Novels2Search
Black Ship
Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Hulio and Tim notice a slight change in the air, it became more humid. "A storm is coming," said one of them while the other was preparing the buckets. "Does this mean that that part of the riddle will happen tonight?" Fred asked. "Most likely," Hulio said while carrying the buckets. The sky color became dark gray right before the sun was overcome by the moon. Droplets of water started pouring faster and faster while the wind was scattering them all over the place. The storm picked up the pace and made the ship go from left to right so fast that Rob got sick. "Hold on, incoming!" Marcel yelled and everyone grabbed what they could. A big wave hit the ship and damaged the front of the ship. They were running around taking the water out, they slipped and fell a couple of times before the storm was over. "Is everyone alright?" Marcel asked while holding the helm. From each corner of the ship, a faint voice was heard saying "Yes! More or less". The sea calmed down and the storm was over. Beneath their ship, a trace of translucent lights created a path. Marcel was following it slowly with the ship. Just before the trail ended, they hit something. "Land!" Greg yelled. They light up some torches and get off the ship. Marcel did not notice but while the storm was at its peak the map got soaked and the riddle changed into a proper map. The map was now showing where on the island was the treasure. This island was not marked on any map, there was something special about it. After a midnight storm, a trail will appear beneath most of the ships at sea, but not many pay attention to it. It was dark, but with the help of their torches, they made their way through the island. "What do you think is in the treasure?" Rob asked while cutting off the vegetation in front of him. "I think there are a lot of precious stones, and metals. Same as in the stories we were told when we were little," said Hulio with a smile on his face. Greg gently pushed him and said "Anything we find it was worth the adventure, and I will most certainly do it again with you" Everyone turned back at him and started laughing. "You could not have said it better," Marcel told him and grabbed his shoulder. The island was big and they walked for quite a while.

When they arrived at the location pointed at the map it was in front of a cave. The cave was shaped like a skeleton. They entered the cave and started looking around. "There is nothing here" Fred hit the ground and spit. "Calm down, there should be something, we need to search a bit better," said Greg to calm him down. The walls and the floor were completely made of stone. They could not start to dig up or use other means to find the treasure. After reaching the end of the cave everyone started looking down in disappointment. "I guess we were here too late" Rob looked around and said. "You think that someone else took the treasure?" Hulio looked at Marcel. "No, we just need to search it better, let us go back and..." he got interrupted by Fred, "And what? And board the ship and get out of here?" he said in an angry tone. "There is no need to act like that, you are going a bit too far," said Tim. "This is all because we were chasing a map with a riddle and not a proper map" Fred continued his rant. "We do not have time for this, if we are going to lose hope after our first adventure then this will not last long," said Marcel. "He is right Fred, take a deep breath and keep going" added Greg. Marcel started to look at the walls at the end of the cave and noticed that some lines connected at a point where there was a hole. He silently pressed the end of the torch in the hole and the stones started crackling and moving. "What is happening?" everyone jumped and said. "I don't know" Marcel got away from the wall, "I just noticed something and did it" he continued while witnessing the cave changing its shape. In a couple of seconds, the cave stopped moving and a stone door appeared in front of them. "Is this it?" Greg said while looking around. The stone door had the same skeleton shape on it. When they got closer to the door they noticed that there was something written on it. It was the riddle that got them there. They entered through the door, and behind them, the door slammed shut. The room they were in was huge. The ceiling was painted and inscribed with paths and circles. "Can this be..." Greg stopped, "All the sunken islands?" Marcel continued while looking up. "There!" Tim pointed at the ceiling. It was the island they were on. This island was the smallest of them all. "How can this be the smallest island?" Hulio asked. "No clue" Hulio answered him shrugging. Fred was looking around for anything that looked like a treasure. He spotted a wooden chest and approached it. Before he could touch it he was grabbed by the shoulder by Marcel. "Wait, it could be trapped," he said. "Trapped? It was already hidden by a riddle and a hidden door, what more can happen?" Fred said revolted. "Better safe than sorry" Greg added. Fred let out a sigh and waited. They looked around the room and everything seemed fine, the wooden chest did not seem to be trapped. When they slowly opened the wooden chest the cave started shaking, the whole island started shaking. "Grab the chest and run," Marcel said and grabbed one end of the chest while Greg grabbed the other. They ran as fast as possible to their ship. The island started to sink back into the sea. They safely made it back to the ship, exhausted they all lay down on the deck and started laughing. "Not trapped eh?" Marcel continued laughing. "My bad" Fred was also laughing. "I am sorry, I don't know what got into me" Fred continued. "It is fine as long as you don't go overboard," Rob said. "We all get frustrated at some point, we just need to rely on each other on times like that," Greg said while looking at him. "Now, now, enough talking, let us see the treasure," Marcel said and got up. He slowly opened the chest and everyone was shocked to see that there were a lot of jewels and coins. They all started yelling and jumping from the happiness they felt.

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"This is the reward after so much work," Marcle said while smiling. But while they were counting the treasures Greg noticed something at the bottom of the wooden chest. It was a piece of paper. "Hey, look at this" and he pulled out the piece of paper. "Is it another map?" Tim asked. "You bet there is, look at this" he pointed at the map. "Another riddle, I see," Marcel said. "It could be another island that was painted on the ceiling," Hulio said. "This is an adventure for another time, right now we need to find our way back to Black Lagoon," said Marcel going towards the helm. "Ah..." said Rob panicking, "How are we going to get back? We don't know where we are" he continued. "We will find our way, the same we always did" Greg comforted him. "But we are out of supplies". Everyone was looking at each other while turning pale. "I forgot about this," said Greg. But the sun was rising and Hulio saw some barrels in the water. "Are these barrels ours?" he asked. "I don't think so" Tim answered. They grabbed the barrel and it had some food in it. Then they saw another, and another, and followed the trail of barrels to a ship which was badly damaged. They approached the ship and saw a couple of people struggling to stay afloat. Fred and Rob helped them get on their ship and asked them what happened. The people said last night's storm damaged their ship and they were not able to get the water out quickly enough and their ship started sinking. Luckily for Marcel's crew, their ship had a good amount of supplies which they picked on their way. "Do you know where is the closest island?" Greg asked one of the people. "If you keep heading West there should be one" one of them answered. After a couple of hours on the sea they finally reached the island the people were talking about. They boarded the docks and Marcel asked the people if they needed something else. "Thank you but we should be fine from here, we could not thank you enough for your kindness," one of them said. "We would never let people in need in the middle of the sea," Marcel said. And then they parted ways. Marcel and his crew hid their treasure in the ship and then went around the island to find a tavern and some information on how to get back to Black Lagoon. This island was much bigger than the Black Lagoon. They entered a tavern and asked for two rooms for one night. The tavern master looked at them, analyzed them, and asked "You are not from around here, are you?". "No, in fact, we don't even know where we are" answered Marcel. "Then I will let you on a little secret" the tavern master whispered, "Stay within the bounds, do not venture into other districts" he continued. "What districts?" Greg asked. "This island is separated into districts, one worse than another. This one is the safest of them all because many ships stop for resupplying, but for the others, you might need a guide," the tavern master said while pushing the keys for the rooms to Marcel. "I will see for a guide if you plan to stay longer on the island" he continued. "Thank you for telling us" Marcel grabbed the keys and went to see the rooms.

They all meet in one of the rooms and talk about what the tavern master said. "Why do you think he was so serious about this? A guide?" Fred said. "Maybe those districts are dangerous? Or have some kind of laws of their own?" Rob continued. "In any case, we will try and see if we can get out of this island as soon as possible" Marcel went up and walked to the door. "I will go ahead and see if there is anyone on the docks that knows where Black Lagoon is. Greg see if you can get us some supplies" said Marcel and left. "Aye!" Greg said and grabbed Hulio's hand. "You come with me," he said and left for the town. The rest remained in the room and took a nap. Marcel asked everyone he saw on the docks but there was no one knew exactly in which direction was Black Lagoon. Greg and Hulio found a trader close to the docks and bought supplies from him. The trader even gave them a discount for buying so much. The night has come and they all returned to the tavern. They went upstairs and Marcel said with sadness in his eyes that he did not find anything about Black Lagoon. "Then should we consider the guide and stay here longer?" Greg asked Marcel. "I guess we don't have a choice for now" he answered. They went downstairs and told the tavern master their decision. He whistled and from behind them came a tall person, with a curly moustache and a bandana. "Howdy!" he said, "My name is Volgen, I will be your guide around here" he continued. "Thank you!" Marcel said while sipping from the cup of water. "Any questions you might have about this place, you are free to ask," Volgen said and sat at the table. "But first of all, what brought you here in Kelen's Cove?" Volgen asked. "So that's what this place is called" Fred whispered. "We were just helping some stranded people that got hit by the storm, and we were looking to return to Black Lagoon" Marcel answered. "Oh... You have a long way to go until you reach Black Lagoon" Volgen said. "You know where it is?" asked Greg. "Yes, for the right price," he said while rubbing his hands. "But for now, I will show you around the Kelen's Cove and then we can talk the price" he continued and grabbed the cup of beer. They spent the night drinking and talking about each district, then they headed to their rooms.