Once everyone had safely crossed the bridge, we continued on, leaving the Crimson Forest and Cliffs of Abandon behind us. The fact that I saved Louis' life an hour ago didn't seem to mean much to him, considering he had been ignoring me ever since then. Perhaps he was simply trying to process how he could have died if I hadn't been there, but it was difficult not to take it personally. Especially since it already seemed like he didn't want to have anything to do with me.
At first the other pirates were openly celebrating that their captain was alright, but after a while I caught several giving me cold looks. I didn't understand why until Harry appeared beside me, his hands still bound in front of him as he walked.
"You're wondering why everyone seems to be upset with you." Harry guessed.
I would have hurried my pace to get away from him, but it sounded like he knew why the pirates weren't impressed. "Are you going to tell me why or not?"
At the corner of my eye I noticed him glance at me. "You could have let Captain Louis die. They all expect you to let him die, after all that's what the prophecy suggests. It would have been easy for you stand back and do nothing."
"But I didn't. I saved him. Doesn't that count for anything?" I frowned.
"They don't think so. Because in the end you'll be the cause of everyone's destruction. The only question is when." Harry said gravely.
His words only added to my frustration. I had already decided I wasn't going to kill Louis like he thought I would. And I certainly wasn't going to kill anyone else, much less the entire lot of them. If only there was a way to convince them that I was harmless and on their side.
"Indie!" Louis called from the front of the group. He didn't look back to make sure I would come, only continued through the sea of ferns on the forest floor.
Before I could go to him, Harry stopped me. "Wait. I have to know if you've forgiven me?"
"Harry... You were playing me, being nice and sympathetic because you thought you could use me to get the gold. Don't deny it." I said sharply.
"No, Indira that's not true. I considered you a friend. Still do." Harry said and his tone sounded convincing, but I wasn't about to blindly trust him again. It wasn't like me to so quickly trust anyone, so why had I trusted him?
"You're loyal to Jane, which means you're an enemy to Louis, which means you're an enemy to me." I said before quickening my pace to get ahead of him.
"Why are you so quickly taking Louis' side? You know nothing about Jane! Louis' the one you should fear. Come on, Indira, I'm your friend!" Harry called after me, but I ignored him. He was just like every other man I'd known; taking advantage of any weakness I showed.
When I caught up to Louis, he said immediately, "There you are. I need you to see if you can get the map to work on the island. I want to be sure we're going in the right direction."
He handed the magic map over and thrust it into my hands as we kept walking. Taking it, I watched as the illustrations of the island swirled and danced around the golden parchment until a golden gate appeared.
Louis sighed in exasperation. "That's all it'll show us? A bloody gate? How about a path to the Cave of Embers? How the bloody hell are we suppose to find a gate-"
"Captain!" One of the scouts came rushing through the trees ahead. "There's a gate ahead and I think it leads to the cave."
Louis grabbed the map from me and stuffed it into the satchel strapped over his shoulder.
"The map doesn't directly show us the journey, only landmarks along the way." I said to Louis and he huffed.
"Wonderful. At this rate we'll reach the cave before nightfall." Louis said, but didn't seem eager to run ahead to see the gate for himself.
I wondered if he was nervous about his fate. "Perhaps we could spend the night here and continue tomorrow?"
Louis glanced at me, considering my words. But he must have known what I was getting at. "No, we'll continue on. Let's just find the bloody treasure and get out of here."
It wasn't long until we came across a path, a man made path. I felt goosebumps on my skin as I searched the forest around us for any sign of the strangers from last night, but there were none. We followed the path and eventually as we rounded a corner, a large gold gate stood before us. The sun reflected off of the pure gold, making it shine. The top was rounded and while the gate was closed, there were no walls on either side of it.
We all stood staring at the majestic structure for a moment until Liam went and tried to open it. He had no luck however, even though it wasn't locked. It remained shut, rattling under Liam's efforts to force it open.
"Clearly that's not working mate." Louis sighed impatiently.
Liam gave up and went to walk around it, since there was nothing stopping us from simply bypassing it by going around and continuing on. But as soon as Liam tried, he appeared to run into something, as if there were an invisible wall. He stumbled and fell onto his backside. There was a nervous silence that fell over the group for a second.
"What kind of sorcery is this?" One pirate asked, attempting to go around the gate himself.
He too was stopped by an invisible wall and so were others who tried. The pirates kept trying to open the gate, climb over it, or go around it, but nothing worked. I swiftly grew tired of watching them all try the same thing so I turned to Louis.
"Perhaps I could open it? After all, I'm the only one who can read the magic map, maybe this is the same?" I asked.
Louis shrugged, seeming defeated. "Go ahead."
I moved to give it a try, but before I could reach it, something small zipped through the air, striking the pirate in front of me. He stumbled to the ground. Seeing what looked like a dart stuck in his neck, I gasped. All at once, I heard the same sound the dart had made several more times and other pirates dropped to the ground. The rest drew their swords and pistols, ready to fight.
"Indie!" Louis called from behind me.
Spinning around, I saw he had been darted and he collapsed to his knees, yanking the dart from his skin. I ran over, clutching his upper body to keep him upright. He quickly started going limp.
"Louis! No, stay awake!" I cried out, scanning the forest for whoever was doing this.
"Run." He managed to get out before he dropped to the ground.
As the pirates who were still standing ran into the trees yelling with swords drawn, I spotted one of the foreigners in the bushes. He was tall, brown skinned, wearing very little clothing, and he was pointing a stick directly at me, one end of it in his mouth. I wasn't about to go down without a fight, so I grabbed the hilt of Louis' sword ready to fight for my life. But he blew on the stick in his mouth and a dart shot right at me, hitting my shoulder.
I didn't even managed to get the sword out of the hilt before my muscles gave up and I collapsed beside Louis. I couldn't move, not a single inch. But I wasn't dead and didn't feel like I was about to die. Maybe they weren't trying to kill us. My mind became a little fuzzy, but I was still aware of my surroundings.
Shouts came from the trees and a few gunshots were fired. But before long, the foreigners must have struck down all of the pirates. Silence fell on the forest again and the strangers who all looked similar to the first one I saw, began dragging all the pirates to one area. My hands were forced together and bound with thick vines as were my legs. These people who were capturing us all looked alike, deeply tanned skin, dark hair, and wearing very little clothing which was crudely made, but colorful. Many had paint on their faces. They all held sharp spears and bows and arrows.
Fear swept through me as I wondered what was about to become of us. We were all completely helpless. Then my hands and feet were tied to opposite ends of a long pole. It was lifted up and settled over the shoulders of two muscular men. I was hanging there between them as they started carrying me away. Panic filled me as I thought they were going to separate me from the others, but through my hazy vision, I saw other pirates being carried along the same way.
I had lost track of the captain. None of us knew what was going to happen to us or where we were being taken. All we could do was let them take us. The short journey was a blur of green plant life, glowing flowers, and golden rocks. I had blacked out at some point and abruptly came to when I was set on the ground roughly and my limps were freed. With my muscles starting to wake up again, I managed to sit up and caught sight of a few mud huts nearby. I thought they were going to kill me, but instead they pushed me backward.
I expected to fall on my back, but there wasn't anything behind me. I screamed, thinking I was falling off a cliff, bit a second later I landed at the bottom of a pit. It was tall enough where I couldn't get out even if I tried. Shakily, I sat up and looked above at a few curious faces staring down at me.
Then before I could react, Louis was being shoved into the pit and he fell right on top of me. With a loud, "oof!" he knocked the wind out of me. He had tried to break his fall so he wouldn't completely squish me, but it hadn't worked. I groaned.
"I'm sorry." He murmured with great effort while he laid on top of me for a second.
"Are you okay?" I asked, my voice raspy.
He lifted his head to look at me, but didn't answer.
The poison from the darts seemed to wear off quicker while his face was so close to mine. I'd never experienced sensations quite like this except whenever Louis was near. "You can...um, you can get up now."
"Why do we keep finding ourselves in this position?" Louis asked, trying to lighten the mood with a halfhearted smirk, but he just looked tired.
I blushed furiously and rolled my eyes. "Louis..."
The moment was interrupted when another body landed beside us and we both jumped, Louis sliding off me at the sight of Harry.
"Not you." Louis grumbled.
Harry ignored us though as he jumped to his feet with much more energy than Louis and I possessed at the moment. He started trying to climb out of the pit, but failing because it was impossible.
"Hey! Don't touch her! Don't you lay a single hand on her, you savages!" He yelled at the top of his lungs as his fingers dug into the dry dirt and golden rocks unsuccessfully.
I thought he was talking about me for a second until the mermaid came into view and she was also pushed into the pit. Harry caught her before she could hit the ground and I caught sight of a contraption over her head. It was strapped around her head, making it impossible to take off. It was like a cage and there was a thick piece of leather over her mouth, preventing her from making any sounds.
"They somehow knew she's a mermaid." Harry spoke aloud as he immediately started trying to get it off her. "This damn thing is locked on."
"It's better if it stays on anyway. It could make us kill each other." Louis said, leaning against the wall of the pit.
I knew he was recalling the time in the brig when she had nearly made me kill him. But that contraption was inhumane. She couldn't talk, eat, or even sleep if it stayed on.
"She wouldn't do that." Harry said in frustration. "Well maybe she would to you since you're the one who took her away from her home."
Louis glared, but didn't respond. I sat near him by the wall as Harry didn't stop trying to get the thing off her. She looked scared and tired, her pretty eyes darting from me to Louis as she let Harry try to free her. Her hands held the over sized shirt closed over body. Her skin looked dry and her hair purple hair wasn't as shiny as it had been.
"Does she need water?" I asked.
"Yes, she's been out of the ocean too long." Harry answered. "Like we need air to breathe, she needs water to live."
"How much longer can she survive without it?" I asked.
"I don't know. She's already growing weak." Harry paused his fumblings with the thick straps around her head and he searched her face. "Will you be okay for a while without water?"
She nodded.
"See, it'll be fine." Louis said.
"Will you stop calling her an it? She's not an animal." Harry lashed out, standing up and coming over to our side of the pit.
"What are you gonna do about it in this state?" Louis taunted from his place leaned against the wall.
"They didn't dart me because I surrendered. So unlike you, I have all of my strength and I could knock you unconscious." Harry threatened.
"I'd like to see you try." Louis didn't seem fazed, which worried me. Because he was clearly in no state to fight back.
Sensing that this could end badly, I shifted over to sit in front of Louis, which took most of the strength I had left. "Both of you stop. We need to work together. It's the only way we'll all survive so put away your differences. Louis, have some respect for the mermaid, whom you kidnapped. She's dying because of you. And Harry, relax and turn your focus on helping her. Alright?"
The two men glared at each other, but thankfully Harry retreated. I was feeling dizzy and had to lay down. As I leaned down, I felt Louis' hands guide my head to lay on his leg. I didn't have the strength to do any different so I gave in, looking up at him. His expression was blank.
"What do you think they're going to do with us?" I murmured.
"Probably kill us." He replied. At my horrified expression, he chuckled. "I'm just being honest."
"Who do you think they are? They must live here." I mused.
"I got to see a bit of their village. They looked pretty established to me. Most of the buildings were crude and made of wood, bamboo, or mud. But there were some special looking buildings made of gold, which would have taken hundreds of years to build by hand. They probably have always lived here and have probably never seen anyone else in their lives. Perhaps they protect the Cave of Embers and that's why they stopped us from going through the gate." Louis pondered out loud.
"Those are good theories." I said. "I wish I could have tried to open the gate before they ambushed us. I want to know if I could."
"My guess is yes. The island seems to like you. The map only responds to you, those lightning bugs seemed to be worshiping you, not to mention you're the only one who could see the stars that led us here." Said Louis.
"The prophecy says I'm the key. Maybe it had to choose someone to be the key and it chose me." I said, taking the map from Louis' pocket and reading the words on the back.
Louis' tone changed as if he were thinking out loud. His voice was gentle. "Yes but, Indie you look like them...I just wonder. And you know nothing about yourself. No family. You're connected to this place somehow and I'm just wondering if its because..."
I felt something inside me ignite at his words and I set the map down, looking up at him. "Because what?"
He shook his head. "I don't know."
But even though he hadn't said what he was thinking, the idea sprang into my mind. I couldn't say it out loud though, because what if I was wrong? Staring up at the opening of the pit, I watched as the islanders placed crisscrossed bamboo that was tied together over the top so we couldn't get out. Through the squares of the bamboo, I studied the islander that was in view.
Deeply tanned skin, dark hair. They did look like me.
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Feel free to let me know what you thought of the chapter!