Sebastian Darke: Prince of Pirates (8 page)

'What about the curse?' said Sebastian as they walked back to the caravan. 'You heard what she said.'

'Pah! I don't give any credence to that sort of codswallop.' Cornelius clambered up onto the seat of the caravan.

'Yes, but I bet until today you wouldn't have believed that a man could turn into a panther,' argued Sebastian, climbing up beside him.

Max looked back over his shoulder. 'A man turned into a panther?' he echoed.

'Yes, Max,' said Cornelius. 'It was Adam, Leonora's brother.

And she can do it too. They're shape-shifters!'

'I knew there was something funny about that witch,' said Max.

'Don't call her that!' Sebastian slapped a hand over his mouth. Even the ordeal he had just endured hadn't cured him of his instinctive need to defend her. 'Sorry, but . . . well, you're not being fair.'

'Fair?' cried Cornelius. 'Not fair? Let me see now: first they put you under an enchantment. Then they try to steal our treasure map. Then they turn into bloody great panthers and try to kill us—'

'Yes, but it was Adam who did all the bad stuff. Leonora probably did her best to talk him out of it.'

'Oh yes? And who do you suppose found out about our mission in the first place? Who was it who sent Adam out to collect us and bring us back to the cave?'

Sebastian looked at him blankly. 'But . . . she just wanted to help us, didn't she?'

Cornelius made a gesture of exasperation. 'Come on, let's just leave. The sooner we're out of this infernal forest, the better.'

'Hang on a moment!' complained Max. 'I've got great big claw marks on my bottom, my lungs are about to burst, my legs are aching and you two won't give me any time to rest!'

Cornelius shrugged. 'Take as long as you like,' he said. 'But I should perhaps mention that Leonora is still out there: she can still change into a ravening beast and she blames us for the death of her brother.'

Max frowned. He considered for a moment, then shrugged his massive shoulders. 'Perhaps I'll have a rest later,' he said.

And without further argument he set off along the track.

After the excitement of the morning, the rest of the day's journey was mercifully uneventful. The well-travelled track led onwards across rolling stretches of moor, rising occasionally to ridges and falling down again into shallow valleys. Occasionally large flocks of black birds traversed the unbroken blue vista of sky but otherwise they saw no signs of life.

'Would somebody mind telling me what actually happened back there?' asked Max eventually.

Cornelius glared at him. 'Which bit did you not understand?' he growled. 'We stayed the night with a pair of shape-shifters, one of them put an enchantment on Sebastian, and then they turned into panthers and we killed one of them. Simple really. Oh yes – and the female one put a curse on us. Mustn't forget that bit. Not that I believe in any such mumbo-jumbo.'

'Well, I hope you're right,' said Max. 'We've had enough bad luck on this trip; a curse would be the last straw. Shape-shifters, you say! Mind you, I can't say I'm surprised. I knew there was something funny about that Adam the minute I saw him. His eyes were too close together.'

'Hmm . . . funny you didn't mention it at the time,' muttered Sebastian.

'Well, I could hardly say anything with him standing there, could I? I could hardly say, "Ooer, look at him, don't you think his eyes are too close together?" That would have gone down very well, wouldn't it? But I knew he was a wrong 'un. And as for Leonora . . . well!' He rolled his eyes. 'You wouldn't want to trust her any further than you could butt her.' He glanced slyly at Sebastian who, for the moment at least, wasn't going to be drawn on the subject.

They moved on in silence for a while and then Max lifted his head, looked around and made a big show of sniffing the air.

'You know, this landscape is beginning to look vaguely familiar,' he said. 'We can't be all that far from the Darke homestead. Maybe we should make a little detour – drop by and see if your mother's all right. We could spend a night or two resting up before we continued on our—'

'Mother will be fine,' Sebastian assured him. 'She'll have received those gold crowns by now, so she'll be living in the lap of luxury.'

'Yes, well, I wouldn't mind experiencing a bit of that myself,' said Max wistfully. 'There've been very few luxuries on this trip. When I think of that lovely warm stall in the stables of Keladon—'

'What's the matter, shaggy?' asked Cornelius. 'Getting too old to rough it, are we?'

'It's nothing to do with age! It would just be polite to drop round and make sure everything is all right. Not that a Golmiran would know anything about manners.'

'At least I know that passing wind in front of others is rude,' snapped Cornelius.

'In Golmiran society, perhaps,' said Max. 'But in buffalope society it's considered the height of good manners to let out the occasional trump. Why, back on the plains of Neruvia there was one buffalope who—'

'– could play tunes!' finished Cornelius. 'Yes, we've heard about him, time and time again, and I'm sure he was a very talented fellow. But rude or not, the fact remains that we're not going to call in at Sebastian's place.' He glanced at Sebastian. 'Unless, of course, you really
want
to.'

Sebastian shook his head. 'A detour would cost us a couple of extra days' travel,' he said.

Max snorted. 'So what's the big hurry?' he wanted to know. 'If this blooming treasure has been lying around for so long, a few more days isn't going to make a lot of difference, is it?'

'Maybe we'll visit on the way back,' said Sebastian; and the tone of his voice made it clear that as far as he was concerned, that was the end of the matter. He wasn't sure why he was so reluctant to visit the home where he'd grown up. Perhaps it was that he'd only been gone a relatively short while. Or perhaps it was simply that he didn't want to have to go through the ordeal of leaving his mother a second time.

The truth was, he was feeling decidedly strange. Ever since leaving the forest he had been experiencing a powerful aching sensation deep inside; and whenever he closed his eyes, his head filled with the vision of a pair of tawny eyes gazing intently at him. He realized that he was still under Leonora's spell, but try as he might, he could not seem to shake off the longing that filled his heart and soul.

Max, meanwhile, was incapable of remaining silent for long. 'So we're really going through with this madcap idea?' he said.

Cornelius smiled. 'It would appear so,' he said calmly.

'And you actually think that this treasure – the treasure of Captain Aspidistra – is genuine?'

'That's Captain
Callinestra
,' Cornelius corrected him. 'And of course I don't know for sure. But that's the gamble we're taking; that's the excitement of the thing!'

'Huh!' Max shook his huge head. 'You'll forgive me if I don't get too excited. The only thing that would fire me up right now is a barrel of fresh pommers. And to be honest, it sounds like a load of old mulch to me. I've never heard of this legendary Captain Alan Extra.'

'
Callinestra!
' barked Cornelius. 'And his exploits are legendary. Why, my father used to tell me tales of his adventures when I was only little.'

'So quite recently then,' said Max.

'You watch it, shaggy – there's a limit to my patience!'

'My father told me the same stories,' said Sebastian, making an effort to join in the conversation. 'When I was disobedient, I was told that if I didn't shape up, the ghost of Captain Callinestra would come sneaking up in the night and take me off to work as a slave aboard his pirate ship. I tell you, I soon got my act together once I'd been threatened with that.'

'Yes, but you see, they're only fanciful stories,' argued Max. 'He's like the Snipper, something made up to keep youngsters in line.'

Sebastian and Cornelius were looking baffled.

'The Snipper?' echoed Sebastian.

'Yes, a legendary beast supposed to haunt the plains of Neruvia. If a young buffalope had been misbehaving, the Snipper would come in the night, lop off his tail and take it home to use as a skipping rope.'

Sebastian and Cornelius exchanged amused glances.

'Well, point taken,' said Cornelius. 'But stories about the good captain are told everywhere. Anything that well known must have some foundation in fact. Why, it is said that his treasure hoard has been looted from the merchant ships of the known world and that it is hidden in some remote spot, where only the bravest dare venture. Now, Nathaniel told me—'

'Hold on a moment!' said Max. 'Who's Nathaniel?'

'The chap in the hospital. The one I got the map from.'

'Ah yes – carry on.'

'He told me that the last time he tried to mount an expedition, he found the island exactly where the map said it would be. He and his men landed in rowing boats and started off into the jungle, heading for the peak of a high mountain. Then . . . something happened and they had to make a run back for the beach.'

'Needed the loo, did they?' asked Max.

'No, it wasn't that! He said there was something waiting for them out there . . . something . . . horrible . . . it was—'

'What?' cried Max impatiently. 'What horrible thing was waiting for them? A monster? A demon? A bowl of lumpy porridge?'

Cornelius sighed. 'I don't know,' he said. 'Nathaniel was just telling me about it when he . . . you know . . . popped off.'

'Popped off?' Max looked back over his shoulder with a puzzled expression. 'What does that mean?'

'He
died
, you idiot,' hissed Sebastian.

'Oh, I see!' Max snuffled. 'Bit inconvenient, I must say. Popping off before he'd told you exactly what was waiting for you.'

'Yes, well, he didn't have a lot of say in the matter, did he?' growled Cornelius.

'No, but still . . . he could have tried to hang on a bit longer.'

'Max, please shut up!' said Sebastian.

'Oh, well, that's charming,' observed Max. 'I was only trying to make some pleasant conversation.'

'If that's pleasant, I wouldn't like to hear you being
un
pleasant,' said Sebastian. 'Now please, give it a rest and let me think.'

He lapsed into a moody silence and remained that way for much of the day's journey, only venturing to ask a question when they were reaching the top of a ridge and he noticed that Cornelius was leaning out to look back down the incline.