Chapter 7: The Cave of the Abyss
Emma woke to the sound of a door opening loudly as Liam was tossed through the door into the room. "I want breakfast in ten minutes." Walsh shouted as Emma cowered against Killian's rigid form. Killian wiped his eyes and then slowly sat up.
"Aye, aye." He said sarcastically, earning a forceful slap to his head.
"Get the fuck out of bed." He seemed irritated, and increasingly enraged the longer they remained on the bed. He waved his gun at the two of them, and Emma hurried to her feet, following Killian down the hall as she took one last look at an exhausted Liam who was now sitting on the bed with his chin tucked into his chest. It was the most defeated she had seen him since his parents had died.
"Where are we?" Killian asked Neal as they got to the kitchen.
"That brother of yours is a heck of a Captain."
"He sailed through the night?"
"Got us where we need to go. Now it's your turn to tell us what we need to do." Walsh interrupted, tossing the captain's log onto the table in front of them. Emma flinched, watching as Killian flipped through the pages.
"We need to go here." He pointed to the back side of the island. "That's the Cave of the Abyss, people have searched it for years."
"So, what makes you think we're going to find anything there?"
"The log talks about a secret passageway, I've been all over that cave, so if it exists, I've never seen it, but it speaks of a test, or a trial if you want a direct translation."
"What kind of trial?"
"It doesn't say, just that the seeker must face a trial." Killian shrugged.
"Doesn't sound like you're necessary for that." Neal growled.
"Well dipshit, its written as the trial of five, so…" Killian spat back.
"That could mean anything. Why the fuck are we listening to this guy at all?" Neal argued with Walsh.
"You think you can do better?" Killian growled, tossing the book toward Neal. "Please go ahead, I'll be happy to sail home or maybe you'd prefer to translate some more Spanish, dipshit."
"Everyone shut up." Walsh yelled and Emma tossed the spatula onto the counter, staring down at her burnt eggs.
"Could you all stop screaming, I can't concentrate." She bit her lip the moment the words left her mouth.
"What did you say, bitch?" Neal's voice was deep and menacing.
"Enough." Walsh's voice was loud and assertive, Emma met Killian's concerned gaze. "Let her finish the damn food so we can get moving. Make sure the captain eats, we need him healthy enough to make the trek."
Killian rowed toward the island, watching Emma closely from the other side of the boat. She was staring off toward the island, a lost look on her face and Killian wanted nothing more than to wrap his arms around her and tell her everything was going to be alright. He turned his attention to the man sitting next to Emma. Neal was staring at her in a way that had Killian's blood boiling. He swore under his breath that he would make the man pay for his treatment of Emma.
"What was that?" Walsh asked from beside him.
"Nothing, we're almost there." He grumbled in return. "We'll need to secure the boat on the shore." He nodded to Liam who helped guide them through the shallow water. He stood and jumped into the water, pulling the boat toward the embankment.
"Now where do we go?" Neal asked impatiently. Killian could feel the anger bubble up inside of him as the man pushed for information, instead of responding, he simply brushed past the man, walking into the lush landscape. "Did you hear me?" He heard the man behind him, the irritated tone as he continued to ask him questions. After the fifth time of asking where they were going, Killian turned, bumping his chest against the smaller man, and staring down at him.
"Do you ever shut up, mate?"
"I've had enough of you." The gun appeared in his hand and Killian felt it jam into his side.
"Do it, big man." Killian challenged, standing taller.
"Enough!" Walsh's voice boomed through the breeze.
Killian's jaw tensed as he stared the man down in front of him. He lifted his chin, a smirk growing on his face. "You done playing, bro?"
"Whatever." He growled, stepping away from him.
"How much further?" Walsh inquired and Killian looked up toward the rock face built into the mountain.
"Not far, it's just ahead." He pointed, continuing his way up the path toward the cave.
"Then let's get a move on before you two start measuring your fucking dicks."
He saw Emma out of the corner of his eye. He sent her a nod, trying to ensure that she knew he was alright. Their fingers grazed each other before he felt Neal push between them.
"Don't get too far ahead, sweetheart." He said forcefully, pulling Emma back by the arm.
"Don't touch me." Emma yanked his arm away from him and Killian slowed his pace, ready to react if necessary. He breathed a sigh of relief when Walsh interrupted the pair.
"Keep moving, I thought you said it wasn't far." Walsh glared at Killian.
"Just up the hill." Killian responded, as the mouth of the cave came into view.
As soon as they got to the cave, Killian heard Emma shrill and he spun on his heels to see Neal with a hand clenched in her hair, his nose nestled in her neck. He took two steps forward before Walsh got to him first, his fist connecting with Neal's cheek as he gripped him by the lapel and drug him back toward a tree. "Grow the fuck up. There is a time and place for everything, I get that she's a fine piece of ass, but deal with that after we get the treasure."
Neal massaged his jaw, a look of anger on his face. "You dare lay a hand on me?" He said defiantly.
"After all the trouble you've been on this trip? After that shit with Tamara? If it wasn't for your father, I…" He stopped short of finishing his sentence as Neal seemed to take the moment to steal the upper hand.
"You'd what? Please go on."
Killian was intrigued by the exchange between the men, obviously there was no love lost between them.
"Forget it. It doesn't matter anyway."
"That's right, because nothing you say is going to make an ounce of difference if I paint the right picture." Neal was almost whispering, but the anger in his voice caused the low growl to carry through the breeze.
"Are you threatening me? After everything I've done for your father, do you think he won't think about all the money I've made him, when all you do is cause him grief and trouble. You really think that the spoiled brat of…" Neal seemed to recoil for a moment before Walsh realized the scene they were making and straightened himself up, brushing the dirt off his sleeve and turning toward the three of them who were still watching intently. "Let's continue, shall we." He gave one last glance at Neal and then brushed past Killian into the cave.
Neal quickly followed, narrowing his eyes at Emma as he passed her. He could see her visibly shiver. Stepping beside her, he wrapped a comforting arm around her back and patted her shoulder. "Stay close." He said softly, narrowing his gaze at the mouth of the cave and stepping forward, taking her hand, and following Liam into the darkness.
Emma was convinced that they were all going to die today.
It wasn't that she had lost hope or didn't believe that they could find a way home, but standing chest deep in murky water, her hands placed against a stone that she was desperately trying to push into the rocky cave behind it, her heart racing, an acidic smell wafting through her nose that could only be described as death or simply a mold that would probably kill her either way, she didn't see any other possible end to her day.
She glanced toward Killian who was across from her in the muddy water, pushing against his own stone, his full weight pressing into the side of the cave. Suddenly the rock beneath her fingers gave way, she stumbled toward the cavern walls as it clicked into place. "Hey something happened." She shouted, turning desperately to meet Killian's blue eyes.
"Aye, mine too." He nodded, looking around at the others who had stopped pushing on their own levers, glancing nervously around them.
"Now what?" Walsh asked in annoyance and Emma was unsure how he expected any of them to know what else would happen when the only instructions they had been given were that all five of them needed to climb into the fucking murky water in a cave she had explored her entire life and never found anything even remotely different about and push a stone into place at exactly the same time. It wasn't like there was a part two to the instructions they were provided, that was it. Some fucking stupid Spanish nonsense written in blood on a parchment with a warning….
Great power is only obtained through sacrifice.
A loud shrill sounded all around them. "What the hell is that?" Neal shrieked.
Emma felt the ground beneath her give, a small hole opening up beneath her as her feet sank into the depression. She moved her arms around her, trying to free herself.
"Wait, don't move." Liam warned loudly as he pointed above them. "Killian, look."
The cave above them started to crumble, large boulders splashing down between them. Emma leaned against the rock behind her, trying to stay out of the path of the destruction above her. She felt the water on her back, warmer than what she was standing in. Looking up she realized water was now rushing in from a hole in the ceiling.
Walsh struggled from his position, splashing to free himself. Another loud crack and more rubble tumbled from above. "Stop moving." Killian yelled angrily.
"Is everyone standing in a hole?" Liam inquired and Emma simply shook her head, shivering from the cold. Everyone nodded in agreement except for Killian. "Move forward, brother." Liam gestured for him to come toward him, and Killian swam away from his spot, nothing happened around them. Liam slowly moved his foot as the roar of the cave screamed above them and a rock narrowly missed crushing his brother. Liam retreated and began talking quietly to himself.
"Are you going to share or simply keep your revelation to yourself?" Walsh hummed.
"It's a trigger. Everyone is standing on one. If we move, the rock wall around us shatters."
"Fine then we'll move slowly." Neal scoffed.
"If you move, it will crush you. Look…" He pointed at the water pouring in from above them. "The water is going to start to rise." He looked back at his brother. "Sacrifice." He added quietly.
Killian and his brother were locked in silent understanding, and he ran a hand through his hair, exhaling loudly. "There has to be some other way."
"Only one of us can move without bringing this whole place down on us."
"Would someone care to explain." Walsh barked.
"The water is going to rise, once it does Killian can swim up to the surface, but only he can get through the opening, if any of us move, we'll be crushed."
Emma's heart was pounding in her chest. So, that could only mean, that if they didn't move, they would end up under the water, and then they would drown.
"Ok, so what if a few of us move, we've already shown it won't bring it all down, that could work right?" Killian asked softly, glancing nervously in her direction.
"Now we understand each other." Walsh spoke ominously, starting to move away from his spot on the wall as the sounds around them intensified. Suddenly the rock above him started to break free from the cave wall.
"Stop moving, you moron." Liam warned, pointing to the precarious bolder dancing above his head. "Wherever we move from is where the debris comes from, so unless you're itching to be a pancake, stay still."
Emma glanced at the rocks over her head, fear starting to set in. How long could she hold her breath? She had been good at it as a child. Her and Killian would always bet against the other, who could stay under the water the longest without needing to breathe. She had always won, but looking up at the ceiling, she would need to hold her breath a lot longer than a minute or even two.
Killian swam around them, diving under the water a few times before breaching the surface with a large rock, dropping it to the middle of the room. "If I start building this up, I could get up there before the water has enough time to cover you. I could see what's up there and then find a way out of this.
"Why do you get to go up there. No way." Neal complained.
"Because, asshole, I'm the one not attached to a rockslide right now." Neal's face was red as Killian swam away from him.
"You can't expect us to just sit here and hold our breath?" Neal scoffed angrily. He stared between Liam and Killian before turning to Walsh. "You're not seriously going to let him take off with our loot are you? You don't really think he's going to come back for us? He'll leave us all here to drown."
"Would you shut up." Walsh spat as Neal stared at him with his mouth open. "He'll come back, or I'll be sure his family dies."
"I'm not leaving anyone behind." Killian paused his movements, looking around the room. "I want to get out of here just as much as you do." He nodded in Walsh's direction.
"See, we understand each other." Walsh spoke softly, his tone making the hair on the back of Emma's neck tingle. Killian sprung into action, piling as much debris in the middle of them as he could until it started to grow. He climbed toward the top of the makeshift ladder as the water continued to pour around them, tickling Emma's nose. She heard Killian groan when he couldn't quite reach the ledge above him.
"Bloody damn hell." He swore, diving back down into the water. Emma could feel her feet starting to float up and she pushed her hands against the cave wall, forcing her feet back down onto the ground as the walls shook above her. She watched nervously as a few rocks fell around her shoulders from above her, the water rising above her nose as she tilted her head back, trying to gulp at the air. She needed to get as much oxygen as she could before the water overtook her.
She squeezed her eyes closed before she watched Killian climb the tower again, unable to see anything as the water pulled her under.
Killian knew there wasn't another minute to waste, he needed to reach the opening now, he had watched as Emma sank beneath the rush of water as soon as he reached the top of his precariously placed stack of stones. Looking up, he inhaled before springing toward the ceiling, reaching out to grip anything he could touch. He missed.
"Fuck…" Bending down he sprung from his feet, his fingers catching the rocky ledge, he gripped tightly, swinging his legs until he was able to get a foothold and pull himself onto the ground above him. He looked around for anything he could use to pull up the rest of the group before the ceiling fell on top of them. Suddenly the ground shook and he felt part of it give way, a hole opening in front of him on the other side of the cave floor. A hand breached through the opening as Walsh pulled himself up from below.
"Bloody hell Mate, you'll bring it all down."
"Couldn't have you be the only one up here." He turned and leaned into the hole, reaching down for Neal. Killian could tell that if anyone else moved, the rest of the rocks would fall into the hole, crushing Liam and Emma. He needed to move now.
"Liam." He yelled down, hoping his brother was still above water and able to hear the urgency in his voice.
The water was over his nose as Liam tipped his head back, gasping for air. He heard his brother above him and looked around to see Neal being pulled up into an opening in the cave ceiling. Rocks began tumbling around them, pouring into the water below and causing the cave to shudder. He tried to find Emma, but she was gone, the water too high for her to breach. Liam knew he had no choice but to make a move now.
Slowly he pulled a foot from the ground, hearing the rocks crack and break above him. He clenched his eyes closed, waiting for the rocks to splash around him, only to find none. When he looked up, his brother's jaw was clenched tight, his arms braced around a large boulder that he was pushing back against from his spot above him. "Go." He grunted. "Find Emma." Liam moved quickly, diving under the water, and feeling around, his fingers brushing against rock. He was frantic, desperate to find her. His hands brushed against something soft, his fingers tangling into the stringy substance.
Hair.
He swam closer, opening his eyes as Emma came into view under the water. She was starting to panic, her cheeks sucking in as she was coming to the end of being able to hold her breath any longer. He swam closer, pulling her closer to him as he pressed his mouth to hers, blowing breath into her. He ran a hand along her cheek, trying to calm her before taking her hand. He held his other hand in front of her and began counting down from 3. When he got to one, he tugged, pulling her away from the wall and shielding her with his body. He felt a few stones dropping around them and navigated them toward the other area of the cave until they both breached the water, air quickly filling his lungs as they both gasped desperately for oxygen. "I got you."
She wrapped her arms around his neck, short, hard pants against his chest as she started breathing in the air around them. "Liam."
He looked up to see his brother's hand extend from above and he pushed Emma toward him. "Come on Emmie, let's go." Emma reached up and grabbed ahold of Killian's hand as he pulled her through the opening. Once she was safe, Killian turned toward him and Liam reached up for his hand, grasping him as Killian pulled him upward.
Before he could be pulled to safety, Killian screamed out, releasing Liam's hand as he fell back into the water below them. He looked up as Walsh raised the rock again in his hand, bringing it down against Killian's back. He knew he needed to get to his brother, so he braced his feet against the rock below him and jumped, grabbing the ledge, and pulling himself up, unable to get a steady grip, he began to fall backward, but not before he grabbed onto his target, yanking him down into the water with him.
Killian watched in horror as Liam fell back into the water, dragging Walsh under with him, sinking until the murky water was still below them.
"Killian, do something." Emma squealed.
"No one do anything." Neal growled, holding a gun to Emma's head, peering down into the water anxiously. Suddenly the water bubbled below them, red pouring to the surface. Killian's heart was racing as the red stain grew larger, bubbling to the surface. He fell back onto his ass, feeling as if all the wind in his lungs had suddenly left his body.
"Oh my God." Emma sobbed beside him, dropping to her knees. Suddenly a hand breached the water, a gun gripped tightly between the fingers. Killian held his breath as the man emerged from the water. "Liam." Emma exclaimed. "Oh, thank God."
"What the fuck." Neal screamed, tugging on the strands of his hair. "Where's Walsh?"
Killian glanced at Neal, ready to strike if needed. "Sorry, but you're gonna need to go for a swim if you want to find that guy." He groaned as he pulled himself onto the ground, falling onto his back.
"You…you fucking killed him." Neal shouted. "No, this is all wrong, none of this was supposed to happen. What the fuck…" He was pacing next to Emma, tapping the gun against his temple as he talked to himself. Suddenly he stopped. "Son of a…" He was staring into the corner of the room, a smile growing on his face. Killian followed his gaze until it landed on the wooden crates in the corner of the room, a shimmer of yellow casting against the wall behind them as each overflowed with gold coins, gems, and a bounty a pirate would want to protect at all costs. "I found it…" Neal ran toward the treasure as Emma gasped beside him.
"Liam…" His attention turned to his brother, the noticeable red stain now growing against the shirt material at his chest. "No." Emma rushed to his side, pressing her hand against him. "Killian, help." She squealed desperately, but Killian was frozen in place watching his brother's pale face gasping in pain. "Killian." Emma yelled again and he scrambled to his knees, reaching for his brother as he yanked his shirt up his body, exposing his skin as he tried to examine the wound.
He found it instantly, the hole where the bullet entered just below his ribcage. He tore at his own shirt, ripping it over his head as he pressed it against the wound, trying to stop the bleeding.
Emma shrilled next to him; Neal yanked her up by her hair. "This is all such a happy family reunion and all, but it's time to go." He pulled Emma to her feet and pushed her toward the coins. "Start filling the bags, we need to get this all back to the boat."
"Do it yourself."
The sound of his fist bouncing off Emma's cheek had Killian on his feet, rushing toward the man but pausing the moment the barrel of the gun was pressed against her neck.
"Ah, I wouldn't do that buddy. Not unless you want her brains splattered all over this cave." Killian paused, putting his hands in the air.
"Go fuck yourself…buddy." Emma spat in Neal's face.
"I've had enough of your shit." He yanked her by the hair, ripping a piece of his shirt and wrapping it around her mouth. "That should shut your damn trap, now, get this shit ready to move."
He turned to help his brother when Neal shouted. "No. He stays. He's caused enough trouble; I don't have time to drag a dead man along."
"I'm not leaving him."
"You leave him here, breathing…" He pointed the gun toward his brother. "Or we leave him here with a bullet in his skull. Either way, he stays."
"Killian, go. Take Emma." Liam strained to speak, and Killian grasped his hand in his.
"I can't leave you; you'll die out here."
"She'll die if you don't." He groaned. "Get her out of here."
"See everyone agrees." Neal growled, yanking Killian up from his spot and shoving him toward the gold, forcing Liam's hand out of his own. "Get the fucking gold and let's get out of here." Killian took one last look at his brother, dread filling his heart as he turned to gather what was needed to return to the boat.