27th of Cobre, 12:09am, 1659

"Boy, didn't I tell you to get your feet off the couch?!"

A familiar voice shook Caesar from his state of unconsciousness; the motherly voice that was calm yet me left threatening.

"Yes, Momma!" He nearly fell off the tree branch he had been sleeping in from fumbling around, but a last minute save not only allowed him to grab on to the branch, but he also used the momentum to vertically circle around the branch like a gymnast. Making a not-so-graceful landing back in the branch, Caesar surveyed the area he had just woken up in. "Oh. I'm still here..."

Caesar was currently standing on the branch of a giant tree. It was a long way up to the canopy, and a long climb down the tree. Fortunately for him, he spotted more thick branches that he could use as footholds. Teetering close to the edge of his current branch, Caesar made the leap farther down below.

The branches were tough and didn't budge, their position solid like stone. Taking his time between his jumps, his injuries from his duel with Asterion reawakened along with him, forcing out groan after groan from jump after jump. He could not force himself to hurry lest he risked slipping and falling.

"Looks like my pirate training paid off. Hey, Beckett..." Caesar called out his spirit partner through a pained voice after jumping on the last visible branch. There was a long drop to the forest floor, and the scent of smoke urged him to quicken his pace. If there's anything he learned from traveling with a bunch of rascals, it was to follow the fire. His crew must be close.

Beckett watched as Caesar fastened a ghostly rope around the branch they were on. "You took quite a beating earlier and fell off the ship after slipping on some spilled hagfish. The gods must have blessed you with incredible luck if you're still alive."

"Is that what happened? Now that you mention it, I do remember falling off the ship. The canopy and the branches probably broke my fall, then." All Caesar could remember was the screams of the children as they called out to him after he fell.

With help from the rope, Caesar lowered himself enough to be able to jump off and land safely. He dashed towards the source of the smoke, where he eventually found what remained of the Argo Navis; the ship was a mess thanks to the ongoing fire and the fragments that had flown away from the crash. Charlie and Temuulen had been placed by a nearby tree, their unconscious bodies covered in soot, but their ongoing breathing indicating signs of life. Wulf and Vanessa were putting out the remaining embers of the fire while Cecilia was taking inventory of whatever had been salvaged.

"Captain, you're alive!" Wulf set down his empty bucket before greeting Caesar. "Everyone is present and accounted for!"

The absence of four pint-size newcomers would say otherwise. "Thanks, Wulf. Where are the kids?"

"They jumped off after you, Captain, once the sinking ship reached a much lower altitude." Vanessa set her bucket on the ground and slumped against a nearby tree. "Wulf and I searched inside the ship, just in case. But they're nowhere to be found."

"They jumped off the ship? And you let them?!" Caesar closed the gap between the ship and himself. The fire had finally died down, but he could not hear anything besides the critters of the night. "Oh, no, we didn't crush them with the weight of the ship, did we?"

"Oh, no." Wulf's voice was barely audible. "We kidnapped those kids, and for what? So they would die here?" He fidgeted in place. "No, no, no! We'll get the noose for sure!"

"Calm down, if they jumped right after me then there's a chance the canopy broke their fall, too. They must have landed somewhere not far from here. Besides, any kingdom that sends kids to their slave pits and raises the dead as zombies isn't the type I'd expect to put a whole lotta stock on human life." Caesar wanted to search for the kids right away, but he worried what a panicked crew would do if he left them alone. Now that the fires of the ship have been put out, it was time for the captain to quench the flames of anxiety. "Cecilia, what's the damage?"

"It's bad, Cap. We managed to retrieve most of our goods, but the ship took a lot of damage. That bounty hunter or whatever you 'befriended' made holes on the stern. He must have made them every time he had to climb the ship. Fortunately for us, the ship can self-repair the damage with time. The bad news? The sisters inhabiting my stone have to take a nap."

"Aye, the Star Dream," Beckett said. "Making that emergency landing was a good call. Otherwise, the ship would have disappeared in the air, and all of you would have plummeted to yer deaths."

"Yeah, but if we don't move now, all we worked for could go up in smoke. We have to find those kids." Caesar looked up at the sky. "If I had to guess, they're going to be close to where I landed. I'll go on ahead."

"Not like that, you're not." Cecilia flicked her fingers on Caesar's shin, causing her captain to hop in place. "You're still hurt from your fight."

"I'll be fine!" A green flask was placed on Caesar's hands. He tried to return it to the sender, but Wulf was not having it.

"At least drink the potion, Captain. We need you hale and hearty in case we run into more trouble."

"We?"

"You didn't think you were going alone, did you," Cecilia asked. "Remember our code: 'A good captain may die with the ship...'"

"'...but a good crew keeps the captain alive!' Please let us come along with you," Wulf insisted.

"I say only one of you should come with me," Caesar countered. "I mean, who'll take care of Vanessa while we're gone?"

Twigs broke after Vanessa set down a small cannon on the ground. She quickly pushed mud clods aside along with the broken twigs, replaced by metal shells pointing upwards in a neat, single file.

"You must have me mistaken for someone else, Captain." Vanessa loaded up a shell inside of the small cannon. "Faraway threats get the mortar. Anything gets close, they get the teeth. Hopefully these louts will be up and about by the time you get back." She pointed at Charlie and Temuulen, both of them still unconscious. "Take Cecilia and Wulf and just leave some potions and medicine behind. Wulf can heal the kids if they're hurt, but they may end up worse the longer you dally."

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Vanessa was right. They were already running on borrowed time. The forest was unknown territory to them, and they knew little of the ecosystem that inhabited it. Wulf had some fighting capabilities, and Cecilia hadn't used any of her spells yet, but the children were defenseless.

Finished with the inventory of the ship, Cecilia held up her Soulstone, causing it to glow with a multicolored light. In seconds, the Argo Navis disappeared without a trace, leaving behind a wooden wagon in its place.

"Our knight in shining armor left that behind. I'm sure we can borrow it until he asks for it back."

"Great idea, Cecilia. Vanessa, take Charlie and Tem inside the wagon. If you're confident in guarding the perimeter alone, then don't let anything destroy it." Caesar whistled to the other two, who followed him back to where he came from. "Stay put! We'll be back for you!"

"Don't die on us, Captain," Vanessa warned. Both parties got to work, with Vanessa carrying her unconscious comrades to the wagon while Caesar led the rest to the depths of the forest.

***

Caesar took the lead, scouting ahead for signs of danger and giving the all-clear by making a beckoning motion to the two behind him once it was safe to do so. Wulf followed not far behind, looking both sides before moving ahead. Cecilia took up the rear, always looking back in case they were being followed. Having known the way, Caesar pointed out the path to take. Even though the captain made no complaints, Wulf and Cecilia would hear him whispering to himself as he squeezed his stomach.

"Captain, did you drink the potion," Cecilia asked.

"I did, but I didn't heal completely. I should be fine until we find the kids and head back to the wagon." Caesar stopped at a tree and inspected the base. "These are my footprints from when I first woke up. Now to determine where the kids are."

Venturing beyond the tree where Caesar had first woken up on, the three pirates kept their eyes peeled for smaller footprints on the cold forest soil. Leaves crumpled under their feet as they pressed forward, some blown away by a sudden chill breeze. But the pirates were focused; too focused, perhaps, to notice the boulder right in front of them until it was too late.

Caesar and Wulf tumbled over the boulder on to the other side and fell flat on the ground, while Cecilia's stature only permitted her to collide face-first on it. To her dismay, the boulder was not cold and solid like she anticipated, but rather fuzzy and warm. She instinctively backpedaled as the 'boulder' stirred itself awake, taking the shape of an enormous insect with compound eyes, fuzzy body and antennae, and fluttering wings which immediately brought it to a higher elevation until something stopped its ascent. Its endless chittering indicated anxiety, perhaps even fear. It's three-sectioned body was about the size of a large dog, and its wingspan was easily six feet across.

"A giant moth?" Caesar was the first to rise and provided a hand for Wulf to help him up as well. "They sure grow them big in Thule."

"I heard Thule had a forest of giant moths," Cecilia said. "The moths provide silk for the locals, and in exchange the local rangers protect them from poachers and other dangers that don't belong here."

Caesar narrowed his eyes at the moth's feet and grimaced at the sight of two metal jaws clamped on one of its feet. Realizing the moth couldn't flee even if it wanted to, the pirate captain kept calm and patted the creature's injured foot. "What's the matter, little guy? Someone trapped you here and you think we're here to finish the job?"

Cecilia shut her eyes as green blood oozed out of the moth's ankle. "Now who'd do something so cruel?"

"What should we do," asked Wulf. "We have to find the kids."

"We can't just leave it here like this. Hang on a second, I'll grab my tools." Retrieving a lockpick from his toolbelt, Caesar got to work. Something he learned from his bandit training came back to him as he began to get a feel of the bear trap. "Traps like these need a key." He turned the pick inside a hole in the bear trap. "Once you find the keyhole, you start fiddling with it until..."

Click! The mechanism in the trap loosened up, allowing Caesar to open the metal jaws with ease. The giant moth fluttered around the trio; although its mouth wasn't visible and, like all insects, lacked eyebrows to show expression, Cecilia couldn't help but feel like it was feeling happy.

"What's it doing," Wulf asked.

Cecilia brushed off a strand of her long red hair from her face. "There's only so much I know about animal behavior, but I think it's thanking us. The wound doesn't look too bad; it should heal on its own."

A youthful scream broke the silence of the forest. Though darkness reigned the woods and the only source of light was the waning moon, the trio picked up where the voice came from.

"Our friend looks fine, and that's our cue. Come on!" Caesar followed the screams, with Wulf darting right behind him. Cecilia lagged behind and tried to get their attention without yelling.

"Wait for me, you long shanked buffoons," Cecilia said with a hushed voice. "I have tiny legs!" She turned around one last time, looking at the moth that was already departing. "Stay out of trouble!"

Though it was dark, Caesar watched his step. Nothing but darkness, and yet- Wait, he could finally see a light. Several lights, in fact. Not just light, but torch fire, it looked like. He stopped and stretched his hand to get Wulf to stop as well. He motioned at the crinkling leaves under his feet, and without a word Wulf crouched down and picked up a clump of leaves and mud. Just like a self-respecting dogfolk, he gave the clump several sniffs in quick succession before opening his hand to let the wind blow the leaves away.

"It's them. The children are close."

"Judging by the fire, it looks like they're in trouble." Caesar could hear Cecilia panting right behind him as she finally caught up. "Okay, you two. We're going in for a pincer attack. Me and Cecilia will distract whoever's there while Wulf sneaks around, locates the children, and takes them to safety."

"Okay...good...just give me a...few more minutes..." Cecilia covered her mouth as she coughed and coughed, catching her breath all the while.

"You got it, boss man. Let me get a head start." Wulf took a left turn and carefully waded across the thick forest undergrowth. His plan seemed to be to take the path less taken to help decrease his chances of getting detected by whatever was ahead.

"I swear I heard the children screaming. We have to get ready for a fight. You ready, Cecilia?"

"Yes, Cap." Cecilia's breath returned to its normal rhythm. "Just slow down for me, will ya?"

Caesar nodded and followed Wulf's example by taking a right turn and a detour across the forest undergrowth, hoping to avoid detection. Cecilia managed to keep up with his pace this time, making sure to stick by his side with her dagger drawn.

Off into the distance, where the path opened, all four children stood. They were surrounded by three taller figures with blue cloaks and capes, giving them nowhere to run. A fourth cloaked figure stood closer to the undergrowth-free path as if to keep an eye out for anyone outside of their circle.

The lookout, a human male, took his eyes off the barren road. "Uh, if there's four kids and four of us, that means we each get one to gift our great leader, right?"

"We'll work that out later. Just do your job." A scrawny and haggard winged man - a birdfolk - carried a commanding voice. Having an arrogant yet confident posture, unlike his assistants, would indicate he was the leader of the group. He had a long and curved neck, like a vulture, and a darkened spot of blood was evident on the upper part of his beak.

"We hit the jackpot for sure," commented a blonde-haired human woman in leather armor next to the vulture man. "So easy to frighten, too."

"Our leader sure does like them scared," said the third member, a dwarven man.

"We're not scared of you," Marlon bravely shouted. "Our pirate gang will make you walk the plank! You'll see!"

"How cute, they're playing pirates." The vulture man gripped the pommel of his sheathed weapon. "Kinda makes me want to play along, with a real blade..."

Not far and hidden in the bushes, Cecilia lied prone as she watched the events unfold. "Blue Jays!"

"Right, you are," Caesar whispered back. "Just like the ones we bumped into back in Cedar Forest. Looks like they haven't given up on their cultist hobby. What happened to the good old days of mugging people for gold and leaving it at that?"

"Forget that. What do we do?"

Caesar looked across to the other side of the forest path. Wulf had placed himself on the opposite side of the forest clearing, and he seemed inclined to inflict vengeance on the Order of the Blue Jay just like his captain and chief mate. Each person knew their role, and it was up to just three pirates to save the children.

But Caesar had other plans. "We're going for diplomacy. We'll fight them only if it's self-defense." Caesar nodded. "You ready, Cecilia? Then follow my lead."