1. Captain Raider and the Curse of the Amarites

When Erwin von Halde was in his boyhood—a time so distant, if not when measured in years then when measured in teacups and bank statements—he read the adventures of Robinson Crusoe. He hadn’t thought of the heroic English castaway for many years, but suddenly, remembering seemed vital. Robinson Crusoe was only a fabrication to take bored schoolboys away from rainy Sundays, but there was a clever strand of truth that ran through the whole, and now von Halde wanted very much to seize it.

When daylight came to the marooned tribe of Galapagos, von Halde himself was touched by the frank yellow light of reality—no more was the moonlight playing on his horror and despair—and he knew that now was the time for action. He patted the heavy place in his pocket where he always carried the large amarite, as if reassured by its nearness, and walked over to where Bryn and several of the men were moving their few supplies further inland, where they might be better sheltered if the rains came.

“We must search the mountains and rocks for something like a cave,” he suggested. “The earth will give us the sturdiest shelter that no hurricane can blow away. Even if we find a small cave, we can make it larger. Luckily,” he said with tremulous near-confidence, “I know a thing or two about rock structures.”

Von Halde had also learned from Robinson Crusoe to make notches in a piece of wood to keep track of the days and to domesticate the local flora and fauna by gathering seeds and building a pen for whatever goats or the like they might find on the island. But surely we won’t be here so long we need to do that, he told himself. Surely not. He often fondled the amarite in his pocket, the glassy touch of its buried pink surfaces giving him a dose of courage, as firey liquor gives other men.

Parties formed with the goal to meet again at the beach for whatever Cookey could manage for dinner from the rest of their dwindling supplies. They would take prepared rations on their diverse scouting missions to sustain them until that time. One party, including von Halde and Bryn, would search for a rock shelter. Another party, lead by Raider, would hunt for meat. A third party, including Evangeline Dowd and Roubins, would forage for fruit and fill empty vessels with fresh water. O’Fallon would stay behind with Cookey to tend the prisoner and it was Olaf’s job to serve as lookout at a rock precipice near the beach—incidentally, the same rock formation von Halde had identified as The Madonna. If he saw sails and colors that were not the Union Jack, he was to light the signal fire. Someone would relieve him at dinner time.

Before the parties separated to go about their tasks, Roubins snagged Bryn by the sleeve and after trading a short greeting asked her, “Did the prisoner say anything about the admiral’s intent? Or about the fate of the Bill of Rights?”



“All I asked him was his name,” she told him. “It’s Christopher Lark.”

Roubins nodded thoughtfully. “I wonder why they were here in the first place…” He glanced at her with a slow movement behind his eyes. She said nothing immediately and he said nothing more. He turned and left to join his party, hand resting on the pommel of his saber, bared from behind the flap of his unbuttoned coat.

“I am sure we can find some lava tubes on this island,” von Halde said, coming up behind Bryn, already a bit glossy-browed from the heat, though they hadn’t been moving much yet. “The eastern side of the island looked like it had plenty of cold formations, and of course we can keep an eye out for fault lines.” He paused, watching the foraging party disappear into green shrubbery. “You don’t think we’ll be here long, do you?”

* * *


Meanwhile, Petty Officer Christopher Lark bided his time and did his best not to get sunburned. He scooted over the sands towards the other side of the tree as the sun slid across the sky like a hot coal.

There were fewer clouds today, but it still managed to rain a little around one o’clock.

Raider and Master At Arms Rahoul gave a last look seaward, turned and started into the dense jungle. Suddenly, raider heard a chatter behind him and Captain Billy Bones came scampering up dragging a leather flask of rum behind him. Raider reached down and picked the monkey up, smiled and said "By the powers Billy Bones, leave it ta ye ta scavange a bit of rum 'fore com'in ashore." he placed the monkey on his shoulder and he and Rahoul went off into the jungle to find some meat.

Bryn was so caught by surprise by Roubin’s inquiry that she was unable to hide the fact. After blinking away her surprise she informed him what conversation had taken place with the sailor. But it was his next words and the look in the depth of his eyes that gave her pause. As her mind whirled with trying to figure out exactly what Roubin’s had said, she couldn’t say a word. Bryn could only watch the retreating back of Roubins as he left with Evangeline in search of food.

It wasn’t until Bryn heard Erwin’s voice behind her that she took her gaze off Roubin’s back. Turning to look at Erwin, she could see the worry in his gaze. With a deep intake of fresh air, she blinked and smiled softly at her charge.

“I’m impressed with your help, Mr. von Halde. And with your knowledge of volcano’s and the like, I’m more confident than ever we’ll find suitable shelter for all of us.”

With a glance back in the direction she’d last seen the foraging party go, she turned back to look at Erwin, her smile no longer in place.

“I pray we don’t have to stay here long, Mr. von Halde. While it’s a beautiful paradise, even paradise has it’s limitations and one can go stir crazy quite easily. While I will hope for the best, I feel we should prepare for the worst. It’s much better to have something and not need it then to discover you need it but don’t have it.”

With a small smile of encouragement, she nodded towards the opposite direction Roubins and Evangeline left in.

“Come on….we need to get moving before it gets too unbearably hot. And Raiders men are itching to do something besides stand around with their hands idle. Remember…idle hands are the devil’s handiwork.”

Erwin nodded and stated out with Bryn and some of Raider’s men Stumpy (for the obvious reason he had a peg leg), Atien, a large, dark skinned African, and Mongrel, a rather cagey looking man who was slim and tall.. Needless to say, they were more than ready to get moving to try and find any shelter they could for everyone. Of course in the back of their minds they were thinking it was all going to be for naught. Surely their shipmates will find a way to overthrow the stinking Brits and bring the Bill O’Rights[/b] back to where she belonged under Captain Raiders hand.

While the men from Raiders ship thought of their fellow ship mates retaliating against the Admiral, Bryn’s thoughts were elsewhere. She couldn’t stop thinking abut Roubins thought he let slip aloud. “I wonder why they were here in the first place…”. Yes…..why were they here? At this particular place? At this particular time? The more Bryn thought about all of this, the more she felt ill. Last they saw the Admiral and his ship, they were leaving him behind as he collected the near drowned crew from the ship that had been dashed on the rocks near Demon’s Horn. Raider had made sure to put a great deal of distance between his ship and the Admiral’s. So if the Admiral were here, now, that meant only one thing in Bryn’s mind.

There was an informant aboard the [i]Bill of Rights. But….if that were true, how the hell did the informant get word to the Admiral where they were headed? That was the part that didn’t make good sense to Bryn. Even as she followed along behind Erwin, her mind was a million miles away as she tried to piece together a widely scattered puzzle. And letting ones mind drift away was dangerous….especially when trying to navigate narrow walkways on an island you knew nothing about.

Bryn was sure footed when the terrain was flat and even, but when the terrain began to get more jagged and uneven, she didn’t pay attention to where and how her foot falls landed and in one particular time, her foot landed on a rather unstable patch of dirt. As her balance was thrown off, Bryn suddenly found herself tumbling down a small slope. The landscape flew by her and she rolled like a log. Sky. Trees. Sky. Bushes. Sky…vegetation. Sky. THUNK.

Bryn finally came to rest against a rather hard, immovable object. As her spinning head finally began to realize she’d stopped rolling, she blinked and looked up at the object she had stopped at. At first, she thought she was seeing things, but as her vision began to clear, she realized she was seeing things perfectly clear.

Scrambling to her feet as quickly as she could, Bryn began to look around cautiously. The immovable object she’d been stopped by was a tree trunk that held the decaying corpse of a body on it tied up as though he were being crucified. And from the looks of things, the poor soul had suffered a rather gruesome death. Most of the flesh form his lower body was missing, like it had been torn off by large, massive jaws with rather sharp teeth. What flesh hadn’t been ripped off by the jaws had large, deep claw marks all over it. But it was the horrified look upon the face that had her rapt attention. The mouth was still open in a painful scream and his eyes, while pecked out, were hollow sockets now.

“Take me away from here. Please.”

The voice she heard made her spin around so quickly, her head swam. There, behind her, stood the spirit of the poor unfortunate soul that had been tied to the make shift cross.

“Please….I don’t want to be here anymore…unable to cross over. Take me away….please…I beg you.”

Bryn took a few steps backwards and shook her head.

“No…I can’t….not now.”

The unfortunate soul moved towards her

“but….you have the ability….to release me from my suffering….why don’t you help me?”

Bryn backed up another step.

“Because I’m not ready to go myself. I have to wait.”

The spirit grew angry and quickly changed his features. Now, standing before Bryn, the spirit looked much like it’s once flesh host except with eyes that could see her now.



“SELFISH BITCH! I SAID TAKE ME AWAY! NOW!!!”

The ghoul lunged for Bryn but before it could reach her, boney, gnarled hands reached up from the earth and grabbed a hold of its legs, pulling hard. The ghoul let out a scream and Bryn put her hands over her ears knowing it was fruitless. The piercing sound penetrated her mind and she fell to her knees as the thing continued to scream as it was being pulled down….ever down into the depths of the hell it brought upon itself. Over and over it begged Bryn for forgiveness she was unable to forgive. He caused his own suffering when he tried to harm her.

When he finally had disappeared beneath the earth, it was as though nothing had ever happened. The ground was unchanged and Bryn no longer heard his screams in her head. Slowly getting to her feet, she took several deep breaths and swallowed hard. Turning, she thought she heard Erwin and the others coming in search for her, but when she turned, she found herself facing a rather large looking lizard like animal a few yards away. It’s forked tongue flicking the air, getting her scent. Hearing rustling behind her, she turned to see another one emerge from the vegetation, its tongue flicking frequently as well. Both animals gave a throaty grumble and hissed. As Bryn took in the appearance of the animals, she realized then what death had befallen the poor man. From the look of the claws on these things, she knew he was a meal for them.

Bryn took a small step backwards and kept her eye on both of the animals. Unfortunately, the more she moved, so did they. Their large, powerful bodies waddled and their tales flicked dangerously behind them. Again she swallowed and wondered how she was going to come out of this one. She couldn’t run for there was no doubt they would catch her quickly. And she wasn’t sure where she was in proximity of the others. Finally she heard Erwin’s voice over the rush of blood in her veins as her heart began to pound.

“Bryn! Where are you?!”

Bryn kept her eyes on the large lizards.

“Yes! Yes…I’m fine. Stay where you are. I’ll come to you!”

Bryn didn’t need the others stumbling onto this particular situation. Nor did she need Erwin seeing the gruesome sight of the man tied to the tree. Unfortunately, as the lizards heard the voices, the lizards became very agitated and they began moving rather quickly towards Bryn. The only course of action she could see was to go up. Turning, she found the first large tree she could find and quickly clambered up into the branches as fast and high as she could. To her horror, though, the lizards seemed to be apt climbers. Not especially quick, but quite determined. Muttering a curse under her breath, she tried to escape the lizards.

“Dammit….”

She clambered higher and the branches began to grow smaller. If she dared to go any higher, they would surely snap with her weight and she couldn’t take that chance. Just then, a shot rang out and one of the lizards grew limp then fell from the tree. The other lizard, now smelling fresh blood, quickly scrambled down the tree and began to make a meal of his dead companion. Bryn quickly scrambled down the tree as best she could then jumped to the ground. Her feet had no sooner hit the ground when she started running. The first person she ran into was Atien, the large African. If he hadn’t been so large, she was certain she would have knocked him down. Even now she was trying to scramble past him and he held her firm by the upper arms.



“Is OK, Miss Bryn. De lizard…he not follow you. He is eating. He no longer interested in you as a meal.”

Bryn looked up into the mans dark gaze and saw he was speaking the truth. Claming, she glanced behind her and saw the large lizard tearing off a hunk of meat from his fallen companion. With a sigh of relief, she finally nodded and stepped away from the man.

“Thank you. I’m sorry for running into you.”

Atien nodded.

“Is alright, Miss. Come….we go now. Dis way”

Bryn glanced back again, but she wasn’t looking at the lizard. She was making sure the crucified man left for a meal wasn’t visible. There as no need in alarming anyone to the gruesome scene. She would mention it to Raider later, when she could talk to him alone.

When Bryn met back up with Erwin, he looked utterly frightened.

“BRYN! Are you alright! We heard a shot ring out and thought something awful happened!”

His worried gaze shuffled over her. Except for a few small cuts, scrapes and a forming bruise or two, she was unharmed. Giving him a small smile and nod, she reassured him everything was fine.

“Yes…yes…I’m fine. It was just Atien here signaling to me where he was. I had gotten lost in the thick vegetation in the forest after I got to my feet. I’m fine. Really….come on. Let’s go. We need to find shelter.”

Atien looked as though he would have said something but Bryn shot him a look and shook her head just enough so that he could register it. He merely nodded and furrowed his brow, falling in step behind Erwin and Bryn as they traveled on looking for the lava tubes Erwin said would be perfect for shelter.

The trouble wasn’t just the way the valley had silently swallowed up Bryn in the blink of an eye when she fell—unnoticed by everyone but Atien until he climbed down into the valley after her—it was the darkness between the damp, young trees, the way the uneven volcanic plain beneath his shoes made everything feel crooked. Von Halde knew his logic about locating caves was sound, but he almost wished he didn’t know such things, for then maybe they would have let him stay at the camp with Cookey and Olaf. He wasn’t an explorer, he was a scholar. His study of gemstones was limited to a laboratory environment; it was for others, rugged adventurous types, to go traipsing through the jungles and caverns to retrieve the raw minerals for him. What was he doing here?

Von Halde withdrew a once-white handkerchief and dabbed fastidiously at his brow. He must have still been tired from all of yesterday’s walking because his pulse was rapid and he felt queasy. Light-headed. He brushed a palm frond out of his way with a curiously weak arm. “We should be in the right area,” he mumbled to no one in particular. “You can tell by that shelf up there that the old lava flow diverted to the north, which should mean this field drained itself out, leaving caves just below the surface…” he broke off, short of breath. Maybe he was really coming down with something. His head was pounding.

A glance at his slack-faced companions told him he wasn’t the only one feeling ill. The stubble-faced man ahead of him was massaging his brow, and everyone was moving slower, tugging at their collars, green-tinged. Even Bryn’s movements had become dogged.

“There something evil in de air here,” Atien said darkly. His molasses skin had taken on an ashen quality, but von Halde still found the tall African an intimidating presence and kept his mouth shut, however much he scorned notions of evil and curses and the like.

A few minutes of weary silence passed and von Halde was about to simply sit down and tell them all that he needed a break when the stubble-faced man said, “Looks like an cave opening up ahead.”

Von Halde tried to rouse interest, but he was so dizzy, and the higher they climbed, the dizzier he became. His pulse rattled in him like panic, like tremors, and it was hard to breathe. Was Atien right? Von Halde clutched at the cold lump of the amarite over his heart.

Atien couldn’t be right. Von Halde still had so much to do, so much to find…! But he we so exhausted. He had to lay down, and it felt like the shadows were closing in around him. He was going to throw up. Someone was toying with gravity, because it felt like he was growing lighter and then heavier, and then lighter, and it wasn’t comfortable at all.

Then, as he stumbled up to the ledge the stubble-faced man had indicated, the sight beyond gave him a saving moment of clarity. They were close to a sub-peak of the central mountain. There was little vegetation here, and what grew was small and hard. Gray-black rocks, mottled with rust tones, bulged and spread over the slopes. And just beyond the ridge they had reached, von Halde saw a faint but odious teal mist lurking in a crater no larger than his house.

“Get back…!” he gasped, stumbling away, as if he was the one who saw a ghost. “Back down, to lower ground!” He dropped into a half-crawl, ape-scrambling down the ridge. His urgency was such that he occasionally slipped and scraped himself on the rocks, skidding like a human sled until he could catch himself again. He might have caused himself serious harm, were he not in such a feeble state. As it was, his progress was limping and frail as an old man’s.

“The air is evil, indeed!” he told those who straggled confusedly after him. “Foul and poisonous gas has been seeping over us, invisible and scentless!” As he scuttled to lower ground, he felt his head clearing almost immediately. They could have all died, and who knows how close they had come to it!

Von Halde, when he thought himself a safe enough distance down the valley, stopped and looked around. Everyone had made it safely down with him, but now they were off the path they had been following. Von Halde swallowed and wiped his face down with his handkerchief again. He answered the frowns on the assembled faces nervously, “Sometimes fields like this have hidden vents spewing forth carbon monoxide, sulfur and methane gases from deep below the surface. In the right conditions…well, you must have felt it a little yourself. We had to get away, and quickly.”

Von Halde gave his torn sleeve a self-conscious inspection, turning away. But before anyone could remark on their brush with mortality and their present position, what von Halde thought was sturdy ground beneath his feet suddenly gave way and, with a whoop of surprise, he plummeted through a curtain of thorny greenery into a canoe-sized opening in the rocks.

“Oh, my!” his voice echoed up from roughly three feet below the surface. “I believe this is a laval tube.”

Bryn thought that perhaps the encounter with the ghoul and subsequent encounter with the giant lizards had somehow affected her in some way. The more she forced herself to move, the worse she felt. The worse she felt, the more she wished she could just close her eyes and drift off to rest for a few moments. Her limbs felt as though she were trying to move them through a giant marshy swamp pit. And the pain in her head would simply not go away. In fact, it was getting worse as well.

It wasn’t until Erwin made his discovery that they were in some sort of danger than Bryn’s adrenaline began to compensate for the numbness her senses were experiencing. Even Atien, the usually alert and lively African, was wilted and struggling. Of course all of that changed when Erwin insisted they scurry down the slope as quickly as possible. All of them, no matter how bad and tired they were, understood the urgency in Erwin’s voice and were more than glad to make their way off the hateful slope.

Bryn was just feeling her sense return to normal when Erwin suddenly vanished, swallowed up by the ground. As quick as she could (which wasn’t near as quick as she wanted it to be) she dove to the area, making sure to place her body as flat as possible on the ground. If the ground was unstable, she had to spread her weight out evenly to keep from falling through as well. Just as she did when she was helping someone from ice they had fallen through back in her homeland.

When she reached the edge of the whole Erwin had accidentally opened up, she peered into the darkness to make sure he was alright. The concern made her words come out a little harder than she had intended.

“Erwin? Are you OK?”

Von Halde shifted, testing his legs and spine to make sure he was uninjured. His hands were scraped, but other than that, he seemed to have made it through his tumble unscathed. “I…I think I’m alright,” he answered Bryn’s urgent inquiry.

He had slipped down the rim of an open lava tube, which had been obscured by brush and the rubble of rocks, and had fallen into a shallow hole at the very mouth of the cave, for it was sheltered in a bowl of stone. The cave entrance itself was approximately eight feet across and five feet high, yawning in an incline so that the top of the entry was further up the slope than the bottom. Von Halde could see from his vantage, and hear from the echoing report of his own voice, that the cave stretched back a long way—as he would have expected from a lava tube.

“I think this will be perfect,” he said, struggling to his feet and dusting himself off. He parted the brush overhead and peered up at Bryn’s anxious face. “It’s quite a suitable lava tube. Come see for yourselves.”

After the party had safely picked their way down to the bottom of the cave mouth, von Halde pointed out a ridge that lined the base of the side walls of the cave, stretching as far back into the mountainside as their light would shine, for the cave itself was like a long, winding corridor. “See, here is the mark left by the lava that used to flow through here.” The ridge was about eight inches off the floor of the cave. The walls themselves were lightly rippled, the ceiling arched, and the whole thing of dark reddish-black stone, smooth and unbroken. “There could well be crystals developing in an environment like this,” von Halde added musingly.

“Ah, well,” he sighed a moment later, “I don’t know about the rest of you, but I am very nearly done in.” He sat down just outside the cave on the nearest rock that presented itself. “And famished besides,” he said, and dug out his rations.

“This is all well and good,” Atien spoke up. “But we must make sure we can find out way back here from camp. And…we must make our way back to camp, for that matter.” The African looked around at the hillside above them and the valley below. They had gone off course and would have to forge a way back to their old trail through the obscuring foliage.

Von Halde nodded absently, more interested in renewing his energy than worrying about the walk back to camp, for the moment. The sailors could figure that part out. He had done his share already, he thought—and certainly done more than he’d ever signed up for when he joined this expedition.

Bryn felt some relief when Erwin stated he was fine. Still, she was worried about his safety down in that pit. As he seemed to test his surroundings, she heaved a sigh of further relief. He wasn’t even done inviting the rest of them down into the lava tube when Bryn’s feet hit the bottom of the cavern. Furrowing her brows, she listened carefully as he explained the origins of the tube and its reliability. Turning her troubled gaze on him once more, se couldn’t help but ask the all important question.

“And we’re safe from having the lava decide to use this tube once more? I would hate to be sleeping one night and be rudely awakened by a flow of lava interrupting my slumber.”

As he pointed out some specific things to them, Bryn let her gaze travel around the dark cavern. She didn’t necessarily like this sort of place, but it was better then getting stuck out in the environment when it decided to unleash natures fury upon them.

As Erwin decided to take a break just outside the cave, Bryn and the others followed. When Atien mentioned about finding their way back to the camp, Bryn nodded then looked skyward, shielding her eyes from the brightness of the sky. There was a thick canopy of trees making it difficult to see the exact location of the sun, but Bryn got a pretty good idea of where it was located.

“Well…I think if we keep on a track that puts the sun to our backs, we should find the camp. After all, it was to our backs when we started out this morning and it’s past its zenith so it should be at our backs once more.”

Two shots rang out in the dense jungle, as Raider and Master at arms Rahoul





spotted two wild boars. Both boars fell to the ground, to the cacophany of screaching monkies, parrots and tropical birds. Raider and Rahoul lifted them up, slung the carcuses around their shoulders and headed back to camp.

Atien pulled a bright red (and slightly stained) handkerchief from his back pocket and climbed the tallest tree in the vicinity. The ease with which he climbed suggested he was half-monkey, and certainly a sailor used to spidering his way up and down the rigging. When he reached a goodly height, he tied the handkerchief around a limb and swung back down again.

“It will be easier to locate de cave again, this way,” he explained.

Keeping the sun at their backs as Bryn suggested, the party began their trek back to camp. It took them about half again as long to get back as it had to find the cave. Since they didn’t dare climb back up to the slopes where the poisonous gases had nearly killed them earlier, they were forced to traverse the valley. Other than another encounter with a giant lizard—which seemed contented to leave them alone and watch their passing from his elevated sun rock—their primary obstacle was thick vegetation. The privateers hacked their way through with their blades.

“This will also make it easier for us to find de cave again,” Atien said good-naturedly, smiling even as he wiped sweat off his brow.

Erwin von Halde sighed and felt very tired. For the past hour, he’d been dreaming about his manor, about having a dewy glass of iced Pimms liqueur in the dusty shade of his quiet study… He wasn’t hacking away at the local flora like an American settler, but he was still sweating. The air was close and damp, like wet blankets hanging against them.

Due to their detour, they were the last party to arrive back at camp. The sight of the others on the now-familiar stretch of beach was very welcome to von Halde. Even Captain Raider looked easier in expression. Perhaps hunting had allowed him to release some of his aggression. Von Halde thought he even might feel safe speaking to the captain, if he had to, though he wasn’t planning on getting too near him until he was absolutely sure the man wouldn’t snap and decide to strangle him.

Most welcome of all were the smells of Cookey’s handiwork, steaming and lacing the ocean air with savory smells. “Oh, thank goodness!” von Halde exclaimed as they broke out of the bushes. How strange that even a strip of deserted island could come to feel like home after an exhausting trek through the wilds.

Not far away, their captive, Christopher Lark, watched with guarded interest as the foraging party and hunting party took stalk of their gathered supplies, and von Halde’s party reported their discovery of the cave. Von Halde glanced back at the man, wondering what on earth they were ever going to do with him.

Just then, a low rumble reached the castaways from the darkening pit of the southern sky. A great, gloomy wall of clouds was building from the horizon, alive with yellow flickers and churning swirls. The storm was still a ways off, but sweeping towards them with the promise of rain, and possibly worse.

Cooky stood on his crutch and one leg over a large turtle shell pot of simmering seafood gumbo



grumbling as the last of the marooners finaly made it back to camp. Table had been set on a large semi flat rock, complete with banana leaf plates and coconut shell cups. On each leaf was a coconut bowl filled with fresh turtle soup


and tropical fuit salad

.

In the center of the rock were several banana leaves with an assortmrnt of fresh seafood

.



Raider said "Thank ye Cooky another work of your black magic I see." he then turned to the others and said "Sit eat, ye must be hungry 'fter yur walk. Tell me what did ye find of intrest. Rahoul ye be bringing Mr. Christopher Lark ta have some food. I not be thought of as a total rogue. ..... Mind ye Mr. Lark any mischief and ye be food for tha sharks." he then sat glanced to sea once more and sat.

Bryn’s stomach reminded her of just how hungry she was when her nose caught the savory smells of Cooky’s gifted cooking. To her relief, the others had returned from their expeditions as well and as she took a quick head count, she realized everyone was back, safe and sound. Her eyes then traveled to the make shift table and dinner wear setting that had been set up for all of them. It was good to see how they were making good use of the natural supplies the island provided. Even with the variety of food they were going to consume.

Cooky had even gone so far as to set up a small wash basin for them to at least was their hands and face before they ate. That was a good thing too because the group Bryn traveled with could use a refreshing splash of cold water. Not to mention Erwin needed to wash the black smudges off his face.

As Bryn dried her hands and face off with the towel that had been laid next to the make shift dry sink, she looked over as Mr. Lark was escorted to the table and forced to sit down. He looked well, all things considered. It even appeared as though he had some of his haughtiness back as he let his gaze travel around the group and glare at his present company. He was young and brash and had much to learn. Hopefully he would learn it sooner than later.

Bryn took her seat, as it turned out, next to Roubins and gave Cooky an appreciative smile.

“Cooky….your talents astound me. If there is a silver lining to his gray cloud of maroon it’s the fact you’re here with us.”

As everyone began to settle down to the table, Bryn started telling them of the things they had discovered.

“Well, it’s safe to say the cave Mr. von Halde found is sufficient for all of us to find shelter in. Thanks to Atien’s quick thinking, he left us a marker to find the exact spot where the cave is located. And with the help of the others, they forged a clear path for us to travel back and forth from the beach to the cave. Oh….and we’d best stay here, in the valley. We damn near fell victim to the poisonous gases the volcano’s give off. If not for Mr. von Halde’s knowledge of such things, we would have dropped like flies up there.”

Bryn purposely left out the fact of what she discovered. Casting a glance at Atien, she saw the look on his face and held his gaze for a moment before she let her gaze drift to the others then back to her meal. The large African was perplexed, to say the least, but he didn’t mention anything about what happened either. He figured Bryn had her reasons and it wasn’t his place to breech the subject.

Erwin von Halde’s exhaustion caused him to fix single-minded attention on consuming Cookey’s handiwork. After he had sipped sufficient soup and sampled several fruits, however, the wind upsetting the banana leaf plates and the ominous rumbling in the southern sky began to rub on his nerves, and he turned a hard, spectacled eye to the captive, Christopher Lark.

“Now Sir,” said von Halde, daubing his mouth with a handkerchief that fluttered nervously in betrayal of his mustered self-importance, “perhaps you will be so good as to tell us all what King George could possibly want with our ship—a ship, I’ll have you know, that I have rightfully and legally commissioned! One would think that his majesty’s navy would be better put to use fighting Napoleon Bonaparte than waylaying gemological excursions.” To think, he wouldn’t have had to go tromping about in the wilderness like a savage if the navy had only stuck to matters of war! It simply wasn’t fair, and someone had to take responsibility for that fact.



Christopher Lark, who had been consuming the meal before him with grudging appreciation and increasing appetite, paused to listen to von Halde’s complaint with slender eyes. After delivering a shrewd and sidelong look at his captors, he replied, “Perhaps you weren’t aware of the fact, Sir, that you are traveling in the company of pirates and brigands.”

“That’s…Well, that’s…” von Halde blustered, “that’s beside the point!”

“It is the very point itself, Sir,” Lark went on, ignoring the frowns from the surly sailors beside him and the black scowl on Captain Raider’s face that put the coming storm to shame. “And anyway, now the ship can and will be put to good use against Bonaparte, you can bet your life.”

“Where be Galworth takin’ me ship?” Raider demanded coldly. “And where the captives? Ye’d best answer swift an’ true.”

Lark looked at Raider squarely, and the proud lift of his jaw suggested he spoke truly when he said, “He’ll sail to New South Wales, and I’m sure the prisoners will go no further. And from there, depending on reconnaissance, they may be bound for India. In any case, you can be sure the admiral will fight the frogs like a lion in whatever pond he finds them. You all, too, could have been fighting like men instead of trapped on this bleeding island like monkeys, if you’d ever stepped up for king and country in the first place.” He turned his righteous glare to von Halde. “Even fine gentlemen like you are on the front, dying as we are dining.”

Von Halde might have been goaded about many things, but battle-courage was not one of those things. He sniffed. “I’m no sympathizer with imperialists like Monsieur Bonaparte, but some of us make our best contributions to society when we’re not dying on the front.”

Lark glowered disdainfully and Raider looked like he had something murderous to add to the dinner conversation and it seemed for a moment as if the table would erupt into shouts and epithets, and possibly even bodily harm—most likely to Petty Officer Christopher Lark—when the withdrawn Roubins suddenly opened his mouth and commented lightly, “Well, there’s not much use in worrying about it. We are stuck on this island. These are the cards we have been dealt, and quite frankly, I’ve seen worse hands.”



When Miss Dowd, sitting at the opposite end of the table, frowned at him, he went on placidly, “We have fresh water and plenty of food, not to mention skilled hands to prepare it. The climate is balmy, and though the weather is starting to rain on us, it sounds as though we have sturdy shelter waiting. We may as well enjoy these circumstances, because until they change, there’s not the tiniest thing we can do about ships or Emperors or, most especially, what has been and done.”

There was a momentary lull and the only sound was the light pitter of the first drops of rain. It became apparent that the storm was bearing down upon them, crackling with nature’s wrath, boiling with moisture trapped above, about to rip free and swarm over the island. With mutual understanding of what needed to be done next, the marooned party began to pack up the most necessary supplies. A tempestuous and tangy wind swiped at their clothes and hair as they hurried with their burdens along the path hewn by Atien and his fellow seaman, over the jungle mulch squelching underfoot, past rain-slicked leaves slapping at their arms and shins, towards the promise of a dry cave.

A neon flash seared the sky as lighting struck a tree nearby. The boom rendered everyone momentarily deaf and the light was a one-second migraine. The very earth beneath their feet reported the titanic heartbeat of the thunder blast. Without a word, they picked up their pace, everyone jogging together through the sheets of falling water and the smell of a wet black forest.

Von Halde tented his hanky over his head, to little effect, and cursed his spectacles that kept beading over with moisture. Roubins likewise missed his hat for perhaps the eightieth time since he lost it to the kraken, but he felt a peace in his heart that hadn’t been there since before he met Miss Dowd and her colleagues. But how long would it last? He knew too much to think it would be long, but he was glad for the moment’s relief. When you live long enough, or widely enough, you come to understand that life is not a continuous span, but a spattering of moments just like this. Despite the howling storm and the bruised and savage skies, he leaned over to Bryn and said just loud enough for her to hear above the wind, “I’ll have to find a place like this again, when all this is over. I should have thought of it before. Maybe not to stay, but I’m thinking, a summer home…”

He knew Miss Dowd wouldn’t approve of such fraternization, but that was the beauty of this moment. He didn’t have to care one iota about Miss Dowd or any of the mess he was in.

The growing storm made Bryn think of something else, especially with the flashes of lightning taking place with the rolling thunder. Casting her gaze skyward as the rain began to drop from the clouds, she furrowed her brow. Thor always did have a strange sense of humor but right now she didn’t find anything amusing about this whole situation.

That was all Bryn had the chance to think about as the sky opened up and the rain fell from the sky in heavy drops. Like the others, she quickly gathered up as much as she could and helped transport the bare necessities to the cave Erwin had discovered. It wouldn’t be a walk in the park, but at least they would make it there and be able to escape the torrential rains that were about to give the island a much needed drink.

Thanks to Atien and the others, the path to the cave was quite easy to find. As Bryn made her way towards the cave, she was certain she caught a glimpse of something in the thicker vegetation that looked like someone watching them. Was it another lost soul looking to her for help in crossing to Valhalla or was she just paranoid from the last one?

So distracted was she that Bryn didn’t realize Roubins was so close and when she first heard his quiet voice in her ear, she actually startled. It only took a few seconds for her to gather her composure once more, but there was no doubt the man had seen her reaction to his conversation. Looking over at him, she nodded in agreement, giving him a small smile.

“Aye….a place to escape the bitter cold in the dead of winter would be even better. Of course, that would only be possible of the ice were thin enough to allow a ship passage without destroying the hull. Still….to imagine a warm place like this when it is cold would be a welcoming thought.”

Raider looked to the approaching storm. "Aye it be a bit of a blow we be in for, tis best we seek the shelter of Mr. Von Halde's cave. Gather what ye can and step lively, now."

Rahoul hefted one of the boars to his shoulder as Raider lifted the other, Captain Billy Bones leaped on top of the boar. "Mr. Lark, if ye would be so kind as ta give a hand." Raider said with a tone in his voice that did not give the British officer much choice. The party started for the cave.

The storm that blew up lasted a few hours. Once it had passed, the sun shone down on the tropical island once more and brought with it heat and humidity that seemed to cling to each stranded member of the party like an uncomfortable second skin. When the castaways emerged from the cave they found a whole new world opened up to them again.

Strange crabs, large and small, had emerged from their hiding places and seemed to bask in the water that nature had brought down for them. Some vegetation had flowers open up on them that seemed like only green plants before the storm. Even the local wildlife seemed to praise Mother Nature for bringing the rain to them. It still didn’t make the members of the cave feel any better about the current situation they were in.

Bryn looked around at all the different sights and found herself still just as mesmerized now as she was when she first came ashore. Perhaps this is a sign of things to come. While it was no picnic being on this tropical paradise, it wasn’t as bad as being stranded on the polar ice caps either.

Shrugging off the worries for now, Bryn began to try and help get the other supplies they couldn’t carry with them from the beach to the cave. Several trips were needed with every one’s help but eventually they were able to get the supplies squared away. Evangeline even helped her cordon off a section of the cave just for the two of them since they were the only females in the group. Even Mr. Lark had put his back into helping get things situated since, after all, he was just as stranded as the rest of them.

************************

And so it went, day after day, night after night. Look outs were posted both day and night to make sure if any ships came their way they could be spotted early enough to figure out if they were friend or foe and for the group to take the correct precautions. Everyone pulled their weight for they knew to not do so could mean their death. Not from an overbearing leader or fellow castaways, but because the landscape was that unforgiving.

When Bryn didn’t have any pressing duty to tend to she would venture to the beach and swim in the warm, clear water with the many friendly animals and fish. Atien accompanied her a few times and was quick to point out to her which fish not to get close to and which creatures that shared the water with her were harmless so long as she left them to their own devices.

Grateful for his help, Bryn struck up a friendship with the tall, dark skinned African. She discovered he had been sold into slavery by his own tribal leader when he was just a boy, along with the rest of his family. It wasn’t until he was in his late teens that he ended up on the auction block when Raider had found him and brought him aboard the Bill of Rights. Knowing nothing about ships or sailing, he was completely dependent upon the other members to show him the ropes, literally.

Bryn had never heard of the Masai Warriors but apparently they were quite a formidable group in his native Africa. While they were known as warriors, they were also known as cattle ranchers. Red was the chosen color of the Masai and they all wore elaborate beads as a symbol of their warrior status and showing the world they had crossed into manhood.

Bryn found the stories of his homeland fascinating and they ended up sharing many hours telling each other of their homelands. They were as different as night and day as Bryn and Atien were to each other. Atien was from a hot, arid land where great beasts roamed free and Bryn was from a cold, wet world where men were as dangerous as the beasts that roamed Atien’s plains.

This day, however, Bryn was alone and she decided to take a swim after checking to make sure there were no imposing creatures on the shore or in the water. Walking across the sand and letting the warm waves lap at her legs as she eased into the clear, salty water, she realized her daily swim had become a vital routine for her as much as practicing her swordsmanship. Making sure she didn’t swim too far from the shore line, she swam out far enough so that the sea l ions and dolphins that had grow accustomed to her presence soon entered the water and began to swim close to her. It was one of the few times Bryn actually laughed but with the different antics the sea lions and dolphins did, it was difficult NOT to laugh at some of them. Especially when she would dip beneath the surface of the water and see a sea lion looking at her upside down. It was all she could do to get to the surface before she would bust out in a belly roll like laugh.

“You creatures are silly. I know you don’t understand what I’m saying, but if you did, you would know I’m calling you all court jesters.”

Raider slipped out of the dense foliage and across the sand to a large rock. There he sat and watched as Bryn swam and played with ethe sea lions and porpise. As he watched his mind drifted back to the times he had watched his daughter, Lillian Rianna Raider, his "Little Miss Magic" as he called her play with the sea creatures in the waters off Enchantica. Blinking he settled his gaze out to sea. Suddenly he stood and yelled "Mr. O'Hara, my glass if you please and be quick about!" Then from the watch on the top of the hillside overloking the bay came the call "SAIL HO! ...... THREE POINTS OFF WOLF ARCH."

Bryn hadn’t noticed Raider while she was frolicking like a child with the sea creatures until she heard his voice yell “SAIL HO!” Snapping her head around to see him standing on some rocks near the shore and pointing out to sea, she quickly turned to look and see what he was pointing at. Her eyes were not as trained as Raiders and it took her a few minutes to find the small sail on the horizon. Making her way back towards the shore, she walked out of the surf and turned to look out at the sea once more, shielding her eyes.

“Can you see what flag she fly’s, Captain?”

Turning to look back at Raider she saw Bill Bones making a huge fuss over something. Knowing the little monkey didn’t do that with people he knew, she immediately thought one of those hateful lizards had come back looking for a free meal. But when she saw a woman stand up and run away, she quirked one of her brows. The only women she knew to be on the island were Angeline Dowd and herself. Raider saw what she saw as well and if the timing could have been worse, Bryn wasn’t exactly sure how. When Raider looked back to her, Bryn nodded.

“I’ll get Atien and we’ll handle that. You concentrate on possible visitors. If they are not some we wish to have, signal us somehow.”

Raider nodded as well.

“Aye, Bryn. I be doin that.”

Bryn walked back to the make shift camp in the cave and found Atien weaving what appeared to be a fishing net of some sort. The large African looked up when he saw her enter and gave her a smile that quickly faded when he saw the look on her face.



“What is it, Miss. Bryn?”

Bryn didn’t want to alarm the others with additional concern of a stranger on the island as they were already worked up over a ship on the horizon. Leaning close, she spoke quietly to Atien.

“Your tracking skills are in need once more, Atien. Come. I’ll show you where.”

The dark skinned man set his work aside, picked up a machete and followed Bryn back to the area close to the beach she had seen the woman.

“When Raider saw the ship, Billy Bones found something else. From what I could tell, it was a woman. At least, I think it was. She left so suddenly I didn’t get a clear look. She headed back into the thicker vegetation. It wasn’t Miss Dowd and it certainly wasn’t me so we need to find out who she or it is.”

Atien nodded.

“I can track her. Come. Let us see if we can find dis creature.”

The African studied the ground and plants all around the area and after a few moments started heading, slowly, in the same direction the woman fled. The going was slow for the man as there was little evidence of anything on two feet ever being there. Only on occasion did he find tracks that let him know Bryn wasn’t seeing things.

“She went dis way, alright. She is very light on her feet and dis makes it difficult for me to track her. And it is a woman. She wears some sort of shoe but nothing I ever see before. It appears she knows de island well too. She jumps over logs we would step on and she does not take a straight path. She is going left then right then back to de left again. She is tricky, dis one.”

Bryn furrowed her brows.

“Great….we have unknown visitors off the shore and an elusive wild woman on the island with us. Such good news abounds today.”

Atien actually chuckled.

“I said it was difficult to track her, Miss. Bryn. Not impossible. Noting gets past Atien. I was a tracker long before I was a privateer.”

Bryn looked over at Atien and couldn’t help but share the broad smile he was giving her.

“Point taken, Atien.”

It was a little while later when Atien and Bryn finally came within 10 yards of the cave. It wasn’t easy to see but with both sets of eyes they were able to make it out. Staying well within the plants and natural foliage around them, Bryn and Atien devised a plan. Bryn approached the right side of the cave while Atien sunk further down into the foliage. When Bryn was in position, she took a good sized rock and tossed it just outside the cave. She waited a few seconds before tossing another good sized one. Knowing the woman, if she were still inside, would eventually get curious, she decided to wait now and see what happened.

Raider said "Aye Bryn, ye be keepin' a weather eye now. I not be seein' her coloures, she looks French rigged, a Frigate. But she may be a prize flyin' English coloures or maskin' her colours, ta be sneaking up on us." Raider added as he put his glass to his eye. "Mr. O'Hara ye be gatherin' the Lady Dowd, Mr. Von Halde, Mr Roubins and Mr. Lark ta the cave."

"Aye aye, Captain." Mr. O'Hara, Raider's First Mate said and walked off to arry out his orders.

"Damn Ye Man! Can ye not see what coloures she flies?" Raider shouted to the lookout.

"She' head on Captain! She'll be turnin ta tack soon." the lookout shouted back.

"Ye be keepin' a weather eye thar man!" Raider shouted as he watched the ship on the horizon.

Bryn stood statue still when the woman stepped out into the light of day. So she hadn’t been seeing things. Knowing the woman would be flighty, Bryn didn’t do anything at first. She just stood there watching and assessing the woman. From what Bryn could gather in these first few moments, it looked as though the woman was a native. But that couldn’t be right. Raider had told them the islands weren’t inhabited by humans. There had to be another reason she was here.

From her looks Bryn estimated her age to be in the early to mid twenties. She wasn’t skinny by any means but she wasn’t as soft as she had seen other women her age. No doubt living on this island, if that were the case, had kept her both in shape and with her limited diet she wasn’t introduced to the richer, more fattening delicacies.

Finally Bryn stepped forward but still stayed out of striking range. She didn’t want to take the chance of being sliced open by that knife the woman held ready in her hand.

“Hello….We’re not here to hurt you. We’re just curious about who you might be.”

The woman snapped her head around and looked like a cornered rabbit looking for a way out. Bryn put her hands out in a non threatening gesture to try and get the woman to calm down. Not daring to take any steps towards the woman, Bryn stood her ground.

“It’s OK…..it’s ok…really…..we mean you no harm. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

Bryn couldn’t help but think the woman looked a lot like she did when she was first discovered wondering aimlessly in the freezing forest all those years ago. Thin as a rail from not eating correctly, eyes full of fear and….wild…..and ready to defend herself if the threat existed or flee if the opportunity presented itself.

Bryn and Atien took off after the frightened woman. They didn’t want to cause her any trouble and they certainly didn’t want to frighten her any more than they already had, but the ship they saw on the horizon was a different story. Rather or not they were friendly to Raider and company wouldn’t matter when they saw Meggie in her few strips of clothing.

“Wait!”

The woman was quick, Bryn had to give her that much, but Bryn ad Atien were able to keep up, barely. When the woman returned to the beach and came to a skidding halt then yelled at Raider and O’Hara, Bryn came to a sudden stop behind the woman and once more tried to calm her down.

“Meggie…we aren’t here to hurt you in any way. Please…put the knife down.”

Seeing the look on the woman’s face, Bryn knew there was little to no reasoning with her. With Raider and O’Hara on one side and Bryn and Atien on the other, there was only one way for her to go and that was in the surf.

“Meggie…please….we just want to talk to you.”

Atien gave the whole situation a good look and glanced at Raider and O’Hara before he looked over at Bryn then back to Meggie.

“Please, Miss. We need your help. Since dis be your island, we need you to show us around. We not bother you. We promise.”

The ship was actually growing closer now and Bryn knew it was most likely already too late and the crew has seen Meggie in her lack of attire. Clenchig her jaw, Bryn was loosing patients and her tone of voice and body language stated it clearly

“Meggie! That boat you see out there has grown men aboard that would do anything they could to get their hands a hold of you. Now, unless you want to be raped, repeatedly, I suggest you get your ass off the beach and back into the damn jungle. Otherwise I’ll hand you over to them myself! I TOLD you we aren’t here to hurt you. In fact, if you leave the beach now, we won’t follow you ever again…or even return to where we found you.”