Pirates of the Caribbean 05 The Age of Bronze (2 page)

"No it's a mistake
" Tumen began. He looked at each of his old friends, the people he had grown up with. Every one of them either looked away or met his eye with disgust.With his head hung low, Tumen headed back to the beach. He turned back once to see his little brother and sister in tears.What possibly could have happened? Maybe someone misplaced the amulet? Unlikely, after keeping it safe for so long. It was more than a little strange that it disappeared the same night that he returned, but it couldn't have had anything
to do with him or his friends.
Could
it? After
all, how well did he really know any of them, any way?

They all seemed nice enough, and he had been on some great adventures with them. . . . But except for Jean, he wasnt really that close with any of them. Fitzwilliam was just an uptight rich guy, as far as he could tell. And crazy, too. Who leaves a comfy noble life to become a wandering adventurer? Arabella was friendly, if a bit quick-tempered and hotheaded. But she used to work at a tavern filled with pirates and cutthroats. Could she be one, too? And then there was Jack ... Jack was just plain odd. Odd, and a little bit too much vested in his own interests.By the time he reached the dying bonfire, Tumen was furious."Give it back!" he demanded, planting hi
mself inches from Jack's face.
"Um, give what back, mate?" Jack asked, cautiously glancing quickly to his left and right."The amulet! I know you took it! Give it back!" Tumen tightened his hands into fists."What are you talking about?" Arabella asked. "What is Jack supposed to have taken?""One of you took it!" Tumen whirled around, glaring at her and Fitzwilliam. "One of you took the Sun
and
Stars amulet. My people have protected it for hundreds of years and it just happens to have disappeared
last night! NOW, WHERE IS IT?"

CHAPTER FOUR

"Here now! I rather resent your implications, implicating that I was implicit and whatnot," Jack said, waving his hands frantically. "I
don’t
know anything about an amulet, much less had anything to do with taking one. Besides, had there been an amulet, I would have had to have known there had been an amulet in order to have taken an amulet what was there to be taken. Savvy?"

"I am forced to agree with Jack this one time," Fitzwill
iam said frostily, bracing his
legs in the white sand. "How could you mistrust your own crew, your own friends, after all we have been through together?"

"Besides, Jack couldn't have taken it," Arabella said, shooting a sneer at Jack. "He was right here all night. He snores like a pig. I barely slept at all."Jean put his arm around Tumen's shoulders. "Come now, mon ami. Tell us what has gotten you so upset."Tumen sank to the ground, burying his face in his hands. He felt like crying. "They have expelled me forever. From my own home. They think I
led you here to steal it. And
Mam is sick, and they blame me for that, too."

"Expelled you? Forever?" Jean said with horror. Constance hissed angrily."Tell us about this amulet,"
Arabella suggested soothingly.
"And why it's so great that I would have stolen it," Jack added.Tumen sighed. "No one knows exactly what it is. . . . It is supposed to be very powerful. We think the Xitami people acquired it from the Spanish. The Xitami wanted to make certain it never landed in their hands again. They did not tell our ancestors what it did, only to keep it safe." He started to draw in the sand as he spoke. "The amulet is of a white metal that is not silver. It has three hollow settings.

The three missing gems were said to be lost long ago, before my people came into possession of it."The five crewmates looked at the drawing morosely."Well, of course we've got to go and find it," Jack decided. "We'll get it back, return it to the village, and clear your good name. You can go home aga
in, and we can be on our way."
It wasn't just a good deed he would be doing ... there was something in it for Jack, too. Returning the amulet was also a way to form some very powerful allies in the Yucatan. A useful thing for a sailing adventurer in search of treasure and safe harbors. On the other hand, right now with this amulet missing, he had some pretty powerful enemies.Well, what are you waiting for?" Jack shouted, sweeping his hands forward. "Go look around! See if we can find this thing, or at least some clues."

The crew split up and took different sections of the area around the bay, being careful not to come too close to the village. What seemed like an impossible task ended sooner than anyone thought it might. A bright piece of cloth among the green leaves of the jungl
e caught Jack's attention. His
eyes grew wide and he brought everyone to the small clearing where he stood."Feast your eyes on this, lads and lassie and lassie-cat-thing," he said, a little smugly.

There, sitting at the base of a tree between two roots like it had been placed carefully, was their clue."It's a little doll," Arabella said with wonder, reaching for it.It was little more than two sticks crossed and wrapped in cloth, built up to make a body and head. The head had no hair, but the face had a stitched mouth and eyes. It was dressed in a strangely familiar white
and
red cloth with purple X
`s down the middle
and had a miniature jade necklace around its neck."Look at the clothes it wears!" Tumen exclaimed, picking it up. "Those are Mam's robes!"Jean took the creepy little figure and looked at it grimly.
"It is a doll made by someone
who practices magicks. He pulled the doll's clothes apart at the chest. Over where the heart would have been was a drawing in blood red ink: a crescent dagger with a serpent wrapped around it. Jean let out a low whistle. Ooh. We're in for it, now. This is the sign of Madame Minuit--Madam Midnight-- of New Orleans. This is her doing."

"Like Tia Dalma?" Jack asked. "A practitioner of the mystical arts, as they say?"Jean nodded. "She is a very, very powerful woman. But she only uses her powers for her own profit. This could be why your great grandfather is sick, Tumen. She is using this doll to make him sick."

"Why would anyone do that?" Tumen asked, exasperated. "Mam has never done anything bad to anyone. He has never been to New Orleans. He has n
ever been out of the Yucatan!"

"I don't know, but I'll bet that maybe, just maybe, this precious amulet you keep going on and on about has something to do with it," Jack pointed out sarcastically. "Why must I always need to state the obvious to you people?"Tumen blinked. The connection was obvious The disappearance of the amulet, Mam suddenly becoming sick ... The doll couldn't have been a coincidence. He turned and went back to the village. The others followed."I've got to see Mam," Tumen protested when Yaxun tried to stop him."I am sorry," Tumens older brother, Chila, said sadly, also blocking his way. "But if you try to come back again we will need to turn you and your friends away--forcefully. Please go--and take with you the evil that has invaded our village. You are not my brother any longer. They hav
e changed you."

CHAPTER FIVE

A pale half-moon rose over the midnight sea as the Barnacle made its way through the Gulf of Mexico toward New Orleans. Thousands of stars added to its ghostly light, causing the tips of waves to glow an eerie white. The dark water blended into the night sky. A lone, lost gull cried once over
head."I'm so worried about Mam," Tumen said. "He was so sick. At his age, the fever is deadly. . . .""Ah, do n
ot worry, Tumen!" Jean assured
his friend, clapping a hand on his shoulder. "The doll will only work while in the hands of whoever made it. This little doll was dropped in the sands, lost. Its power has been severed. Your great-grandfather is feeling better already."Arabella raised an eyebrow at Jean over Tumen's head. Was the Creole boy telling the truth or just saying something to make Tumen feel
better? Jean
nodded vigorously, fingers over his heart."A fine night for sailing," Fitzwilliam said, changing the subject."I don't agree," Arabella said, shaking her head. "It feels ... cursed, somehow."

"Bup-bup-bup-bup!" Jack ordered, taking a hand off the wheel to wave a finger at his two mates. "
No curses, no magic, no more!"

"No curses, Jack? Well, what do you call this, then?" Jean asked sarcastically, holding up the doll."A terribly unfortunate set of coincidental hardships," Jack suggested, but warily kept one eye on the doll. Jean wiggled it at him, then tossed it at the captain of the Barnacle. Jack jumped out of the way and let out a high-pitched yelp, still keeping hold of the wheel. He shot Jean a dirty look."What is that?" Tumen asked, pointing out over the sea.It was hard to make out at first. Just a random darkness blocking out some stars on the horizon. It could have been a trick of the light or a passing cloud. But as the Barnacle sailed silently toward it, the blackness in the sky grew bigger and bigger."It's a ship," Jack realized first. But there was somethi
ng terribly wrong with it. For
one thing, it was dead in the water. Dead. Barely moving with the swells and waves. It was hardly rocking. Not like a ship at all. There were no sounds coming from it, not even the cracking of sails in the wind. And not a single light shone from its deck or its cabins. Even the water around it was unnaturally still.Constance leaped onto the railing and sniffed curiously in the ship's direction."Some ship," Arabella whispered."I'll just tack us to port, get a better look," Jack decided, spinning the wheel. No one objected, but then again, no one sounded very enthusiastic, either. "Oh, don't all cheer at once for your heroic captain," Jack said
sarcastically. As
they came around the side of the ghostly ship the bowsprit gleamed in a way wood--even freshly painted
wood usually
doesn't.

But it wasn't until they saw moonlight hit the hull full on that the crew of the Barnacle realized what was wrong."It's made of metal," Arabella whispered.From bow to stern, from poop deck to topsail, everything glowed dully under the moon."Impossible," Fitzwilliam said slowly. "An entire metal ship? It would never be able to float!"

"And yet, there it is, mate," Jack said, squinting. "Bronze, it looks like.""Look--the water," Jean pointed. The waves around the base of the ship weren't just unnaturally still. They were solid metal, too. A whole skirt of metal water surrounded the ship."Maybe it's some kind of sculpture," Arabella suggested tentatively, knowing it was stupid even
as she said it. But she could
think of no other rational explanation."Maybe to commemorate a battle at sea?"Jean and Tumen shook their heads. "No, we have been in and out of the port at New Orleans many, many times," the Creole boy said. "Even if the British or Spanish or French made something like this, we would have seen it or heard about it."Jack made a decision. "Take the wheel, Fitzy."Jack put an extra knife in his belt and wrapped a length of rope around his waist. He was going over to the ship. And as he stared at his crew, it was clear none of them would be helping him.He snarled at the crew and, grabbing another rope, leaped over the side of the Barnacle onto the metal water below ... which cracked beneath him!Like ice,
the metal plates snapped under
Jack's weight. Unlike ice, the moment a piece broke off it sank quickly and heavily into the water.With a scream Jack leaped again, flipping himself into the air and closer to the bronze ship. The metal water was thicker there and supported his weight. But the metal that touched the real water was blue and scaly. He reached down and easily broke off a piece.He looked at it curiously, then tossed it aside. He had to be more careful. Then he undid the rope at his waist and threw it up and up until a loop at the end hooked around the lowest spar on the mizzenmast. He pulled it a few times, making sure it was firmly caught, then scurried up it. He didn't look down; falling and landing on metal "water" would surely kill him.At the top, Jac
k grabbed the rail and hoisted
himself over. His boots hit the deck with a dull clang, not the clunk wood boards would have made.

He knocked on the rail--it made the same noise. So did a barrel sitting to the side. So did the ropes. He peered at them closely. Every fiber, every kink and knot and hair was made of solid metal."If Bell is right, whoever did this was a brilliant sculptor," Jack said. "I'll need to find him, as I'd love for him to decorate the estate I will one day inherit from whatever rich old widow decides to bestow her property to this charming, good-looking captain."A looming shape near the wheel of the ship cast a long, ominous shadow on the deck. Jack swallowed hard, then snuck over to the wheel.Jack's eyes grew wide.

"Oh, this is not normal at all," he said.A bronze
man was standing at the wheel.
Every detail was perfect, from the hair on his head to the fingernails on his hands. He was staring at something beyond Jack, on the other side of the ship. His face was frozen in horror, as if he had been screaming.Jack shivered. Then he made a fist and rapped on the fellow's head.

"Anybody home?"Searching the ship turned up the rest of the crew, also metal."Cheery lot," Jack said. Except for the man at the wheel, everything seemed completely normal. But metal. It didn't look like anything traumatic had happened. No fights had broken out. Nothing onboard the ship was unusual in the slightest--except for the ship and the crew themselves.It was in the captain's cabin that things began to h
int of what went wrong. On the
floor, the captain himself was frozen on his hands and knees, hand to his throat. His eyes bugged out of their sockets. He looked sick, or like he was being tortured. But there wasn't anything around his neck nor visible wound
s on him. Not a drop of blood,
bronze or
otherwise. And
then Jack found the doll. Even though it was just stic
ks and rags and bits of things
all bronze--it sat on the bunk, placed on the
pillow.