It was two days later that Elodie woke to the brightest sunshine streaming through her windows, the closest thing to the gold in the earth beheld in the sky. And when she went on-deck, she saw the most beautiful, perfect blue waters she'd ever seen.

"Welcome to Cartagena." Kas swaggered up to Elodie. "Makes you wonder why those bastards ever wanted to leave, doesn't it?"

Elodie laughed. "I suppose so."

"It's a big country," Kas continued, looking up the skyline. It stretched farther than Elodie had ever seen, seemingly endless as an expanse of land. "Not that it's ever enough, really. And I suppose I can't blame them, there."

He leaned against the railing. He opened his mouth to speak, when a series of loud footsteps interrupted.

Elodie and Kas both turned their heads to see a group of sailors carrying a wooden chest while others lowered the flag of Albion from the top. They opened the wooden chest to reveal a pirate flag—black, with a skull and swords, but not specifically the Jolly Roger, the symbol of the Black-Sail Fleet.

"We're in Cartagenan waters," Kas explained, lowering his voice. "Having this flag here, it will help our allies find us."

"Allies?"

"We're going to meet one of our main sources of intel, one of the premier Cartagenan pirates." Kas smiled. "Fernando Reyes. You'll like him. He's only recently become a captain in his own right, but he's trained under some of the best, long friends of the Captain."

"I see." Elodie watched as the sailors unclipped the Albionese flag, only to replace it with the black pirate flag. "I suppose it only makes sense. We were at war with Cartagena for so long."

"They made their enemies out of nearly everyone." Kas's tone was even, conversational. "Aubrais, Albion, and even more so out of the islands they conquered. There's a reason that Albion's been able to hold onto Los Dorados and New Aubrais longer than Cartagena ever could."

She turned just in time to see him wink. "You catch more flies with honey, after all."

"Of course you would think that," Carina huffed as she approached. "Never mind why you would want to catch flied in the first place."

"Maybe just to prove you could?" Kas offered, tipping his hat in her direction.

"And then what?" Carina tightened the strap of her belt, layered over her laced-up jacket and her ivory dress underneath. "No one ever thinks of that part, especially men."

"You seem in a bad mood today."

"No, I just take things seriously." Carina glared at Kas. "And you never do."

"You've got everyone pissed at you," Elodie muttered.

Kas blinked. "I didn't know you could swear!"

Elodie raised an eyebrow. "You aren't helping your case."

"Look, forget it, I'm sorry," he huffed, running a hand through his blonde hair. It was then that Elodie noticed the dark circles under his eyes. "I'll make it up to you, do you want to see something?"

"Sure, I'd love to." Elodie placed a hand on his arm encouragingly.

"As long as it doesn't destroy anything," Carina quipped.

The smile and bravado returned. "I figured out a spell last night."

He snapped his fingers, and a small flicker of fire like a candle emerged from their tips. It hovered over his hand, and he tossed it from palm to palm, made it dance with the weaving, flexing motion. He finished by snapping again, and the flame vanished entirely.

Elodie clapped.

"Thank you, thank you." He bowed with a little flourish.

"It's a start." Still, Elodie could see the beginnings of respect in Carina's eyes. "A good parlor trick, that's for certain."

"Indeed." Kas straightened his posture and adjusted his jacket. He then narrowed his hazel eyes—something had caught his attention.

Elodie turned to see a Cartagenan caravel adorned with a black flag with a skeleton stabbing a heart with a crown around it. Catalina, read the letters on the side.

"That would be our contact."

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The Albatross dropped her anchor, and so did the Catalina. Once that business was done, a gangplank was dropped between the two ships, to allow their captains to meet. And so swaggered across the gangplank was none other than the young captain of the Catalina, the one Kas had called Fernando Reyes.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

If Elodie had seen him in the marina at Port Augustine, she would not have thought him a captain.

With a loose white shirt, an open brown vest, loose brown trousers, and a crimson scarf wrapped loosely around his neck and shoulders, the only indication that this man might have any authority at all was the black captain's hat atop his head. He had an easygoing smile, and amber eyes like dancing pinpricks of sunlight. His sun-bronzed skin was free of scars, and between that and his dark hair, he might have been the ordinary handsome young sailor many a girl in Port Augustine would swoon over whenever they had a chance to catch sight of the marina.

"Captain Jennings, I had a feeling we would be seeing each other again soon." He tipped his hat in the Captain's direction.

She remained at her stern posture, arms crossed in front of her chest. A smile crossed her face all the same. "Captain Reyes—I appreciate your timeliness."

"Ah, well, I thought it better we meet out here, rather than risking one of the port cities." He shoved his hands into his pockets. "Even the seedier ones have been cracking down on buccaneering."

"I see." Captain Jennings nodded. "Keep fighting the good fight, young man."

"Always." He glanced around, his eyes falling upon Elodie. "I'd heard rumors Keira Fleetwood's daughter fell in with your lot."

"It's better than leaving her a sitting duck at her grandfather's estate in the Emerald Isle." Captain Jennings shrugged.

Something resembling pity sparked in Captain Reyes's eyes. "Still carrying a torch for her, eh?"

Captain Jennings's cheeks turned as red as Captain Reyes's scarf. "With all due respect, Captain Reyes, mind your business."

"Of course, Elizabeth." Captain Reyes shook his head ever-so-slightly, and his expression shifted from mischief to something more sober. "I heard about your search for Vance's treasure. I know the island that you mentioned in your missive, the one on Hawkins's map."

"That's good news." Captain Jennings tilted her head. "Have any idea what we might be walking into?"

"There's a temple on there, Manoan architecture, covered in vines and the like—that's probably your target right there." Captain Reyes glanced over his shoulder. "I've used it as a hiding spot every so often, the Manoan temple makes it easy to hide the Catalina from the inquisitors."

"I see. Ever been inside?"

"Never." All mirth disappeared from Captain Reyes's eyes. "There's something wrong about that place."

"I suppose that makes sense." Captain Jennings sighed, shifting her position. "The next best thing will be to charge in there, start making discoveries, then. Thank you, Fernando. Your intel has been invaluable, as always."

Captain Reyes held up a finger. "I'm not done yet, Elizabeth. I've seen more of the Black-Sail Fleet in the area, and the Morgenstern was sighted on one of the islands of Catalia."

"Between Aubrais and Cartagena." Captain Jennings nodded. "That doesn't surprise me, even if it is disappointing. Hopefully we can get in and out before the Morgenstern arrives."

"I hope the same, for your sake." Captain Reyes shifted again too, some of the mirth and mischief having returned. "Well, staying still like this for long doesn't suit either of us, does it?"

"It doesn't," Captain Jennings agreed. "Still, I appreciate you making the time for us."

"Of course, always." Captain Reyes grinned, and his eyes found Elodie again. "When you find your mother, send her Fernando Reyes's regards."

"That won't mean anything to Keira," Captain Jennings warned.

"But then one of the last remnants of the founders of Libertalia will know my name, and that would be enough." He winked. "I hope to see you in Cartagenan waters, or in Libertalia sometime, Miss Fleetwood."

With that, he then turned and crossed back over the gangplank. Within minutes, the Catalina withdrew its anchors, and both she and the Albatross were off, sailing in opposite directions.

----------------------------------------

It didn't take them long to come across their true destination. There were several islands off the coast of the main island of Cartagena, but only a few were sky-bound. The Albatross docked in the air by the highest of these—the one marked on Hawkins's map. Ventus had remarked in the Captain's office when he'd seen it that the island wasn't marked on most maps, for the clouds often obscured it.

But not today.

Most of the crew of the Albatross disembarked on the tiny sky-island. Only a handful of the crew, like Eric and Mr. Heyin stayed aboard, to prepare for a speedy escape.

Then it was time to enter the Manoan temple.

Of course, Elodie had seen Manoan ruins before, with moss-covered pillars, occasionally repurposed as support structures or garden decorations back in Port Augustine. But that was nothing of course to seeing a complete building, untouched by the people who had come to claim the high seas and low skies since the city of Limuria plunged into the sea.

The temple towered impossibly high, with runes carved into the flat top held up by the pillars with statues peeking out in-between in the walls, in the circular steps that led to the formidable twin doors.

Carina frowned as she stood before those formidable doors. Then she lifted the crystals out from where they hid on the chain around her neck that usually dipped beneath the neckline of her dress.

They shone with her eyes as she conjured the hermetic symbols. As they appeared, the runes and lines carved in the stone began to glow that same crystalline blue.

With a rumble like thunder, the great doors parted to an entryway with dead fountains carved with fish and sirens in the alabaster, now overgrown with flowers. Beyond the twin fountains all dried up was another door, this one already open to a narrower corridor.

The crew passed through the corridor to enter a large room with two pillars guarding a door, the pillars embedded with yet more of the aquamarine Manoan crystals. There was another corridor that fed in on the opposite side. Where it led from, Elodie wasn't sure. A skylight covered in ivy showed the gathering storm clouds outside, the descent of the sun evident from how it no longer lined up with the hole in the roof. The root was otherwise completely empty, hollow stone.

"Well, well, what have we here?"

They turned, to see from the opposite corridor emerging a large group of pirates, with one man at the head. He wore a scarlet coat trimmed with gold, a matching hat, and a great many rings. While they had precious stones, they were all cut in a way that looked designed to maximize a blow.

This man, the pirate captain, he was handsome, but in a cold and cruel way. All angles to his face, a shark-like grin, and blue eyes like ice.

"Seems this is the lucky crew who cleared the way for us, mates." Raucous laughter echoed off the stone walls of the temple.

"Oh fuck, it's you," Kas groaned.

Elodie looked to him, confused.

"He's Captain Madigan."