"How long until we get there?" asked Marcel. "Oy! What is the hurry? Are you not enjoying the views?" said Captain Nameless while waving his hand towards the sea. "It is not that, but we are a bit impatient," said Marcel. "Impatient for what, ey? We will get there when we get there," said Captain Nameless. They stopped on an island after a couple more days on the sea. "Oy! Wakey, wakey... We are here!" said Captain Nameless while shaking Marcel. "I am awake, I am awake!" Marcel jumped from the bed. Everyone got off the ship and Captain Nameless pointed at the mountain on the island, "There!" he said and looked at Marcel. "We have to get there," he continued. "How are we supposed to climb it?" asked Marcel. "With those!" Nameless pointed at his legs, "You have them too ey? Time to use them!" said Captain Nameless and started laughing. They walked the path up the mountain and as they got closer to the peak the temperature started dropping. "It is freezing up here. How can someone live here?" said Anna. "He says it is a quiet place," said Captain Nameless. "Well obviously no one will climb this mountain for fun, " said Fred. "Oy! Less talk and more walking!" yelled Captain Nameless. They climbed the rough path as fast as they could, and after a couple of hours of climbing, they could see the cottage at the peak. "Is that it?" asked Marcel. "Yes!" answered Captain Nameless breathing into his hands. "I hope he is not sleeping," mumbled Nameless. As they approached the cottage a loud snoring noise was coming from inside. "Oy, oy, oy... Stop over there," said Captain Nameless panicked. "What is it?" asked Marcel seeing the captain turning pale. "We will wait outside for a while, ey?" said Captain Nameless. "I do not want to deal with him when he wakes up," he continued. "Fine..." said Marcel and asked his crew to look for wood to make a fire. While they were waiting outside in the freezing cold the snoring suddenly stopped. "Is he awake?" asked Marcel. "Get out of the doorway!" yelled Captain Nameless. Everyone in the way of the door ducked as the door slammed open making the whole mountain shake. A loud yawn shook the snow off from the trees. And a tall man's shadow appeared in the doorway. He crouched to get out of the lodge went over a tree and a big relieved himself. Everyone was shocked by the man's height. It was almost as tall as a tree, and he was missing a leg. The log replacing it looked so heavy, yet he was moving freely with it. When he turned around to enter the lodge he noticed the familiar face of Captain Nameless. "Argh... You... Again?" said the man with a hoarse voice. "What is it this time?" he continued. "Oy! No greetings? Not welcoming us inside? Where are your manners old man?" said Captain Nameless. "I see after all those years you still have no shame," said the man. "Get your ass inside and get talking before it is getting cold outside," said the man while everyone else was already freezing. They entered the lodge and were shocked to see how spacious was inside.
Everyone took a seat at the big table and Captain Nameless signaled Simon to show the map. Simon put the map on the table and the man took a look at it. "This? Oh... Well no need to bother with it," the man started laughing. "Whoever gave you this ripped you off your coins. There is nothing there!" continued the man. "If he says that it has to be true, ey," said Captain Nameless and wanted to get up. Marcel put his hand on the table and said, "This map we found in a wooden chest, we did not buy it!". Marcel's words brought a curious look to the man's face. "Wooden chest you say? And where would that be? Care to show it to me as well?" said the man thinking that Marcel was lying. Simon got the map from where they found the chest and showed it to the man. The man opened his mouth so wide that it could swallow them all in one go. "Impossible!" he slammed the table with his giant hand. "You found one of those?" he asked while holding the map. "And not only one," said Marcel while looking straight into the man's eyes. The man started laughing and said, "You are a curious young fellow. What is your name?" said the man. "My name is Marcel!" said Marcel. "Nice to meet you," the man grabbed his hand. "Mine is Gustav, but you can call me Gus," said Gus and got up from the table. "You see, those things on the wall," said Gus while grabbing his cup. "Those precious things are from my adventures on the Kronen Sea, I have explored it so much that I got bored of it," said Gus. "Of course, other captains told me, 'Why not go to other sea?', and I simply told them that this is my home," said Gus while looking at one of the trophies. "Up here on this wall are all the creatures that reside in the Kronen Sea," said Gus and then sat back down at the table. "But I have never managed to find those treasures," he pointed at the map. "We have found one," said Marcel. "Which one?" asked Gus. "A colored sphere," said Marcel. "I saw it myself," said Captain Nameless. "Hmm..." Gus went into the other room and brought a big scroll. He cleared the table and spread the scroll across the table. On it, there were all kinds of oddly shaped items. "This is the artifact map," said Gus. "Can you point out which one you found?" he asked Marcel. In a couple of seconds, the colored sphere appeared before his eyes, and, put his hand on it. "This one!" said Marcel. "Hmm... Who gave you the map for it?" asked Gus. "Captain..." and Marcel was interrupted by Gus, "Frown!" he continued Marcel's sentence. "Argh... Why did you not tell me this from the start," Gus started laughing. "Do you know each other?" asked Marcel. "Of course! All the artifact maps he got are from me, including this one," Gus said and everyone was shocked to hear it. "I guess I was just not smart enough to find them and so I handed them all to Frown," he continued. "But this..." he grabbed the map they came for, "This is a new one. I know the place, but there is nothing but jungle there,". "There has to be more than jungle," said Marcel. "If you say so, I could get you there and prove me wrong," said Gus. Marcel was happy to hear that and wanted to get there as soon as possible. "Since you are Frown friends and this stupid apprentice, why not spend some more time here before we go after this artifact?" asked Gus. "It has been a while since I had visitors," he continued. "Far too long," mumbled Captain Nameless. "Did you say anything?" Gus stared at him. "No!" Captain Nameless froze in place. "That's what I thought!" Gus started laughing.
This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.
They spent the rest of the day there. Anna and Bia helped Gus in the kitchen preparing the food and the rest went and grabbed wood and berries to season the meat they were preparing. After a night of stories and legends, the morning came when they departed. "It will be a long way to this place, " said Gus while holding the map. "But I still remember all the safe places," he continued. "Safe places?" asked Marcel. "Yes, did you not tell them?" Gus looked at Captain Nameless. "I guess not," he continued. "Those safe places are either without monsters or with peaceful ones. Meaning they do not usually hunt during the day," said Gus. "That is convenient," said Marcel. They followed Gus's indication and it was as he said, no beasts were roaming the waters during the day. After five days on the Kronen Sea, they arrived at the island. "We are here," said Gus and pointed at the barely visible island. "Now it is your time to shine," he looked at Marcel. When they arrived at the island they were all exhausted and decided to rest for a couple of hours. Marcel and Greg asked if there was something on the island and Gus told them that besides a couple of wild parrots and monkeys, it should be safe. While they were preparing the camp Marcel and Greg went ahead and scouted the area. "What if Gus was right and there is nothing on this island?" asked Greg. "He also said that he gave up searching for them and let Captain Frown do it," said Marcel. They both started laughing, "In any case, we should look after those weird inscriptions. If we find them we find the artifact," said Marcel. After a couple of hours, they returned to the camp since they found nothing. They spent the rest of the day at the camp and so did the others. During the night it was quiet, almost too quiet. In the middle of the night, the silence broke when a lot of cracks were heard coming from the island. Everyone woke up and pulled out their swords. "You said that there are only parrots and monkeys," said Marcel. "Well... That is what I remember," said Gus. "It has been a while since I came out here," he continued. The noise stopped and they took shifts during the night to supervise in case something was out there. The sun was rising and there was no more commotion after that. "We should form groups, in case we meet with that thing from last night," said Captain Nameless. Gus agreed and went with Marcel's crew. The rest grouped with their people from the ship and split up searching for the artifact. Before they headed out Marcel and Simon showed them what they should look for. The weather was hot, and everyone was sweating. "Is this kind of weather normal around here?" asked Marcel. "In this time of the year yes," answered Gus.
As they continued exploring everyone was getting tired of the weather and tried to find some place to rest in the shadows of the trees. By the time the sun reached the middle point, everyone returned to the camp. "Any luck?" asked Marcel. "Not here," said Captain Nameless. "In this scorching hot weather is hard to search for anything," said Greg. "What if we search during the night?" said Gus. "Oy! I am not going to find out who made the noise and not see it coming," said Captain Nameless. "I agree, it will be too risky to go during the night," said Marcel. "Fine... Then I will do it," said Gus. Everyone looked at him, and he was not joking. As the night was falling on the sea, the island started to cool down and Gus was sharpening his sword against a rock. "May I come with you?" said Marcel. "Hmm... Are you sure you want to come with me?" said Gus. "I would not miss such an opportunity if possible," continued Marcel while grabbing his sword. "Keep your eyes peeled, we still have not found out what made that noise last night. And for sure it will make a good trophy on my wall," said Gus and smiled. They grabbed a torch each and went into the jungle. Each shadow gave Marcel goosebumps thinking that the beast would jump on them from any place. After a couple of hours, they arrived in front of a cave. "You think that anyone already checked inside?" asked Marcel. "There is only one way to find out," said Gus and went into the cave. The cave was not that deep and it was a dead end. Right as they were stepping outside a bunch of rocks fell from above the cave. "Something is following us," said Gus. "Something?" asked Marcel. "Don't you think that if it was a human he would have tried to threaten us while we were in the cave?" said Gus. They continued searching for the artifact's location while they were being followed. Marcel stumbled over a log and fell. The moment he was down something jumped out of the bushes roaring and spitting fire. Gus grabbed its tail and slammed it into a tree. "Are you alright?" asked Gus. "Yes, I am fine," said Marcel and got up. "What is that?" he asked. "I have no idea, but I am planning to find out," said Gus and grabbed the beast. The scales were bright red, its teeth were still small and the size was of a baby. "Is this a dragon?" asked Marcel while looking at it. "Looks like one to me, but there is something wrong," said Gus. "This is a baby, this means one of two things. He got lost or..." Before Gus was able to finish his sentence a loud road woke up the whole island. "I think it is number two, his parents are here as well," said Gus and freed the baby dragon. "We should get out of here," Gus grabbed Marcel's shoulder. "Wait!" said Marcel and took a second look at the dragon. "Look at this!" said Marcel and pointed at the baby dragon's wings. "It can not be," said Gus. "Yes, the artifact on this island is related to those dragons," said Marcel. "In any case, let us get out of here before his parents find us,". Gus and Marcel returned to the camp and told the others what they found. Captain Nameless's crew was excited to hear such a thing since they had never encountered a dragon before.