Chapter 10
“You know love, I was just thinking” Spike said, toeing the dirt on the ground, squishing a bug
“What’s that then?”
“Well…that was too easy” he looked at her
“What?”
“The natives and Angel”
“It wasn’t Angel!”
“Well, you KNOW who I mean, it looked damn well near enough to be his identical twin!”
“You think they might come back and try something in the night?” Buffy asked
“I thinks that’s a given, I wouldn’t put it passed them to-“
“Mommy – I’m sleepy!” Izzie yawned pulling at her mother’s hand.
“Okay honey” she ruffled her hair
“I’ll…” She motioned her head downwards towards Izzie, and Spike nodded
Sam came wondering over to Spike.
“I think they might come back when it’s dark, they went too easily”
“That’s what I just said to Buffy…I think them returning is a given…especially as they’ve probably noticed that not only did we plunder his lordship’s garden of fruit, we’ve also stolen piglets too”
“Well I shall stay awake with you tonight, it’s only fair!”
Spike smiled and nodded
“Dad…did you notice this before?” Billy piped up. He was still lying on the ground, looking at the map.
“Notice what son?”
“This cross on the map…I was thinking, those natives mentioned treasure, and in all the stories I’ve ever ready about treasure and maps...well, ‘X’ marks the spot!” Billy grinned up at his father.
“Let me look………you might be right there son, Sam, look at this, what do you think, reckon that’s where the treasure is?”
~Both adults were squatted on the ground looking at the map~
“Could well be!”
“Sam…I want a shower, and Buffy said it isn’t wise to go off on my own…” Willow looked shyly at Sam
Sam stood
“Sure babe, be right with you!”
He turned to Spike
“I’m um..”
“Sure, you carry on… come on Billy, come and sit here” Spike sat on the ground with his legs open and Billy sat between them, his back to his father’s chest. They began to scrutinize the map together.
Briefly Spike looked up to see Buffy cradling a sleeping Izzie like a baby, rocking backwards and forwards gently.
***********************
“Uh – huh, hmm, wha-what?” Sam woke with a start, Spike had put his hand over his mouth. As Spike’s features came into focus, Spike put his finger to his lips. Sam nodded and Spike removed his hand from Sam’s mouth. Putting his mouth right next to Sam’s ear he whispered,
“There was some definite movement over there in those bushes, you go and be with Willow and the kids”
Sam drew breath and was just about to protest when Spike pulled him closer and said,
“Remember Buffy’s a martial arts expert – she’s more use to me in a fight”
Sam relented and nodded, and crawled off towards the others.
Buffy was beside Spike in a flash, and Spike silently pointed towards the bushes. Buffy nodded and stared hard.
All manner of noises could be heard, howler monkeys in the distance, insects and birds, but nearer to them was most definitely the sound of rustling bushes.
Sleek and swift as a cat, Spike stood and in almost the same movement lashed out with his right arm, grabbing a native around the neck, pulling him to the ground. At the same time Buffy darted to the left, just in time to see a dart hit the tree she’d had her back against, and fall to the ground. Swivelling around with her one leg out, there was a loud thud, a groan of somebody winded as she’d taken the native’s legs from beneath him, quick as a flash she had him around the neck.
Spike quickly had the two hapless natives lashed together with the strong jungle vines. He bound them hands and feet, and covered their mouths with torn up tee shirt so they couldn’t shout out. He then threw the loose end of vine over a tall branch to haul them upside down. He hauled them so far, so that they were at head height with him, and grabbed them each by the chin. Calmly he turned game face. Both natives went wide- eyed in sheer terror tried to wriggle but it was useless
“Now just listen up…you go back to your village, and tell that big poncy head honcho of yours that anymore of not playing fair, and I’ll be forced to wipe out your whole village, do you understand? EVERY LAST ONE OF YOU” Terrified, the naives tried to arch their bodies away from Spike, who flashed them his fangs and his golden eyes. He turned and shook away his demon and went back to his waiting wife.
“There...that should hold them for a while. Now what have we here………hmm, as I thought, poison” he’d picked up the dart that had hit the tree, and sniffed it. The point was coated in a thick, tarry black substance that smelt oily.
“So…they want to step up the fight do they?”
“Spike, I’m worried – if we hadn’t got Billy and Izzie here, I-“ Although she was whispering, Spike stayed her talking with a hand on her arm.
“Shh…(gently he pulled her down) and mouthed, ‘over there’”
Buffy looked to where Spike pointed, but they both relaxed when smallish wild pig came snuffling through the undergrowth.
“Oh look, breakfast!” Before the pig knew what had hit it, Spike had grabbed it and broke it’s neck.
“Keep ‘em peeled pet, I’ll just take this to Sam” On the way, Spike bit into the animal’s neck and fed on the warm blood as he’d turned game face earlier.
*******
When dawn broke Spike yawned. Buffy was already asleep
“Babe…come on pet, wake up”
Buffy woke and stretched, she ached all over and felt dirty, sweaty and grimy.
“Sorry, I’m not a very good look-out, am I? Oh…I’d love a nice hot bath” she said through a yawn
“Me too pet, but we’ll have to settle for a cold shower…come on” he hauled his weary wife up to standing position and they walked to where Willow and Sam had built a kind of make-shift shelter for the children
“Morning – last of the coffee I’m afraid, but breakfast won’t be long” Sam said, poking the flames of the fire they’d got going
“Smells good, we’re just going for a shower”
*************
“Dad…there’s a path that leads to the volcano, look”
Billy laid the map out and traced a line on it with his finger
Spike blinked and said,
“Is it? Sure it isn’t a crease, the map is very old”
“No, I thought that at first, but it’s definitely a path, it shows the stream that runs to make the waterfall, and those rocks over there behind those trees”
Spike yawned and took a closer look
“You know son, I do believe you’re right!”
“Oh gosh – who are they dad!” Billy had just noticed the two hung-upside down natives.
“Oh, just a couple of spoilsports we found last night, nothing to worry about”
“What SHALL we do with them though?” Buffy asked draining her coffee from the folded banana leaf cup.
“I was thinking of letting them go”
“But they tried to – “ Buffy stopped herself short of saying ‘kill us’ so as not to frighten the children.
“I’ll just cut them down…AFTER I’d had a word with them”
Hauling their shoulders downwards, first one then the other native dropped to the ground. Still bound, they wriggled and tried to get away from the man-monster as they thought of Spike.
“Now lads…just remember what I told you…leave us alone…(he leant in close) or it’ll be the whole village wiped out, okay?” he smiled broadly at them and walked back to ‘camp’.
*****************
They cleared the fire away and carried the remains of the pig with them. They decided to walk towards the volcano, and the terrain had changed. No longer jungle, they walked across a rocky outcrop in a desert-like area.
“Poo…can you smell that, it stinks!”
“It’s the sulphur…smells like rotten eggs!” Buffy wrinkled her nose
“Hold on dad…can I look at the map, those rocks just up ahead look familiar to me”
Everybody sat, welcomed the break
“Can I hear water?” Buffy asked, wiping her sweating brow with the back of her wrist
“Yes mom, it’s the stream that runs to the waterfall, just down there” Billy pointed
Buffy, Izzie and Willow took off to get a drink
“See, that formation of three rocks, I knew I’d seen them on here” Billy said with a smile.
“Yes…and that means, that the ‘X’ on the map is about…well, less than a mile away!”
Father and son grinned at each other, and they went for a drink with Sam when the girls came back.
******************
“So much for your less than a mile, dad!” They’d been walking for a good hour
“Well give or take, anyway, we’re here now…and this is ‘X’, I presume” Spike put his hand on a square-ish shaped piece of carved black rock. It sparkled as the fine pieces of quartz in it caught the sunlight.
“Doesn’t look much to me” Sam said
Billy went up to the stone and began to clear the sand away from the base. A step could be seen, and Sam and Spike joined in. Soon they had three steps up to the rock cleared, it was a definite plinth, with symbols carved on it.
“Right, I’ve got the key on the back of the map………” Billy turned the map over
“Stand in front there…now 6” Billy said
“Six? Six what?” Sam asked
“Six steps, I presume”
Sam walked to the right six paces, and asked
“Now what?”
“Um…I’m not sure…it looks like there’s something sticking up out of the rock in my picture…”
Sam turned and said
“Well, you saw me, I took six paces…perhaps it wasn’t six paces after all, perhaps it was six something – oh!”
Sam jumped as a lizard scurried past his foot and he stepped back.
Everybody heard a stone-against-stone grating sound, and a large piece of Quartz rose up from the centre of the rock
“Looks like your steps were a bit small – now what son?” Spike said grinning
“Erm…it’s got three wavy lines and a picture of somebody with a big jug pouring something over the quartz”
“Wavy lines usually mean water – Buffy, can you go get us some?”
“Er yeah…what shall I carry it in?”
“LOOK!” Willow said excitedly – There, on the step, there’s a jug!”
Buffy got the jug and ran to the steam.
Five minutes later she was back
“Okay, now what?”
“Well, let’s pour on the water and see what happens” Willow suggested
Buffy shrugged and began to tip the jug when Billy suddenly shouted
“WAIT!”
Buffy stopped
“I think you’ve got to say these words while you’re pouring it”
“Hmm…okay, Will can you say them while I pour?”
“Sure…” Billy gave her the map
“Where are we? – Right okay, ready: Spiritus ecanum lacrimata, aquarainus libratae Aurus”
The sky suddenly went very dark as clouds gathered and a monsoon broke
“Oh hell…was that supposed to happen?”
All of them ran to the rocky overhang to try and shelter from the torrential downpour.
The ground shook, the volcano let of a huge belch of smoke, and for a second or two everyone thought that they’d had it!
The carved square-ish shaped rock fell forward and the quartz retracted, as soon as it touched the sand, the rain stopped and the sun came out.
Spike went over to the rock and looked down the hole and he beamed
“Oh you MUST come and see this!”
Quickly they all ran over and looked………
*******************
“Um, mom...dad…we’ve got company, look” Billy said
Everybody looked up to see a semi-circle of natives, kneeling and bowing to them, about 30 yards away.
“Aye up…here comes the ponce himself!” Spike said in a whisper, and Buffy frowned.
The tribe leader, the one who looked like Angel stood in front of the natives, and held out his spear, then planted it firmly in the ground.
“I think the head honcho wants a pow-pow with us!” Sam said quietly. Above them there was a loud-ish rumble, and the volcano belched out a cloud of dark smoke.
“Sam, you take the ladies, son, you come with me”
“Where are we going dad?”
“To get this treasure, come on”
“But – “ Buffy began to protest
“Look, if his lordship decides to kick off, you’d be better placed to defend Willow and Izzie, I can take care of Billy” Spike said, and Buffy nodded, and began to follow Sam walking towards the natives.
“Come on then son…let’s go”
The square shaped rock, still lying on the sand had revealed an underground chamber, with steps down leading to it.
Spike turned and walked backwards down the steps, quickly followed by Billy.
When they got to the bottom, Spike went over to this huge chest full of gold coins, cups, plates and chalices.
“Wow…have you ever seen so much gold dad?” Billy stood, eyes round in wonderment
Spike grinned
“Sure is a few quid’s worth here son, that’s a fact!!!”
“We can’t keep it though dad, can we?” Billy said, touching one of the plates
“No son…it doesn’t belong to us”
**********************
Meanwhile, outside Buffy went over towards the natives, and sat down on the ground. Izzie, Sam and Willow followed suit.
After some minutes, William stuck his head out of the opening and called
“Would somebody come and give us a hand, it’s heavy!”
Buffy looked at the chief, who in turn picked up his staff and pointed to four of his people.
They stood and looking wide eyed and scared, slowly made their way to the plinth.
Several times they looked back to their chief, who without emotion waved them on.
“Okay then mate………you grab this…and those” Spike piled the treasure high in the native’s arms.
The native for his part looked even more wide eyed in surprise
“Okay, whose next – right you can carry that…and those ………and um………that, there you go” Spike gave the second native a small box, a large plate and several chalices.
“You take those, (he handed the third native a stack of plates as large as trays) and the last bloke, you come with me” Spike disappeared down the hole.
Gingerly, the native peeped down the hole, not knowing what to expect.
“Well come on, I won’t bite, Billy, time for you to go and sit with the others now, okay son!” Spike said and carefully the native climbed down the steps. Billy did as he was told.
“You grab that end………now heave………and HEAVE!” With as much strength as they could muster between them, they hauled the huge chest out from the sand.
“Go and get a couple of your buddies, we’ll never do this with just the two of us” Spike said.
Without a word, the native climbed the steps and beckoned to some to come forward.
After half an hour of heaving, pushing and shoving, they eventually got the huge chest through the hole and out into the open.
The chief had already scrutinized the treasures that Spike had already sent out, and came striding over when the chest appeared. He was grinning broadly
Spike appeared at the top of the hole, dusting himself off
“Well that’s about it mate, there’s nothing left down – uh-oh………” The ground gave an ominous wobble, and sand fell into the hole. Spike quickly jumped out and made his way over to the others
“I think we better shift ourselves”
There was a roar and the volcano belched out another cloud of black smoke, and the ground gave an even more violent shake, and the large square stone disappeared into the sand – the tremor stopped.
“Mommy – I‘m frightened!” Spike heard Izzie say.
He turned and saw Buffy trying to reassure her
“My bestest little girl frightened – never…come on…on my shoulders eh, daddy’ll keep you safe”
Buffy smiled as Izzie eagerly ran to her daddy and climbed on his back while he squatted down for her.
“Any idea where we’re going?” Sam asked
“Nope…but I should hope now we’ve found this little lot, and not tried to make off with it, we SHOULD by rights have earned ourselves some brownie points………mind your eyes with those overhanging leaves, Pet” Spike said
They came to the village and the chief turned to them, and motioned them to sit, which they did. He clapped his hands, and some women came out of the huts, bearing pitchers and cups made out of coconut halves.
Food came next, masses of fruit, fish, chicken, suckling pig and a type of flat bread that was still quite hot, across from them they could see an old lady turning them on a stone over a fire.
Everybody tucked in, and it was absolutely delicious.
When everybody had eaten their fill, Spike said,
“Well, as much as we like it here…I think we ought to be getting back”
The chief said nothing, but went to the chest and took out a trinket, and gave it to Billy
Billy smiled and said ‘thankyou’. The chief suddenly pulled Spike into a bear-hug, and did this to each adult in turn. He then turned to his tribe and waved his spear in the air. This signalled for them to start chanting and dancing
Leaving them to their merry-making, Spike and co quickly made their way back through the jungle. Despite the time it should have been, it was still broad daylight, and they found the beach they had washed up originally on. The boat looked very near to the water, and the tide was quite low, they were able to walk out to it, Sam carrying Billy the last few feet while Spike carried Izzie on his shoulders still.
“Oh boy, am I glad to be back on board!” Willow said.
When everybody was ready, Sam raised the anchor, started the engine and turned the boat away from the island………he tried the radio but still all he got was static crackle. Sighing he stared out to the blue horizon, and noticed that black clouds were gathering……………………………
“Billy…Billy, come on Son, wakey-wakey, shake a leg – today’s the day we go to Lundy!” Billy woke and yawned, and saw his dad’s head around the door grinning at him
“There you are – what time did you read till last night?” Spike asked noticing the still-open book on Billy’s bed.
“It was quite late – but the story I was reading was so good! And then when we went to the tropical island, and nearly had a fight with the natives, and then there was this gold treasure and – “
“Fight with the natives huh, well never mind that now, you go and have a wash, we’re only having toast for breakfast coz your mum’s got loads of stuff for a picnic when we get to Lundy”
“Okay dad” Billy threw the bedclothes back, but before he got out of bed, he opened his bedside drawer, but was surprised to find it empty. He thought he might find a little gold trinket…maybe it was just a dream after all…………………
**********************
“What have you got in your book bag Billy?”
Willow asked when they were all safely aboard Sam’s boat. Billy had watched with a feeling of De ja vu the loading of the picnics and water.
“Er…the books I bought yesterday”
“Let me look” Willow asked, smiling
Billy put his hand into the bag, and his fingers closed around something small, and cold…he drew it out, and it was bright shiny gold in colour
“Where did you get that?” Buffy asked frown/smiling
“Um…I think it must have fallen out of my Boy’s Own Adventure Island book, I was reading when I fell asleep last night…”
“You and your books!” Buffy ruffled his hair, and then she gave Sam a stern look
“Now Sam, it BETTER be a smooth crossing to Lundy, or else!”
“Don’t worry, it’ll be like glass, all the way, look – not a cloud in the sky………………”
The End
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Author's Chapter Notes:
This is for Tammy