حلقه‌ی آتش

Chapter nine

The Circle of fire

The clouds came again to cover the light of the moon. The sea was dark. None of the British sailors heard the pirates rowing their boats towards the Queen Anne.

Captain Pike and his men climbed the ship’s side and surprised the sailors on deck. They attacked the sailors with knives and Captain Pike went below deck.

He kicked open the door to the treasure, but he saw that it was gone.

“Gone?! Where is it?”

He ran back upstairs and threatened one of the sailors with a knife.

“Where’s that treasure you had down there? Talk or I’ll kill you right here!”

“The Captain took it to the island, to trade with the natives. We needed something to fix our sails.”

The pirates left the Queen Anne and rowed towards Rum island.

Captain Scott and his men were preparing to leave the Island. They had what they needed to fix the sails, and they were saying goodbye to Queen Alliana and her people.

Torches were lit all around the village, and everyone was having one last cup of rum.

“Queen Alliana! I hope you and your people will live long lives!”

Everyone raised their cup, but before they could drink, one of the natives came running through the village.

“Pirate ship! Pirate ship!”

The natives all dropped their cups and began running to their huts. The Queen looked at Captain Scott.

“You see, the treasure is cursed. Wherever it goes, bad luck follows.”

“We have enough men here to fight these pirates. We won’t let them destroy your island. We have a lot of experience fighting such men, but you can help by letting us use that treasure. Don’t worry, you’ll get it all back in the end.”

The natives kept their rum in wooden barrels near a small lake, next to the village. They took all the tops off the barrels to let the smell lead the pirates to where they were.

When the pirates arrived, they saw Blackbeard’s treasure chest in the middle of a large circle of sugar plant leaves. Queen Alliana was standing outside the circle, holding a torch. Captain Pike saw the chest first.

“There it is! Take it!”

“I wouldn’t if I were you. You can’t come here and take whatever you want.”

“Who are you? I’ll do what I want!”

Captain Pike and some of his men walked over the sugar leaves towards the treasure. The leaves had rum on them, and Queen Alliana set them on fire with her torch. The pirates and the treasure were in the middle of a circle of fire, unable to move.

“You see, Captain, your eye for treasure has kept you from seeing what you should see. It’s always the same with such men.”

Captain Scott, his men and the natives came out from behind the trees and houses to fight the pirates. They put out the fire, and Captain Pike with his six pirates standing next to the treasure took out his sword.

“I’ll fight to the death for this treasure. No one’ll have it if I can’t.”

He and Captain Scott fought while the others watched.

“You won’t kill me Captain.”

Their swords were locked together and they were looking at each other fiercely. Captain Pike reached for a knife in his belt.

“Watch out Captain! He’s got a knife.”

Captain Scott saw Pike’s eye grow wider, then he fell back. A knife with blood on it was in the air. No one could see that Blackbeard’s ghost held it.