Pirates of the Caribbean: Barbossa and the King's Messenger (Book 1)

Calypso's Quarry

Chapter Twenty Eight - Calypso's Quarry

At the foot of the stone steps, Barbossa picked up a lantern and lit it from the rushlight. He followed me warily as we walked along the dark passage. "Stale, heavy air," he remarked.

"It's better a bit further along, near the air shaft. We'll be alright," I answered, trying to show more confidence than I felt. After several minutes, we came to a second set of steps that spiralled deeper into the earth. I started down slowly, feeling each step with my foot.

"How far down does it lead?" Barbossa asked.

"I'm not sure, but at the end of the last tunnel, there's a round chamber with a tidal pool. Beyond that is a passage with stone stairs running down perhaps another twenty feet. They lead to an opening through the cliff face. At low tide, it's about five feet above the beach," I replied.

Barbossa frowned, calculating. "Between high tide an' the storm swell, the seas tonight be runnin' far higher than that," he muttered; then he smiled. "If he's gone that way, he's trapped," he said grimly, his eyes glinting with triumph. "The way through the cliff must be underwater by now; there be no escape beyond the chamber."

We had walked along the downward sloping passage to the air shaft, but now we stopped. At our feet lay a large pool of dark water. The shaft had been dug many feet deeper than the passage, in order to collect water; but the smaller conduits meant to drain it had been blocked for many years, and the surface of the pool looked as black and still as oil.

"We can walk through the water if we keep to the left," I told him. "There's a ledge on that side only about a foot underwater. Hold fast to the rungs in the wall." We began to edge our way cautiously through the water. Often when I reached for a rung, my sabre's hilt would scrape and catch on the rough wall of the tunnel, nearly causing me to lose my footing.

At about the midpoint, Barbossa suddenly stopped and raised the lantern. I knew what he was looking at: high on the damp wall was an ancient mosaic made from sea shells and tiny stones. Not larger than one foot square, it showed blue and purple wave-like patterns with a white crab in the foreground. "Ye told me naught about this," he said, squinting at the mosaic.

"What about it? They're everywhere along here. When we were children, Jack and I would play at hunting for treasure and we called these our 'maps'. Some are crabs, some are little crowns, and some . . ." my voice trailed off as realisation dawned. "It's a sign of Calypso, isn't it?"

He nodded. "Yer father never told ye this leads to Calypso's Quarry? He let ye run wild in the goddess' abode?" he growled, raising his eyebrows.

"Well, . . . no. Actually, I was strictly forbidden to be here," I admitted, embarrassed.

His eyes glinted at me in the flickering light. "Sparrow's influence again," he muttered, "As usual."

I made no reply. As we started forward again, I used my elbow to push the hilt of my sabre out of the way; but to my horror, this pressure caused the worn, dry leather of the sword frog to crack and split. The sabre slipped off in an instant, and my weapon disappeared into the pool with a soft 'plunk'. I gasped and reached out towards the water, but Barbossa seized me with one hand and forced me back against the wall.

"Ye can stop right there," he ordered me. "Let it go. And take it as a sign ye should keep out o' this fight. Turn back; I told ye I didn't want ye mixed up in it."

"And I told you that my place is at your side. You don't know whether I might be able to help." But my words belied the growing anxiety that was gnawing at my stomach. Passing through this shadowy realm was increasing my dread of whatever magic Hanibal might use to destroy us, and the loss of my sword seemed an evil portent that froze my blood even as I tried to brazen it out.