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15

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At first nothing happened and Jack and Erik became confused. Then there were voices in the distance which seemed to get louder. People were coming. They watched, from their hiding place, as several men dressed in the strange black turbans and robes as Akhmed passed by, carrying bins of riches and other sparkling items. Jack grew very jealous seeing this, as he knew that his collection was nowhere near as glorious as theirs. What kind of pirate was he if some men in silly black robes could beat him out in his pilfering?

Men passed, back and forth, along the passageway in front of Erik and Jack. They brought with them all sorts of things, including people. Just as James had said. They even saw some children being dragged through.

"This is horrible. Simply horrible," Jack whispered to Erik when none of the men were passing through. "We've got to stop this."

"Yes. We do, indeed," Erik agreed.

"Okay. Here's the plan: we wait until we're sure that there's no one in the passage, then we go through in search of the leader. I'm sure he must be in here somewhere. Are you up for the challenge? If not, just tell me and I'll go myself."

"Of course I can handle it!" Erik replied, feeling disappointed that Jack would even think that he was not up to it.

"Okay. I hope you're right, because once we start there's no going back."

Both men gulped. They watched for a few more minutes for any sign of men coming through the passage, but apparently they were all gone.

"We go now," Jack instructed, drawing out his pistol and sword. Erik followed suit, drawing out his own weapons and preparing them.

They crept out from behind the big rock, back to the spot where they had landed from the opening. There was only one way to go because the other side was merely a solid wall of stone. They slowly began through the narrow hallway of the passage, their eyes moving all around on the lookout for intruders. They walked for what seemed like a mile (surprisingly enough not encountering any foes along the way) when the path halted and they reached a point where it broke off into six smaller paths.

Jack let out an exasperated sigh, pointing his gun at the paths. "I can't believe this! Now what do we do?"

Erik shrugged. "Actually, I was expecting something like this. You really didn't think a large bandit group like this was going to make their headquarters a one-path location, did you?"

As Jack was about to open his mouth for a snarky comeback, he heard the sound of shuffling footsteps and grabbed Erik. "Quick! We must hide!" His eyes darted all around, looking for some method of escape, but he came up short.

Erik, knowing about passages better than Jack, and having admitted to so earlier, had more knowledge of where to look for a quick escape. He noticed an odd pattern carved into the wall behind Jack. There were several circular protrusions from the pattern. He began pressing each one simultaneously, Jack observing him as though he were touched in the head. When he pressed the third protrusion, the floor suddenly began to move from under their feet, and sort of turn. They were spun around to a small, dark room on the other side of the passage that they had been in moments before.

"Smart thinking," Jack remarked, pleased to be out of harm's way-- for the time being, at least. They heard footsteps and talking go past them on the other side of the wall and felt relieved. "Where are we now?"

"I don't know," Erik said, inspecting more wall carvings. These ones differed from the other set. "Hey, there's something carved in here," He said, seeing some words.

"What's it say? What's it say?" Jack asked eagerly, pushing his way next to Erik and trying to peer at the carving from over his shoulder.

Erik squinted and read: "He who enters this chamber shall suffer the death of a thousand serpents."

Their mouths pulled into looks of utter horror. "A thousand serpents? What does that mean? I don't see any here," Jack said.

Erik looked up. "Oh no."

"What do you mean, 'Oh no'?"

"I mean oh no!" Erik yelled as he pointed up above to a compartment in the ceiling where two doors were parting from eachother. The outlines of snakes could be seen from the compartment. The snakes would fall at any minute right on top of Erik and Jack!

"Erik! Do something!" Jack yelled, trying to move away from the snakes that were about to fall. But the room was too small and there was nowhere to go. He lifted his hands up, trying to shield the anticipated fall of snakes.

"I'm trying to!" Erik yelled back, feeling against the wall for the circular protrusion which he had pushed before to get them in this horrible snake pit. He pushed each of the buttons, trying to find the third one in the dark.

The snakes began to fall from above and Erik's finger landed upon the third protrusion, the wall turning around seconds before the heap of snakes landed on top of them. They put their backs against the passage wall, breathing rapidly.

Regaining his breath, Erik said, "Let's go on. We can't stay here, we'll be seen."

Jack felt himself recuperating from the mass trauma as they approached the six splitting paths. "Okay, I know!" He said happily. He glanced at Erik. "Sorry, mate. But it's all we've got to go on." He began pointing back and forth at each path. "Eenie meenie miny mo. Catch a tiger by it's toe. If it hollers, let it go. Eenie meenie miny mo." His finger stopped on the fourth path. Erik groaned at Jack's childishness.

"Let's try it," Jack said, and began, holding his sword and pistol ready, down the fourth path. They did not encounter anyone, which was comforting. At once, their adventure ended when they arrived at a large oak door. There were fancy, steel adornments along its surface, but it was clear to any eye that they were not for the benefit of being stylish, but rather for the benefit of keeping people out. They were reinforcements. Even if Jack or Erik wanted to try to break the door down, they'd most likely end up with broken bones before the door even so much as caved in an inch.

Jack bent his head down to the handle, looking at the lock. To unlock the door, a skeleton key was needed. "Should we try to go in?" Jack asked, wondering if it was really necessary to break this door down for their search.

"Couldn't hurt," Erik replied.

Jack sighed. "Alright. Then how do we get this bloody thing open?"

"Elementary, My dear Sparrow," he coaxed, moving past him and standing in front of the lock. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a trusty noose.

"Aw, not one of those again. Don't tell me you're going to hang the door? Because I really don't think you can do that. You see, a door is made of wood. And wood is not alive-- well at least not after they chop it down-- Anyways, you can't kill what's not dead so I see no use in attempting to--"

"Shut up!" Erik said, annoyed. He placed his lasso around the door's handle and pulled on it, tightening the rope in place. "Step away," he ordered Jack. He did as was told and moved away from the door. Erik took several paces back as well before he tugged onto the rope with all of his might and pulled the doorknob right out of its socket.

Jack offered a sad round of applause. "Nice. Very nice. Now tell me... what did that accomplish?"

Erik stared at Jack coldly before pulling up the detached knob and removing his lasso from it. "You just wait and see," he said, moving back to the door, now without its knob. He undid his noose, so now it was merely a regular piece of rope, and inserted it into the hole where the knob had been. He threaded it along until in touched the ground. Then he bent down and reached his fingers, as far as he could, underneath the door's small opening. He felt the end of the rope and grabbed it, bringing both ends on their side of the door again. He tied the ends together and told Jack to come forward.

Jack walked to the rope reluctantly. "Before we do anything, I just want to let you know that whatever you're doing, it's not going to work."

Erik growled. "Take the end of the rope," He ordered. Jack held on and Erik added his hold as well. "Now pull."

"Fine, but the door's not coming off."

"Just pull."

They pulled with all of their combined strength and at first it really did appear as though Jack's predictions would be right. The door did not budge. But shortly, the wood, even covered with all of its steel reinforcements, began to waver. And then a large crack formed along the middle, spanning from top to bottom. They pulled harder and the door split into two with a bang, splintery wood emerging in the middle.

The let go and Jack stepped back, scratching his head. "Well, I'll be damned. You are a genius, I guess, afterall!"

Erik offered him an I-told-you-so smile which fell away in a moment. "I really hope no one heard that," he said, a concerned look taking over his face.

He placed his hands on either side of the wood and pushed against it, the wood separating and creating a space big enough for them to go through, under his hands. He stepped through, wary of what or who he would encounter in the new room. Jack stepped in behind him, both men with their weapons on guard.

The room was very... metallic. The furnishings all were made the same as the door which they had just broken in through. There were weapons spread out of tables, large weapons that looked very menacing. The best part about the room... was that there was no occupancy.

Erik spotted a door off at the end of the room and pointed. "There," He said, approaching with Jack.

Jack reached his hand around the knob slowly and began to turn. It moved easily under his grip and the door opened with a click. He pulled the door away a crack, placing his eye up to the space which he had uncovered. This room was quite the opposite of the other, the furnishings all red plush with golden adornments rather than dull wood and steel. His eyes scanned the room for anyone's presence and stopped upon a figure at the end of the room, clad in the black robes and turban. The figure was kneeled down on a raised ledge in front of a large golden statue which resembled a snake. He appeared to be praying. Jack did not wish to disturb a man in prayer, and closed the door. He turned to Erik.

"What is it? Why aren't we going inside?" Erik asked.

Jack shook his head. "We've got company."

Erik let his head loll back on his shoulders disappointedly. "Oh, I knew it was too good to be true."

Jack shrugged and turned back to the door. He opened it again and peeked through the crack at the robed figure. Jack wanted to know who this man was and why he appeared to be praying to a large, golden snake. He let his eyes pass over the figure's robes. There appeared to be something different about them. The turban as well. He squinted his eyes to focus more closely, then realized that the difference was golden adornments. The man had a golden chain over his robes around his waist, as well as a golden chain around the width of the turban. Jack did not recall any of the other Bandits having these chains on their clothing. That meant that this man must be special.

He closed the door again and turned back to Erik. "Does the Blackmail Bandit uniform have any golden chains on it?"

Erik tilted his head, pensively, then shook it. "No, I don't think so."

Jack smiled his toothy grin, showing Erik some gold of his own. "Well, mate, I believe we have found our leader, then."

Erik's eyes went wide. "Really? Are you sure?"

"Must be. I'll show you."

He sat on the floor and opened the door a crack for a third time. From below, he looked out at the man who was still kneeled in prayer. Erik peeked from above, seeing the gold adornments and understanding that this, indeed, was the man they had sought after. "It is him!" He said in barely a whisper.

Jack nodded and continued to observe the man in prayer.

The man suddenly began to speak. "I pledge my allegiance unto you, the golden serpent, and pray that you will guide my troupe and I in our Blackmail Bandit plans. Lift us above, high above the common man. Let us soar with you, my holy serpent and feel the power of your tongue!"

Jack raised his eyebrow. "What a load of drabble," he whispered.

Erik raised his brow as well, but for different reasons. "That voice... that voice... I know that voice. It is very familiar!"

"What?" Jack asked, aghast that Erik could possibly recognize the Blackmail Bandit leader's voice.

"Lift me up, my powerful serpent!" The man cried, raising to his feet. He extended his arms above him, as though reaching out to the large statue. "I pledge you... my allegiance." He repeated quietly, bringing his arms back down to his sides. He placed his hands together in the position of prayer again and bowed to the large statue. Then he turned around to reveal his identity to his uninvited spectators.

Erik drew in a gasp and clutched his heart, feeling as though he would collapse on the spot.

"Erik, what is it?" Jack asked, still keeping his eyes on the man in the room who now appeared to be done with prayer and was moving on to complete errands. He looked up at Erik, closed the door and raised to his feet.

Erik extended an arm and pointed a stiff finger toward the door, a look of complete horror upon his face. His lips trembled as he uttered the name: "Raoul de Chagny."