CAPE HOOLERTHUND; THE HANDS OF TIME

These waters were our home

The day was bright and the sky was blue and on the ocean a ship sailed along; a small sailing ship that Mr. Bear had hired out to take them to where the time keeper was. On it were three men manning the ship; a captain at the helm and two to operating the sails, and standing at the front of the ship was Mia looking into the vast blueness; a vast blueness she had never seen before but felt so familiar it felt like home.

Having teleported to the 16th century wearing nothing but a night dress and Mr. Bear being in no possession of any female clothes, had to borrow a dress from his next door neighbour; a dark blue short sleeved dress that was so not anywhere near her style. The brown leather boots too. It was bad enough that she was wearing outdated clothes but outdated clothes of the lower middle class kind was just something else. And the fact that it didn't sit right on her body was another thing. Mia was slendered bodied, like a model, and the neighbour Mr. Bear had borrowed the dress from was on the chubby side; she had worn one of Mr. Bear's belts around her waist to give it some shape but one could clearly see that the dress did not belong to her; still she was strangely pulling it off.

Mia had a calm look on her face; with her eyes softly taking in on the horizon like she had all the peace in the world; a peace in her eyes that was not reciprocated in her mind. A mind that was all over the place as more memories of a life she had never lived before continued to pour in. Memories that were so real she was watching them in her mind like a movie; seeing faces of people she had never met before clear as day and hearing their voices as close as she was hearing the gentle breeze blowing passed her ears.

It was strange. But the stranger thing was how not so strange it was. How she had found herself in a whole new time and should be freaking out and crying to go home but was just standing there and watching the ocean like there was nothing to it at all. Mr. Bear asking her who she was unlocked something inside of her that instantly took the fear away; something that allowed her to harness the boldness than dwelled in the blood that ran through her veins, a boldness that was always there but she experienced for the very first time in her entire life.

Mr. Bear got up from the wooden keg on which he was sitting and walked up to her; her long hair blowing in the wind like she were in a hair commercial, shining beautifully under the gentle morning sun.

"You remember these waters don't you?" he asked.

"Aye," she responded; maintaining the same look. "They are a sight no man of the ocean can ever forget."

"Indeed. These waters were our playground. We could be blindfolded and we could still find our way home."

Mia gave a faint smile. "These waters were our home."

"Aye . . . Home sweet home."

Her smile grew wider but then it quickly faded as a thoughtful look then came over her face. "What do you think the time keeper is going to tell us?"

"I know not, but whatever it is . . . It's big."

"Who was he this man whose name I share?"

"He was the best man I ever knew," Mr. Bear answered. "He was my captain and he was my friend but above all . . . He was my brother. His name was Capt. Julien Dalhamavaughn. But we called him Capt. Jules for short. What a heart of gold that man had? He treated his crew like family. Whenever we came across treasure he would split it equally among us; it was the craziest thing. He was a pirate but he acted nothing like it. He would only take what he had earned and only fight when he needed to. Capt. Jules was a good man," he then said, getting a little teary eyed even. From the words he spoke and the manner in which he spoke them Mia could clearly see that he meant a lot to him. Words that immediately found a warm place inside of her because they were to some degree about her. Words she deeply felt that made her heart sink. Mr. Bear had a pain in his eyes and when she looked into them, that pain became hers.

"What happened to him?"

"I've been asking myself that same question for five years now, that was when it happened. There was a great war on Cape Hoolerthund. Pirates against pirates. We were outnumbered and we did not think that victory would be ours but it was. Not by us but by him. He fought their captain and he managed to kill him but he was nowhere to be found. Capt. Zedarh was lying dead on the ground with his chest bleeding out but our captain was nowhere to be seen. The war ended and we searched the entire island for him but we never found him; not his sword, not his guns, not even his hat, we found nothing. We asked everyone we came into contact with if they had seen him and not a single soul had. It was like he just vanished into thin air. We have absolutely no idea what had become of him; whether he left the cape or he died. We sailed the waters not only trying to find him but the time keeper as well, so that maybe he could give us an answer as to what became of him but that would have never been as we soon discovered that one can only find the true location of the time keeper when they have been summonded by him. Anyone else would search this ocean drop by drop and would never find him. That was us so we just gave up. Years passed and nothing . . . Until now."

"Him coming back as some random woman . . . What could it possibly mean?" she asked.

"Well captain, I guess we're about to find out."

Mia turned back to the ocean as the ship sailed on; they were about to find out and whatever it was she had been brought back in time to do it was going to change their lives forever.

An hour later they arrived. None of them had ever been to the time keeper's true location before and so they were expecting to see something extravagant but what they saw was everything but. Mia asked them to bring the ship to a stop and when they did there was nothing there but a stone platform; a perfect square with sides four meters long.

"Is this it?" Mr. Bear asked.

"Yes," Mia responded.

"It's a piece of stone in the middle of nowhere."

"Yes, let's go."

"Go where?" he asked. "There is nowhere to go to."

"Yes there is," she said and just then the middle block of the stone platform sunk a little under and slide to one side and revealed the first three steps of the spiralling staircase that led below.

Mr. Bear's eyes widened; the other men too, from nothing popped up something and it was in that moment that they realized that they really had arrived.

Mia got off the boat and stood on the stone platform and Mr. Bear followed behind her; looking around with wonder in his eyes. It was a stone platform just floating there, with a staircase that came out of nowhere, he couldn't believe it but he was there for it. Having heard so many stories about the time keeper he was eager to finally make his acquaintance.

"Wait for us, we'll be back soon," Mia said to the ship captain and he nodded back. "Come on Mr. Bear," she then said and together they began making their way down the spiralling stone staircase; with the middle block sliding out and fixing itself back into place. The men on the ship looked at each other and then back at the stone platform; the people they had taken out there just disappeared under it.

In the staircase Mia led the way. The stairs were wet, the walls too that were even dripping with water and there were fire torches burning on them, providing a decent light for them to see where they were going.

On they went and finally they reached the bottom. There was an arched doorway in front of them and walking through it they were greeted by a sight that took their breaths away. It was a stone path leading through the blue waters of the ocean; bound by an invisble round wall.

"My goodness," Mr. Bear said; it was the first time he had ever seen anything like it. They were walking right through the ocean and like that was enough to knock any person's socks off, there was a pod of humpback whales swimming by; moving beautifully in the water and singing their songs. It was quite the sight that Mr. Bear even stopped to take it in; when else was he ever going to see massive creatures like that so up close, he had to savour the moment. Mia also did the same; the whales were swimming above them and so not only was the sight of them breathtaking but the sight of sun's rays reflecting through the water that provided the perfect background.

"Wow," she said with stars in her eyes; Mia had never seen anything more spectacular in her entire life.