by D. J. Holmes
Looking at the whole island while remembering how the ‘Mysterious’ would disappear in this area every time he got close to it Black Beard finally declares, “Well, it’s not going to happen again! Lower the rowboats! We’re going ashore.”
“Come here Gray Wolf. You can sit next to me in this boat. You probably haven’t been taught the finer intricacies of rowing anyway have you?”
“…Rowing?”
Slyly, Black Beard chuckles, “That’s what I thought.”
Once ashore, Black Beard begins yelling orders to his crew, “I want you to scour this beach. There has to be a place large enough for his ship to hide. Somewhere we can’t see from here and I want you to find it.”
***
“Who is supposed to be on the watch tower, Grace?”
“One of the girls, but they followed Diana somewhere. I’ll take a turn until they come back. They all seemed so excited about something when they left.”
Climbing to the top of the watch tower, Grace is surprised to see a ship anchored in the bay. Quickly grabbing the eye glass she recognizes the ships colors. With her heart beating in a sense of urgency…“The Queen Anne’s Revenge…so they didn’t sail on. They must have waited to see if they would see the ‘Mysterious’ again.” Scanning the beach, she sees several pirates, searching every inch. “Ah, so they don’t know for sure.” Making the sound of a crow, she warns the other mothers that they have visitors.
Sliding down a rope, she warns, “Sisters, it is Black Beard. Go to your stations.”
Having planned for this type of intrusion, each woman takes her sword and brightly colored native looking coconut mask. Behind the thick green foliage, they hide until the pirate closest to them turns around. It is at this time that they quickly poke them with their sword.
Turning back around the pirates only see each other.
Thinking that his fellow shipmate is teasing him, one pirate declares, “You poke me again and you are really going to feel my sword!”
“What are you talking about? I didn’t do anything,” the other replies incredulously. “You poked me!”
Adding to this confusion several coconuts fall on the heads of the pirates who are sticking their heads too far into the foliage.
“Ouch!”
“Hey, quit it.”
Pulling their heads back out of the foliage and rubbing the spot hit by the falling coconut, they feel the sudden prick of a sword tip again.
“I told you if you poked me again, that you would really feel my sword!” Grabbing his sword from his waist band, one crewmember attacks the other and a fight ensues.
Black Beard hears the sound of steel hitting steel, and a lot of yelling. He looks at Gray Wolf, angered at what he sees as his right hand gestures toward his crew, “Do you see what I’ve been telling you? Not a one of them has the courage to fight against the enemy, but they fight against each other all of the time.”
Continuing, Black Beard remembers another time. “When I was a lot younger Ian and Lucas and their crew fought with my crew. We were at the Corner Tavern, and of course my crew and I were drunk. Ian and Lucas never allowed their crew to drink, so they had an advantage all ready, but they had another secret weapon. They had trained their crew to swiftly raise their right leg with a lot of force from a back position, bringing it forward and hitting the chest of their opponent with the bottom of their foot. This caused anything that may be in their opponent’s lungs to dislodge. My crew began to cough uncontrollably and because of this, we became the laughing stock of the whole Caribbean…I can’t afford to let him get the better of me again. I have got to find where his ship comes from. It’s got to be here somewhere, you saw it this morning! You did, didn’t you?”
“Yes. We both saw it, remember?”
“Yes, my son. I remember. Let’s get this mess pulled back together again.”
Walking over to where the scuffle is going on, Black Beard asks, “Did you find what I asked you to find?”
Shocked to hear his captain, he quickly responds, “No, I was looking, but he poked me with his sword,” pointing to his opponent.
Not wanting to be punished, the response is heard loud and clear, “I did not! He hit me with a coconut.”
Louder yet the other answers, “I did not!”
Anger from the pain of being poked with sharp swords and having coconuts fall on their heads creates an uncontrollable mess as all of Black Beard’s crew begins to fight with each other again.
Looking up and down the full length of the beach, Black Beard sees his men fighting. With a great deal of anger he yells, “WHEN WILL YOU LEARN THAT YOU DON’T FIGHT EACH OTHER. THE ONLY TIME YOU FIGHT IS WITH AN ENEMY!”
His anger resonates within their body bringing fear, yet a clarity of what they are doing. Gray Wolf has never seen men fight with swords and is unaware of the distance there needs to be between him and the others that are fighting. As Black Beard’s crew quickly turns around to look at their captain, Gray Wolf is pushed through the foliage landing on what should be dirt. “Help me,” Splash, splash. “What is this? I need a boat.”
Hearing water where it should be land, Black Beard looks through the foliage and finds Gray Wolf in the manmade channel which Ian and his crew had used for years.
Jumping through the foliage and into the water he grabs Gray Wolf. “There you are little guy. You’re safe. Black Beard takes care of his son.”
Hearing the sound of water behind the foliage his crew, follow their captain, and discover the gate that covers the channel.
Smiling Black Beard yells with glee, “You found it…the ship this morning and now their hiding place. I knew that you would be good luck when you came to us from the sky. I knew it!” he says with emphasis as he raises his right fist and brings it back to the water making a large splash causing ripples to form around them.
***
The island mothers watch the pirates every move as they discover the hidden channel. “My sisters, quickly go back to the village,” Grace directs them. “Hide your swords. Do not become aggressive as the pirates find our village. Take on the persona of a helpless woman. They have guns and we don’t want anyone to get hurt.” With feelings of fear and concern the village women quickly gather their ingredients and start cooking. “You know that men always like the smell of cooking food.”
***
As the island sisters walk back from the cove, their excitement can hardly be contained.
“I can’t wait to show mother what Diana found.”
“I can’t either.”
Each daughter is excited to show their mother the red rose necklace they had heard so much about all throughout their childhood. As the island girls approach the top of the ridge, something seems strange.
Marie has gone to the head of their group racing to be the first to the village when she suddenly stops. “Stop everyone! I don’t see anyone walking around down there. Get down.”
Looking down onto the village, through the island foliage they try to figure what is different.
“Are they in the chapel?”
“It’s not time to be in chapel. Something just isn’t right.”
“Look… the gate is open. We shut it when father left, I know that we did,” Jaci adamantly states.
“Who is that man down by the dock?”
“I don’t know, but look. There are more men and they’ve all got guns. We only have swords. What should we do?”
“We have two things that we can do. We can go in peacefully, or we can hide here on the ridge and wait to see what will happen.”
“What would you think if half of us go back to the village to help our mothers and the other half stays here on the ridge? That way we will have a surprise attack if we need it,” Jaimie suggests.
“That’s a good idea Jaimie. You always have the best suggestions. And because you do, I’m going to put you in charge of Kristen, Jaci, and Marie. They are a few years younger than the rest of us and I don’t want the pirate
s to see them. So they’ll stay here with you.”
“…Alright.”
Diana adds, “I’ll take Stacey, Jessica, and Danielle. We’ll see what is going on with our mothers and our other little sisters. Somehow we will get a message back to you. Oh, Jaimie… take the rose necklace. We certainly don’t want them to know about this.”
“Be careful, my Sisters.”
“Watch your back. We don’t know how many of them are on the island.”
Walking toward their village Diana waves, while she quietly says, “Until we meet again, my Sisters.”
“Until we meet again,” they quietly chorus back.
Walking into the village, Diana and her sisters attract the attention of the pirates.
“Who are you?” the pirates ask.
“We are the older sisters of the island.”
“Are there any more?”
“We have come as a group. Do you see anyone else?”
“No…put your swords over there,” the pirate says pointing to an outside water barrel. “Captain…” the crewman called. “Can you hear me? Black Beard…Captain! These girls just came into the village.”
Turning around he walks over to the new arrivals. Looking at all of the sisters with Diana, he asks, “So where have you been?”
“We just went for a swim,” replied Diana.
“You’re the only one who looks wet.”
“Yes, well, I won the game.”
“What kind of a game leaves one wet and the others dry?”
“It’s a swimming game to see who can stay in the water the longest. The others got out sooner. That’s why they are dry.”
“That’s a strange game.”
“It amuses us. What is your purpose here?” Diana asks Black Beard.
“We are here to find the pirate, Ian.” Walking over a few steps Black Beard looks around the village. “I have always lost him as we rounded the point. At first I began to think that Ian’s ship was a ghost ship, that I would never find it. This time I was lucky. Gray Wolf, my new cabin boy, saw the ‘Mysterious’ leave early this morning. Then he found your secret inlet. The rest of my men were able to figure out how your gate worked.”
Remembering her recent dream Diana says to herself, “Gray Wolf… that is the name of the person that Daniel told me would be my friend. But he is the one who told Black Beard where father’s ship left our island and found our secret inlet.” Looking back to Black Beard she asks, “So I repeat my question. What is your purpose here? You know that he is gone. What do you want?”
Looking at Grace, Diana and the rest of the women he adds with a glare in his eyes, “You should have let me finish what I was going to say. Since Ian and his mates aren’t here, their women will do!”
Looking at each other, the women try to hide the fear that is raging in their souls.
Sensing what they were thinking Black Beard adds, “Don’t worry ladies, we want the treasure that he has hidden.”
Grace quickly answers, “He has never hidden any treasure on the island.”
“He has no treasure?”
“No. He always shares his treasure before he even arrives at the island with those he knows need his help,” Diana adds.
“Really… then you had better enjoy your last day with your little sisters, because we will take them with us in the morning.”
Shocked Diana asks, “Why would you take them? All of the girls my age could be sold for much more.”
“Looking at you, I can tell that you would be big trouble. And that tells me that all of the other girls your age would probably be equally as much trouble. The younger girls will be no problem, and I know many wealthy families who are looking for little girls to do work around their houses. They pay a lot of money for that type of service.”
Filled with anger, Diana states, “But you just can’t take them!”
“Really…who is going to stop me? Walking closer to Diana, Black Beard looks directly into her bright sparkling blue eyes. Talking loud enough so that everyone can hear what he is saying he warns, “I could tell from the moment that I first saw you that you were trouble! Because of that, and the courage that you are now showing, I will warn you this one time! If I have any trouble with you, with your mother or with anyone else, my men and I will kill everyone except you, Diana. You will be left here alone to tell your father and his crew what has happened to their families. You might have courage now, but do you think you could live with that on your shoulders?”
Looking around at her island family, she backs down, “There will be no trouble.”
“Wonderful…now get us something to eat, we haven’t had any good tasting food for a long time.”
“Your wish is our command, sir,” Diana answers politely, but with anger in her heart.
“Now that’s what I like to hear,” Black Beard states feeling that he has complete control.
Diana, her island sisters and mothers walk to the village kitchen to fix a meal for Black Beard and his crew that now hold them captive.
Quietly her mother asks, “Diana, where is everyone else?”
“They are on the ridge hiding until we could find out what was going on. If you will cook the pirates their meal, I will go and tell them what is happening.”
“Be careful Diana. You know what Black Beard said.”
“I know mother.” Leaving the kitchen area Diana sneaks off into the island foliage.
Arriving at the ridge she quietly tells the rest of her sisters, “It’s Black Beard and his crew. They found our secret gate. They have come here because they thought that father brought his treasure home. Mother told them that there is no treasure. And I told them that he gave it to others before he got home. Their plan is to leave in the morning. The problem is that because there is no treasure they are going to take our little sisters with them.”
“What? They can’t do that! Let’s attack them Diana.”
“Black Beard is prepared to kill everyone except me if there is any trouble.”
“Why did he say that?”
“Because he knows that I don’t fear death, but I don’t want anyone else to be killed.”
“Why don’t we give them the treasure that we just found? Wouldn’t that satisfy them and possibly make it so that he won’t take our younger sisters?”
Looking at the ground as she walks in a circle, Diana explains, “If we take the treasure to them, they will know that they have been lied to. Then they will stay and continue to search for more and more. The longer they stay searching for treasure means that father might return before they leave. Knowing Black Beard he would kill father and the rest of his crew…all of your fathers. We have to let them take our little sisters.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, but don’t worry I have a plan. Meanwhile I’ll go back to the kitchen where I am supposed to be. The sisters that are with me and I will make friends with Black Beard and his crew. We will get as much information about them and where they travel as we can.”
Jaimie stands up and says, “And while you’re gone Diana, we will make this one rose necklace into individual rose necklaces which you can give to each of our little sisters. We will have one also and this will be our signal that we are sisters since no one else will ever have necklaces like these. We’ll make them so that they will be worn under our clothing and won’t be seen by anyone else but the wearer.”
“That’s a good idea, Jaimie. If for some reason things don’t go as planned and we all change a great deal before we find each other, these necklaces will be our connection. I’ll go back now and help prepare the dinner.”
“We’ll get these necklaces done quickly then I’ll bring them to you.”
“Be careful.”
“I will… you too.”
Leaving Jaimie’s group of sisters on the ridge, Diana begins her walk back to where her village mothers are cooking the evening meal for their uninvited guests.
Meanwhile, Black Beard has walked into the kitchen a
nd begins tasting the delicious smelling food. “This is the best food that I have ever tasted.”
“We wanted you to be happy, sir.”
After tasting a few dishes, he casts a discerning eye around the kitchen. “Where is that older girl…I think that her name is Diana, where is she?”
“I sent her after something for me.”
“What did you ask her to get?”
Putting her hand up to her chin, giving the impression that she is thinking, Grace was desperately stalling for time. Turning around she asks, “Shelly what did I ask her to get for me?”
“I don’t remember. I’ve been so busy trying to get the taste of this dish just right.”
“Pauline, do you remember what I asked Diana to get?”
“I’ve been busy carving the meat. I forgot.”
“Let me call her,” Grace continues trying not to look or sound like she is nervous. “Did you need her for anything specific?”
“No, I just know that she is trouble and I want to keep track of her.”
“Let me call her…. Diana…Diana where are you?”
“Here I am, Mother. Here are the berries that you asked me to get.”
“Oh, that’s right. Berries for the dessert…I thought that you might like some fresh fruit after being on a ship for so long, so I sent Diana to pick enough for all of you.”
“How kind…you’re right we haven’t had any fruit for a long time. In fact, I’ll try some of those beautiful berries right now?”
“Take as many as you wish. I can always have Diana pick more if we need them.”
“And here I thought that you were making some type of plan to rescue your youngest sisters, Diana.”
“Why do you think that I would be doing something like that, sir?”
“Because that’s what I would be doing if I were you.”
“You are a man of the world. I am a simple girl born and raised on this island.”
“You do have a point. I’ve never seen a woman who could out plan a man.”
“Yes… you have the answers sir…I do have a question for you though.”
“Yes?”
“How long has Gray Wolf been with you?”
“Actually, I just acquired him the other day.”
“Acquired him?”
“Well, actually just last night, when we had all that thunder and lightning. He flew through the sky and landed on the beach where we had set up our camp. I have taken him aboard as my cabin boy.”
