The Map
Chapter Three
As Hooktail's shipmates were installing the Windstone aboard the Aquila, Hooktail said: "The Windstone is all well and good, but the Monquistans have the Stormgate to Valencia blockaded at their end: you need travel papers to pass.
"Perhaps we can ask Lady Eleanor to get us some." Emmett said.
"But that's not the worst – the Stormgate doesn't go straight to Valencia. First you must pass the deadliest Skyway in the Spiral: Avernus."
"Hooktail is right. You'll have to cross a Skyway full of death to reach Valencia. But if you make it, you won't find the Armada waiting for you." The Monkey in purple said.
"If by some miracle you reach Valencia, find a unicorn named Steed there. Show him this pendant – Steed used to be one of us."
I nodded as Hooktail handed me an intricate gold coin with a skull engraving on a thin leather band. "Thank you."
After they had finished installing the Windstone, we immediately set off for Monquista, where we soon arrived at Lady Eleanor's office on the upper floors of Zenda.
"I did not think to see you again. Welcome!" Lady Eleanor greeted us warmly as we entered, with many letters on her desk.
"I'm so very glad to see you again, captain, and I'm sure something very important brings you back to us, but I'm afraid I'm terribly busy right now."
"My efforts to win over the noble houses require my full attention. Please, if you have business, speak to General Gortez. He will help you."
A guard directed us to Gortez's office, where he was muttering over a map of Monquista. As he looked up from his planning, I said: "I'm sorry for coming in unannounced, but we need to get to Valencia as soon as possible."
"You're going to Valencia? I won't ask why, my small young friend – your business is your own. I will help however I can." Gortez said.
"We need travel papers to pass through the blockade at the Stormgate." I said.
"Yes, we can get permits that will get you through the Stormgate, but only a madman would ever willingly enter the Skyway of Avernus." Gortez said thoughtfully.
"Getting papers will take time. Will you help the Opposition while you wait? We have allies and mercenaries, but still lack ships."
"In the skyways we are sorely outnumbered – attack royal ships and you will even the odds. Queen Eleanor will have your papers when you're done."
"It's better than sitting around, doing nothing. Let's go." I said as we turned to leave.
As we were about to board the Aquila, two Monkeys wearing black suits of armor stopped us. "You are the captain of this ship, yes?"
I nodded, and the Monkeys introduced themselves as the captains of the other two ships in the docks, the Fire Arrow and the Royal Conqueror.
We all set sail, with the two smaller Monquistan ships, both with eighteen guns, flanking the Aquila, who had thirty-six.
"It's the Crown!" Bonnie Anne shouted from the crow's nest as five ships: a fourth-rate guarded by four frigates.
"Do you have any bright ideas, Matt?" Rena asked from my left. I thought a moment, and then said: "We'll sink the fourth-rate's escorts, and then move in for a double broadside."
We raised the signal flags for "single out a target" and the Fire Arrow and the Royal Conqueror split off in different directions to engage the frigates at the end of the line, leaving us to engage the two other frigates that had gone on ahead of the fourth-rate.
The frigates had fewer guns than the Aquila combined, and there wasn't much left of the resulting Monquistan wrecks as we sailed towards the fourth rate.
The Fire Arrow moved in onto the fourth-rate's starboard side, and on my signal, we both fired on the fourth-rate, though while David's men had fired round shots, the Fire Arrow had fired chain shots that ripped through the sails and toppled the masts.
"They intend to capture her!" I said as I turned the wheel, the Fire Arrow giving us right-of-way. We both drew to a stop at the fourth-rate's sides, and we quickly secured the fourth-rate with our grappling hooks, and we attacked the Monquistadors on two sides.
We made short work of the fourth-rate, and it was agreed that the captain of the Fire Arrow would take command of the fourth-rate, while his first mate would take over the Fire Arrow.
We returned triumphant to Zenda, where the Opposition was rather exultant to see the fourth-rate, a valuable addition.
"Here, captain, are your papers. I fear I shall never see you again – you go to your doom in Avernus. Bet rest assured, I will never forget you." Lady Eleanor said solemnly as she handed me the travel papers in her office.
I nodded as I put the letters in my inside coat pocket and left Zenda to enter the Stormgate to Avernus.
"These papers are in order, captain. Why anyone should want to brave that hideous Skyway is beyond me, but your doom is yours to seize." The captain of one of the blockade ships said as he handed me back the papers.
We continued into the Stormgate, and when we entered Avernus, it was like we had entered hell itself. The clouds below us were blood red, and the peaks of the obsidian spires that emerged from them were occasionally struck by lightning.
I couldn't help but feel both scared and awestruck at the view, and we soon arrived at the Stormgate to Valencia, where we passed through to Aragon Skyway.
The clouds below us were a stormy gray, and Armada ships patrolled near a giant floating metal citadel. A marble villa was built on a small island near us.
"Let's ask for Steed over there." Rena said as she pointed to the villa. I nodded as I turned the Aquila around to make port.
We dropped anchor in the small dock that the villa overlooked, and I and my trusted associates walked up the stairs to the villa, where we saw the back of an elderly Unicorn leaning against a cane as he stared into the waters of a fountain.
"I don't know you. You are a long way from home, Pirates. Why are you here?" The elderly Unicorn asked as he turned to face us. He had a white mustache and beard, and he wore round glasses.
"My name is Matthew Exeter, and these are my trusted associates. We're against the Armada." I said.
"You oppose the Armada? It is a foolish stand to take, young one, especially so close to the center of their power. I have no patience for bravado." Steed said, snorting.
"Show him Hooktail's amulet." Rena whispered in my ear. I nodded as I pulled away the collar of my coat and pulled the pendant out to show Steed.
"Ah, so the Resistance sent you – all the way from Skull Island, by the look of you. You're too late. The great struggle is over. We lost." Steed said.
"It may be over, but we're here to find Marco Pollo's map before the Armada does." I continued.
"That's just a legend. Still, if the Armada wants it, I'll gladly help you keep it from them." Steed said thoughtfully.
"Pollo taught at the academy in Sivella – the map may be there. But you two cannot walk into Sivella as you are. You both need a disguise."
"Luckily, I have a suit for you two to wear. It won't stand up to close scrutiny, but will serve you well if you're careful." Steed said as he pointed at me and Rena. He gestured for us to follow him into the villa and its basement, where there were two Clockwork suits.
Rena and I went into separate rooms to change, and we emerged from them looking like Armada musketeers.
"There, my countrymen will be too afraid of you to notice anything unusual. You should meet no resistance." Steed said, satisfied.
"Go to Sivella, and seek out a scholar named Thaddeus. Tell him that I sent you, and ask him for access to the library."
"Before you go, you two may find this interesting." Steed then showed us two wanted posters for me and Rena with hand-drawn sketches that were actually pretty good. I was worth seven hundred gold coins, and Rena was worth five hundred gold coins.
"Well, the Armada must really want the both of you dead." Jack said, amused as he looked over our shoulders. I couldn't believe that I already had a bounty on my head, much less that my bounty was seven hundred gold coins.
I smiled as we put the wanted posters away. We thanked Steed and we boarded the Aquila with the others, and though a few eyebrows were raised, no one commented on our disguises.
We sailed southeast to Sivella, where we made port, and Rena and I walked into the city with two sparquebuses to complement our disguises. We walked into a marketplace where Clockworks stood guard near shops run by Guinea Pigs.
Clockworks aside, Sivella was a beautiful city, and we boarded a gondola to the academy. As we stepped off the gondola in front of the academy, Rena whispered to me: "It worked! The Clockworks will let us pass! Let's not get too close though."
We approached two Unicorns whispering quietly, where I said in my best machine-like voice: "Where is the scholar Thaddeus?"
The Unicorns pointed nervously to our left, where a Unicorn in green was reading a book, and we left without saying a word.
"Why do you come for me, soldier? I'm not the one you want! I have done nothing!" Thaddeus cried as we approached him.
We put our fingers to our lips as we removed our masks. "I'm Matt Exeter, captain of the Aquila, and this is my first mate, Rena Raden."
"You are human after all. Forgive me; I mistook you for one of them. What do you seek at the Imperial Academy?" Thaddeus asked.
"We're looking for Marco Pollo's map." I answered.
"Marco Pollo? Keep your voice down!" Thaddeus whispered urgently.
"The academy is in turmoil, captain. The Armada is searching every inch of this place, for what? I don't know."
"The students have been sent home, and we scholars and professors wait outside, unable to walk where we will. It is as though we are prisoners!"
"If you're looking for something of Marco Pollo's, you need Gonzaga the historian. He usually lectures in the grand amphitheatre."
We soon found the grand amphitheatre after avoiding patrols of Clockworks, where another Unicorn was reading a book while standing at the bottom of the amphitheatre.
"What now?" The Unicorn, presumably Historian Gonzaga, asked as we approached them. We took off our masks, and Historian Gonzaga visibly relaxed.
"Oh, you are not who you seem to be. You shouldn't be here, should you? Don't worry – your secret's safe with me."
"We're looking for Marco Pollo's map to El Dorado." Rena said.
"You know your history!" Historian Gonzaga said, surprised. "If there are any copies of Pollo's map, the library will have them. The library is, of course, off limits during this 'crisis.'"
"Find Guairá, the library's custodian. He'll sneak you in there. Once inside the library, find Librarian Adelman."
We nodded as we put back on our masks and continued our search, when we soon found a Guinea Pig cleaning the floors. I said as we took off our masks: "Gonzaga sent us."
"Gonzaga sent you? Of course I will help! These confounded Clockworks turned my beloved academy inside out – I'd do anything to tweak their noses." Custodian Guairá said as he stood up to shake our hands.
"There is a service entrance to the library – you will find it above, and it should be unguarded. This key will open it. Go!"
Custodian Guairá handed Rena a key, and we nodded our thanks as we continued. We soon found the entrance, where Rena unlocked the door and we went inside, locking the door.
"You are too late. The cog-headed fiends have taken everything. Everything! It's outrageous." Librarian Adelman said.
"The Armada took all the books and papers Pollo gave to the library. Everything – they even took books written about him!"
"These… machines were made to protect Valencia from our enemies. Are truth and knowledge our enemies now?"
"I fear I cannot help you. Perhaps Gonzaga knows of some other way for you to find what you seek. I wish you luck."