Sea of Gold by Gregory Mone

Author:Gregory Mone
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Abrams
Published: 2023-08-08T00:00:00+00:00

14

Hidden Key

Later, when the dreadful work was done, and Scab had gone below, Fish hurried into the captain’s cabin. Cobb, Melinda, and Moravius were sitting together around the table, the coins stacked before them. As he burst into the room, they looked up, more shocked than outraged. He slammed the door shut. “The purse!” Fish blurted. “Where is it?”

“What purse?” Cobb asked.

“The one that held the coins. Do you have it?”

Cobb looked at Melinda, who turned to Moravius, who relayed the exchange back to the captain.

“We need to find it! I think it will help us make sense of the coins.”

Cobb jumped to his feet, knocking into the table on his way up. “Scour the cabin!”

“The scouring would be easier if the two of you kept the place clean,” Moravius said.

“Not now! Lift your gargantuan frame out of that chair and help us.”

The giant discovered the purse under several stacks of leather-bound journals and books written in languages Fish did not recognize. Moravius tossed it to him, and Fish set to work as he explained the source of his theory.

“When I met the Swifts on the dock,” he said, “they mentioned that the purse itself was as important as the coins.”

Now, emptied of its contents and pressed flat, the purse was not much larger than one of his hands. Dark brown and aged, it had been made from a single piece of leather doubled over and sewn up along the seams. There was a metal clasp attached near the top to close it tight.

Fish examined every fiber, every wrinkle. He studied the clasp, the seams running up along each side of the purse. Nothing. But what had he expected? Instructions? That would’ve been too simple. He turned the purse inside out.

“There!” Cobb yelled.

“How simple,” Moravius muttered.

Melinda excitedly wrapped Fish in her thick arms.

There were several circular imprints burned into the leather, each with a small icon in the center. The flower, the bird, the knife—they were all there. The icons on the twenty-nine coins matched the ones on the purse. Hands shaking with anticipation, Fish laid the purse on the table and flattened it out. There were six circles lined up in a row on one side; he flipped it over and counted another six. A single line ran below them, or above, depending on which way he held the purse. If he could tear open the seams along either side, he’d have a single strip of leather with those imprints in a single row. But he lacked the strength to pull it apart. This purse had remained intact through years of wear and travel; it wasn’t going to succumb to his small hands. When Moravius understood what he was trying to do, the giant tore it open with ease.

Now Fish had before him a large band of leather. The two sets of six circles were arranged in a straight line. A simple dash separated them in the middle, where the bottom of the purse had been folded. Another, longer line stretched below the circles.

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