Chapter 6
Those Who Prove Worthy
Although it was cold, there were still some purple winter flowers blooming along the way. As they began their descent, Sam thought out loud, "A Scottish cathedral…Strange place to bury your treasure, no?" Nathan shook his head and replied, "Well not really. I mean by the time Avery sailed here the place was already abandoned." Sam thought it over and said, "Well I guess that's true. Plus with the massive bounty on his head it would've been a good place to hide." After walking a bit further Sam struck up some conversation, "So uh…" he said, "What happened between you and Rafe?" Nathan shook his head and replied, "Ah I couldn't deal with him, and I'm pretty sure he'd had enough of me. I was still coming to grips with your uh… 'death' and with his frustrations about not finding the treasure…I'm pretty sure he was ready to kill me by the time I bailed." Sam chuckled, "Imagine what he'd want to do to you now?" Nathan huffed, "Trying not to," he replied. After a small pause Nathan said, "Sam listen, he's ruthless. I mean even more so than when we teamed up with him…I mean I've heard stories…" "Trust me," said Sam, "Me too. They came a bit closer to the cathedral, and Sam huffed before looking through his binoculars for a closer look. "Explosives," he said, "the crane, I think I think stealing the cross may have made our boy Rafe a little nervous." "Yeah," Nathan chuckled, "Just a tad." They had been traveling uphill mostly, and suddenly the hill they had been climbing up dropped off to a deep valley. Nathan stood there figuring out a way down. "Now what?" asked Sam. Nathan rubbed the back of his head and replied, "Well we'll have to retrace our steps down." They began descending the hill When they reached the bottom of the hill, the floor of the valley was much closer, and latching his grappling hook to a dead tree, he began rappelling down the cliff, Sam following after Nathan hit the ground. When he arrived, he was met by a bunch of equipment sitting on the ground. There were old towels inside of buckets, surveying equipment, and large plastic crates. Nathan walked around the equipment when he saw a large metal oil barrel. It had a word on it Nathan wasn't expecting to see at all: Shoreline. The name of Nadine's private army. "I thought they were just by the cathedral?" Nathan said with worry. This could throw a major problem into their well thought out plan. Suddenly Nathan heard a gunshot! "Hey!" shouted a near distant voice, "They're over there!" Nathan and Sam ducked. There were two mercenaries shooting at the equipment Nathan was hiding behind. Fortunately, Nathan and Sam both had pistols. Sam yelled, "Where'd they come from!?" Nathan didn't answer, but quickly aimed at one of the mercenaries and shot. He went down. Sam quickly got the other. After carefully making sure there were no more soldiers, Nathan got up, sighed and said, "Well…Nice to meet you too Shoreline. Seems like they were expecting us…" "And like they were searching away from the cathedral…" Sam finished. Nathan began jogging and said, "Which means we should get to that graveyard pronto!" After jogging ever closer to the graveyard through the valley, Sam said, "Well what are we supposed to find there? Is there like a gravestone that says, 'here lies Henry Avery; Loving son and notorious pirate?" Nathan chuckled and replied, "Yeah I doubt it." Littered around the entire area were ruins of old stone fences and foundations of buildings that had long eroded or crumbled away. Along with that were randomly placed Shoreline equipment, some under tarps, some not. Continuing their way towards the cemetery, they heard a muffled explosion. Sam and Nathan both looked back, before looking at each other and shaking their heads. Sam chuckled and said, "Who knows Nate, maybe we'll be lucky and they blow themselves up…" After a bit, they reached the cemetery, but the entrance was sealed up. Sam and Nathan both sat there waiting for a plan to come to them. There was no cliff near the cemetery, and no trees. Looking around for something else, they noticed a wooden crate nearby with the words, "Danger!" written in red paint in all capital letters. Nathan chuckled and walked over. Sure enough, there was dynamite inside. Conveniently, it was also able to be lit by pulling the cap off, just like a flare. Nathan pulled the cap and threw it at the door, before ducking for cover. Bang! In a huge explosion the dynamite sent the thick wooden door splintering into the air. After getting up, Nathan heard Sam behind him, he was holding his hands over his ears and looking as if he was in pain, "That was…very loud," Sam said, "I hope they didn't hear us…" Nathan replied, "Well we might just blend in with the other explosions. He was about to enter the cemetery when he heard voices. "Shoreline!" Sam hissed, "Hide!" There were three Shoreline mercenaries all wandering around. "Where's our boys?" one asked. Nathan heard another call, "Keep your safeties off!" Nathan kept himself in hiding. "Think it was those two men Nadine warned us about?" one man said. Nathan's eyes narrowed. "Either way, shoot to kill!" called another. "Over here!" one of them called, "Someone blew this door open!" Nathan kept his back hidden behind the cemetery wall. He quietly got out his pistol. They began approaching. Beside Nathan, Sam pointed. Nathan saw them step closer and closer, until they were almost on top of them. "One," Nathan silently mouthed, "Two…" Pouncing, Nathan and Sam ambushed the men, shooting and punching. Fortunately, there were only three, and two of them had been taken out by their ambush. The other one aimed his gun at Nathan and shot, Nathan dodged, and Sam knocked him unconscious. After taking a breath they hid the bodies, "Let's get them out of sight before somebody comes looking for them…" Nathan said. Sam and Nathan dragged the bodies out of the way. Rubbing his hands together Sam said, "Trash is out! Let's get inside the cemetery." Walking inside, the entire area looked like a scene out of a horror film. There was a hollow abandoned ruin of a church, with crumbling stone walls and tall stone statues of the Catholic saints. Snow had begun falling, collecting on the tall cliffs casting a broad shadow over the property. "Look at this place!" Sam said admiringly. Nathan chuckled and said, "Welcome to the St. Dismas Dormitory. Alleged resting place of one Captain Henry Avery. Let's find that grave." Nathan looked at the impressive sight, and shaking some of the snow off his pouch, he drew a quick sketch of the dormitories before pocketing his journal and walking over. The entire graveyard had pirate graves in it. "Hey Nathan!" Sam called, "Look over here! This one has a pair of cutlasses!" Nathan ran over. The grave was tall, and shaped like a cross, with a pair of crossed cutlasses at the crux of it. Nathan looked at the dates, but they didn't match. The grave had to have the dates 1659, and 1699 on it. This one had 1662, to 1702. Sam and Nathan began looking over each grave in the small plot. There was one that had the words, "Time devours all things," on it. Nathan chuckled, "Cheery bunch of folks here huh?" Nathan huffed, "Hmm…" They continued their search. There seemed to be nothing anywhere. Suddenly he heard Sam yell, "Nathan! Over here!" Nathan ran over. The grave had the correct date, but the crossed cutlasses on the grave pointed up, not down. The paper Sam found in the St. Dismas cross had a pair of downward pointed cutlasses, and he assumed that the grave would have downward pointed cutlasses, since Avery kept his clues uniform down to small details. There would also be a skull and crossbones on the grave as well. Nathan suddenly saw a grave at the edge of the dormitory. It was right next to a cliff that dropped down hundreds of feet into the ocean. The grave looked very promising. The bottom half of the grave was shaped normally, with a small cross at the top. In the crux of the cross was a pair of downward facing cutlasses. The center of the grave had a skull, and the dates matched. 1659, to 1699. Nathan scratched some snow off of the grave and a name appeared: Benjamin Bridgeman. Nathan chuckled, "Benjamin Bridgeman. That's Avery's alias." Nathan looked at the grave a bit closer and said, "There's something odd about this skull though…It's a different color to the rest of the grave and…It's facing the wrong way." Indeed, the skull was facing forward. Sam cocked his head, "That's odd," he said, "On Avery's Jolly Roger the skull faces…" They both looked at each other and said in unison, "Sideways…" Nathan extended his hand, and turned the skull to the side. With a loud crack of stone and mortar, Nathan looked behind the grave. A pair of stone stairs began dropping into a large rectangular hole, which led to a man-made tunnel. Nathan and Sam looked at each other again, and began walking down the stairs into the underground tunnel. Nathan grabbed a flashlight out of his satchel and switched it on. The air inside the tunnel was even colder than it was outside, but was completely dry and stale. The walls of the tunnel were made of stone bricks, not solid rock. There were also support arches every few yards. Nathan saw another set of stairs deep inside the tunnel. He walked down and suddenly came to a large room. There were several tombs inside. "It's a crypt," Nathan said. Sam huffed, "A crypt? Hidden behind a secret door?" Nathan shrugged and said, "I assume the secret door was added afterwards…" "To hide his loot," Sam finished. The room they were in was only a small portion of the crypt, which was more like a small man-made cave. Nathan continued to a hall with several ancient stone coffins inside. After that was an even larger room than the first. At the center of the hall was a massive and ornate stone recreation of the crucifixion. They were all nearly life-size, and their crosses stood atop large stone pedestals. "Jesus…" Nathan said, "St. Dismas on the left…" "And jerk thief on the right," Sam finished with a chuckle. After a pause Nathan said "Avery sure had a thing for St. Dismas…" Sam replied, "Well Avery fancied himself a 'good thief' right? Only plundered and murdered the non-British heathens." Nathan chuckled, "I guess that passed for good back then." "Good enough," Sam said. Nathan went over behind the crosses. There was a large door behind the crosses. At the back of the crosses, Nathan noticed something strange behind Jesus' crucifix. It looked like a lamp. Knowing that Sam smoked, he called him over, "Hey Smokey!" Nathan called, "I need your lighter over here." Huffing, and with a sarcastic look on his face Sam said, "You know, that hurts my feelings." Nathan shook his head and lit the lamp. Suddenly, in a "whoosh" the fire crawled from Jesus to the two thieves beside him. There seemed to be furnaces built into the pedestals below the crosses as well. Suddenly, beams of light began shooting towards the door behind the crosses. It looked strangely like, and in fact was, a constellation. Nathan looked at it. The constellation was Libra, the scales of justice. Sam looked at it for a second, before looking at what looked like a star shaped knob. He grabbed it, twisted it, and it opened. It slid over to the right, and exposed a large blue Plexiglas window. "huh," said Nathan, "No treasure…Oh well." The window was ornately decorated, but had no pictures of humans or other objects. Most of it was simply metal twisted into decorative shapes through the window. However, the center of the window was a perfect circle, and opened out into the land north of the dormitory. There were three crosses, life size, placed in different directions of each other. The window was scratched to circle the crosses, but there was also a fourth circle. Inside that was a cave. After looking through it for a second Nathan said, "Well…Looks like Avery is trying to tell us where to go next." After thinking about how to get to the cave Nathan groaned and said, "There is one problem though…Going back that way will lead us next to the cathedral…and next to Rafe." Sam sighed. "Well let's not keep him waiting," he replied. With that, they began to make their way up and out of the crypt. Nathan wondered why Rafe hadn't really even bothered to check most of the area around the cathedral. Even though he'd only had it for a few years, he still should've checked most of it out by now, even though he couldn't've known Avery's gravesite since he didn't have the paper that Sam had got from inside the second St. Dismas cross. They climbed up the staircase and back out into the bright Scotland sun. Suddenly, Nathan heard several men in the near distance. They were from Shoreline. Nathan ducked behind a Shoreline equipment crate and got out his pistol. They were way above them in a separate area of the dormitories north of them, towards the cave, and the second exit to the graveyard. "They blew that gate open up there," said Sam. "Well good," replied Nathan, "cause that's the way we have to go." They began creeping closer to the mercenaries, always taking care to stay out of sight. After a bit, they got close enough to hear the men's conversation. "Anybody hear anything from unit 3B?" asked a mercenary, "Nothing," replied another, "You think we have guests?" The other mercenary huffed, "Well if I don't hear from them soon I'm going to check in on them." Another long silence. Nathan and Sam crept into some tall grass below the gate, still out of sight. This time, there was another trio of mercenaries. Getting close enough to hear their conversations, Nathan was shocked to hear what they were talking about, "I can't believe he got away," said one of the men. The other chuckled and replied, "Apparently she tossed him out of a five story window." Listening, both Sam and Nathan paused in the tall, brown grass, knowing who the men were talking about. "And he survived?" the man said incredulously, "That guy should count his blessings! That auction was heavily guarded, but not by Shoreline, not by our boys." The other man said, "Look all I'm saying is let's not underestimate these guys," "And let's not try and make them into something they're not either," said the other. That was that then. Rafe knew they were here, or he had a very strong feeling they were. The men that were talking were right in front of their exit gate. Nathan looked at Sam. They would have to take these men out without alerting the others of their presence. If they blew their cover, Rafe would surely send more men than they could handle, and Nadine wouldn't be far behind. She had already proven her worth with Nathan the night of the Rossi heist. The grass was thankfully just as tall right up next to the gate. They quietly snuck up to the men at a short distance, while they were distracted talking to each other. After creeping forward ever so stealthily, suddenly they both lunged out, Nathan covered the one mercenary's mouth, before flipping him onto the ground and punching his lights out. Sam followed suit just as quickly. There was the gate, and they would have to lift it up to get past it. It was a heavy wooden gate with large crossbeams that made it extremely hard to lift, the rusty hinges not helping much either. "There's the gate," said Nathan. "Great," replied Sam, " I was kind of hoping to find the treasure back here but you know…it's never that easy, right?" Nathan chuckled, "Well that's been my experience…" Grabbing the gate with his hand, Nathan and Sam got beside each other and began hefting the gate up with their hands. Grunting with all their might, the gate creaked open. Nathan hoisted it up and Sam slipped through, before Sam kept it open for Nathan. Once through, they let the gate close with a thud. They began making for the direction the cave and crosses were in. Nathan looked around, keeping the dormitories in constant perspective. The cave was directly north of the old graveyard. He saw a craggy ravine ahead of them that led to the cave. There was a small cliff that led down into the ravine. Nathan jumped down into it and walked through. At the end of the ravine they saw the crosses. Now, the ocean was beside them, and they were far closer to it than they had been. Sully was in his bush plane on the far end of the way. Sitting atop a rocky outcrop poking out of the water was one cross, then another high above the one on the sea, then another above the cave. They were far below the cave close to the ocean. "Look!" Nathan called to Sam, "There's the cave! That's where Avery wants us." Sam replied, "Well whatever the good captain wants, that's what he gets." They began making for the cliff that led up to the cave. He would have to climb it. Thankfully, the cliff was fairly craggy, with plenty of hand and footholds. Beginning to walk towards the cliff he heard Sully radio in, "Hey kid? What's your status?" Nathan grabbed his walkie-talkie and said back, "Hey, Sully. We're on the trail but the treasure's closer to the cathedral than we originally thought." Sully replied, "Oh boy…So what do you need me to do?" "Just keep the engines warm," Nathan replied, "We'll be back before too long." "You got it," said Sully, "Keep me posted. "Will do," replied Nathan. Nathan and Sam began their climb up the stepped cliff-side. After clambering up they reached a step in the cliff wide enough for trees to grow. They suddenly heard people talking, and saw several Shoreline mercenaries walking around. "Patrol," said Sam. "Yeah I see them," replied Nathan. He waited. The mercenaries began walking away, and they kept going up. "I guess there's no getting away from those guys," said Nathan grabbing at the cliff. "Yeah," replied Sam, "and they're only be more as we get closer to the cathedral. There was another step to the cliff, much broader than the last. There was a smaller cave inside this step, though not as large as the one they were trying to get to. This was more of an indentation into the rock than a cave. When Nathan went inside, he was startled to see a skeleton inside the cave. He looked at it. He had been in this cave for hundreds of years. Beside him was an old flintlock pistol. Nathan picked it up. Though he knew it probably wouldn't fire, and there was no ammo in it, he picked it up and put it in his pack. He wanted to walk out of here with at least one souvenir! He walked back outside. The snow had really began falling now, and was limiting their visibility. Nathan was alright with that to a point. It meant that they could hide from Shoreline better, but also, Shoreline could hide from them better…They kept climbing until finally they reached the top of the cliff. Nathan though was a bit lower than he could jump. Sam had already got to the top and called over, "Hey Nathan wait! I'll pull you up!" Nathan saw Sam go prone and reach his hand down. Nathan jumped and Sam hoisted Nathan up. Standing at the very top of the cliff Sam chuckled and said, "Well what would you do without me bro?" Nathan replied, "Well probably relaxing at home drinking cocoa." Sam huffed, "What are you, five?" Nathan laughed, "Oh tell me you wouldn't go for some hot cocoa right now!" Nathan asked. "Well I mean…yeah…" Sam said. Nathan shook his head. They were not right in front of the second stone cross. The cross with the cave was just a short distance from them. The snow began falling even harder, and was beginning to look like a blizzard was brewing. He heard Sully radio in, "Kid, storm's picking up! How's it looking?" "Yeah," said Nathan, "We're about to head into the cave." "The cave?" asked Sully. Nathan said, "Uh, yeah. Might lose contact for a bit. Don't get too worried." "Alright," Sully replied, "I'll keep the porch light on for you." Nathan put the walkie-talkie back on his belt and looked ahead. The cave was right ahead. He walked right inside. "Those Shoreline idiots were right next to this cave!" Sam said. Nathan turned his flashlight on and replied, "Yeah, but I think we're the first ones in here. There are no footprints in the snow before ours." They began walking inside. The entrance to the cave was shaped like a crooked triangle, and it was dark and spooky inside. There was ice glazing the sides of the cave like diamond, though there were very few stalactites on the ceiling. This was most likely because water froze here before it had a chance to drip. Once they got further inside the cave, it warmed up, and they began to see cave formations. There were even icicles hanging down like clear stalactites near the entrance as well. After the entrance tunnel there was a small room with a large stone column in the center. To the right of the column was a small crevice that opened up to a large hall that sloped gently downwards and to the left. Squeezing through, Nathan grunted before emerging out on the other side. Sam, behind, said, "Well glad I didn't have a big breakfast…" Right after they emerged, they saw two statues of St. Dismas standing like guards inside the hazy, gloomy cavern. Looking down the tunnel, Nathan noticed that the slope was built with man-made steps on the floor. "Hey Nate," said Sam, "I think it's safe to say we're in a pirate cave!" Nathan chuckled, "Well thanks for the conformation, I was having my doubts." They both began descending down the staircase. At the end of the staircase was a large stone carved door. Beside the door was what looked like a massive lock, but with a hole big enough for a man's arm to fit through. Walking over, Nathan looked at it, and stuck his arm inside carefully. "Hey Sam," Nathan said, "Check this out." Sam walked over, and looked at Nathan with almost his entire arm poking into the hole in the wall. "It's a little slimy," said Nathan feeling around, "There's a handle in here or something…" Sam thought for a moment and said, "Well…Give it a…Give it a pull." Nathan looked back at Sam, "What?" he said, "It could be a trap!" "Well," said Sam, "You're already in there. What's the worst that could happen?" "Uh I lose my hand!" replied Nathan. Sam shrugged and said, "Then we'll get you a nice hook." Nathan sighed and wincing, he pulled on the handle. His hand stayed unharmed, and the door rolled away. It was a huge circle shaped stone like the stone to Jesus' tomb. Sam stared inside, but Nathan snapped him out of it, as he wiped the slime from the inside of the rock onto Sam's shirt. "Really?" Sam asked. Walking inside, Nathan `instantly noticed the items inside. There were two pirate prisoner cages hanging from the ceiling. A skeleton slumped inside one of them. The other was empty. Beside one of the pirate cages was a statue of the virgin Mary, and at the center, a bronze plaque. Nathan read the plaque, "For those who prove worthy, paradise awaits. For those who prove false, behold your grim fate. Nodding, Sam said, "Yeah I guess Avery was a better pirate than poet." Nathan shook his head and said, "No. This isn't Avery's." "What?" Sam asked as he walked over to the plaque. Indeed, Nathan was right. While Avery's insignia was a sideways skull and crossbones, this insignia was an arm holding a cutlass. Nathan's eyes narrowed, "The Rhode Island Pirate," he said, "Thomas Tew." Sam thought for a moment, then shook his head, "Yeah," he said, "But it can't be him I mean, this is clearly his sigil but…Tew died attacking the same treasure fleet as Avery." Nathan rubbed his chin and replied, "That's what the stories tell us…" "If this really is Tew's mark," said Sam, "Then that means that he must've been involved in all of this. But how?" The cave wall vibrated and dust began falling. Another explosion had been done on the mansion just then. "That's a good question," Nathan replied. Sam looked at the skeleton still slumped over inside the prisoner cage. "Who was this guy?" he asked. Nathan replied, "A pirate who proved false I guess." Sam shook his head, "Hmm…I don't know. I think either Avery or Tew put them here to scare us." Nathan replied, "Good thing we're jaded treasure hunters." Sam chuckled. There was an opening to their right that continued down into the belly of the cave. It was a short passageway to the next room, which was huge. The room they had just been inside was small, and nothing compared to this massive chamber. The cave floor suddenly dropped to a deep ravine, that dropped over seventy feet down to the bottom of the cave. The rest of the cave also looked this way. The ravine was crossed by an ancient looking wooden swinging bridge. It looked solid enough, but it had to be over three hundred years old. Huffing he stepped out onto it. It creaked loudly, and he heard a faint snapping noise. "Ah, screw it!" Nathan said before running out onto the aging bridge. With a tremendous groan the rickety bridge held, but it didn't seem like it would for long. He looked back at Sam, who didn't look like he was happy to cross at all. "Come on Sam!" Nathan called, "I think it'll hold, just run!" Sam shook his head and sighed before casually walking over. It didn't make a sound. "These bridges are clearly not built to take that kind of abuse," said Sam, "That's why I walk." Nathan rolled his eyes. "Sure they are," said Nathan. "Pirate abuse!" Sam let out some of the fakest laughs ever heard. "Not bad," he said with unbridled sarcasm. They reached a part of the cave that looked like a slippery rock slope covered in loose gravel. The edge of the cave walls had walkable ledges, and the center was just a horrid ravine. The bridge just got you to the ledges. Nathan looked ahead. There was a ledge above the slide that he could jump and grab at the last second. Nathan sighed and jumped. Sliding on his back, the gravel slipped and slid underneath him, and guiding himself with his hand, Nathan waited until the last second, and leapt up, grabbing the ledge of the cave. He exhaled sharply, and climbed up onto the ledge to stand. Sam followed, and after catching their breaths, they looked around. Sam asked, "So, did Tew build this place with Avery? I mean I can't make sense of it." Nathan shook his head, "Neither can I. If Avery wanted to keep his treasure hidden then why would he involve another pirate?" Sam shrugged and said, "Well maybe he saw him as part of his crew, or maybe he sent him one of those St. Dismas crosses." "Yeah," said Nathan, "And maybe Tew took all the treasure for himself." Sam sighed, "Please don't say that," he said. Suddenly. He saw a set of stairs, and two carved stone columns on either side. They led to an arched doorway, clearly man-made. As they entered the doorway, Nathan motioned for Sam to follow. When he did, they looked into the room. Nathan took a step forward, and one of the bricks he stood on pressed down. A large stone rolled in front of the doorway! "No, no, no, no!" shouted Sam. Too late. "Well we're not going back that way," said Sam with a sigh. Nathan replied, "Well at least we didn't get dropped in a pit or something…" They looked around. The room was totally empty, aside from a pool of water at the one corner. He looked beside the door and jumped back, startled. There was a skeleton right beside the door. The door had a similar lock compared to the other side of the door, but there were huge metal spikes that had triggered when this man pulled the lock. There were at least three spikes sticking into the skeleton's ribcage. He had died there. Sam looked at him and said, "Well now what?" Nathan looked around, but there on the other side of the door he saw something different. There was a puzzle, or test. Three crosses. One was gold, the other was white, and the other was black. The crosses were separate from the rock, and fit into the rock like a key. The white cross was on the right, and the black cross was on the middle, with the golden cross on the left. Nathan suddenly realized what the test was about. He picked the crosses out of the wall. There were different shaped behind each of the crosses. "I got it!" said Nathan. Sam cocked his head and looked, "What?" he asked. Nathan explained, "Alright, according to Catholic tradition, St. Dismas was to the left of Jesus during the crucifixion. The other thief that mocked Jesus was to his right, with Jesus being the center. Now, going by the obvious color codes…" He put the golden cross in the center, the black cross on the right, and the white cross on the left." Sam suddenly understood, "I get it," said Sam, "Avery was testing to see if they knew the story of St. Dismas…Everyone in his crew would've been familiar with the story." Nathan walked back to the lock and stuck his hand inside. Taking a deep breath, he pulled the latch. The stone rolled away from the door. Breathing a sigh of relief, he walked out of the room. Sam looked back, "Not that hard of a test," he said. Nathan replied, "Well…Maybe it's not the only one." They returned to the main cave room. Sam shook his head and said, "You think Rafe and Nadine know that all this is almost directly under their feet?" Nathan huffed and replied, "Well with enough explosions they're going to find out sooner or later." The main room of the cave continued to amaze Nathan. It was the biggest cave room he had ever seen, and he had spelunked quite a bit in his day… There was a constant trickling noise that permeated everything. Soon, they saw an extremely narrow man-made tunnel. It wasn't tall, and they had to crouch-walk in order to move through. Sam went through on his hands and knees. Nathan crawled in first. "Alright," Sam called, "Watch your—Ouch!" "Watch my ouch?" Nathan asked. "Knock it off!" Sam retorted. Going forward with his flashlight, Nathan saw a huge rat scurry away from him. Undeterred he kept going forward. Suddenly, they entered a large room. "Ah," said Sam, "Catacombs." "Well that makes sense," said Nathan, "We are under a cathedral." The room was another tomb. There were ancient stone coffins stacked on top of stone shelves. The room's bricks and stone were crumbling ruins, and in the middle of the room was a large slab of rock. There were two golden candlesticks sitting on top, but they didn't bother with them. They would be worthless compared to the treasure they would find later! If they'd could only find the clues… The room ended, and led back to another chamber of the cave. The one cave wall was made of large stone bricks. Waking forward, they suddenly heard something. There were voices coming from a hole in the wall, just large enough for them to peep through without being noticed. It was Nadine, leaning over a large map sitting on a stone table. Next to her was a mercenary. Nathan looked at them. "Anything noteworthy by the dormitories?" Nadine asked. "Not unless you count cleverly worded headstones," replied the mercenary. Nadine sighed, "Have you finished digging by the Chapter House?" she asked. "We have ma'am." The mercenary replied, "The northwest sites are opened as well." Nadine looked back at her map and after a bit asked, "And what about the southern perimeter?" The door to their room opened. It was Rafe. "Nadine." Rafe said as he walked in, his eyes half-open. "I'll send a couple of men over there right away," the mercenary said answering Nadine's question. "Rafe," said Nadine, "Any luck with those manuscripts?" Rafe didn't answer right away. With his hands behind his back Rafe looked at the mercenary. "Can we have a minute?" he asked. Nadine motioned for the mercenary to leave. Obeying, the mercenary nodded, "Ma'am," he said respectfully, before leaving the room. Looking at the crates full of Shoreline supplies, Rafe kept his back to Nadine. "Did you hear?" Nadine asked, "They found a whole annexed area under the cathedral." Rafe stood there. His back still to Nadine, and his hands behind his back. "I did," he replied simply, "Have you seen it?" Nadine sat down on the stone table, and looked at Rafe. "No," she said, "Why?" Rafe sighed and turned to face Nadine, "Because there wasn't much left," he said with a tone of anger in his voice, "After they'd finished 'finding' it." Nadine sighed and nodded, "My men have been a bit liberal with the dynamite," she said. "They're like a hundred well-armed bulls in a china shop," Rafe said. Nadine cocked her head towards Rafe, who was now leaning over the stone table, and said, "But they've made more progress in two days than we've made in months." Rafe raised an eyebrow, "Progress?" he asked with sarcasm. He leaned in towards Nadine and said just above a whisper, "I can't analyze rubble." Nadine looked down, "OK," she replied before getting up, "OK," she repeated. "Thank you." Rafe said looking at Nadine's map. "I'll let them know they need to give you a heads-up before they do anything drastic," said Nadine. Rafe stood there, "Or," he said, "You can tell them to sit tight until I analyze the few clues that haven't been blown up." Nadine shook her head, "No," she said, "We can't sit around any longer." "With all due respect," Rafe said, "I think I have a bit more experience with this sort of thing than you do." Nadine huffed, "We tried things your way," she said. Rafe scoffed, "Right. You've been wanting to level this place ever since you've got here." Nadine went on the defensive, "No!" she said, "I wanted to steal that cross long before it even made it to that auction. The same auction where I couldn't have my men around to deal with any surprises." "The auction was the cleanest way to get to the cross," Rafe replied. Nadine jabbed her finger at Rafe, "But instead of going with my gut," said Nadine, "I listened to you, and now we have competition." "Well I didn't think he'd show up!" Rafe said. Nadine looked at Rafe, her eyes narrowed, "Or maybe you wanted to draw him out," she said. Rafe looked at Nadine, made a scoff and said, "Now why would I want to do that?" Nadine kept her eyes on Rafe, "Because you think you need him," she said, "And maybe you do. Point is, I'm tired of doing things the clean way. If the treasure is here, we'll find it. And if not, well…Maybe it's time to move on then." Rafe glared at Nadine, his eyes still half-closed, and his mouth closed and brooding. "Hey," said Nadine. She walked up and put her hand on Rafe's cheek, "It's not personal," she said. "Of course," Rafe said in a low voice. Making for the door, Nadine called back, "I'll let you know if anything turns up." The door closed, and Rafe was left alone in the room. Without warning, he let out a furious yell and swiped the maps and papers off of the table, before leaning against it, sighing darkly. Nathan looked at Sam, they had seen quite enough! "Let's get moving before they blow that treasure to bits," Nathan said quietly, "Or they start making out…" Sam replied. Nathan chuckled. "Hey, wait," Sam said, "Do you think Nadine was right?" "About what?" Nathan asked, "About Rafe wanting to draw you out." Sam replied. Nathan shrugged, "Well as long as he doesn't get the upper hand who cares?" Nathan said. They began walking across the room, away from the chapel. "Well at least their partnership is shaky at best," said Nathan, "Good news for us…" The ledge of the cave suddenly ended, and opened into another chamber. This chamber was nearly completely man-made, with carved stone pillars every ten feet. There was a large stone coffin at the center end of the room, and even metal chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, which was only about seven feet tall. Nathan looked at the other end of the room, which had several other stone coffins, some of which had been broken into, displaying the old skeletal remains underneath. They passed the room, which opened to yet another room, which had the large ravine running through it. They must've gone through a parallel passage in the rock Nathan figured. The ledge dropped off abruptly, and Nathan carefully jumped down. After landing, he gasped in terror at a sprawling skeleton leaning against the ledge. After looking at it a bit he noticed that the skeleton still had a haversack attached to him. Curious, Nathan opened it. Inside the pouch was a note. It read, "Let it be known that I—Thomas Howard, captain of the Dauntless, am a gullible fool. It started with the cross: a cryptic message with vague promises of the treasures of paradise. I was skeptical at first, but the idea of spending the remainder of my days at home, wondering what might have been, was too much to bear. And one does not ignore a letter from the King of Pirates. I survived being marooned off the coasts of Madagascar, and I survived an attack from enemy pirates, but I shall not survive this. My leg broken, and my crew, too cowardly to set foot in the accursed caverns, cannot hear my calls for help. Who would've thought that I would die such an ignoble death here? May God Himself curse you Henry Avery, and may my ghost haunt you the rest of your days!" Nathan sighed, and put the letter in his own pack. Sam jumped down and Nathan walked over to him, "Hey," he said, "Take a look at this," Sam looked at the letter, read it, and looked at Nathan, "Hmm." He said, "Hopefully we won't suffer the same fate…" Nathan gave Sam a look and they continued down into the caverns. Suddenly, the room opened into a massive chamber, far larger than the already gigantic rooms they had been inside. There was a large problem: the ledge they had been walking on ended. The only way to continue down the cave was to cross the ravine to another ledge on that side. The bridge connecting it was a gigantic wooden see-saw like structure. Sam looked at it, and said, "Well that really safe looking see-saw thing might do the trick." Nathan looked at it. While it may have been quite structurally sound three hundred years ago, its integrity was in question. The wood, though not rotting, still looked unstable. Sam looked at Nathan, "You got a coin?" Nathan shook his head, and jumped forward onto it. The structure creaked and groaned, and began tipping. Nathan ran to the center to try and even it out. Sam shouted over "Alright Nathan, I'll jump on and offset your weight, jump to the ledge, and I'll sprint over as fast as I can before it tips back." Nathan nodded, "Alright on my mark. Ready…Go!" Nathan made a rush for the ledge, the wood lifting up. He leapt over to the ledge, barely making it. Sam rushed, and before the board could tip back down, he jumped, and also made it. Just barely. Looking back at the see-saw, Nathan noticed the huge metal gears on the one side. If they had only noticed them before he might've been able to jam them. Oh well, it didn't matter, they were both on the other side. Sam sighed, "Well that's another test down," he said. Nathan huffed, "At this point I'd rather take another death trap," he said. "Well I just hope we're at the end of this thing," Sam said. As they continued down the ledge, they suddenly saw a pair of pillars that led into another room. It looked special enough to just maybe be where the treasure be… "Nathan!" Sam called, "Look over here!" Nathan jogged over. There it was. He entered through the pillared entryway, and walked up a stone staircase. It narrowed to a large stone hallway carved out of the cave wall itself. Beside him there were statues. Who exactly they were he couldn't tell. "OK," said Nathan, "Getting a bit dramatic with the statues…" Sam, behind him, huffed and said, "Seriously! Why decorate a treasure burial site?" "Or elaborate tests," Nathan said, "Either we're missing something, or Avery was just really, really bored." Suddenly the passage ended, and another staircase led down, down, down. The hall stayed the same height, but as you went down the stairs, it gave the illusion that the hallway was getting taller. There were carved pillars every twenty feet, and the scale of the place took Nathan's breath away. At the end of the hallway was a small opening, just high enough to let a man pass. The effect was made clear when the entered the next room. The ceiling was over fifty feet high. The walls were immaculately carved with ornate designs, and the floor was a tiled mosaic. At the very center of the massive room, was an extraordinarily carved stone table, with a pair of measuring scales on it. On one hand of the scales, there was a small pile of bronze coins. On the other hand was a glorious treasure. A St. Dismas cross, that was twice the size of any of the others, and was made of solid gold, and encrusted with precious gems. After finally taking in the size of the room, which was distracting enough to make them leave the cross for a few moments, Sam looked at it, "Well at least this one has some jewels on it," Sam said. He reached out, but Nathan stopped him in the nick of time. "Whoa! Whoa!" Nathan said, "Don't touch it." "What?" Sam asked, "Why?" Nathan chuckled, "Look at it!" he said, "It's the only valuable thing we've seen in this cave." Sam now understood, "Right…" he said. "This is another test," Nathan said. "Greed," Sam said. Nathan nodded. They looked at the cross, and then the small pile of bronze coins on the other hand. "Or lack thereof…" Nathan mused, "It's got to be the coins…This is why we saw the Libra constellation in the graveyard. It was talking about this test. We're going to have to pick up one of the coins." Sam looked at Nathan, "Are you sure about this?" Sam asked. "Pretty sure…" Nathan replied. Sam nodded and said, "Well pretty sure will have to do." He reached for the coins and Nathan said, jittery, "Alright, just one! Just one." He reached his hand towards the coins, "Please don't be a trap," Sam whispered with closed eyes before he tentatively picked up a single coin. The scale tipped towards the cross. Suddenly, a great golden light shined down from the ceiling. It bathed the room in light, in the shape of an island. It was Madagascar. The gigantic light lit up the already gigantic room, and at the very center of the room, was the spot the map pointed to. It was King's Bay, "That must be where Avery is telling us to go!" Sam said. "Yes it is," said Nathan. Sam chuckled, and tossed the coin into the air, grabbing it. "He's screwing with us," Sam said. "What are you talking about?" Nathan asked. "Avery!" Sam said, "He's screwing with us. This was supposed to be it, where's the treasure!? I mean King's Bay, great, but what's next? North Pole? Outer space? Nathan!" Nathan was trying to make sense of it himself. All signs had pointed to the treasure being here. Why wasn't it? Suddenly, he had a thought. He pointed to Sam and said, "For those who prove worthy," he pointed to King's Bay on the Madagascar map, "Paradise awaits! He…He was recruiting. Avery was recruiting!" "Recruiting for what?" Sam asked frustrated. Bang! With a tremendous explosion, the wall of the cave blew to smithereens. On the floor, Sam and Nathan looked up. Nadine and two mercenaries strode inside, the mercenaries pointing AK's at them. Nathan sighed, "You gentlemen are very, very noisy," Nadine said. Holding their hands up, Nathan cringed. "Guns on the floor," Nadine demanded, "Slowly." Reluctantly, Sam and Nathan complied, and Nadine took out her walkie-talkie, "Rafe," she said speaking into it, "I'm at the graveyard," Rafe's voice came in, "They were here," Nadine huffed, "Yeah I know, I'm looking at them right now." "What?" Rafe said, "Where are you?" "Come back to the cathedral," replied Nadine, "Follow the holes." "Alright," Rafe said, "And please don't shoot them yet!" "Might want to hurry then," Nadine said. Nathan suddenly got an idea. He noticed a seam running from the tiled floor, to the natural rock floor of the cave. Would the tiled floor collapse if somebody picked up the cross? Nathan looked at Sam, who nodded. He'd thought of it too. Nadine looked at the map of Madagascar on the floor. "King's Bay." She said pointing. "Yeah," said Sam, "But where in King's Bay? You need to pick up that cross to figure it out, but…There are only two people who can tell you how to use it." Nadine sighed, "Let me guess," she said, "You two." Nathan replied, "Well you leave it to Rafe and you'll be waiting a long time." Nadine put her hands on her hips, "Sorry boys," she said, "I'm not here to negotiate…Bring me the crucifix," she commanded to one of her mercenaries. "It's not a crucifix," Nathan said. "What?" Nadine asked. "Well technically a crucifix refers to a cross that, you know, never mind." Nathan and Sam took three careful steps back. Nadine suddenly noticed, "Don't touch it!" she shouted to her mercenary. Too late. The second the mercenary picked the cross up, the floor began crumbling. Nadine made a mad dash for the edge, and jumped to safety just before the entire center of the cave room had collapsed. One of the mercenaries screamed as he fell nearly one hundred feet to his death. "Shoot them!" Nadine shouted. Nathan and Sam, who had begun making a break for the blast hole Nadine had created, were suddenly under a rain of bullets from an AK. Nathan hid behind a pillar, but suddenly he saw it crack. The entire room was collapsing on top of them all! Nathan rushed towards the next pillar, the mercenaries shooting at them. However, once large boulders began falling towards the entrance, the mercenaries panicked, and ignoring Nadine's order, they all made a break for the entrance hole to the outside Nadine had blown out. Running towards it, the rim of the floor was gapped, and he'd have to jump. He lunged for it, but the stone cracked, and he fell down into the pit. He landed on a ledge just barely falling to his death. He saw the gigantic stone pillar that had held up the floor all this time. He jumped onto it, "Hold on Nathan!" he heard Sam shout, "I'll cover you!" Nathan was fortunate, since the gigantic pillar was uneven, and had plenty of holds. He jumped up, and suddenly, the main pillar cracked. Nathan jumped with all his might, constantly being shot at by the mercenaries that were brave enough to follow Nadine's orders. Bullets slammed into the pillar, and Nathan had to hide behind it to escape the hail fire. The front half of the pillar began to tip, Nathan got out of the way, and the top of it fell, before crashing down at the bottom of the pit. More of the rim of the floor began to collapse, and Nathan saw his chance. He jumped up to the broken top of the pillar, and saw a mercenary directly in front of him on the rim of the floor. He yelled, and leapt off of the pillar, landing on the mercenary, and punching him square in the jaw. "And stay down!" Nathan shouted. He quickly grabbed the mercenaries' pistol, then began frantically running towards the entrance of the cave. There were two mercenaries standing just outside the exit to the cave. Nathan shot them down and continued sprinting. Any second and they could either be trapped in the room, or fall to their deaths as the floor crumbled below their feet. Suddenly, the worst happened. The exit hole to the cave was suddenly blocked by a massive boulder that crashed right in front of it. "What's the plan now!?" Sam shouted. Nathan looked around. More and more of the rim of the floor was collapsing, pillars were tumbling to the ground, and rocks were falling from the roof of the cave. "Up there!" Sam shouted as he pointed up. There was another area of the cave above them! Nathan calculated. If he climbed up the last pillar standing in the room, he could make it. He and Sam jumped for it, climbing up the cracks forming in it. They reached the top of the pillar and grabbed the ledge, clambering to their feet just before the pillar toppled to the ground. Suddenly more gunshots rained down on them! There were mercenaries that had camped out on the ledge, waiting for them. The mercenaries began shooting, but Nathan was able to dodge out of the way just in time. There was a large rock Nathan rolled behind. He snatched his pistol and shot the mercenary, taking him down. The other two relentlessly shot, and Nathan had to wait until their clips ran out before he could risk shooting himself. Fortunately for Nathan and Sam, the mercenaries had little to no cover. While Nathan couldn't quite tell, the mercenaries looked like they were wearing black masks, with skull-like details on them. When another mercenary popped out, Nathan took a shot, and he fell. There was a tunnel that led out of the room, and Sam and Nathan took it. They saw the shadow of a mercenary come their way in the light of the lamps lining the cave walls that Shoreline had put there. As soon as the mercenary turned the hall corner, Nathan grabbed him by the throat, pinned him against the wall, and punched him out cold. "We really kicked the hornet's nest didn't we?" Sam said. Nathan huffed and replied, "Yeah we kicked it, punched it and set it on fire!" Sam laughed as they rushed down the hallway. This led to another room. Nathan realized that these tunnels they were running through weren't natural at all. They were tunnels that Shoreline had burrowed to help with the explosions. They were right underneath the cathedral. He looked to the next chamber. There were crates, and stamped on them in bright red paint were the words, "Danger." Nathan chuckled to himself. Dynamite crates. He grabbed a stick, and waited. Seven mercenaries ran into the chamber. Nathan pulled the cap off the stick and threw it into the room. He ducked, and then felt a shockwave. The dynamite had exploded. He ran into the room, passing the bodies of the mercenaries. The next room was massive, and Shoreline had propped up wooden supports for the roof. The roof of the cave in this room was full of cracks. The rock was crumbling. Obviously the explosions in the cathedral had weakened the roof of the cave. Suddenly, he heard a high pitched beep, which sped up. A grenade! Nathan dodged, but the explosion shook him up. He tried to get his bearings, when suddenly a bullet whizzed past his ear to close, he could feel its heat. He gasped, and ducked still lower, before kneeling. He saw one of the wooden pillars was right in front of him. He rolled over behind it, before looking out. There were only two mercenaries in this room. He shot one, and Sam shot the other. They made a dash for the end of the room, which pointed upwards. They saw light at the end of the tunnel, and they ran into the cold, snowy outside. At first, they were nearly blinded by the light, but they struggled to regain their bearings. The cathedral was very close to where Sully's plane was at. Nathan was near the end of the cathedral, closest to the ocean. Nathan radioed in, "Hey Sully! We're ready to go here! Preferably, right now!" Sully responded, "Hey kid look, there's no place to land here, can you make it to the water?" Nathan sighed, "Yeah sure," he said, "Just start up the engines!" They ran out of the cathedral grounds, and ran towards the cliff down to the ocean. There was a rocky slope that Nathan made for. He began sliding down, until he reached a ledge in the cliff. There were three mercenaries on the cliff. Nathan ignored them, instead braving their bullets. There was another slope that Nathan saw. If he slid down it, he could jump off, and land in the water thirty feet below. Nathan and Sam jumped onto the slope, and slid down, "Here we go!" shouted Nathan, "Get ready!" At the end of the slope, they jumped, and smacked into the ice cold water. Nathan dove underwater to escape the bullets the mercenaries still shot down. When he reached the plane, he threw open the door, "Sully get her going!" he shouted. The planes propellers began spinning, and Nathan helped Sam into the plane. Bullets pinged off the side of the plane, but couldn't penetrate the thick metal. As they began taking off, Nathan hurriedly shut the door, and they lift off, escaping out of Rafe's hands.
Wrapped in a blanket, Nathan handed one to Sam. "Here," he said handing Sam a blanket. Nathan sniffed and moved up to the co-pilot's seat next to Sully. Sam dried himself off on a seat in the middle of the plane. "That was a close one huh?" Nathan said looking at Sully. Sully shook his head, "They shot up my blasted plane Nate!" Sully said. "We're fine, thanks!" Sam said from the back. Nathan sighed, "How soon can you get us to Madagascar?" he asked. Sully rolled his eyes, "No treasure then," he said. "Not yet," Nathan replied. A few seconds passed. "I don't know what you're talking about," said Sam, "look." He held up the bronze coin he had got from Avery's test, "We're rich!" he said. Sully took the coin in his hand and looked it over. He scoffed, "Well I suppose it's a start," he said, "You think the rest of it is in Madagascar?" Nathan took the coin and replied, "Well there was a chamber in the cave with a giant map of Madagascar on the floor, so…Yeah it's probably there." Sully shook his head, "This is beginning to smell a whole lot like a wild goose kid," he said. "Look," said Nathan, "The treasure was never in Scotland." "Then what was all the point of that?" asked Sam, "About the St. Dismas cross?" "Like I said," Nathan said trying to explain, "I think Avery was recruiting people. The cross was an invitation, and the caves were a kind of initiation." Sam walked over, closer to the cockpit. "Oh so we passed?" he asked, "Congrats Victor, we all get eye patches and parrots now." Sully shook his head, "I don't get it," he said, "Why would they go through all that bother just to weed people out? It doesn't make any sense." "To protect himself!" Nathan replied, "Look Avery was the most wanted man in the world at that time. He had to enlist people he could trust in order to keep their treasure secret." Sam raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean their treasure?" Nathan looked back at Sam and replied, "Think about this…Thomas Tew was a successful pirate in his own right. What could he possibly gain from joining Avery?" The plane rattled as they hit a gust of wind. "I think Avery only sent out crosses to other wealthy pirates like himself. What if they pooled all of their treasure together?" The three of them thought it over in silence. "That would make the Gunsway hall," Sam said, "Look like chump change." "Exactly!" Nathan replied. Sully shook his head and chuckled. "Ok," he said, "so where exactly in Madagascar are we headed?" "King's Bay," Sam replied, "It was an old pirate haven back in Avery's time." Sully nodded, "It's a big place," he said looking back at Sam, "anything more specific?" Sam huffed, "Well that map chamber completely caved in so…you know." He threw up his hand in frustration. After a bit, Nathan looked out the plane's windshield and chuckled. "What are you laughing about?" Sam asked. Nathan turned to Sam, and making enthusiastic hand gestures said, "The people who survived the caves…the recruits. What's the one thing they would've left with?" He held up the bronze coin, and flipped it over to Sam. Sam looked the coin over. Though the image was faded and worn down, he could still clearly tell what the image was. "There's a volcano on this," Sam said. Sully opened his mouth, let out a long, "Oh…" and said, "There's a volcano near King's Bay. Which means we need to get a move on!" Sully turned some switches on the plane, and they began making off for the island of Madagascar.