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As the sun rose in the east, the morning screech of gulls remained unusually quiet. The weather was fair, and a fresh breeze swept in from the ocean. Captain Blackbane paced along the rampart at the top of the convent wall, which overlooked the town of Faro. Covered in blood and gore, the man still carried an inner fury. Despite the torture and deaths of the women, he failed to discover the Gold Room. The rising sun informed him he was out of time. He must return to his ship with nothing to show for the expedition beyond a few barrels of wine and the surviving nuns as slaves. The haul of slaves would bring some silver for him and the crew. However, it wasn’t enough.
It would not be enough to satisfy that greedy bastard, Hamidu!
Blackbane convinced the Muslim corsair fleet leader to join him on this invasion of the Portuguese coast. Promises of great riches persuaded Hamidu to bring along his ships. Blackbane recognized his precarious position in the adventure. Hamidu would use this failure against him when they returned to Tunis. Both men were under the control of the Beylik, a Muslim who remained wary of the pirate from America. Hamidu was a Turk like the Beylik who made no pretense of his feelings about Blackbane and his men. He hated non-believers. A wrong move would mean the downfall of the captain and his men. As Blackbane wrestled with his limited options, he barely noticed two men passing on the road leading to the convent.
Bingham hurried back to the convent with a message for his captain. A pirate quickly saluted Bingham as he passed by the first mate. Bingham growled, impatiently telling the man to get back to the ship.
Probably scavenging inside for anything his crewmates missed!
The first mate turned his thoughts back to the crew of misfits and outcasts. He held the suspicion that many of the men had no loyalty to their captain. Bingham believed Hamidu made promises that led to unrest among the crew. Since the Diano Marina arrived at Tunis, the Turk sent replacements from Hamidu’s captured ships. Bingham warned Blackbane that the new men held their loyalty to the Muslim corsair. However, the captain reminded his first mate that there was little he could do. The ship always needed men to replace those killed or who left after successful raids along the coast of Corsica the year before. After all, any buccaneer could leave the ship with their share of a prize as a freeman. Some even stayed in Tunis to become merchants or slave traders.
Arriving at the entrance to the convent, Bingham noticed Captain Blackbane staring out at the ocean from the ramparts. The first mate called out in Arabic from the ground below.
“We need to return to the Diano Marina. Hamidu signals for us to rejoin his fleet. I have the ship ready for sailing. What are your orders?”
Bingham’s voice broke through his captain’s thoughts. Blackbane took a deep breath and nodded.
“Aye, I’ll be coming back aboard. Wait for me at the jolly boat.”
The captain went to the stairs, deciding to take one last journey through the silent convent. Entering the long, quiet hall, he passed a line of open cells with bedding and clothing strewn into the passage.
Still deep in thought, Blackbane almost missed the quiet groan and the creak of a wood he heard inside a room. He stopped, placing his hand on the hilt of his karabela. A deathly silence covered the area as he stealthily slid along the wall to the entrance of a room. Carefully, Blackbane went to the doorway. Glancing inside, he saw a chair and a simple table with a single candle. Then he noticed a foot move from behind the overturned bed. With practiced precision, he pulled his sword from the scabbard and rushed into the room. He went to the foot of the bed and saw a partially naked figure covered in blood on the floor. Blackbane reached down as the plump woman curled up in a fetal position. She begged for mercy.
“Get up, wench,” he told her brutally. He grabbed her by her long auburn hair. “You’ll serve a new master now.”
Blackbane brutally pulled her to her feet. She screamed in agony, falling against the wall while desperately holding back the blood from her wound.
“Too bad you’re already dead. He sliced through your liver,” Blackbane coldly looked her over.
With a frown, he released her while cursing the pirate, who lost him a fair bit of gold. She stared at him for a moment; her round face twisted in a mix of terror and agony.
“Know the name of the man who raped and killed you?” he asked her. “I’ll have him flogged for this. You would bring a fair price in Tunis.”
“Have mercy, captain. I beg you. Don’t let me die without the viaticum. Send for a priest to help me go to God,” she pleaded.
“It’s too late for that,” the big man said grimly. “It wouldn’t matter, anyway; damnation is your destination, just like the rest of us.”
Blackbane turned away. The nun suddenly yelled at him while reaching for him. Instinctively, the captain caught her body. His reaction knocked his sword from his hand. Still holding her, he kneeled with her as she slid to the floor.
When the captain tried to rise, her bloody hands suddenly reached up and grabbed him by his coat lapels. With unbelievable strength, she pulled him close. Despite the man’s struggle to force her away, the woman’s face drew close. Blackbane stared into her eyes. Their unnatural glimmer revealed a resigned madness.
“Captain Blackbane, you will carry your foul sins for eternity,” the nun whispered in a deathly voice that chilled him.
Again, the captain tried to push her away, a frantic feeling coming over him.
Still, she held on!
Despite the struggle, the woman used her index finger to trace a bloody symbol on his neck.
“Damn you, let go of me,” he growled out as the panic grew inside of him.
With a death gasp, the woman released him, and her body fell limply to the floor. Blackbane staggered back to the corner of the room, falling into the wall. A searing pain shot through him from the spot where the nun touched his throat. The fire-like agony covered his upper body like a blanket, enveloping him in an overwhelming sense of being roasted alive. Blackbane pitched forward while he desperately grabbed at his neck with both hands. He rolled back and forth, moaning and groaning, while his body trembled uncontrollably from the scorching anguish. It seemed like hours before the agony slowly faded away. Sweat covered the captain when he finally regained his awareness.
Lying on the stone floor next to the dead woman, he rolled away from the body. Staring into the room’s corner, a glint deep in the darkness of a square opening caught his eye. At first, he did not comprehend what he was looking at. Then he realized.
That’s where she was trying to escape!
Barely large enough for a person to slide through, the dark square entrance revealed a shimmering flicker coming from the blackness inside. Slowly, Blackbane realized the nun must have heard him, and she was trying to hide. The sound of her opening the panel caught his attention.
Drained by the pain earlier, Blackbane slowly crawled closer.
A wooden panel lay across the floor in front of him. It hid the opening from those searching for the next room. Then, he recognized a faint light in the darkness, deep inside the entrance.
A candle! What in blazes is in there?
The captain picked up his sword and pushed the blade past the entrance. He heard the scraping of the steel across the stone, and his eyes beheld a single candle at the other end of a cut stone pathway.
A hidden passageway!
No longer feeling the pain in his neck, Blackbane became entranced by the hidden passage. Scrambling through the opening, he came into a tunnel that opened up above him. He lifted himself into a crouch. The flickering candle ahead of him showed the low, vaulted ceiling of cut stones. His bearded face grimly smiled as he moved toward the candle. Reaching the end of the passage, he found steps leading down into the darkness. The captain picked up the candle, then paused.
If the nun was trying to get in here, who lit this and left it?
A shiver ran through him, but his face twisted into a deadly expression. He saw a door at the bottom of the steps.
“Someone is in for a surprise!” He thought.
Blackbane quietly followed the steps until he reached the entrance. He pulled back on the rusted handle. However, the door didn’t budge. With a firm tug, the door finally gave way with a nerve-racking squeal as the rusty hinges opened.
Inching forward with the candle held out in front of him, Blackbane noticed dark shadows in the room. Then he saw something gleaming gold. Licking his lips at the thought, he stepped forward. However, the first wood step gave way, and the man fell into the murky chamber.
Next Chapter
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