A Tale of Traitors

Willow: The Cavern

     The feast was really spectacular. Even though I have always been a picky eater, I did my best to try everything that was placed in front of me. There were lots of different kinds of fish I had never heard of. We had some kind of squishy meat on seaweed biscuits, creamy soup that I'm pretty convinced had shark meat in it, the equivalent of undersea eggs, and much more I couldn't name. It was exciting to see everyone rejoicing together, lifting up shouts of gratitude and joy and waving massive flags throughout the crowd of people pushing to the main table. The outcasts were fed until they were full; they even got to take some food home for the next meal. The best part about it was getting to experience it with people who had my back.
"Did you see Bob? He took on at least fifteen men on his own," Queen said proudly, popping another bite into her mouth. I've never seen a person consume that much food. We were sprawled over the seafloor on blankets, with dirty plates scattered all around us. 
"Did he actually?" My jaw dropped and we turned to Bob, who was grinning like a madman.
"Oh, yeah. I totally did." His eyes sparkled through the blood dripping from his eyebrow. "I mean, at least a dozen--maybe two--were, like, charging me, okay--"
"Not two dozen." Queen interrupted. "Not close to two dozen."
"Well, you don't know that. Let me finish, okay--"
"I do know that because I was watching, dummy," Queen got up to get what must've been her eleventh plate of food.
"Just let him tell it," I chuckled, and once more we turned to face him.
"There were like TWO dozen charging me, okay," he emphasized in annoyance. "The one in the middle was, like, super fast, and he just dove forward and--BAM--his spear is, like, in my freaking forehead, but I moved, like, super fast, even faster than this dude, and so I, like, almost dodged it--"
"Slow down, it's hard to tell what you're saying." Queen called from the table of food.
"SHH!" Adri intervened.
"--ANYWAYS," he spoke faster, "his spear like kinda grazed my forehead which is why it's totally bleeding. I totally almost died. But I didn't, cuz, I was faster than the freaking merman, and he was dressed in armor and everything. He was super tall and strong and stuff, but I took him down while taking down the other twenty--" he paused. "Twentyyyy... three."
"Nice math." Queen laughed.
"Bob, that's incredible." I finished off the food on my plate.
"I can't believe you turned just in time," Adri said quietly. "I wouldn't have known what to do."
"Oh, please," he beamed proudly, "you did awesome, too. Your spells are totally sick."
"Yeah, that was impressive," I nodded in agreement. "You were saying them so fast and secretly it was like they were just popping out of thin air--water." 
"Thank you," she smiled shyly. "I spent most of my summers reading spell books. It's nice to finally use the more advanced ones."
"I hate to break up this lovely discussion," the professor put his hand on my shoulder and we all went silent. "However, the chief has summoned us all to his library. He is ready to send us on our way, unless we would prefer to stay one more night in his kingdom to rest."
"I'd love to get a good night's sleep, as I'm sure we all would, but I don't think we should stay the night. Any minute now, the spirits could track me down," I spoke.
"I agree," the professor nodded. "Well, then, we must get on our way."
     The gilded clock read 7:30 a.m. When I say clock, I really mean a device that looked like an ancient sundial with symbols etched into it. How could I read it? No idea, because I didn't remember. We gathered around the table in the center of the room. It was piled with enormous shells that served as books, the words tattooed into the hard shell. The professor passed us a particularly interesting book which included a marked-up map of Realm Eight. How he got the map, I'm not sure, but it was detailed where Tormod had centered a control base. Realm Eight was the realm of flying beasts such as griffins and dragons; because there were no people who would be able to speak or aid us, the professor had planned out our journey to avoid most organisms in general and sneak around Tormod's base, where he harbored some of his most dangerous weapons and bombs. The professor reminded us that we had to be careful for scouts and guards; since Tormod hid such power in a realm controlled by animals, he had placed some of his trained guards to protect the weapons. If they saw, heard, or even sensed anything out of the ordinary, they wouldn't hesitate to raise an alarm to the Realm of Darkness—Realm 12—where Tormod and his spirits hid away in their castle. Rumor had it there was a mega-weapon hidden somewhere in the castle that Tormod constantly guarded, and that's why he never left the castle, but there was no way to confirm these rumors. Anyways, we needed to be incredibly careful in Realm 8. No one really knew what to expect. 
     "We need to find that Pirate's wreckage as soon as possible," I popped another Shadow Catcher into my head. "The spirits are getting closer, and I'm sure the assassin isn't far behind."
"Although it is a pity to see you go," the chief addressed our small circle of friends, "I hope you know that you are welcome back here anytime. Our home is your home, Champions. You lot, who are traitors to the government, will wreck havoc on the forces of evil and bring peace back to our world. Go with our blessings, thoughts, and prayers. If there ever is anything my realm can assist you with, we will hurry to do that thing for you. We have brewed some spells for you that will hopefully aid in your time of absolute need—for each of you, we have these leather pouches filled with different spells. One will make you invisible for a few minutes. Another will enable you to breathe underwater for a few hours at most but will wear off once your head breaks the surface of the water. The last one will heal any wound you have. One sip will do the trick; only use it in the direst of situations."
"Thank you, Chief," we bowed and tied the leather pouches to our belts.
"One last thing," he smiled and placed elaborate but small silver and pearl amulets over our heads. "This is the symbol of a hero of Realm Five. Anywhere you go down here, it will be known who you are and what you have done. If you are attacked by an outcast, any of my people will rush to help you. If there is anything you lack, it will be provided. You will be welcome wherever you go."
"This is more than kind," I bowed once more. "Thank you very much, Chief."
"Thank you for leading our people so well," he motioned for me to rise. "Good luck on your quest. Dalia, might I have a word with you before you leave?"





     Half an hour later,  Dalia had led us to a gorgeous island. The chief cast a spell on us so the water-breathing effect would wear off and we would be able to breathe in air again. As soon as my head broke through the warm water into the clean air, every breath came with a stab of pain in my lungs, like when you come outside on a freezing winter day and eventually your face is numb and your lungs are throbbing. A wave of nausea washed over me when my body realized I was no longer underwater. For a while, we laid motionless on flat rocks surrounding the tiny island. I had seen a poster for the Bahamas when I was on Earth, and this looked like a much, much more beautiful version of that. I couldn't tear my gaze away from where the sun poured through the gorgeous trees and landed on the brilliantly colored flowers that I didn't recognize.
"Why are we on, like, an island if shipwrecks are underwater?" Bob gasped, risking puking by sitting up on the rock instead of waiting for the nausea to pass.
"Pirate Moonlight's ship crashed upon the rocks further down the island, but a nearby Hurricaine accidentally shoved the ship over the rocks and into a massive cavern down here. We can climb down the cavern. That way, whatever happens, we can see an attack or booby-trap before we've walked into it." Dalia answered.
"Oh. Cool, okay, that actually makes a lot of sense," Bob nodded.
"I researched the wreck," Adri began slowly, as if she was nervous. "It looks like the cave was ench—"
"We don't speak of that," Dalia interrupted harshly, giving Adrianna a look I couldn't read.
"Really?" Adri raised an eyebrow. "I think they have a right--"
"Best to keep that information to yourself, okay?" Dalia smiled coldly. "I'll explain later."
The group was silent, and everyone had sat up on their rocks to be part of the conversation.
"Oooooookay!" The professor finally chuckled nervously. "How about we continue on our journey now? I believe the cavern is only a short distance from our current location. Lead the way, Dee."
     I slowly rose to my shaky feet, feeling like absolute crap. Still, through the fatigue and the breaking of the spell, we persevered through the heat of the day. It felt weird to be on my feet again, almost like I was waking up with stiff joints from an incredibly long nap. I missed the freedom of the water right away. I missed the way the sun shone through the shattered waves. Still, it felt good to be back to my normal self.

Well, what I could remember as my normal self. 

     "We're here," Dalia's voice cut through the story Bob was telling and brought us all to a halt. We were standing on the edge of an enormous cavern, the dead grass breaking off as we stepped on it. The cavern must have been hundreds of feet down, the stone walls sprinkled with rare jewels that glinted purple, blue, and green when the sun maneuvered its way in.
"Oh my—look at THAT!" Bob yelled, his voice echoing throughout the cavern.
"Stop yelling!" Queen hissed.
"What, these pirates have been dead for, like, hundreds of years. Chill, dude."
"I'm not a dude," Queen mumbled.
"Whatever."
"Shut up, you guys," Dalia shoved them both. "Willow, you should go down first."
"I don't know where I'm going..." I answered.
"I'm just going to lower you about a dozen feet or so, and then you'll tell me what you're looking at. My guess is I'll have to lower you about fifty feet before you reach the mast of the ship."
"Okay," I nodded.
"You're not nervous?" Adri asked slowly.
"No. Should I be?" I asked, putting on a harness and attaching the rope to it. "It's not a very long way down."
"Wow. I'm officially impressed." Queen nodded, though everyone else's faces had gone pale.
"Is there something I'm missing?" I finally asked in confusion, glancing at all of my friends who now refused to meet my eyes.
"No," Dalia answered, her gaze unmoving from the cavern below. "Once you're down in the ship, you'll just have to explore a little bit until you find what we're looking for. Legend has it Pirate Moonlight hid his greatest treasure in an elaborately decorated treasure chest. It was made of obsidian and decorated with flakes of gold and pearls. Some initials are probably marked on the front and etched in sapphires. I can only assume it is massive, but it could be small. No one knows because no one has seen it in a few hundred years."
"Alright. You guys are coming, though, right?" I grinned at their nervous faces while I began my descent.
Dalia had clipped the other end of the rope to a sturdy, enormous tree near the opening of the cave, so I wasn't nervous at all about falling. Sure, heights freaked me out a little bit. But back home I used to rock climb all the time, sometimes to get to hiding places and—