THE CORSAIR'S MESSAGE
Sophia was visiting this delightful and fascinating region which runs along the coast of Brittany, in the company of her great friend Mathieu. The boy had obtained from his parents the chance to invite his friend for a fortnight's vacation.
That evening, a sudden storm caught them hiking. Well soaked, they returned to the inn while the wind whistled its rage on the coast. The waves, reinforced by the gusts, crashed at the foot of the cliffs. An impressive and fascinating spectacle.
The next day, the sun appeared in a clear sky.
The two friends walked away, strolling on the beach, towards an imposing arch, surrounded by a bed of rocks which emerged at low tide.
As they approached, they noticed a chest wedged between two large rocks covered in green algae. They got barefoot and went through the water. They managed to free the wooden box. They seized it, then returned to the dry sand.
Sophia opened it quite easily by slipping the large blade of her penknife which she still holds in the pocket of her overalls. She slipped it into the crack under the lid.
The two children discovered a handwritten message, unfortunately already a little erased. They could only decipher the middle of the document.
...at my castle on Snake Island...my boat is sinking, my sails are torn...my masts are broken...in the moat, at the foot of the north wall, you will see a stone whose surface is carved. A snake. Unseal it... a key that moves the clock hand... sets the hour hand to the month of my birth. You will discover the second key, the one that will lead you to... Yves de Locronan.
Returning to Mathieu's parents, the two friends recounted their adventure and presented their discovery.
The boy's mother opened a map of the region and Sophia spotted Snake Island, about fifty kilometers along the coast.
They went there the next morning under a radiant sun.
An old sailor passed visitors from the mainland to the island for a few euros. He told them, answering their questions during the crossing, that there were no snakes there and that the castle, having apparently once belonged to a corsair of the king, was no more than a ruin. He had never seen a clock in these abandoned places.
The two children visited what remained of the dwelling of this buccaneer with the parents. A solid tower and its battlements surrounding the high terrace. Thick walls, having served as ramparts, but half collapsed. An old pond overgrown with reeds, water lilies and large stones arranged in the letter "S". Muddy moats.
However, our two adventurers entered barefoot. Mathieu in shorts and Sophia in overalls, her legs rolled up as much as possible so as not to get her too dirty.
After wading for several minutes, they saw a stone lighter than the others and on which was a coiled serpent, carved in bas-relief.
They had to scrape off the moss and lichens clinging to the edges, which our friend did without hesitation using her penknife. The rock loosened and fell into the water. A ten centimeter iron key appeared in the hollow of the wall.
The two children emerged from the moat, put their shoes back on and headed hopefully towards the castle cellars, wishing they had brought a flashlight with them.
They found hardly any light there, but we know that the eyes adapt to semi-darkness.
By observing the old walls, they finally discovered a stone larger than the others, quite high, on the south side. She was round. A few signs appeared, some oblique, others vertical or horizontal, evoking the twelve hours of a clock. A narrow crack in the center looked like a lock. A pointed iron bar, seemed fixed by its base against the surface. It looked like a needle and pointed to the number twelve.
But there was one unanswered question... What month of the year was Yves de Locronan born?
Sophia suddenly launched her idea.
- Easy, she said to Mathieu. There are twelve months in the year. There are twelve hours on the face of the clock. The corsair's month of birth corresponds to one of them... Let's try them, one after the other...
- Great, congratulated the boy.
He slipped the key into the lock and managed to move the iron bar, corresponding to the hour hand, to 1.
Nothing. No opening. No click.
Same with 2, 3, 4, but placing it on 5, they heard a creak, and a piece of wall slowly opened.
- Eureka! She cried. The treasure is ours.
They rushed into a very dark cellar. The only source of light came through a hole near the ground, where a brick was missing. This room was empty.
As they searched it, the wall closed behind them. They turned when they heard the creak again.
- Oh no ! launched Mathieu. The door... We're locked in. This cellar is a trap set up by the corsair!
- Your parents don't know where we are since they stayed outside. And then they don't have the key to the clock. I put it in my pocket when I came in, said Sophia.
They looked around them. The cellar was desperately empty. And no lock on this side...
They hit the wall with their fists, without result... They called, shouted, howled. No one heard them. Silence fell again in what was only an oubliette.
The two adventurers felt tears running down their cheeks. A moment of panic invaded them.
To enter here, it is necessary to suspect that there is a clock in these cellars, it is necessary to have the key and to place the needle on the five. No chance that the parents come to deliver them. They didn't even have the key...
- We're going to die here, said Mathieu. Starving slowly in this hole.
Sophia tried to put her hand through the only hole, near the ground, where a brick was missing. She only felt emptiness...
They sat next to each other, desperate.
A cat appeared at the entrance to this passage and meowed.
Our friend called him immediately, took him in her arms and stroked him.
We remember that she knows how to talk to certain animals, the four legs, the two legs and the snakes, and understand what they say.
Immediately an idea came to him, with the luminous hope that accompanies it.
- Matthew, we're saved. Give me your t-shirt.
The boy got shirtless.
- We will write on it with the mud that stagnates here. Cellar, clock, five. Then send the cat near your parents. He can't be wrong, I think we're alone on this island today. And I'm going to tie the key on the cat's back with the laces of my tennis shoes.
The two children firmly fixed the key, the t-shirt and the message, with the improvised string. Then, Sophia whispered in the ear of the cat.
He went back the way he had just arrived.
The wait was long. Our two friends hoped, devoured by worry, that the little animal would fulfill its mission and not lose the key or the item of clothing along the way.
After what seemed like an eternity, they saw the wall open. They rushed into the arms of the parents.
Recovered from their fright, they related their adventure in detail. Then, all together, they went back to the cellar clock.
They slid the needle on the 6 then on the 7. A new secret hiding place appeared, very small. It contained another key, golden this time, and a bell.
Alas, they found no indication of where the treasure was hidden.
After a moment of reflection, they thought of the stones arranged in an "S" in the pond. It looked like a snake.
The two friends returned to this basin and entered it to better observe the rocks. But none seemed to have a sign, drawing, engraving or simple feature that would lead to the location of a treasure.
Time passed. They went up one last time to the top of the tower before soon leaving the island.
- We came for nothing, said Mathieu.
- The adventure was worth it, said Sophia.
- You speak ! We almost died in an oubliette and we leave dirty, soaked, and empty-handed.
- I have an idea, suddenly launched our friend. The doorbell ! How did I not think of that sooner?
- What, the doorbell? asked the boy.
- In the clock's hiding place, resumed her friend, we found a golden key and a bell. Doesn't that mean anything to you? Why a doorbell here? Think!
- I don't see, answered Mathieu.
- I think Yves de Locronan is giving us a valuable indication, said Sophia. There are highly venomous rattlesnakes in some countries. It is at the end of their tail. Let's go back to the pool of water. Look, the "S" stones look like a snake. Let's dig into the last one more thoroughly than before...
- You're great !
They descended the stairs of the tower and rushed to the lily pond, which must have once been a pretty fountain. They entered it boldly.
They headed straight for the last rock, wading through the aquatic plants. They observed it with much more attention, trying to locate the slightest fault or crack, this time.
They discovered one of barely two centimeters, located at the water's edge and partly hidden by green moss. Sophia, on all fours in the swamp, scraped the lichens with her penknife.
They put the golden key in the lock. A hiding place appeared, dug in the stone.
And there, in a simple wooden box, which was easily opened, was a gold thimble.
The two children sat up a little disappointed. They looked at each other, surprised. What did this new mystery mean? Rather, they expected to find gold coins, the famous Spanish doubloons, precious stones, diamonds, treasure...
All that effort to find a thimble in a box...
Sophia took it in her right hand and slipped it on the tip of her left index finger.
- Mathieu, she said, turning to her boyfriend. Matthew!
The boy was no longer there. Our friend was standing alone, her feet in the water. She looked around her.
- Mathieu???
And suddenly she saw him.
He was at the very top of the castle tower. He seemed to be watching the landscape. But above all, he was not alone.
A young girl was next to him.
Sophia, a little jealous, watched him.
- She looks like me, this girl... she murmured between her teeth. She's wearing faded blue overalls, like me, and her hair is done in two long braids... but... it's me!!!
Both surprised and completely disconcerted, our friend rushed to the tower and climbed the stairs four by four. She reached the terrace and stopped a meter behind the two children. They had their backs to him, scanning the horizon.
She overheard their conversation...
- We came for nothing, said the boy.
- The adventure was worth it, replied the girl.
- You speak ! We almost died in an oubliette and we leave dirty, soaked, and empty-handed.
Our friend called the girl in a loud voice.
- Sophia !
Neither of them turned around. Yet they had to hear this call...
- Sophia !
And suddenly our friend understood. She found herself transported half an hour before the discovery of the mysterious die. And this one seemed endowed with a magic power. That of projecting the one who put it on the tip of his finger half an hour earlier.
An idea occurred to him. A wonderful idea...
She said clearly to her doppelganger:
- Think about the doorbell. A rattlesnake...
The other two continued their conversation.
- I have an idea, suddenly launched the girl. The doorbell ! How did I not think of that sooner!
- What's the doorbell? asked the boy.
- In the hiding place of the clock, we found a golden key and a bell. Doesn't that mean anything to you? Why a doorbell here? Think!
- I do not see.
- I think Yves de Locronan is giving us a valuable indication, said the girl. There are highly venomous rattlesnakes in some countries. It is at the end of their tail. Let's go back to the pool of water. Look, the "S" stones look like a snake. Let's dig into the last one more thoroughly than before...
- You're great !
Sophia was smiling now.
She quickly descended the stairs of the tower and arrived near the stone which outlined the tail of the serpent, the one where the hiding place and the box were, which had remained open.
Our friend put the dice in its case.
She turned and saw Mathieu who was standing next to her now, but who could not suspect the strange power of this dice.
Sophia offered to take it in turn and slip it through one of her fingers.
But Mathieu is left-handed. He grabbed it in his left hand and stuck it on his right index finger.
Immediately, he heard his parents calling him.
- Matthew! Come quickly. It's five o'clock. The boat will leave for the last transfer to the coast. And call your friend. She's not with you? Where is she ?
The boy was alone, his feet in the water in the water lily pond. He looked around and shouted.
- Christina! Sophia, come quickly...
No answer.
He removed the dice from his finger and turned. His friend was standing next to him.
- Where were you ? I didn't see you anymore, he said. And my parents call us.
- Your parents aren't calling us yet, said Sophia smiling. Look at your watch. It's barely half past four. We still have half an hour ahead of us.
- But, it is impossible, launched the boy. I just saw them and they were calling us.
- The die we found is magic. It is even an absolutely extraordinary object. If you place it on your left index finger, you go back half an hour, and if you put it on your right index finger, you go forward half an hour.
Our two friends found Mathieu's parents and showed them the precious die. They detailed the strange phenomenon.
- An Aztec king no doubt entrusted this extraordinary dice to Yves de Locronan, as a gift for the King of France at the time, says our friend's father. But I believe our corsair kept it for his personal use. Imagine that while sailing in the Caribbean Sea, he was suddenly attacked by an enemy pirate ship, which was hiding in a cove along the shore. Yves was able to slip the dice on his left finger, back off half an hour, and changing course, take his enemy by surprise.
- And the Aztec king no doubt used it, added the mother, to observe the effect of his decisions on his ministers. Fast forward half an hour, he could listen to their comments. If his decree did not convince anyone or had a bad effect, he would go back and modify his choice...
- Children, said Mathieu's dad, you can't keep such an object. The director of the Quimper museum is a friend. Tomorrow we will entrust it to him. Imagine for a moment that this die fell into the wrong hands, the consequences could be catastrophic...
With a little regret in their hearts, but happy with their adventure and proud of their discovery, our friends entrusted it to this museum where the precious die is displayed in a display case, safe from too daring little fingers...
