The Pirate's Map

by J. N. Cao

  Victor gaped. “Why did she do that?”

  “She was looking for you.”

  “Oh.”

  Victor was lost in thought as Matilda watched him from the corner of her eye.

  By night time they had shifted all the gold onto the ships. Three of those ships were full of gold, while the others carried a smaller amount.

  Matilda had asked the Prince to order men to carry Victor onto the ships first. When Victor was out of earshot, Matilda turned to her companions and told them Victor’s identity. And through this, the Prince learned about Matilda’s true identity.

  “Victor Harte!” most of them said.

  “Are you serious? He’s alive?” said Ralph.

  “And stuck in there for twenty years? I would go mad,” said Roger.

  “How did he get stuck in there in the first place?” said Will.

  “It’s a long story,” said Matilda.

  “Yes. You can tell us once we get on board,” said Sir Laurence.

  So they said goodbye to James, who was kind enough to provide them with some provisions for their journey.

  Matilda had also advised them to avoid the subject of gold in front of Victor, but Victor had already started the topic himself right after dinner.

  After Victor put down his spoon and cleared his throat, he said “Now, I do want to thank you all for bringing all of my gold on to the ships. And I know that you will want a share of it. And I am happy to do that. Let’s say 90-10?”

  “90-10? Ha! How about noth——” Ralph was cut off by the Prince, who put a hand on his shoulder.

  “Sir, that does sound like a good offer. But we will need some time to think about it,” said the Prince.

  “Fine with me. But don’t take too long because my offer might change,” said Victor as he got up and left the room.

  Ralph then turned to the Prince. “Your Highness, you don’t need to be soft with him. The man’s a nuthead.”

  “And for that reason, we can let him believe what he wants to believe until we return home. I don’t want any hostility on my ship,” said the Prince. Then his eyes met Matilda’s, and he smiled, and she smiled back.

  “Very well. Now, pray tell us the full story, Miss Burley,” said Sir Laurence.

  So Matilda spent most of the night telling them how she had ended up in the cave with Victor and his story.

  Chapter 24

  The Duke Interferes

  So what has happened to the Duke this whole time? Well, after Matilda had left Portugal with the new map, the Duke lost sight of them after a few days of following. Telescopes had not been invented yet, so the Duke had no choice but to go back to South England and wait for their return.

  Although they no longer had the map, Captain George and the helmsman still had a good memory of where they had sailed before, and Sir Laurence, who could vaguely remember the map, was able to provide some helpful guidance. So over the next few months, they were able to make their way into the North Atlantic Ocean.

  At night, Victor would sleep in a cabin he shared with Ralph, Roger and Will. Ralph was not particularly happy with this arrangement, what with Victor’s occasional wild outbursts. One day Matilda went into the cabin to see Victor. He was alone in the cabin and was sitting at a desk trimming his beard in front of a small mirror, just as Matilda had expected.

  Matilda came over and stood next to him.

  “Ah, Matilda,” Victor said when he saw her. He put down his blade. “What do you think?” he said, pointing at his cropped hair.

  “Very good,” Matilda said. “Now, my uncle has just told me that you’re using his razor without asking.”

  “Humph, I led him to my gold and now he’s complaining about me using his razor, how ungrateful,” Victor said, then he continued trimming his beard.

  Matilda smiled. “If there’s anything you need, I can get it for you. You don’t have to take things from others.”

  “Aye, but don’t worry. I won’t take long. Just going to trim a bit more,” he turned to face Matilda, “don’t want to come back and scare your mother, you know.” Then he winked at her and returned to his trimming.

  Matilda stared at him for a moment.

  “You know, twenty years is a long time,” Matilda said.

  “You don’t say,” Victor said, still trimming.

  “And she thinks you’re dead. Everyone does.”

  “Ah-ha.”

  Matilda paused, wondering how to word her next sentence. “If you were a young man and your wife had died, would you stay a widower for twenty years?”

  “Ha ha. That’s a crazy idea. I am human,” Victor said.

  Matilda was watching him. Then Victor suddenly stopped trimming. He put his hands down on the desk and sat frozen like a stone, staring forward.

  “She remarried?”

  “Yes.”

  Then he turned to Matilda and smiled. “Good for her. Now, if you don’t mind, I would like to finish up.”

  “Of course.”

  After Matilda closed the cabin door, she could hear loud sobbing from inside the cabin.

  A few weeks later Matilda woke up to sounds of people walking outside her cabin. She got dressed and stepped out of her cabin. The door of her companion’s cabin was slightly opened and she decided to see if they were still there. So she gave it a light knock, but no one answered. Then she stepped inside and saw only Victor, who was still sleeping with Alfred next to his pillow.

  The ship rocked slightly and a book that was on a small stool next to an empty bed slid off the edge. It landed on the floor, spread opened, and two pieces of paper folded in half came out. Matilda went over to pick up the book, which she recognised to be Will’s, and the papers. As she was about to wedge the papers back into the book she could not help but noticed that one of them was a drawing. She unfolded the paper to reveal a sketch of the treasure in the cave. She marvelled at the sketch, knowing that the sight of the treasure in the cave now only existed physically on this paper. Then she noticed the other paper, a warped paper that had some writing on it, so she unfolded it. The writing was slightly smudged and it read:

  Oh M, Oh M, Oh M

  My longing heart dare not speak this

  But only write in poem

  That to have M is my one true bliss

  Then she put the papers back inside the book and left it on Will’s bed. She stepped out of the cabin and almost collided with Roger.

  “There you are. You weren’t in your cabin,” said Roger.

  Matilda was a little slow at responding, but finally said, “Why? What happened?”

  “I should ask you. You look flushed,” said Roger.

  “Nothing. I’m fine.”

  “Well, something happened,” said Roger. “We were just coming out of the mist when a few men spotted a small ship, and as soon as that ship saw us, it quickly sailed away. So now we have stopped to see what to do next.”

  When Matilda and Roger came up on the main deck, she could see that their ship, including a few beside them, had emerged from the mist, and it was about an hour after dawn. The other ships behind them had also stopped but were almost invisible in the mist. Everyone was already on deck with the Prince. The Prince had already sent out a small scouting boat to see what was ahead.

  Some time later, the boat returned with news.

  “There are Spanish ships ahead, Your Highness,” said one guard. “And there were a few others from South England. About twenty of them. All stationary.”

  “And the English Channel is just beyond that,” said Sir Laurence.

  “It must be the Duke,” said Matilda. “But how?”

  “Twenty ships! We’re doomed,” said Roger.

  “Did they see you?” Sir Laurence asked the guard.

  “No, Sir,” the guard said. “I made sure not to sail too close, and it was misty.”

  “Good,” Sir Laurence said.

  “Should we take another route,” said Captain George.

  “They already are ex
pecting us,” said Sir Laurence. “If they don’t see us after some time, they will know that we have taken another route and then will only attempt to block us again. I suggest we split the ships, Your Highness. We should have some ships, no more than three, with the most gold to sail around and get to North England.”

  “Yes, that is a plan,” said the Prince. “And the majority of the ships should stay here as a decoy. I just hope the ships with the gold make it to North England unnoticed.”

  “I know this may not sound good,” Matilda said, “but it might be a good idea if Your Highness stays here.”

  “I object to that,” said Sir Laurence.

  Then Matilda said, “Of course it is up to the Prince, but if they don’t see him they will ——”

  “It is not safe for the Prince to stay here against that fleet,” said Sir Laurence.

  “No. She is right. They would be suspicious if they don’t see me,” the Prince said.

  “But Your Highness, the Queen …” said Sir Laurence.

  “That’s enough, Sir Laurence. You will sail back with them as well,” said the Prince.

  Sir Laurence sighed. “Yes, Your Highness. We will send out reinforcements as soon as we arrive.”

  And with that, everyone except the Prince transferred to the three ships full of gold. As they sailed away, Victor became confused about all that was happening.

  “Where have all the other ships gone?” he said.

  “We’re leaving them,” said Matilda.

  “Why?”

  “We have to take the gold to North England,” said Ralph.

  “North England? Why there?”

  “For the Queen, of course,” said Ralph with amusement, who purposely wanted to reveal the truth to Victor.

  “The Queen? You’re giving some of my gold to the Queen?” said Victor.

  Ralph chuckled, “Not some. All of it.”

  “What’s the meaning of this? Matilda?”

  Matilda, who had her back turned the whole time, turned to Victor and said, “Yes. That is right. We are taking the gold to the Queen. And please be quiet. We’re not supposed to be seen.”

  “The gold is mine. Stop the ship right now,” Victor said.

  “No,” Matilda said firmly. “We are taking this gold to the Queen and then getting reinforcements because the Prince is back there with twenty enemy ships against him. The gold is for his people because the country needs it. So I am sorry that you can’t have all the gold.”

  “Matilda, you betrayed me. You would betray your own father?”

  “Father? Not once have I called you father. How can I? When I see you, all I feel is pity. That’s right. I pity you for what you have become because of your greed. And I never agreed with your violence.”

  “Well, I told you before. The world is not going to give you what you want so you have to get it yourself,” Victor said. “So I had a reputation to uphold. No one fears a pirate who shows mercy."

  Matilda stepped closer to Victor. “You’re no different to those bandits that massacred the people in my monastery. Do you know how it feels for a four-year-old to come out and see all the people who raised her lying dead on the floor? Do you?”

  She paused looking at him. “I still hear them screaming to this day.”

  Victor was speechless and only stared, wide-eyed, at Matilda. Then Matilda walked away and climbed onto the quarterdeck.

  After the three ships had gone, the Prince waited where he was to give them a head start. But he knew he could not wait too long, and he had to deceive the Duke into thinking that he was unaware of the Duke’s ships and therefore had no time to devise a plan. So he only waited for a few more hours before he started to sail forward again.

  The Duke had just got out on deck when a sailor came to inform him of some approaching ships. The Duke made his way to the forecastle deck and looked out into the distant.

  Señor Gonzalo had just joined the Duke. He was the Spanish captain that King Lucas had assigned to work with the Duke.

  “I see they’re finally here,” Señor Gonzalo said. “I hope my King won’t be disappointed this time.”

  “Well, we do have the advantage,” said the Duke. “Look, they only have eight ships left.”

  “Hmm, the weather may not have been kind to them,” Sir Gonzalo said. “Do you think there’s any gold on those ships?”

  “We’ll just have to board them and find out,” said the Duke.

  The Prince and his ships stopped sailing when they could see the Duke’s ships ahead, in full view. Then he waited. Not long after, a longboat approached. There were two men and a messenger on the boat, who rowed close to the ship that the Prince was on. Then the messenger stood up.

  “I have a message from the Duke of South England for the Prince of North England,” he called.

  The Prince appeared on the edge of the deck.

  “I am here,” said the Prince. “What does he want?”

  “You are outnumbered. Surrender the gold now or die,” said the messenger.

  After some time the messenger returned to the Duke.

  “What did he say?” the Duke said.

  “The Prince said thank you for the message and that he would rather die than surrender, Your Grace.” He paused. “And he also said that if we were to try to come near, he would pour all the gold into the sea.”

  “Ha! The boy’s bluffing,” said Señor Gonzalo.

  “Perhaps, but we can’t be sure,” said the Duke. “We can send out a few ships and have our men board his ships. We’ll see if he’s bluffing or not. But also order them not to sink any of his ships.”

  Meanwhile, the three ships were about to pass Newquay, a port in South England. Matilda had returned to the main deck to join the others.

  “There is something I’m worried about,” Sir Laurence said.

  “What is it, Sir Laurence?” Will said.

  “You see, even if we managed to inform the Queen, we may not be able to overcome their ships,” Sir Laurence said. “The Queen currently has very few ships left from the last invasion. No more than twelve. And we are low on men and gunpowder.”

  “Then the Prince might die?” said Roger.

  “The odds are against him,” said Laurence. “The Queen’s ships are not strong enough, and it is very likely that they will not arrive in time to the Prince. The Prince’s ships could all be destroyed now, even as we speak.”

  Matilda walked to the edge of the ship and looked out to sea, deep in thought. Some time later she turned around. “I think I have an idea.”

  They all looked at her.

  “We know that King Anthony wants to invade North England. I’m sure he has many ships ready. And even if he doesn’t have enough ships, there should be enough to weaken a few of the Duke’s ships, making it easier for the Queen.”

  “And why would the King fight the Duke for us?” Ralph said.

  “Well, Sir Laurence, you once told us that the Duke had signed an agreement with the Spanish King, it that right?” said Matilda.

  “Yes. That’s correct,” said Sir Laurence. “I see now, you’re going to show it to King Anthony and let him believe that the Duke and the Spaniards are here to invade him.”

  “That’s correct.”

  “But the Duke’s ships are out there against the Prince. How are we going to get them to invade South England?” said Roger.

  “I believe the next part of your plan is to get a decoy and lure them towards South England. That way the King would definitely believe that they are invading him,” said Will.

  “Precisely. By that time the Queen should be able to send out her ships,” said Matilda.

  “And hopefully there’ll be so much damage that she won’t have to lift a finger,” said Sir Laurence. “Why, Miss Burley, the Queen had intended you to become her lady-in-waiting, but I think your talent would be wasted there.”

  They all went to inform Captain George of their plan, that is, to make a quick stop at Newquay to buy new ships to
act as decoys, and then stop at a port in South England closest to Esterwall. After this, Sir Laurence would travel with the three ships of gold straight to North England.

  Sir Laurence did not leave immediately but stood for a moment watching Victor, who sat on a wooden cargo box nearby looking troubled. Victor had heard everything that they had discussed.

  Victor raised his eyes to Sir Laurence.

  “Why are they doing all this?” he said.

  “Because they don’t want to see suffering around them,” said Sir Laurence.

  Chapter 25

  Through the English Channel

  The Duke had sent nine galleons toward the Prince’s ships. As they approached, the Prince had separated four ships—with the least amount of gold on them—as fire ships. These ships made their way to the galleons. As they did, the men on board set fire to their ships and then jumped off, letting their fire ships sail straight into the galleons. The ships collided and then there were explosions, bringing many galleons down. The Prince sent out more ships to shoot the remaining galleons with cannons.

  The Duke called his galleons to retreat, and then the Prince did the same with his ships.

  “Those four fire ships he sent out don’t seem to have any gold onboard,” said the Duke.

  “I think you might be wrong, Duke,” said Señor Gonzalo. “Look, I see something in the water.”

  There were some gold plates and handicrafts left from the explosions that had made their way towards the Duke.

  “What is he doing?” said the Duke. “Is he that mad to lose all his gold to fight a pointless battle?”

  “Why not, he would probably rather lose it all than let us have it,” said Señor Gonzalo.

  “I think there’s more to this. He’s up to something,” said the Duke.

  “He’s down to four ships. I’m sure most of the gold is in those ships. What shall we do now?” said Señor Gonzalo.

  “Give me some time to think this through, Señor Gonzalo,” said the Duke.

  Meanwhile, King Anthony was in this study when his valet just came into the room.