. She realised that she was quite high up, as the boy looked tiny from where she was. Then she noticed the boy starting to leave the spring and go back to the pathway. She also thought it was time to go back before James started wondering where she had gone.

  She looked around at her surroundings once more, then she noticed another trail that led down the mountain and decided to follow it. She approached the trail by walking further along the ledge.

  Then without warning, Matilda slipped into a crevice that was hidden underneath vines and leaves. “Oh!” she exclaimed, and instinctively grabbed hold of a vine and then stopped mid-fall inside a cave, still hanging onto the vine.

  Seconds later her weight pulled the whole vine through the crevice and Matilda fell right into a pool of water. The water was shallow where it reached her chest. Matilda made her way out of the water and on to dry land. Once she had managed to catch her breath, she looked around the cave that she had fallen into. The uncovered crevice above shed more light into the cave, showing the subterranean stream that she had fallen in. The stream flowed from crevices on the wall of the cave that were too narrow for any grown human to climb through.

  “This is not good,” she said to herself as she got to her feet. She then started to wring out the lower part of her dress.

  A few moments later, from the corner of her eye, she saw something glistened. She turned and saw, sitting on a rock on the edge of the cave, a gold sculpture of a tortoise. She went over and picked it up. It was the size of both her hands together. She studied it for a short while and then noticed a trail of scattered gold coins that disappeared at a corner of the cave. She put down the sculpture and followed the trail of gold. When she turned the corner, Matilda gasped. She had just entered another section of the cave. Although this department was darker than the other, she could see many large piles of treasures. Some piles were two metres high. There were gold pieces such as coins, tableware, handicrafts and jewellery, and some spread across the cave floor. To her far right lay weapons and armour decorated with jewels.

  Matilda stood there, struck with wonder. Then she heard a sudden sound of a snort that made her heart jumped. The sound was followed by the sound of a body turning, which was then followed by the clinking of falling coins.

  Matilda knew at once that she was not alone. Her eyes rapidly scanned the cave to see what made that sound but she could not find its source. She started to tremble. Then a big yawn echoed throughout the cave. It clearly came from a man, and it came from the piles in the furthest and dimmest part of the cave. Matilda then quietly went over to the weapons. They were mostly spears, clubs and axes. Then she saw the only sword there, a rapier, and grabbed it. She closed her eyes and tried to gather herself. Then she made her way to the nearest pile to hide. One of her steps made a small pile of coins fall and the coins did not fail to make a sound.

  “Who’s there?” cried the man.

  Matilda hid behind a pile and held her sword in both hands.

  She could hear the man walking now. Matilda thought his walk sounded unusual. There were no sounds of normal walking steps, only the sounds of a metal object immediately followed by a step of a shoe. It was a ‘clonk’ and a step, ‘clonk’ and a step.

  “Is it a monkey?” she heard the man said. “No too quiet to be a monkey.”

  Then she heard him move, closer this time. “An anaconda?”

  Then closer. “Or worse, a thief.”

  Then it was quiet, and it stayed like so for a while. Matilda took a peak around her pile. No one was there in the centre of the cave but she knew he was hiding somewhere. Then she caught a whiff of a stench.

  She turned around and came face to face with a wild looking man. She screamed. He blinked in surprise and she stumbled backwards.

  Matilda quickly got to her feet, pointing her sword at the man. “Don’t you come near me,” she said, taking a few steps back.

  She noticed that he was balancing on his left leg while his right arm leaned on the pile that had been her hiding spot, for support. She watched him pick up a golden metal pole. His right leg appeared to be crippled, and he used the pole to support himself as he made his way towards her.

  Matilda stepped back, “Stay where you are or I’ll cripple the other leg.”

  Those words stung him. “How dare you speak to me like that. Don’t you know who I am?” said the man in a commanding voice.

  “Who are you then?”

  “I am the King. And YOU are a thief.”

  “I am not a thief. I came here by accident. And you say you’re a king? King of what?”

  “Why, the king of all this,” he said, spreading an arm and smiling with eyes wide. His teeth were terrible, and his dark, unkempt hair was long below his shoulders. His face was covered with a full beard. His clothes were extremely worn and dirty. He looked more like a beggar than a king.

  Matilda started to question his sanity.

  Then he continued, “If you’re not a thief then why did you hide like one. There! You have my sword. You will be punished. No one steals from King Victor and gets away with it.” Then he roared with laughter.

  Matilda was stunned. “Excuse me, but did you just say you’re King Victor?”

  “I am no other,” he said with his head held high.

  “You don’t happen to be Victor Harte, are you?”

  The man gasped, “How do you know that?”

  “Oh lord,” said Matilda.

  Victor moved closer to the shocked Matilda. “How do you know who I am? Do I know you?”

  Then he gasped. “Where did you get that?” he said, pointing to Matilda’s necklace.

  “It’s my mother’s.”

  “What is her name?”

  “Cecilia Harte.”

  Victor gasped again and almost lost his balance. He had a bewildered look, and his eyes shifted around, unfocused.

  He faced Matilda again. “Then who is your father?”

  “Victor Harte.”

  Victor slowly pointed a finger to himself, “Me?”

  “Yes.”

  Victor froze, and then finally he said, “What’s your name?”

  “Matilda.”

  “Matilda,” he repeated. Then he started nodding as he took it all in. “That’s nice.” And then he fainted.

  Meanwhile, back at the village James had just returned, along with the Prince and Will. Earlier that morning, he had heard some news from a fisherman about two strangers in the nearby village. So he set out just before Matilda woke up that morning to find out about them. He was certain that they were with Matilda.

  So now they had returned, but there was no sign of Matilda. Then a village woman told James that she saw Matilda running after Anku, the little boy.

  The Prince and Will followed James to Anku’s home, where his grandmother lived. Her house was slightly bigger than most of the houses in the village, and the inside was decorated with many handicrafts.

  James spoke to the old woman and then turned to the Prince and Will, “The little boy has not come back yet.”

  “Then when will he come back?” asked Will.

  James spoke to the old woman again and then turned back to them, “She said she doesn’t know. He may come back before dark or maybe the next day.”

  “The next day?” said the Prince. “Do you suppose we leave Matilda out there in the wild until the next day? Anything can happen.” He paused, “And why does she let a little boy out in the jungle like that?”

  James quickly asked the old woman, and she giggled and said something. Then James turned back, “She said ‘what’s wrong with that?’”

  Then James smiled, “We’re actually quite used to seeing Anku behave this way. He’s a very carefree boy.”

  “Thank you, James. But I think we have no choice but to wait and see wh
at happens,” said Will.

  James nodded.

  The Prince sighed, “You’re right. I suppose in the meantime we can go the shore and keep a lookout for the ships.”

  Will was only half listening. He was looking at a tapestry on the wall. It showed a group of soldiers in armour armed with swords and arquebuses, and their leader pointing a sword at a man kneeling down at him. The man was tanned and wore elaborate clothing and a feathered headdress. Surrounding the people in the tapestry were piles of gold.

  Will pointed to the tapestry. “Did this happened?”

  “Yes. I believe so,” replied James. Then he turned to the old woman, and they spoke for a bit.

  “It happened about fifty years ago. That man there kneeling down was once a king but was killed by conquerors and before they killed the King, they had him gather them rooms and rooms full of gold. The conquerors hid most of the gold in a mountain cave, and it was said that they intended to return to collect their gold, but they never did.”

  “And no one found it since?” said Will.

  “Well, it’s not easy with so many mountains here. And the people here don’t see the value in gold as we do,” said James.

  Then a young man called for James from outside of the house. Everyone in the house went outside.

  James spoke with the young man, and then he turned to the Prince and Will.

  “He said he saw many ships at the shore,” said James.

  “That must be them,” said the Prince.

  So they made their way out to the shore. Sure enough, they found the ships. Out of the fifteen ships, eleven had survived. Then one of the ships anchored.

  “That’s a lot of ships for exploring,” said James.

  Arriving on shore were Sir Laurence, Ralph, Roger and a few other guards.

  “Your Highness, I am glad that you’re alive,” said Sir Laurence.

  “Same to you, Sir Laurence,” said the Prince.

  “Your Highness?” said James.

  “Will! You’re alive!” said Roger as he and Ralph made their way to Will.

  “Where’s Matilda?” said Ralph.

  “I don’t know, but we do know that she survived the storm,” said Will.