people.
“By God, what do you make o’ this, Sollertis?” I addressed the boatswain though I was truly just talking my thoughts aloud. When no one replied I looked about the small chamber, Sollertis was stood with his mouth wide open simply staring in amazement at the walls.
“Liner were right, cap’n. ‘e really did see a monster!” Captain Rike stood himself in silence looking all about the cave clearing. He stopped after some moments and turned to look at the masses of skulls in the midst of the room. Clutching one, he lifted it up to inspect.
“This be no ‘uman ‘ead.” He whispered to himself before Sollertis took the skull from his grip. Looking over it himself he did not say anything, his insane gaze simply focused on the bone, turning it all about to see it from all angles. After some time looking he shone his burning torch over the rest of the mysterious skulls.
“They have no teeth,” he quietly mused “none of them.”
“This place aint right, cap’n. Why did we ‘ave to come back?”
“Calm down, Caleb, the bones appear to be some sort of animal, there is no reason to believe otherwise.” Sollertis rested the skull lightly back down on the pile before turning back to look at the cave’s walls, “even ancient man had an imagination.” The boatswain spoke with hesitance, he swallowed, staring dreamily across the drawings. I was sure that even he, at that very moment, wanted to believe that there truly were things that existed in life that were beyond a man’s imagination.
After some time mesmerized by our surroundings Rike finally spoke up and broke our dreariness. “This be a dead end, lads, we can’t be standin’ ‘ere all night. There be only one route left to search, assumin’ the first we went down weren’t the exit then we aint far from gettin’ away from this bastard place. Come, let us make ‘aste.” Every man stood to attention and looked at Rike as he spoke, the moment he finished we all nodded and he made his way to the head of the crew to lead us back down the second passage we had traversed.
It was much easier to return down the walkway as we were no longer walking against the slope. After some time we arrived back at our starting point, tired and weary. Rike stood for a moment before the parting ways, and nodding, as though to reassure himself, walked forward down the final passageway of the cave.
This route became immediately frustrating as the walls became narrower the further we walked. At first it was not so bleak for a good four or five men could walk side by side, however after some many hundred feet the cave became so narrow that just a single man could scarcely slide his way through with both his chest and back pressed against each side of the pathway’s walls. Captain Rike went first as the cave became its narrowest.
“‘arvey bring up our back, Sollertis remain with ‘im. I shall go first. Do not ‘ave fear in you, men, no man likes a cramped space, and this be truly foul, ‘owever we must step on. Give the man be’ind you plenty o’ space for you do not wish to be burnin’ ‘im nor be receivin’ no such thing. Come, lads!” Again Rike nodded to us and turning about began his descent down the ever narrowing walkway.
Although the ceiling of the cave remained high up despite the tightening walls it did not change the feeling of being enclosed in a breathless trap. To stand at the back of the men too made me paranoid for the fear of whatever we had previously heard in the cave, the sound was still echoing in my mind. The images on the walls of the cave’s chamber put my mind in a further state of alarm, I would happily have never seen those drawings for at that very moment, being stuck between two walls in the midst of a pitch black cave filled my mind with ridiculous thoughts of monsters rushing out of the darkness to drag me away.
I held the torch away from Sollertis and stared out constantly into the blackness. The sound of the crew heavily breathing and the fire of the burning torches licking the air was suddenly broken by the hideous staggered cry of the unknown beasts of the island.
“Go.” I desperately whimpered to Sollertis whose own face, at the moment the call echoed throughout the cave, fell to a look of dread.
“Quicker, men!” He shouted out and grasping the sleeve of my coat began to drag me faster through the endlessly tight passageway. At every moment I sidestepped between the walls I expected something to leap at me through the darkness as the pitch black played tricks on my mind. With an ever faster step the crew hurried its way through between the narrow pathway and before I knew what was happening we were free once more of the terrifying grip the cave’s walls had upon us.
I stumbled to the ground. The cave opened out into another chamber. The crew were each stood staring at something. Unable to avert my gaze from the narrow passageway of the cave, for the sound that had just reverberated throughout its primordial openings, I simply heard the captain mumble quietly.
“Of course,” he huffed “‘twould be the last way we go.” I turned about to see Rike shaking his head, and to my complete and utter disbelief he approached an ancient looking chest with great caution. Its wood work seemed to be rotting away however the golden seals that held it together gleamed brightly under the firelight.
“Careful, cap’n.” Everett whispered though I could see the captain’s intrigue had gotten the better of him. He briefly checked over the chest and without attempting to open it up he stared into oblivion.
“Grasp one end, ‘arvey.” He addressed me yet looked at no one, “I can’t believe the bastard’s words were true.”
“Lupino?” A deckhand asked.
“Aye, lad,” Rike nodded, “Sollertis lead us through the way, this’ll ‘aveto be the route for there be no way this chest got in ‘ere through another.” With torch in hand, Sollertis walked through the only other opening in the chamber, it was wide and with a sigh of relief I clutched a handle that was hooked to the golden frame on one side of the chest. With a struggle, myself and Rike lifted the chest from the black floor of the cave and with a slow step began to make our way through to the next corridor of the place.
‘Twas not but a few hundred feet on that we came to what first appeared to be a dead end for the way was completely covered over with rocks and wood and other debris. We dropped the chest and without even a word having to be say by any man we each began to work together to drag the stones that blocked our path out the way.
With a great burst of energy we were spurred on and in little time at all the fresh air of the island began to flow through the gaps in the blocked way. Together we made a hole big enough for us to drag the chest through and with the greatest feeling of relief I crawled myself out of the cave, through the ruins that concealed its entrance and onto the jungle floor. I lied back exhausted and stared up into the skies. It was cloudless, the air was fine and cool and the sound of the breeze flowing lightly through the leaves of the trees brought calmness to my shaken mind and body.
The relief of the moment did not last long, for the very moment I had settled I remembered we were still lost on the island with little but Sollertis’ compass to guide us to safety. We had six rapiers between us and fewer than thirty men. Even if we had escaped from this dreaded place we would have had the thoughts of our losses on our minds until the end of our days.
The very earliest rays of the sun’s light were beginning to brighten up the darkness of the island. I recall being stricken by the thought that we had been lost in the cave for so long. In silence we dragged the aged chest out of the tunnel. The moment we were all in the open Sollertis gestured to us. We left our torches inside the cave as they would have certainly attracted attention in the darkness. There was a clearing in the trees and a pathway lead into the jungle. We followed Sollertis and kept low to the ground. As we trekked between the dense foliage nothing seemed to stir. Other than the sound of our light footsteps and the wind amongst the leaves there was utter silence.
The walkway sloped downwards and was relatively straight allowing us to see far into the distance despite the still dark skies, the further we walked the lighter the skies became and by the time we reached the beach it was possible to see quite
some distance ahead of us. Sollertis continued to lead the group. The further we walked the more my fear of the place resided. It seemed Lupino was correct when he said that utter silence was the only safe way to traverse the island. We moved along the shoreline next to the thick mists that seemed never to reside, I wondered how long the island had been as it was and more so if the pictures upon the walls of the cave could have possibly been true.
All of a sudden Sollertis stopped the crew and for a brief moment I thought something more was to trouble us, he turned about with an excited look on his face and we gathered up with haste.
“The boats are just down the beach” he whispered, “make your way to them, do not make a sound. Get on board and sail away, together. We do not want anyone getting lost now.” Sollertis nodded at Rike and he returned the gesture, with pace we began to make a dash towards the small paddle boats which were indeed vaguely visible in the faint light.
In the moment of excitement everyone abruptly cowered at the sound of the jungle stirring, we glared in horror expecting the lumbering bodies to begin pursuing us once more, yet instead a flurry of powerful barks called out in the air. Achilles burst from the foliage running with great speed towards Rike
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