Page 157 of In the Pursuit of Haven
That left the Corwin cane.
I guess that meant I should’ve chosen sooner. The last thing I wanted was a reminder of the bloodline where I actually came from. After all the fantasizing and wondering who I was, this was my reality? I wasn’t even sure Crabb had given the Relic to the Corwin family—had there actually been one worthy receiver in their ranks or had they stolen the cane from Moulton like they’d stolen from everyone else?
None of that mattered right now.
Studying the elaborate Pictish symbols embossed in the cane more closely than before, I decided that this Relic must’ve come from Phips’s collection of treasures he’d gathered from other shipwrecks—definitely one from the British Isles; Scotland probably. Though silver was rare there and mainly came from the Romans and later, the Vikings; these symbols belonged to those isles.
That meant this cane was extremely valuable.
After putting the lantern together earlier, I knew that there was a tool inside the shaft that could be potentially used as a weapon… or a key.
My chin lifted and I studied the door. “Are there nine key holes?” I asked.
Hunter immediately responded, “Not on the door. No.” He was eager to solve this and get at that treasure. Lifting his light over the cobbled walls framing the entrance, he studied the surface for irregularities.
The rest of us did the same until Divine let out a cry of discovery. “Here!” she said. “And here, here…” She traced the holes as she found them and I realized she was outlining the shape of a snake. We had a pattern.
Stepping next to Divine, I counted out the holes. There were nine. “Everyone, find the key in your object,” I said. “They’re all going to go in here.”
I didn’t know in what order… though maybe I did. “There are letters in each of the Relics and it spells out ‘join or die.’ I believe we’ll have to put them into the holes, but in the right order.”
A few nods followed as everyone focused on the Relics in their hands. I tried to ignore Luther’s pleased noises as one by one, the keys were found. Some were more obvious than others with the jagged ends in plain sight, while there were a few hidden in secret compartments.
The head popped off on Jessie’s wooden Norseman head figurine. Finding Abby’s key took some doing and, wriggling next to her, I pried out a key from the actual snake fitting into the locket. The backwards “S” bent out. The nine rubies had another purpose besides marking the islands on the map.
Dang Newton! This takes things to another level.
“We spell out ‘join or die’ now,” Hunter said, like he’d been the mastermind behind this all along.
“What about the letters that are the same?” Jessie cut in. He met my eyes with his steady gaze and I recognized when he was going into problem-solving mode. “There are two ‘I’s and two ‘O’s.”
I picked up Brecker’s cross, studying the “I” next to the “I” on my cane. “The notches,” I said. I pointed to Old Dimond’s rattle, not daring to startle the fierce man wielding it. “That one has a notch next to the ‘O’ too and the compass’s ‘O’ doesn’t.”
Hunter lifted his compass for closer inspection. “So, which ones go in the first keyholes?”
“The ones without the notches,” Jessie murmured under his breath as he studied them. “It has to be.”
“I think he’s right,” I said. Brecker agreed with a breathless nod.
“Okay,” Hunter said. “We’re putting our lives into your hands. You’d better know what you’re doing.” He seemed oddly cheerful about it.
I shrugged. “I guess if I’m wrong, you won’t be around to rub it in.”
Hunter laughed appreciatively. “I like your wife, Jessie. She’s funny. If anything happens to you, I hope you don’t mind if I take her ou—”
“Don’t finish that sentence, trainwreck,” Jessie said with a growl. He wasn’t in the mood for dark humor.
Hunter smiled as he counted down from the keyholes to position himself. “This reminds me of a joke. How many people do we need to open a door?”
“Really?” Divine found her place in the lineup. “You’re going to joke about this right now?”
I squeezed between her and Hunter while Jessie retreated past Brecker clear to the end. His sister found her place at the front. A lot of people I cared about were going to die if I was wrong about this. Luther squeezed behind two of Hunter’s brutes, landing his elbow into Brecker’s stomach—maybe a lot of people I don’t care about too.
“Easy,” Brecker said.
Undeterred, Hunter continued his bantering like we weren’t all ready to strangle him. “No, it’s a good joke. You’ll like it.” His eyes went to Abby at the head of this snake. “We have a blonde, a ruggedly handsome adventurer.” He pointed to himself. “A bossy librarian…”I suppose that’s me.“A hot cat burglar.”Divine of course.
I cut him off before he tried to describe his thickheaded brutes behind us. “Put the keys in at the count of three,” I said. “One, two…”
