Isle of the Dead

10 – Deadly Bargain

Most of the men roared agreement. Those nearest to Laughing Jack drew their swords and daggers. His face twitching horribly with fear and anger, Laughing Jack took a step back.

‘Wait!’ he cried, his voice cracking. ‘Wait! I will make a bargain with you.’

The men hesitated.

‘Do not listen to him!’ shouted Coffin. ‘He lies as easily as he breathes!’

‘No! Hear me!’ shrieked Laughing Jack, clasping his hands. ‘I have treated you unfairly—I see that now. But I will make it up to you, if only you will help me.’

Coffin scowled and shook his head. The other men looked uncertainly at one another, then at the storm clouds rushing towards them from the east.

‘Beware!’ cried Verity. ‘Whatever you swear here will bind you. I cannot prevent it.’

‘What is your offer, Gant?’ Scrawn snapped, ignoring her.

‘I do not want to lose my ship!’ quavered Laughing Jack. ‘The Lady Luck is all that is important to me. So I promise you this: all the treasure will be yours to share if you will man the oars until others are found to replace you!’

He cast his eyes down humbly, but Lief saw that he was peeping at the men beneath his eyelashes, and that his thin mouth twitched at the corners as their faces brightened with greed.

Scrawn wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

‘How do we know you will keep to your bargain, Captain?’ he asked gruffly. ‘How do we know that once the ship is safe you will not break your word?’

Laughing Jack looked up and solemnly placed his hand on his heart.

‘All the gold is yours, my loyal crew,’ he said in a trembling voice. ‘If I take one piece of it for my own, I myself will take to the oars. I swear it on my soul!’

‘I hear your words, James Gant, and they will bind you!’ cried Verity from the prow, her voice as shrill as a sea-bird’s call.

Laughing Jack’s eyes widened for an instant, then he sneered.

‘So!’ he said. ‘According to the witch, my oath cannot be broken. Now, what of you, men? Do not fear, your time at the oars will not be long. Your replacements will soon be found.’

He grinned evilly. ‘You know that the gaming room is a web. You know that human flies blunder into it gladly, and often. And you know that never, unless I will it, do they struggle free. Sooner or later the fools borrow, then cannot repay their debt.’

‘That is because for every coin they borrow they must pay back three, Captain,’ sniggered Scrawn. ‘But that lying sign on the treasure chest says no such thing.’

Lief’s stomach turned over. He heard Barda give a low groan.

‘Why, Scrawn, my little sign does not lie!’ said Laughing Jack, raising his eyebrows in mock innocence. ‘It says plainly, “Take what you need—pay what you owe before you depart.” It is not my fault if my guests mistake its meaning, and assume that the two sums are the same.’

The crew laughed uproariously.

‘You twist the truth for gain, James Gant!’ Verity called. ‘You use the powers granted to you to revel in lies and wickedness. But I will set my mark upon this ship. I may die, but the truth will live for those who wish to see it, and the truth will set them free.’

Laughing Jack’s grin did not falter. He paid no more attention to Verity’s words than to the shrieks of the swooping birds. His eyes were fixed on his men, willing them to listen only to him.

‘So!’ he said heartily. ‘Do we have a bargain?’

The men were grinning, nodding, rubbing their hands. Plainly they were convinced—dazzled by the promise of riches beyond their wildest dreams.

‘No!’ screamed Coffin. ‘You fools! You will doom us all!’

Beef’s lip curled. His dagger hand jerked forward.

With a low groan, Coffin crumpled and fell lifeless to the deck, blood oozing from the deep wound in his back.

‘Very well, Captain,’ Scrawn said softly, as Beef wiped his blade clean on his jacket. ‘We will take the places of the slaves until others are found to replace us. Agreed, mates?’

‘Agreed!’ the men around him bellowed.

‘I hear your words, crewmen, and they will bind you!’ cried Verity.

And in the blink of an eye, Laughing Jack stood alone on the deck with the captive girl and the sprawled body of Coffin, while from below came the hideous sounds of sliding chains and men shrieking in terror.

Laughing Jack stood dumbfounded, his wide mouth gaping.

Look! See! This is the truth of it! The truth…

‘Your men are at their oars, James Gant,’ whispered Verity. ‘They have taken the places of the slaves indeed, and the chains the slaves bore are their chains now. They are bound by their oath, as you are bound by yours. I warned—’

Her voice broke off in a choking gasp. With a hiss of rage, Laughing Jack had spun around and stabbed her to the heart.

Lief heard himself cry out in horror. Through a scarlet mist he watched as Laughing Jack pulled his dripping knife free.

Sea-birds wheeled and screamed above the dying girl’s head as her life’s blood drained away, flowing down, down over her white nightdress, over her bare feet, down to the sea.

And as the first gleaming red drops touched the water, the sea heaved as though in anguish.

Cool, foaming water sprayed on Verity’s twisted body. The healing, loving tide flowed over her. And when it fell back all that remained on the prow was a wooden figurehead, its hands clasped to its breast.

With a roar, huge waves rose and crashed onto the deck of The Lady Luck, knocking Laughing Jack from his feet, tumbling him over and over in swirling foam. Coffin’s dead body tumbled with him, battered and beaten against the deck.

More waves rose, and more, pounding down as if the sea was a mighty beast trying to tear the ship to pieces. Awash with foaming water, the ship rocked violently, tipping first to one side then the other. With a groaning shriek the tall mast snapped and crashed to the deck.

Below, the chained men screamed in terror, screamed for release as water poured into their prison and engulfed them. But Laughing Jack paid no attention to them. He did not even glance at the door that led to the rowing bay.

Intent only on his own survival, he was crawling to the lifeboat, tumbling into it, sawing with his knife at the ropes that held the boat above the water.

‘Master, save me!’ he babbled. ‘Master, I beg you…!

Red-rimmed clouds swept in from the east. The sound of the storm mingled with the crashing of the waves. And in the midst of the storm, a voice spoke, hissing like meat on a spit:

‘You are a fool, slave. You deserve to perish. But I still have need of you…’

There was a flash of brilliant light, and a terrifying clap of thunder. Lief and Barda staggered back, clutching one another, deafened and half-blinded.

And when they looked again, the golden frame was filled once more with the painted view of the Bone Point Light.

The six errors Lief had corrected were glowing still, and the Light was shining like a star. When they turned to look at the rest of the room, however, all they saw was darkness. The candles had died at last.

They stood, motionless, calming themselves, vainly trying to make out the shapes of tables, chairs, the carved door and the treasure chest at the other end of the room. But all they could see was the painting behind them, and the small patch of red carpet at their feet. It was as if they were on a tiny island in the midst of a coal black sea.

‘Our time has run out, it seems,’ Barda muttered.

It was then that Lief became aware that the groans and cries from below had ceased. They had been replaced by a tense, waiting silence that was even more terrifying.

For a moment the silence held. Then Lief stiffened. A stealthy, sliding, brushing sound was coming from somewhere ahead, at floor level.

‘What is that?’ he hissed. He jumped as he heard the sound again, this time from somewhere to his right.

Suddenly there were brushing, sliding sounds by the dozen, coming from every direction. There were gusts of freezing air, thick with a smell so vile that he could hardly breathe.

And there was the drone of muttering voices.

‘Beware!’ Barda exclaimed, jerking him back.

Only then did Lief see his danger. A square section of the scarlet floor directly in front of him was sliding away, sliding slowly aside with that same, faint brushing sound, revealing a yawning pit of inky darkness.

The stench of decay and stagnant water rose from the pit. And, in the darkness, things moved. The painting’s soft glow fell first on the mottled tips of grasping, ruined fingers, then on arm bones, reaching, clad in tatters and clinking with chains. Below were the ghastly, upturned faces of dead rowers, hollow eyes burning, grinning mouths muttering, muttering…

‘My replacement… mine, mine…’

Lief shrank back as the grasping fingers felt around the edge of the pit, close, so close to his feet that he imagined he could feel the cold breathing from the scraps of flesh that still clung to the bones.

He did not dare speak. His ears were filled with the sound of his frantically beating heart.

He longed to run from the evil-smelling pit, the seeking, clawing hands. But looking out into the darkness, he knew that traps like the one before them must riddle the floor of the room.

He and Barda could not move. One false step, and they would be lost.

He touched the Belt of Deltora. The topaz, the gem of faith. The lapis-lazuli, the heavenly stone. The amethyst, for peace, and truth.

Faith. Truth…

Verity’s words seemed to ring in his ears.

I may die, but the truth will live for those who wish to see it, and the truth will set them free.

Slowly, carefully, Lief turned to face the painting. Without comment, Barda turned too. Barda knew, now, that this was their one hope.

They were so close to the wall that their faces were almost touching the image. It was hard to see it. But…

Seven errors. Seven… There must be…

The road!’ Barda whispered suddenly. ‘The road to the lighthouse is missing! It was neglected and overgrown when we saw it, but surely in the time of Red Han it was—’

‘Of course!’ Lief pressed his finger on the place where the road should have wound from the hills.

His fingertip grew hot. The painting seemed to shimmer as the road appeared, a snaking, glowing ribbon leading away to the distant hills. And the Light… the Light was suddenly blazing like a beacon.

I will shine like Truth through the darkness…

Lief spun around. The Light pierced the dark. Its broad, brilliant beam made a bright path over the red carpet, lighting up the black squares that squirmed with grasping fingers. The path led directly to the sealed, carved door.

And the door was opening!

Howls rose from below.

‘Run!’ Barda roared.

Together they ran along the path of light, dodging the pits filled with claws reaching up to seize their ankles. They reached the doorway and hurtled through it, pounding up onto the deck.

The angry cries of the cheated rowers floated after them. The deck trembled beneath their feet as unseen hands beat it from below. At the prow, just visible through the mist, the figurehead that had been Verity stared forward gravely, hands pressed to its heart.

Both heard the soft voice in their minds at the same time.

Flee this place. Trust the clean sea.

And without hesitation both of them ran to the side of the ship and leaped overboard—plunging recklessly into the cold, dark water.