I was sitting in the common room of an inn, absentmindedly playing cards with some other guests I had met during my stay. I have been here for almost an entire week way longer than I was planning on staying. Not that I’m complaining, the people were friendly enough, and the inn had a nice and cozy atmosphere. Part of what made it cozy was because of the interior that reminded me of my grandmothers’ house. The walls and furniture were made with dark wood giving the place an old-fashioned look. Besides that, the place was decorated to look as the inside of a ship. It had a wooden carving of a mermaid hanging of the ceiling, several paintings of ships, an anchor, some nets, and a rudder all hanging on the walls. The owner clearly put a lot of effort into the theme. It fits this town rather well, considering that this is a port town. Not really a place you would stick around for long. Most people I had met were just passing through, they didn’t stay for more than two days. With the exception of the locals of course.
My relatively lengthy stay was starting to stand out to the locals. I had noticed several people staring at me whenever I went into the town. They looked surprised to see I was still there. The reason for my stay in their town was a bit different than that of most people. I wasn’t looking to travel further, not yet at least. I wanted some information about old nautical charts, specifically those from about 200 years ago. I thought it would be easy to find those charts in the oldest port town of the country but was disappointed. Old charts were apparently only worth something to collectors, not to the sailors now. Still, I had hoped they would keep some sort of archive. They did have a small collection of old maps in the town hall. But they didn’t have the map I was after. It was pointless to stay here any longer, so I decided to go home the next day.
All the excitement I felt just a week ago had left. I was hoping to go on another adventure soon, but without that chart I could forget about that. I thought back on the events that led me to this town in the first place:
I was lounging around in my antique store when a man came in with an old looking chest. He came to the counter and placed the chest in front of me.
“I heard that you also buy interesting items.” He said.
“That’s right, as long as it isn’t stolen. I don’t mean that as an insult, it’s just that it has happened before.” I said, adding the last part after seeing that the man looked a little offended.
The man opened the chest. I looked at the items. The chest contained a few old pistols, a decorated oil lamp from another country, and some old clothes that judging by the style must have been a few centuries old. It must have belonged to a sailor, I thought. Everything seemed to be in reasonable condition.
“Where did you get these things?” I asked
“I found them on the attic of the house I bought. It was behind a fake wall. The previous owner didn’t know it was there, I asked. I only found it, because I was remodeling the place. Are you interested?”
I thought about it, the pistols and the oil lamp would sell quick enough. Nobody would ever buy those clothes, not even for a costume party, they looked a bit worn out.
“I am interested in everything but the clothes. I am willing to give you 4 pieces of silver for it.”
The man looked very happy with my offer. He took the coins and told me that I could keep everything, including the clothes, and left. That was weird. Took all the things out of the chest. When I took out the clothes a golden locket fell on the ground. It was beautifully decorated with gemstones in the shape of a flour and by far the most expensive thing in the chest. It was worth way more than I paid.
When everything was out of the chest, I noticed something very odd. The chest looked to be deeper from the outside than it was from the inside. That could only mean one thing; a fake bottom. I checked and found a small pin on one side of the chest and pulled it. There was a click and a lid opened on the bottom of the chest revealing that there was indeed a fake bottom. In the secret compartment I found something wrapped in a cloth. I took it out and unwrapped the cloth, it was a book. Why would anyone hide it? I wondered. I opened the book and skimmed through it. It was an old diary. Something fell out of the book. I picked it up and saw that it was a tiny piece of a map. It showed a lot of islands, one of them was circled. It looked like some sort of treasure map. I got very curious and wanted to know more about it. I started to read the diary. After I was finished, I became very excited and decided to do some more research.
My thoughts were interrupted when a woman came to the table and asked if she could join our game of cards, which I was still playing absentmindedly. I really should pay more attention to the game I was losing badly.
“Of course.” One of the men I was playing cards with said.
She sat down at our table and the game continued. During the rest of the game the women was staring at me. It made me very uncomfortable and I wondered what she could possibly want from me. In return I started to look at her. I was surprised to see she was dressed like a captain, blue jacket with golden buttons and all. It was highly unusual most sailors didn’t even want women on board of their ship because of their superstition that it would bring bad luck. Who would sail under a female captain? I was getting very curious, but knew it was extremely rude to ask. Besides it was not like I would see the woman after today, so what’s the point of knowing. It certainly wasn’t worth the trouble of getting in an argument. After all it was highly unusual for women to have a job in the first place. When you asked a woman about having a job, they often feel like you attacked or deeply insulted them. Learned that the hard way. Apparently, the goal for most women was to marry a wealthy man and have many children, stay at home and take care of the household, while the man works. Maybe that’s why they are so offended, they are just upset they didn’t reach that goal. I’m glad the roles aren’t divided like that where I come from. I don’t think I could live like that. I like being independent.
The game had ended, and the cards were shuffled and handed out again for the next round. No one talked much, not that I minded. The woman kept staring at me, continuing to make me very uncomfortable. Once the game finished, I decided to go to my room, mostly to get away from the woman.
Much to my annoyance the woman called after me before I could take a step.
“Wait! I have to ask you something.” She said.
I really didn’t want to talk to her since there was something off about her, but I was very curious. In the end my curiosity won, as always, and I turned to the woman. She saw that as the sign to talk.
“You were the one looking for an old nautical chart, right?” she asked. How did she know that, I thought.
“Yeah that’s right.” I said a little surprised.
“I happen to be in possession of several old charts that I’m willing to show you. But only if you tell me what you need them for.”
I wondered if it was wise to tell anyone what I was looking for. Especially if I didn’t really know what I would find at the end of the journey. If the wrong people would overhear it would cause more trouble than this whole thing was worth. I decided to be as vague as possible.
“I need them for scientific research.” I said, at least it wasn’t a complete lie. I tried my best not to laugh at the confused expression on her face. It was to be expected science is a generally unknown concept with only a few people that practice it worldwide. Most of those people live in the village I came from.
“Scientific research?” the woman asked.
“Yeah. Ever heard of science?” I asked. It would make explaining things so much easier if she had.
“Only a little, but I don’t really know what it is.”
“In summary it is investigating or researching a phenomenon and try and explain it.”
“And you need a map for it because?” she asked, still looking very confused.
“I am an archaeologist. That means I study the past. I have found a piece of an old map that once belonged to a captain. With that map was a diary, in which the captain wrote a very interesting series of events that led him to an island on that map. After reading his diary I wanted to travel to that island, but that is only possible if I can find a complete map of the right area and time period, otherwise I could never find that specific island.” I tried to explain it without revealing to much of the goal of my journey. I could tell there were indeed people listening in on our conversation like I feared. And I still didn’t trust the woman, even now I know why she was staring at me.
“Okay. Why don’t you ask that captain himself?” she asked.
“That would be very difficult, considering he died about 200 years ago. I told you that I study the past. Why else would I need an old chart?” I explained.
The woman seemed to think things over for a while.
“Fine, I will show you the charts I have. Let’s meet here tomorrow around noon.” She said eventually.
“Sure, I’ll see you tomorrow.” I said kind of surprised she excepted my explanation. I stared after the woman as she walked away.
Once back at the room, I let myself fall on the bed. It was almost suspicious how easily the woman offered to help. She must have some kind of motive behind it. I realize I sounded quite paranoid, but I know from experience that people rarely help without expecting to get something in return. That’s also why I was reluctant to tell anyone about the end goal of my journey. The woman wasn’t the only one who asked what I wanted to do with an old map, and so far it was easy to convince them that I only needed it for scientific research. Most people didn’t ask anything after that and pretended to know what I meant, even though I could see that they had no clue what it was. Which makes it even more suspicious that the woman came to me offering her help. The only thing she could have heard about me was that I was looking for a map for weird reasons. Though in the end it wouldn’t make that much of a difference. She probably wouldn’t have the right map anyway, and the whole adventure would end there. I checked if the diary was still in its hiding place in my pillowcase, which it was, and tried to go to sleep. Sleep didn’t come easy, I worried to much about that woman and stayed up for a few hours tossing and turning in my bed. It must have been almost morning when I finally managed to fall asleep.
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