What's in a Name?
Author Notes: Okay, I'm back! This chapter was posted a bit sooner than I intended but I got such a huge response to my last chapter that I didn't want everyone to kill me for making them wait forever. I hope you all like this chapter. I might not be able to update for a little while after this, I won't be able to write much for the next week or so, I have contests for band coming up and I have to play the Marriage of Figaro on the E flat alto clarinet...an instrument that I typically do not play. Anyways, right now, I'm going to have to focus a lot of my energy on the contests...but I swear that I'll have a chapter up within a week and a half or two at the most. That out of my system, enjoy this chapter!
Author Thanks:
TriGemini - Thanks for the review! I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter! Hope you enjoy this one!
Dimonah Tralon - Thanks! Don't you just love the cliffies? lol, I do! Hope you enjoy this chapter!
Anaknusan - Thanks for your review! Hope you enjoy this chapter!
WhiPpeD CrEaM O - Sorry, I had to stop it somewhere. Hope you enjoy this one!
WeasleyGirl - Thanks for the review! Tell Torjus to write to me! grrr...he hasn't yet. Anyways, hope you enjoy this chapter1
movielvr - I hope you don't still hate me after this chapter *pouts* Anyways, enjoy!
Jess58 - Oui, je suis un vilain. Mais, c'est tres amusant! Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter! Thanks for the review!
Zubachickqt4u - I hope this satisfies your impatience...lol. Tomas is pure evil...like I said earlier, I rarely develop deep feelings for a character that I write but Tomas...he sends shivers down my spine when I write him. Hope you enjoy this chapter!
melamin venea - Thanks for the reviews (and compliments)! Hope you enjoy this chapter!
Depprulz - Thanks! I am really glad that you like my story! Enjoy this chapter!
jinxd n cursed - Thanks for the review! Hope you like this chapter!
gOldensnidget, a.k.a. Snitch - Thanks for the review! Glad to have a new reviewer! Yeah, I've realized that Christina is a bit of a Mary-Sue...but I don't think that she was as bad as some in other stories are. Anyways, I'm glad that you like the story! Hope you enjoy this chapter!
Disclaimer: I only own Christina, Colin, Tomas, Francois and Jean...Unfortunately, I don't own Jack...I mean, CAPTAIN Jack Sparrow...or any of the other characters from the movie...unfortunately.
Last time -
Then it happened!
What's in a Name?
Chapter 13: Expect the Unexpected
The spot that I had been standing on dropped and I fell down, screaming all the way.
But I didn't hit the stone floor.
Instead, I hit a pile of rags and cloth that was strewn around a small room. A glimmer of light filled the room, streaming out of some opening that went clear to the surface. I stood up and brushed myself off, wondering what in God's name had happened for me to get down here...and how I would get out.
I walked closer to the light source. There was a small table directly under it. Upon inspection, it was several things from my father. Among them, was a letter.
I picked it up with shaking hands and examined it carefully. It read:
To my children-
If you are reading this, then you know some of what I did and who I was. No doubt, you are confused and possibly angry with me. And I can't say that I would blame you. But know that you have always been my children and my love for you has always been genuine and never a falsification, even though our name is. In the clues that I left behind, I said that one of you held the key to treasure and a mystery. It is obvious that you understand now that you didn't hold the key, you were the key. Doubtless, you are wondering what this mystery is. In spite of my efforts to disappear in England once I had married your mother, our identity was found out. Former shipmates of mine came after us, accusing me of taking all the treasure for myself, they threatened to take you, Christina...Timothy hadn't been born yet...in exchange for the lost treasure. I couldn't allow that to happen. So I took you and your mother onto a ship of mine and we sailed a bit aimlessly for a long time. I doubt that you'll remember this Christina, you were only about four years old at the time. But eventually, we were found and the ship attacked. Rather than risk you and your mother, I lowered us into a boat and we rowed away. We had to stay on an island for two days until we decided it was safe. Our ship had been sunk and so had, as my enemies believed, all the treasure. They assumed that we were all dead and the treasure lost to Davy Jones's locker. As you can see, it was not. I had hidden the treasure here periodically for safe keeping and with me living a charade as a citizen of the crown, I couldn't keep all that wealth without arousing suspicion. So, once I had made sure that you and your mother were safe, I procured another ship and we picked up the remainder of the treasure from our home in London. Then we embarked on a journey down to here. I stowed the treasure and from time to time came down to either add more or take more. The reason that you and Timothy spent most of your childhoods in boarding schools is simply that I could not, in good conscience, keep you at risk. I know that this is a lot to take in but I hope you understand why other pirates would be surprised if you claimed that your father was Pierre Delcot.
I hope that you are finding this under the luxury of choice and that you are old enough to keep an eye on yourself. My children, be careful. There are dangers ahead, should you choose to continue. If you are not here by choice, simply stay down here for a while. The people that brought you here will not survive without the information that you have.
Remember that whatever you do, do it wisely. Don't fall victim to irrational thought and greed. It will be the death of you. Trust in your instincts, that is the easiest way to get out of this and every situation you encounter.
I love you both.
~Pierre Delcot
'Well,' I thought, 'That explains a bit.' I stuffed the letter down my boot and looked at the table some more. I picked up a piece of parchment and held it up to the light. There was a portrait of my mother, father, Timothy and I. I had to be only eight or nine. This too, I shoved down my boot, only a bit more carefully. There was a portrait of my mother amongst the pile of papers. I examined it carefully. Never before had I noticed that my mother looked exactly like me. It was almost like looking in a mirror.
I heard a muffled scream and remembered what the letter had said.
I paced around the dimly lit room and muttered aloud, "How do I get out?!"
Then, something on an opposite wall caught my attention. I could barely see it but there was, in fact, a sort of ladder carved out of the stone wall of the room. I craned my head back and saw that the ladder went up for quite a while but it did lead to the cave. Stomaching my fear, I placed on foot on the bottom hole and pushed myself up.
It was slow climb, indeed. My arms shook with fear and I had to stop myself from looking down. Finally, I could see the cave area. Just five more feet.
I pushed up one final time and grabbed frantically for a hand hold to pull myself out of the little chimney, so to speak, that I had just managed to climb.
I was up and over in no time. I rolled away from the openning and lay panting for a minute or so.
My strength restored, I pushed myself to my feet and made my way down a dimly lit corridor with treasure on both sides of the narrow path. I remembered what the first letter had said about only focusing on what was directly in front of you and I soon found out where the scream had originated.
One of the crew of La Femme lay only a few feet away from the path. He must have been trying to get at the treasure. I couldn't tell how he died, but he was, unmistakenly, dead.
Continueing on along the corridor, I heard the faintest sound of voices. Quickening my pace, I ran towards them...I knew that something bad was about to happen if I didn't help in some way.
Then it crossed my mind. 'Why was I doing this? I couldn't care less for the Frenchmen or their crew.' I stopped running. Realization hit me like a ton of bricks. 'But I did care for Jack...and Colin...and Ana.'
While I was thinking, I had taken a few steps back. I looked down and noticed that I had walked off the path. Not wanting to discover how that other French man had died, I resumed my running down the corridor...minding my feet very carefully.
Finally I drew level with the group. Tomas had Ana at gun point and was trying to get her to grab something off of a wall. Something that appeared to be connected to the structure of the wall...a structure that didn't look too steady...
"Ana! No!" I screamed.
Everyone whirled around to stare at me. Tomas even dropped the gun he had on Ana.
"You're supposed to be dead?!" Tomas hissed in shock.
"Oh, really?" I said sarcastically. "I don't think I'm dead...no definitely not dead. Sorry, mate. Looks like again, you were wrong," I added as I approached slowly.
"How eez eet possible?" Jean asked in his accented voice.
"Oh, Monsieur Jean. It is too long of a story to tell. Especially if you make her pull that off the wall. Because, if you do, we'll only have about a minute before that wall falls in...now if you all have a death wish, I urge you to go ahead with it. But leave my friends out of it," I said as I passed Jack and Colin. I smiled at both of them and continued my progress towards the rest. "Because, you see this," I said confidently when I had reached the wall. I pointed to the trinket and then to several large cracks shooting out from it. "You remove that and..." I shook my head. "There's no treasure for anyone of you. And we all know how much of a pity that would be."
"Then tell us what to do, if you know so much, girl," Francois said.
"Thank you, Monsieur Francois. I think I will." I pointed to a spot on the wall that I had noticed on my walk through the small crowd. There was a small indentation on the wall about twenty metres away. "You see this...just push it through et voila. Le treasure." I said, waving my hands a bit. "Only, you'll need to have your crew do it...they seem to be strong-backed gents...you wouldn't want to pull a muscle yourself, would you?"
Tomas growled and then ordered his crew to help him, Jean and Francois push the door. Ana slowly edged back over to me.
"What are ye playing at?" she hissed.
"Just watch," I said softly.
As we spoke, they strained to push the door. Slowly, a low grinding sound could be heard as they strained to move the door. After about ten minutes, the door had moved a centimetre or two.
"It will take them hours to open that door," I whispered.
"Where'd ye go, lass? We all saw ye fall. Heard ye scream. We thought ye died fer sure," Ana said.
I smiled up slightly at the older woman. "Its a long story...something my father rigged up...I don't really understand it, truth be told."
Ana nodded and there was no more conversation for a long time.
As time passed, more muffled curses from the Frenchmen could be heard. It seemed to take an eternity, but finally the space between the door was enough for about three men to get through at one time. I gazed through the door...but I couldn't see anything...the room behind the doors was completely black.
I watched silently as the leaders, so to speak, stood back and ordered their crew to go first. I laughed inside...had to give them some credit. They at least knew not to go first.
The crew all ran towards the door at the same time. There were too many of them and they got a bit stuck for a while. But finally, they went sprawling through the door.
What happened next, no one but myself expected.
Sharp screams filled the previously silent atmosphere of the cave and then silence.
Tomas and Francois ran towards the door and peered through. But they didn't see anything.
"Get a light," Tomas ordered Jean.
Jean left and was back in a few minutes with a few torches blazing.
They took two torched and peered through the door.
Where there should have been floor behind the door, was an immense open space about 3 metres wide and 5 metres long.
Tomas swore loudly and he and Francois backed away. "How do we get across?" he asked.
"Get something to put across it," Francois replied slowly. "But what?" he asked before leering menacingly at me.
I peered around the cave anxiously...not wanting to be what everyone walked across. I spotted a long piece of wood over in a darkened corner. I ran over and grabbed it.
But something grabbed me back.
"Ahhh!!!!!" I screamed jerking my arm back.
I looked down and saw that a little monkey-ish thing was attatched to my arm.
"Oh," I muttered blushing profusely before attempting to pry the little creature off of my arm. But it wouldn't let go.
Giving up, I grabbed the piece of wood and drug it, using only one arm, back to the rest before dropping it at Tomas's feet and going over to Jack and Ana.
"Can you get this thing off of me?" I hissed to Jack.
"He gave ye quite a start, huh, Christy?" Jack drawled.
I glared at him...he was mocking me! "I'd like to see what you'd do if something clamped around you in the dark!" I said without thinking of the double meaning to that sentance.
"I'd rather like it if something clamped onto me in the dark, love," Jack said, eyeing me up and down.
Ana reached over and smacked Jack upside the head.
I giggled as he rubbed the sore spot and glared at me and Ana. "So, how about getting this...thing off of me?"
Ana examined the little creature and informed me, "Its a lemur. Looks like a baby, too. It won't do ye any harm."
I sighed and the little lemur crawled up my arm and made itself comfortable on my shoulder before playing with my hair.
Ana laughed quietly. "Looks like someone's made a new friend, lass."
I smiled faintly. 'I guess its not that bad. Its cute and all...' I thought absent-mindedly.
"Let's go!" Tomas ordered gruffly. Apparently doing manual labour didn't suit his disposition too well...pity.
So, slowly, we made our way to the opening in the door. Tomas grabbed me and pushed me forward. "You first!" he demanded.
Not wanting to get pushed off into the abyss, I acquiesed without a fuss. Slowly, I put a foot on the board and tested it. It felt like it would hold my weight. I put my other foot on the board and took a step. The board was shockingly narrow and I kept my arms out on both sides for balance. Squeezing my eyes shut, I prayed that that little lemur thing wouldn't try to move and get me off balance.
Fortunately for me, it seemed to realize the seriousness of the situation and stayed perfectly still.
It seemed like it took forever for me to get across but finally, my feet landed on solid ground. Never before had I been happier to be back on the ground then I was now.
I found my voice and called, "Okay, I'm across."
As the others were crossing, I walked around the cave a bit. I couldn't see much...it was too dark. However, I was able to make out a river running through the cave...but partially because I could hear the sound of it moving.
Jack came next, then Tomas, next was Ana, followed by Colin and then by Jean and finally Francois.
Only then did I notice that we had them outnumbered... that was interesting...perhaps we could get out of this.
With the Frenchmen, came the light. And, finally able to see, I gazed around in awe at the room. It had an enormously tall ceiling and was filled with all manner of treasure.
"Oh my," I whispered in awe.
The Frenchmen were singing a song of joy as they greedily looked at all the wealth.
I turned my gaze to Jack, Colin and Anamaria, all of whom had similar looks of greed flashing in their eyes. Quietly, I muttered, "There may yet be a trap...be careful."
The Frenchmen all went off in different directions, taking in the enormousness of my father's wealth. They pulled us along with them, splitting us up, so we could not cause any trouble. I was had to follow meekly after Jean as he traisped around examining the wealth. Although, of the three, he was the one that I would rather be with...he seemed the most human of the lot.
All of a sudden, Tomas called out to his brother and Francois to bring us all over.
Jean left me standing near Colin as he went to investigate closer. I saw Ana standing right beside Tomas, her hands still bound and Jack a bit behind them. They were examining a sort of tableau that had a large gold mask on it. A mask that seemed to be leering at all of us. I had a bad feeling about this...
Tomas reached for the mask and pulled it off the tableau. He examined it for a moment before putting it on...
But then...
Author's Note - Well, at first I had decided not to leave a cliffie...but then I decided that I may as well keep you all on your toes. So, leave reviews! I appreciate anything that gets thrown at me...even if it is a flame...bring it on! I'm ready for a nice warm toasty fire to make s'mores over...mwhahahahaha! Hope you liked the chapter and I hope that you found that it explained some lingering questions that you might have had from the beginning.
Author Notes: Okay, I'm back! This chapter was posted a bit sooner than I intended but I got such a huge response to my last chapter that I didn't want everyone to kill me for making them wait forever. I hope you all like this chapter. I might not be able to update for a little while after this, I won't be able to write much for the next week or so, I have contests for band coming up and I have to play the Marriage of Figaro on the E flat alto clarinet...an instrument that I typically do not play. Anyways, right now, I'm going to have to focus a lot of my energy on the contests...but I swear that I'll have a chapter up within a week and a half or two at the most. That out of my system, enjoy this chapter!
Author Thanks:
TriGemini - Thanks for the review! I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter! Hope you enjoy this one!
Dimonah Tralon - Thanks! Don't you just love the cliffies? lol, I do! Hope you enjoy this chapter!
Anaknusan - Thanks for your review! Hope you enjoy this chapter!
WhiPpeD CrEaM O - Sorry, I had to stop it somewhere. Hope you enjoy this one!
WeasleyGirl - Thanks for the review! Tell Torjus to write to me! grrr...he hasn't yet. Anyways, hope you enjoy this chapter1
movielvr - I hope you don't still hate me after this chapter *pouts* Anyways, enjoy!
Jess58 - Oui, je suis un vilain. Mais, c'est tres amusant! Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter! Thanks for the review!
Zubachickqt4u - I hope this satisfies your impatience...lol. Tomas is pure evil...like I said earlier, I rarely develop deep feelings for a character that I write but Tomas...he sends shivers down my spine when I write him. Hope you enjoy this chapter!
melamin venea - Thanks for the reviews (and compliments)! Hope you enjoy this chapter!
Depprulz - Thanks! I am really glad that you like my story! Enjoy this chapter!
jinxd n cursed - Thanks for the review! Hope you like this chapter!
gOldensnidget, a.k.a. Snitch - Thanks for the review! Glad to have a new reviewer! Yeah, I've realized that Christina is a bit of a Mary-Sue...but I don't think that she was as bad as some in other stories are. Anyways, I'm glad that you like the story! Hope you enjoy this chapter!
Disclaimer: I only own Christina, Colin, Tomas, Francois and Jean...Unfortunately, I don't own Jack...I mean, CAPTAIN Jack Sparrow...or any of the other characters from the movie...unfortunately.
Last time -
Then it happened!
What's in a Name?
Chapter 13: Expect the Unexpected
The spot that I had been standing on dropped and I fell down, screaming all the way.
But I didn't hit the stone floor.
Instead, I hit a pile of rags and cloth that was strewn around a small room. A glimmer of light filled the room, streaming out of some opening that went clear to the surface. I stood up and brushed myself off, wondering what in God's name had happened for me to get down here...and how I would get out.
I walked closer to the light source. There was a small table directly under it. Upon inspection, it was several things from my father. Among them, was a letter.
I picked it up with shaking hands and examined it carefully. It read:
To my children-
If you are reading this, then you know some of what I did and who I was. No doubt, you are confused and possibly angry with me. And I can't say that I would blame you. But know that you have always been my children and my love for you has always been genuine and never a falsification, even though our name is. In the clues that I left behind, I said that one of you held the key to treasure and a mystery. It is obvious that you understand now that you didn't hold the key, you were the key. Doubtless, you are wondering what this mystery is. In spite of my efforts to disappear in England once I had married your mother, our identity was found out. Former shipmates of mine came after us, accusing me of taking all the treasure for myself, they threatened to take you, Christina...Timothy hadn't been born yet...in exchange for the lost treasure. I couldn't allow that to happen. So I took you and your mother onto a ship of mine and we sailed a bit aimlessly for a long time. I doubt that you'll remember this Christina, you were only about four years old at the time. But eventually, we were found and the ship attacked. Rather than risk you and your mother, I lowered us into a boat and we rowed away. We had to stay on an island for two days until we decided it was safe. Our ship had been sunk and so had, as my enemies believed, all the treasure. They assumed that we were all dead and the treasure lost to Davy Jones's locker. As you can see, it was not. I had hidden the treasure here periodically for safe keeping and with me living a charade as a citizen of the crown, I couldn't keep all that wealth without arousing suspicion. So, once I had made sure that you and your mother were safe, I procured another ship and we picked up the remainder of the treasure from our home in London. Then we embarked on a journey down to here. I stowed the treasure and from time to time came down to either add more or take more. The reason that you and Timothy spent most of your childhoods in boarding schools is simply that I could not, in good conscience, keep you at risk. I know that this is a lot to take in but I hope you understand why other pirates would be surprised if you claimed that your father was Pierre Delcot.
I hope that you are finding this under the luxury of choice and that you are old enough to keep an eye on yourself. My children, be careful. There are dangers ahead, should you choose to continue. If you are not here by choice, simply stay down here for a while. The people that brought you here will not survive without the information that you have.
Remember that whatever you do, do it wisely. Don't fall victim to irrational thought and greed. It will be the death of you. Trust in your instincts, that is the easiest way to get out of this and every situation you encounter.
I love you both.
~Pierre Delcot
'Well,' I thought, 'That explains a bit.' I stuffed the letter down my boot and looked at the table some more. I picked up a piece of parchment and held it up to the light. There was a portrait of my mother, father, Timothy and I. I had to be only eight or nine. This too, I shoved down my boot, only a bit more carefully. There was a portrait of my mother amongst the pile of papers. I examined it carefully. Never before had I noticed that my mother looked exactly like me. It was almost like looking in a mirror.
I heard a muffled scream and remembered what the letter had said.
I paced around the dimly lit room and muttered aloud, "How do I get out?!"
Then, something on an opposite wall caught my attention. I could barely see it but there was, in fact, a sort of ladder carved out of the stone wall of the room. I craned my head back and saw that the ladder went up for quite a while but it did lead to the cave. Stomaching my fear, I placed on foot on the bottom hole and pushed myself up.
It was slow climb, indeed. My arms shook with fear and I had to stop myself from looking down. Finally, I could see the cave area. Just five more feet.
I pushed up one final time and grabbed frantically for a hand hold to pull myself out of the little chimney, so to speak, that I had just managed to climb.
I was up and over in no time. I rolled away from the openning and lay panting for a minute or so.
My strength restored, I pushed myself to my feet and made my way down a dimly lit corridor with treasure on both sides of the narrow path. I remembered what the first letter had said about only focusing on what was directly in front of you and I soon found out where the scream had originated.
One of the crew of La Femme lay only a few feet away from the path. He must have been trying to get at the treasure. I couldn't tell how he died, but he was, unmistakenly, dead.
Continueing on along the corridor, I heard the faintest sound of voices. Quickening my pace, I ran towards them...I knew that something bad was about to happen if I didn't help in some way.
Then it crossed my mind. 'Why was I doing this? I couldn't care less for the Frenchmen or their crew.' I stopped running. Realization hit me like a ton of bricks. 'But I did care for Jack...and Colin...and Ana.'
While I was thinking, I had taken a few steps back. I looked down and noticed that I had walked off the path. Not wanting to discover how that other French man had died, I resumed my running down the corridor...minding my feet very carefully.
Finally I drew level with the group. Tomas had Ana at gun point and was trying to get her to grab something off of a wall. Something that appeared to be connected to the structure of the wall...a structure that didn't look too steady...
"Ana! No!" I screamed.
Everyone whirled around to stare at me. Tomas even dropped the gun he had on Ana.
"You're supposed to be dead?!" Tomas hissed in shock.
"Oh, really?" I said sarcastically. "I don't think I'm dead...no definitely not dead. Sorry, mate. Looks like again, you were wrong," I added as I approached slowly.
"How eez eet possible?" Jean asked in his accented voice.
"Oh, Monsieur Jean. It is too long of a story to tell. Especially if you make her pull that off the wall. Because, if you do, we'll only have about a minute before that wall falls in...now if you all have a death wish, I urge you to go ahead with it. But leave my friends out of it," I said as I passed Jack and Colin. I smiled at both of them and continued my progress towards the rest. "Because, you see this," I said confidently when I had reached the wall. I pointed to the trinket and then to several large cracks shooting out from it. "You remove that and..." I shook my head. "There's no treasure for anyone of you. And we all know how much of a pity that would be."
"Then tell us what to do, if you know so much, girl," Francois said.
"Thank you, Monsieur Francois. I think I will." I pointed to a spot on the wall that I had noticed on my walk through the small crowd. There was a small indentation on the wall about twenty metres away. "You see this...just push it through et voila. Le treasure." I said, waving my hands a bit. "Only, you'll need to have your crew do it...they seem to be strong-backed gents...you wouldn't want to pull a muscle yourself, would you?"
Tomas growled and then ordered his crew to help him, Jean and Francois push the door. Ana slowly edged back over to me.
"What are ye playing at?" she hissed.
"Just watch," I said softly.
As we spoke, they strained to push the door. Slowly, a low grinding sound could be heard as they strained to move the door. After about ten minutes, the door had moved a centimetre or two.
"It will take them hours to open that door," I whispered.
"Where'd ye go, lass? We all saw ye fall. Heard ye scream. We thought ye died fer sure," Ana said.
I smiled up slightly at the older woman. "Its a long story...something my father rigged up...I don't really understand it, truth be told."
Ana nodded and there was no more conversation for a long time.
As time passed, more muffled curses from the Frenchmen could be heard. It seemed to take an eternity, but finally the space between the door was enough for about three men to get through at one time. I gazed through the door...but I couldn't see anything...the room behind the doors was completely black.
I watched silently as the leaders, so to speak, stood back and ordered their crew to go first. I laughed inside...had to give them some credit. They at least knew not to go first.
The crew all ran towards the door at the same time. There were too many of them and they got a bit stuck for a while. But finally, they went sprawling through the door.
What happened next, no one but myself expected.
Sharp screams filled the previously silent atmosphere of the cave and then silence.
Tomas and Francois ran towards the door and peered through. But they didn't see anything.
"Get a light," Tomas ordered Jean.
Jean left and was back in a few minutes with a few torches blazing.
They took two torched and peered through the door.
Where there should have been floor behind the door, was an immense open space about 3 metres wide and 5 metres long.
Tomas swore loudly and he and Francois backed away. "How do we get across?" he asked.
"Get something to put across it," Francois replied slowly. "But what?" he asked before leering menacingly at me.
I peered around the cave anxiously...not wanting to be what everyone walked across. I spotted a long piece of wood over in a darkened corner. I ran over and grabbed it.
But something grabbed me back.
"Ahhh!!!!!" I screamed jerking my arm back.
I looked down and saw that a little monkey-ish thing was attatched to my arm.
"Oh," I muttered blushing profusely before attempting to pry the little creature off of my arm. But it wouldn't let go.
Giving up, I grabbed the piece of wood and drug it, using only one arm, back to the rest before dropping it at Tomas's feet and going over to Jack and Ana.
"Can you get this thing off of me?" I hissed to Jack.
"He gave ye quite a start, huh, Christy?" Jack drawled.
I glared at him...he was mocking me! "I'd like to see what you'd do if something clamped around you in the dark!" I said without thinking of the double meaning to that sentance.
"I'd rather like it if something clamped onto me in the dark, love," Jack said, eyeing me up and down.
Ana reached over and smacked Jack upside the head.
I giggled as he rubbed the sore spot and glared at me and Ana. "So, how about getting this...thing off of me?"
Ana examined the little creature and informed me, "Its a lemur. Looks like a baby, too. It won't do ye any harm."
I sighed and the little lemur crawled up my arm and made itself comfortable on my shoulder before playing with my hair.
Ana laughed quietly. "Looks like someone's made a new friend, lass."
I smiled faintly. 'I guess its not that bad. Its cute and all...' I thought absent-mindedly.
"Let's go!" Tomas ordered gruffly. Apparently doing manual labour didn't suit his disposition too well...pity.
So, slowly, we made our way to the opening in the door. Tomas grabbed me and pushed me forward. "You first!" he demanded.
Not wanting to get pushed off into the abyss, I acquiesed without a fuss. Slowly, I put a foot on the board and tested it. It felt like it would hold my weight. I put my other foot on the board and took a step. The board was shockingly narrow and I kept my arms out on both sides for balance. Squeezing my eyes shut, I prayed that that little lemur thing wouldn't try to move and get me off balance.
Fortunately for me, it seemed to realize the seriousness of the situation and stayed perfectly still.
It seemed like it took forever for me to get across but finally, my feet landed on solid ground. Never before had I been happier to be back on the ground then I was now.
I found my voice and called, "Okay, I'm across."
As the others were crossing, I walked around the cave a bit. I couldn't see much...it was too dark. However, I was able to make out a river running through the cave...but partially because I could hear the sound of it moving.
Jack came next, then Tomas, next was Ana, followed by Colin and then by Jean and finally Francois.
Only then did I notice that we had them outnumbered... that was interesting...perhaps we could get out of this.
With the Frenchmen, came the light. And, finally able to see, I gazed around in awe at the room. It had an enormously tall ceiling and was filled with all manner of treasure.
"Oh my," I whispered in awe.
The Frenchmen were singing a song of joy as they greedily looked at all the wealth.
I turned my gaze to Jack, Colin and Anamaria, all of whom had similar looks of greed flashing in their eyes. Quietly, I muttered, "There may yet be a trap...be careful."
The Frenchmen all went off in different directions, taking in the enormousness of my father's wealth. They pulled us along with them, splitting us up, so we could not cause any trouble. I was had to follow meekly after Jean as he traisped around examining the wealth. Although, of the three, he was the one that I would rather be with...he seemed the most human of the lot.
All of a sudden, Tomas called out to his brother and Francois to bring us all over.
Jean left me standing near Colin as he went to investigate closer. I saw Ana standing right beside Tomas, her hands still bound and Jack a bit behind them. They were examining a sort of tableau that had a large gold mask on it. A mask that seemed to be leering at all of us. I had a bad feeling about this...
Tomas reached for the mask and pulled it off the tableau. He examined it for a moment before putting it on...
But then...
Author's Note - Well, at first I had decided not to leave a cliffie...but then I decided that I may as well keep you all on your toes. So, leave reviews! I appreciate anything that gets thrown at me...even if it is a flame...bring it on! I'm ready for a nice warm toasty fire to make s'mores over...mwhahahahaha! Hope you liked the chapter and I hope that you found that it explained some lingering questions that you might have had from the beginning.