Chapter 3
It was months since our last adventure together, months since we managed to pull off a prison break, and it had been right around Christmas that we went off toward a new adventure. We met a couple of times since then, but The Captain never talked about our last adventure, so I never brought it out as well. I thought he still minded about our not so great first adventure, but I began to feel restricted in my own home. From the tight clothing I wear, to the schooled emotion I was told to make, and the confined spaces of my own home that I couldn't take it any longer.
So the night before Christmas, I went up to him and pleaded him for us to run away again together.
The Captain looked shocked, staring at me with eyes wide as saucer and unhinged jaw. I called out to him and even snapping my fingers on his face, but still, he stood in shock until I decided to step his foot to break him out of his reverie.
Yes, it was violent, but it got the job done.
"You...you still want to go out...with me?" He stammered out and made me wrinkle my nose at the notion.
"Eww, no. Where did you get that idea?"
"Sorry, wrong choice of words. Do you still want to go on a trip with me and TORRI? Seriously?"
Now, I was looking as confused as him, "Why wouldn't I want to go?"
"Well...after our last adventure, I thought you didn't want with me again," he said with his voice getting smaller and trailing off while his expression showed his doubt more in each word.
I looked back at him like his hair had just turned ginger and gave him another kick but to his shin this time. "Ow, what was that for?" Captain asked with a scandalous look.
"For being an idiot," I answered with a haughty sniffed, "Honestly, for a prodigy you sure can be daft. Sure it wasn't my ideal ending, and I wish it ended with better terms but do you really think I'll choose to live in a stuffy mansion with my dad over an adventure of a lifetime?" Yes, it was a heartbroken ending for us then with Hope being the one good thing that lifted our spirit. However, Dear Readers, while it was hard, it was not something I wish to never experience. It made me a little bit wiser and stronger as a person, and besides, it wasn't all bad, and our story with the Pergrande Kingdom still has a continuation in the not so far future from then.
Captain was now gaping at me like a fish out of water, and I took pride in those small moments where I could make him speechless. He then made his signature manic grin, and his eyes showed the familiar intelligent glint of the turning gears in his head.
He took my hand and said this to me; "Let's run!"
It must have been that moment that the word 'Run' became a codeword for us to go to TORRI and planned our next adventure anywhere we want in the world.
After leaving once again with a note, we left and went back up to the hill where TORRI perched alone within the wilderness. Once we entered, I heard the grinding and humming sound that I later figured was his way of showing his emotion without words, and at that time, he was happy to see me again.
[Welcome back Lady Lucy, off to make trouble with Sir again?]
"You didn't think I wouldn't come back?" I find myself asking.
[The probability of that was highly unlikely, but Sir was sure you would refuse him if he asked you to come with him again.] There was another row of humming and grinding that showed he was being judgemental to Captain, much to his protest.
"Wait…" I processed his words and turned to Captain with a glare who looked away, proving his guilt, "You went off without me?!"
"I thought you would refuse!" he defended himself weakly, "I was wrong, okay, but if it's any consolation, it was lonely without you."
That got me to soften up, but I couldn't let it happened again, so I huffed and glared at him with as much menace as I could muster, "Fine, but do that again and you'll get consecutive rounds of my kicks."
I must be failing with my scary glare because Captain respond was to chuckle meekly and gave me a mocking two finger salute, "Aye aye Ma'am. Now, since we're in the middle of winter, how about we go somewhere warm, sunny, and someplace we've never gone before."
"No argument here."
With the usual flurry of movement, he set out the coordinates and TORRI whirled to life, and the usual bumps and grinding sound came to life, and I couldn't believe such uncomfortable feeling would make me miss it. When TORRI finally stopped, Captain hopped beside the door, one hand prepared to push it open.
"Goldilocks, I give you the sunny island of La-" once he was out of the door, he was slapped by a wet paper bag slapping his face. I then noticed we weren't in anywhere near sunny. In fact, we were in the middle of the storm. And I'm being literal. We were in the freaking eye of a tornado!
The wind was howling, the rain hitting us like pebbles, drenching us from head to toe. The Captain looked shocked at first but then lifted his head to the sky and yelled out, "Really? You're going to make this a thing?!" I didn't know what he meant by that statement, but he was looking cross and wiped his face despite the rain keeping us wet. I asked about it, but he smiled placidly, said it was nothing and more to the fact he has some existential crisis with whatever God residing in this universe.
I still don't get it.
"Where are we?"
Both of us finally took in where exactly we had landed. But out of all the places ran in my mind, on the wooden deck of a floating ship stuck in the middle of giant whirlwind didn't even come up to mind.
"This is certainly unexpected."
"Where are all the crew? They must be in distress if they're stuck in a storm like this?"
"True, I don't see anyone on board."
"Can you sense them?"
Nick closed his eyes to concentrate. Since I didn't want to stay out in the freezing wind, I was about to turn back inside the cozy warmth of our Red Box.
Only to be greeted by the same scene of wild typhoon around the ship. I took a moment to blink a couple of times, in case I was seeing things but found nothing changed.
"Err...Captain…" I tapped his side, keeping my face schooled from the shock and panic stirring within me. Captain turned, mouth opened to question me before making an identical schooled expression.
"Goldilocks."
"Yes?"
"Where's TORRI?"
"What a coincidence, I was about to ask you the same thing."
While it was was a shock to me, it was a tragedy for Captain. He cried about losing his 'baby' and placed his hand at the spot he was supposed to be standing but felt nothing but the wet, hard wooden floor and spouting the usual nonsense curses he likes to use with names I'm not familiar. At last, he raised his head, and his jaw dropped at something to which I followed his gaze and made the same expression.
Good news, we found TORRI.
Bad news, he was among the things being swept away through the tornado.
Fear not, Dear Readers, this was not the end of TORRI, for he is sturdy enough to take on the harsh weather of a fierce whirlwind. However, that does mean we were stuck inside a tornado.
"Look at the bright side, at least no one could claim of being in the eye of a tornado and lived to tell the tale!"
I wanted to kick his head at that moment, but I realized I need his head intact to think of a way to get us out of here, so I refrained myself from doing so. He couldn't stop the tornado with Runes and teleporting outside the hurricane would result in getting sucked into it.
"Any bright ideas?" I asked him.
"Just one, wait here." with that last note he went jumping on the air (Yes you didn't read wrong. He could do that as if it was nothing.) until he was almost flying. Coming up higher and higher until he was out of sight for me to see.
I waited.
And waited.
And waited.
Thinking all the while if it was wise for her to get back adventuring when it ended her up in the middle of a freaking tornado with no way out and would have screamed my head off if he didn't take that moment to land himself then.
"Okay, good news, bad news. Which one you want to hear first?"
"I can't see how it could be any worse, so hit me with the bad news."
He nodded, "Well, the bad news is this tornado is generated artificially by magic, so I can't use my runes to stop it."
"Why is that? I've seen you stopped mages from using magic before. What's the difference?"
"To put it simply, you know that using magic has essentially three steps to it. One was summoning power or ethernano in your body in this case. Two, summoning the magic circle by focusing your intention. Third, chanting and casting the spell at to cause the desired effect from your magic. When I used my runes, I usually use it to hold back ethernano summoning in the body or from invoking a magic circle, but once it's cast, I'll have to know what kind of magic was used because I'll have to reverse engineer the spell with runes. Unless I learned Dispel Magic, then that's a different story but even they need to know what kind of magic was used beforehand before using it or else anyone can learn and use Dispel willy-nilly."
I committed the lecture to heart. Always concentrate whenever new information settled my way. I was young, and brimming to learn about magic and Captain has always been a better teacher than my near deaf 72-year-old private tutor.
"Okay, then what's the good news?"
"Actually, the good news is… I got nothing. I was just hoping you'd pick the bad news first." It didn't take more than a second for me to wrap my arm around his neck and snarled at his face. He yelped in girlish tone and managed to wrestle out more, "I'll think of something… I'll think of something! Just don't hit my face and give me time to think!"
"You better. I did not come out all the way out here just for me to get stuck inside a freaking tornado with no way out. So think fast, or I'll throw you overboard, understood?"
Captain gulped and nodded vigorously before he went off to his world in his head while moving left and right, trying to think of something while I patiently waited with my feet tapping to keep my anger subdued.
His musing was interrupted by the loud unlatched doors that simultaneously opened. Filling the deck with various ruly men in all shapes and sizes. All tattooed, scarred, and terribly hairy. Armed with yellowed teeth, swords, pipes, and guns. They prompted us to put up our hands in surrender, Captain was cool in contrast to me absolutely freaking out in the face of an unfriendly welcome.
"We… come in peace…?" Was the best thing Captain could have come up with.
I didn't know what had come over me and made me look up. Maybe it was how done I was with my friend. Perhaps I had subconsciously tried to pray for patient from a higher power. Maybe something compelled me to look up.
Whatever the reason, I had to gawk once I zeroed in their flag before grabbing his jaw and pushed him to looked up, catching the black flag with a picture of criss-cross bone underneath the grinning skull wearing an eyepatch. Captain followed suit from seeing my expression and mirrored me.
"Oh, mother-stabbing-Caesar," Captain swore.
"Who are you?
"What do you want?
"How did you get past this dastardly storm?"
"How convenient when we're starting low on meat."
The pirates began to close on us in a circle. Captain was on my back and me on his. I already had Aquarius on my shaky hands, ready to summon so she could throw them away from me even though there was no water around at that time. That part alluded me from my panic-ridden mind as I tried to make sure my face hadn't shown how scared I was.
"Enough!"
A strong, feminine voice that seemed to cut through both the tension and the jumbled words of the crew. The men split apart in response to her voice, revealing a curled violet-haired woman in the most heavily layered and ornate clothes of the group; white collared shirt beneath an outer coat, two belts that hang various trinkets and weapons I could barely know them all, long leather boots and gauntlet, an eye patch on her left eye, and to top it all of was her distinctive triangle hat that pointed her as the captain of the ship.
"So," her electric voice seemed to jolt us, her steps loud above creaked the wooden floor, "What's a pair of… children… doing on our ship?"
Captain took a step forward, ready to give out a few to negotiate our safety, but he barely managed one word before a cutlass aimed at his jugular.
"It would be in your beneficent if you spare me the rambling lies and get to the point. Don't think your barely lived lives is enough to mollify my patient after stepping foot into my ship without my say so."
A soundless gasp escaped me when Captain's gulp had his muscle touch the blade, letting a drop of blood rolling down his throat. I was probably on the verge of hyperventilating, so I had to say something, anything that would keep my attention anywhere but the danger we got sucked in.
"We're here to free you from the storm!" I blurted out. Instantly regretting it when all their gazes turned to me, and they would have watched me gasping like a fish out of water if Captain hadn't followed me up.
"Yes. Yes! That's exactly why we're here. To free all of you from this tricky curse you got yourselves into. Let me guess, you found something shiny, decided to pick your bootie back up but didn't read the fine print, didn't you?"
"You? Free us? A pair of meddling kids who don't know their left foot to their right?" One of the pirates, I don't know or care which, had said, but Captain's next words shut them up.
"We're here, aren't we?"
Her eyes reminded me of the ocean at that moment. The roll of the coming and going wave, impossible to restraint. Siren singing in warning of the mysterious danger lurking beneath its dwell. Only yielding to the flow of the wind and where it takes to the out and open horizon. But what she put her gaze on was the stormy seas that promised retribution of anything that dares a hand upon her.
Whatever we had on our faces must have satisfied her then, "Alright. Ain't like we've got any other ideas out of this. Listen up you bilge rats! Stopped cowering like the sissy you are and get back to your post, or I'll make sure not to waste food on yeh."
"Aye, aye, Captain Jewel!" The crew all moved as one as they scatter about the ship.
The now known Captain Jewel shoot us a predatory smile, in contrast to her welcoming open arms she gave us, "Welcome aboard to the Siren Lagoon."
Once she switched her attention to her men, I looked apologetically back at Cap, and fought hard not to look away from him, "I'm so sorry, Captain. I wasn't. I didn't think–"
"Hey, hey, it's okay Goldie. That's actually good thinking of you. Remember, when the other party doesn't want to hear what you say or ready to chop you up no matter what you say, it's best to immediately play your cards using what they want most. And what do they want most?" He gestured his finger around us, pointing out the impenetrable wind and water typhoon barricading us from our freedom.
"But what happens if we don't break the curse?"
"Oh, no worries. We'll only get stab or thrown overboard, and these guys would suffer starvation instead...now that I think about it, they might want to cook us to save provision." He said it as a matter of factly, like pointing out the weather. His attitude only seemed to swell my already wrung out emotion.
"WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?!"
"Is there a problem?" The voice of our captor hit us over our heads, and we turned with identical smiles that silently asked, "We'll be good so please don't kill us."There's something about Captain Jewel's presence that demanded to be known and made our back straighten in alert. She reminded me a bit of Aquarius.
The brief image of them meeting made me swear not to use my spirit at all cost.
"So, how are you planning to break us out?"
I subtlety shifted to Cap for an answer, hoping wildly for him to know what he was doing. Even though he wore a devil may care smile, I knew him enough that the only reason he smiles was to hide how much he was freaking out inside. "Gladly Miss Jewel, but first I'd like a full story first on how you ended up getting stuck here in the first place."
"Can't you get us out the same way you got in?"
My heart jumped a bit, but Cap's reply was smooth and prompt, "That's like asking us to unlock a vault the same way you had it locked in the first place. So… the truth, please."
She didn't say anything for a moment but finally sighed in lost, "My guess is as good as yours. One day we were sailing out in the sea, like any other day, then the next thing we knew, the water was rising before it trapped us here."
"Yeah, cute story. I'm serious when I say the truth."
"What are you implying?" Her tone had been less than pleasing, and I held Cap's hand tightly enough to crush it, giving him a silent warning to watch what he says.
"You're the Captain here. You know everything that happened regarding this ship and your crew. I doubt you don't notice anything unusual at least from your lost port...or raid… or whatever you pirates do these days."
The replying stillness did not quell the hard beating up in my chest, and it took every will I had not to hit him and tell him it was no time to be stupidly brave. The Pirate lady crept closer to our space and crouched lower so she would be eye to eye with us.
"Aren't you a little smartass? Just be glad I have soft spots for kids; otherwise, I would be breaking fingers because of your tone by now." I couldn't help the high pitched "Meep" that slipped out. I'm a bit jealous of Cap that he managed to keep a straight face. "You're not wrong, though. One of my boys was stupid enough to steal a cursed or magically enhanced treasure before getting our Dispeller to check on it. Threw him overboard once I realized what happened, but it was too late for the rest of us."
"So the cause is a cursed item. May we see it?"
"Be my guest," She said before directing us below deck. To a room where she kept her crew's treasure. Now when you think of a Pirate's treasure trove, you would typically imagine a room filled with mountains of gold coins you could bathe in, jewelry of all shapes, sizes, and colors making the mouth drooled, priceless lost artifacts you never imagined to lay eyes on.
A dusty, garage-looking room was not what I had expected. There were more than a few trunks on the sides that may save a few treasures, but it certainly didn't appear secure enough to ward off any unwarranted intention. I figured Pirates would have better security than the ones they steal it from.
My wordless question was answered when Cap hit the palm of his hand with enlightened expression, "You buried your treasures in scattered places to make sure no one can have stolen it from you all at once. Classic pirate tactic."
"But why can't they keep it with them?" My mouth slipped out the question, "They have the number to protect their own treasure, and it's more accessible that way. What's the point of stealing money when you don't use it."
The glare the Pirate Captain shot me was enough to make me shrink, it was only Cap's voice that anchored me from having a full blown panic attack, "Just because you have gold, doesn't mean you can use them. The more valuable the jewelry or item is, the more likely you are to get tracked down even in the black market. But treasures are worthless if you can't exchange them for cold cash or stolen from you because some other greedy pirates targeted it.
"So high-caliber pirates like her has a secret saving point to stash her treasures until she could either safely find a bidder who will buy it off her, or melt it into a golden bar for her then to exchange it. Not to mention for their wasted lives would make it hard to keep their treasure and themselves safe at the same time, so this way if they ever get separated or escape captivity they would have an emergency money stash somewhere."
Cap waited a second or two for any reply but found none because of how much me and Captain Jewel boring holes with our eyes on his head. "You are awfully knowledgeable in how piracy works for someone your age."
"You don't know my age." He shot back with a slight bristle at her remark.
The Pirate Lady made a thoughtful hummed before toward the end of the room, where a single box lay. Not a truck, but more like a music box instead. The circular silver plated box was crafted into a beautiful shape of mermaids, waves, shells, and other sea creatures. You could spot gaps on the linen of the box just below the row of diamonds that showed where to open, but there wasn't anything remotely like a lock or latch to open it.
However, there was a word carved around it, and I let my finger slide the carved words, "By the law of Oceanus, those who sail upon his back should be true to his call. And those true to the sea shall be true to the Crew, shall be true the Ship, and shall be true to the Captain. Those who betray the sea shall be bestowed in retribution by the sea."
Cap was staring long and hard at the words before stating plainly, "I hope you slapped whoever brought this on board because only an idiot can't see this screams magic."
"But what does it mean?"
"Can't you see? The reason is clearly written here. 'Those who betray the sea shall be bestowed retribution by the sea' meaning there is a traitor among your crew."
"What?!"
The heavy set of growl and edging murderous made me jumped. Not at all expecting that reaction coming from her, "You're not that surprised, are you? This is a Pirate Crew, I doubt you don't try stabbing each other's back once every Tuesday."
Captain Jewel looked mildly offended, "We may be pirates, but we are still sailors sailing on the sea. We are honor-bound to follow the Code every sailor knows to make sure there isn't complete anarchy on the ship or else everyone stops working. And when a crew stops working on the sea, the crew dies on the sea. And one particular part of the Code is that the Captain's word is the law of the ship. No exceptions."
"So basically, this box just takes that sentence into a very literal and elaborate version of it." I try contributing but only seemed to simplify the problem.
"Basically, yeah. Which is why here's the next step we take. We weed out the traitor, have the man confessed his crime, and everything will go back to as it should be." Cap clapped decisively, acting eagerly all of a sudden.
"Then how exactly will we find the traitor?" I questioned, "It's not like they're going to admit straight out even if it would stop the storm."
"Nothing like a good ol' investigation can solve!" He grinned that little mischievous grin of his while nudging me on the side, "For today only, don't call me Cap or Captain. Call me, Detective!"
"Detective? You've been reading too much fiction," I giggled incredulously.
"Hey, it gets confusing with two captains here."
It became harder to suppress the small smile curling up on my lips before putting on my best salute, "Permission to search the dastardly traitor, Detective?"
"Permission granted, Sgt. Goldilocks. Rest assured, whoever responsible for invoking this despicable curse and betrayed the trust of their fellow mates of this ship shall not get away for this."
We both had identical confident poses as we addressed the captain. It doesn't succeed in reassuring her though, "I can't believe I'm relying on children to save my crew," she forlornly told to whoever higher power she believes in.
"So Detective, how do we start our investigation?"
"Well Sargent, first we must address the kind of betrayal we're facing here. At this point, we only know there's a traitor that acts against the captain's orders. We don't know how and who did it. Can you tell anything that has been out of the ordinary on your ship? Like an out of character behavior from your crew, a recent or ongoing dispute, maybe?"
Captain Jewel tapped her chin in thought, "Now that you mention it, I've been having this nagging feeling that something's off from the atmosphere of the ship. Like there was a shift I hadn't realized happening."
"Well… that's… vaguely unhelpful." I gave Detective (that sounded weird to write as it is in my head) a stink eye before whacking him on the head. "But please continue with your observation."
"There wasn't much in their behavior as far as I could tell. They've always been avoiding eye contact, growling at me when I screamed orders, and as for altercation… This is a pirate ship for crying out loud, we have fought all day all the time, mostly ending with me beating them up black and blue, and tying them up with a sword under their jugular."
In other words, everyone has a motive.
Cap appeared to come to the same conclusion, he looked ready to scream, "Why?" And had his face planted on the heel of his palm. "Okay, okay, alright. That's fine. Then at what point do you feel the shift in your ship's air? Surely there must have been a noteworthy point where things started to change."
"Now that you mention it, I believe it all started after I smuggled the painting of the 12 Children to a long time client from Bosco," She answered offhandedly, which caused me to double-take her words.
"Wait, I'm sorry, the twelve– you stole from the Elysian?!"
"Smuggled, not stole, there's a difference Goldie." Cap waved me off like it wasn't a big deal. I'm starting to worry if Cap was actually right in the head, "So what do you usually do there in Bosco."
"As we always do, we trade in the black market, some we had it auctioned and others we made off from the usual haggling dance. The Count, a repeat customer of ours, didn't say anything that he hasn't already tell us, which was his persistence in becoming his personal dogs but other than that, nothing noteworthy as far as I can tell."
"Am I the only one who has a problem that she just smuggled a historic masterpiece from not just a church, but the HEADQUARTER OF THE CATHOLIC CELESTIAL CHURCH!"
"Their pirates Goldilocks, what do you expect? That's not our priority right now."
"Not a priori– It's the holy church!"
"We've established that, moving on. Does this Count's deal is known by the rest of your crew?"
I held myself back from pulling my own hair, or Captain's, or both actually from his blaise attitude toward the unlawful action like it should be expected from her. Which, in hindsight, should be expected since it was a pirate we were dealing, yet it did not mollify my nerves the least bit. It was only my trust on Captain did I hold back from voicing my displeasure. Knowing not what I'll do in the situation we got ourselves roped in. It took a few more journeys in the future to let me realize (without reminding myself) when I have no idea how to handle a situation, it is more than likely Captain doesn't as well. He's just more experienced in talking his way out as fast as he gets in trouble with it too.
He is no less brilliant, don't get me wrong.
But he is also a liar by nature.
We then spent reviewing the crewmate's profile before interrogating each of them. Detective made it a point for Captain Jewel to be set aside as we ask them questions. One of the things we came to realize about them was that none had any common names.
Ruthless Luther. The biggest, meanest of the bunch that weight around five people worth. He waved around two giant axes and twirled them expertly in his hand. He's good with his knives as he is with his meticulous woodcrafts. For someone scary, he has a cute eye for art if the mini-unicorn he made was any indication.
Mok. With a hook for both his right hand and left leg but no one here can navigate any storm without his says so.
One Eye Joe. The gunner of the group. Despite losing one of his eyes, his marksmanship hasn't diminished. Shooting as far as 20 feet. He hid as much as 20 firearms within his cloak. Possibly the only non-human crew of this ship. Not when he has brown wings tuck neatly on his back and an eagle head while he had a fully human body.
Bloody Vlady. The Doctor of this crew. He's good at his job, but Jewel had commented how little the crew wanted to get injured because of his strange fascination of blood and human body in general. Basically, he creeps everyone in the crew, if one can say they're capable of creeping out pirates.
Axel Fang. The Carpenter works on caring the wellbeing of the ship. He's bald with a muscle the size of my head, and always carries a toolbox on his side. I heard Cap mention he looked like "The Rock if he was a construction worker on steroid," which doesn't make much sense to me either because how could a rock be a construction worker? Nor do I know what a steroid is.
Krazy Killer and Ulfi "The Crusher." The Duo Ship Guards of Siren Lagoon. No, I did not misspell Krazy, that is literally his name. He pointed that out with a tattooed name on his bare chest. I would have given him my condolence if not for the sharp tooth and the braided hair of his victims he proudly showed off. Ulfi, on the other hand, was a bald woman monk, deck in uniform and all. She was a woman with very few words to say and look like the severe secretary type for whatever reason my brain suggested.
Dwaine. The dispeller and cabin boy. Well, 'boy' would be a misleading term since he's the oldest among the crew. Sun-kissed tan leathery skin and a white pompadour. Likes to whistle when he was working. The fact the rest of the crew seemed to quiet down when he just gives you that kind grandfather smile either tells you how much of a sweetheart or he's secretly the badass of the crew. Cap bet he was the later.
The only normal name and man on the ship was Lance Ryder. The first mate of the ship and the only man around here who seemed to recognize what personal hygiene means. The pirate was sweet and polite, unlike the others he didn't try to sniff me, pull my hair, or growl at Cap's relentless questioning and instead was very cooperative. He was the resident thief of the ship and the most accomplished and a dagger expert. He hid twelve different knives in various shapes and sizes. Not including the giant sword that has a strange shaped to its edge. He demonstrated his skill when I asked, giving me a dash of his roguish smile and a wink while he handled them in his hands, flicking and twirling gracefully that mesmerized the both of us. I admit, I blushed even when he's only humoring a child but young as I was doesn't mean I was blind.
All the while we had compiled our statements, Jewel contented in leaning back and observed us. I had a feeling she was looking out for something on us; I didn't quite know then. I shook the thought away since Cap showed little concern over her. "From our thorough interview and character profile of all our suspects, I can conclude that every one of them is suspicious."
But then he goes stating the obvious, and I can't help but be concern on his behalf. The look I gave him says enough on how I feel.
"Hey, being Sherlock isn't easy, you know! If it were, I would have continued my career as a council or a mystery writer. Not to mention, this is a magic mystery. Much more complicated."
I kept my one eyebrow raised, "Uh huh, I believe you once you're done being dramatic."
"When you're done playing around," Jewel interrupted, "may I ask how you're going to reveal the traitor among my midst."
"Yeah, that's the hard part. All of them, not surprisingly, are as greedy, cut-throat, stereotypical pirates you could find anywhere. All of them have motive, and if I'm right, the reason one of them tried to double cross you is that they were sick of you passing by easy money you can get from the Count. Who is sounding more and more like the sleazy rich bastard that he is."
Captain Jewel's face turned a much harsher expression, even though she only put her lips into a thin line and half her face shadowed by her long bangs, she loudly cracked knuckles made me shudder. "So someone still has a problem how I run things. I guess I haven't cracked enough skulls if anyone still dares to defy me."
"Yeah, cool your jets, Miss Jew– eep!"
"Don't call me Miss," she ordered with her saber against Cap's neck, and I was too in shock of her fast draw to scream my head off.
Cap nodded like a clucking chicken, "Yes, Mis– I mean understood Ma'a– I mean Captain Jewel. As I was saying, the box basically says the curse would hit the crew who has a traitor."
"Yeeeeess," She agreed, not sure where Cap was going with his query, " I thought that was obvious?"
"So, it can be implied that the traitor has already betrayed you. If the traitor has already betrayed you, maybe there is proof to it hidden ln their quarters. Like an extra stash or a piece of treasure he kept for himself."
Jewel was not at all thrilled at the prospect, but the fall of her shoulder had clued in her resignation, "Would that really be necessary?"
"Absolutely! We have if we want to find out the truth. Now give us the big tour!"
For someone stuck in a dire state as we were then, Captain sure did look too excited.
Reluctant as she was, Captain Jewel did give us the personal tour of her ship. We went to the men's quarter, which was just a large room with a bunch of hammocks. They all had their own personal treasure chest where they kept their belongings. It wasn't hard to lock picked them open, and I had to embarrass myself from being loud from their unashamed act of scrounging other's personal belonging.
"Their pirates. If they're going to raid people, they should at least have no qualms when their own stuff gets raided."
The reasoning did not help my nerves at all.
Unfortunately, we found nothing and scoured the rest of the ship. The kitchen. The cargo hold. The weapons room. The forecastle. Until lastly, we reached the prison room. Tuck on the far corner of the ship. The air around was damp and creepy that I had to fill it with a talk of my own.
"Psst, Captain, so who do you think is the traitor?"
He shook his head even as he stroked the rusted metal cage, "Can't say anything yet Goldie, everything I have is all speculation."
"Yeah, but you must at least have someone in mind."
Cap sighed, looking over at Captain Jewel to make sure we were out of earshot, "My guess is the first mate."
"Lance?! Why? Out of all those hooligans, he's the most standup guy there is."
"He's the one who benefits most if Jewel is out of the picture. Plus, unlike the rest, he's clever. Really clever. Usually, someone who breaks codes even criminal thinks he's too smart to be caught or just too dumb to know the consequences." Cap paused before pointed a glare, "You got charmed by his looks, didn't you?"
"Wha–pssh, no. That's not–that's just crazy talk."
My rambling did not quell his disbelieving face. "Word of advice Goldie, charming people in the criminal world, can be the most dangerous because you don't know what he's capable off until it's too late, so don't let that pretty face of his distract the fact he's a pirate."
The tone he took was not at all reprimanding nor disapproving, as if it was any other of his warning I should tame heed. Yet it still made me feel ashamed nonetheless that I hadn't been as vigilant as I should have been. I scolded myself in my head, telling how stupid myself, and almost missing Cap's intent gaze on one of the padded cells. The wrist chains unlocked, an empty dusted plate on top of hays that was supposed to be a makeshift bed, and splotches of dry blood around. The image the scene conjured did not help the seasickness at all.
"Can we move on? As you can see, we haven't used these cells for weeks."
"Right… right…" He lingered a moment or two examining the cell before following behind the pirate lady.
Having found nothing despite the extensive search throughout the ship, my spirit felt drain as my mind was at lost of where to go by that point. "What are we going to do? We don't know who did it, we have no proof anyone did anything, neither do we know what sort of thing they do to betray her."
"Captain Jewel, is it okay if we look through the blueprint of your ship?"
The question threw her off, not expecting since she couldn't make heads or tails of what it had to do with finding the traitor, nor did I. "What for?" She asked him.
"Just indulge my curiosity for a bit, we have no clue left so," he shrugged, "might as well."
Her dubious look wasn't lost, but she didn't complain while leading us to her own quarter. I bit my lip all the while, reigning my excitement back at entering pirate captain's cabin. I had never been one actively go on sailing or travel on ship. Much less one boarded by outlaws. Say what you want on how inappropriate it was, but I can't deny the excitement of the situation.
It helps that it kept me from descending into utter madness.
It helps that her cabin was what I had imagined the resting place of the leader of a ragtag crew of pirate would be like. A comfy single bed unlike the hammock stringing by the boys' quarter, a table to eat privately, a desk she works in beneath the window where the natural light would shine next to a bookshelf that must be filled with personal books and ledgers, with scrolls tuck between the gaps.
She pulled one scroll and unfolded on her desk, letting Captain have at it as he bore laser eyes. Lips curled and brows furrow. Captain then rummaged his pockets and pulled out a fob watch. It wouldn't have been out of place if he was checking for time, but what unfolded inside wasn't a clock face, but a metric ball of runes glowing in the dimly lighted room like a shining beacon. I found myself at a lost for words. The circling runes moving not unlike clockworks but moving like a planet that kept a hidden life within.
"What… is that?"
"Oh, it's a… bit of a project of mine. Still a prototype. I thought it'd be useful if I could bring and to connect with TORRI even if he is not around."
I almost wanted to call bullshit on it, I've seen his work before and never had he made something this beautiful as a simple communication device. But I held my tongue, knowing it wasn't something the time and place to explain.
Captain cleared his throat, "Err… testing, testing, TORRI, can you hear me?"
[Affirmative, Sir.]
His usual crisp, ready-to-serve-at-any-moment voice was a sound for sore ears, and I found myself relieved to hear him, "TORRI, thank God you're okay. Wait… are you okay?"
[I am physically unharmed at the moment despite the contrary situation I am in, Miss Goldilocks. Though I must admit, I found myself feeling my predicament inconvenient.]
"Just hang tight TORRI, we're coming for you. In the meantime, would you mind putting up a 2D schematic for the ship."
[Request confirm. Scanning memory. Analyzing. Projecting Blueprint.]
A beam of light went up and extend outward, showing us a holographic picture of the ship blueprint. Captain look back and forth between them before a sly, winning smile came over him and dashed out of the cabin before any of us could discern what he had on mine. We then reluctantly followed from the whiplash of his action.
"Cap, stop! Where are we going? What did you see?"
"See? Honestly, I don't know. It could be nothing, it could be everything, but right now is not the time for questions."
"It is when you're running amok on my ship!"
Captain pulled open the trap door and landed squarely, moving without a pause until we were back at the prison room and to the end of the hall. I didn't bother to hide my groan because who, oh, why does it have to be this creepy place to go back to.
"You asked what I saw, well here's what I saw. One, for a prison that hasn't been used for weeks there was still fresh blood, barely decayed bones on plate, and pressed hays tucked in corners from being used. Two, the walls here are close, too close despite the large dining room above us. Three, after checking the blueprint, there was a clear discrepancy between on the prison's dimension, a wide enough discrepancy…" A thud and click, then suddenly a whole new room was slide open from behind the wall. "...for a secret room."
"A secret room!" I squealed. Not bothering the hiding my excitement of finding a hidden room like being suck into a real plot from a mystery book.
"How on earth could you even have the real blueprint?!" Jewel outcried. "You've never even set foot here before, nor I presume is this Torri person you know."
"TORRI doesn't need to be in the ship to make it for me." Cap pointed at his own head and sent a smug look her way, "Not when he has me."
"What are we waiting for?" I made a mad dash to be the first to the secret room that I only dreamed off from books or my own head. I didn't regret going there, I would have found out one way or another what lay ahead of me, but I did regret my enthusiasm because the horror I was met as I entered the room made me puke.
Before I continue, I must warn you that what I had found is not suitable to be told for the weak of heart or children. While that is hypocritical of me when I had been a child myself. Trust me when I say the sight was the stuff of nightmares.
The first thing that struck me was the blast of cold air, like suddenly being thrust into a refrigerator. Not expecting the cold temperature from a sailing ship, I couldn't stop the shiver breaking through my whole body. The room was barely lit other than the single lamp shining down in the middle of the room toward a long table. Dark splotches covered the metallic sheen on it, making it looked eerie as it supposed to be.
"What...what is this place?" Unlike the room of the room, the wall, ceiling, and floor were not of wood. Hanging on the end of the other side of the wall were knives of various shape and size, and other tools that looked like it was made of surgery. On the other two sides besides me were shelves of rows and rows of jars with labels on them. It was too hard for me to make out what it was until one jar held an unmistakable shape of eyeballs. The revelation drained all the blood on my face.
I didn't realize I was shaking more than because of the cold, the moment I felt warmth curling up on one of my hand, I latched on to it like a lifeline, keeping me grounded even as tears threaten to break. Cap, later on, told me I held on hard enough to crushed his hand, but I didn't care at that moment.
"Captain, this is…"
He nodded solemnly, "Yeah, I know."
A thud from behind and we turned, shock greeted us when we met the sight of Jewel slumping on the ground, unconscious, and towering over her was the first mate, Lance. Carrying a stick baton on hand that he must have used to clocked her. But it wasn't the most shocking thing because standing behind them, wordlessly watching without lifting a finger against the traitor of the ship, was the whole crew.
"Oh…"
"Captain, I don't understand. What's going on?"
"It's simple Goldilocks. The answer had been simple, so simple that it never occurred to me when it was staring at me in the face. For an operation as big as this to continue without the know-how of the captain, there's only one way they could have gotten away with it. That the traitor could only have been… all of them."
AN: When I finished this chapter it turned out way longer and I imagined it would be and began to have a one-sided conversation
Me: Am I evil enough to put this chapter into a cliffhanger?
Also me: Yes, yes I am.
On the bright side, when I said multiple chapters updated, it wasn't just two, but THREE CHAPTERS AT THE SAME TIME!
Y'all should be grateful.
Even if two out of three is side-stories
Anyway, hope you enjoyed and will enjoy, so please review.