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The dinghy rocked in the waves as my first mate Jimmy rowed us towards shore. Behind me was my ship, The Red Vengeance, my second love and pride which I had only recently possessed and was on my first venture with. The sun baked my hand resting on the boats side as the sea breeze washed over my face.

“I think I will go swimming this afternoon,” Jade said, my wife and first love and pride. In her white dress, sitting beside me on the bench, her hand felt dearer to me than the treasure I was seeking.

“As long as you do not wander or stray from the guards. It is a dangerous island. There are natives about and I could not bear to have you in any danger.”

“Aye,” Jimmy said, “they have the taste for human flesh too, so it’s said. Captain Redsword and his crew disappeared on this island two years ago. Only God knows their fates now.”

“Matteo,” my wife said, “I will be okay. We have been in great danger before. And providence always pulled us through. Remember when we snuck into the governors mansion on Trinidad?”

I laughed. “How could I forget? That was the moment I fell in love with you. When you lost your slipper and nearly got us caught going back for it. You wouldn’t leave that night until you had your dear slipper.”

“I still wear them. They are a part of me now and I would be so disappointed if I had listened to you and left it behind.”

“After today, I will buy you a thousand pairs of slippers,” I said, kissing her hand. “And silk dresses, ribbons for your hair. A maid. And a house worthy of a royal,” I said, my chest beaming with high hopes. Being the son of a streetsweeper in London I always dreamed of having food everyday, new clothes, and then as I grew older, so much more. At 18 I signed up as a deckhand on a merchant ship. After crossing the Atlantic and making port in St. Martin I deserted and spent the last four years working my way up to pirate captain of my own ship. I still owed 10,000 gold pieces on the Red Vengeance and had no money left to pay my crew. But they all believed in what I was doing today.  

“Aye we’re here,” Jimmy said, placing the oars inside the boat and stepping into the water. I watched his boot sink into the white sand beneath a foot of perfectly clear water. He pulled us onto the beach.

The three other dinghy’s beached as well and my crew of 20 men began setting up our temporary camp. “You men,” I commanded to three lads, “set up the canopy for my wife over there by the palm tree. Alec and Jones get a fire going for food. Have the stew ready when we get back. Jimmy, round up half the men to go with us into the jungle and get their canteens filled from that stream. The rest will stay behind with Jade.”

Jade approached and embraced me, her hand gliding over my shirt. “Matteo, please be safe. I cannot raise our baby on my own. My belly is already bigger, I am sure the men will find out soon. And I love you so much.”

I touched her stomach, sensing the little one growing inside, before placing my hand over hers on my chest. “I will come back. With our entire future and fortune in my hands. Don’t worry Jade, we can overpower any natives who might try to stop us and I want this too bad to fail. In fact, I cannot fail. We have no other money.”

Her brown eyes resplendently stared into my own, her dark lashes blinking. “You have been talking about the Treasure of Pachanachi as long as I have known you. Three years now. And we have had to wait a long time for this.”

“Yes,” I answered solemnly, “the treasure he stored in a cave 400 years ago can only be found once every 10 years, at exactly noon on the summer solstice. Which is today. The high sun will be in position to unlock the cave and I will have one hour to gather his hoards of gold and silver. And then…I think I will go swimming too!”

“If…perhaps we could swim together, with the men not around, you would enjoy another kind of treasure,” she said smiling up at me.

Laughing I said, “I will hurry back then.” I kissed her and walked towards Jimmy who had prepared our gang to head into the jungle. “Let’s go. We leave this beach debtors and scallywags, we will return richer than kings.”

‘Ahah!”

“Hurrah!”

“Whoopee!” the men raised their hands to the sky and cheered. Securing my sword on my waist, canteen on a string around my neck, and the map, I made my way through the leaves of two bushes into the brush. Eight men carried four chests, which, if we could fill with treasure would be enough, well, to buy all of Britain.

The sun was a quarter way through the sky. We had plenty of time, but the trek was tough. My hand was cut on a razor sharp leaf. My cheek was itchy and hot after brushing against a red fern. We disturbed two parrots, red, blue, and yellow, who flew to a high branch and looked down at us. “Curse! Curse!” they parroted. “Cook flesh! Cook flesh!”

“What in Jolly Rogers kitchen do they mean?” Jimmy mocked? “If I had a slingshot I would cook up some parrot steak.”

“Are you worried about a curse captain?” a crew man named Mad Milly said from behind me.

“Curse? No. I have heard all the myths surrounding this treasure. Pachanachi was a great king who was usurped but escaped in a ship to these islands. A sorcerer he was too, of sorts. More of a scientist really. He grew old and eventually was the only one left of his party. Sad, he had no one with him at the end, and no progeny, but he did hide his wealth here with a secret way to access it. But curse? No, it is just treasure and science.”

“Curse! Curse!” the parrots said again. We moved on deeper into the jungle. It had been an hour, and we were close I thought as I studied the map. I had much time to think. My thoughts mostly revolved around what I was going to do with the treasure. I loved Jade, and we were going to have a baby. My main dream was being with her while also being extremely wealthy. Maybe we would have many more babies. I could abandon my crew and take the treasure all for myself. Would that be wrong? But I would keep Jimmy around. He was a great number two and would go with me anywhere. I could buy a Chateau in France and drink fine wine every night. With these thoughts in my head, each step I took I felt like I was going to bounce right up over the trees.

Until we came to a pool of water surrounded by trees, its surface undulating from a ten foot waterfall emerging from a hole in a cliff of gray rock that lie at the foot of the mountain.

“This is it,” I exclaimed, folding the map and placing it in my pocket. The men put their chests down and walked to the edge of the pool. There were patches of sunlight on the ground where it passed through the trees, and a big circle of light in the center of the water. I studied the scene, assuming that that patch of sunlight must be where the key lie.              

“We are close to noon captain,” Jimmy said. “About half an hour to go, I’d reckon.”

“Aye I’d second that,” I said glancing at the position of the sun. “Let’s be alert. Be ready men.”

We stood around the pool, alternatively glancing at the sky back down to the pool, the waterfall, the cliff. So close to it now. My heart wanted to jump out of my chest to wherever this treasure was. I only had to wait 20…15…10 minutes.

“Anytime now boys,” Jimmy said.

We were quiet. I could hear my men breathing. Birds chirped all around us. A centipede crawled beneath my boots. Leaves rustled behind us. Insects everywhere. Flying, landing on us. More leaves rustled. Sounds like an animal.

“What in the heck,” Mad Milly said. “That is loud, and sounds likes its coming towards us.”

“Something is definitely coming behind us,” Jimmy said.

I put my hand on my sword. It was undeniable now that it must be a boar or a man. A second later a man did burst through the brush and came running towards us. It was Jones. He ran up to our group. His shirt was torn, he had a cut on the side of his head, sweat poured down his face.

       “Captain, they have taken her!” he said, struggling to catch his breath.

       “Jade?” I said, fear stabbing at my heart. “Who took her? Tell me!”

       “The natives. Savages! They all came down on us. 40 of them at least. With clubs and arrows. They killed Alec and many of the men, but they carried Jade off with them.”

“To where? Did you go after them?” I said, panicking.

“We couldn’t, everyone else was hurt. And I rushed here, following your trail so that I could tell you. It will take all 10 of you to get her back.”

“They’re going to eat her,” a crew member gasped.

“He’s right captain,” Jimmy said. “The parrots – “cook flesh” they said. That they did. I don’t doubt it. What are you going to do? 40 savages? We’ll need all of our swords.”

“But the treasure!” Mad Mac exclaimed. “If we go it’ll be 10 years before we can come back.” “Ahhhhhhhh gods!!!” fury seeped through my clenched fists. I picked up a rock and threw it hard as I could into the trees. “Why! Curse the fates!” I took a deep breath. Closed my eyes and put my hand on my forehead to calm down and think clearly. I had to decide right now. What will I do? Save Jade, my wife and love, or remain here to claim unfathomable treasure?