crybaby ghost writer

Nick had no trouble hacking away at the walls with their makeshift pick, since he was picturing the rocks as William’s face every time he whacked at it. Finally he gave the stones a tap and noticed that it sounded different.

“I think it might be hollow here,” he said. It took some effort but he and Captain Montanez were able to push through the stone. It did appear to have been a proper door at some point, though it mostly crumbled when they pushed on it instead of swinging open. The tunnel behind it was a bit damp as Nick led the way inside. They had to move slowly since they were walking into pitch blackness. Nick had some flint in his pocket that he’d meant to use for lighting lanterns, but he didn’t have anything to light at the moment. He moved carefully in front of Tara and Montanez, hoping there were no traps or vicious snakes lurking in the dark.

Nick flailed his hands out in front of him, also hoping they didn’t hit a dead end and have to turn back. Without warning, his hand fell into empty space and he nearly fell. He righted himself at the last moment, but in the dark no one could see that he’d stopped so Tara bumped into him and Luis bumped into her, and Nick went toppling forward into the open space. He let out a startled yelp but thankfully he didn’t have far to fall; he went sprawling on a hard surface, barely managing to keep from breaking his glasses.

“Nick, are you all right?” Tara called out in alarm.

“Fine,” Nick replied, wincing. “Just hold on a moment while I figure out what I fell into.”

He shifted around, finding himself surrounded on two sides by more stone walls. There was another opening across from the one he’d fallen through. He stood up and promptly banged the top of his head on something and let loose an impressive string of curse words.

“Nicholas, did you forget there’s a lady present?” Montanez asked from the shadows.

“Sorry,” Nick muttered sheepishly. He thought he heard Tara suppress a giggle. Once the throbbing in his skull eased a little, he realized he’d concussed himself on some kind of sconce. He fumbled the flint from his pocket and after a few tries managed to get it lit. They all blinked from the sudden brightness and looked around to see that they were in what appeared to be a small antechamber. They moved through the second opening, and the next room was too big for the one sconce to let them see much.

Nick felt around and found some more sconces, lighting those as well. He heard Tara gasp and whirled around, bracing for something to attack them. Instead he saw that they were in a fairly cavernous room, and it was filled with bits of ivory and gold trinkets. Upon closer inspection, he saw that many of the items bore a resemblance to Tara’s topaz macaw pendant. In the center of the room stood a larger, more ornate replica of the bird.

“What is all this?” Montanez asked, glancing around in awe. “It’s like some kind of shrine, but why is it underground?”

“Because Tara was right,” Nick said, his face breaking into a grin. “The topaz macaw was an omen of death and misfortune.”

“Then why did they build a tribute to it?” Montanez asked.

“These are offerings, in an effort to convince the macaw not to send them ill fortune. But there was a shift in Kerelian religious beliefs. Some people, including members of the royal family, began to move away from the old traditions and stopped praying to the numerous gods. From some older works that my parents tracked down plus what my mother was able to find when she began working on translation, the new religion had four gods, one for each element. With all the tensions growing in the nation, people who still held superstitions about the topaz macaw and wanted to make offerings to it probably moved it below ground.”

“This is incredible,” Tara said, walking the perimeter of the room. “Look at all this treasure they left.”

“Kind of ironic, isn’t it,” Nick snorted. “William tossed us in here so he could go find treasure and we find a whole chamber filled with ivory and gold.”

“Now we need to find a way to get out of here,” Montanez said, glancing around. “Not to mention make sure we make it to my damn ship before the rest of them do.”

“Well we have one advantage in that regard,” Nick said.

“Which is?”

“They’re all morons.”

Montanez chuckled at that. “Yeah, they really are. I’m going to box Greyson and Colby’s ears.”

“The way we came in might be the only way out,” Tara said. “And Will took my pendant.”

“He did,” Nick said slowly, glancing around at all the assorted objects inside the chamber. The three of them fanned out and inspected the walls and corners of the room, trying to find another door. Nick picked up some of the gold coins to look at more closely.

“It seems hopeless,” Tara sighed, slumping against the dais holding the topaz macaw statue. The statue wobbled slightly and there was a faint rumbling. Tara squeaked and jumped away from the statue. The rumbling stopped.

“What the hell was that?” Montanez grumbled. Nick came over to look more closely at the statue.

“Hmm. I wonder…” He grabbed the statue and twisted it around. He leaped back as the rumbling started again, and part of a wall drew back to reveal a staircase. And they could see a faint glimmer of moonlight at the top.

“I know we worked hard to get here, but this place is ridiculous,” Montanez muttered. They crept up the stairs and emerged above ground again. They were behind a partially crumbled building, and they could see light from the camp the others had made flickering a ways off across the ruins.

“What do we do now?” Tara whispered.

“I think I might have an idea,” Nick said. “You two stay behind me.”

They walked toward the camp, moving carefully around the bits of broken stone. They must have been in the tunnel longer than Nick had realized, because it was the middle of the night now. As they got closer to the camp, he could hear what sounded like some arguing. It would seem that the crew hadn’t found much of anything during their day’s search.

“What’s the plan, Nick?” Montanez whispered.

“I think I can sway the crew back to our side. You two should hang back and wait here, in case I’m wrong. That way you can-“

“No,” Tara protested at the same time Montanez said, “absolutely not.”

Nick sighed. “If they decide to shoot instead of listen, then-“

“Then you shouldn’t go out there alone,” Tara said. “And you can’t really stop us from going with you.”

Nick rolled his eyes. “Fair point. Alright, let’s go be wildly reckless together, then.”

They walked closer to the camp and Nick strolled out of the shadows of the building they’d been hiding in, his hand in his pocket.

“Now don’t tell me the honeymoon is over already,” he said. The look of outraged shock on William’s face was worth having guns pointed at him again, though he kept Tara behind him.

“How the hell did you get out?” William growled.

“That’s not really important,” Nick replied. “Couldn’t help overhearing though, that you haven’t had much luck finding anything valuable.”

“I should’ve just shot you,” William snapped.

“We still can,” Greyson pointed out, his pistol trained on Nick. Nick shrugged.

“Sure, you could shoot us. Or you could pull your heads out of your asses and follow the people who can actually lead you to treasure.”

Nick pulled his hand out of his pocket, tossing the gold coins he’d taken from the macaw shrine onto the ground. They sparkled cheerily in the firelight. The gold gave the crew pause, though William leaped to his feet, getting in Nick’s face.

“If you think anyone is going to follow you and this little tart, you better think again, Thatch. I’m sick of your bullshit, the both of you.”

William grabbed Tara’s arm, trying to yank her away from Nick.
He tugged her so roughly she fell to the ground with a yelp. William seemed ready to hurl some more insults at her but he was cut off when Nick punched him again. William stumbled back a step and cursed viciously. Nick helped Tara onto her feet, then spun around and punched William again before he could recover, knocking him to the ground for a second time.

“What was it you called me earlier? A brute?” Nick stared down at a bloody faced William, arching his eyebrow. “Touch her again and I’ll show you what brutishness really looks like.”

He looked toward the crew. They all seemed a little confused and unsure.

“Miss Palmer and I are the only ones who actually know anything about Kerelia,” he said. “That should be obvious by now. So you can either shoot us and go home empty handed, or you can make the smart choice.”

William was trying to get to his feet but Nick casually put a foot on his back and pushed him back onto the ground, his eyes still on the crew. He could see them weighing their options and he hoped it was a good sign that they hadn’t just shot him yet.