The Treasure Keepers_Prologue

Prologue:

The sun was blazing over the western rocky shores of Spain making the old woman, who stared unblinking at the endless deep blue ocean, sweat without an effort. Her dress was orange, a large necklace with a ruby was hanging from her thin neck, and she had several bracelets on her arms. The cool wind waved her long grey hair. She looked as if she were expecting something to happen; and when a ship with white sails and a figure of a black face with bright red eyes on the front of the ship appeared in the horizon, casting an ominous shadow over the deep blue depths, she stirred. 'Finally,' she thought. She headed slowly to the beach that was lying beneath the protruding rocky wall.

  Meanwhile, the ship, which was alone in the western seaside of Spain, sped to the beach, the wind on her side. Its captain, a tall man with shoulder-length curly black hair and black eyes, watched the old woman's figure make its way to the meeting place through the binoculars. 'Damn witch! How did you know?!' he thought. But he, Captain Smith Black, wasn't one to avoid confrontation.

  One of Captain Black's men lowered the anchor, and Black went to meet the old woman with three of his men. The tanned sailors with the bulging muscles had no impact on the woman. For a very long moment the captain and the woman looked at each other. The captain's men had their hands on the hilts of their swords.

  "I'm glad you finally realized that you should be afraid of me," said the old woman indicating the three men watching the captain's back.

  "Where is Magda?" Captain Black demanded, hardly able to contain his anger.

  The old woman was irritated – how dare he call her only daughter by her nickname?

  "She will be married in two days."

  "Your plan won't succeed, witch: I will find a way to get Magda out of Spain."

  "I have asked you countless times to leave the town, Captain Black, but you didn't heed my words. Very well…I suggest you watch out for your back: there is a storm coming."

  Shivers went down his spine, but he seemed immune to her threat. He had always thought that the woman was more than meets the eye. There was something dangerous in the old fortune-teller. Her daughter, on the other hand, was everything he had ever wanted in a woman – gentle, loyal and exotic with her long raven-black hair that lay in gentle waves down her back. He would never forget the first time he had seen her dance a slow flamenco in a red dress with low cleavage and its hem trailing behind her. He should have known that Magda's mother would find out their plan to elope eventually.

  He said, "Your threats are pitiful, woman." 

  The old woman watched The Ghost, Captain's Black's ship disappear, and headed back to the gypsies' camp, which lay a little way outside the Spanish town. The captain has always doubted her powers; now he would see how powerful a fortune-teller could be. Gypsies mingle with gypsies – that was the rule. Meanwhile the captain put aside any thoughts of Magda – a captain's first and foremost duty was the crew and the ship. He watched the approaching grey clouds, frowning.

  "Fold the sails," the captain called. The old woman's words were replaying in his mind: There is a storm coming. He gritted his teeth, getting ready to fight off the rain.

*

"And then what happened?" eight-year-old Lorena said, the cool breeze mingling with the warmth coming from the bonfire.

  "Well, the captain and his crew were swallowed by the cruel ocean," Soledad said to the group of children that were gathered around her. "The last thing that the ocean heard before Captain Smith Black and his crew died was the captain cursing the old woman. The following morning a poor fisherman from this very town went fisherman from this very town went fishing on the tiny island that is located beyond view a little out to the sea west of that shore.” She pointed at the Western shore. “It's always been deserted, but that morning he found a wreck of a ship there. It had a terrible face with bright red eyes on its nose."

  "The Ghost?!" six-year-old Miranda said excitedly.

  "The fisherman found one half of The Ghost's corpus on that island. He was excited, too. They say the infamous Captain Black had had at least ten chests stuffed with gold, silver, rubies, diamonds and pearls. It was every pirate's dream! But the treasure was cursed. The fisherman was never heard from again. The rumor that Captain Black's treasure was found on a tiny island spread very quickly, and those who were either looking for adventure or a quick way to become rich began looking for it. The exact location of the shipwreck was not known until 40 years ago."

  "Was there really a curse?" eight-year-old Jorje said eagerly.

  Soledad touched her ruby medallion and smiled. It was the year 1815 in the Spanish town La Cabancia.