Monkey Business

Chapter Four

I opened the manhole leading down into the drain, and as I climbed out, I noticed that we were in a corner of the library, surrounded by shelves filled with books.

"We made it! Now remember, this is a library, so keep your voices down!" Bonnie said in a whisper as she climbed out.

As we all got out of the manhole, Rena began running her finger over the leather-bound books, and I doubted that she'd remember why we were here with all these books.

I looked away from Rena to find a Monkey wearing brown robes standing behind me. Before I could say "Oh crap," the Monkey said excitedly.

"What is this? There are two humans in my library? This is extraordinary!" The Monkey said excitedly.

"I am Jerome, the librarian. I know who you Pirates are – but don't worry. You have nothing to fear from me! The Crown reviles you to hide their embarrassment, which is shameful of them."

"Why have you come to my library?" Librarian Jerome asked.

"We're looking for Saavedra's book on the battle of La Mancha." I said as I jerked a thumb at Rena. "But my first mate here's getting a little sidetracked."

"I am not!" Rena said while holding a book titled: "One Hundred Years of Solitude."

"You can get in a lot of trouble reading that book, and I don't mean that one." Librarian Jerome said as he pointed to the book Rena was holding. "But I suspect you know trouble well."

"Brother Tito has a copy of the book, I believe. He would be willing to lend it to me in return for a book of verses, a book Don Elanda has."

"So, take this book to Don Elanda in the general store nearby. Take the book he gives you to Brother Tito in the marketplace. Bring me the Saavedra when all is done." Librarian Jerome said as he handed me a book from one of the shelves.

"But we're the enemies of all Monquista!" I said. Librarian Jerome pointed to a nearby cabinet. "Take masks and gloves from that cabinet. Hide your face, and nobody will suspect a thing."

Rena and I opened the cabinet, and there were two sets of hairy masks and gloves, and we put them on. "How do we look?"

"You look… very inconspicuous in that disguise, captain." Ratbeard said awkwardly.

"I guess it'll have to do." I said, sighing as Rena and I began walking to the entrance of the library. I had to pull Rena away from the library doors as we went outside, and we walked to the general store.

We entered the shop, where a Monkey wearing a white shirt was at the counter looked up from the business ledger. "I've never seen you around before? Where are you from?"

"We're Jerome's new assistants, from Puerto Mico." Rena quickly lied.

"You come from the library? I can see why Jerome hired you – you can reach the tallest shelf!" Don Elanda said.

"Jerome inquired after a book of verses. I have it here. Does he have the geographical treatise I asked for in return?"

I handed him the book, and Don Elanda handed me back another leather bound book in return. "Excellent! Run along, now."

We walked over to the marketplace, where a Monkey dressed in the brown robes of a monk was sitting on a bench near a fountain.

"Great sun, you have the statures of titans, my children! What is your errand?" Brother Tito asked as we approached him.

"We're here to trade you this book of verses for Saavedra's book." I answered as I offered the leather bound book.

"You come from the library? Ah… you seek a certain historical volume. I fear I have given it back to its owner." Brother Tito said, nodding.

"Go to Don Salmanco, and offer him the volume you would have given me. Walk in the shade of the Holy Tree, my children." Brother Tito said as he pointed at a Monkey sitting upright on a nearby bench.

"You… are very tall, children." Don Salmanco said as we approached him.

"Jerome sent us. We're here for…" Rena said, but was cut off by Don Salmanco.

"I know what he wants. Has he sent what I asked for?" Don Salmanco asked. I offered him the leather bound book of verses, which he took.

"Good! Here is… the book he asked for. If anyone asks, you didn't get it from me." We nodded as he handed the book to Rena's eager hands.

Rena hurriedly flipped through the pages as we reentered the library, where Librarian Jerome was waiting for us with the others seated at a table.

"Here it is… we have Saavedra's Chronicle, at last. Now let me see… Ah! Here is his account of La Mancha and the Paw: It was Martin Valvida who lifted the great relic of Saint Bonzo from the battlefield, and held it high." Librarian Jerome said as Rena, somewhat unwillingly, handed him the book.

"Martin set sail with his two brothers, aboard the Cornelius. They never reached their home in Gibbonia – their ship crashed in Diablo Cut."

"There you have it, Pirates. The Valvida Brothers took the Monkey's Paw, and were lost in Diablo Cut. It must still be there!"

We thanked Librarian Jerome, and our trip back to the Aquila was greatly shortened, due to the three open gates.

As we set sail, Rena opened Nikolai's atlas and looked at a map of Tierra Primata Skyway. "Diablo Cut is just across the bay from La Mancha."

We sailed east, and then turned northeast as we reached the mouth of the bay to Diablo Cut. As we made port on a small islet, I and my trusted associates walked down the gangplank to the other side, where a rowboat just big enough to hold all of us was anchored.

Jack and Ratbeard took hold of the oars and they paddled us to the other side, where there was a helmet hanging from the hilt of a sword buried in the ground in front of a cave whose entrance was blocked by red thorny vines.

"So this is Diablo Cut. I don't like it. I don't like it at all. Is that a grave over there?" Jack asked, indicating the helmet and sword.

"This shield has writing all over it! It's all Monquistan – can anybody read it?" Bonnie asked.

Ratbeard stepped forward and knelt down to look at the shield. "I can read it. Here's what it says: Death is all that awaits you in Diablo Cut.

"This marker was raised to honor the memory of the Brothers Valvida, and their loyal soldiers. Their great prize, the monkey's paw, was their undoing."

"Well, if the Paw was their doom, and none of them survived, it must be up this way! Let's go get it." Ratbeard said as he stood up. I sighed as we all entered the cave.

We chopped through the red thorny vines, and we soon came across the mostly-intact wreck of an old Monquistan galleon, covered with the red thorny vines, but its name in brass letters, "Cornelius" was still visible.

"Something is very wrong here… I feel a great shadow, like a curse. Walk carefully." Old Scratch said warily. The main mast of the Cornelius had toppled like a tree, and we balanced atop of it to reach the quarter deck.

We opened the bulkhead doors leading below deck, where a red thorny plant with a large bud the size of a barrel with sharp teeth was surrounded by moving red thorny vines sprouting from holes in the floorboards like tentacles. The main plant was coiled around a large wooden chest.

"Shiver me timbers, what is that?" Ratbeard asked as he drew his cutlass. "Well, I think we've found the root of this problem…"

As the main plant snapped its jaws at us, the vines came at us like whips. I drew my sword and pistol, and stunning the closest vine with a burst of electricity, I cut it in two, where it trembled and fell to the floor, dead.

I doubt the blunt force of Gunnery would do much against the vines, so I decided to go straight after the leader. Slashing and spinning my way around the vines, the main plant lunged at me.

I ducked down just in time, and pivoting on my heel, I sliced through its red stem, and it toppled like a tree, trembling before it died. As I turned to look over my shoulder, the other vines trembled and fell dead as well.

I sheathed my sword and pistol to regroup with the others at the treasure chest. After cutting through the vines with her dagger, Rena brought out her tension wrench and picks, and began unlocking the chest, the rest of us silent in fear of breaking her concentration.

There was a click, and Rena opened the chest, and we all crowded around to look inside.

"There's no Paw here, Captain." Bonnie said.

"Confound it! Now what are we supposed to do? The Paw's lost for good!" Ratbeard said.

"Perhaps not all is lost, Ratbeard. We should go outside and look in the valley." Emmett said, rubbing his chin. We climbed out of the hold of the Cornelius and we began searching around the wreck.

"No luck, Captain. There's nothing here but these old bones. And they aren't going to help us." Jack said as he pointed to a pile of bones and armor.

"Perhaps not, let me work me art." Old Scratch said as he waved his staff. The bones and armor then floated up into the air, and began reassembling themselves to form a skeletal Monquistador.

"Who calls?" The skeletal Monquistador asked in a raspy voice. I stepped forward.

"Matthew Exeter, captain of the Aquila." I answered.

"Speak quickly – my soul longs to leave this place of horror!" The skeletal Monquistador said.

"My trusted associates and I seek the Monkey's Paw." I said.

"Turn back! It was my death, and the death of so many. Don Valvida was so happy… and so foolish." The skeletal Monquistador said.

"My Lord, Don Martin Valvida, won the Monkey's paw in battle. He and his brothers sailed for home, and we traveled with him, loyal to the end!"

"But a storm drove our ship into Diablo Cut, and wrecked it. We were stranded for weeks, with no hope of rescue. Don Martin looked to the Paw."

"As our food ran out, Don Martin wished for something to eat. His wish was granted: the red vines grew. But they grew to eat, not be eaten!"

"We were decimated. Don Martin, his brothers, and the survivors fled to the Cavern of the Crescent Moon. The Paw must still be within."

The skeletal Monquistador pointed to his right, where there was another tunnel. As he fell apart back into an old pile of bones, the glow from Old Scratch's hoodoo disappeared.

"It looks like another creepy cave for us, Matt. But we're ready." Rena said as she put a hand on my shoulder, nodding. I smiled and nodded in thanks for the support as we entered the tunnel.

After a few minutes of walking, we came across a part of the tunnel that was lit by torch sconces on the cavern walls. It led to two paths leading left and right.

"So this is the Cave of the Crescent Moon! Bad things did happen here – I and I feel it!" Old Scratch said.

"What's that on the wall there?" Bonnie asked, pointing to a carved message on the wall that split the two paths.

"I think I can read it!" Ratbeard said as he examined the walls.

"Beware to all who hold in awe Saint Bonzo's Hand – the Monkey's Paw. For here three brothers were undone by its grim curse, far from the sun."

"One wished his fallen troops might rise from their graves, the other to fly into the skies. The fallen rose as undead things, and the others grew a demon's wings.

"A wish for water brought a terror from the deep – after this error I, the youngest brother born, did hide the Paw from brothers' scorn."

"Three keys you'll need to open up the Chamber of the Paw. The Dead hold one, the Deep has one, the third in Demon's claw."

"Keys in hand, seek out my family crest. Open the door, find me, and face the final test."

"That's a grim tale. Let's go find these keys, captain. Look – there's the crest!" Emmett said, pointing to the path to the right, where we could see the crest above the way to another area of the cavern, across a chasm with flat-topped stalagmites too far between to jump across.

"It looks like we'll have to take the long way. Again…" Jack sighed.

"Well, those keys aren't going to walk towards us. Let's get going." I said as I led the others to the path on the left.