Summary: The Camila loses a prized artifact to a rival pirate crew. Rhan, Amadeo and Antonio are sent to recapture it from the other crew's secret base, and take whatever else they decide they want. This takes place just before Amadeo and Rhan join Zevran's Cani di Guerra in Ferelden.

Beta'd by Bethadots 3 Many thanks to her and doorbellspider for their help and ideas.

Capturing the Lost

The poison took its toll only a few moments later, and Amadeo was left wiping the residual liquid from his daggers. He looked to the pair waiting for him in the shadows, "Well that went rather well, all things considered."

"It didn't look like he even saw you," said the first of the pair, a slight man with long dark hair pulled back in a ponytail. He made his way over toward the dead body on the cavern floor, only barely bobbing in the shallow water, and pushed it over with his boot to see the expression on the dead man's face. "He does seem rather surprised too."

The second man made his way over as well, giving the other two a shrug. "I'm not sure, but I doubt you want me to point out all the flaws in how you executed the job."

Amadeo rolled his eyes, "Does that really matter? It's not like he ever even had a chance to see me."

"Say that again, kid! Stealth or not, you really need to learn better control."

"I'm not sure, Rhan, I thought his attacks were rather precise and on the mark, and at least he can move silently through ankle deep water," the healer chimed in.

Amadeo huffed, "At least someone'son my side."

Rhan threw up his hands in defeat. "Leave it to the rogues, right? Anyway, we have no time to sit here and chat."

Antonio nodded, "Right, we should keep moving." He looked ahead to the stone corridor joining this tiny cavern to the rest of the marine-cave base, wondering just how easy it would be to find the main base. Idly, he tugged at the hem of his loose trousers, trying to keep it from soaking in the water. "And speaking of rogues; Mio, will you go scout ahead?"

Amadeo nodded, shifting to the shadows before Antonio could finish speaking. He moved ahead, staying along the left wall as he made his way deeper into the cave. In a few spots, he pulled himself up onto the rock along the wall where the water was deep enough to flood into his boots. As much as he loved water, letting it into his boots and soaking his socks wasn't really that fun.

On he went for a good ten minutes before he reached a fork of squared stone. He looked down both sides, the right having deeper water than the left. He considered both routes for a moment, the pros and cons of hiding a base on either side. In the end, he chose the side with the deeper water, continuing along the wall. He slipped on a few spots, at one point banging his chin against the rock. He stopped for a moment, rubbing his throbbing chin before he began to move again, silently as he could.

Not long later, he came to a large cavern, but the entire thing was far too dark and full of water for it to be a good spot for a base. He swore under his breath and began his way back in the direction he came. Just then, he stepped on something that was not stone. His eyes widened when he looked down to see what it was, a small blue crab.

Reflexively, he lurched back, hoping he hadn't hurt the poor thing and fell back into the water behind him. He was under in seconds and realized it was much deeper than he had originally thought.

o O o

Once Amadeo was out of earshot, Rhan pulled Antonio to the side. "What were you told before we were sent here?"

Antonio's brows furrowed in curiosity, wondering if Rhan had been told something completely different. "I was told that the crew of the Valori Summerset had stolen an item of great value to the Camila and that I was to assist you and Amadeo in reclaiming it. I wasn't told what it was, but they said Amadeo would know what it was when he saw it. After that, we were to return to the Dragon's Bridge for pick-up."

"Really? That's all?" Rhan asked, though not really expecting an answer. He looked away for a moment and began pacing the short width of the tunnel a few moments, his boots sloshing in the water.

"You were told something different, weren't you?" Antonio asked, already knowing the answer. Rhan nodded anyway, returning to the dead body and pushing it again with a boot.

"He wasn't supposed to be here. I was told there would be a few traps and various… guardians, but I was told no people would be here."

"Why? What's going on?"

Rhan looked back at the mage, wondering how much he should say. After a moment of nothing, he looked away.

"Is Mio in danger? Shouldn't we go warn him?" Antonio asked, pulling Rhan around by the arm.

"If we go now, and there are more people here, we'll alert them and then, he will be.

o O o

Amadeo was back to the surface quickly enough and swam back to the rocky ledge he'd walked into the cavern on. There was a familiar feeling of salt water stinging his eyes and clinging to lashes, and he had to blink a bit to return his vision to focus once more. He pulled his soaking shirt off, and then his boots and the socks clinging to his feet. Luckily, it wasn't really cold, but he shivered anyway as the beads of water rolled down his skin.

With a sigh, he pulled himself up and forced himself back into the direction he'd come, only pausing for a moment at the fork, looking over the second path. Briefly, he considered going in that direction to scout some more, but decided against it for now. He pulled himself to turn back to the tunnel path leading back towards his friends, careful of where his bare feet touched the ground through the water.

"Are you okay?" Antonio asked as Amadeo emerged from stealth, reflexively reaching up to run a hand over the red spot under his chin, as he looked over the man's shirtless form. "You're soaked to the bone," he said as he cast a spell to warm Amadeo and heal his painful-looking chin.

There was a worried look on his face that was far more than was necessary for so minor an injury, and Amadeo found himself turning away awkwardly. "It's fine, I'm fine," Amadeo assured the healer.

"Tsk… there's no need to baby him," Rhan chimed in, his arm crossing over his chest, he almost laughed at the sorry state the young rogue was in, but forced his expression to become a more neutral tone anyway.

"So what did you see?" Rhan asked a few minutes later while Antonio was drying Amadeo's soaking clothes. Magic always made things so much faster and easier.

Amadeo pulled his gaze from Antonio, and looked back to Rhan. "Just up ahead, the cave splits off in two directions. I went down the one on the right and it led to an underground pool. It's not likely they are using that for their base. It's too dark, there's too much water and not nearly enough space for walking. I'm sure they're keeping their loot down the other direction, but I didn't get a chance to go down that way yet."

Rhan nodded, thinking it over, "I suppose we should move up to where the passages split then. What do you think Antonio?"

The mage nodded, not looking up from his work at first. "Will we be sending Mio ahead again?"

"For now, yes… You may want to hurry up then, I'm not sure how much time we have," Rhan said.

"I'd say we have another hour or two give or take. We've been here almost an hour as it is already," Amadeo said, looking down the direction they'd be moving in once more. "Something is… wrong," he finally said.

Antonio looked back in that direction as well and then to Rhan. "Something does feel wrong, but I don't see anything."

"Um… guys?" Rhan started. Amadeo and Antonio looked over to Rhan before he added, and pointed, "Might wanna look up."

And they did… just in time for the first of the giant cave spiders to attack. The group coming from above were ones that didn't usually live in marine caves. So the other crew must have brought them here to guard their 'treasure'. They weren't the only group to attack though, a few more from further down into the cavern emerged, skirting across the water.

Amadeo's daggers were out again in a flash, taking down one of the spiders just as soon as it could hit the ground. Antonio and Rhan's swords were out only seconds later as they occupied themselves with other spiders.

"Gross…" Amadeo said as cut through another one.

Ahead, Antonio was lighting up the passage with a burst of flame, catching multiple spiders in its wake. "Heh, I couldn't agree more."

The flames danced about the mage, light flickering in the ripples of the water around their feet. The spiders seemed distracted by the flames, blinded by it and practically walking into their own deaths as they tried to scurry away. Any that wandered too closely were quickly dealt with at the sharpened edge cold steel; his movements through the water as graceful as the dance of flames.

Amadeo finally lost count of how many spiders he'd killed, and by the time they were done, the water around them was littered with the upside-down carcasses of burnt arachnids, curling into a ball of defeat.

"I have to admit, I expected a different type of guardian," Rhan said, wiping his blades.

"At least we weren't fighting golems or flaming lions," Antonio pointed out as he collected venom from various spiders, "I would have had trouble with those."

Rhan raised an eyebrow, "Flaming lions?"

Antonio shrugged, "You never know."

"Right, right, whatever. It seems we've wasted enough time here, so let's start moving ahead again," Rhan said, gesturing for Amadeo to lead the way.

Amadeo nodded and moved ahead through the water again until they reached the point where the cavern split in two directions. He pointed down the right one, "I already explored down that way, so to the left is the next place to check."

He was about to move to the shadows and scout ahead once more before Antonio put a hand on his arm. "I'm following this time. We don't know what's up ahead, but I'll stay behind enough to not alert anyone that we are coming… assuming of course there is anyone here right now."

Amadeo considered the mage for a moment. They didn't really have a lot of time before the pick-up, but could they really afford to risk not playing it safe? His gaze shifted over toward Rhan, hoping the other man would tell him just to go ahead like before. Instead, he nodded, "Yeah, I think we should come too. We'll give you a head start to go ahead in the shadows and we'll tag along behind you."

Puzzled, Amadeo gave them a slow nod and turned around to move ahead once more. The shadows came just as easily as ever, embracing him in the darkness. On the new path, the water never became more than ankle deep and not long down it, Amadeo started seeing signs of use, well items that were once used at the very least. Sconces, currently empty, barrels and crates, iron tankards and lanterns that were out of oil.

Amadeo jumped back as an arrow sprang forth from the wall to the right. It deflected off the left wall and hit the water with a light splash. His sudden stop had Antonio bumping into him, and for a second, he could feel the other man's hands at his waist, pulling him away from the trap.

"Are you alright?" Antonio asked as he pulled away. He wondered for a moment how hard it was to talk to someone that you couldn't see.

"I'm fine, I just missed the trigger is all," Amadeo said, looking down at the cavern floor. He pressed various places with his boots as he searched for a pressure plate that would inevitably be what would continue the volley of arrows if he didn't disarm it now.

After a moment, another arrow shot ahead, deflected by the wall once more. Amadeo knelt down, pressing against the plate with his hand as he pulled out one of his universal thieves' tools. Good for picking locks and just as good for disarming traps. He quickly set to work on it, disarming it in record time… for himself at least.

Standing back up, he wiped the tool on his pants and slid it back into pocket before continuing ahead once more. Eventually, the tunnel gave way to a large cavern, with an island sat in the center, surrounded by water with small bridges that led to other dry, stone ledges.

Some looked as if they had been used for sleeping at one point, and they could see the remains of old fire pits and spits. It didn't seem anyone was around, and it didn't seem anyone had been around for a good few weeks judging by the disused state of the cavern's amenities.

The center island itself was lined with crates, barrels and chests. This was what they'd come for. Amadeo paused at the entrance, and then moved back toward Rhan and Antonio. He put a hand up so they would feel him there and said in a hushed tone, "Wait a moment."

The two nodded and he returned back to the cavern, quickly and quietly crossing the bridge to the center island as he looked around for traps or signs of life. Nothing really seemed out of the ordinary, and he was starting to wonder if it had been too easy. Though, he supposed it was possible that the spiders themselves had been the only guardians of the pirates' treasure, at least he really hoped that was it. He really wanted to just get what they were looking for and return back to the pick-up point. Estwatch was in sight.

He began checking the barrels, crates, and chests, only to become more and more confused with each container he searched. Everything was… empty. All he found was dust and decay. In fact, everything around him seemed to be rotting and falling apart from disuse. No, it had been longer than a few weeks since this base had been used, in fact, Amadeo figured that it had been months. The base had been abandoned.

He looked back toward the entrance to the cavern, to where Rhan and Antonio were waiting for him in the tunnel. He wasn't sure what to do now. They couldn't go to the pick-up empty handed… and that's when a glint hit his eye from his peripherals.

He looked up, only now noticing the glimmer of light through a small hole in the rock above, one that went directly to the surface. Peeling his eyes away from the ray, he turned to where the glint had caught his attention.

The glint came from the silver guard of a sword, a guard with swirling patterns reminiscent of waves. It was a beautiful and elegant weapon, he thought, even as it lay almost hidden under a old and torn cloth, one that was likely once part of a sail. He lifted it from the ground and pulling the blade from its sheath. This was what he'd come here for. Motion, the sword belonging to Gaspar Viteri, passed down to him from his father, and now it was in Amadeo's hands. This had been a test; a test to see if he was also worthy of this sword. To be a Viteri.

Just then, a clap came from behind him. Amadeo, quickly turned around, seeing a middle-aged man his hair dark with two distinct white patches on either side of his head and a thin goatee. Amadeo brought up the blade, pointing it at the man as he began to speak, not even hindered by the threat.

"So… Amadeo, you've found the blade you sought, the sword of your father, si? Where is he now, your Gaspar, hm? I hear he retired, vanished in thin air," the man snapped his fingers and brought both hands yup, "Poof. Gone just like that."

It was then that he heard splashes in the water around him. Maybe a dozen or so men had landed in a circle around him, but he couldn't take his eyes off the man speaking to him.

"Why would I tell you anything?" Amadeo said through his teeth.

"Oh, hostile already, are we? I'm only here to chat. Well as long as you follow instructions, nothing will happen to you… or your friends in the tunnel behind us." The man grinned now and pointed to the sword. "Amadeo… or should I say, Ettore?"

"How…?" The question hung in the air like a falling feather, and Amadeo could feel his heart begin to pound. "Who... are you?"

"Who I am matters little at the moment, but it will soon enough. That sword doesn't belong to you, boy. The title of First Sword will be mine now that Gaspar has disappeared. Hand it over before things get ugly."

In the tunnel, the noise escalated. Amadeo and the man looked toward the sound and the wicked grin on his face only seemed to widen, "It does appear as if it has already become ugly. Looks like your friends didn't want to follow instructions. I can spare them, but only if you hand over the sword."

Amadeo never dropped the blade as he continued to eye the man. In fact, his grip on the hilt only tightened. "Not likely."

He returned to the shadows just as a blade swiped by his head. Amadeo had only narrowly dodged it as he swung backwards, bringing his leg around in a sweep and pulling the legs out from under his assailant.

He focused on them first, slipping in and out of the shadows as he attacked them and marked one at a time for death and coated his blades in the spider venom he'd acquired.

Your movements must be fluid. Don't over-exert yourself, use their own momentum against them. Roll back, make their movements your own. You are water.

One by one, they all dropped. To his blade, to his poison, he gave up his sacrifice to his god - to Death as his Avatar.

A few more were left, as Amadeo turned to fast the last of them just as a cloud of flame blasted it's way toward him. He couldn't dodge that, and instead, he braced himself for the damage, already flinging himself back toward the water.

It was then that the flash of a blue and gold overcoat appeared before him, hands spread out in front of him as most of the flames were absorbed by him, and the rest washing over his body like a gentle breeze.

"Toni…"

The man looked back at him, a gentle smile appearing at his lips. "You are not alone, Mio."

A hand grabbed him by the shoulder, and pulled him out of the water and back to his feet. He smiled. If he could, he'd say that he'd never been more happy to see Rhan, but that would be a lie. It seemed so often Rhan came to his aid. "We'll take it from here, you worry about Miguel."

Amadeo turned back to the middle-aged man that had addressed him first. He probably should have been surprised that the man had not moved from his spot since the skirmish had begun, but for some reason, he just couldn't muster the surprise.

He lifted Motion again, to point it at that man again… At Miguel. Amadeo didn't have time to wonder how Rhan knew him, but he assumed this man was likely a rival of Gaspar's. He could have also been part of the Valori Summerset, it didn't much matter.

"Draw your weapon," Amadeo said. He tried his best to speak with confidence, despite the fact that looking at this man… this man watching Amadeo with that look in his eyes that made him feel like he was a cornered mouse.

All of a sudden, Miguel laughed. It was as if nothing had happened, that Amadeo had not just killed some of his men. As if Miguel could read his mind, he said, "Dispensable, unneeded. It wouldn't have been nearly as amusing if they had just killed you for me, would it? I will ask you again, boy, and this time," The grin became a deep frown as the man's eyes narrowed. "You. Will. Listen."

The floor around them began to shake, and Amadeo was forced off of his feet. Sea legs just weren't enough to keep him up. Miguel was already next to him before he could get back to his feet, blade coming down.

Amadeo rolled to the side, the blade hitting the ground where his head had been only seconds ago. Jumping back to his feet, he brought his knee up, connecting with the other man's groin. Miguel stumbled back, stunned for a moment before bringing up his fist.

It slammed him hard in the face, feeling more like he'd been hit by a bag of bricks than the man's fist. Then he realized it. Miguel wasn't some sort of rogue or fighter. This man was a mage. Amadeo stepped back a bit. Whatever spell he'd just used would likely work just as well at range as it did in melee, so once again, he covered himself in the shadows and reapplied the spider venom to his blades.

"Hiding now, Ettore?" Miguel called out. "And here I thought you were a man. So sad. So very, very sad. Looks like I will have to root you out then, no?"

Amadeo could see Antonio and Rhan still engaged in battle with Miguel's underlings, he knew he'd have to continue facing Miguel on his own. How many of them were there? He thought, just as Miguel's boot hit the ground, sending another shockwave through the stone.

Amadeo braced himself, trying to stay on his feet. No matter how many storms he'd been through sailing on a boat, nothing seemed to have been enough to prepare him for this. And still, he lost his footing, falling back into the water off the little island in the center of the cavern.

The splash alone was more than enough to give his location away, and in a flash, Miguel was above him again, his fist forcing Amadeo deeper into the water. In another flash, the middle-aged mage was gone, leaving only water and bubbles swirling around him.

o O o

With most of Miguel's lackeys dead or running away, Antonio was frantically searching for Amadeo now. It would have been one thing if his friend was just in stealth, but Miguel had already turned his focus to Rhan.

"Mio!" he called out as the water slapped against the rock around them. Antonio's sword connected with another of the rogues, slicing right through his shoulder and getting caught. He lifted a leg and kicked at the man as he pulled the sword away from the flesh and bone it had contacted. The man screamed as he fell to the ground, clutching his shoulder. It was hopeless though, he'd die from poison and blood loss soon enough anyway.

Pushing back another of the rogues, Antonio made his way to the water, searching the ripples and bubbles before diving in. It didn't take him long to find Amadeo. Quickly, he grabbed the other man and pulled him to the surface and then dragged him out onto one of the rocky ledges surrounding the middle island.

Antonio surrounded the two of them in heat and healing energy, trying to both dry them off and heal the various injuries. There were bruises all over Amadeo's face and arms, and it seemed like he'd cracked a rib as well. It was then that he tried to return air to the other man's lungs. Antonio wondered just how much water had made its way in, but he was able to take care of it soon enough.

Amadeo coughed as his eyes fluttered open and he jolted up, only to feel pain surge through him. Antonio brought a hand, forcing Amadeo to lie back down on his back as he pulled out one of his healing kits. He searched through it for the medicine he'd made for helping with fractured bones. Something that he tended to use a lot on board the Camila, so he always made lots of extras.

"Take it all," He said in a stern voice, looking back over the group fighting. "Shit..." he said, pulling himself away from Amadeo to go help Rhan. Amadeo should be fine now, as long as he didn't draw attention to himself.

Amadeo stayed laying back as he watched the group fighting ahead, and waited for the medicine to kick in. It didn't take long, and soon it became very uncomfortable to sit there. More pain began to surge through him and for a moment he couldn't breath as the medicine worked. He didn't care how fast it worked, why did it have to hurt so damn much?

o O o

Antonio summoned his flames around him, and in a a practiced step, he danced about the battlefield once more. He sent some healing magic Rhan's way and pulled some of his assailants towards him. It was always so comforting to know that people always went for the mage first, but luckily for him, he wasn't without armor. And it came up, hewn from the rock around them and set ablaze with his storm of flames.

Everything became a blur of motion until finally Antonio and Rhan were left with Miguel himself. Their swords clashed together and they were pushed back by rock and quake, but they continued on, determined to finish this up once and for all. Neither of them anticipated his petrify spell until both of them realized their legs were covered in stone, stone that was slowly moving up along their legs and securing them in place.

Just before the stone could reach their necks, Antonio saw a flicker from behind Miguel. A shocked expression came over his face before he could continue, breaking his concentration from the spell. "You know… you were wrong; the title of 'First Sword' does not belong to you… it belongs to Gaspar."

With that, the man dropped to his knees as Amadeo pulled the blades from his back. The stone retreated, returning mobility to Antonio and Rhan.

"Mio…? Are you…?" Before Antonio could finish, Amadeo had collapsed.