“So on the day of being a Captain, I was to embark on one of the hardest treasure journeys ever known. So we left the forbidden island and with the wind to guide us we sailed. The map was copied from the volcano of Yarsis that exact map that the famed Jarus had when he went to the Lost City. Now I had it in me hands. So we sailed. Now we had a regular map of the known sea at the time. And the treasure map told us to go to a spot on the coast.”

“The coast?”

“Aye, but not just any coast. ‘For the treasure lie, where most turn a blind eye. Hidden in plain sight, where the water meet with might. At the columns of Hercules, the city be, buried with cunning glee. Under the foundation of the city, lie the golden caves of pity. To the men that journey there, beware. Enter the trek with great care. And God be with you there…’ We were to go to where the Mediterranean meets the Atlantic. The two land masses stand in the waters of the major seas. Those be the columns of Hercules. As I said before looking for the Lost City was a fate worse than death. But we kept going. Because we wanted to find the treasure for those men that couldn’t or else it be in vain. The good ship held and the wind did guide us to the place. We sailed in silence for we all were scared. ‘Once ye get to the gateway of the waters, say a pray for ye sons and daughters. For the Lost City be near, time ye be filled with fear. As before ye find the riches galore, ye must dock on the shore. Walk on foot where the mighty oak bleeds, a thousand paces from where the spear sees. Along the rock, fight the clock. Do not fall off the edge, for a watery grave lies at the bottom of the ledge. Once a thousand paces be marched, go to the cave that be parched. Then enter and beware, as ye say one last prayer. For at the end of that tunnel be, the treasure of the Lost City to see. Look at the light that the gold does emit, but before ye get to keep it. Ye must fight a war…’” He spoke in vague rhyme again. I had no idea why; it was probably from the map. Amazing how he still had that locked in his memory.

“Boy-o, remember when ye asked me how I know the treasure to be real?” I nod yes. “I know because I have seen it. We followed the instructions to the letter. We sailed to Gibraltar where the land formed the columns of Hercules and boy… we found it.” He down the rest of his ale and stood up to leave.

“Wait! What did you do with it?” He sat back down.

“When we docked at the gateway and looked for an oak tree. The locals thought us to be mad looking for an oak at the coast. But the map said clearly an oak. This is a part of the story that is not exciting because we simply looked around for a tree for several hours. Then it occurred to us that we did not know what an oak looked like. Therefore we had to find a tree expert and ask. He gave me a drawing. Then the search continued for a day or two until one man pointed at a tree. Hidden in the rocky coast was indeed a tree. Growing through a mountain the mighty oak was only visible from the water. As the map said the oak was bleeding. A large metal spear was stabbed through the bark of the tree and came out the other end, and the sap followed from the wound like blood. The spear pointed toward more rocky surfaces in the distance. But we had to go on foot for the waters near the coast be far too rocky to get a boat through. So we walked a thousand paces from the tip of the spear.”

“a thousand paces from where the spear sees…”

“Exactly boy, we walked through the rocky ground and once we counted to a thousand, sure enough, there be caves. A lot of them. The crew was restless at this time they just wanted the treasure. But we knew from the secret keeper who warned us that the caves of the Lost City were to be the hardest part of our journey thus far. The map warned of it too, ‘Atlas ye be at the caves, chose wrong and they will be your graves.’ The different caves brought a problem. There was one close to the water with jagged rocks at the mouth and human bone scattered in the sand in front of it. The one to the right of it had light coming from it. The glow was inviting and gold in color. The map did say that the treasure would be shining. The third one was under water. The mouth did not have any sand in front of it. Arguments over which cave to go down started in the group. I was not a Captain for very long so I had no idea how to deal with it. I looked at the map to see if there be a riddle about which one to go down. According to the map, ‘Once a thousand paces be marched, go to the cave that be parched.’ We fought over what that meant. A part of the crew thought that we should swim to the underwater cave because the Lost City was lost to the ocean by sinking. But others wanted to go down the cave that had a golden shine. They thought that the caves were not the hardest part of the journey if the treasure shown with a great beauty at the mouth of the cave. I was stumped. But ye know what I did boy?” He asked me a question but I just nodded no.

“I thought to himself that parched meant ye needed a drink. So we go to the cave with sand and bone because that one be dry. The other caves had water near the mouth. I told me crew that plan and they laughed. Me own first mate laughed and gathered a group to go into the golden shine cave. Some of the guys saw the cave I wanted to go down and thought it be too terrifying. They saw the bone and human skull and turned for the water cave. They thought that the gold would not be out in the open that the golden shine cave was too easy so they went swimming. Only a few of the mates stand to venture down the last cave with me. Rolling up the map we walked forward…” He coughed loudly and covered his mouth with his arm. After his cough attack was done he sighed and looked at me with sad eyes. “Why do you like to hear these old pirate tales?” He asked me a question and I did not have an answer.

“I just like to hear a good story, I guess.”

“Stories are great. Every story has a moral even if it is hidden.” Okay, weird why did he just get super preachy all of a sudden? I want to hear more death, adventure and treasure packed into a short story that is released over the course of a month! He sniffled and looked at the wall his body fell. “Alright, we started to walk into the caves.” His voice sounded different. It was still growly and gravelly, but it was not excited by the tale he wove. “I waited back a bit because I wanted to see if the caves the others went down were actually the right one. After the fall of the night started to cover over us, I decided that was enough time and to continue the journey. The cave was dark. So we spent the majority of the time we waited for the others to light a fire. Once we had a blaze roaring we got the thin branches of trees to make torches. They were crude and provided almost no light but it was all we had, forward was the only way to go.”

“The cave was as black as coal. The thin walls brought us together. The sound of water dripping and dropping in the distance was one of the only things we could hear. The walls smelled of mold and mildew. The thick air of the cave bathed your face like a slap from a sea wave. We were only a few feet into the cave when the torches blew out with the moisture. We placed our hands on the cold stone walls to provide the way forward. The grimy wet walls felt like mush. But we still pressed on in mostly silence. But every so often a man would yell out about the gross walls, or that something touched him, and alas ever so often a lad were desert and leave us. Out of the fifty-seven men that started this journey under Captain Harold Gregg. I led the remaining thirteen. But at this point, only eleven remained with people leaving. We walked under the sand and heard it crunched underfoot. Until the leather of me boots hit the water! Slash. We pressed on in the sandy water mixture for only a short way and then…” he coughed again.

“What?! What happened?”

“I fell.”

“Huh?”

“After a short distance in sludge, I fell and found meslef in a pool of water. Me feet did not hit the bottom. A bit of light came in through the bottom, somewhere. Greystone hung overhead and one by one me crew joined me. I swam towards the sound of running water. With a rock ceiling about six inches over me head, a tight fit. We swam. The tunnel grew darker and darker. and then the unimaginable happened.”

“You found it!”

“No, we found a jungle. The tunnel lead us to a massive cavern that had a green mountain in the center. It looked like a volcano and yet instead of lava pure cold water followed from the top. That was the running water. Palm trees grew freely around the green mountain. We emerge from the stone tunnel to a small pool surrounded by black sand and we climb up to the land and helped the rest of the guys get up to the indoor island. The sand spread out from the pool like the sun’s ray always expanding outward. Until it hit the tree line. A jungle of wild palms. The sight we amazing. Unfortunately, the map we copied from the forbidden island had gotten wet in the tunnel. Once we hit this place we were on our own. Two of the largest palms I have ever seen crossed each other to form an archway. With a path of black sand. We followed the one and only way. The wilds trees looked like they were woven together to form this walkway. We followed in darkness at the palms shaded the light overhead. We walked in silence. The sound of water was the only thing we heard and it got close and further way along the path. Until we no longer heard it. Then our feet hit stone. But not the stone of a cave floor. Title stone like from a castle. We walked with excitement to the vision that awaited us!”

“It was the city?” I asked. He only nodded. With a single tear falling from his face I could only imagine the immense beauty he was seeing in his own head at this moment, the Lost City…

The Legend

He sat there thinking of the City for a while. “Are you crying about the beauty of all the gold?” I asked. He nodded no.

“I am not crying for the beauty of the City. Do you want to know how many of those fifty-seven I was talking about are alive, boy?”

“No.”

“One. When we got to the city it be pretty. More golden than anyone could ever want. Once we looked around we found me first mate. He was stuck behind glass. The cave they walked down lead them to the City but trapped them in a glass cage. They could see the wealth and gold but never touch it. The others who went down the water cave drown. But the men with me did not care. They ran to the City and started to put the gold in their pockets. I tried to break the glass, but it was impossible. They stabbed it with their swords and I hit it with a piece of the treasure. The solid gold bars did not even make a dent. So there I was with all the gold in the world. The worse curse of them all.”

“How?”

“That treasure was so vast that we could never carry it out. All the gold we could ever want and nowhere to put it. If we took it on the ship it would sink. The men fought over what pieces they got to keep and the ones they wanted more. So I left, me boy.”

“What?”

“I stood in a place with all the money I could ever want and I just left.”

“Didn’t you want the gold?”

“Course I did. But not that much. I did not want to get into a sword fight with me own crew to get more gold than him. They slaughtered each other on the steps of the solid gold pyramid. In the presence of all that treasure, I could only think of one thing, boy-o, Sara. She was back home working at the orphanage and she could use me help. Because not all treasures are gold, me boy-o. Sometimes they are a short brunette with a friendly smile and a heart made a sugar. Remember how I said that me ship sank?”

“Yes.”

“Well the survivors of the sword duels loaded the Marauder up with all the gold they could carry and then they went back for more and more and eventually the ship could not take it anymore and me beautiful ship sank in the waters. I took a humble row boat and paddled meself to shore. I left me crew to be ruined by their own greed.” He looked under his shirt and pulled out a small chain with a ring on it, “I lied.”

“What?”

“I said that being a Captain was the proudest moment of me life. I lied. It was the day me Sara said, ‘I do.’ This is me greatest treasure.” He put the ring away and stood up. I was confused and blurted out,

“If Sara was your greatest treasure then why do you still dress like a pirate and come here?”

“Aye, because sometimes treasures grow old and die. Then you go back to the only other life ye knew. Ye grow out the bread and hair and wear the clothes of the glory days. Then after a while ye realized that the glory days were with her and not on a pirate ship. That you are just a relic of an old time, lost in this new world.” He stroked his bread and started to walk away. The greatest treasure hunted of all time and no one knows his name. A man like that should be honored in legend. I called, “Hey! but you just left? All that work and you kept none of the treasure? And I never got your name?” He smiled,

“Aye, me name be Geoff” Then he reached into his pocket and flipped a coin as me. I looked at the heavy coin confused by the markings on it.

"What the-?" It was gold but not written in English.

"Pirates are greedy, and I'm still a pirate at heart" He winked and then left just like that. He kept walking. Some treasures are not made of gold. That is the Legend of Geoff.

The End.