Crown of the Cowibbean (6 page)

Dakota pretended to ignore Chuck as he tossed a pebble into the water. He looked out at the sea, which glittered like gold as the late afternoon's sunbeams danced across it. I
could be laying in a hammock right now
, he thought.

“
I
think it means that you get what you give,” Chuck went on. “Bullies like the Kingfish? They get what they deserve.”

Dakota scoffed. “Bullies
never
get what they deserve. I know what bullies are like. The orphanage I ran away from was full of them. Bullies take whatever they want. They take your lunch. They take your bed. They push you around. And they always get away with it.”

Marco came out from his cabin, interrupting them. “We should be upon Sterling Reef soon. If I had my spyglass, I could keep a lookout for it. I can't believe it's in the fins of that slimy, whiskered pirate!”

“It's okay, Captain,” Chuck held up the spyglass he found in the shipwreck. “We have
this
one!” Chuck had done his best to clean all the gunk and barnacles from the old spyglass. Underneath all the muck, he found it had a rough wooden finish with a pattern of curly waves carved into the side.

Marco was still not impressed. His spyglass was much shinier and prettier than this old thing. He frowned as he inspected the telescope. It seemed to work just fine, even though it was so ancient. But he couldn't see anything special about it.

“It works,” Marco said. “But it's nowhere near as useful as that flute of yours. What else can that thing do besides blow bubbles and shoot fire?”

“Well, I haven't played this song yet,” Dakota said. He began to play “Tempest and the Tide.” It was a spooky-sounding tune, with lots of eerie flat notes. As he played, the clouds darkened and gathered above them. The breeze strengthened into a strong wind, and the sea around them began to swell and rise.

Chuck clamped a hoof over the hornpipe. “Okay, stop. Maybe we should save that one for later.”

“I don't believe I've ever seen a cow play the flute so well. You manage nicely with those hooves,” Marco said, looking at the coconut shells that disguised Dakota's human hands.

“Oh, ummm…you must have learned how to do that when you were growing up on your boat…right, Dakota?” Chuck stammered.

Chuck and Dakota explained to Marco that Dakota was a “Sea Cow,” who had once lived on a boat with his family. They told him the tale of how his family became lost at sea while he was visiting Bermooda, making him an orphan.

None of that was true, of course. Dakota was an orphan, but never had a real family that he could remember. That story, much like his cowmouflage, was just another made-up disguise to hide the fact that he was a hu'man.

It always bothered Dakota a little to tell this lie. But Chuck insisted that they keep his identity a secret, and Dakota figured if Marco was in the habit of making up stories, he shouldn't feel too guilty about doing the same thing.

Chuck glanced at the sheet music. “‘Song o' the Sea Cow',” he read aloud. “What does that one sound like?”

Dakota took a deep breath and played “Song o' the Sea Cow.” It was sweet and soothing, like a lullaby. All four shipmates felt a wave of sleepiness wash over them as Dakota played its gentle tones. Their heads began to swim as they fell under the spell of the hornpipe's lullaby. Marco forgot all about his bad luck. Ribeye smiled for the fist time ever. All their troubles seemed to float away as the gentle melody covered them like a warm blanket. Soon, all four of them were fast asleep. As sunset neared, the
Swashclucker
sailed on toward Sterling Reef, with no one awake…and no one behind the wheel.

8

THE SILVER COWS

The
Swashclucker
crew awoke to a loud crunch and a sudden lurch. They slid across the deck as everything tilted to the side. The ship made a groaning noise as it came to a complete stop.

“What happened?” Dakota asked. “Did we all fall
asleep?
”

Chuck rubbed his eyes and looked over the ship's railing. Below was a giant ring of shallow coral with a lush, green lagoon in the center. The
Swashclucker
was perched on the edge of it. They had crashed right into Sterling Reef.

They rushed below deck, looking for damage. Sure enough, the reef had gouged a hole in the hull. They wouldn't be able to put the
Swashclucker
back in the water without fixing it. Marco buried his face in his wings. Just when he thought everything was going so well!

Chuck peeked through the hole to the outside. “It's not that bad…” he began. He stopped short when a face popped up on the other side of the hole. A cow face. A
silver
cow face.

“Silver cow! Silver cow!” he babbled, pointing at the hole. The face disappeared. Without thinking, Chuck dove into the hole after it. He fell through, landing in the shallow water on the other side. His shipmates joined him as he pulled himself up, and they found themselves face-to-face with a shiny cow bobbing in the waves.

“The Silver Cow from our ghost hunt!” Dakota said. “It's real!”

This cow was clearly not a ghost. It was unlike any cow they'd ever seen. It had flippers instead of hooves. Its fur glinted like metal and its big round fish eyes gleamed like glass. It was singing the same sweet melody that Dakota had played on the hornpipe. But the most shocking thing was yet to come. When the silver cow dove under the water, they saw that it had the tail of a fish!

“It's a Mana Ti'i,” Marco whispered, removing his hat. “Legend says they arise at sunset and sing their beautiful song all through the night. I have never seen one with my own eyes until now.” He smiled at Dakota. “You may have come from the ocean, my friend. But these…are the
real
Sea Cows.”

They gazed around in amazement. Hundreds of singing Mana Ti'i covered the reef. They all glittered in the light of the setting sun, making the whole coral reef shine like a silver ring on the water.

Then something caught Chuck's attention. In the middle of all that silver, the low tide had exposed a rock that flashed gold in the center of the lagoon.

“What's that? It looks like gold!” Chuck twitched his tail and flared his nostrils, convinced this was another clue. He charged out into the shallow water.

”Wait!” Dakota called out. But Chuck was already splashing his way furiously toward the shimmering rock. Dakota, Marco, and Ribeye set off after him, tromping through the water. They caught up just as Chuck crawled up to a ledge of the rock. They now saw the gold came from a large key embedded into the side of the coral.

“A key! It's a key!” Chuck panted. “Look! It's made of gold coral! Just like the crown!” Chuck's hooves shook as they eagerly chipped away at the rock until the key came loose. “Coral Crown, coral key…it all makes sense! It's ‘
a key of her kind
!'”

Then a soft voice came from above, “Why do you seek the Coral Crown?”

Startled, they all snapped their heads up to find a Sea Cow perched majestically on top of the rock. She wore a crown of lotus flowers and had eyes that seemed to be full of sadness.

“I am Lyra,” she said. They were all hypnotized by her voice, which rang like jingling bells. “Why do you seek the Coral Crown?” she repeated.

“My family has sought that prize for generations,” Marco said proudly. “My grandfather, my great grandfather, my great-great grandfather, my great uncle, my third cousin on my mother's side…”

“Do you know what the crown is?” she gently interrupted.

Dakota expected Marco to launch into another tale, but surprisingly Marco clucked not a word. It was his turn to hear a story.

“Long before cows or chickens sailed the sea, a beast with an unstoppable appetite threatened to devour the entire ocean. The eleven noble creatures of the sea—the Dolphin, the Octopus, the Whale, the Crab, the Sea Turtle, the Stingray, the Marlin, the Hammerhead, the Seal, the Squid, and the Starfish—joined together. They crafted the crown from gold coral—coral from the deepest and most beautiful parts of the ocean. The noble hearts of the crown's creators gave it a magical power that even the beast could not stand up against. The beast became powerless in the crown's presence, and was no longer able to destroy the ocean. Peace returned to the sea.

The noble creatures then locked the crown away in a secret, guarded place where it protects the sea to this day. However, the Starfish wrote its location in the sky, hidden in a constellation shaped like a crown.

The crown is not a prize, my dear sailors. Whoever wears the crown…holds the heart of the Cowibbean Sea.”

“I wish
I
could wear the crown,” Dakota muttered. “I'd show that bully Kingfish a thing or two.”

“I'm not sure anyone should wear the crown,” Lyra said. “The crown brings your heart's desires to life. Is anyone's heart that pure?”

Chuck felt his face suddenly flush. “OH, NO!” he cried. “I told that parrot everything! Every single stop on the map! Can you imagine what will happen if the Kingfish gets the crown first? His heart is full of nothing but hate!”

“His heart is full of fear,” Lyra's jingly voice rang. “The things we choose to hate are often those that we fear. Even the fiercest bully has something of which he is afraid.”

Dakota had a hard time imagining anything that could frighten the Kingfish.

“You seem to have noble hearts, little calves,” Lyra sang. “If your desire is to stop the Kingfish, then this key is yours. But be sure to guard your own hearts well.”

Chuck took the key in his hooves. “
Moohalo
,” he thanked her.

The four shipmates spent much of their night patching the hole in the
Swashclucker
. They were tired, but too excited to sleep. They all laid on the ship's deck, listening to the waves break against the reef.

“Ten brave roosters of my family have all searched for the prize and failed,” Marco sighed. “Now I think perhaps it is because a prize is all they saw.”