Only minutes away from the enormous beehive, what sounded like a distressed screech suddenly pierced the air like a newly sharpened sword. It was so loud that the giant golden butterfly came to a halt mid-air, and caused all the pirates to look up, down, all around.
"Shiver me timbers!" Izzy exclaimed as she looked for the source of the sound. "What was that?"
"I don't know," Jake answered. "But whatever it is, it sounds like someone's in trouble. Let's try to help them!"
The pirates all agreed and continued to look around, each trying to locate the source of the sound, or at least try to hear it again. They did not have to wait long. Sure enough, the sound came again, only this time, it seemed to be mixed with a lot of buzzing. It also sounded like it was just below them.
"Crackers!" Skully exclaimed flew a little ways away from the Golden Butterfly and looked down. He pointed with one of his wings. "Look down there!"
Everyone else looked to where the parrot was pointing at. Just underneath them, there was a river that was flowing away from the giant tree with the beehive, towards the Neversea. And in that river there appeared to be...something. A something that was moving and looked to be struggling. As the butterfly and Skully flew closer, everyone could finally make out what the "something" was: it was a giant honeybee, about as tall as Sharky, desperately trying to swim in the rushing water. One who knew a lot about honeybees did not have to look at her long eyelashes and makeup to know this was a female.
"Shiver me timbers, how can we get her out?" Izzy asked. "That river current looks strong."
Jake knew Izzy was right. He thought about tying a rope around himself and have the rest of the pirates pull him out once he grabbed the bee, similar to how they worked together pulling the rope to churn the milky water in Deep Dark Valley. But even if he was anchored by a rope tied to a tree, there was no way to try swimming in the water to get the bee. No telling how heavy she was, even soaked, and there was a chance she could panic and try to drown herself and her rescuer before they could be pulled out. Still, though, the human chain gave him an idea...
"Hey!" He yelled out to the butterfly. "Do you think you can fly us further downstream? Ahead of the bee?"
The giant butterfly appeared to get the idea and did as Jake suggested, flying until the bee was no longer in sight, though she could still be heard. At Jake's direction, the butterfly landed next to the river's edge.
"Good," Jake praised. "Now, lower your wing over the river, until just above the water. The rest of us will form a human chain on the wing. First me, then Cubby, then Izzy, then Bones, then Sharky. When the bee gets carried past us, I'll grab her and you all pull me up. Got it?"
They got it, although all were uncomfortable at the idea of allowing Jake to endanger himself. Even Sharky wasn't too sure if he would be able to pull the entire chain up to help Jake and the bee out of the water. There was no time to argue or doubt, however. The sounds of the distressed bee were getting louder indicating she was coming closer. Without another word, the human chain was formed on the butterfly's wing, with Jake at the end, poised to reach into the river for the bee. Sure enough, here she came, but before she was rushed past the wing, Jake shot out and got a good hold on her.
"GOTCHA! NOW!" He shouted and Sharky started to pull with all his might. So did everyone else, including Skully, and within a minute, despite the powerful current, they helped Jake manage to drag the bee out of the water and onto the wing. Shortly afterwards, all were on the ground, with Izzy examining the bee and using a towel from her bag to dry the insect off. She was thoroughly wet and a little shaky, but otherwise fine.
"Don't worry," Izzy assured the bee. "Once we get you dried off, we'll have you back at your beehive in no time."
Suddenly the bee, understanding what Izzy was saying, started buzzing and squeaking fast, as if she were talking frantically, all the while shaking her head no. Seeing the pirates' confusion, she reached under her limp wings and pulled out what looked like a rolled up parchment and gave it to Izzy.
"Oooo," Bones said as he eyed the parchment. "Be that a treasure map, Izzy?"
"I'm not sure," Izzy answered as she carefully unrolled what she now knew was a thin slice of beeswax. Etched on the beeswax was a picture of what looked to be a crown or...
"It looks like a picture of a tiara," Izzy turned the beeswax around so the bee could see the etching and pointed it out to her. "Is it your tiara?"
After the bee nodded her confirmation, Cubby said, "I don't see you wearing it. Did you lose it in the water when you fell in?"
The bee shook her head no and used one of her legs to point up and away from them, towards a very large cliff overlooking the valley. And high on that cliff were three shapes too small for anyone to make out, but they were moving. And one of them seemed to be holding something shiny; it was catching the rays of the sun and glinting sporadically like a signal light.
"That must be the tiara," Jake said, answering an unasked question about the glint. "C'mon, mateys, let's take a closer look."
Everyone, including the bee, all climbed onto the butterfly's back. Soon they were in the air again and headed towards the cliffs. When they all got a little bit closer, Jake had Bones look at the moving shapes through the spyglass. And what the pirate saw made his blood run cold.
"Crikey!" He exclaimed. "It be three huge roaches what got the tiara! And even the short one looks taller than me!"
Jake looked through the spyglass to judge for himself. Sure enough, there were three large anthropomorphic roaches, all standing up on their back legs, the other four legs used as if they were four arms. Strangely, they all appeared to be laughing in triumph. One of them was indeed holding the missing tiara. Not surprising, since all three were dressed as...
"Pirates!" Jake exclaimed. "They're roach pirates! And that is the tiara they're holding!"
"Aw coconuts!" a dismayed Cubby groaned. "If they're as tall as Bones says they are, how will we get the tiara away from them?"
That was indeed a puzzle, as challenging as the ones they had faced in Ch-ch-chilly Canyon and Deep, Dark Valley. Yet by working together, they had all made it through them, winning their respective prizes and becoming a little more wiser for it. Surely, there was a way around this too.
And indeed, as Izzy looked around, she believed she may have found it.
"Hmmm...," she thought as it appeared she was looking further out behind the roaches. "I think I see something. Could I have that spyglass, Jake?"
Soon, she was looking through, past the laughing roach pirates. She seemed to confirm what she thought she had seen.
"Uh huh! Just as I thought." Izzy said with a nod of her head. "There's a large forest behind them."
"Uhhh, so?" a confused Sharky inquired with a shrug of his shoulders. Bones, Cubby, and Skully looked equally baffled. Not Jake, he looked intrigued and curious.
"So," Izzy answered. "I have an idea on how to get the roaches to give back the tiara."
And with those words, everyone, including the bee and the butterfly, listened closely as Izzy laid out her plan.
Once everyone understood the plan, the butterfly soon flew out over the cliff, to just above and a little over to the right to where the roach pirates were still standing and gloating in triumph. Because the golden butterfly was an everyday sighting in Big Bug Valley, the roaches did not spare it a second glance when it flew over them.
Which is exactly what the pirates were counting on.
So when the huge bugs lowered their heads to look at their stolen prize once more, Jake took the opportunity and leaped down until he landed just in front of them.
"Ahoy!" he greeted. And before the insects could recover from their shock, he snatched the tiara from their grasp and tossed it frisbee-like towards Skully, who had been flying behind Jake. Skully carried the tiara towards Sharky, who had disembarked the butterfly next. He moved some distance away before aiming the tiara towards his shipmate Bones and throwing it to him. One by one, the bee and all but one of the pirates jumped off the butterfly's back, ready to catch and throw the tiara to each other, a kind of pirate monkey-in-the-middle if you will. The game kept going and even Sharky and Bones were surprised at how good they seemed to be at frisbee tossing.
Unfortunately, all too soon for the pirates' liking, one of the roaches seemed to suddenly remember that he could fly, if only at a short distance. However, it was enough for him to leap high into the sky and catch the tiara. With the sparkling accessory back in their grasp, the roach buccaneers laughed in triumph and held their stolen prize aloft.
"Well, what do we do now, Jake?" Sharky asked. Before the young leader could answer, the ground started to shake under their feet.
"If that's what I think it is," Jake said. "We run and hide, that's what!"
With that, all but the confused roaches turned tail and ran, leaping to hide behind some huge boulders that were off to the side. Suddenly, above the large forest, the golden butterfly emerged and flew towards the edge of the cliff. And all at once, the trees of the forest began to topple and fall to the side, as they were pushed out of the way by what appeared to be a large group of giant worms. However, the closer the worms got, the more details seemed to come into focus, as some were crawling on hundreds of tiny legs, and still others had long legs and even longer antennae. It was a stampede of centipedes and millipedes, and they were hungry.
And roaches were one of the bugs they happened to eat, as Jake and Izzy learned about from a book on insects.
All at once, the roach pirates screamed and dropped the tiara, scuttling for their lives away from the cliff's edge. The stampede changed directions as the herd of arthropods continued their chase.
Once all the insects disappeared from sight, the pirates came out from their hiding places and the butterfly and Izzy landed on the ground. The bee flew to the tiara and picked it up. It was a little dusty and dirty, but none the worse for wear.
Once it was dusted off, the bee put the tiara on her head. She then buzzed and squeaked excitedly and hugged each pirate, then looked at them entreatingly.
"I may be wrong," Izzy said. "But I think she wants to know how to thank us."
The bee nodded her head in answer.
"Well," Jake said. "We really need to talk to the queen and ask a favor from her. Would it be possible if you could help us grant an audience with her?"
The bee nodded her head again and with a leap, took to the air with her wings, which had completely dried by then. She motioned for everyone to follow her, then flew off towards the direction of the giant beehive. The golden butterfly, with its passengers, flew after it.
In about 10 minutes, they were standing in front of the entrance of the massive hive, where two bees even larger than the female one were standing guard. As soon as they saw her and the humans, they stood at attention with their spears ready, but a few squeaks and buzzes from the female soon put them and everyone else at ease. She made motions to her friends that allowed them to understand they were to wait inside, then walked in. After about 20 minutes, she appeared at the entrance again and motioned for everyone to come in.
As they walked along the clean path of solid wax, the pirates looked around in sheer awe. On either side of them were giant pools of rich, golden honey, which seemed to extend from the path all the way up to the walls of honeycomb, dotted with octagon-shaped openings. All around, there were lots of bees, male and female, who were flying and buzzing. A lot of them seemed to stop what they were doing to stare at the humans who were following one of their own. Two of those humans seemed to do nothing but stare at their honey.
"Um, Jake?" Sharky leaned over to whisper to the seapup. "Here be the honey. Why don't we just get some and leave? I be doubtin' we need much for the cap'n's tea."
"Shh," Jake put a finger to his lips and discreetly motioned to the surrounding bees. "Because, Sharky, it would be extremely rude if we took even a little. And I don't think they would let us out of this hive if we did. It's best if we ask for permission from the queen first."
As if on cue, the bee stopped at what had to be the largest octagonal entrance of them all, which led to what was no doubt the throne room. Sure enough, the space through the entrance opened into a large, dome-shaped room. Honey on the arched walls caused them to glisten and shine like polished amber. In the center of this room was a chair about 20 feet tall and 15 feet wide, intricately carved out of beeswax. There was no doubt in anyone's mind that this was the throne.
At each corner of the throne was a large bee, each standing tall, erect, and on guard. In the front of the throne and to the side was a bee that was shorter than the guards by a couple of feet, wearing what looked to be glasses and holding a rolled-up scroll of beeswax, similar to the one that had had the picture of the tiara etched into it.
Sitting on the throne was a bee that left no one to question who it was. As tall as she was wide, she did not need the crown on her head as proof of her identity. Her presence and size alone were commanding enough. So much so that, as soon as he was close enough, Jake bowed in respect to the Queen Bee, for it was she. The others followed suit, although Izzy, being a girl, had to curtsy as best as she could.
The young female bee walked up to the throne and stood on the opposite end of the bespectacled bee who, following a glance from the queen, made a noise that sounded like he was clearing his throat.
"Pleazzz humanzzz," it spoke in a mix of English and buzzing. "There'zz no need to bow before her majezzty. Although she appreciatezzz the gezzture."
"Hey!" Cubby spoke as he and the others looked up from their bowing in surprise. "You can talk!"
"I zzpeak human, yezz,"the bee nodded. "In my role azz the queen'zzz advizzer, I'm required to zztudy numerouzz languagezz."
The queen then made several buzzing sounds towards the adviser, who nodded his head every once in a while. After a minute or two, he turned back towards the buccaneers again.
"Her majezzty wishezz to welcome you to our kingdom and to thank you all profoundly, both for zzaving her daughter, the princezz, and getting back her zztolen tiara."
"Hold on," Jake spoke up as he turned towards the smaller female bee. "The queen's your mother? You're a princess?"
The female nodded her head sheepishly.
"Wait, I'm confused," Izzy turned to the adviser. "If the tiara belongs to the queen, why did the princess have it?"
"Her majezzty planned on giving it to the princezz in a few dayzz, on her birthday," he explained. "However, the princezz grew impatient and took the tiara from the Treazzure Vault thizz morning without permizzion in order to wear it. Zzhe left the hive wearing it and thozze awful roach piratezz zztole it from her. Zzhe tried to get it back, however in the zztruggle zzhe wazz puzzhed into the river. I believe you all know the rezzt."
It did not escape any of the pirates the looks and the shakes of her head the queen was giving her daughter while the adviser was telling the story. The princess was clearly embarrassed by the huge mistake she had made. The kids hoped that she would not be grounded by her mother. After all, she had helped get the tiara back and coming close to drowning in a river would be punishment enough for anyone.
The adviser continued: "The queen wantzz to exprezz her gratitude to you all. She'zz allowed me to inform you that anything you wish to have, if we are able to provide it, it'zz yourzz."
"Wouldn't mind a trinket or two from that Treasure Vault you mentioned earlier," Sharky mumbled. Bones nodded his head in agreement.
Jake cleared his throat loudly, having obviously heard them.
"Actually sir, your majesty, we were planning on coming here before we found your daughter in the river," he explained. "You see, we're collecting ingredients to cure someone who's sick, and one of the ingredients is honey, specifically from your hive."
The queen, who, like her daughter, understood English although she could not speak it, seemed as surprise as the other bees in the throne room by the request. She buzzed a few words to her adviser.
"Of courzze you are welcome to all the honey you want, but zzhe wantzz to know if you're zzure that'zz all you would like." He translated. "After all, we have other valuable treazzurezz bezidezz our honey."
Jake shook his head. "That's ok. The honey is really all we came for."
Sharky and Bones nodded, albeit reluctantly, but even they both knew their captain's health was more important than gold.
The queen and even the princess buzzed a few more words to the adviser, who then said, "Very well, if you inzizt. You are welcome to collect the honey. However, I azzk that you pleazze wait here a moment, if you will.
And with that, he took off into the air and flew away.
Once he was gone, Izzy took an empty container and lid from her bag and turned to the others. "While we're waiting, I'll go collect some honey."
So she walked out of the throne room and up to the river of honey close to the entrance. Careful not too touch any of it with her hand, Izzy slowly and carefully dipped the container into the golden river and scooped it back up, with honey filling it to the top. Once she stuck the lid on the filled container and placed it back in her bag, she walked back and rejoined her friends, just in time for the adviser to return. He landed in front of Jake.
"Here," he said, holding out two of his "hands." "A gift from the princezz and her majezzty. And they inzizt you have them. They will not take no for an anzwer."
"Um, well, ok," Jake said confusedly. He held out his hands, where the adviser deposited an object in each one. Once, he, Izzy, Cubby, and Skully saw what they were, without saying another word and in silent agreement with his friends, he quickly put the items in his pocket without letting the adults see them.
"Thank you very much, sir," Izzy gave a curtsy.
"You too, your majesty," Jake spoke up to the queen, then to the princess. "Your highness."
At those words, the princess happily gathered her new friends in a group hug. Once the hug ended, she looked sadly at them with what looked like tears in her eyes, knowing that they would soon leave.
"Don't worry," Cubby assured her. "We'll come visit Big Bug Valley someday. And we'll be sure to visit here when we do."
The princess seemed pleased at the thought. Once the pirates gave their thanks and farewells to her mother and the royal adviser, she helped escort the pirates out of the throne room and out of the hive. Then, with one last wave of farewell, she went back inside.
Yo ho, way to go!" Jake exclaimed. "We collected the last ingredient, the honey, and got 10 gold doubloons! Let's grab them and go!"
Soon, all the pirates climbed back on the golden butterfly, which took off into the air. It seemed to know exactly where to take them, allowing them to sit back and enjoy the ride.
"By the way, Jake," Bones said after a while. "What was it that talkin' bee be givin' ya back there?"
"I'll show you later, Bones," Jake answered. "Right now, it looks like we've reached the end of our ride."
Sure enough, they knew they were close to the border of Big Bug Valley, because even from where they were high in the air, they could see that things were starting to get smaller. Soon, the butterfly landed on the ground and had lowered one of its wings so the pirates could disembark. Once he was off, Cubby went to the butterfly's head and started rubbing it with his hand. The golden insect purred and snuggled against the hand like it had done before.
"Thank you for all your help today," Cubby said. "I know if it wasn't for you, this would have taken a lot longer than it did."
The butterfly chirped at Cubby, then looked a little saddened at the thought of its friends leaving again.
"Yeah, we're going to miss you too," Cubby assured it. "We promised the princess we'll come back here someday, so we're going to tell you the same thing. I also promise that you'll be the first friend we'll seek out when we do."
The butterfly seemed cheered by this and after accepting goodbyes, hugs, and pats on its head from the other pirates, it took off with a gust of wind and flew back towards the valley.
"I sure wish it could have flown us back to the Jolly Roger, or at least Bucky," Izzy said as they all started heading back towards the beach.
"Me too," Jake said. "But hey! At least we got to ride on it several times and it saved us a lot of time. Can you imagine having to walk to the hive and back? It would have taken us a whole week!"
"You know, Cubby," Skully piped up. "I'm impressed. Only once you complained about there being giant bugs in the valley. But, you not only were the first to approach that huge butterfly, but you helped save a drowning giant bee and actually hugged her!"
"Well I admit, I was scared at first," Cubby explained. "But after a while I realized..."
What Cubby would have said, no one would ever know, for suddenly, something fast flew in between them with a giant WHOOSH! Before the buccaneers had time to recover and figure out what that was, the WHOOSH! came again. Only this time, whatever it was almost succeeded in knocking Izzy to the ground. Luckily, Jake and Cubby were behind her to catch her and make sure that did not happen.
Something else did happen, though.
"The bag!" Izzy exclaimed as she looked all around her. "The bag with the ingredients! It's gone!"
"Gone?!" Skully practically screeched. "But how could it be gone?! Where did it go?!"
The answer then came from behind them, in the form of a familiar-sounding laughter. All quickly turned around and all eyes went wide. They all knew this person, this thief who was now holding up the stolen bag in triumph.
Jake gave a sharp gasp, then pointed towards the culprit. "It's you!"
Author's Note: And the plot thickens. Just when our questors thought it was all over at last, it seems the climax of this adventure has only just been reached. Our mystery stalker has now revealed themselves, and too late have our heroes realized that someone has been keeping a watchful eye on their progress. So, who now has the stolen bag? And how will both crews get it back? You'll find all this out next chapter, now currently in the works.
And now the bad news. There are only two chapters left in this story. Well, technically, one chapter and one epilogue. And I appreciate your patience while I had to force this chapter out of my head, which of course, took almost a whole year. I am going to make sure to finish this story before this year ends. I owe that to all of you.