Malcolm and Cameron headed in another direction from Jack's locale.
They had their eye on and old wooden ship covered by a dune of sand. Only the hood ornament as Cameron called it was sticking up enough to reveal it's location. The neck had a carved Dragon exterior. Along with guns they carried a large nap sack and their favorite shovels. Malcolm seemed more prepared than Cam. He liked to be ready for anything.
The trek was over two miles away and the lifelessness of the area felt intimidating by itself. Almost as if something could spring out at any second. Their usual banter was withheld out of security. If and only if there was life of any kind they didn't want to alarm it by their goofing off. Reaching the site they stopped on the outer rim of the dune and admired the ship that was revealed. The backside of it had less sand so they chose to start there.
With a whisper Cameron opts to say, "What era do you think we're looking at here?"
"Dunno. Doesn't look Viking from what little I know. I'm no history buff that's for sure."
Nodding to each other they discover toppled rigs for sails. The clothe of any sails long decayed and blown away.
Malcolm uses his boot to discard sand from the timber and spots carvings in it. He points down for Cameron to garner a look. The pilot then crouches down for a closer look. It resembled Chinese but he wasn't certain.
"Mandarin?" He guesses.
Shrugging Malcolm uses a pen and tiny notepad he had in his back pocket to draw the markings as best as he could. He would let James look it over and make a confirmation of what it might say.
Moving on they shovel out a section that would allow them entry into the ship's galley. It took them over an hour to sift away enough to feel safe about going in. Once satisfied they would be secure enough Cameron takes the first risk and lowers himself slowly using a thick wooden beam to hug his way into the depth of the galley. Thankfully it wasn't rotted.
Malcolm stayed topside just in case a rescue was needed.
Dark and dry within, Cam flickered a flashlight around and found dozens of skeletons. The denizens were chained together and likely died together. He lifted the tiny crucifix around his neck and kissed it as a prayer to the dead. Not to mention his own salvation.
One body attracted his attention due to the armor left behind on the skeletal remains. He chose to remove the chest plate and chainmail tossing it up to Malcolm to inspect. Cam then continued his search. A sword was found that had been sheathed for ages. He attempts to remove the blade and finds it surprisingly well preserved. The hilt was ornate with a Dragon inlay wrapping the handle. He would keep this for himself he puckered.
A bag of coins was also confiscated. They too were well preserved. Hardly any tarnish. The bag itself made of leather was severely rotted though. He just stuffed it carefully into his pants pocket for safe keeping.
Locating a large well designed storage chest he rubbed his hands together and thought, "Treasure here I come."
A simple boot kick disabled the rotted lock open. Slowly lifting it he discovers a sizeable hard bound book. Gold hinges kept the pages intact. The paper seemed different than the average. It was in good shape. though locked closed, he couldn't immediately examine its content. He would wait, stuffing it into his small back pack for safe keeping.
Outside of those objects all that was really left was a rack of spears that were crumbling. He did procure one of the blades tossing everything back up to Malcolm to look over. Before climbing back up the plank he catches a glint out of the corner of his eye that halts his ascent.
Behind a decaying wall he discovers a gold amulet with a large Ruby embedded within it.
"Well hello beautiful." He whispers.
As if reacting to his words the dusty Ruby seemed to sparkle more. He really didn't notice that fact. Dangling it in front of his face from its tarnished chain he frowns.
"Now why aren't you in some treasure chest? You look too damn expensive to be hidden inside a wall." He gives up with a puzzled look and bags it up. Finders keepers he thought.
Convinced there was nothing more in the galley he climbs back up. Malcolm's hand met his for the final extraction.
"Not much of a haul. I figured there would be more. Something useful." Mal looks down at their bagged collection.
"Book might be special. If the Kid can decipher it."
"We should have grabbed one of those Lingo collars that lets us speak any language we run across."
"Next time we'll be smarter. We were in a rush to get exploring." Cam shrugs.
Cam pulls his back pack off his shoulder and opens it. He then lifts the Necklace out for Malcolm to view.
"Daaaamn! That's downright sexy." Malcolm looks it over noticing tiny engravings all around the gems golden setting.
"This ship has to be ancient."
Cam agrees, "Yep. Only thing is it might have landed here a year ago. No way of knowing what this Time Travel crap steals."
"Do we even know for sure it's Time Travel? Might just be another dimension we fell into." Mal points out.
"Might be both. Look around. I see tugboats from the 1930's. That bomber over there is easily WW2. Over there looks like some Victorian era Carriage. No sign of horse bones though."
They load up and decide to examine the carriage as it was the closest. Inside the well preserved carriage was a woman's dress complete with petticoat and a man's top hat.
The dress was ripped to shreds by claw marks.
Looking at the hat they discover a name written on the interior brim.
"Sir Carrington Primross. Sound's British maybe. I wonder who she was?" Malcolm fidgets.
Cam carefully raises the dress up to examine it better, "I'm more worried about those claw marks. Looks like someone took a dozen knives to her. Yet there's no blood stains."
The hackles on the back of their necks grew uneasy.
"Not sure I wanna know." Malcolm shivers.
"Claw marks on the seats too. Up on the carriage ceiling." Cam indicates with an index finger.
"Baggage carrier in back. Let's see if it's hiding anything." Malcolm nudges.
Prying it open the lid rose up to reveal luggage. A Victorian trunk embossed with brass was pulled free and dropped to the sand below. More luggage followed. Once everything was in the open they snapped the seals to examine the contents.
"Women's clothing. These look pretty well preserved. You think Ruby or Elle might like these?" Mal huffs.
With a chuckle Cameron quips, "Sure. They can wear them to the next Cotillion we throw. Can't hurt to take them back for shits and wiggles."
Crouching Malcolm finds a small dowry with a hard bound diary within it.
"Sabbath Black was her moniker. Crazy name. Wonder if she knew Ozzy and the boys?" Cam grins at her namesake being similar to the band, "Black Sabbath".
"Photo locket. She was pretty fine looking. The other lady must be her sister. Or, her lover." Malcolm reveals the tiny black and white photos to Cam.
After a brief admiration they return to pilfering amongst clothing and into the man's bags.
"Woohoo! Carrington was a stage Magician. Look at all these tricks. We got playing cards. Poker night Buddy." Cam jests.
Mal smirks then looks over at his left peripheral. Something moved yet he couldn't quite detect what it was. Possibly nerves he thought. There were no footprints anywhere nor anything alive in sight. Finally, he shakes it off.
"Let's head back to the ship. Eerie out here."
Cam nods placing Carrington's top hat on his head to replace his tucked away ball cap. He wanted to look proper. Gathering things up they moved out.
Mal still had the feeling something wasn't right.
