The Gentle Cold of Dawn

The Slide

"So how do we find the answer to this riddle? Or even what the riddle is?" said Chad.

"Hmm. Why don't we look harder at the picture. Blackbeard loved to leave hidden clues" said Jeremy.

"Good thinking. The man is dressed funny, the look on his face is funny, the scroll he's holding looks funny" Chad annotated out loud.

"Maybe the scroll has something to do with it" said Jeremy.

Chad looked at the scroll Blackbeard was holding in the portrait.

"There is writing here, but it's hard to read" said Chad.

Jeremy looked back and saw glass on the wall. 

The glass was reflective so he could see the portrait's reflection and the writing was easier to read.

"The writing is backwards, Chad. Look in this glass" said Jeremy.

Chad looked in the glass and read the writing. 

"Until I am measured, I am not known. Yet how you miss me when I have flown" he read.

"Oh, the answer is time. You measure it to know it. And time flies by and that's what usually triggers nostalgia" said Jeremy.

"Oh, I see! So the path we take must have... a clock on it or something" said Chad.

"Let's look" said Jeremy.

The two men looked at the four paths and the second one had a clock. 

"Jeremy. It's this one" said Chad.

"Great! Now we can press on" said Jeremy.

The duo went down the path which just ended with no intersection or corners.

"Oh, blimey. Now what?" said Chad.

"I dunno. It's just an empty space" said Jeremy.

But then the floor opened and Chad and Jeremy fell through it.

The ended up sliding down a really steep slide.

"Oh my goodness! Where did this slide come from?" Jeremy shouted.

"Ooh, I think I'm gonna be sick" Chad gagged.

"Swallow it back" said Jeremy.

Chad did as he was told.

"My! Meg's cooking doesn't taste very good the second time down" he said.

"I imagine. But where are we going?" said Jeremy.

"Well, if we're going down a slide, maybe we'll end up at the bottom" said Chad.

"I know, but what's at the bottom?" said Jeremy.

"I don't think we'll know until we get there" said Chad.