Hello again! I was a bit behind on schedule, so that's why I couldn't post a new chapter this past Tuesday, but don't worry, I'm back on track, so we'll go back to our regular posting system lol. Anyway, I hope you like this chapter! We're almost reaching the end of this adventure, so I really, really hope you stick with me and our pirates ;)

Enjoy!

Chapter 14

After making sure someone could find Magnus and convincing the few members of the crew who were already on the Avenger to go with him, Alec did what he had to do and sailed away from the Spiral as fast as he could. He didn't have many men with him, just twelve if he included himself, but it didn't matter. The barest minimum number of men to keep a ship operating were six and Alec had twice the number, so he wasn't worried. His only concern was to get away from the port without being caught.

The sun was completely out and casting bright reflections on the sea, so that only meant that if Alec's plan had worked properly, Raphael or Ragnor should be on their way to free Magnus. He had left a set of instructions for them to find him. He hadn't lied when he had said he wasn't leaving Magnus to die. It was, in fact, quite the opposite. He had not only left Magnus behind for what he had done to him, but also to protect him, and with that also Ragnor and Raphael. He knew that the pirates had never liked him completely, but they had become some sort of acquaintances and he cared about them.

Alec sighed. His life had turned upside down the day Valentine and his crew had decided to attack Alicante. 'No…' He thought. His life had turned upside down the day his father had decided to hide who he really was. If there was someone to blame for Valentine's attack, that was his father. He had ruined everything with his lies and-

"Hmmm, captain?" One of the men said, clearing his throat and interrupting Alec's train of thought. Alec still shuddered every time one of the men called him 'captain.' He had always wanted to be one, but never like this. Never at the expense of someone else, much less at the expense of the person he lov-

Alec shook his head to avoid thinking about...well, what he had left in the Spiral. "What do you want, Elias?"

"The winds are blowing East, captain. Do you want us to sail in that direction to gain some more distance? Or, do you have a different heading?" He asked.

Alec hadn't used the potion to get the course they had to follow. He had been so worried about getting out of the Spiral before Magnus could go after them that he had completely forgotten about it.

"Hmmm, we will have a heading in a few seconds." Alec said, pulling from his pocket the potion and the map Magnus had given him. He had had them with him the whole time just in case his plan failed and he had to flee from the Spiral by his own means.

"Aye, captain." Elias said, waiting very patiently for Alec to give him new instructions.

Alec had appointed Elias as his Quartermaster as soon as the man had agreed to support Alec in his impromptu mutiny. He knew that from all the men, Elias was the most skilled sailor. Alec had been working alongside him for weeks, he had seen how capable he was.

"I need you to get me a knife." Alec said.

Elias immediately handed him his own knife.

"Thanks." Alec added, unrolling the map and placing it on top of a barrel.

Alec could feel Elias's eyes on him. Surely the pirate was questioning Alec's methods to determine a heading. Most captains limited themselves to look at their compasses or be guided by the stars, but Alec couldn't do any of that, the place where they were going couldn't be found with the stars or a compass; he would have to use more barbaric and unbelievable methods to determine their next stop.

"Would you like me to bring you a compass, captain?" Elias questioned.

"No, just hold this." Alec said, instructing Elias to keep the map unrolled.

Alec took a deep breath, and using Elias's knife, slashed his left hand, leaving a long gash about the size of an apple in the palm of his hand.

"Captain!" Elias exclaimed, immediately dropping the map and trying to help cover Alec's wounded hand.

"No, I'm fine!" Alec said. "Pick up the map, we need the blood."

Elias frowned in confusion, but did what Alec had commanded him.

Alec grabbed the potion and poured a few drops of his blood in it. The potion changed from green to red to blue before their eyes.

"By Poseidon!" Elias whispered, looking at the potion with astonishment.

"Do you remember the stop we made on that island a few days ago?" Alec asked, Elias just nodded. "A Sea Witch brewed this for us." Alec said, pouring the mixture on the map.

At first nothing happened, the liquid just spread all over the small map, wetting it completely. But suddenly some small specks of light began to flicker across the paper, leaving a golden path from where they were—a few nautical miles away from the Spiral—to a point near the Caribbean.

Alec immediately put a mark with the knife where the trail stopped. "That's where we need to go." Alec announced.

Elias was looking at the map with some sort of adoration mixed with fear. "Captain, you weren't lying when you said we were going after something beyond our beliefs, weren't you?"

"I'm afraid I wasn't." Alec said.

Elias took a deep breath. Alec noticed how the pirate couldn't take his eyes away from the now enchanted map. It was as if he were hypnotized.

"Tell the men to raise all the sails and to ease out the mainsail as far as possible, we'll be running downwind." Alec said, rolling up the map and putting it into his pocket. "Apparently the God of the Sea wants us to get there fast."

"Aye, aye captain." Elias said, walking away.

Alec ripped a strip from his shirt and bandaged his left hand. It hurt, but not so much, he hadn't wounded himself deeply, he knew he might need his hand for something when the battle began.

"I'm on my way, Jace." He said, turning the helm and pointing the bow to the East. "I'm on my way, brother."

o-o-o-o-o

Magnus's wrists were bleeding of how much he had tried to free himself from the handcuffs, but the physical pain he felt was nothing compared to the pain he felt inside. Watching the love of his life go had been the worst experience of his life so far. The day he lost the Danube was stamped on his mind, the image of Valentine sailing away with his ship still haunted his dreams, but watching Alec leaving him was now tattooed on his heart.

He couldn't stop thinking about the last words they had said to each other. Alec loved him too, but he had left him, and all because of Camille. That witch didn't get tired of ruining his life.

"Damn it!" He exclaimed, shaking the handcuffs against the railing as hard as he could, but it wasn't working, and he was desperate. He didn't know Alec's plan, but it wasn't hard to guess. The boy had said he was going to rescue his brother and for that he would need a ship—the Avenger. It was almost empty when they had left in the morning, but Magnus knew it had enough men to be operated.

Magnus shook his hands in despair and growled frustrated.

"Dios mío! What happened to you?" A familiar voice said.

It was Raphael. He was looking at him in confusion. He was holding a piece of paper in his right hand.

"Alec found out the truth and left. Camille gave him the copy of the transcript we gave her as payment."

"I knew the handwriting looked familiar." Raphael said.

"What?"

"He left us this letter with Catarina," Raphael said, "and this." He added, raising a key.

Magnus smiled despite his sadness. Of course Alec had left the key somewhere. He had clearly said he wasn't leaving Magnus to die.

"Let me get you out of those." Raphael said, getting closer to him to set him free. "So... did he leave on his own?"

"I guess not, some of the men were already boarding the ship when we came here."

"He took the Avenger!?" Raphael asked alarmed, and at the same moment a very out-of-breath version of Ragnor came running from the docks.

"Oh, thank God you're both here! Something's happened! The ship is gone! I don't know who, but someone has taken the ship!" Ragnor said.

"Alec took it." Magnus said simply. He had already guessed it.

"What!?"

"The boy toy found out everything and stole the ship." Raphael explained. "He left this idiot tied here as a goat. The letter was from him."

Ragnor gasped. "And...and, how did he convince the men to betray you?"

"You both should stop underestimating his abilities. He's smarter than you think." Magnus said.

Raphael rolled his eyes. "You only say that because you like him." He said, quickly ripping Magnus's coat to cover his practically flayed wrists.

"I like him," Magnus said, wincing in pain for the improvised bandages that Raphael was putting around his wrists, "but that doesn't affect my opinion about him. He's smart, funny, unpredictable, skillful and-"

"Stupid." Ragnor and Raphael said in unison, Magnus shot him some killing eyes.

"And, what now?" Ragnor asked. "We have no boat, so…"

Magnus thought about it for a minute. He knew what he wanted and had to do, he just needed to come up with a plan to make it happen. He could-

"I got it!" He exclaimed, when an idea came to mind.

"Wait, wait, wait." Raphael interrupted. "Before you say anything, please, please tell me that whatever you have in mind doesn't involve us going after him."

Magnus smiled a big smile. "Oh, but it does, my friend. It does...and that's exactly what I want. I wanna go after him."

Raphael shook his head. "We don't know where the bloody island is, your boy toy was the only one who could find it."

"We could still find it."

"Yeah, we could, and let's say that in some kind of miracle we do find it...that's not going to solve the issue. I hate to break it to you, amigo, but by the time we get there, he's going to be dead. The solstice is in less than a week, Magnus—he's a dead man. Let's just go back to the tavern, we can heal those wrists and then, I don't know...we could get a ride to Singapore or steal a new ship."

"No." Magnus said firmly. "I have to get Alec back."

"He's going to die, Magnus." Raphael said. "Forget about him, let him go!"

"Never! I can't do that."

"Why not? We're pirates, por el amor de Dios! We see people die every day, it's not a big deal. If you want to get yourself another man, we could go to Majorca and-"

"I don't want another man, I want Alec. I love him, okay?" Magnus confessed. He hadn't been completely honest with his friends about his feelings for Alec. He had just told them he was having a great time with him while he could, not that he had fallen for the boy. "There, I said it, happy? I don't know when or how, but I fell in love with him, so no, I can't let him go. In all the years I've been around I've never felt anything as strong as my feelings for Alexander, and you both know I've been around for quite some time."

Raphael and Ragnor shared a look.

"You can't be in love with him," Raphael said, "that boy is not for you. He's the son of the Inquisitor of the Clave."

"No, he's not. He's the son of a pirate. Robert may now dress like some cheap aristocrat, but that doesn't erase his past. He's a pirate and he will always be nothing more than a filthy pirate."

Raphael and Ragnor shared yet another look. Magnus knew there was a silent conversation going on between them.

"You both can stay here if you want, I'm not asking you to come with me. But know that I'm going anyway, I'm not going to let him die."

"How romantic!" Raphael said wryly. "So you're going to let yourself be killed instead."

"If necessary, aye." Magnus admitted.

"You're really in love with him, aren't you?" Ragnor questioned.

"Rag…" Raphael intervened.

"I need to know." Ragnor said. "Mate, are you truly in love with him?"

Magnus sighed. "Yes. He's the one for me, my sweet Emerald Prince."

"Then we'll go with you." Ragnor said.

"What!?" Raphael complained.

"My love," Ragnor said, grabbing Raphael's hand and lacing their fingers together, "I traveled the world to save you, remember? I know what it feels like to lose the love of your life. We can't let him go on his own. He needs us."

"Fine." Raphael said. Magnus could see how his tanned cheeks had gotten some color, not doubt due to the part in which Ragnor had referred to him as the love of his life. "But know that nobody is going to join us, so don't expect any of the men to go with us."

"I know," Magnus said, with a smile, "and we don't need them." He knew that for what he had in mind, it was better if he only brought his friends with him.

"Okay, and what's the plan?"

"First we need a boat, could you ask Catarina if she can lend us hers?" Magnus asked Ragnor. "She likes you better."

"And if she refuses?"

"Then we'll steal it, I'm sure she'll understand." Magnus said.

"Aye." Ragnor agreed.

"You both are impossible." Raphael stated, walking back to town. "I'll go get some supplies for the trip...wherever that is."

"What do you have in mind?" Ragnor asked, once they were alone. "You know Alec took the potion with him, there's no way for us to track the treasure."

"I know…" Magnus said, "but there's something else that I can track."

"What?"

"Alec himself."

Ragnor frowned.

"Mermaids, my dear Prince, can help you find the love you lost at sea, remember?" Magnus said as a matter of explanation.

Ragnor's eyes widened in understanding. "And since you love him..."

"...I can track him." Magnus completed the sentence. "As long as Alec's at sea I can always find him."

"Okay...and how are we going to get a mermaid who wants to help? It's not like they are known for being charitable souls. In fact, it's quite the opposite."

"I know, but fortunately for us, I know who to ask." Magnus said with a sly smile. "I think it's time for a certain mermaid to pay for the services rendered nearly two centuries ago."

"I thought the Danube had been your payment."

"No, that was her grandfather's payment...now's her turn."

o-o-o-o-o

After hours of sailing this was the first time Alec was entering the captain's quarters since he had left in the morning. The room looked the same, it was exactly as they had left it, and that made him get a little sad. If things had been different, Magnus would be there with him and-

Alec shook his head to stop thinking about it and just took a deep breath, taking off his coat and placing it on the chair by the desk. Magnus's coat was also there, so he grabbed it, feeling the texture with his fingers. It was unnerving how quickly things had changed. A few hours ago he had stripped Magnus of that piece of clothing and thrown it there, and now...well, now everything was different.

A single tear escaped from his eye, but he wiped it away, shaking his head again in disapproval. He didn't want to cry, that swirl of emotions he had inside was threatening to break him, but he was stronger than that...he had to be.

For years he had watched his sister cry herself to sleep whenever she had boy problems, and he had always thought of that as something silly and overdone. He used to think that Izzy made a storm in a teacup, people couldn't get so attached to each other, but now it was clear that he had been mistaken. People did get attached to someone else to the point that not being with them could break you into pieces.

He walked over to the bed and lay down on Magnus's side, hugging the pirate's pillow as hard as he physically could. Who would have guessed that loving someone could hurt that much? Because it was undeniable, he was madly, insanely, deeply in love with Magnus and the thought of what might have been and never would be was killing him.

"Why?" He asked to the air in hopes of hearing an answer that could ease his pain, but there was none.

At least there was none that was different from the one he already had: because sometimes life sucked and it was probably for the best. A future together couldn't have been possible anyway. Their paths weren't the same, besides, he was almost certain that he wouldn't to live to tell the tale. Valentine was crazy and God knew how much of his blood he would need to lift that stupid curse, so it was better for everyone if Magnus wasn't there. That way he'd only have to make sure that his brother was safe and could escape from Valentine. If he died while trying, well, at least it would be with a clear conscience that innocent people hadn't died because of him, and that despite all, Magnus was well and alive. Ship-less, but alive.

Alec inhaled deeply and the smell of sandalwood, seawater and rum that distinguished Magnus hit him so hard that the tears he had refused to shed escaped his eyes in large waterfalls that soaked the pillow in seconds.

Why did it hurt so much? How could people live after this? It was too much pain for a single heart to bear. Alec took the bottle of rum that rested on the nightstand and gave it a sip. He hated the taste, but he wasn't looking for something with a pleasant flavor, he just wanted something to numb the ache he felt inside and that he had been bottling up since the night before.

Alec drank half the bottle in one single gulp. It helped. The burning sensation all over his mouth and throat distracted him from the pain in his heart, so he drank and cried until he reached the bottom of the bottle. It was nice for a change to not feel anything but dizziness, so he clung to the pillow that he was hugging and closed his eyes, not even realizing when sleep finally overcame him.

Alec was only aware of his surroundings again when Elias came into the room and woke him. "Captain, captain, wake up." The man was saying, while shaking him gently.

"What? What happened?" Alec asked disoriented. He didn't know how long it had been since he had fallen asleep, but he figured that at least a couple of hours because he was no longer dizzy and that indescribable pain in his chest was back and in full force. Apparently, alcohol wasn't as effective for heartbreak as people had been saying for years.

"The men spotted a ship nearby, captain. I ordered that all candles were extinguished to avoid confrontation, but I thought you might like to know."

Alec got up with a jump. For some reason his heart was racing, he could feel his own heartbeat through his shirt. Could it be Magnus? A part of him wanted it to be him, the other was hesitant. He had already said his goodbye and he wasn't willing to go through that again.

"You think it might be Captain Bane?" Elias asked tentatively.

"I don't know." Alec confessed, grabbing Magnus's spy-glass and running outside to see if he could catch a glimpse of the other ship.

It was very dark and the moon had dropped enough to hide them in the dark, so there was no imminent threat, but they still had to be very careful. Alec knew they didn't have enough men to win a battle—they were outnumbered.

"They aren't that close." Alec pointed out with relief.

In fact, they were several miles away from them, so that was a good thing, and Elias had already turned the ship sideways to be able to use the long-nines and sink them in case they tried to approach. They were in advantage and that made Alec feel more relaxed.

"Can you see something, captain?" Elias asked.

Alec adjusted the lens and tried to spot the other ship in the shadows.

"Is it Captain Bane?" Elias asked again.

Alec shook his head. He had seen the men in the other ship and it was worse than having Magnus or even Valentine tailing them.

"Then, who is it?"

"It's the Clave."

Thanks for reading, as per usual, reviews, favorites, and follows are more than welcomed ;) See you on Tuesday!