HDA - Living in Darkness Trilogy - Pt 2 - The Search

The contents of the scrolls became a hotly debated topic on the way back to Tortuga. Joe made the mistake of mentioning he could speak Spanish and a small amount of French to which Elizabeth had made scathing remarks about the French and the Spanish. It had taken nearly an hour for her to calm down.

Half the crew were borderline illiterate, barely able to scrawl their name. It seemed really that only Gibbs, Sparrow and Will and Elizabeth could actually read but none of them knew Latin or Hebrew. The other two scrolls were in a script unfamiliar to them all.

Another hotly debated topic was would Jack take Will and Elizabeth to Port Royal and bypass Tortuga altogether. For one thing, the scholar who might be able to translate the scrolls lived in Port Royal and for another Elizabeth seemed quite anxious to return home. Jack didn't seem too pleased with the idea of going there but finally bowed to pressure and agreed to go, even though it would add at least five more days to the journey.

The only good thing about the longer voyage, Joe decided was that Will had had more time to teach him the finer points of swordsmanship. Joe stepped off the ship and glanced down at his clothes. And he'd finally gotten different clothes, so he didn't look quite so out of place. According to Elizabeth, the breeches and shirt had once belonged to a British soldier. She'd stolen them when she'd jumped ship to rescue Will from Barbossa.

Joe glanced at the shirt to make sure the gold pin was securely attached. If the pin was truly good luck, he refused to go anywhere without it. He followed the rest of the crew past the docks and fort to the town of Port Royal.

But he didn't know what he'd expected. It looked just like the port town on Tortuga, although not quite as raucous. Joe scanned the dirt streets and sighed. He felt someone touch his shoulder. "The blacksmith shop is this way," said Will as he passed him.

Joe nodded and followed Will down a cobblestone street and into a small wooden building. It was overly warm inside, Joe noted, also seeing dozens of swords in various stages of completion. He looked around and then turned to Will. "Do you make all these?"

Will gave him a proud smile. "Yes." He took a deep breath and looked around. "It's late and I see Mr. Brown has left for the day."

"Mr. Brown?"

"The proprietor. I'm his apprentice."

Joe nodded and absently patted the small donkey on the neck as he passed by. "So Mr. Brown owns the place and you make the swords?"

An odd expression crossed Will's face. "Yes."

"Do you get a commission?"

"A what?" asked Will blankly.

"A commission. If you are the only one who makes the swords, you should get a percentage of the profits." Joe gave him an embarrassed look. "Sorry, overflow from economics class."

Will frowned. "You speak very strangely."

Joe sighed and just nodded. Someone banging on the door distracted both of them and Will went to open the door. Anamaria was standing there looking rather breathless. "The scholar's at the guv'nor's mansion. Elizabeth sent me after you."

Will nodded and headed for the door, motioning for Joe to follow. The governor's mansion looked down on the town of Port Royal and the three of them hurried up to the estate. Elizabeth herself answered the door. "Come on then. He's in Father's study."

Elizabeth led the way down a corridor to a set of double doors. Two men paused in their conversation and faced the now open door. Both men wore knee-length light blue coats over cream-colored vests, black knee breeches, and white stockings. The man standing had long white hair done in elaborate curls while the man sitting, looking through the parchment scrolls, had black hair with curls by each ear and a ribbon holding the rest back at the nape of his neck.

"Elizabeth," said the man standing, with his hands clasped behind his back. "Where again did you get these?"

Elizabeth spared a quick look Will's way. Will stepped forward. "We found them, sir."

The man let out a soft grunt and then looked at Joe. "And who is this?"

Joe stepped forward, ready to introduce himself when Will answered for him. "This is Joseph...Joseph Lock, Governor Swann," he added, remembering how Joe had picked the lock on the treasure chest.

Swann frowned and studied Joe as Joe gave Will a startled look. Before either of them could say a word, the other man cleared his throat. "This is fascinating, quite fascinating." He smiled at Elizabeth rather distractedly, did a double-take and hastily got to his feet. "Pardon my rudeness, my lady."

Elizabeth gave a sketchy curtsey and stepped forward. "Have you translated them, sir?"

The man nodded to Will and Joe. "Charles Tucker."

The three men shook hands and then Tucker sat back down. He nodded to Elizabeth in a courtly manner. "To answer your question, my lady, I've managed the Latin text quite easily. Seems to be a cargo manifest, nothing more but the contents..." He shook his head. "Fascinating." He tapped the other scrolls. "The Hebrew one..is confusing. It speaks of hidden treasures and stolen secrets. I admit I may not be translating it correctly. Reading Hebrew tends to give me a headache."

"And the other two?" asked Will, striving to be as patient as he could.

Charles Tucker bounced on the toes of his frilly looking shoes. "Ahh...believe it or not, Aramaic. But from the difficulty in assessing some of the words, I believe it was translated from an earlier language, possibly Sumerian."

Joe blinked. "You know all these languages?"

Tucker gave a short bow. "I would not boast of that. I am familiar with the languages. It was my field of study, by choice. My mother had wished me to join the seminary, my father the military." He turned to one of the scrolls. "Judging from the use of some common words over and over, in context in different meanings, tells me they could not completely translate the original text. But what is here..."

Elizabeth took another step forward. "What does it say?"

"It appears to be the creation story but I've never seen it told this way. It also makes mention of the original author. Cain."

Swann made an odd sound. "Cain! Don't be preposterous, Charles. There's only one source for the creation story."

Tucker's excitement faltered slightly and he cleared his throat. "Yes, Governor, of course." He snatched up the scroll and unrolled it. " 'Kept the way with a sword of fire...allowed not they were for all time.' " He skimmed down a bit. " 'First born of my loins...Enoch...' "

Swann's irritation grew. "This is blasphemy."

Joe looked from Swann to Tucker. He wasn't up on his Bible stories but he knew the story of Adam and Eve. If this was the same Cain that killed his brother Abel...His eyes widened as he saw Swann step forward, ready to snatch the parchment scroll out of Tucker's hands.

For some reason his eyes were drawn to the flames in the fireplace. He knew somehow that it would the worst thing for Swann to destroy the scrolls. No one was ready yet for this. He darted in front of Swann and took the scrolls himself. Then he ran out of the room and down the hallway.

Will stood there a moment, frozen. Elizabeth let out an aggravated sound and started after Joe. Will blinked, nodded to both Tucker and Swann and bolted after her.

"What do you think you're doing?" demanded Elizabeth on the front steps of the governor's mansion.

Joe took a deep breath. "These can't be destroyed. They have to be reburied."

"Reburied?" Will shook his head. "Why?"

"Good question," came a voice from behind them.

Joe spun around to see Jack Sparrow. He was clad in his same coat and hat but a few strands of pearls hung from his neck and it appeared that there were new rings on his fingers. Two small pouches jingled with every move he made. Jack tossed something to Elizabeth. "I've no use for that trinket."

Elizabeth caught the odd little lamp in her hands. "What do you think I'd want with it?" she asked archly.

Joe clutched the scrolls tighter to his chest, only belatedly realizing that he was probably crushing them. "The world's not ready for what's in these scrolls."

"Then burn them," said Jack, dismissively.

"No. We need to rebury them." Joe turned to Elizabeth. "You heard Mr. Tucker. You saw your father's reaction. This could change everything, how people view the world, it could change the entire fabric of what we all believe in."

"Ahh.. there's a brazier all nice and hot." Jack moved to snatch the scrolls but Joe moved away. "I'll not rid myself of what I've just found," said Jack. "I've searched for this treasure for a long time."

Elizabeth rolled her eyes heavenward, unconsciously rubbing the side of the lamp with her thumb. "Just once, Jack Sparrow, I wish you'd go off somewhere for awhile and leave things alone. Let Joe take charge of this. I think he's---"

Her voice trailed off suddenly. Will blinked, wondering if it was a trick of the light. Jack Sparrow was gone. An odd concussive force swept through Port Royal, around and through the three people standing next to the governor's mansion.

Joe blinked and looked around. "What happened?"

Will slowly shook his head. "I don't know..." He squinted over at Joe and shrugged. "When do we set sail, Captain?"

Joe stared at the man as if he'd grown another head. But before he could say anything, his world seemed to settle in again. "First light. We must get this treasure hidden again."

"Aye, Captain, first light." Will turned to Elizabeth and smiled. "My lady."

Elizabeth looked confused for a moment and then curtsied again. "My lord," she said with an impish smile.

Joe watched them re-enter the mansion and push the door closed. A dark figure ran toward Joe and he debated on whether it was a friend or foe, when he caught sight of Gibbs' his face. Gibbs was breathing hard and it took him a moment. "Captain, ye might want to take those aboard the Pearl, less likely anyone could take them."

"Yes...Gibbs, your're right." Joe hesitated a moment, trying to think of what he'd been doing before. It had been something important, right? He was sure it had been something important...

***

Anamaria didn't much like being on land. It wasn't so much that she felt uncomfortable off the ship, it was that she was always sure that it would be the next stop, the next island, the next port...her past would catch up with her. She'd been born on one of the many sugarcane plantations in the Caribbean, born to work, to slave...but that had never been what woke her up in the morning, what she dreamed of at night. She'd wanted the ocean as far back as she could remember. And in her sixteenth winter, she ran.

She was nineteen now, tougher and wiser, but she still feared the moment when her past reached her. And as she left the tavern and saw the tall blond haired man staring icily at her, she wondered if tonight was the night her past would catch up to her.

"Do you know what the penalty is for being a runaway slave?" he asked in a thick accent.

Anamaria saw she was too far from the tavern to run back inside. She narrowed her eyes and remembered the knife strapped to her thigh. "I won't go back."

The man spun around in a blur and laid the edge of his blade at her throat. "I think you will." With his free hand, he grabbed her by the hair, knocking off her hat. "Come with me."

"Let go of me!"

As the man dragged her with him, she caught sight of Ragetti and Pintel at the entrance to the tavern. Their eyes widened and they took off running, but not to help her. Tears pricked her eyes more so from the punishing grip the man had on her hair. Damn that pirate code, she thought as the man led her to another tavern that offered lodging as well as food and drink.

***

Joe felt odd. Something had just happened...someone...He shook his head, confused just as Pintel and Ragetti ran up to him. For a moment, they seemed surprised to see him and then Pintel shook his head. "Someone's grabbed Anamaria."

Joe blinked. "What?"

"Someone grabbed--" began Ragetti.

Joe shoved the scrolls into Ragetti's hands. "Do not damage these. Where'd he take her."

Pintel shrugged. "I guess the other tavern, The Wild Boar. It has rooms."

Joe nodded and pulled the sword smoothly out of its scabbard. "I'll tend to this." He veered for the sign that hung prominently off a narrow side street and went into the tavern. He strode over to the counter and slapped the flat of his blade on the scarred surface. "Someone dragged a woman in here, dark haired, with dark skin."

The old woman behind the counter glared at him and his sword. "Upstairs."

Joe nodded and took the rickety stairs two at a time. He heard Anamaria scream close by and kicked in the first door he saw. He narrowed his eyes, seeing Anamaria pinned to the bed by a muscular blond man. "Get off of her."

The man levered himself off of her and scowled at Joe. "She yours?"

Joe shook his head. "She's free."

The man spit into the fire. "She's a slave. I've come to collect her for her master."

"You can go back empty-handed then." Everything Will had taught him came back and he countered every thrust, every lunge with ease. It was weird, almost as if he were watching himself from a distance, fighting with the stranger. He backed him up against the wall, the sword blade at the man's throat. "Anamaria, rope."

Anamaria gathered up a piece of rope and tied the man's hands behind his back. Joe shoved him on the bed and she proceeded to tie his feet. Joe placed the point of the sword at the man's throat. "You will go back and tell the man who sent you, you couldn't find her."

The man broke forth in a torrent of foreign words. Vaguely, Joe thought of Sweden or Denmark but for the life of him, didn't know why. He strode to the door, steering Anamaria to the hallway. He pulled the door shut. "Are you all right?"

She nodded, looking more angry than scared. "Yes."

"He didn't hurt you?"

"No."

Joe nodded and started for the stairs. "Come with me then. We'll be sailing in the morning."

She nodded and touched her head. "My hat."

"I'll get you another."

Anamaria shook her head. "I want that hat."

"Anamaria.." Joe's voice trailed off as she darted back to the room. He wondered if the man had gotten loose and started after her, but she came out, closing the door solidly.

Joe thought he saw a tiny red spatter on her blouse. "You sure you're okay?"

Anamaria thought about what she'd just down and nodded. "I am now."

It wasn't until they reached the Black Pearl that Joe realized what was wrong. Anamaria still didn't have her hat...

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Disclaimer

The Hardy Boys belong to Simon and Schuster and the Stratemeyer Foundation. The authors have just borrowed them for an adventure or two. The authors promise to put the boys back when they are done with them. The authors do claim copyright to the original characters in this story. Please do not borrow original characters without express permission of the authors.