Disclamier: I only own Caylen. The rest belongs to Disney.
Ian walked into the ship, Ben following him, and then Riley, me. Shaw took up the back, while Shippen stayed behind with the snowmobiles.
"Ahh! Oh god, ahh!" Riley freaked out after lifting a cover off a frozen skeleton. Ben and I laughed.
"You handled that well." Ben told Riley, stopping in front of a frozen door. "This is it. The cargo hold." He pulled the door handle and went inside. We followed him and I looked around. All I could see were barrels.
"You think it's in the barrels?" Riley asked, looking around at the barrels. He opened one of them and started shifting the black powder around looking for the clue. I giggled at him and looked at Ian who lifted another lid off a barrel and sniff the black powder.
"Gunpowder," He told everyone. I looked over at Ben who was crouching down near a barrel, who had a dead skeleton sitting on it.
"Now why would the captain be guarding this barrel," He said to himself. "Hey, I've found something!" Everyone crowded around him as he pulled out a wrapped box. Ben got up and sat it down on the table behind him and opened it. He pulled out an ivory pipe. "Do you guys know what this is?"
"Is it a billion dollar pipe?" Riley asked, standing next to me. I was standing next to Ben's left side. Ian and Shaw stood on his other side, close to the door. I shook my head at Riley, smiling at him.
"It's a Miashawn pipe. Ah, it's beautiful, don't you think, Caylen?" I nodded, and he smirked. I gave him a confused glance, but turned my attention to Ben.
"Look at the intricacy of the scroll work on the stem." He said, carefully handing it to Ian, who looked at it, examining every detail of the pipe. I smiled at Ben and Ian. They looked like little kids in a huge candy shop for the first time.
"Is it a million dollar pipe?" Riley asked again. I laughed at him, shaking my head. He looked at me, mouthing 'What?' I mouthed back 'Nothing', and looked at the pipe. It really was beautiful.
"No, it's a clue." He puts his hand out towards Ian. "Let me see it." Ian hands it back to him, curious about what Ben is going to do next.
Ben carefully took the stem off the pipe. "Wha…? Don't break it!" Riley cried out in protest, reaching towards the pipe. I held him back as he pouted.
"We are one step closer to the treasure, gentleman." I glared at him, and he smiled at me, "And, of course you, Caylen." I smiled at him, turning my attention back towards the pipe.
"Ben, I thought that you said the treasure would be on the Charlotte." Ian said, impatiently. I gave him another confused glance but he didn't look at me.
"No, the secret lies with Charlotte. I said it could be here…" He took out a knife and a piece of paper. I turned my head into Riley's shoulder as Ben cut his thumb and spread the blood along the stem. I looked back up as he rolled the stem across the paper. "These are Templar symbols."
Ben proceeded to read from the paper. "The legend writ,
The stain affected,
The key in silence, undetected.
55 in iron pen.
Mr. Matlack can't offend."
"What does it mean?" I asked him. He looked up at me, holding up one finger.
"It's a riddle. I need to think. 'The legend writ. The stain affected.' What legend? There's the legend of the Templar treasure, and the stain affects the legend. How? 'The key in Silence undetected.' Wait! The legend and the key... Now there's something. A map. Maps have legends, maps have keys. It's a map, an invisible map. So now..."
"Wait a minute. What do you mean invisible? An invisible map?" Ian asked, confused.
Ben continued on thinking, but started bring us into it. "The stain affected could refer to a dye or a reagent used to bring about a certain result, combined with the key in silence undetected. The implication is to make what was undetectable, detectable. Unless the key in silence could be…"
"Prison." Shaw spoke for the first time in the ship.
Riley rolled his eyes. "Albuquerque. See, I can do it too. Snorkel." I laughed at him, while Shaw looked at him strangely.
"It's where the map is. Like you said, 55 in iron pen. Iron Pen is a prison." Shaw ignored Riley, speaking to Ben.
"Or, it could be since the primary writing medium of the time was iron gall ink; the pen is… just a pen. Then why not say a pen, why say iron pen?" Ben scratched his head, thinking really hard.
"Because it's a prison." Shaw muttered.
"Wait, iron pen. The ink does not describe what was in the pen, it described what was penned. It was iron, it was firm. It was mineral, no no no. It was firm, it was adamant. It was resolved… it was resolved. Mr. Matlack can't offend. Timothy Matlack was the official scribe of the continental congress. Calligrapher, not writer. And to make sure he could not offend the map, it was put on the back of a resolution that he transcribed, a resolution that 55 men signed. The Declaration of Independence."
"Ben, you can't be saying that there is an invisible map on the back of the Declaration of Independence." I asked him.
Riley nodded, agreeing with me. "Come on, Caylen is right. There is no invisible map on the back of the Declaration of Independence."
Ian smirked, "It's clever really. A document of that importance would ensure the map's survival. And you said several masons signed it, yeah?"
Ben nodded. "Yeah, nine for sure." I sensed that something was going to happen so I walked over to Ian, pulling his head down to me.
"Whatever you are doing, Ian, don't do it." I whispered to him, trying to get him to stop whatever he was planning.
"Don't worry, dear sister. You'll find out sooner or later." He whispered back, putting his arm around me, pulling me to him. "Ben, we need to arrange a way to examine it."
Ben shook his head. "This is one of the most important documents in history. They aren't just going to let us waltz in there and run chemical tests on it."
"What do you propose we do, then?" Ian got a dark look in his eye.
"I don't know!" Ben yelled, throwing his hands up in the air. I looked on, worried about Ian was going to do.
Ian put his finger to his mouth. "We could borrow it." He said slowly.
I gasped, "Ian, we can't steal the Declaration of Independence!"
Ben nodded, "Caylen's right. There is no way that we are going to steal one of the most valuable documents in history."
"Caylen, stay out of this," Ian told me sternly, pulling me closer to him. "Ben, the treasure of Knights Templar is the treasure of all treasures."
"Oh? I didn't know that. Really?" Ben said sarcastically.
"Ben, I understand your bitterness, I really do. You've spent your entire life searching for this treasure only to have the historical community treat your family with mockery and contempt. You should be able to rub this treasure in their arrogant faces, and I want you to have the chance to do so."
Ben looked curious. "How?" He asked Ian.
"Ben, we all have our areas of expertise. You don't think mine is limited to writing Sheakstean. Why, I've arranged a number of operations of questionably legality."
"I would take his word for it," Shaw told Ben.
I looked up at Ian. "What are you talking about?" I pulled away from his grasp and walked behind Ben. I shook my head in disbelief.
"Don't worry about anything. I'll make all the arrangements." Ian ignored me talking to Ben. I looked up at Riley who shook his head and shrugged. He didn't know what was going on either.
"No." Ben said sternly. He patted my arm, trying to comfort me, seeing my confusion.
Ian sighed, looking annoyed. "Look, I really need your help here."
"Ian, I'm not going to let you steal the Declaration of Independence. And I'm not going to let you hurt your sister. I can apparently see that see doesn't know anything about this."
"Forget about my sister, Ben. If you don't want to help then all you are going to be is hindrance." I gasped as Shaw pulled out a gun.
"Hey!" Riley yelled, pulling me behind him. I shook my head, tears in my eyes. Why is Ian doing this?
"What are you going to do? You going to shoot me Shaw? Well you can't shoot. There's more to the riddle. Information you don't have, I do. I'm the only one who can figure it out, you know that." Ben said.
"He's bluffing," Ian told Shaw. Shaw still held the gun at Ben.
"You've played poker with me, Ian, you know I can't bluff."
Ian smirked, "Tell me what we need to know or I'll shoot your friend and my sister." He smirked. Shaw pointed the gun at Riley and me
"Hey!" Riley shouted louder, putting his hands up. I stared at Ian, glaring at him through my tears. He laughed at me.
"Quiet, Riley. You job is finished here. As for my sister, I don't need you anymore. Are you going to cry, Caylen? Ha, you were nothing but a pain to have around. Sure, you know thing about history, but I know more." He laughed and I started crying. While Ian was saying this, Ben had taken a flare and had struck it against a barrel, igniting it. He waves it in front of Ian and Shaw.
"Look where you're standing. All that gunpowder. You shoot Riley, Caylen, or me; I drop this, and we all go up."
"Ben!" Riley yells to him. Riley hugs me, rubbing my back, trying to calm me down.
Ian laughs again. "What happens when the flare burns down? Tell me what I need to know, Ben."
"You need to know… to shock and catch!" Ben throws the flare to Ian, who catches it.
Ian smirks. "Nice try though, Ben." He gasps as his arm catches on fire. He drops the flare. Ian and Shaw head for the door while Riley, Ben and I head deeper into the hold. "Shaw, get out!" Ian head out the door with Shaw and locks the door.
"Ben! What are we going to do?" I yell at him. There was fire everywhere. I grab on to Riley.
"Caylen, Riley, get over here!" I drag Riley over to where Ben is.
"What is this?" Riley asks Ben, who was opening a door in the bottom of the ship.
"Smuggler's Hold, get in. I'll go first, then Caylen. Riley, you'll take up the back." Ben got in first. I followed him, and Riley followed me. "Follow me. It's going to be okay, Caylen. Don't worry." Ben told me. We crawled as fast as we could. "Get down!" Ben yelled as the ship blew up. I screamed, scared out of my mind.
Ben cleared the snow and parts of the ship out and helped me out. I sat on the ground, wiping my eyes. "You okay?" Riley asked me, sitting down next to me.
I nodded. "Yeah I'm fine."
"There is an Inuit Village about 9 miles east of here. It's popular with push pilots." Ben told us, standing up, brushing snow off his coat and pants.
"Alright, then what are we going to do?" Riley stood, helping me up and proceeded to do the same as Ben. I smiled and jumped around in circles, finding my own way to get the snow off me.
"We'll start making our way home." Ben started walking east. Ian had taken both snowmobiles, and I spotted Riley's laptop in the snow. I walked to it and grabbed it. I then followed Ben and Riley.
"No, I meant what are we going to do about Ian. He's going to steal the Declaration of Independence, Ben."
"We're going to stop him. Right, Caylen?" I nodded and handed Riley his laptop. He smiled and thanked me. We then followed Ben, walking towards the Inuit Village.