Leon just smiled. “Then stop wasting time.”
As he started away, Noel knelt before Neddie and gripped him hard by the arms. Neddie wore his sulky, distrustful look again. Noel shook him to gain his attention.
“I want you to take your mother and Kona and hide in the rocks on the west side of the island, where I found you yesterday. Can you do that? It’s up to you to protect them.”
Neddie twisted free of Noel’s grip. In silence he picked up his flag and stuck the pole back into the ground. His eyes, hot with defiance, met Noel’s.
“Okay, leave your flag. It can’t hurt us now,” Noel said. “Just do what I ask, will you? Don’t let the pirates know you’re here.”
Without a word Neddie scrambled down the slope with the easy agility of childhood.
“Come on!” Leon urged. “They’ll be in the cove, dropping anchor in a few minutes.”
“I hope the kid follows orders,” Noel said worriedly.
“Will you forget that brat and his overweight mama? They’re no concern of yours. Now, hurry while there’s still time!”
They slithered down the far side of the promontory and plodded through the hot sand to the construction site. Lady Mountleigh’s lean-to was gone as though it had never been. The boards were scattered about in an aimless fashion. Sand half covered some of them. All the tracks had been smoothed away.
Noel whistled in admiration. “Kona’s been busy.”
“Forget Kona.” Leon picked up a frond and used it to wipe out his own tracks. “Keep low. We’ve got to make those trees before they see us.”
It was hard trying to run, crouch, and brush tracks all at the same time. Finally they made the relative safety of the jungle and plunged into the undergrowth.
The humid scent of decay and damp earth filled Noel’s nostrils. Uneasy, he could not keep from glancing around. Bats didn’t fly during the day, but Mondoun might have some other varieties of helpers. Those two zombies of his, for example.
“What about the bocor?” Noel whispered as he followed Leon through the thicket.
A bird squawked ahead of them, like a herald. Leon didn’t bother to glance back. “Don’t worry about him.”
“I do worry about him. He’s on Lonigan’s side.”
“No more than me,” Leon said. “Quit worrying. He’s probably off in his lair killing chickens.”
“There are no chickens on this island.”
“Maybe he’s extracting toad poison then. Forget him.”
“I don’t think it’s a good idea to count him out of anything.”
“He’s not a factor right now,” Leon insisted impatiently and quickened his pace.
They avoided the trail to the spring and circled around to the north side of the hill, taking a route Noel had not traveled before. No matter how confident Leon was, Noel kept his wits sharp and his eyes on the move. He didn’t want to be taken by surprise again. Surprises on this island tended to be nasty.
The jungle thinned out, and Leon started up a narrow track that looked suitable for goats but little else. Hugging the hillside and trying to keep his balance, Noel doubted they were going to be carrying any treasure chests out this way, but he said nothing.
The cave mouth itself was only a narrow opening, set at an angle and about Noel’s height. Leon squeezed through, grunting as though he bumped his wound. After being nearly dead yesterday, he was hopping around today with remarkable energy. Maybe he was a fast healer. Or maybe his seconds in the time vortex had aided his recovery. Noel knew that traveling deleted injuries because of the time lapse. If he got hurt in the fourteenth century, he wasn’t injured in the nineteenth. So if he traveled from the fourteenth to the nineteenth, he lost the injury.
“Get in here!” Leon said.
Noel squeezed inside the cave. It smelled cool and musty, but nothing had apparently made a den of it recently, and it lacked the odors of Mondoun’ s craft. Noel stopped and blinked, trying to let his vision adjust to the darkness.
A slight amount of light came in from the cave mouth. The cave itself was cramped. Leon slipped through a passageway at the rear of it, and Noel followed with increasing reluctance.
He bumped into Leon, who swore at him.
“Sorry,” Noel mumbled. “I can’t see anything.”
“Just be still,” Leon said.
He fumbled with something. Noel heard a scrape before a spark flared. Leon struck another spark from his flint and steel, and threw some bits of dried grass over the embers to encourage a minute flame.
Feebly it ate the grass. Leon broke a stick into bits and fed it carefully until the fire crackled steadily. Then he tucked his flint and steel into a tinderbox and pocketed it. Taking a pitch-soaked brand from a nearby barrel, he thrust it into the fire until it caught, then held his torch aloft.
“Come and see,” he said with a grin.
Around a bend in the passageway they entered a spacious cave, and Noel stopped in his tracks at the sight before him.
Iron-bound sea chests stood stacked in disorder. Some were still locked; others had been flung open. Fabulous gemstones glittered in the torchlight. Noel bent over and picked up a diamond and ruby necklace worth a king’s ransom. It sparkled and flashed in his fingers. The center ruby was the size of a small walnut. Mesmerized, Noel stared at it.
“Look at this,” Leon said.
He opened a chest to reveal a heap of gold coins. “Pieces of eight. Aren’t they magnificent? And since eight is the symbol for infinity it’s only fitting that we have these, don’t you think?”
Noel picked up one of the coins and turned it over in his fingers. He’d held old coins before, but the weight always surprised him.
Another chest held silver. Another held a service of gold plate engraved with a Spanish coat of arms.
Bolts of brilliant silk stood stacked against a wall. Leon toppled them, and streamers of crimson, purple, yellow, and green unrolled across the dusty floor.
“Look at it! It’s ours, Noel. It’s ours!”
Noel broke himself loose from the spell. Dropping the necklace back with the other jewelry, he shook his head. “Not yet. We can’t possibly hide all this. I doubt we can even pick up one of these chests. We’d need a mule and several days to move all of it.”
“Don’t you think I know that?” Leon snapped. He gripped Noel’s arm. “Come and see.”
Noel pulled free, irked as always by Leon’s touch. But he followed Leon to the opening on the other side of the cave.
“The passageway from the south forks here. There are multiple caves on this side of the passageway,” Leon said. “We wall up this one, and he’ll think the treasure’s gone when it really isn’t.”
Noel stared at him a long moment, then rolled his eyes. “You’re kidding.”
“No.”
“This plan is ludicrous.”
Leon scowled. “It will work. With stones and mud—”
“Are you out of your mind?”
“It will work,” Leon insisted angrily.
Noel couldn’t believe he’d let himself be dragged along on this wild goose chase. “And where are we going to get stones?”
Leon pointed in silence. After a long moment, Noel reluctantly walked in that direction. He peered into a tiny chamber and saw a vast pile of stones, ranging from the size of his fist to that of a cannonball. Someone had stacked these into a sort of crude altar.
Figurines daubed with blood and feathers hung from bolts driven into the walls. The place stank.
Noel withdrew quickly. “One of Mondoun’s playpens.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Leon said. “Let’s get to work.”
Reluctantly, Noel started carrying stones out and stacking them in the entry to the treasure cave. This wasn’t going to work, not in a million years. He kept telling himself that, but he went on working. He lacked a plan of his own, and however cockeyed this one was, it was better than nothing.
While Noel stacked the stones, Leon went off, returnin
g quickly with a pail of mud that he’d mixed at the streambed.
“Mondoun surely lives somewhere in this warren,” Noel said. “If he finds us…”
“If Lonigan finds us, then you can worry.” Leon started smearing the thick mud while Noel kept building the wall. “I’ve found more of Mondoun’s toys. If the pirates decide to check on their treasure, we’ll start off by blowing some of Baba’s pretty smoke through the passageways. They’ll be so high on that stuff they won’t even remember what they’re here for.”
Fortunately the entry grew narrower as it went up. Noel’s wall rose fast. But he was still skeptical.
“Then,” Leon continued happily, “we’ll sneak around and take their ship. Once we have control of the deck cannon we can sweep the beach with shot and hold them off. We’ll have—”
“Hold it!” Noel broke in. “Who said anything about taking their ship? We’re outnumbered. We don’t even have decent weapons.”
“Can’t you do anything but moan? I thought you had guts.”
“Yeah, and I’d like to keep them intact,” Noel said. “Our purpose here is survival. I’m not helping you rule the high seas.”
“But we’d have so much fun,” Leon said.
Noel couldn’t tell from his twin’s gleaming eyes whether Leon was serious or not.
“Keep working,” Leon said.
When Noel fitted the last stone in place, he wiped the sweat from his face and helped Leon plaster the new wall with mud.
They finished by the time the torch was guttering. For a moment they stared at their handiwork, and the only sound was their heavy breathing. Noel picked up the empty pail. He was smeared with mud up to his elbows, and the passageway stank of sweat and urgency.
“You realize,” he said softly, “that the only way out now is the way they’ll be coming in.”
Leon gave his one-sided shrug. “We’ll make it. I told you I have this thing figured out.”
A screech of rage reverberated through the passageway. Noel turned, lifting the wooden bucket in self-defense. Leon swung the torch so fast he nearly put it out. Noel could see nothing. His heart was racing. Adrenaline pumped him; he was ready to fight, to run, to do something to get out of here.
“Mondoun,” he whispered.
“No!” Leon whispered back. “An animal maybe—”
Something flew at them. Noel fended it off with the bucket, and deflected, it fell to the ground with a soft thud. It was a bird carcass, decapitated, the blood still fresh on the feathers. Tied to it was a thing of bone and fur and clay.
The screech came again, echoing from all directions.
Involuntarily Noel and Leon drew closer together. Leon’s face had lost its reckless confidence. Noel didn’t feel too cocky himself.
“I told you it was Mondoun,” he said.
“Would you stop harping on that? How does it feel to be right all the time?” Leon pulled out his dagger. “Let’s get out of here.”
The zombies appeared in the passageway, two shambling, slack-faced figures. Noel knocked one down with the bucket, and Leon dispatched the other with the dagger. He glanced at Noel.
“Move aside and let me finish.”
Noel stood over the man he’d knocked down. “You don’t have to kill him in cold blood.”
“Cold or hot, the result is the same,” Leon said indifferently.
“They aren’t our enemies.”
Leon shoved him aside and sank the dagger deep into the second zombie. “Now we don’t have to worry about them again.”
“You—”
The bats came in a sudden flurry, swooping through the passageway in a dark cloud of furry bodies. With tiny fangs glistening and eyes gleaming red in the torchlight as their leathery wings whipped the air, they swarmed into the cave.
Noel and Leon ducked the bats streaming overhead. Noel fought his revulsion. Ever since he’d first been attacked by the bats in the jungle, he hadn’t been able to react rationally. Now he huddled on the ground, his heart whamming against his ribcage, his eyes squeezed shut, his fingers clutching the bucket so hard they hurt.
The bats passed over them and streamed on to the end of the passageway. Blocked, they doubled back. Now their high-pitched chittering and squeaks seemed more frenzied as though they were being driven by some unseen force. They swooped low over Noel and Leon. Noel felt one drop on to his shoulder, felt the scrabbling claws clutch.
With a scream, he fought his way up, only to be engulfed in their midst. Furry bodies milled about him, brushing his face, squeaking in his ears, thudding against his back and chest. Breathing in the musty scent of their fur, he swung the bucket around him frantically. He managed to hit several of them. Some lay dead or stunned; others struggled feebly to move, to fly.
Leon sprang to his feet. “Let’s get out of this!”
He plunged ahead, using the dying torch to sear bats and knock them aside. Noel followed, choked and desperate. He swung the bucket wildly but most of the creatures veered away from him this time. Others, however, got entangled with each other. They squeaked furiously and fought as though demented.
“I see daylight ahead!” Noel shouted.
He plunged ahead of Leon, hearing his twin say something but not paying any heed. The closer to the light he drew, the more the bats lagged behind. Then he was clear of them, panting and feeling filthy from their contact. Blood ran down his cheek from a scratch. He wiped at it and quickened his pace to a run.
Forgetting the need for caution, he bolted outside into the dazzling sunlight, stumbled on the sloping hillside and nearly lost his footing. Scrambling, he caught his balance and paused.
Only then did he see Mondoun standing in front of him. Mondoun’s ebony skin was gleaming in the sun as though oiled. His head was freshly shaved. His eyes burned fiercely. Behind the bocor stood a cluster of perhaps twenty pirates. Black Lonigan, bearded and earringed, his meaty hands clutching a sword, waited at their head. His dark eyes held a stony threat that made Noel swallow hard.
“Flush out the other whoreson,” Lonigan said.
Mondoun lifted his long arms, but before he could start an incantation, Leon came out on his own and joined Noel.
“I have delivered them to you,” Mondoun proclaimed. “These defilers of the sacred rites have displeased the gods—”
“Later. Ye can have them when I’m done,” Lonigan said.
“Give me their hearts.” Mondoun reached out with a long crimson feather and touched the left side of Noel’s chest and the right side of Leon’s. Noel wondered how the bocor knew where Leon’s heart was. Mind reading? “Twin hearts,” Mondoun continued, “cut from living flesh. And a measure of their blood.”
“When I’m done, damn ye!” Lonigan roared. “Now, ye pair of mangy swabbies, where be the women and the boy?”
“Drowned,” Noel replied, meeting his eyes.
“Lies!” shrieked Mondoun. “They live. Believe not these tricksters, who have betrayed you even more than you know.”
Lonigan cast him an impatient glance. “What’s this?”
“Uh, he’s just babbling,” Noel said hastily. “It’s true that they drowned. I can show you Lady Pamela’s grave.”
As he spoke he was aware of Leon shifting his weight. Noel dared not glance away from Lonigan, but from his peripheral vision he could see that Leon had removed his sling. He supported his left arm as though his wound hurt him, but Noel was aware of the dagger hidden at Leon’s side.
Use it, Noel thought. Right through Lonigan’s heart.
“What about the other one?” Lonigan demanded fiercely. “The governor’s wife.”
“Yes,” Noel said firmly. “There was no need for those women to be abandoned on a disabled ship in a hurricane.”
“Hurricane?” Lonigan shouted. “Bah! Ye fool, that were just a wee storm.”
“Then why did you sail so hurriedly to escape it? Why did you abandon your prisoners to drown along with the slave cargo and all the other—”
&
nbsp; “Silence! His tongue is a deceiving one,” Mondoun said. “The boy lives. The woman lives. Why not ask him what he does here in the caves?”
Leon threw the dagger, and the weapon struck Baba Mondoun squarely in the throat. Blood spurted, and the bocor’s hands raked the air frantically as though he meant to pull it out. Then he toppled to the ground and lay still.
As though on cue, dark clouds rolled across the sun and the jungle grew unnaturally still. The black pirates moaned, but a harsh command from Lonigan silenced them. Drawing his brace of pistols, he pulled back the hammers and pointed them at Noel and Leon.
“Good throw,” Noel murmured. “Wrong target.”
Leon had turned pale and was leaning over as though he’d pulled his wound again. But he still managed to glare at Noel. “What do you mean? He was about to—”
“He means, matey,” broke in Lonigan’s booming voice, “that with me lyin’ here dead ye could have outsmarted the rest of this scurvy lot. But killin’ Baba, ah, now, that was a piece of bad manners we won’t forgive. Will we, lads?”
With a roar, the men surged up to surround Noel and Leon. Noel kicked and punched, but he was overpowered and soon found his hands tied behind his back. Leon was also trussed without regard for his injury.
Lonigan poked Baba’s body with his toe. “Shame. I’ll have to find me another laddie of the dark ways.”
“Why?” Noel asked.
“To keep me legend fearsome, o’course,” Lonigan answered. “There be no one else who dares put in at this island with Baba Mondoun guarding me treasure. He did make a wondrous good curse. Natty, ye and Tate go find the woman and boy. The rest of ye take these two lubbers down and put ’em aboard. We’ll have our fun with ’em later.”
The captain sheathed his sword and rubbed his hands together. “I’ve got to count me treasure. Get on with the lot of ye and let me be. I’ll be bringin’ back yer wages with me in a while.”
Natty Gumbel cackled and gave Noel a shove that started him walking. Noel glanced at Leon. “You know what’s going to happen when he finds—”
“It will work. We still have our bargaining point.”
“Oh, yeah? And what if he runs us through before we get to bargain? Have you considered that?”
Pieces of Eight Page 17
