The King's Key (16 page)

‘Marmosets love paw paws,' Whisker said thoughtfully. ‘I saw platters and platters of them during the victory feast.'

‘So that rules out the monkeys,' the Captain surmised.

‘Perhaps the berry thief is nothing more than a harmless bird?' Mr Tribble suggested.

‘Have you seen any birds since we've been on this island?' Horace said, slightly panicked.

Mr Tribble pondered, ‘Now that I come to think of it, no …'

There was a short silence.

‘So what's the big problem?' Ruby said, shrugging her shoulders. ‘They're just berries. I doubt the thief eats keys.'

The Pie Rats agreed that Ruby had a good point. One by one they began to relax and turned to more important matters – the gourmet breakfast.

Well fed, the companions were in good spirits when they finally left the camp. In single file, they pushed their way through wet, waxy leaves and low-lying ferns and reached the outer wall of the mountain fortress in only a few minutes.

The citadel was constructed like a conventional castle, with four outer walls sloping up the mountain and a squat tower on each corner. A two-towered gatehouse stood at the entrance, leading to a large courtyard, where a dozen ruined buildings surrounded a large royal palace. Rising from the centre of the palace was a monumental round tower, spiralling high above the forest.

The Pie Rats stood in the entrance passage and marvelled at the sight before them. The mighty tower stood proud and strong among the crumbling ruins of the courtyard. Strangler figs, purple-flowered bougainvillea and other leafy vines covered its surface, transforming the cold stones into a tapestry of living colour.

‘Purple … the colour of kings,' Mr Tribble gasped. ‘The jungle has reclaimed its throne.'

Remarkable as it was, the beauty of the tower was almost overshadowed by the eerie silence that hung in the air. No one dared to speak above a whisper.

‘Who needs a rope with all those vines to climb?' Ruby muttered, stepping into the grassy courtyard.

‘Stay together,' the Captain hissed. ‘And watch where you're walking. I wouldn't be surprised if the whole place was booby trapped.'

Warily, the Pie Rats tiptoed across the courtyard towards the stone palace and reached a long flight of stairs leading up to an arched doorway. Whisker noticed a small symbol chiselled into the first step. The shape resembled an upward pointing arrowhead, commonly known as a
chevron
.

Mr Tribble took out his notebook and quickly copied it down.

‘Up we go,' he said, shutting the book.

The jungle adventurers ascended the stairs. Enormous stone chimpanzees crouched on pedestals on either side of the staircase. Lush, green moss covered their weathered heads and torsos. They stared out at the approaching intruders with vacant stone eyes.

‘Hardly friendly …' Horace whispered, stopping to examine one.

‘Keep going,' the Captain said in a low growl. ‘Statues carry terrible secrets from the past.'

Horace jumped back from the statue and scurried up the stairs.

At the top of the staircase the Pie Rats reached a small landing covered in black mould and dried leaves. Whisker felt a deep groove under his toes and curiously brushed the leaves aside with his foot. He looked down to see several small letters carved into the stone.

‘Mr Tribble,' he whispered.

Mr Tribble didn't respond. He was lost in his thoughts, staring up at the palace wall.

Whisker followed his gaze. Carved in the underside of the arched doorway was a second symbol. It was a circle with two vertical lines extending above it.

‘Do you recognise the design?' Whisker asked.

Mr Tribble shook his head. ‘It's not an Aladryan symbol I'm familiar with.'

‘I think it's Freeforian,' Horace piped. ‘I've seen symbols like that in the volcano caves back home.'

‘Can you tell us its meaning?' the Captain asked.

‘Err, no,' Horace replied, clueless. ‘I thought it was just cave graffiti.'

Whisker lowered his head and peered through the archway. A dark tunnel led into the palace.

‘Up the stairs and through the tunnel,' he said thoughtfully.

Mr Tribble nodded. ‘The symbol does looks like a tunnel. It could be from an underground code system. I've heard they still exist in some parts of the world. The symbols are used as navigation tools to prevent miners from losing their way.'

‘That would explain the symbol's appearance in a Freeforian cave,' the Captain added.

‘What about these letters?' Whisker said, pointing to the carvings on the landing. ‘They might offer an explanation.'

Ruby hurriedly swept the remaining leaves off the stone to reveal a string of chiselled letters. The letters formed words and the words formed a message:

Ruby frowned. ‘What's that mumbo jumbo supposed to mean?'

‘Perhaps it's a fancy way of saying
welcome to my house,
' Horace suggested.

Mr Tribble looked doubtful. ‘I think it's more of a royal philosophy. It may have once served as a reminder for anyone entering the palace.'

‘A reminder of what?' Whisker enquired.

Mr Tribble thought for a moment and then offered an interpretation. ‘These words may have reminded the ancient kings that wisdom and wealth were key requirements of their royalty.'

‘How modest,' Horace murmured. ‘They obviously didn't consider humility as one of their treasured virtues …'

‘Humility's overrated,' Ruby cut in. ‘Courage and honour are the noblest virtues.'

‘You're forgetting humour,' Horace added. ‘Without humour life is duller than watching a seven ton rock erode in the rain.'

‘You are both missing the point,' the Captain said fervently. ‘This inscription tells us that the maker of the Forgotten Map stood in this exact spot and read these exact words before he – or she came up with the riddle. Why else would they include references to
wisdom
,
riches
and a
throne
in the verses? It confirms our theory. The key is definitely hidden within this building.'

‘I agree with you on the engraving, Captain,' Mr Tribble said, raising his eyes to the top of the archway, ‘though I still don't see the relevance of the symbols.'

‘The symbols may be coincidental,' the Captain considered. ‘But there's no harm in keeping a record of them. I have a feeling we'll need every clue we can find once we reach the Island of Destiny.'

With a small nod, Mr Tribble opened his notebook and hurriedly sketched the second symbol on the page with the arrowhead. The rest of the crew filed into the dark passage and disappeared into the gloom of the palace.

Dark Passages

Eerie black shadows clung to the high walls of the passage like sleeping bats. Fallen stones and stagnant puddles covered the rough, stone floor. Silently, the Pie Rats pressed on, arriving at three arched doorways.

Eaton lit his lantern and flipped open its mirrored sides, bathing the entire passage in light.

‘More symbols,' the Captain said, looking up.

On the underside of the stone arches were three different carved symbols.

The doorway to the left led to a descending staircase. The symbol above it resembled three stairs falling to the left and a downward pointing chevron.

The centre doorway led to an ascending flight of stairs. Its symbol looked like a ladder or a frontal view of three stairs with an upward pointing chevron.

The right doorway was a continuation of the passage. It carried a circular symbol with two horizontal lines extending to the right.

‘It is my understanding that these symbols illustrate the direction of each passage,' Mr Tribble said, sketching the new symbols in his notebook.

‘But how do we know which one to take?' Horace asked.

‘I think that's obvious,' the Captain replied. ‘The tower is up, so we take the middle doorway and head up the stairs.'

The companions climbed the steep steps of the middle passage until they reached a large pile of rubble. Collapsed stairs and broken stones lay in a jumbled heap. The pile extended from floor to ceiling, blocking the way forward.

‘Rotten pies to rocks,' Horace exclaimed, kicking a stone with his foot. ‘Ouch! We'll never budge these boulders.'

‘Maybe there's another passage to the tower?' the Captain said, taking a step backwards.

‘Wait!' Eaton squeaked, tipping his lantern upwards to illuminate the roof of the stairwell. Directly above the pile, several interlocking stones had fallen away. Eaton flipped the three mirrored sides of his lantern closed. A single bright beam projected through the hole to reveal a small room directly above the passage.

Ruby raced up the pile of rubble and stuck her head through the hole.

‘Jackpot!' she exclaimed, pulling herself through. ‘Come and take a look.'

Smudge buzzed his wings excitedly and followed after her. Horace and Whisker leapt up the rocks like two mountain goats.

‘I can't quite reach the hole,' Horace said, standing on his toes. ‘I wouldn't usually ask, but …'