EL LOBO DEL MAR

[Welsh Wench]

Honour sat in the longboat, the chest wrapped in a cloth and set between her and Jack. He picked up the oars.
She glanced up at the gunwale. Eli Meredith looked back at her, giving her a small smile. She smiled back and waved. Poor Eli! He was a victim in all the mutinous plans. And Honour was moved with pity for him.
She smiled to herself. She was able to get the great Mad Jack Wolfe to show compassion for Eli.

As Jack rowed quietly to the shore of Little Muelle Cay, her thoughts turned back to what had happened just a few days previous. And all because she decided to stop in that tavern--what was the name of it again?
Oh, yes...the Bilge Pump Pub.

If Captain Spleen had been where she was supposed to find him...if Captain Bonnie McFearsome had taken Jack up on his request for a letter of marque...if she had arrived at the pub at an earlier or later time...if Mad Jack hadn't heard her skirt dragging as she tried to crawl out on her hands and knees to avoid him...

She had to admit, her heart stopped for minute and then started beating wildly in her chest when she saw him silhouetted in the window. Was it fate? Or was it just coincidence?
There was no hearts-and-flowers reunion. No....just all the hurt over the last eighteen months had bubbled forth.
But the fire was still there.

So much had happened in the past year and a half. Honour had made her way to Wales. Megan was her rock, had seen her through her pregnancy and obtained the best midwife for her. And the shock of finding out she had a child of the feminine persuasion.
The great Jack Wolfe the father of a girl-child!
How would he react?
Hopefully better than finding out that the man she had left in her bed that morning was none other than Captain Cade Jennings!

Jack had coerced her into meeting him on the docks with the Sun Key. As she was about to hand it over, she saw that look on his face. It was the same look he had on his face when he realized Colonel Diego de Castille y Mendoza was on The Mercedes. Relentless.
And woe to any that got in his way.
Including his wife.

Her mind drifted back to Jack roughly grabbing her and hustling her up the gangplank, pushing her to the deck and giving the orders to sail off.

It was hard to believe it was only four days ago.
'All I wanted was to go to Barbados and set up the plantation for Zara and me, go back and pick her up and then sail back to make our home. I just wanted to raise my little girl there. If only I hadn't stopped in Glenlivet to exchange passage....'

"Honour?"
She snapped out of her reverie.
Jack looked at her with a look of...tenderness?
"A shilling for your thoughts, love."
She looked off towards the shore of Little Muelle Cay and said softly, "Just...missing someone, that's all."

Jack didn't say anything. He wondered who he was.  He had an idea but he hoped beyond hope he was out of the picture.
And out of her heart.
Bonita's words came to him unbidden. And how true they were...

'I see darkness ahead for you, Jack. Two will betray you. Two, so dear to your dark heart. Dey will cut you to de quick, and cause you such joy and pain. Your heart will break three times. One, you will kill, but in de strangest of ways. De other will bring you joy and riches, but only after much strife. One will break my heart...'
 
"Jack?"
He looked up to see Honour looking at him.
"Yes, Honour?"
"No-nothing. It's a nice day for a boatride."
He smiled back and said, "Yes, it is."

She bit her lip. Was she wrong to deny Jack the knowledge he had a child? She already knew the answer to that.
No, she wasn't wrong. She didn't want Jack Wolfe to take her back out of a sense of duty. She knew that the love of the sea came first with him.  It was what drove a wedge between them to begin with.
Among other things.

Zara was unmistakably his child. The tilt of her head. The way her hair curled. Even the way she threw her little temper tantrums when she fell short of getting her way.
Honour's face broke out in a wistful smile.
Jack looked away and continued to row.

Within fifteen minutes they landed on the shore of Little Muelle Cay. He pushed the longboat onto the shore and turned to her.
"We're here. Ready for an adventure?"
She gave him a warm smile and said, "As ready as I will ever be!"
"Then let's do it!"
"WHAT?"
"Let's get this loaded and our provisions together."
"Oh! That!" Her face blushed.
Jack turned his back to her and smiled broadly.
'Yes, this is certainly going to be interesting.....' he thought. 'Interesting indeed!'

[Captain Jack Wolfe]

The pair left their boat tied to a tree by a length of heavy rope and carried their provisions and precious cargo up near the tree line.  Honour was surprised to find the chest remarkably light for its size and apparent construction.  What surprised her even more was that instead of thinking she might have been dragged off on a wild goose chase, she was worried that Jack might have been duped.

"Jack, I thought you said this chest was made of solid gold," she said tentatively.  "It seems rather... light."

"I had the same reaction, love," he chuckled.  "But then I realised there was little reason for anyone to build a fake of such an obscure relic.  LaFourche never published his research on it, so few know what it's supposed to look like in the first place."  He tipped the chest up to show her the underside.  A small portion of the gold had been chipped away to reveal what appeared to be dark wood.  "It's made of a dense wood, acacia or something like it.  Then they heavily gilt the whole thing, thick enough for them to make all these intricate engravings."

"Like the Ark of the Covenant in the Bible!  If it's made of wood, why didn't you simply cut it open instead of going to all this bother?  Don't tell me it didn't cross your mind."

"I gave it serious thought, believe me.  The last thing I want to be doing is stomping through the jungle, even with you as my company," he said with a wink.  Honour smiled, finding herself once again drawn in by his flirtatious charm.  "But LaFourche was very emphatic in his notes that the Ancients were mechanical geniuses.  The same mechanism that locks the chest also serves as a booby trap to destroy the contents unless it is unlocked in the prescribed manner.  Fortunately no one made the attempt before I acquired it.  What's more, the keys can't be put into the lock unless it's on the correct altar."

"So we really do have to carry it to a specific location to unlock it, then?  I thought this was some elaborate ruse to keep the treasure hidden from the crew," Honour said with a note of worry in her voice.

"No such luck, darling.  But cheer up!  It's not a very big island, and I have the only map.  All we have to do is find a clearing to get our bearings, and we can start on our way."

"Let me see the map."

"What for?  Don't you trust me?"

She cocked her hip and held out her hand.  An arched eyebrow gave him his answer.

Jack smiled uneasily as he pulled the map from his haversack and handed it to Honour.  She carefully unfolded it and began to read.  It described a circuitous route through the jungle that terminated at an irregular square marking.  "I was expecting an X to mark the spot.  Isn't that the accepted way of marking treasure on maps?" she smirked.

"Nah, those maps are for the tourists," he said, returning her smirk.  Fortunately she had failed to notice the lack of detail one would expect from a land map.  "Besides, we've already got the treasure in hand.  We're looking for the place to open it.  No sense marking the place with an X unless they left more treasure there.  Ooh, there's a thought!"

"Jack Wolfe, stop that!  You're making fun of me!" she pouted.

"Only a little," he smiled gently.  "Come on, let's get our things organised."

In spite of the chest's relatively small size, it had a set of four rings affixed to it, two on either of the long sides, no doubt so it could be carried in a ceremonial procession.  Jack slid two long wooden poles through the rings, to which he tied on a set of leather straps to fit around the chest and keep the poles from slipping free.  He then added a plank of wood, longer and wider than the chest itself with ropes attached to one end to the configuration, and slid the plank underneath the chest.  A wide belt with leather straps would serve as a harness for the improvised sledge.

"No sense for the two of us trying to carry this thing through the brush like a couple of Ancient priests," he said.  "This will allow me to pull it along and leave me free to clear a path.  You've said yourself I'm strong as a mule."

"No, I said you were mule-headed," teased Honour.  "Where on earth did you find the chest?  Did LaFourche have it?"

"If it had only been that simple.  He'd found it himself once, but a rival stole it and left him for dead.  Lucky for me, he had enough time to make detailed drawings which made my search considerably easier.  So while I was on one of my many jaunts to try and find you..." Jack paused and gave her a sidelong glance, and she felt her face redden.  "... I learned of its location.  Rio de la Hacha."

"Rio de la Hacha?!" Honour gasped.  "But, but that part of the Spanish Main is--"

"Ruled with an iron fist by one Don Diego de Castille y Mendoza," Jack finished.

"He lived?" she whispered.

"Yeah, he lived all right, though he's none to happy about it.  Seems a run in with a pirate left him a legless cripple.  He's vowed revenge, of course.  So predictable."

"How did you manage to get it away from him?  Did you have your smugglers steal it for you?"

He gave a wry laugh.  "The smuggling operation died on the vine, Honour.  Between my... distractions and that spineless son of a belch Jennings running off, I was barely able to buy my way out of that little disaster.  So no, I had to risk my own neck to snatch it before the treasure fleet arrived, thank you very much."

She bit back on the urge to defend Cade to Jack, but she could see Jack's side of it, too.  Cade had betrayed his mentor again and again.  And so had she.  Despite her deepening inner conflict surrounding these two men, Honour knew she had done the right thing in removing herself and Zara from the situation.  Just then, something about the way Jack tossed his head during one of his rants reminded her of their daughter when she became frustrated, and Honour found herself stifling a giggle.

"What's so damned funny?" he huffed.  "I thought you'd be a bit more concerned, what with me having gone into the lion's den once more and faced certain dead if I'd been caught."

"Because you're Jack Wolfe," she said with a smile.  "I'm not surprised in the least that you took what you wanted from your mortal enemy and lived to tell about it.  Just like in all the tales I'd heard about you before we met."

His face clouded with confusion, but changed in moments to a bemused smile.  "Now that you mention it, I suppose I did!"  He approached Honour with his best come hither look.  "Maybe I've still got the old magic after all.  Care to test it?" he asked as he stroked her cheek.  She gave him her best smouldering look, and shoved the haversack into his chest.

"Put your wand away, Merlin.  You've got bearings to find!"

[Welsh Wench]

Jack unfurled the map and looked up at the sun, taking his compass out.
"Are you looking to follow north?"
"No, I'm looking to see what the best direction to get a suntan would be."
She made a face at him. "I have NO idea why I let you talk me into this."
He rolled the map back up and said, "Because you find me charming?"
"If you consider a knife held to your throat as foreplay."
He sighed. "I'm sorry I did that."
"What? The great Captain Mad Jack Wolfe offering me an apology?"
He gave her a smile. "I guess I am. When this is all over, Honour, we need to have a long talk. About us. You and me. And where we go from here. We either stay together or we end it. I can't go on like this anymore."
She stood there silently, a million thoughts and a thousand regrets going through her mind.
Hesitantly, she started, "Jack, there's something..."
She stopped.
"Yes, Honour?"
"There's--there's no snakes here, are there?"
"Honour, this is the jungle. What do YOU think?"
"I think you'd better keep that cutlass handy. If you get bit, there is no way I am going to suck the poison out of you."

Jack slipped the harness around his arms and said, "I'd keep that rapier at the ready, love."
"Why? Are there natives around here?"
He laughed. "No, this island is deserted. The Carib residents deem this island as dedicated to the Ancients. Too much mystical voodoo and all that."
She hesitated and then plunged in. She and Jack had been estranged for over eighteen months. They were almost at the 'getting to know you' stage again.
"Have you seen Bonita?"
"I surely did."
"And how is the voodoo queen of Castara Bay? Still tossing bones around and chanting fire and damnation at the mention of my name?"

Jack's thoughts turned to Bonita's words.
"Because dat golden haired child hold de t'ing you need!  Bonita knew she would break Jack Wolfe's heart. Did him listen to reason?  No!  Him were too much in love....Dere is somet'ing not of dis world about her, or wit' her!  Believe it!"

He looked over at Honour. She did hold the very thing he needed but it wasn't the key. It was her love. He realized in the last few days how much he missed her. How he had built a shell around himself and it cracked when he saw her crawling on her hands and knees out the tavern door to avoid him. How typically....Honour.

He shrugged. "Aside from the 'I tole you so' she didn't mention you. No, not at all."
Honour laughed at his imitation of Bonita's accent. "She hated me from the start. She was in love with you, you know."
He said, "I guess she was."
"You guess? Why do you think she hated me and called me a witch?"

"Dere are forces around dat girl even she do not understand!"

Jack looked into Honour's blue eyes, looking for anything that showed anything extraordinary. No, nothing there but the merriment that danced in her eyes that he fell in love with that night they stood before the magistrate and exchanged their vows. Both scarcely believing what they both had done in the morning's light and still they could not keep themselves apart.

"Jack? Jack?"
He drew himself back to the present and gave her his charming smile. "I always said you bewitched me, darling. Let's let it go at that."

After an hour of following Jack with her rapier held at the ready, she looked over and saw the largest thickest snake she ever saw. She jumped straight on Jack's shoulders, her knees wrapped around his ears. She grabbed his hat to hold on, smashing it down over his eyes as she was screaming and blindly hacking away.
"HON-HONOUR, STOP! STOP! I CAN'T SEE!"
"AAHHH! TAKE THAT! GET AWAY! WE AREN'T LUNCH!"
Jack finally flipped her over his head and she landed on her back.
"Are you out of your mind?"
She stood up, catching her breath. "I have no intention of becoming an anaconda's lunch!"
He pushed his hat back from his face and pointed to a large root wrapped around a trunk. It had slash marks all over it.
"For the love of God, woman! It's my palmetto tree all over again!"
Her rapier was stuck in the tree. She felt her face flaming in embarrassment.
"Well, it could have been a snake! He slithered off. That was it! He slithered off!"
Jack rolled his eyes and yanked her rapier out of the tree.
"Here. Sheath this before you lop my head off."

"Jack? Do you really know where you are going?"
"What, you think I can't find my way around land?"
She held out her hand. "Give me the map."
"No."
"Yes. We have passed that same 'snake' three times now."
"Oh, alright. I'll show you the map but let's eat first. And keep your hands off it till after lunch. I don't want you dropping mustard on X marks the spot."

He handed her some cheese and bread and a few pieces of fruit.
"Wine?"
"You do think of everything, Jack Wolfe."
As they sat there eating their lunch, he spread the map out over a large flat rock.
"See here...it is nothing but jungle."
She looked at it. "I wonder....."
"You wonder...what?"
"It looks a little squiggly there."
"Of course it is squiggly. It's a bunch of leaves. What else did you expect to find in a jungle? An oasis with sand all around it?"
"Here, have some more wine. You are getting cranky, Jack. You always hated to stop and ask for directions."
"That was only a rumour. And how did you hear about that?"
"Tavern talk in Glen Livet."
"Oh."

She reached for it and Jack grabbed it back. "Ah-ah-ah!  It's mine!"
"Community property until we get that annulment. Hand it over. Oh, I'm not going to hurt your precious parchment!"
He sighed and handed it over. "Be careful of the creases."
" 'Be careful of the creases', he says. Of course I'll be careful of the creases!"
She held it sideways and then gave it back to him.
"Jack, I think you were looking at it sideways."
"Was not!"
"Was too!"
"Not!"
"Too!"

He stood there looking at it and Honour then gasped.
"Don't tell me you see hairy tarantulas now!"
"NO! I just saw something...wait a minute!"

She climbed up a tree.
"Honour, are you out of your mind? Get down right now!"
She shook her head. "Jack, I know what is wrong! Hold the map up in front of you!"
He held it up and she shouted excitedly. "It is just as I thought!"
"What?"
"Jack, it isn't a jungle....IT'S A MAZE!"

[Captain Jack Wolfe]

"Honour, think about what you're saying! This is a bloody island in the middle of the bloody Caribbean sea. Now there has to be some explanation for the roundabout path on the map. Can you see anything that would stop us from trying to go straight across instead of the scenic route? A lake or volcanic crater, anything like that?"

"No, there's nothing!" she answered. "It's all jungle as far as I can see. Jack, you have to believe me! You can see a pattern to it! Like the hedge maze at Hampton Court, only grander!" She clambered down the tree and took the map from him. "You need to see it for yourself! It's remarkable! What, do you need a leg up?"

Jack her a suspicious look. "When were you at Hampton Court Palace? I thought that was only for the poshest of the posh."

"It was a year or so before I came to the Caribbean. My father sent me to London to look after my maiden aunt who'd fallen ill," she lied with remarkable ease. Honour had no intention of letting him find out about her previous marriage to the vile Madoc Castlemaine and face the inevitable revelations that would surely follow. The truth was they were in London for Madoc to discharge his duties as a member of the House of Lords, and she had been welcomed at the palace for tea as an honoured guest. The poshest of the posh. "It was near Christmas, and they opened the palace grounds to everyone for a day. You know, a treat for the rabble. I'll never forget how beautiful it was. But enough about me, go have a look yourself. Unless you're afraid of heights."

It was Jack's turn to make a face, followed on by a wink that made her smile like a schoolgirl. He climbed the tree to the point she had reached and took in the landscape laid out before him. He was immediately struck by the utter lack of geographic landmarks. No hills, no valleys, no ridges, nothing. The jungle canopy was almost completely uniform in height and coverage. And just as Honour had said, his eye began to pick up regular patterns in the trees and brush that couldn't possibly be the construct of Nature. "It's impossible!" he thought aloud. "They built a jungle!"

"What? Do you see it? The patterns?"

It took him a few seconds to snap out his awe and amazement. "Yes... Yes! I see it! It's incredible!" He reached into his satchel and retrieved a small spyglass, extended it to full length and began to survey the farther reaches of the jungle.

"Funny, I remember it being bigger!" she called up to him.
"Excuse me?!"
"Your spyglass, I remembered it being bigger than that, is all."
"My spyglass," he answered, clearly annoyed by her tangent, "is the same size it's always been! This is a spare. Easier to carry around."
"Oh, thank heaven! I thought it had shrunk."
"Honour, may I please have a moment to concentrate?"
"Sor-ry! Honestly, you show a little concern about his spyglass, and he gets all touchy!" she huffed.

Jack resumed his survey of the island, working to re-establish their position relative to the beach where they had landed.  "Honour, would you hold the map up again, the way I held it?", he called down.
"You mean sideways?"
His mouth worked to form then stifle the beginnings of several choice retorts.  "Fine!  Yes, sideways please!"  Honour held the map up at arm's length in front of her face to hide her satisfied grin.  After checking the map against his instruments and the terrain, he climbed down to rejoin his wife.  Ignoring her expectant smirk, he took the map from her and turned it the way she'd insisted was correct all along.
"I was right, wasn't I?" she asked.
He gave a resigned sigh.  "Yes, mi querida muñequita, you were right.  Whoever made the map took some artistic license, probably to make it useless to anyone but himself.  Those squiggles you noticed match up with something I saw over that direction.  It's no small wonder we went round in circles."
"Oh, it wasn't just the squiggles.  Look here," Honour said, pointing to a small mark in one of the margins.  It was roughly drawn, resembling a backward 'Z' turned on its side and stretched vertically.  "I assumed it was there to mark north and whoever wrote it had atrocious penmanship."
Her elegant reasoning brought a smile to Jack's face, and he surprised her with a quickly stolen kiss.  "See?  One more reason I knew you had to come along.  Questioning my reasoning was the right thing to do.  I can't rely on my crew to do that.  Not even Briggs."  He walked over to the large flat rock and sat upon it, leaving her standing there with a look of shock on her face from his compliment.  And his kiss.

The reality was, she had noticed the mark from the beginning and immediately recognized it.  The mark was a rune.  When Honour was an acolyte in the Order of St. Brigid, she had been taught to read the runic alphabet of the Angles and Saxons.  In their Latin based alphabet, that particular rune corresponds to the letter 'S'.  During their honeymoon voyage to Castara Bay, Jack helped pass the time by teaching her how to read the various sea maps and charts he used to navigate.  She was struck that many of the maps used Latin for much of the nomenclature, including the compass rose.  From that knowledge, she reasoned that an 'S' on a map this old likely stood not for 'south', but 'septentrio'.  Latin for north.  She knew the worst that could happen was Jack's compass would prove her wrong.  Otherwise, she could play it off as she had; a lucky guess.

He stared at the map, slowly shaking his head as the significance of what he saw from the treetop sank in.  "It's incredible, Honour.  The Ancients completely transformed this island into a gigantic maze!  Imagine the effort it must have taken to do all this!"  An unsettling gleam came into his eyes that Honour didn't care for.  "If they went to all this trouble, the wealth this chest contains must be enormous!"
"It was terribly important to them, whatever it is," she said as she looked over her shoulder at the gleaming gilt chest.  'All this, to protect whatever is in there?' she pondered.  No, the maze had to be protecting much more, some larger secret.  But what?  "I'm starting to understand why LaFork..."
"LaFourche."
"Whatever-- was going on about what mechanical geniuses they were."  She hesitated a moment and hugged herself as if taken by a sudden chill.  "Jack, should we be doing this?  It feels like... grave robbing."
He left his seat on the rock and gently took her by the shoulders.  "No, Honour, it's nothing like that at all," he said reassuringly.  "If we were truly grave robbing, we'd be here to pull the rings off dead Ancients' fingers.  We are solving a riddle no one else has managed to crack.  Nothing sinister, I promise."
"But we are here to take their treasure."
"Tut, tut!  We're here to open a chest that I own, by the most prudent means possible.  I'm merely protecting my investment."
"I knew you'd find a way to rationalize this," she chuckled.  "And don't you mean our investment?"
He couldn't help but smile at the the impish look she gave him.  "There's my girl!  Now, according to the map, there's fresh water less than two hour's walk from here.  That's where we'll stop and make camp.  Ready?"
"Lead the way, captain!" she said cheerily.  "But you get to take care of any more snakes!"

Honour emerged from the treeline carrying another armload of firewood.  Just as the map had promised, they found a clearing with a stream of fresh water on one side and a small lagoon on the other.  The lagoon was a surprise not mentioned on the map.  Rather, it had been created by a breach in the outer "walls" of the maze, most likely made by a storm.  Jack was making a final check of the tent stakes as she approached their camp.  The light of day was fading quickly, and a cozy fire crackled away invitingly.  She placed the wood on a pile beside the tent.  He turned and gave her a satisfied smile.  "Home sweet home.  What do you think?" he asked.
The tent was made from a broad piece of sailcloth, staked close to the ground at the back and staked taught over a three-foot long pole at the entrance.  Palm fronds had been spread in a thick mat on the ground to form a mattress of sorts, and two bedrolls sat ready for use.
"Very nice," said Honour.  "Where's mine?"
"What do you mean, 'yours'?  This is it!  Our tent.  You didn't expect me to drag a lot of extra amenities along with us, did you?"
"Well, really... I didn't know what to expect," she admitted sheepishly.  "I've never done anything like this before."
"You've never slept out under the stars?  It's really quite easy.  I admit, it's not as comfy as our room in Castara, but it will do for the night."
She was grateful for the glow of the fire to mask the gentle blush that found its way onto her cheeks at the memory.  "All right, then.  But you stay on your side, understand?"
Jack gave her a teasing bow.  "My lady, I swear upon pain of death to stay on my side of the tent.  But I will not place the same restriction on you.  I'd be remiss in my duties as host if I weren't welcoming in every possible way."  Then, there it was.  That smile.  The smile that never failed to make her knees feel suddenly weak.  She took a  deep breath as he went into the tent first and laid out the bedrolls side by side, nearly touching.  He extended his hand to help her inside.  As she took it, she could see that damnable smile was still there.  As she lay down beside her husband, she thought back to the previous night when she'd stolen into his bed and the comfort of his presence, even if he never knew she'd been there.  But she pushed those thoughts aside, and rolled over with her back to him.
"Good night, Jack," she said quietly.
"Good night, Honour," he replied.  "Honour?"
"Yes?"  She'd caught the odd note in his voice.
"I... sweet dreams, love."
She smiled to herself.  "Sweet dreams."

[Welsh Wench]

The jungle became a symphony of subtle noises as soon as the sun went down. Honour listened to various insects, a cawing of a bird she had never heard before and even the croaking of frogs. In a way it was comforting to know that life goes on.
As long as they let her alone.
And didn't have six to eight legs and spewed venom.

She found it hard to sleep. Thank heavens that Jack wasn't a snorer. At least he wasn't in that month they were together.
A month.
Four weeks.
Thirty days since it was June that they met, married and parted ways. She felt a twinge of guilt and regret. A twinge? An enormous amount.
And in one night, her life changed forever.

In all this time Jack had never once asked her about the chests of guilders. Honour laid there wide awake, unable to turn her mind off. In the past eighteen months, she had been able to. But not anymore. Her fingers trailed over the palm frond peeking out from under the bedroll as she thought about the time she had been separated from Jack.

The crossing from Glenlivet to Beaumaris had been uneventful. It was smooth sailing and Captain Underhill had been most gracious. A gentleman through and through and he had looked out for her as a father did a daughter. She was overjoyed to see both Megan and Dafydd waiting at the dock for her.

The decision for her to set up the plantation was one her sister had supported. She and Dafydd loved Zara and certainly their children did, caring for their baby cousin and keeping her amused.
Honour never expected to become so attached to her baby so quickly.

It was during a March storm that blew in off the sea that Zara Wolfe decided to make her debut into the world.  Honour laid in the bed, her face in sheer misery from the contractions but she bit her lip to keep from crying out.

"Megan, I'm not going to make it! If I die, take care of the baby."
"Hush, darling, you aren't going to die. I won't let you."
She started to cry. "I can't do this. I give up. I changed my mind. Ohhhhhh! I want Jack here."
Meagan soothed her. "Honey, I'm all you have."
The pains kept coming closer together. Honour moaned, "I just want him here so I can tell the bloody bastard what I think of what he did to me!"
Megan stroked her brow with a cloth dipped in lavender. "Dear, we all say that. It is always their fault but once it is over, we forget and do it all over again."

After what seemed like hours of pain, Honour groaned. "Megan, I have to push!"
The midwife said, "Rhiannon, I can see the head."
She pushed. The baby's head crowned and with two more pushes, the midwife delivered the baby while the storm raged outside.
Honour laid back on the pillows in exhaustion as the midwife held the child. She could barely catch her breath. The midwife slapped the baby's bottom and Honour heard a wail.
She looked at Megan in astonishment..
Her sister had tears in his eyes.
"Darling, you have a fine healthy daughter!"
Honour felt the tears well up in her eyes. She reached out and touched the baby's hand. "Is--is she alright? Has she all her parts?" she whispered.
Megan said softly, "Two eyes, a nose, a tiny little mouth, ten fingers, ten toes. And the bluest eyes this side of heaven."
"Thank you, God." Honour whispered.
The midwife put the baby in Honour's arms. Her tears fell on the baby's downy head.
She softly touched the baby's fingers as she marveled at how small her hands were as the baby curled her fingers around her mother's.
She said in wonderment, "I can't believe it. She--she's a GIRL!"
Megan laughed, "Rhiannon, they come in both flavors! Did you not entertain the thought that you just might have a girl?"
Honour shook her head and said softly, "What I can't believe is the great Mad Jack Wolfe produced a GIRL!"
She looked at Megan and the tears were shining in her eyes. "A daughter!"
Megan washed her sister's face with a warm cloth.
"And what are you to name this child? Margaret? Elizabeth? Mary is a nice name."
Honour shook her head and said, "I have the perfect name."
"And that is...?"
"Zara."
"Rhiannon! Are you...sure? I mean, it is not approved by the Church!"
She tilted her head up defiantly. "I am positive. This is a unique child and she deserves a unique name. 'Zara' is exotic. And this child shall follow in the footsteps of no one!  Like her father."


Honour rolled over and faced her husband. He was sound asleep still. She gently touched his hair. So like Zara's.....
'I'm sorry, Jack. I'm sorry you weren't there for it. When the time is right, I'll tell you about her.'

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

She tossed and turned but sleep eluded her. Honour looked out of the tent to see the moonbeams dancing on the water. She thought how nice it would be to take a refreshing dip. Just for a few minutes....enough to make me a bit sleepy.
Honour looked over at Jack. If he hadn't changed his sleeping habits in the last eighteen months, he could probably sleep through a monsoon.
She quietly slipped out of the tent and walked fifty feet down to the lagoon. All that she heard were the chirping of the crickets and the croaking of the frogs. Carefully she took off her breeches and her shirt and hung them on the branches and then quietly slipped into the cool water, diving under and emerging, the water droplets clinging to her wet skin.
Just like that day in Castara, she thought. Castara was so long ago. The beach and the grotto where they made love....

She shivered but not from the cool water.
Regret for what she lost.
And anticipation for what lay ahead.

[Captain Jack Wolfe]

White smoke billowed and swirled, momentarily obscuring Jack's vision.  He stepped forward, smiling in satisfaction as he looked upon the crippled, burning Mercedes.  "Continue fire!!" he ordered.  An unexpected movement in the periphery caught his attention.  To his horror, he realized his beloved wife had taken refuge in the ship's boat!  She was directly in the of the field of fire, virtually unprotected.
"Honour, what are you doing?!"
Sudden, searing agony overwhelmed him as a Spanish sniper's musket ball buried itself deep in his shoulder.  The world reeled in slow motion...
"JACK!!!"

Jack sat bolt upright in the darkness, his breath coming in ragged gasps.  The panic subsided as the quiet chorus of the jungle worked its soothing magic, and he began to realize where he was.  He was safe.  More importantly, so was Honour.  It was only that accursed dream again.  Rubbing the dull phantom ache in his shoulder, he looked to make sure he hadn't disturbed her sleep.

But she wasn't there.

Surely she hadn't wandered off.  Even in their relatively civilized compound at Castara, she had been content to stay indoors after sunset.  "Honour?  Honour!" he called.  No answer.  He left the tent to begin the search, and grabbed a piece of firewood to fashion a torch.  That's when he caught sight of her.

Honour stood nearly waist deep in the placid waters of the lagoon, her exquisite form silhouetted by the moonlight.  Beads of water glistened on her skin like precious gems.   Jack watched in silence as she moved with fluid grace, cupping handfuls of water and letting it run in rivulets over her body.  If it had been Venus herself bathing under that silvery moon, he could not have been more dumbstruck by her beauty nor more filled with desire.    As he looked on, he never noticed the piece of wood slip from his fingers.  One end hit the ground, and the other went into the fire, sending a shower of sparks heavenward.

The unexpected display caught her attention.  She looked back toward the camp to see if anything was amiss.  Instead, she saw Jack standing by the fire, watching her.  A momentary flash of modesty washed over her.  But the urge to cover herself was swiftly replaced by other, stronger urges.  She would not deny she was still taken with him.  Ever since the night she had let him into her bed only to discover he was after the Sun key, the memories of how good it felt to make love with him had been impossible to shake from her mind.  'He is your husband, Rhiannon!' she thought.  'He already knows what you look like out of your chemise.  What can it hurt?  It was always so much fun to tease him, and he deserves it...'  Smiling wickedly to herself, she dipped her head in the water and flung her long hair back, sending a glittering arc of water through the night air.  Once more she brought up handfuls of water to cascade down her skin, but this time she did so more deliberately, seductively arching and stretching her body in an almost catlike fashion.  She imagined Jack there with her in the water, his hands lovingly caressing her as she leaned back against him.  She could almost feel the warmth of his lips on her neck, delivering kiss after tender kiss...

Honour knew her seductive display would have Jack aroused to the point of frustration, and she laughed quietly to herself.  What she hadn't counted on was the feelings it awakened in her.  Her mind touched on the many times they had made love together, each memory stirring her longings for his touch into a delicious ache.  But not tonight.  Not just yet.  Despite the hunger she felt, it was worth it to know Jack would be thrown off his game.  He wasn't the only one who knew how to beguile.

A small part of her nagged, trying to stir up some bit of shame at what she was doing, but it was drowned out by the sense of freedom she had at that moment.  'Let him look upon what he unleashed in Castara,' she thought.  While Rhys Morgan had brought her fully into womanhood, Jack Wolfe had taught her to revel in her femininity.  For that, she was grateful to him.  And there it was.  No pang of guilt, no feeling that she was betraying the memory of her first great love.  She would always feel a measure of guilt for his death.  Rhys' memory occupied a special corner of her heart, and that would never change.  But he was just that- a memory.  Little Zara filled her heart to bursting now, yet there was still room for one more great love.  It was clear to her now who that love would be.

Once again she dove into the water, then emerged with a sigh as she sought to shake off her own heightened desire.  She turned and walked toward the shore, and had to stifle a laugh as Jack broke free of her spell and realized she was coming back to the camp.  His awkward attempt to retreat unnoticed into the tent was both comical and sweet.  Once she had pulled her clothes back on, she made her way quietly to the tent and slipped inside.  He was lying with his back to her, pretending to sleep.  She sat on her bedroll for a while and watched him with a bemused smile on her lips.  "Too bad you didn't join me, Jack.  It would have been fun!" she whispered.

His sigh, the sigh of a man who was certain he had watched a golden opportunity pass him by, told her everything she wanted to know.

[Welsh Wench]

The sun broke through the trees, replacing the moonlight. The cawing  and chirping of the birds took the musical interlude of the night symphony to a new height.
Honour stretched out and reached out for Jack but he wasn't there. She sat upright and a wave of relief swept over her as she saw him coming up out of the lagoon, his hair wet. He shook it and sent droplets spattering into the air.
"Cooling off, Jack?"
He looked a bit guilty to her delight as he said, "Not at all. I just wanted to wash yesterday's dust off."
"It's wonderful in the water. I decided to go for a swim last night. The moon was beautiful. It was almost as if heaven was holding a crystal sphere in her hands."
He started, "I kn--I can imagine."
She hid her smile behind her hand.

Jack cleared out the campfire and opened up one of the knapsacks that carried the food provisions.
"What did the cook pack?" Honour asked.
"Oh, the usual. Biscuits. Some cold meats. Cheese."
"What, no fruit?"
'Honour, we needed things that would last."
"Jack, we aren't going to be out here forever. You said overnight. So we find the altar, open the chest and then head back. Two overnights."

He offered her some cheese. She looked around and a smile broke out over her face.
"Wait right here."
"Honour, it isn't good for you to be wandering around out here. Remember there are snakes."
She held her finger up. "I'll be back in a minute. Count to sixty."
As he did so, she appeared when he was at fifty-nine. Her chest was misshapen and lumpy.
"What the HELL? Did you get an allergic reaction to a bee sting?"
She shifted her shirt out of her breeches and a half-dozen apples came tumbling out to the ground.
"Not only that, I found a beehive where there was some honey.  I happened to have a container so I put it in there. Now we can sweeten the biscuits."

Jack handed her a biscuit.
"I don't have a spoon, Jack. But here..my fingers are clean!"
She dipped her finger into the jar and brought it out, drizzling the honey over the biscuit.
She slowly sucked the honey off her fingers.
"Mmmm! This is delicious! You know what I heard?"
"That it is fattening?"
"On the contrary. It reminded me of the tradition of the honeymoon.  Did you know, Jack, in ancient times it was traditional to present the newlyweds with honey to help them enjoy their first sexual encounters and aid to procreate a child?  The use of honey as an aphrodisiac is also mentioned in the Kama Sutra. Where it is said that honey spiced with nutmeg is said to heighten a...oh, look! A butterfly!"
Jack said, "Yeah, yeah, a butterfly. So...how do you know about the Kama Sutra?"
"Hmmm? Well, it is some sort of book,  I guess. I've never even seen it."
"What part did you like best? The part where the monkey gets loose?"
"Don't be silly, Jack! There is no monkey in the book!"
"AHA!  But how did you know?"
"I didn't. I mean, there wasn't a picture of a monkey in the..."
She found herself turning red.
"Well, I might have glanced at it."
"You never were much of a manual person, Honour.  More of a hands-on type."
"Jack?"
"Yes?"
"Shut up." 

Jack watched as she licked the biscuit crumbs off her lips.
"Mmm...that was so good!"
Jack just stared at her method of cleaning up. She caught his gaze.
"What? Did I forget a spot?"
She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and then sucked the crumbs off.
"Honour?"
"Yes, Jack?"
"Don't do that."
"I don't want to be a mess when we get to the altar.  You never know what ancient gods you may run into and I want to look my best!"
She reached over and picked up an apple. She took a bite and said, "Oh my goodness! This is delicious!"
Jack grimaced. "And so goes the fall of man, Eve!"
She looked at him quizzically and then laughed.
"Oh! That wasn't want I was thinking. Remember the story of Paris and Helen of Troy?"
Jack laughed. "You forget, dear heart, that I was an Oxford scholar."   
She sighed. "I always loved your bedtime stories, Jack!"

Jack rolled up the bedrolls and took down the canvas sailcloth as Honour gathered up the food and put it in the knapsack.
"How much longer till we get to the altar, Jack?"
He looked at the map and said, "Due west. About three hours."
She looked up at the sun. "Looks to be about eight hours so we had best be on our way. Maybe we can set up camp near here tonight. That lagoon was so refreshing and....AH! Jack! Get it off me!"
Jack reached over and plucked an emerald green beetle out of Honour's hair.
He crushed it in his hand and tasted it very quickly with his tongue.
"I've seen these before."
"What is it?"
"Some fly. From Spain."
"Oh. Well, isn't it out of its jurisdiction?"
"I think they can fly anywhere."
Jack scraped the beetle's little carcass into a piece of paper and slid it into his pocket.
"Why don't you just throw it out, Jack?"
"Oh....I don't know. A souvenir?"
Honour shook her head. "You save the strangest things...."

The provisions were packed and Jack and Honour headed towards the west.
"Oh, look, Jack! What lovely little flowers!"
Jack stopped and grinned. "Damiana. The Mayans and the Aztecs used it to make a tea."
"Was it good?"
"Oh...very good! Really good!  It relaxes a person so they never want to get out of bed."
"Really! I should try that on nights I can't sleep."
Jack picked a few.
"I'll make a special tea for you tonight."
"Oh, Jack, sometimes you are so sweet!"
"Honour, you have no idea how accommodating I can be."

She squeezed his arm and said, "Isn't this all exciting?"
"Yes, love. And the best is yet to come!"

[Captain Jack Wolfe]

The farther they pushed into the jungle maze, the thicker the undergrowth became.  Honour kept track of their position with the map and compass, while Jack hacked away at the jungle's foliage to clear their way.  After more than an hour of slow progress and seemingly endless swinging of his cutlass, Jack was ready for a break.
"Why are you stopping?" she asked.
He turned to her with an incredulous look on his face, the tip of his sword dragging in the dirt beside him.  "In case you hadn't noticed, my beloved pet, I've been making a path through the jungle.  Without assistance, I might add!"
"I helped for a bit!"
"What, fifteen minutes, if that?"
"My arm got tired."
"More's the pity.  The trees quake with fear when you lift a blade."
She stuck her tongue out at him.  "You don't intend to let me live that down, do you?"
"Let me think," he said thoughtfully.  "Not a chance."

She put her hands on her hips and glared at Jack as if she were about to give him the tongue lashing of a lifetime.  Instead, the pair dissolved into laughter.
"I really did hack that poor palmetto to shreds, didn't I?" she giggled.
"Yes, you did!  Like a whirling Dervish, you where.  Very impressive.  Where did you learn to handle a sword like that?  You never did tell me."
Honour retrieved a skin of water and gave it to her husband.  "In school," she answered vaguely.
He drank deeply from the skin and handed it back for her to drink.  "Interesting school.  I'm not familiar with any academies for young women that include swordsmanship.  None within the financial reach of a stablehand or housemaid at any rate."
'Damn him!  Doesn't he forget anything?' she thought as she finished a mouthful of water.  "The lord of the manor was a generous man.  He did all he could to help my sister and me get an education."  It wasn't one of her better lies, but it was plausible.

Jack cocked his head and frowned.  "I thought you were an only child, Honour."
She froze for a moment, knowing full well she'd been caught.  Indeed, she had told him she had no siblings that night they entertained each other with their life stories.    Fortunately she hadn't made a bigger gaffe and let slip she had three sisters total.  "Really?  I was certain I told you about her."
"I'm certain you didn't," he countered, making sure to keep any accusatory tone out of his voice.  "Then again, communication never was our strong suit."
"We're talking now.  That has to count for something."  She sat down on the ground next to him.  "Since we're on the topic of children... did you ever want any?  With me, I mean?"
Jack chuckled.  "Honour, the thought never crossed my mind."  Her face fell slightly in disappointment.  "Until I met you, that is.  My whole world changed then.  Suddenly, a real life seemed possible.  A fine home, a beautiful wife, a yard full of children-- just like our parents told us it would be if we sat up straight and finished our peas and carrots.  Why do you ask?"
"I was just curious.  This place reminds me so much of Castara, and I was reminiscing.  Besides, what makes you think you don't already have children?" she asked coyly.
"Excuse me?" he sputtered.
"Your reputation precedes you, remember?  I'd heard lots of stories about you before we met, and not all of them had to do with prize ships and sacked towns."
He smiled at her rakishly.  "And still you married me, in spite of what you heard."
"Maybe I married you because of certain stories?  A girl gets curious, you know," she smiled in return.
Their faces drew closer to each other.  "Did I, um, measure up to what you were expecting?"
"Exceedingly so," she whispered.  A wicked gleam came into Honour's eyes.  In a flash, she brought Jack's cutlass straight up in between them.  He flinched, and gave her a puzzled look.  "You need your strength for the jungle, lover boy.  We have a temple to plunder, remember?"
"Cutlass tease," he laughed as he took his blade and returned his attention to clearing the path.  "'We have a temple to plunder'... I'd rather plunder you!" he muttered.
"I heard that!"  Honour watched as he resumed slashing away the jungle growth, secretly thankful that he was busy and couldn't see the happy grin on her face.

She looked around at the surrounding jungle as the moved along, trying to remind herself that though this wild place reminded her of Castara, the similarities were merely superficial.  Even after seeing the artificial arrangement of everything with her own eyes, it was easy to forget the island had been completely reshaped by human hands long ago.  At least she hoped they were human.  She found it easy to push such worries aside, however, knowing Jack was there with her.  He had a way of making her feel safe, despite their rocky past.  It also help that Bonita wasn't lurking around every dark corner like some terrible snake, waiting to strike...

A sharp clang jarred her from her thoughts.  Jack stood rubbing his sword hand, looking with disgust at yet another enigmatic seven-foot tall column.
"Damn it!" he swore.  "These blasted things are everywhere!  Not as close together as the ones we found near the start of this overgrown maze, thank Heaven."
"Maybe they never expected outsiders to get this far.  Or they changed the spacing to throw us off," Honour mused.  "Did it break your sword?"
"No, thanks for asking.  My hand's fine, too."
"You'll live," she teased.  "Dear Lord, this air is stifling!  It's like breathing water!"  She loosened the neck of her chemise, revealing a considerable amount of cleavage in the process.  "Now, according to the map...  what do you think you're doing?"
Jack had stepped close to her, pretending interest in their map.  The look on his face showed that his real interest lay with an entirely different landscape.  She quickly covered herself with the parchment and gave him an exasperated look.  "You have a one rut mind, Jack Wolfe!"
"And you have two of the most amazing--"  He paused as her eyes widened in warning.  "-- blue eyes I've ever seen.  Really.  They're spectacular."  He took a respectful step back when Honour gave him a dismissive brushing wave of her hand.
"As I was saying before your eyes nearly fell out of your head, we'll need to cut back to our right, and then bear off to the left in a wide arc."
"At this pace, we should be there in just over an hour," he said.  "I'm sure we'll find plenty of these damned pillars to guide us.  Hopefully I'll see them before I hit them."
"Do watch your blade, my husband.  I'd hate for it to get dull," she said with a saucy wink.
"For you, love, my blade is always at the ready."
"Promises, promises..."

Over the course of the next hour, Jack and Honour carried on much as they had when they were first married; talking and laughing about everything and nothing, each careful not to touch on their collapse or the intervening eighteen months.  It was easier than either imagined.  Any awkward silences were deftly filled by flirtatious banter or pleasant remembrances.  For Jack, it was a happy reminder as to why he had been so taken with her from the start, and moreover, why he fell in love with her.  In truth, the contents of the chest were no longer that important to him.  It could be empty, and it wouldn't matter that much.  He understood that the real treasure was right there beside him.

He felt the tip of his sword graze stone.  This time he was determined to proceed cautiously.  "Honour, may I have your rapier, please?  I think I found another column, but not where we're expecting one to be."
"What do you mean?  We should be on top of the temple site by now.  And I will not have you beating stone pillars with my sword!  I just had it sharpened."
"I need your sword because it's longer than mine, dear."
"It takes quite a man to make that admission," she giggled.
"Now who's got the one rut mind?" he asked in mock exasperation.  "I'm going to use it to poke around..."
Honour's giggles burst into full laughter.  Jack walked to her and pulled the rapier from its sheath.  "Hey!" she protested.
"Don't worry.  I'll be gentle."
"You've told me that one before..."
"And you never complained.  Not once.  Now, let's see what's in here."  He slowly slipped the blade in amongst the vines and branches that formed a forbidding wall in their path.  Halfway in, the blade hit stone.  Further probing showed that it was another pillar, but much larger than the ones they had already encountered.  He handed the rapier back to Honour and carefully cleared away the foliage with his own sword.  What he revealed left both of them staring in wonder.

The massive column was at least four feet wide, and taller than Jack could reach with his sword.  Carved into the face of the monolith was the figure of a man in ceremonial dress, facing to their right with his hands raised in front of him, palms out.  The pose was not threatening, but somehow reverent.  Jack took his cutlass and continued probing the undergrowth.  Some ten feet to the right of the first monolith, he found a second.  Upon its face was carved the mirror image of the first.

"Jack?  It's a gateway.  I'm sure of it," she said in a voice barely above a whisper.

[Captain Jack Wolfe]

"Aye," Jack said with a satisfied smile.  "The gateway to our destination.  Excellent navigation skills, darling!  Wherever did you learn to read a map like that?"
"Some unscrupulous pirate I met a while back," she smirked as she put the map away.
"You were an excellent student as I recall."
"You were a passable instructor."  She drew her rapier and smiled broadly.  "Now that we're here, shall we see what's on the other side?"
"I was beginning to think you'd never ask!"

The couple worked together with a renewed sense of purpose to penetrate the curtain of wild growth that stood between them and the temple site.  It was easier than they expected.  Within minutes they were through, and before them lay the temple complex of the Ancients.  They stood together and surveyed where that mysterious race gathered to worship their gods. 

"Well, that's just disappointing," sighed Jack.
Honour unconsciously wrinkled her nose.  "What a mess..."

The area had been laid out like a grand courtyard, with a large central structure flanked by a handful of smaller ones.  It must have been impressive to behold during the heyday of the Ancients, but time had been a cruelly neglectful steward.  The small buildings had completely collapsed, making it impossible to divine their original shape or purpose.  Fortunately, the main temple had fared somewhat better.  One could still see the roughly pyramid shape of it, but its adornments lay crumbled at its base, the watchful statues of their gods dashed to rubble.

"There must have been an earthquake, if not several," observed Jack.  "I'm sure the yearly storms that plague this region haven't helped matters."
Honour shuddered.  "I hate hurricanes.  What do we do next?"
"LaFourche's journal said we need to find a chamber with an altar.  I'm assuming it's in there since there's only one temple," he said, motioning to the ruins.
"'Assuming'?  You mean he doesn't say for certain?"
"Forgive me.  I didn't think to ask if the chamber is in Temple Number One, Two, or Three.  We've got one temple-"
"That we can see..." she interrupted.
"What say we try the obvious solution first before getting all picky, shall we?"
"Fine," replied Honour.  "But which door do we use?"
Jack turned and took a long look at the temple.  It had three black openings in its face that seemed to lead within.  "Oh," he said quietly.
"Not in the journal either, was it?"
Jack opened the haversack and pulled from it the journal, a small copper box of guncloth, and a striker.  He handed Honour the journal and retrieved one of the torches he had fashioned back at their camp.  She leafed through the book as he worked to get the torch lit in the humid air.
"Hardly Botticelli, but interesting," she said as she looked at the drawings.  Something seemed oddly familiar about certain elements, but nothing she could put a finger on. 
Jack slung the bag around his neck and held it open for her to return the book.  "Grab an end, love, and we'll go see which door is our winner!"
"Did you mean the chest, or you?"
"If you grab my end, sweetheart, I'll have to douse this torch in favour of the one you'll have lit.  Shall we?"

They carefully carried the chest up the debris strewn steps to a landing at the middle of the temple's face.  Once there, they set the chest down on the mottled grey stone.
"Stay right her, Honour.  I want to check these side doorways just in case they decided to be sneaky."
Quick as a flash, she snatched the torch out of his hand.  "I'm just as capable of exploring as you are, Jack!  I'll check this side door first."
"Honour, wait!  You don't know what might be in there!"
Jack watched as she walked to the doorway at the left side of the landing.  She turned and gave him a mischievous smile before ducking inside.

His heart nearly stopped when he heard her scream.

When he reached her, she was standing in a small room with her back to the door, trembling.  Her hair was tangled with thick cobwebs.  She never noticed when Jack brushed away a large spider that was about to crawl up underneath her golden mane.  He looked to see what had her so transfixed with fear.  Before them was a wall of human skulls.  Dessicated skin hung in rags from their grinning faces, and some had a dismembered hand protruding from their mouth.  He took the torch and turned her away from the grisly sight, then gently guided her out of the antechamber.  Once in the sunlight, Honour buried her face in his chest.  He gently pulled the cobwebs free and held her close until her shaking subsided.

"Will you stay close to me now, please?" he asked.
"Oh, Jack, it's awful!  I've never seen anything so hideous!  What kind of monsters were these people?"
"You've seen gibbets hanging at the entrance of a harbour, haven't you?  Is what you just saw that much worse?"  He helped her take a seat on the landing.  "Stay here.  I'll only be a moment."  Jack went to the other side doorway and went inside, leading with the torch.  He emerged moments later, shaking his head.  "Same decorator, love.  Maybe even a little tackier than before."
She smiled a little at his joke and got to her feet.  "The centre door it is, then.  If you don't mind, I'll let you lead the way."
"I thought you'd never ask," he said with a comically gracious bow.  They lifted the chest together, and Jack gave her his best reassuring look.  "You ready, darling?"

"No," she admitted.  "But when has that ever stopped us?"

[Welsh Wench]

They descended the stairs, the chest between the two of them. Jack held the torch aloft.
"Scream if you see a snake, darling. Just don't let go of the chest."
"Snakes? Snakes weren't part of the deal, Jack. If I knew there were all sorts of crawlies, I'd have sent Briggs with you."
"Wouldn't work. Briggs is not what you call creature-friendly. Puddin' proved that."

"Jack, will you look at these carvings!"
"I'm burning the cobwebs as I am going along so I haven't had time to admire the wallpaper, Honour."
"Stop a minute! My God, we are standing in the ruins of an ancient civilization!"
"Been here since the dawn of their time, love."
"Jack, do you suppose they sacrificed virgins here?"
"What's the matter, Honour? Worried about your virtue? As I recall, I took that. Over and over and over and over and...."
"Yes, Jack, you had a great time. I'd have to do some multiplication to figure out how many great times you had."
"You know I could make a joke about division..."
"Hey, I'm not Briggs so watch your off-colour jokes!  About the virginal sacrifices...the Ancients didn't do that, did they?"
"Of course they did!  It was believed to encourage fertility, demonstrate piety, and propitiate the gods. The Mayan gods were thought to be nourished by human blood, and ritual bloodletting was seen as the only means of making contact with them. The Maya believed that if they neglected these rituals, cosmic disorder and chaos would result. Want to know how they did it?"
"No."
"Oh, it's a good bedtime story. Guaranteed to make you want to snuggle up next to me, Honour. The sacrificial victim was held down at the top of a pyramid or raised platform while a priest made an incision below the rib cage and ripped out the heart with his hands. The heart was then burned in order to nourish the gods."
Honour covered her hand with her mouth and fought the rising nausea. "Jack...I think I'm going to be sick."

But Jack didn't hear her.  "So did the Druids. Did you know the Druids had a fire--I forget what it was--and only virgins could tend to it and if it was found out they weren't untried, then they were buried alive?"
Honour felt a chill sweep over her and she got dizzy.
"I have to sit down, Jack."
He let the chest down easy as Honour sank to the step.
"Are you alright?"

How could she possibly tell Jack that it was that very fate that she escaped from the Order of St Brigid?
She crossed her arms over her knees and buried her head down. She tried to keep from gulping the air which was musty. In a minute she regained her composure.
"I'm fine. Really. It---well, the hopelessness and the fate of the young girls really got to me."
Jack sat next to her. "Think of it this way, Honour. By getting the treasure, it will be our little way of getting even with the priests. Now...should we look at those carvings on our way down?
"Jack, I got an idea..."
"No, Honour. We aren't going to use the carvings for wallpaper for the Captain's Quarters."
"Oh."
"Shall we?"
He helped her up and they continued down the stairs.

Honour paused by an elaborate carving. "Jack, look at this! Look at the detail!"
Jack looked closer and chuckled.
"What is so funny?"
"Oh....just the writings."
"You know how to interpret this?"
"Honour, what did you think I did for that eighteen months we were separated? I tore that journal apart deciphering it!"
"Alright, smarty--what does this say?"
He could hardly hide the mirth on his face.
"For a good time, call Ix Chel"
"Are you kidding?"
"Of course not!"
Honour looked closely at the carvings. "Oooh, look at the detail on this one!"
Jack burst out laughing.
"Now what?"
He took her by the shoulders and could scarcely keep a straight face. "Honour, darling, you can't see the forest for the trees. Step back. You are too close to the hieroglyphics."

He marched her back about ten feet and then spun her around.
"Now look at it."
Honour stared at it and after a minute, her face flamed red. "Is that what I think it is?"
Jack laughed, "Yes, my dear. That is the Mayan version of page 54 in the Kama Sutra."
"Is not! That is page 38!"
"WHAT?"
Her face got even redder. "Well....so I heard!"

[Welsh Wench]

Jack and Honour stopped at the bottom of the stairs.  A long, dank hallway presented itself. 
She stepped closer to Jack.
"Where are we?" she whispered.
Jack raised the torch and said quietly, "The bowels of Hell, I'd say. Careful where you step. You never know what the broken pottery contained. Could be some poison they used. Ritual stuff, you know."

Skirting the broken pottery, baskets and relics, including bowls and eating utensils, they came upon three chambers. One was straight ahead and two on either side of the hallway.
"Jack, I'm scared."
"What's to be scared of, love? We haven't come across any crawlies or fanged beasties, have we?"
"No."
"Let's see what is straight ahead."

They entered a chamber that had an ornate carved chair on a pedestal.
"Ah! This is where the High Priest got ready for his big show!"
"Big show?"
Jack pointed to a large pottery that appeared to have dried blue paint in it.
"There. The sacrifice was stripped and the high priest painted him or her blue. And that table over there. Look at all the fancy knives in various shapes and sizes. See that convex table over there?"
Honour nodded mutely.
"That is where the poor unfortunate was held down by specially designated priests.  Want to know how they
killed them? They....Honour?....HONOUR!"
Jack looked just in time to see Honour slump to the ground.
He held her head up as she was coming to.
"J-Jack?"
He pushed her hair back out of her face and said quietly, "Forgive me, love. I shouldn't be telling you the details. Let's get out of here. Bad miasma here."
He helped her to her feet and he led her out of the chamber.

She leaned against the wall, her face pale and a cold sweat came over her. Jack wiped her face with a cloth.
She felt the tears in her eyes. Her narrow escape from the Druids came back to her in a flash.
"Are you alright, Honour?"
She nodded and laughed shakily. "It just kind of spooked me. There's a bad feeling here, Jack. The sooner we get out of here, the better I will feel."

Jack held her hand and led her to the chamber on the right.
"I'll go in first," he said.
"I won't argue. But it had better not be page 27 of the Kama Sutra."
"As I remember that was your favorite....OW!"
"You deserved that. And if you keep it up, you get another pinch. Degenerate!"
"You never complained before as I...OW! Cut that out!"
"I told you that would happen. Now what is in there? I'm afraid to look."

Jack shone the torch in the chamber.
"My God, Honour! Look at this!"
Inside the large chamber was a central altar. On the walls to either side of the altar were carvings of robed skeletons facing the back wall.  Jack took the Moon Key out of his tarry pouch.
"That large relief on that wall exactly matches the Moon Key!"
He looked over to the altar.
"I think we found where the chest is supposed to be! Look--the size and shape are the same! And the nubs here on this depression. The chest fits right here. Help me lift it up."

Together they hoisted it up and set it in on the altar.
"It fits!" Jack could hardly contain his excitement.
As he put his Moon key in the lock, Honour put her hand on his arm to stop him.
"Don't! It may be booby-trapped!"
"But the chest fits!"
She looked closely. "Look at the carving on the altar. It is not the same as on the lid. See here?"
He ran his hand over it. Looking up, Jack's breath caught. "Oh, my God! This is the Oracle of Remembering!"
He hurriedly thumbed through the journal and then showed her the page.
"See here? The Altar of Yesterdays!"

Jack and Honour looked at each other.
"The left chamber!" they said excitedly in unison.
Hastily they grabbed the chest and Jack took the torch.  Holding their breath, the entered the chamber across the hall. The carvings on the wall had no skeletons but robed men facing backwards.
Honour whispered, "Jack, look!"
She pointed to the detail on the chest lid. "It matches. OH, IT MATCHES!"
Jack turned the page in the journal and said, "The Oracle of Seeing. The Altar of Tomorrow. Honour, this is it! This is where we are supposed to be!"
Carefully they put the chest on the altar. Everything lined up.
Jack drew out the Sun Key and whispered, "Mother of God! We are home!"
He inserted the Moon Key and then the Sun Key.
As he was about to turn it, a voice from behind and a torch light shone on them.

"De Great Jack Wolfe and him golden-haired woman. De bones no lie. Dey cross paths wit' me once again!"
Jack looked up and whispered the one name that sent chills down Honour's spine to her very core.

Bonita.

[Captain Jack Wolfe]

Bonita stood in the doorway of the oracle chamber, holding a torch aloft in one hand and clutching a leather pouch with the other.  No weapons could be seen, but one never knew what she might produce from the loose folds of her calico dress.  Her dark eyes narrowed into slits.  She had expected to find Jack there in the temple, but she hadn't foreseen Honour's presence.  Though seeing Jack's wife again made her blood boil, she pushed her hatred aside.  She was certain her curse would drive them apart just as it had done eighteen months before.  The thought of Jack's heart being broken once again served to cool her temper for the moment.
"See, Jack?  I tol' you Bonita know how to find de temple of de Ancients!" she gloated.  "But would him listen?  De great Captain have all de answers, or so he t'ink!"
Jack touched Honour's arm and gently urged her to step behind him.  "Fine, Bonita.  You followed me.  I hate to break it to you, but you're not the first to accomplish such a feat.  Now if you'll excuse us, we're a tad busy at the moment."
"Bonita not goin' anywhere, Jack.  Not wit'out what I came for."

Jack could feel Honour's grip tighten on his shirt.  She didn't like where this was going any more than he did.  "Let me guess," he said, making no attempt to hide his displeasure.  "The contents of the chest?  Since when did you get into the business of highway robbery?"
"It much, much more d'an de shiny swag you took from so many ships, Jack.  It is wort' all de patience Bonita could find wit'in her, waiting for you to finally gather all de pieces and bring dem to dis holy place.  Dere were a reason we were brought toget'er do'se years ago when you first start looking for de chest.  It were Fate's hand."
"'Fate's hand'?" he echoed incredulously.  "You're telling me it was fate that you've known about the chest and the journal and the keys for all this time, and now you show up a just the right time to try and steal the treasure I've worked so hard to find?  That my wife and I have risked life and limb to discover and retrieve?  If you think I'm going to hand over what's in this chest to you, you've seriously gone round the bend.  No, you can't just stroll in here and lay claim to another man's prize."
"You prize be damned!" she retorted in a commanding voice just short of a shout.  "I claim my birt'right!"

Honour and Jack looked at each other in stunned disbelief.
"You hear Bonita true!" the Obeah woman continued.  "My Tia Elena, she tell stories of dese people you call de Ancients.  How untol' years ago dey abandon dey empire to go amongst de people of ot'er lands to spread dey knowledge so it would not be lost.  Tia Elena teach me dey ways.  She say dat one day dey secrets would be revealed, and Bonita would be dere to pay witness.  De bones tell her dis, and dey never lie!"
"Funny how you're just now mentioning any of this," said Jack, his voice edged with impatience.  "it would have been helpful 'all dose years ago'," he mocked, "and a damned sight more believable!"
"Dat because Bonita did not see de connection until you, Jack Wolfe, found de one t'ing dat link dem all toget'er."
"The journal," Honour gasped.  "Jack, you showed it to her?"
"More like she ransacked my room to find it," he said.
Bonita smiled knowingly.  "Ah, you saw it too, golden child?  De images and de writings; did dey speak to you?  Were dey familiar somehow?"

Honour's grip on Jack's shirt tightened.  Yes, she had recognized elements of the drawings in the journal, and the temple wall carvings.  Even snippets of the Ancient text stirred memories from her Druid trainings.  But she was not about to admit it to Bonita.  Certainly not in front of Jack.  "No.  Not in the least," she answered.
"You words, dey whither on you lips, child," Bonita said derisively.
"All right, Bonita, that's enough!" interrupted Jack.  "And I've had a belly full of your fairie stories!"
"I have proof!" she protested.
"Proof of what?  That you're a lunatic?  We guessed that one already, so you can put away your certificate from Bedlam..."

Bonita stepped abruptly around the altar and held her torch near the wall to the left of the Sun carving.  There, they could see the stylized image of a woman with the head of a jaguar.  Her hand was held up in front of her, palm up.  Above her palm were four glyphs in the Ancient language.
"Dat," intoned Bonita, "is de highest goddess of de Ancients.  Qe'ttex.  De Queen of All."  The reverent way she said the goddess' name, 'Keh-TESH', sent more unpleasant chills through Honour's insides.
"Thanks," said Jack.  "I knew that already, but thanks for clearing up the pronunciation for me.  Hardly what I'd call proof."
"Here is you proof!" snapped Bonita, and she pulled up the right sleeve of her dress.  She held up her arm in the torchlight so Jack and Honour could see a small tattoo in the crook of her arm near the elbow.  It was comprised of four glyphs.  Four glyphs that perfectly matched the name of the goddess Qe'ttex.

[Captain Jack Wolfe]

"Dis mark were given to me as a baby," Bonita explained.  "De women of Bonita's line, we all carry de mark of Qe'ttex.  We all carry de memories of de Ancients."  She turned to face the graven image once again, and began speaking quietly in a language Jack had never heard before.  As with the writings, certain words had an eerily familiar ring to Honour.  The dark woman's sing-song incantation was mesmerizing.  But both women's trance like state was broken by the sound of a pistol's hammer being pulled back.
"You and your goddess can get reacquainted once we're done here," Jack said with firm deliberation.  Bonita turned to find Jack's pistol levelled at her head.  Slowly, a wicked smile spread across her face.
"What the hell are you smiling at?" he asked.  "You've never been a gracious loser."
"Bonita not smiling at you, Jack."  She nodded in the direction of the doorway behind him.  "Me smiling at him."
"Jack, who is that?" asked Honour warily.
He turned to find a mountain of a man just outside the door.  The ebony giant ducked down in order to enter the chamber.  Once inside, he drew himself up to full height.  He was easily six and one half feet tall, clad in breeches, boots, and a waistcoat.  Tucked into his belt were two extremely long, no doubt extremely sharp bone-handled knives.  He stood there looking down impassively on the trio with his hands on his hips, his fingers much too close to the knife handles for Jack's comfort.
Bonita's chuckle broke the silence.  "Him are my cousin, Isaiah."  She brushed Jack's pistol aside as she went to join her relative and bodyguard, to whom she handed her torch.  "Now dat we all been introduced," she continued smugly, "please, Jack.  Open de chest."

Jack sized up the situation in his mind.  He could have tried shooting Isaiah , but there was no guarantee that he could kill the colossus with one shot, provided the gun didn't misfire.  The chamber was far too small to think about attempting hand to hand combat.   He couldn't risk having Honour hurt or killed in such a situation.  No, the only option Jack could see was to open the chest and hand over the contents to Bonita, because she would much rather see him have to swallow defeat than kill him.  He holstered the pistol and moved toward the altar.
Honour stopped him.  "Your going to just give it to her?  Why?"
He smiled and kissed her cheek.  "This little adventure has already shown me I have all the treasures I need in you.  I won't miss whatever is in that bloody chest.  It's fine, darling.  Really."
She nodded in agreement, but couldn't help but feel sympathy for him.  Jack had been trying to solve the mystery of the Ancients for nearly five years.  With the answer literally in his hands, it was about to be taken from him.

"Let's get this over with," said Jack to Bonita.  He noticed how the greed and spitefulness in her heart showed on her face like an ugly mask, and shook his head.  Carefully, he placed each key in its respective receptacle in the lid of the gold-clad chest and pressed firmly until he heard a click.  He took a deep breath and tried to turn the central circular section of the lid.

It wouldn't move.

He tried again, this time making certain to dig his fingers in against the gilt carvings.

Nothing.

Perhaps the centuries had caused the mechanism to jam.  He tried working the inset disc back and forth as much as it would move.

It refused to turn.

"What the hell?  Everything is right!" he fumed in frustration.  "The chest is in the correct altar, it's oriented correctly in the well, the keys are locked in just as LaFourche said they should be..."  Jack couldn't believe that after all the time and effort he had put into getting to this moment, he would be denied by a stuck lock.
"Try it again," ordered Bonita.
"Why don't YOU try it?" Jack shot back.  "Or better yet, get your silver-tongued cousin to try!  It won't move, Bonita."
The dark woman exhaled impatiently.  "Either get de chest to open, Jack Wolfe, or dis time you loose you little wife forever."  Isaiah drew one of his knives for emphasis.
"You wouldn't," said Jack.
"Open it, and we not have to find out."
"Has the patchoulli finally softened your brain, woman?  No amount of threatening me is going to change the fact that the lock is jammed, damn it!  And damn you!"  He brought his fist down on the lid of the chest to punctuate his curse.

A moment after Jack struck the chest, the central disc popped up a full half-inch above the rest of the lid.  Everyone looked at the chest in surprise, and Jack tentatively tried again to turn it.  This time the disc turned easily, and clicks could be heard emanating from within the chest as he rotated it.  Finally, there was a loud pop as the seal broke and released.

The chest was open at last.

Jack stared at the altar in disbelief.  Finally, he was about to see what had been hidden away from the world for hundreds upon hundreds of years.  Even if he couldn't keep what lay inside the chest, perhaps seeing it would be enough to satisfy his curiosity.  His hands trembled ever so slightly with anticipation as he grasped the lid and slowly lifted it free.  He left the lid leaning against the altar and turned his attention back to the open chest.  Bonita was already peering into it, but her face did not reflect the haughtiness she'd shown moments before.  If anything, Bonita was bewildered.  Honour came up beside him, and they looked into the chest together.  What they found was hardly what they had imagined would be there.

Instead of fabulous trinkets and jewels, they found roughly two dozen scrolls.  Each had been tied up with what looked to be hemp string.  Jack picked up one and untied it, as did Bonita.  On his, there was more cryptic writing in one corner and several thick lines that meandered from one edge of the page to another.  Adding to their mutual confusion, the writing did not match anything mentioned in the journal nor anything Jack had seen in his travels.  Bonita angrily thrust her scroll at him.
"What be dis trickery?" she demanded.  "You already opened de chest an' stole what were dere!"
Jack took her scroll and unrolled it.  More odd, meandering lines, with bits of writing scattered around the page.  He gently moved some of the scrolls to find out if they were covering some precious bit of shine, but all he found was the resin-coated bottom of the chest.

So this was the treasure of the Ancients.  Scroll after scroll of cryptic scrawlings.  If this truly was a store of their knowledge as Bonita had been taught, what did it mean?  All that energy and enterprise to solve the mystery, only to be presented with another one.  He handed his scroll to Honour, and began to laugh.
"I'd say the trick is on us, Bonita!" he managed to say amid the laughter.  There was a strange note in his voice that Honour found disquietingly similar to his description of LaFourche's mad cackle.  She began to worry that the Ancients were about to claim another victim.  "You saw the seal break," continued Jack.  "What, Tia Elena left this part out of her bedtime stories?  Maybe de bones, dey lie after all?"

Enraged by his mockery, Bonita opened the leather pouch she carried and emptied it into her hand.  It was a set of poppets.  One was clearly meant to represent Jack.  The other wasn't in the shape of a person at all.  It was a tiny ship.  El Lobo.  Both were covered in a fine black powder.  The look on Bonita's face as she took back the torch told Jack that it was probably priming powder, meant to burn fast and hot.  Whatever spell she intended to cast, it was with the desire to see Jack and his ship destroyed.
"For years, Bonita help de great Captain Jack Wolfe," she said venomously.  "For years, he take whatever Bonita give him," she continued, looking directly at Honour, "but him never let Bonita share in de glory.  Never permitted to stand by him side.  What Bonita gave, she now take back!"  She began to draw down the torch toward the poppets, all the while speaking low and quick in her native tongue.

"Stop it, Bonita!" shouted Honour.
The Obeah woman looked up from her incantation, her expression that of feral hatred.  "Shut you mouth, child!  Not'ing you can say will stop dis!"
"You're wrong again.  Are you sure you're cut out for this?  Because you stink at it," Honour said with a look of angry determination.  She bent down and scooped up a handful of dirt from the floor.  "From the moment we met at Castara Bay, you have done everything you can think of to try and bully me the way you bully everyone around you.  No more."  She slowly advanced toward the altar, her eyes locked with Bonita's like a mongoose confronting a cobra.  "I'm sick of you, Bonita.  Sick of your twisted little games, sick of the way you've treated me and Jack, sick of de way Bonita talk..."
"Honour, be careful!  You don't know what you're doing!" cautioned Jack.
"Remember what she accused me of being, Jack?  I think she needs to find out just how right she was.  There's a saying in my family; 'Paybacks are deadly.'"  Honour cupped the dirt in her hands and began to step around the altar toward her nemesis.
Bonita laughed scoffingly, but her body language told a another story as her posture became increasingly defensive with every step the young blond woman took.  She was confident Honour was strong with the Old Ways, but just how strong she had no way of knowing.  "You jus' a scared little girl!  What can you do against Bonita?"
"I'm not afraid of you any more.  Your hair still scares me, but not you," replied Honour, stopping little more than an arm's length away.  "And I know what frightens you."  She raised her hands to eye level, never breaking her gaze on Bonita, and began to speak in a voice stronger than Jack ever imagined her capable of.  While the Obeah priestess did not understand the Welsh words, her eyes grew wide with alarm at what she was certain was a spell.

"At 'm chyfenw Rhiannon , Fi angen 'ch at cer ar gerdded a ad ni ar ei ben ei hun!" 

On the last syllable, Honour flung the dirt in Bonita's face, blinding her.  She batted the poppets from the dark woman's hand, and followed with a strong right hook that sent Bonita sprawling in the dirt near the doorway.  Isaiah moved to help his fallen cousin, but stopped cold when he heard Jack's pistol dim bulb.
"No no, mate.  Stand right there," ordered Jack.  "Now put away the knife."
The giant slowly slipped the knife back into his belt and stepped away from Honour as she retreated to the other side of the altar.  "Isaiah never interfere when de women folk fight.  Very bad juju to get in they way," he rumbled.  "Enough have gone wrong here today, Jack Wolfe.  I collect Bonita and we go, and not bot'er you any more."
Jack nodded agreement and lowered his pistol.  Isaiah helped his humiliated cousin to her feet.  As he turned her toward the doorway, Bonita turned back to face the couple.
"Dis not over, Jack.  Carry dat with you!"  She then turned her hateful glare on Honour, who met her with a steely gaze of her own.  "Dere will be anot'er time, child.  Bonita will be ready."  Knowing full well that his temperamental cousin could stand there all day making threats, Isaiah gently hustled Bonita out of the chamber and out of Jack and Honour's sight.

Honour rejoined her husband, rubbing the knuckles of her right hand.  Jack took her hand and softly kissed each knuckle in turn.
"You throw a pretty mean punch, love.  I'm impressed!"
"I had to improvise," Honour smiled.  "My throwing dagger is still lodged in the mainmast."
"Well, Bonita wasn't the only one you had going.  I was convinced you were going to tell me you really are a witch!"
"Don't be silly!" she laughed, and put her arms around his neck.  "I knew she was all worked up over her little theory.  'Play upon your enemy's fears', you once told me.  How did I do?"
"Spectacularly!  Now I know the truth."
"Which is...?"  She tried not to hold her breath waiting for his answer.
A broad smile broke out across his face.  "That you are a streetfighter by nature!  Remember when we met in that tavern in St. Lawrence, when you pegged that drunk's foot to the floor?"
"You are a sentimental fool, Jack Wolfe!" she laughed.  Her eyes met his, and they found themselves drawn into a slow, soulful kiss.

A strange popping sound from within the altar interrupted their interlude.  As they approached, the noises grew louder until the they culminated in a sickening pop as the wood of the chest disintegrated before their eyes.  All that was left in the altar's well was ruined wood, a paltry amount of gold, and the scrolls.
Jack shook his head.  "Now, why couldn't it have done that before and saved us all this trouble?"
Honour dissolved into giggles at the sight of the collapsed artefact.  "The Ancients weren't that smart after all.  Their booby traps go off too late!"
"And they say timing is everything," chuckled Jack.  "Here, fetch the bag and we'll collect these scrolls."
"Why?  You said they don't make any sense.  What good are they?"
"They're not any good now.  They were locked away for a reason.  It might be an interesting diversion to see if I can reason out what they are."
"You and your puzzles," she sighed.  She placed the haversack on the altar and helped Jack carefully pull the scrolls from the shards of wood.  As they reached the bottom, Honour felt something cold against her fingers.
"Jack, I think I found something..."  She felt around until she could take hold of the object and lift it out of the debris.

It was a gold statue, roughly a foot in height.  The figure was that of a fierce looking man with an ornate headdress, seated in a throne.  His eyes were two of the most radiant rubies Honour had ever seen in her life.
"Oh my God!" exclaimed Jack.  "Honour, it's one of the Kings.  It has to be!  Which means there's more under all this..."
They picked through the shattered wood until they each found an additional statue.  They were similar to the first, with different features and vestments.  Honour's had emeralds for eyes, while Jack's had diamonds.  Another odd thing about them was a set of irregular length rods that protruded from the bottom of each throne.
Honour looked at the statues in wonder.  "LaFork was right about the chest after all!  It really was the Keeper of the Kings!"
"And you made the find!  My God, if the chest hadn't fallen apart, we never would have discovered them.  They would have been left sitting hidden in that chest waiting for someone to stumble on this place."
"You were going to leave the chest behind?"
"Why not?  It was trouble enough hauling here, I didn't want to carry it back.  The thing was useless anyway."
"I don't know," she said.  "I thought it would have made a nice planter."
Jack laughed out loud at the thought of the ancient gold-clad relic sprouting daisies.  "I promise to buy you a new one at the next port, darling.  Come on now, let's get these packed up to leave.  I'm starting to get used to this place." 

Honour turned her face to the sunlight, breathing in the warn jungle air as they walked across the temple's wide courtyard.  She was happy to be out of that tomblike place, and even happier about finally paying Bonita back for some of the mistreatment she'd suffered in that spiteful woman's orbit.  It was only fitting to her that Bonita left humiliated and empty handed.  Jack looked at her and smiled at the look of satisfaction on her face.
"You look awfully happy," he said.  "Is it the treasure?"
"No," she laughed.  "I feel like a weight has been lifted off me!  Bonita is out of our lives, and best of all?  I got to hit her right in her smug face!"
"I think Isaiah was worried he was next!  What's that you're playing with?"
Honour showed him what she'd been rolling about in her hands ever since they left the temple.  Bonita's poppets.  "These?  I thought that since they're harmless now, Lil' Puddin' would enjoy playing with them."
"At least he'll put them to good use.  I'm sure Briggs will appreciate finding them in his bed!"
Honour locked arms with Jack as they walked.  He had the fabled treasure in hand, but he couldn't take his eyes off her.
"Come on," he smiled.  "Let's get off this rock."
"Lead the way, O Master Map Reader!  Remember which way is north?"
"Of course I do!  It's sideways!"

[Welsh Wench]

Meanwhile in Castara Bay on the island of Tobago---


"Bonita? Bonita!"
"Her not here!"
The dusky woman looked up from wiping down the bar.
"Who you be?"
"Cade Jennings. Who YOU be?"
"Bonita's cousin Drusilla. State your business."
"Heard Mad Jack sold out the smuggling operations so I figure he wouldn't be here. Did he sell out the tavern as well?"
A voice behind him said, "Cade Jennings! As I live and breathe!"
Cade turned around slowly, his fingers dancing on the hilt of his rapier. His face split into a grin.
"James Blake! You are just the man I want to see!"

Drusilla brought the friends two tankards of ale and a couple bowls of stew along with some brownbread.
As they ate, they engaged in companionable conversation.
"I heard Mad Jack dumped the smuggling operation. You take much of a loss?"
Blake shrugged.
"A bit. But I recouped it on the next ship we took. I gave the Crown her due. Spaniards! They do love their gold. What about you?"
"Walked away without a cent. Guess Jack felt I didn't deserve anything since I left him high and dry."
"I heard you bought a ship. That one docked on the far end. The Gryphon?"
"How'd you hear?"
"A Mrs. Jack Wolfe told me. You do remember her, don't you?"
Cade raised an eyebrow. "Do I detect a note of malice in your voice, James?"
James shrugged. "Honour was a friend of mine before she ever knew you or Jack. I met her in a tavern in Glen Livet a few years ago."
"Are you claiming proprietary rights, Blake?"
He shook his head.
"Honour and I were long over by the time she married Jack."
"Did you love her?"
"Did you?"
"Of course I did. I still do. I came back to Bridgetown to find her gone. Jack was gone too. Tavern talk was that she left suddenly. Tavern talk also has it you left the same time. And all before Mad Jack got back from St Maartin."
James took a deep drink of ale.
"So what?"
"So did she leave with you?"
"Cade, if she sailed with me, wouldn't she be with me? Think I would let her go?"
"Do you know where she went?"
"Heard from someone who knows someone she gave up the pirate's life and settled where her family is. Somewhere in Wales, I guess."
"Any clue as to why she left Jack without a word?"
"Cade, you ask too many questions. If she left, it was for a very good reason, I would think. She truly loved Jack."

Cade gave a derisive laugh.
"Really! Did she tell you he pulled a gun on her and she ended up in my room at the inn?"
"Why would I be privy to that?"
"Because you sure know where she went."
"As I said, Cade--tavern talk."
"I heard in various ports--seems I always pulled in after Jack--that he has been looking for a small blonde wench. He won't admit it, but Briggs told someone she lightened his purse by a few chests."
"If he is looking for her in the Caribbean, then maybe he is looking for her in the wrong place. Maybe."
"Ever hear of Jonas Corwin?"
"Captain of the Golden Phoenix? Yeah. Ruthless. Crippled hands now. Broke them in a tavern fight."
Cade shook his head.
"No. Seems a small blonde wench rolled him. Took his purse and left him with naught but his boots, his sword and a blanket."
"So?"
"He's been looking for her ever since too. Seems she has a heart-shaped freckle on her lower back. Sound like someone we know? Someone we both had? In the Biblical sense?"
James stood up and threw a few coins on the table.
"You, Cade Jennings, are no gentleman."

Just then the earth shook beneath their feet. Cade and James both dove under the table as the room shook and plaster fell where they had been sitting. It went on for the better part of a minute and when they crawled out, there sat Drusilla, shaking the plaster out of her hair.
"De Earth Goddess, she not be happy! Bonita tol' me dis happen."
James stood up brushing the dust from his breeches.
"Where is Bonita anyways?"
"Her got a notion to look for somet'ing dat belong to her. After Captain Jack left, she throw bones alot. Dey tell her where to go. I stay till she come back."

James and Cade looked out to see only minor damage.
"Earthquake, no less, Cade. Guess I'll be getting back to my ship. We loaded up supplies two days ago and I stopped by the see if Jack had been around and share a pint with him."
"He ever mention me?"
"Nothing you'd want to hear."
"He mention her?"
"Not a word. But he's a changed man."
"How so?"
"Hardened glint in his eye. Whatever softness and civility she brought into his life is gone. Take some incredibly sage advice, Cade. You see El Lobo in port, you had best keep going."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Drusilla made her way up to the upstairs room.
"Bonita tell me 'bout earth moving. Dat not part of my job!"
She opened the door to Bonita's room.
"What a mess!"
Boxes were strewn across the floor from the closet door being bumped open. One box in particular was crushed a bit when another box had landed on it. A piece of red fabric caught Drusilla's eye.
She opened the box and drew out two dolls. They were almost facing but tied together with a leather lanyard and a red ribbon.
Drusilla shook her head.
"Poppets! Oh, Bonita! You still believe in the power of curse!"
She unfastened the lanyard and ribbon, separating the dolls.
"Satin ribbon is pretty and do no good on poppets! Look much better on me!"
Drusilla tied the ribbon to her hair, stopping to admire herself in the mirror.
"Dere! Dat much better! Ribbon not go to waste!"
She threw the poppets back in the box and then tossed it in the closet, shutting the door.
In the box, in the dark, they tumbled and tumbled.
Until they were facing and touching.

Finally, at long last, no ties could ever bind the poppets again save one.
Love.

[Captain Jack Wolfe]

They spent the next hour carefully retracing their path back through the enormous jungle maze, neither one of them having yet come to terms with the gravity of their discovery or the surreal circumstances in which it happened.  Getting to safe location well away from the temple before nightfall was the most important thing on their minds.  The scrolls and idols had been waiting for hundreds of years, if not longer.  A couple more hours wouldn't matter.

As they laughed and talked, Honour reflected on how Jack's demeanour toward her had changed since the attempted mutiny.  Gone were the rude, almost hostile outbursts and dismissive behaviour  He had become solicitous, protective, and genuinely warm.  There was a tenderness in his eyes when he looked at her that made her insides flutter, just as it had when they were first married.  The old feelings stirred strongly within her, but with them came a terrible uncertainty.  So much had happened between them, how could they possibly regain everything they had lost?  She pushed the thoughts aside for the time being, knowing that a firm decision would have to be made sooner than later.  But not now.

Honour could see that much of Jack's reckless swagger was gone.  His actions now were deliberate in comparison, but still driven by his indomitable, forceful will.  She began to wonder if her leaving had anything to do with the change, and she found herself growing intensely curious about what happened to him after she and their unborn daughter left Barbados.  Finally, she found the courage to try and find out.

"How do you think she did it?  Found the temple, I mean," Honour asked tentatively.
Jack gave a chuckle.  "How does Bonita do anything?  Damned sneaky, she is.  I can't believe she followed us.  We would have seen her ship, or at least a sign that someone was here with us.  My guess would be the maze has more than one entrance and path to the temple.  As you've witnessed," he patted the haversack carrying the three golden idols, "the Ancients didn't believe in doing anything halfway."
"You didn't seem surprised that she found us."
"There's very little Bonita can do any more that would surprise me, darling."
"I suppose, as long as you've known her, you've seen nearly everything she can do."  Try as she might to hide it, a note of jealousy rang in her voice like a ship's watch bell.  "When was the last time you saw her before all this?"
Jack gave her a bemused look before answering.  "Nearly three months ago.  I was leaving on my latest, and ultimately successful, voyage to search for you."

Her face flushed at his words, but she pressed on.  "You went back Castara, then?"
"There was nothing left for me in Barbados.  You were gone.  Someone snapped up the plantation by the time I returned from Martinique, would you believe it?"  He sighed heavily.  "It was just as well.  That scheming cockerel Jennings abandoned the Castara operation when he went his own way, and I had to go back to negotiate the dissolution of the company.  It cost me a fair bit of coin, but less than I feared.  The only one who didn't put up a fuss was that tight-fisted James Blake.  He seemed almost... sympathetic.  Who knows with him, though.  The man carries secrets as easily as the rest of us carry our skin.  But I digress."  He helped her step over a small fallen tree before continuing.  "After that, I spent my time searching for the pieces of this grand puzzle we just solved a part of.  And searching for you.  How fitting that you should hold the one thing I need most."

Honour smiled and thought to herself just how intertwined their lives had been almost from the very start.  She knew full well he wasn't talking about just the Sun key any more.  The feeling was still there within her, too, but she kept a tight rein.  Nagging doubts still plagued her, and she had to be certain.  Certain of him, and of herself.
"A few days ago, I would have never believed I would be saying this to you.  I'm glad you found me, Jack."
"You didn't make it easy," he laughed.  "I practically tore the New World apart looking for you."
"I went home," she said quietly.  "To Wales."
"That explains the where.  But what I don't understand, at least not completely, is... why?"
She looked up at him, and in his eyes she could see the pain he still carried.  Her own eyes began to well with tears.
"Jack, so much happened so fast," she said, trying to keep her voice from wavering.  "I didn't want to leave, but everything... wait!  Jack, do you hear that?  A hissing sound?  It's getting louder!"

The pair had been so intent on their conversation that they hadn't noticed the heavy black storm clouds that had been gathering ever since they reentered the jungle.
"I know that sound," he replied.  "Rain.  Bloody hell!  We're in for a downpour!"