Chapter 7
The Twelve Towers
Looking down at the table, Elena sighed. She was sitting in her dark living room, it was late, and she missed Nathan. Her meals had been eaten in silence, her work done in silence, and her time spent in silence. Sighing, she finished off the last of her Chinese takeout, and looked at her wall. There was a photo of her and Nathan, off on their adventure in Tibet. Only Nathan wasn't here now. The shadows on the wall were long, and the only light was from the streetlights just outside. She heard a noise on the coffee table. It was her cell phone vibrating. She picked it up. It was Nathan. With a smile she answered and got up off the couch, "Hey!" she said, "Hey Nate?" "Hi honey!" Nathan replied. Nathan, on the other side of the world, in Madagascar, was nearing a small village to lodge in. He adjusted his pistol holster. "I've been trying to get a hold of you," Elena said, "Are you OK?" "Yeah of course," Nathan said, "What do you mean?" Elena sighed and said, "Well you know, there's been all that flooding. Maybe going to Malaysia during the monsoon season wasn't such a good idea." Nathan chucked nervously, "Yeah, right." He said, "Yeah it grounded us for sure, you know. Had some equipment failure but you know, no-one's hurt or anything." Elena sighed, "Well as long as you guys are safe," she said, "So are you going to start work tomorrow?" "Uh, postponed actually," Nathan replied, "Looks like we're going to need another ten days or so." Elena closed her eyes. That long? She had spent enough time away from her husband, another ten days seemed too long, "Ugh," she said, "Ten days?" She walked over to her laptop and switched it on, "Hey, honey, why don't I just buy a ticket then?" Nathan felt a slight panic, "Oh," he said, "You don't have to do that, you know these guys they always tend to overestimate things…I'm sure it'll be less time than that." Elena sat there on the couch. Staring. What was wrong with Nathan? After a pause she replied, "OK…Well…You know, don't rush, make sure you're safe." "Oh, I will," Nathan said, "Always do." Sam motioned for Nathan to come into the lodge, "Oh," said Nathan, "I have to go, Jameson's calling me over." Elena closed her eyes. "OK." She said simply. "I love you," she heard Nathan say. "Love you too," she replied. "Goodbye." "See you," Nathan replied before the call ended. That was it. Elena still held the phone up to her ear several seconds after their farewells, as if Nathan might come back if she did. Elena's eyes narrowed, close to tears. She put the phone down, and shut it off.
The terrain was rough and rocky. The volcano was just up ahead, and though it had been extinct for hundreds of years, Nathan still couldn't help picturing it as smoking. The cone shaped mountain had a large hole at the top, and it looked like it was pulled right out of a dinosaur movie. There were twisted acacia trees and the soil was a deep orange color, filled with clay. The skies were enormous overhead, and puffy white clouds filled them. The craggy rocks leading to the volcano looked intimidating, and the entire landscape had an unescapable primeval feel. Sam looked over the impressive scene, he flipped the bronze coin in his hand. "What're the satellites saying Victor?" He turned around. Sully was holding the handheld GPS in his hand high in the air, and spinning it around, trying to get a signal. "Right now not a blasted thing," Sully replied. Nathan, his hands crossed over the steering wheel on their jeep sighed. "Lost the signal," Sully said. Nathan rolled his eyes, and got out of the jeep, he'd been waiting for that useless GPS for too long, "Hey," Nathan said, "You know what never loses its signal? Paper!" Nathan got out a map of the area and spread it out on the hood of the jeep. "Alright," Nathan said, "This route right here should take us directly to the volcano, it's kind of convoluted, but we should get there soon anyway. Within forty minutes or so I think. Might get a little bumpy…" Sam nodded, "Let's get this show on the road," he said. Nathan got inside the jeep and turned the key. The engine sputtered to life. As they began rumbling down the barely used dirt track to the volcano, Sully asked Nathan, "So, what are we looking for out there?" "Well," Nathan replied, "The map shows all these structures around the volcano, twelve by my count. Some abandoned outposts and watchtowers." "Watchtowers?" Sully asked, "Well Avery was the most wanted man in the world," Sam replied, "so if he was hiding out here it makes sense he'd need lookouts." "And one of those towers is right on the volcano," said Nathan. "With Avery's treasure?" Sully asked. Nathan shrugged, "Fingers crossed," he said. The jeep continued rumbling along the dusty path. It amazed Nathan how orange the soil was, as if the earth had been living on carrots for thousands of years. After a bit, they came across what looked like old ruins. There was a crumbling stone brick staircase leading up to it. Nathan drove up to it and parked the jeep, "You guys wait here," he said, "I'll go take a look." As Nathan walked away from the jeep, he could still hear Sam and Sully small-talking in it. Even when he reached the ruins, there was an echo that let Nathan hear everything they said, "So Victor," Sam said, "you still do a lot of travelling these days?" "Eh, I try," Sully replied, "I tend to pick jobs that get me away from the computer." Nathan began walking up the staircase. "Yeah I was telling Nathan," Sam said, "It's shocking how much business has moved to the internet. I mean I'm sure you have plenty of options to get rid of new cargo now." Nathan heard Sully huff, "Yeah sure," he said, "But I prefer talking to clients face-to-face. Get a good read on 'em. Hard to do that in a chat box with a guy named Antiquities Master 37." Nathan chuckled to himself. Sully had always been that way. The ruins were almost totally bare. No clues he could see, much less treasure. The elements had certainly taken their toll. They weren't large ruins, robably a single small building or maintenance shack. "Not much to see here," Nathan said to himself. After doing one more once-over, he walked back down the steps, and entered the jeep. He turned the keys to the jeep, "Well?" Sam asked, "Ah, nothing worthwhile," Nathan replied. The jeep sputtered back to life, and they continued making their way to the volcano. After navigating through a particularly muddy spot Nathan chuckled and looked at Sully, "So hey with our luck," he said, "What are the chances of this thing erupting?" Sully huffed, "Zero." He said, "It's extinct. Trust me, that's the first thing I looked up when you said we were heading to a volcano…that and where to rent the cheapest 4x4." "Wait, Sully," Nathan said, "You're trying to tell me that you actually did some research this time? You never have before." "Well I can't let you be the know-it-all every time kid!" Sully replied. "Well I certainly know you did the research," Nathan said. "How's that?" Sully asked. Nathan gave Sully a grin and said, "Because I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that this has to be the cheapest 4x4 in Madagascar!" Sully shook his head. The path began to get even wetter and muddier, then it turned to rock. Beside them was a small river. The trees began to grow closer together, along with water weed and cattails. A small flock of spurwing geese flapped out of the water away from the jeep. Just ahead of them was a waterfall, about 30 feet high. It wasn't very large, and Nathan looked it over. He parked the jeep right next to it and got out. He looked back at Sully and Sam, shrugged, and entered the waterfall. The water, cold but not unwelcome, poured all over Nathan. After pushing through the curtain of water, he saw there was a small cave that had been behind the waterfall. He entered carefully. Looking around, it wasn't a large cave, no tunnels or passages, though it was plenty large enough for some sort of structure. He turned a corner, and sure enough, there was one. It was a small barely standing wooden structure with aging sacks of grain that had turned to dust inside, and other exports. There was a small desk, and on the desk was a note. Carefully, he picked it up. The handwriting was impeccable, and he looked at it. It was written by a man named Captain Harrison, and was dated June 2nd, 1702. A full three years after Henry Avery's disappearance. It read, "It has been three days since you and your regiment have set out for the towers, and our hopes that you should find and apprehend Captain Avery have dwindled, along with supplies. Finding this pirate hideaway after years of false leads has bolstered my men's morale, but after days of cowering in this cave, the men are growing restless and fearful. They do not wish to starve here, or worse, return to King's Bay empty handed. Therefore, in direct defiance of your orders, come morning, we shall take what supplies and armaments we can carry from this place, and head to the towers ourselves. By God's grace we shall capture the Captain, and bring him to justice. God willing, we shall rendezvous with you there." The letter was signed by Lt. Sherwood, 4th foot regiment of the East India Company. Nathan folded the note and put it in his journal. With that, he looked around. Nothing else. He began walking back towards the jeep. When he got back, Sam looked at him with expectant eyes, "What was back there? A cave?" "Yeah," Nathan replied. "Anything in there?" "No." Nathan said. Nathan began making his way out of the more swampy area, but still the mud lingered. There was a small stone ramp, and just for the sake of doing it, Nathan drove over, and jumped the ramp. It was a much more pathetic jump than he had envisioned. Sully shook his head at Nathan and said, "Hey kid, does this thing come with airbags? Or parachutes?" Nathan shrugged, "Hey you tell me. Maybe if it wasn't such a cheap rental it might've…" "Shut up…" Sully retorted. Nathan laughed. After driving up out of the swamp, they saw a large ravine. The ravine was spanned by a bridge that looked like its inspection date had been ignored for a long, long time. It was made of wood, but it would've been just as structurally sound if it had been made of paper towels. There was no other way to cross the ravine. Looking behind him at Sam, he shrugged, "It's the only way across," Nathan said. Sam shook his head and threw up his hands. "Alright kid," said Sully, "Just don't drop us." Nathan gently revved the engine and the jeep pushed forward. The bridge creaked and groaned agonizingly loud. "Alright," said Sam nervously, "Just keep it in the center, keep it slow…" Nathan, with racked nerved said, "Yeah, a lot of backseat driving going on, please can everyone shut up until we get across this-" Crack! The entire bridge seemed to buckle. The main support beam had cracked. The jeep however, didn't fall off the bridge. The section they were on partially collapsed from the weight. "We're good," Nathan said, "Everything's good." Sam and Sully breathed out, and Nathan made his way off. "Made it," Nathan said taking a sigh of relief. "Onwards and upwards," Sully said. Nathan shook his head. They were beginning to enter the rocky labyrinth that sat just between them and the volcano. It was a convoluted and muddy route, but the only one they had. Nathan kept driving, keeping the tall volcano always in front. Suddenly the path dropped. They would have to drive past a straight down rock ledge about six feet high. Nathan braced himself and drove, the front half of the jeep tipped over and smashed into the ground below, then the bottom half rolled off, and smashed down. "Oh, my spine," Sully said with a wince. "Hang in there Sully," Nathan said. They continued rolling forward, until they reached a dead end. After rerouting, they found another path, and went down it. As Nathan drove, he noticed something odd on the ground. There were tire tracks. Somebody had been on the route before them…Suddenly Nathan saw a trio of small animals jump in front of the jeep. He halted it. It was a small group of ring-tailed lemurs. He let them pass before they began dismounting the rock. The bumps on the path began to really take their toll on the three men. Nathan heard Sam call out, "Hey Nathan stop! Look there on the hill. There's a tower or something." Nathan looked. A bit further up the hill was another watchtower. Nathan began making for it. As soon as he revved the engine, they went on with the unbearable bumping and thrashing. "So Victor," Sam asked, "What were you arguing with the rental guy about?" Sully huffed and replied, "Oh your brother insisted on getting a 4x4 with a winch." Sam nodded, "Oh so you sprung for the winch but you said 'screw the suspension' I got it." "Hey it's important!" Nathan fired back, "We're off-road, it might rain, it might be muddy…" "But with Nate being so eager," Sully said, "He doubled the price." "He would've doubled it anyway," Nathan replied. Sully sneered, "I'll bet we'll go through this whole blasted thing and never use that winch." Nathan didn't reply. The huge bump he just went over had knocked the thought right out of his head.
After a small bit they reached the tower. Nathan's back was ready to call it a day, and he was beginning to regret getting the winched jeep himself…The tower was just in front of them now. "Alright," said Nathan, "Let's go check out that tower." He got out of the jeep. "I'll come with you," Sam said getting out. Nathan nodded and they looked the tower over. "In pretty good shape for something several hundred years old," Sam said. True enough, though parts of it were crumbling and decayed, for the most part, the tower was intact. There was a stone staircase that led up to the tower. The bricks and masonry of the actual watchtower was still fairly stable. The one wall had a massive hole in it however. Nathan entered the tower itself. He immediately noticed a large symbol in the middle of the room. It was a serpentine dragon on the floor. "Hey Sam!" he called, "Take a look at this!" Sam jumped into the room. He kneeled down to get a closer look at the large sigil on the floor. "That's Christopher Condent's sigil," said Nathan, "Captain of the Fiery Dragon, operated out of Madagascar around Avery's time." "So…" Sam said, "Avery was recruiting pirate captains to be what? His lookouts? That doesn't make sense." "No," Nathan replied, "It doesn't…" They looked at the sigil from one direction, then another. "Well," Sam said trying to make sense of it all, "maybe each captain was responsible for a tower, and maybe providing men for it? Whatever the case, this certainly isn't the last stop on the tour." Nathan left the tower. He looked the area over. The slope next to the tower would be too steep for the jeep to climb up itself. It was not only extremely muddy, but extremely steep. Nathan looked around. There was no other route for them to take. He saw a large tree at the top of the slope. He grinned. "I guess we'll be using the winch after all," Nathan said to himself. He began walking down back to the jeep. Sully looked at Nathan as he grabbed the winch. With the winch in hand, Nathan grinned, "Hey Sully," he said, "Did you know our jeep came with a winch?" "No!" Sully said in a sarcastic tone of voice, "Really? I didn't know. What are you going to do with it?" Pulling the winch up the staircase Nathan replied, "Not sure yet…" He made it to the top of the slope and wrapped the winch around the tree. Looking down the slope, he chuckled and slid down the muddy slope. After getting back to the jeep Sully smiled at Nathan, "That looked like fun," he said with a chuckle. "Steeper than it looks," Nathan said. He turned the jeep on and activated the winch. Slowly and surely he began clambering up the muddy slope. "Ready?" Nathan asked, "Give it a shot…" Sully replied. The winch groaned as they slowly crawled up the slope. Before long, they reached the top. Nathan triumphantly laughed and looked at Sully, "Ha! See Sully? Winch. Totally worth it!" Not to be proven wrong, Sully huffed, "All we did was clear a hill. Stupid thing hasn't exactly paid for itself…" Nathan got out of the jeep to unhook the winch, "Well," he said, "Not yet. Small victories." "Yeah well," Sully replied, "I'll celebrate when the big ones arrive…" Sam and Nathan got back in the jeep and after a short distance, they reached vista, with the volcano spreading out before them spectacularly. "Feast your eyes gentlemen," Nathan said. They just sat there, admiring the volcano's awe-inspiring beauty and power. Though extinct, it still looked formidable and imposing. "Just imagine," said Sam, "You've come here, a well-to-do pirate, far away from your oppressive government…" Sully laughed, "Ah, those poor oppressed pirates. All they wanted to do was murder and pillage in peace." "No!" Sam replied, "They wanted to be free men." "Well if you were picking a place to run away from society," said Nathan, "You could sure do a lot worse than here!" The rocky labyrinth they had been in started to open up, and a large plain opened up in front of them. It was a relief to Nathan that the bumps and rocks would start to stop! After a bit of driving Sully sighed, "It's taking forever to get to this volcano!" He said impatiently. "Patience Victor," said Sam, "Patience. Do you know how those pirates got here? They had to start in England, sail to Brazil, then cut back across the Atlantic to South Africa," "Sam." Sully said, "And," Sam continued, "They figured all that out with paper, charts, and looking at the stars." "You're describing sailing to a former squid," Sully said with a huff. "Look," Sam said, "The point is, we got it pretty easy." "Yeah…Well," Sully said, "It's still taking a pretty long time." Nathan kept going along the path until they saw yet another tower. "Well would you look at that," said Sam, "Well go ahead towards there, we can scope it out and try to-" Bang! In the near distance they saw a cloud of dust come up from an explosion. There were people at the tower, blowing something up. "Stop! Stop!" Sully said. Everyone in the jeep fell silent. "I see them," Nathan said with a sigh. He opened the glove box and pulled out a pair of binoculars. Looking through them, he surveyed the men. "What do we got?" Sam asked. "Military types poking around," Nathan replied. "Nadine's guys?" Sam asked. "Yep." Nathan said. Sully shook his head. "How did they get here so quickly?" Sully asked. "Looks like they found an old colony outpost," Nathan said. "But the wrong one right?" Sully said, Nathan nodded, "That's the good news." Nathan handed Sully the binoculars. "That means there's bad news." Sully said. Nathan huffed, "The only way to get to the volcano is right through them. We can't go past those giant rocks…" "Well we do have the drop on them," Sully said. Nathan sat there, staring out at the men, tapping his finger on the steering wheel. "Well what's the plan?" Sam asked. Nathan still sat there, staring. He sighed and opened the door to the jeep, "Just follow my lead," he said. He jumped out of the car, followed by Sam and Sully. All three took out their pistols and began waking. Nathan looked carefully. He counted one…three…six…seven. Too many to alert at once. They would have to stealthily knock them down, or risk getting overwhelmed. Seven mercenaries were more than enough. They began carefully making for the tower. This particular tower was slightly larger than the previous ones, and there was tall grass growing all over the place, good news for Nathan. The tower also had other outbuilding ruins next to it. It seemed like Nadine had picked out the largest tower for them to work on first. Nathan, Sully and Sam each crept silently through the grass, without making a sound. Like a leopard stalking its prey, they honed in on the mercenaries. Nathan knew they would have to stealthily take out the mercenaries one by one. No gunshots. As soon as a bullet would sound, they knew more mercenaries would be on their way. Nathan led the way. There was one mercenary on the outskirts of the tower, right in front of Nathan. The mercenary took a cigarette out of his pocket and lit it. Nathan seized the mercenaries' distracted state. He lunged, and knocked the man out cold. One down, six more to go. Sully gave Nathan the thumbs up, and they began making for the outbuilding. Inside the building was another mercenary, leaning against the wall. Suddenly he heard one of them, Nathan assumed their leader, speak. "Alright gentlemen," he said, "it's going to be a hot, long day and we have lots to do. Now remember, if those Drake boys show their pretty faces, you all know what to do!" Nathan looked at Sam, who grinned, "Did you hear that," Sam said, "He said you have a pretty face." Nathan shook his head. "I sure do," replied another mercenary, "I just hope I bag one of 'em first!" Nathan began navigating around the building. The man was standing right next to the door. Nathan slinked up to the door, lunged, and knocked the man out. Another one down. "Sorry pal," Nathan said under his breath, "I'm afraid you won't be bagging anything today." The mercenary had an AK on him. Nathan took it and slung it over his shoulder. "Hey!" called a voice outside the building, "Did you hear anything in there?" Nathan's ears pricked, "Oh no," he said softly. He peeped out a window. There were two mercenaries heading towards the building, and there was no way out. The windows were too small for him to escape. He pressed himself against the wall right next to the door. Suddenly he heard punches, and then dragging noises. He cautiously looked out the door. Sam and Sully were motioning for him to come forward. They had knocked the two men out themselves. Nathan crouched in the tall grass. "Thanks," he said. Sam nodded, and then pointed. There was a sniper at the very top of the tower. Fortunately, he didn't look like the most vigilant sniper, as a vigilant one would've at least thought he'd seen Nathan. Sam and Sully began making for the tower. As they went, they passed another outbuilding with a stone wall reaching beyond it. Nathan thought he saw something unusual sitting on the wall. He crept up against the wall, keeping himself out of view. There were two mercenaries standing about six yards away from the wall. It was a detonator! Just as he discovered this, the two men started talking, "Howitt," one of the men said, "You got that detonator hooked up yet?" Howitt replied, "We're all set. Just waiting on approval from Nadine to blow it." "Good," said the other, "Place looks empty. I'd just like to get it over with." Nathan took a step closer to the detonator, but suddenly the strap for the AK slipped. The AK hit the ground. Nathan snatched it and laid down flat against the wall. "Hey!" Howitt called, "I spotted something!" The other mercenary stepped closer. Nathan crammed himself against the wall, feeling the hot dust against his scalp. "Watch you back," said Howitt. Nathan's heart was racing, but he kept his breathing firmly under control. He heard the men's footsteps coming closer, then he saw their shadows cast ominously overtop the wall. A few agonizing seconds passed. "You got anything?" asked Howitt. The man replied after another pause, "No. it's gone, whatever it was." They began walking away. Nathan gasped in relief, and shimmied away from the wall. He waited and looked. There were only three mercenaries left, but Nathan still didn't know how he'd be able to reach the sniper. He went back to Sam and pointed at the two mercenaries, who were now talking to each other. Sam nodded and they crept up to them, "How's Stevens doing?" asked Howitt, "Oh he's fine," replied the other man, "As long as he keeps a bird's eye view of the place from the tower, we're in no danger." Nathan and Sam both lunged and knocked them both out. "OK," Sam said, "But how are we going to get that sniper down?" Nathan thought for a moment, then looked over the unconscious body of Howitt. He had a walkie-talkie on him. Nathan picked it up, and said in his best British accent, "Stevens? Stevens do you copy?" After a few seconds, he looked up at the top of the tower, the sniper took out his walkie-talkie, "I copy. Proceed." Nathan replied, "Nadine just radioed in. They've found the right tower. This one was wrong the whole time. Come on down, we're leaving." "Copy that." Stevens said. Sam and Nathan watched. They saw the sniper put his rifle in his case, and begin climbing down. Nathan and Sam made a rush for the entrance of the tower. They waited until they heard footsteps, and then, before Stevens even knew what had happened, they had knocked him out. They dragged his body into the grass and saw Sully come up. "OK," said Nathan, "I think that's it." Sully met up with them and Sam growled in frustration, "Rafe and Nadine must have dozens of guys out here," said Sam, "They could just stumble upon the treasure through blind luck!" Nathan sighed. He walked back to the detonator and gave it a look. "Well looks like Nadine hasn't given up on excavation with explosions," said Nathan, "Rafe can't be too happy about that." "I don't think Rafe has much of a say in the matter," said Sully. They looked around the place for about twenty minutes. There wasn't anything there. "Well at least we took care of some Shoreline imposters," Sam said. They walked back to the jeep and began driving. The tower was on a raised mound of dirt and sand. The only way out towards the volcano was by driving across another rickety wooden bridge that reached the tall rocks above the mound. Nathan drove the jeep to it and began driving. The bridge was only about ten feet off the ground. Suddenly with a gigantic crack, the entire bridge middle collapsed, and the jeep crashed into the ground with a mighty thud. Shaken, the three men shifted back into their seats. "These pirates really need to work on their infrastructure!" Sully said. The two ends of the bridge were still upright, though the middle was history. Nathan thought for a second, then noticed the two supports holding up the end of the bridge they were trying to get to. If he could break the supports, then they could use the end of the bridge like a ramp and climb out of the divot. He got out of the jeep and wrapped the winch around one of the supports. He then got back in the jeep and put it in reverse. Then he slammed his foot down on the gas. The jeep kicked up dust and gravel as it yanked and pulled on the wooden beam. The support had been standing for over three hundred years, but this was its last stand. With a groan, it snapped. Nathan repeated the process with the other support, which also gave way. The bridge end fell, and turned into a ramp for them. As they drove up it, Nathan laughed and said, "Again with the winch Sully! Pretty handy right?" Sully shook his head, "Look," he said, slightly annoyed, "I wasn't against getting the winch I was against getting ripped off!" They began driving across the dry plain once again, "So Sully," Nathan said, "Just how well do you know Nadine?" "Why?" Sully asked. "Well," Nathan replied, "I didn't know if maybe you could contact her, convince her to call off her goons." Sully laughed, "Ha! Yeah right." Nathan persisted, "Well hey, what if we promised her a bigger cut than Rafe?" Sully shook his head, "No. That's not how she operates. She's more of a money-up-front kind of mercenary, so Rafe's got the advantage there." They got ever closer to the volcano. They turned another corner and reached a large vista. The slopes of the volcano began rising. There were two roads in the near distance, and two large military looking vehicles driving on them. "Look," Sam said, "Shoreline." "They're getting awful close to that volcano," said Sully. "What if they found the treasure already?" Sam asked. Nathan pointed, "Well look, they're searching every inch of this place. They wouldn't be combing it all over if they'd found it already." Sam nodded, "Yeah you're right," he said. They came to a large oasis in the plain. There were tall baobab trees with incredibly thick trunks lining the edge of the pool. Passing the pool, Sully looked over his shoulder at Sam in the backseat, "Hey Sam," he said, "If you don't mind my asking, how'd you spend your time in prison?" Sam shrugged, "Well you know, reading mostly. There was this one guard, saw me as a charity case I guess. He'd check out books from the library for me." Sully nodded, "So what did you read?" "Well," Sam replied, "History. Especially everything related to Avery and other pirates. Just in case…you know." "Sure." Sully replied. "Well, besides push-ups," Sam said, "smoking, trying to stay out of fights between rival gangs…Just a whole lot of thinking. That's pretty much it." After a bit Sam saw something, "Hey is that a well?" Sam asked. Nathan drove up. Indeed it was, and it looked like it had been abandoned for a long time. Nathan looked into it. It was dry, but it didn't look like a simple hole. He climbed into the well and jumped down. Indeed, the inside of the well wasn't a ditch, but a small cave. It even had wooden supports and storage bins. He looked around. There was a large ditch in the center of the cave still partially filled with water. He walked a bit further until he saw two human skeletons sprawled on the ground. There were two cutlasses right beside them. Either they had dueled to the death, or they had fought something off. He walked over to the other end of the cave room, which was only about 40 feet long and 18 feet wide. He walked next to a wooden support lying next to the support was another note. Nathan picked it up. The note looked like it was slightly burned around the edges, though none of the text was missing or burned. This note was dated for June 11 1702, the same year of the last note Nathan had found. However, the note was not written by the same lot of British soldiers as the last. This note spoke of how glad the writer was that he had killed the British soldiers, and how he would make very good use of their boots and pistols. At the bottom of the note was the sigil of Thomas Tew. The author of the note was Avery's accomplice himself! He looked around. There was nothing much of value inside the cave. He went back to the entrance hole and climbed back out. When he reached the jeep Sully looked at him expectantly, "Well?" he asked. "Eh, nothing major," Nathan replied. "I'll show you back at the hotel." He turned the jeep back on and they began driving ever closer to the volcano. As they drove Nathan thought for a moment. Then he turned to Sam and asked, "Hey Sam, if you had a guard that did you favors then why didn't you ask him to get word to us?" "Oh I tried," said Sam, "I asked him to mail a letter…to your P.O. Box." "I never got it," said Nathan. Sam sighed, "Yeah well that would be because the warden saw it," he replied. "I got busted up pretty bad and never saw that guard again." Sully shuddered, wondering what could've happened to him. "I got my own back when the warden decided to room me with Alcazar," Sam said, "He probably didn't see that coming." A few seconds passed. "You know," said Sully, "Come to think of it, I actually dealt with Alcazar a few decades ago. Even before I met you two." "No kidding?" Sam asked with a huff, "How are you still alive?" "Well," Sully replied, "He wasn't quite where he's at today. He was still working his way up the criminal ladder then…I sold his boss a few woodcut prints I'd smuggled out of Japan. He was into shoguns and such. Alcazar was the go-between." "What was he like?" Sam asked. "Well soft spoken but intense. Like he could explode at the slightest provocation." Sam chuckled, "Well then he hasn't changed much since then…" he said. "I got my money and got out of there!" Sully said. Nathan chuckled, and they got on the road that led up the volcano.
About an hour-and-a-half later, they reached another tower. This tower was different from the rest. It was much smaller, and looked more like a monument or large gravestone than a watchtower. This particular tower overlooked the most breathtaking vista of them all. You could see way down to King's Bay. The red plain spread out in front of them like a vast blanket, and you could see from the volcano all the way down to the bottom. "Look," said Sully, "There's the town." "And there's the river valley," Sam said. They each admired the view. Sully went off to the monument itself and Sam and Nathan still just stood there. "Quite the view." Nathan said. Sam sighed and said, "Yeah I'm just waiting to wake up in solitary. Like this whole thing is a dream." "Sam…" Nathan said. "Oh no, no, no," Sam said, "No guilt trip I just…Let's just find this thing." Nathan looked the tower over one more time. Looking closer, he saw that it wasn't a monument at all. It was a signal tower. There was a small lamp inside it, like a miniature lighthouse. He walked over to the other side of the signal tower to see Sully looking down off the cliff. "So," Nathan said walking up to Sully, "How're you doing?" Sully chuckled, "Eh, still in one piece." He said. Nathan nodded, "I appreciate you coming along for the ride," Nathan said, and especially for negotiating with that rental guy." Sully chuckled again, "Well no problem. Hey, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't enjoying myself." "Me too," Nathan said. As he said those words, he inexplicably thought of Elena. Had he really made the right choice in not telling her? What if she found out? He sighed to himself. It was too late to undo his action. Besides, he wanted to keep her safe. He didn't want to see her wounded again. He thought of the time when Elena had almost died after a grenade exploded dangerously close to her when they had been in the Himalayas. He didn't want to go through that again. No, he decided, keeping her in the dark was the best option. After all, she didn't need to know. Well, nothing else to see at this tower. They each hopped in the jeep and began driving to the next tower. It didn't take long for them to reach it, and just by a quick glance, they could tell this particular tower was quite different. The tower was a small part of the actual structure. The main building, which was attached to the tower, was quite large, and strangest of all, there was a large ravine in front of the tower. The building had a wooden drawbridge to span the ravine. They first made sure there were no Shoreline mercenaries at the site. Fortunately, there weren't any. They stared at the building for a long time. "What do you make of the drawbridge Nathan?" Sam asked. "A little out of place," Nathan replied. That much was true. None of the other towers they had seen had anything like a drawbridge. Sam and Nathan both got out. "Well you don't put up a drawbridge unless you're trying to protect something…" Nathan said. Sam gave Nathan an understanding look. Nathan doubted the treasure was in this tower, but the drawbridge was tantalizing. Nathan looked at the ravine. It was over fifty feet deep, and dropped down the volcano's slope. He took out his grappling hook and threw it to a wall on the tower. It hooked. He tugged the rope to make sure it wouldn't budge. After passing the test, he swung over the ravine, and onto the wall. He jumped down to the floor, and retrieved the hook. Sam followed with his hook. He looked around. It was in slightly less ruined state than the other towers, but still a ruin nonetheless. He walked over to the tower itself. There, at the center of the floor, was yet another pirate sigil. This sigil was different from the others. It was a white winged horse on an orange background. Sam walked over. "Recognize the sigil?" Sam asked. "Yeah I do actually," Nathan replied, "That's Anne Bonny's" Sam knelt down to get a better look at it. "She operated out of the Caribbean," Nathan continued, "One of the few famous female pirates. I thought she died in prison." "At least that's what the stories tell us," Sam replied quoting Nathan, "Avery must've invited her too." They looked one last time at the sigil. Nathan did a quick sketch of it in his journal before pocketing it. He looked. The tower was right on the edge of a cliff-side, and the only way to get through was to lower the drawbridge and continue on their way. Nathan quickly climbed the tower. At the very top, was a large spoked wheel that lowered or raised the drawbridge. Nathan shouted down to Sam, "Alright, I'm going to lower the drawbridge!" Sam gave Nathan the thumbs up, and Sully called back, "Alright kid! I'll bring the jeep around." After a minute, Sully brought the jeep up to the drawbridge. "Alright kid!" he shouted up to Nathan, "Ready when you are!" Nathan began turning the wheel. He strained to move it, but the bridge did slowly begin to fall. After a bit, it fell with a thud, and Nathan jumped down from the tower, back into the jeep. They drove over the drawbridge and onto the path again. The path suddenly became a narrow ledge right next to the cliff-side. Nathan drove with extreme caution to avoid falling off the cliff edge. The narrow ledge continued until they reached a small muddy pond that was more of an oversized puddle. The slope became extremely muddy, and Nathan didn't like it. He got out of the jeep to look at the top of the slope. The slope ended, and there was a large wooden bridge that led to yet another tower. At the top of the slope was a large tree. Nathan grabbed the winch and gave Sully a grin. Sully scoffed and shook his head. Nathan began pulling the winch up to the tree. "So just how much do you owe Alcazar?" Sully asked Sam. "Uh…half." Sam replied. "Half of what?" Sully asked. "Well," Sam said, "He only knows about the Gunsway heist." "Which is worth four hundred million!" Sully interrupted. "Right," Sam continued, "But if Nathan's theory is correct then there's a lot more treasure at play." Sully huffed, "Well you should've told him it was only worth two hundred thousand," he said, "You never tell your partner how much a job is worth." "Yeah well I wasn't expecting to be partners with him…" Sam said. "Guys!" Nathan broke in, "Look, relax! We're going to get the treasure, pay off that lunatic and still have plenty to spare!" He walked up, wrapped the cable around the tree, and got in. "Don't spin out now," said Sully, "The cliff edge is right there." Nathan knew it all too well. If he spun out, the car would fall off the cliff, and he wasn't sure if the cable would hold them or not. He began pressing the gas. The jeep strained to climb the muddy embankment, but with minimal traction, they weren't making very much headway. Nathan made doubly sure he had control over the vehicle. They soon began to advance ever so slightly. Then the worst happened. The tires hit a rock, and the steering wheel jerked to the right. The jeep slipped and swung in an arc right off the cliff! With a crash, they dangled there, hanging vertically bumper-first, the jeep parallel to the cliff-side. Clutching their seats to avoid falling to their deaths, Sam, Sully and Nathan all yelled in terror, until the jeep stopped swinging. Nathan thrust the cable button forward and the jeep slowly reeled in the cable. "Don't panic!" Nathan shouted, "Don't panic!" "I am very much panicking here!" Sully yelled. "The cable's going to snap!" Sam said with terror, "Nate?!" Nathan didn't reply. His years of adventuring had taught him to keep a cool head no matter what! Suddenly a large rock fell from the cliff and slammed into the jeep's bumper. The winch unraveled and they fell fifteen more feet before the cable length ran out and they jerked to a halt. Nathan was thrown from his seat! He would've fallen to his death, if Sam hadn't caught him. "Nathan!" Sam shouted. He grabbed Nathan's hand. Nathan hung there, dangling hundreds of feet off the ground. "Hold on tight kid!" Sully shouted. Sam swung Nathan over, and Nathan grabbed the back bumper. "Sully, reel in the cable!" Nathan called. Sully tried reaching, but it was too far. He couldn't get into the driver's seat without risking falling off the jeep. Nathan climbed up the vertical jeep, before hopping into the driver's seat. The winch was making incredibly unsettling groans and creaks. "You OK?" Sully asked. "I've been better," Nathan replied. "Get us out of this kid!" Sully said. Nathan activated the winch and they slowly began to climb up the cliff side. He pressed the gas, and the tires drove straight up. The winch kept creaking and it was driving Nathan crazy. With one last groan, they made it to the edge of the cliff, and finally went back horizontal. After catching their breath, Nathan said, "Ah…Well that was fun right?" Neither of the men replied, they just sat there breathless. "Come on you guys are overreacting," Nathan said, "I had the whole thing under control…" They drove across the wooden bridge and made it to what Nathan hoped was the last tower. He was sick of this place! By far, this tower was the largest. There was a large stone staircase leading up to the top, and two ornamental pillars on either side of the entrance. In the center was the tower. The entrance to the tower was a large wooden door. The door was still relatively sturdy, but not made of fresh wood at all. Nathan called Sam over, and they shouldered the door once…twice…A final shove, and the door swung open. This entrance was very different. Though this entrance was attached to the tower, it didn't lead into the tower. It led underground. Almost like a crypt or dungeon. Nathan looked at Sam, who looked excited. They both entered. There was a small hallway that led to a room, about this size of a normal living room in somebody's home. The floor was made of large clay bricks and the walls were also made of clay bricks. There were aging wooden shelves in the room, infested with cobwebs. There were old wooden crates, and pottery, with a large table in the center of the room that almost looked like a stone coffin. As he wandered around the room, he noticed something odd. Behind one of the shelves, there was a wooden beam. The beam wasn't a part of the shelf at all. Nathan pushed the shelf out of the way, and it revealed a doorway. However, the room behind the doorway was bricked over. No way to enter. "It's covered up," Sam said, "What now?" Nathan looked around the room. There was a small keg of gunpowder sitting in a corner. Nathan picked it up, "Hey! Hey! Careful with that kid!" Sully said, "That thing could blow up!" "Precisely." Nathan replied. He put the keg up to the bricks, retreated to the far end of the room, and took out his pistol. "Heads up!" he shouted, before shooting the keg. With a boom, the bricks blew up. "Ah…my ears!" Sam said. "I said heads up!" Nathan replied. Nathan walked into the room, which turned out to be a hallway. There were two sets of wooden stairs leading up to another room. This room was the main center room of the tower itself. There was another large door blocking it, though Nathan had no trouble opening it. The room almost made Nathan want to stop and admire it. There were pillars supporting the ceiling, with decorative arches spanning the pillars. There were tables and chairs, with iron chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. The most notable feature however, was the center of the room. There was a large hole in the center of the room, and a spiral staircase that slowly descended downwards. Sam began running down "Come on!" he called back. "Well he's pretty eager…" Sully said. "Well he's got a lot more in this." Nathan replied. The spiral staircase entered another small room, which opened up to a magnificent hallway. There were torches beside the wall, and passing under an arch, Nathan saw the skull and crossbones of Henry Avery's sigil. At the end of the hallway, he had to squeeze through a parting in the brick wall. When he did, the room took his breath away. It was a gigantic room that looked like a temple. There was a tall domed ceiling that had several holes in it, letting sunlight pour inside. The walls were made of white limestone, and there were pillars made of marble. There was a second level of the room that couldn't be accessed. The staircase must've rotted out. At the top of the ceiling dome was a gigantic iron chandelier. Nathan chuckled as he looked at it. After escaping that sinking ship looking for Iram of the Pillars, he never wanted to see a chandelier again! Nathan stared up. The pillars and wall had ornate decorations and designs, almost all of them pirate related. "Hey fellas!" Sam called over, "Look over here!" Nathan and Sully made their way over to Sam, who was at the very back of the room. When they did, they immediately noticed what Sam had. There was a gigantic stone sculpture of St. Dismas on the wall. Next to St. Dismas were symbols and sigils carved out of the wall. There was what looked like a book on one end, and a crown on the other. "What've we got here?" Sully asked. "More sigils," Nathan replied. He looked them over. "There's our boy Avery," Nathan said pointing to his sigil, "And there's Thomas Tew, Christopher Condent…Anne Bonny…" There were a few other sigils as well that Nathan didn't recognize. Sam filled him in, "That's Adam Baldridge, Joseph Farrell and there's Richard Want." Nathan stood there. "huh…" he said, "Pirate captains." "Alright," Sam said, "So maybe your pirate pool theory wasn't so ridiculous after all." Nathan chuckled and they looked over the sculpture. "Alright…so…" Nathan said, "What do you think the trick is here? Do we have to push a button? Pull something?" He walked up to the statue, along with Sam, and they began feeling all over the statue, looking for a way to figure out what it was hiding. "I'll try pulling one of the arms," Sam said. Nathan tried knocking the ribs, the legs, but nothing was happening. "Uh boys," Sully said. Sully had been standing back this entire time, "When you're done fondling poor St. Dismas I think you might want to come and take a look at this." Nathan and Sam stepped back. "The book is obviously the volcano," Sully said, "The crown, that's King's Bay. We got ourselves a map gentlemen." Nathan now understood. He hadn't noticed it before, but there was a topographical map in front of them! The sigil's lined up with each tower they had been to. Anne Bonny's sigil lined up with where her tower was, Christopher Condent's with his and so on. However, the tower they were inside now, the biggest one, lined up with none other than Henry Avery's sigil. "Victor, you're a genius." Sam said. "You hear that Nate?" Sully asked, "Genius." Nathan held up his hand, "Yeah, yeah," he said. Nathan looked over the map. "OK," said Sam, "So the other sigils on the map must've been the towers that were around during Avery's time." Sam looked at Sully, "Well I mean the treasure's got to be in one of them right?" Sully huffed, "Yeah but which one?" he said, "I count twelve towers." Sam suddenly looked at Sully with a look of concern on his face. He was stooped over on the ground. "Hey, uh Victor?" he asked. Sully turned around, "Yeah?" "You didn't happen to start smoking cigarettes did you?" Sam got up, holding a cigarette. It was still smoking. "Looks like we're not the first ones down here." Sully said. "Fire in the hole!" Somebody shouted from high above. Suddenly there was a massive explosion, and the domed ceiling came crashing down to the ground. "We got the drop on 'em!" shouted a mercenary. "It's an ambush!" Sam yelled. Suddenly. Nathan saw mercenaries coming into the room. They were sending in armored troops! There were five of them, all lined up, covered head to toe with bulletproof clothing. He saw Sully grab something out of his pocket. He yanked something, and threw it towards the mercenaries. It was a grenade. Suddenly the grenade exploded, and the armored men went flying. Almost none got up. The armored men gone, Nathan made a dash for the door, but several mercenaries blocked their way. Sully and Sam engaged them, while Nathan ran over to one of the mercenary's carcasses. He grabbed a shotgun off of one, and took cover behind a wooden wall. He saw something fly above his head and land next to him. It was another grenade. He launched himself away from it, and it exploded. He was a far enough away, though the shockwave still stunned him for an instant. He saw several more mercenaries rappel down from the hole in the ceiling. He shot at them while they were still suspended. One of them shot, and Nathan hid. He peeked out to shoot, but realized with horror his gun was out of ammo. He threw it to the side and rushed over to another mercenary's body. The mercenary had a pistol on him. Nathan grabbed it and returned fire. He saw Sully throw another grenade. This time he hit several mercenaries. After the grenade, all fell silent. "Was that all of 'em?!" Nathan called over to Sully. "Yeah," Sully replied, "I think so. You OK Sam?" "Yeah, over here!" Sam replied. Nathan and Sully walked over to Sam. He was rooting through the body of the leading mercenary. "What are you doing?" Nathan asked. "Just confirming a suspicion," Sam said back. "Ah no…" he said pulling out a piece of paper, "Look at this…" Nathan took the paper. Unfolding it, he sighed. The paper was a detailed map of King's Bay. They had marked down the locations for all the towers on the map. "They figured out the towers too," Sam said, "Locations, sigils, the works." "So now what?" Sully asked. "Now what?" Sam repeated, "Now we're screwed! Because there's three of us and God knows how many of them, and they have a head-start." Nathan suddenly had a brain wave. "Yeah, but they don't know what tower to go to," Nathan said, "That's great Nathan," said Sam, "but neither do we!" "Yes we do." Said Nathan with a chuckle. Nathan held out the bronze coin that had got in Scotland. "Here, take a look," he said, "it's a little worn down…" he held the coin up to one of the sigils. While the one side of the coin had a volcano, the other side had the scales of justice. One of the sigils on the map were the scales of justice. Sam nodded, "Are you sure?" Sam asked, "Because it could be this one too…" he pointed to another sigil that looked like a trident. Nathan flipped the coin upside down. It matched the trident's shape almost perfectly. "Crap…" Nathan said. "Well still," Sully said consoling, "Two sure beats the heck out of twelve!" They stood there for a moment, before Sam said, "Alright, now I'm going to take this tower, you and Victor, you take this one." Nathan shook his head, "Oh no, no, no, no. Rafe's guys are all over these towers by now." "Exactly," said Sam, "So if we are going to have any chance to catch up to them, we'll have to split up." Sam began to walk out, "Sam," Nathan called back, "Just hang on a second will ya?" Sully held his hand up, "Nate," he said, "He's right. Look, these towers are on opposite ends of the King's Bay town," Sam walked back over, "Well?" he asked.
Outside the tower, Sam got inside their jeep. There were two Shoreline jeeps parked on that end of the tower. "Now if you see any of those Shoreline clowns you call us OK?" Nathan said. "Sure thing." Sam replied, "See you soon." With that, he drove off, Nathan looking in his direction, worried. "Come on kid," Sully said patting him on the shoulder, "We gotta hurry." Sully began walking to one of the Shoreline jeeps. Nathan stood there for a few seconds, before going to join Sully.