Chapter 9
The Founding of Libertalia
Elena was holding a part of Nathan's journal. "How's the Malaysia Job going Nate?" she asked coldly. She turned to face Nathan "Seems you're a hair off course." Nathan stood there, not knowing what to say. Sam and Sully didn't look at her. They just stood at the edges of the room. Nathan sighed, "Elena…" he said, "Elena it's not what it looks like." Elena looked back at the journal. "Really?" she said in a tone of voice that made Nathan's spine tingle, "Because what it looks like, is that you're searching for Henry Avery's buried treasure." She put the journal back on the table, and walked over towards Nathan's bed, "And given all the Shoreline soldiers that are all over town, I'll bet you're not the only ones looking for it." She picked up a pistol that had been laying there on the bed, fingering it, her face not completely angry, but a strange mixture of emotions. Nathan could see anger, worry, grief and worst of all, distrust in her eyes. Nathan tried to lighten the mood, he smiled and looked back at Sully, who wasn't smiling. "Alright well…" Nathan said, "I guess it's kind of what it looks like." He chuckled. Elena looked at him, her stone cold expression not leaving. Her eyes bored holes through Nathan, "But I can explain," he said, "look, this is going to sound crazy." "Try me," Elena said throwing the pistol back on the bed. She walked over to Nathan and put her hands on her hips, her eyes not leaving Nathan's for a second. "Well for starters…" Nathan sighed, and extended his hand towards Sam, who was leaning against the wall next to the closet. "This is Sam," he said. He paused a few seconds. "Sam…Drake. My brother." Sam gently waved, "Hi…" he said. Elena looked at Nathan through narrowed eyes. Elena took a step to the side and looked at Sully. Sully shrugged, "I'm sorry darling." He said. Elena shook her head, a look on her face that Nathan had never seen before, "I thought he died in a Panamanian jail," Nathan explained. Elena stepped back, "I need to…" she started. "But I was obviously very wrong!" Nathan said, "He's been stuck in there for fifteen years and it's because of me. They guy that broke him out wants a lot of money, and the only way we can pay off the debt is by finding Avery's treasure." Elena put her hand on the desk chair, staring into the wall. "But that's the good news, we found it, or at least the island it's on. It's just off the coast." Elena closed her eyes and held out her hand. "OK, just stop!" she said. She sighed, "Was there…ever…a Malaysia Job?" she asked. Nathan just stood there. He opened his mouth to speak, but closed it. He had nothing to say. Elena's eyes widened, and she touched her wedding ring, gently working it off a bit. She shook her head and began making for the door in strides. "Oh come on, come on, wait! Elena!" Nathan pleaded. Elena stopped at the door, "I don't get you!" she said. "I wanted to tell you," Nathan said. Elena whipped around to face Nathan, "Alright enough!" Elena shouted. "No I wanted to!" Nathan said, "But how could I?" "I don't know," Elena said, "Just say it!?" "I had to protect you!" Nathan said. "No!" Elena said stepping forward, "You just didn't have the nerve to face me." "I knew you would react like this!" Nathan said. Elena took a step back, her mouth open. "How would you react!?" she said, "You lied to me! For weeks! If you had been killed I…I wouldn't've even known about it." She just kept looking Nathan in the eyes, "And now you have…a brother?" she said. Nathan shook his head and looked at the ground. He took a step towards Elena, but she took a step back. "It's different this time." Nathan said, "I have to save him! Look, I don't even care about the treasure." Elena shook her head, "The look on your face when you came into this room…" Nathan sighed, his conscience pricking at him. He had tried denying it, but he had indeed become obsessed with the treasure. "If you're done lying to me you should stop lying to yourself." Elena said. A tear went down Elena's face. "I got a plane to catch." She said. Nathan looked at the ground. "You do what you have to do," Elena said. She opened the door, walked out, and shut it, leaving Nathan back in the room. Nathan sighed and looked off in his wife's direction. Then, he turned around and walked back to the desk. "Hey." Sully said, "What are you doing? Go after her!" "We're not done here," Nathan replied. Sully took a step forward, "Well maybe we should be," he said. Nathan turned around. "What are you saying?" he asked. "I'm saying maybe there's a smarter way to save Sam." "Such as?" "Such as, we give him a new identity. We put him in hiding somewhere, I got contacts," "He's been in prison fifteen years!" Nathan interrupted, "He's not going into hiding." Sully nodded, "Alright fine, you go after your wife! Sam and I will head off for Libertalia." "Without me?" Nathan asked, "Come on, you'll get both of you killed." Sully huffed, "Really?" he chuckled and walked over beside Nathan, "Look kid I've been doing this for quite a long time. I think I can handle-" "Look you want to be helpful Sullivan?" Nathan asked louder than he had to, "Then keep an eye on her!" Nathan sighed and put both his hands on the desk chair, gripping it with all his might. Soon, his grip relaxed, and he started looking at the papers and maps, pretending Sully wasn't there. Sully nodded, "Whatever you say," he said in a low tone of voice. He heard Sully walk away, open the door, and leave. He kept shifting the papers and maps around, but he wasn't really looking at any of them. He couldn't abandon now, but Elena was in the right and he knew it. They had known each other for ten years, and never once had Nathan betrayed her like this. The fact that he had lied to her had eaten at him, but he had shoved the thought out of his mind. Sam walked up, "You uh…need a hand with anything?" "I got it!" Nathan snapped, "Just pack your bags." Sam nodded, and then he left the room. As the door closed, Nathan just stood still, looking at everything. The dim light of the lamp cast long shadows on the wall. He had a terrible feeling of being all alone, and the worse feeling that he had been the one that caused it.
Driving across the ocean, Nathan stared out into the bright turquoise waters. He had chartered a boat, and Sam was driving it. They were getting ever closer to Libertalia, and the weather was perfectly clear. The clouds in the sky were puffy and white, and the sky was just as blue as the water. The outboard motor whirred along, but Nathan didn't hear it. While Sam was navigating the boat, Nathan was sitting at the very back, Elena was the only thing on his mind. While covered in guilt, he wasn't repentant. He was sorry for what he had done, but not sorry enough. His obsession with the treasure was blinding him, and he couldn't see clearly enough to see the pain he was causing. He wished Elena would come back, but he didn't take the effort to go after her. Instead, he was on a boat, heading in the opposite direction. His thoughts were interrupted by Sam, "Hey Nathan!" he called, "Yeah?" Nathan said. "Land ho," Sam replied. Nathan got up walked over to the windshield. Sam was smiling wide. "How do you like that huh?" he said. There, a few miles ahead, was the hazy outline of an island. Nathan didn't know exactly what it looked like. "That's pretty cool," he said simply. Sam looked at Nathan, then gave him a friendly slap on the shoulder, "Here," he said, "Take the wheel for a sec." Sam walked to the back of the boat, "You know," he said, "all this running around, surviving by the skin of our teeth, I don't think we've taken a proper moment to appreciate just how far we've come." Sam had grabbed two bottles of beer from the back, and he handed one of them to Nathan. Nathan took it, and took a swig, before putting the bottle in the cup-holder and sighing deeply. Sam nodded, and holding his bottle said, "Listen little brother," he put his bottle in a holder, "she will get over it. I mean if we bring back a treasure like that...anybody would." Nathan shook his head, "No, I don't know," he said, "I think maybe I've…I've done this one too many times." Sam sighed and looked at the ground. He wouldn't know. The boat cut through the water, and soon they reached the waters off of Libertalia. There were many reefs and sandbars off the coast, and the island itself looked quite rocky, but not as big as Nathan was expecting. Sam said the same, "I was expecting it to be a bit bigger," Sam said. Nathan shrugged, "Well we're definitely in the right place," he said. Nathan began accelerating the motor towards the island. Sam looked at Nathan and said, "Yeah well...at least there's an island, right?" "Yeah," Nathan replied, "at least there's an island. Just keep an eye out for anything man-made." "Ah," said Sam, "you mean pirate-made!" Nathan shook his head. As they approached Libertalia, the size of it continued to underwhelm the two. "You know," Sam said, "Crazy worldwide treasure hunt aside, Avery had the right idea." "How's that?" asked Nathan. Sam shrugged and said, "Well he travelled the world, lived by his own ruled, and made his fortune, his way." Nathan cocked his head to the side, "Sure." He said, "Apart from the huge bounty on his head…" "Come on," Sam said, "It all depends on how his story ends right? Maybe in the end it was all worth it." Nathan nodded, "He hoped it would all be worth it for him as well. Now, they were right next to the island, and there was a small channel that cut the island in two. The channel was barely deep enough for their boat to drive through. Suddenly Sam called out, "Hey Nathan! Up there!" Nathan saw Sam point up, over towards the island. There was a small cylinder shaped tower high up on a rocky cliff-side that looked like a short grain silo. "Well that definitely qualifies as man-made," said Nathan. He drove the boat up to the shore, tossed out the anchor, and jumped onto the sandy beach. They began making their way up the rocky hill towards the tower. There was a sort of canyon in the center of the island, the tower on the right side. Nathan and Sam walked through it. The jungle began giving Nathan flashbacks of finding El Dorado with Elena. Then, thinking of her, he immediately thought again of his betrayal. Would Elena ever trust him again? Would she ever be able to love him again? He had only wanted to protect her. Should he have just told her to start with? She may not have liked it but she may have accepted it. She was an adventurer too after all. Too late to think about it. He sighed and they made it to the other end of the island. The beach on that side was a lot wider, and Nathan noticed something strange. It was a square post, but tied to the post was a moldering skeleton. "Whoa," Nathan said, "Wonder what this guy did." Sam shrugged, "Maybe he wouldn't stop singing sea shanties…" Nathan shook his head, "Yeah, that's probably it." He looked to the side, and leaving the skeleton, he saw stone steps carved into the rocks leading to the tower. At least he wouldn't have to climb. He started climbing them, but Elena still didn't leave his mind. He thought back to that night they had talked about his wife's article. She had asked him if he had been happy. Nathan could say with absolute truthfulness that he had been. Elena had changed his life for the better in so many wonderful ways, but now, for Elena, those doubts would be made manifest. He knew that she would now almost certainly believe that Nathan had been discontent and restless, and she hadn't really made him happy. That tortured Nathan. The more he thought about it, the more he came to grips with just how awfully he had screwed up his relationship, perhaps permanently. He shook his head, as if trying to throw the thoughts out of his head. Deep down, he knew he should've gone after her, but he had chosen to go after the treasure instead. He buried that thought, trying to justify his conscience into submission. It was too late. He had made his choice. No going back. Soon he came to the top of the hill. The tower was right in front of him. It was another old lookout tower, but not as large as the ones in Madagascar. "Let's see if we can spot something from up there," said Sam. Nathan entered the tower. There was a spiral staircase up the tower that extended out of the walls. Nathan and Sam walked up, the stairs dropping dust on the floor below. At the very top of the tower was something strange. Half of the top was floored, and the wall on the floored part was different. There was what looked like an artistic design of either flowers or vines, and in the center of it was a circular symbol. The symbol looked like an arrow pointing up. Nathan didn't know what to make of it. "What is that?" Sam asked. "Some kind of symbol," Nathan replied. Sam walked up, with a raised eyebrow, "Looks like a compass arrow," he said. Sam looked it over, then extended his hand and pressed it. The arrow pressed in, and the wall suddenly began to part in the middle, opening up. Nathan could see the boat, and suddenly he saw down on the sandy beach, another arrow rise up out of the ground, pointing out to sea. "Whoa," Nathan said, "How did you know to do that?" Sam chuckled, "Well there's one thing I've learned from you," Sam said, "Press everything." Nathan chuckled. Nathan turned, and they began making for the arrow. After climbing back down the tower and returning to the beach, Nathan looked at the arrow. He knew their exact location on the island, and he took out the map he had drawn up from King's Bay. He marked down the direction the arrow told them to go, and they both got in the boat. They started driving, but after a while they didn't see any more arrows. Confused, Nathan drove around for a while. Suddenly he saw a dark shape in the water. It was one of the arrows. They were underwater. Nathan saw it pointed slightly northeast of their previous direction. He began driving that way, and suddenly they came to another sandbank. This one was slightly larger, and there was all kind of debris on it. Curious, Nathan drove over. They got off the boat. There was a huge rocky outcrop on the one end of the sandbank. Nathan looked over all the debris. There was nothing of any value lying around, just empty wooden crates and other refuse. Nathan walked over and started passing the large stone. Suddenly he saw something poking out of the water. He walked over. It was a ship's mast! There was a large sunken pirate ship in the water, its tattered flag still fluttering around in the tropical breeze. Sam had remained on the boat, and Nathan had to swim out a bit to get back to the boat. While he swam, he heard Sam yell, "Marco!" "Who's Marco?" Nathan asked, "Forget it," Sam replied. They looked for the next arrow, and soon they saw one. It pointed directly into the island itself. Nathan drove towards the island, which was a straight up cliff at this end. As he turned he suddenly saw an opening in the cliff. It was a large cave-like chasm in the rock. Nathan looked at Sam, "Secret cave…looks promising." Sam nodded. The cave was partially underwater, and there was a set of stone stairs that were carved out of the cave wall up to the top of the cave. Sunlight leaked through roof of the cave. Nathan turned the boat off and threw the anchor into the water, before jumping onto the gravelly cave floor. There were large stalactites poking out of the ground, and water leaking over the cave walls, with moss growing in large patches. "Man we're lucky nobody ever found this place," Sam said, "The whole thing would be a tourist attraction." Nathan looked around for some way to get to the top of the cave. The stone steps had crumbled away, and were no longer climbable. He looked and saw something much more promising. In the middle of the cave was a gigantic stone pillar, not man-made, and it had quite a lot of climbable footholds. Nathan got into the cockpit of the boat and drove the boat right up against the pillar. He stopped, jumped onto the roof of the boat, and then jumped onto a small ledge on the pillar. Sam followed after Nathan. As he hopped over each foothold, he heard Sam call, "Hey, you gotta admit, this is pretty cool." Nathan grunted, "What," he asked, "climbing this cliff?" Sam jumped up to another ledge, "Yes!" he said, "Climbing this cliff on a giant secret pirate island, I mean come on!" Nathan chuckled, "Right…" he said. Nathan had climbed to the top of the pillar. Next to him was the cliff wall, and the wall opened up out of the cave and onto the island. Nathan took a deep breath, and leapt off the pillar. He grabbed a ledge on the cave wall, and shimmied over to the exit, before jumping onto the green grass outside the cave. They were now a good distance above the ocean. He turned around, "You OK Sam?" he asked. "Yeah!" Sam called back, "I just gotta make sure I don't fall to my death back here…" He heard Sam grunt loudly, then heard him hit the cave wall. Sam shimmied, and then jumped onto the ground next to Nathan. Suddenly, they both saw something right in front of them. Before them, carved out of the cliff-side was what looked like a grand entrance gate. There was a large, broad stone staircase that gently led into the entrance. There were stone pillars beside the gate, and standing on top of the pillars were large statues of pirates holding cutlasses at the ready. Judging by the faces of the statues, Nathan could tell that the likenesses were of Avery and Tew. "Wow." Nathan said, Avery sure wasn't one for subtlety or understatement wasn't he?" "Well he had the money," Sam replied, "If you got it, flaunt it right?" Nathan was impressed by the scale of the entrance. It seemed like it had been built by Roman or Greek sculptors or builders. "Come on," said Sam, "Let's get a closer look." Nathan and Sam jogged over towards the gate. Nathan however saw a big problem. The archway that you were to walk through was blocked by boulders. Nathan sighed. Beside the door on each side were stone carved crucifixes of St. Dismas. While still standing, quite a bit of the stonework was crumbling, and vines were creeping up its walls. Nathan saw the massive pile of rocks blocking the entryway. "Oh look," he said, "the main entrance is blocked by debris…again." Sam shrugged and said, "Well I guess Avery's builders didn't take hundreds of years of exposure to the elements into account." "Clearly." Nathan replied. Nathan stood there looking around, then he saw a cliff next to the entrance. He clambered up the side, and saw a small cave that went through the cliff edge to another chasm. He jumped back onto the cliff, Sam below. "Lots of climbing, and jumping everywhere huh?" Sam said. "Well it's the glamorous life of a treasure hunter," Nathan replied. The cliff edge then ended, and they had reached more or less the top of the hill. There was a large opening with crumbling stone arches. There was a stone staircase that led, Nathan hoped, up to the other side of the entryway. "What do you think this place was?" Sam asked. Nathan looked around, "Well these archways remind me of the St. Dismas cathedral," he said, "But I don't exactly know." He continued looking around. This island was so lush and green, but it was very mountainous. The island was more of an overgrown rocky crag than a jungle. The clearing they were in had a cliff edge to either side, about thirty to forty feet apart. "Hey look up there!" Sam said, "A rope bridge!" Nathan looked up. There was a rope bridge, about eighteen feet above him. Nathan looked around. There was an aging wood and rope ladder that led up to the higher cliff, but it was too high for Nathan to jump and grab. Nathan called Sam over, and boosted him up. Sam climbed the ladder. "See anything up there?" Nathan asked. "Uh, there's a path," Sam replied, "But I'll have to find a way to get you up here, hang on…" Nathan looked down. The ledge he was on suddenly ended, and dropped hundreds of feet down into the ocean. He turned around back into the clearing, and saw Sam crossing the bridge. Suddenly one of the ropes on the bridge snapped. Sam leapt across before the other one snapped, and the entire bridge collapsed. "Sam!" Nathan shouted, "You OK?" "Yeah I'm fine," Sam said, "At least I'm on the other side." He looked back at Nathan, "OK, I still need to get you up here, hang tight." He waited for a bit. A few moments passed and still no word from Sam. "Hey! Sam! Anything!?" he yelled up. No answer. "Sam! You still there!?" Still no answer. "Sam!" He huffed, "Come on," he said. He sighed, "Well let's see," he said under his breath, "I ruined my marriage, drove my best friend away, got two psychos and their army after me, and now my brother's gone missing." He shook his head, "Well at least on the bright side I don't have anybody around me to tell me what a stupid idiot I truly am…" He sighed again, then began looking around. He noticed that the broken bridge had reached down to the ground after it split in half. He climbed up it and onto the ledge Sam was on. When he did, he saw something. There was a small man-made cave in the cliff-wall. It didn't go in deep, and Sam wasn't there. He saw something laying there on the rocks. He picked it up. It was an ornately carved wooden elephant carving. Made by the people of India. Nathan looked it over, then put it in his satchel. He saw movement along the ledge he was standing on. He peeked around the corner, and saw Sam looking down. Sam saw Nathan too, "You're already up here?" Sam asked. Nathan walked over, "Where were you?!" Nathan asked. "Finding a way to get you up." Sam replied. Nathan shook his head, "Everything OK?" Sam asked, "Yeah," Nathan replied still slightly annoyed, "Fine. Let's keep going." "Alright," Sam said. They walked to the very end of the ledge, which poked out like Pride Rock. From it you could see over almost all of the small island chain. The sandbars, palm trees and sparkling crystal clear ocean water made for a feast for the eyes. The sun was warm, but not overwhelmingly hot, and a refreshing sea breeze was constantly blowing gently over them. Nathan though wasn't quite thinking about the view. "You didn't hear me?" He pressed to Sam. "When?" Sam asked, "Back there," Nathan replied, "I called to you." Sam shrugged, "No, I didn't hear you. Why, were you worried?" Nathan nodded, "Well yeah…" Nathan shook his head. He looked behind him and saw more stone stairs leading up to the top of the cliff. Nathan and Sam climbed up. At this point, they were above the gate itself. After climbing all the way to the top Nathan saw something, it was another watchtower. Nathan looked inside. This one had yet another spiral staircase on it, and was basically identical in shape to the first one. Nathan could even see the other watchtower on the far side of the island from where they were. Nathan beckoned for Sam to enter, and they both walked inside and began climbing the steps. After climbing a few steps Sa chuckled and said, "So back at the orphanage, did you ever think we'd be doing crazy stuff like this?" "No I can't say that I did," Nathan replied, "Good training though," he said. This watchtower didn't have any arrows, and instead had a trapdoor that opened to the top of the tower. Nathan opened it and climbed onto the roof. He saw another wooden rope bridge connected to it that led to the top of the cliff. Nathan and Sam crossed it without any mishaps, and then, standing on the tallest cliff, they saw a muddy slope right in front of them that led down to the ledge right above the gate itself. "Looks like we're heading down," Nathan said. "Right behind you!" replied Sam. They both slid down the slope, and landed on a ledge. The ledge was positioned diagonally away from the gate, and just a little bit above it. "That is the second biggest cistern I've ever seen," Nathan said now realizing what it was. "Wait, where was the biggest?" Sam asked, "I'll tell you later," Nathan replied, "As above, so below. Come on, let's get down there." Nathan looked for a way to jump the gap to the gate. They were now behind the gate, but they needed to get down to the ground. Nathan latched his grappling hook onto a sturdy root and began rappelling down. When he reached the bottom, he let Sam down, and then he tugged on the hook and it returned to him. He looked around awestruck. They were in a circular courtyard, with the gate on one end, surrounded by cliffs on every other end. The courtyard was overgrown, and water was falling from a cliff in a showering waterfall. There were many exotic flowers growing over the place, and the cliffs had many carved designs, the most prolific being the sideways skull of Henry Avery. The walls of the yard continued to stun the two, until Nathan came to himself and started looking. He saw an elaborately decorated doorway carved out of the cliff, which led to a storeroom, with old goods still inside. The room he was inside now was a completely natural cave, which the pirates had turned into their rooms. It had almost completely blended in with the outside at this point, with the storeroom now separated from its adjacent room with a deep pool of water. Nathan dove into the chilly water and swam over to the opposite room. He shivered a bit, but warmed up quickly. There were tree roots growing out of the ceiling, and part of the roof had caved in, letting sunlight pour inside. The room looked different from the other, as if it was some sort of planning room. As soon as he entered, he saw a table. On the table were blueprints, or brown-prints rather, that were too faded for Nathan to read, though he could just barely see the foggy outlines of some sort of building. At the other end of the room was a large wooden table, with books and chairs on it. The room was small, about the size of a small apartment level, and was almost completely part of the natural cave, the only man-made part of the cave was the clay tile floor. There was a wrought-iron chandelier hanging from the ceiling. Suddenly he noticed an even stranger part of the room: a diorama of what looked like an upscale British community near London. He knew it wasn't however. Beside the wooden buildings were not oak or ash trees, but palm trees. "Hey Sam," Nathan said, "Come check out this diorama!" Sam walked over, "It looks like a city street," he said. "Do you think they really built all this stuff?" Nathan made a quick sketch of it in his journal, "With these guys," he replied, "I don't know anymore." There, beside the diorama, was another building plan, but this time the drawing was quite clear. It looked like a massive cathedral, far grander than Nathan had ever seen. Sam walked over and looked at it. He chuckled, "Maybe they were planning a massive theme park." Nathan chuckled, "Pirate Land." He said. Sam laughed. Nathan looked at the diorama again. The gears inside his brain turning. He was beginning to realize the massive scale of this entire enterprise. He had started out thinking that it was just Avery and Tew teaming up and pooling their treasure, then more legendary pirate captains joined their ranks, Christopher Condent, Anne Bonny, and Adam Baldridge just to name a few. The seeming pool looked as if it was growing and growing, and now, this room. It seemed as if the pirates were forming their own civilization. It made the hair on the back of Nathan's neck tingle. This could be one of the greatest pirate discoveries of all time. Nathan walked around the room again, and saw a large painting hanging on the wall. It looked as if it was brand new, locked away in this cave away from the sunlight. This particular room also looked the least water damaged. It was titled, The First Battle, and it pictured a gigantic frigate attacking a smaller sloop. "Huh…" Sam mused, "That's Avery's ship attacking the Gunsway." "How it all started," Nathan replied. There were two other paintings beside that, and this one was even more interesting than the first. It was titles, Our Code, and it pictured Henry Avery pompously holding what looked like a scroll high above his head, Thomas Tew beside him, and all the other pirate captains cheering uproariously. "Sam look," Nathan said, "It's Avery and Tew. Holding court over their captains." "It looks like they're writing their code of conduct," Sam said. Nathan nodded, "Pirate Bill of Rights." He said almost to himself. The next painting told even more of the story. It pictured Avery's sigil, in the very center, and all around him like stars were smaller sigils, of all the other pirate captains, eleven in total. The picture's title was, The Founders. Sam looked at Nathan with an extremely excited look, "Nathan this is…this is the story of the founding of Libertalia!" Nathan shook his head taking it all in. He turned and looked at the diorama again. He suddenly noticed something, it was a small pure gold statue. Nathan picked it up. Avery had a stern face, made even sterner by his glaring eyes, glinting golden. Nothing else to see in that amazing room, Nathan emerged back into the courtyard. All around him were the cliffs, turning the courtyard almost into a kind of cylinder. He looked around. He saw a large archway in the courtyard that was taller than the rest. Nathan and Sam walked inside. It opened into a large hallway. At the center of the hallway was a large wooden gate that opened upwards like a castle door. In front of the door was a large button that you stood on to open the door. The button had Avery's sigil on it. Nathan stepped on it, and the door began to rise, before it stopped, and fell back to the ground. "Ah…The mechanism's busted," Nathan said, "We'll have to lift it." Nathan walked over beside Sam, and gripping the bottom of the door, they both grunted and strained as they hefted the door upwards. "Just…think about…all that treasure!" Sam said. Nathan slid under, "Yeah, just thinking about my back!" Nathan replied. Sam then slid under, and Nathan let the door crash down. When they entered they saw a huge circular room. Inside the room, at its center, was a raised platform in the shape of Madagascar. Surrounding the platform was ornate blue colored floor. Standing at regular intervals at the walls were eleven statues of the pirate captains that had teamed up with Avery. Everybody from Edward England to Richard Want. Everybody was there, except for the person Nathan was most expecting to see. "Where's Avery?" Sam asked. Nathan looked around, but couldn't see him. They looked around the room, but no treasure. Each of the statues were carven with extraordinary skill. They saw another cylindrical shaped room next to the big room. The small room was very small in fact, and more than five people would have a hard time fitting inside. There was a lever in the middle, and the floor was decorated to look like the sun. Nathan and Sam looked at the lever, and Nathan reached out, and pulled it. The floor suddenly shivered, and then began going up. They were inside an elevator. "OK," Nathan said, "Where to now?" The elevator stopped, and they saw where they were. The watchtower they had been inside was just above them, on another part of the island. Suddenly, rising out of the side of the island, was a gigantic Avery statue. It rose out of the ground like a soul out of the grave, before it stopped climbing, and stood there, a gigantic stone overseer. "Well there's your missing Avery statue," Nathan said. Sam chuckled and crossed his arms, "You know," he said, "I'm starting to get the feeling our friend was a bit of a narcissist." Nathan chuckled himself, "You think?" Sam smiled, "Let's go see what the captain has in store for us," he said. Nathan suddenly noticed the weather. It had shifted. It was no longer clear, but the sky in the near distance was dark and brooding, and Nathan could see flashes of lighting in the air. He looked down, the ocean was right below them, and it was beginning to get choppy. He could hear thunder rumbling, coming ever nearer. The sky continued to grow ever dimmer, and more brooding. There was a storm coming, and they needed to get back to the boat.
After getting back to, and boarding the boat, Nathan took the steering wheel. "OK," Sam said, "Island with monstrous Avery statue on the right." He rubbed his hands together, "I am so excited my hands are…My hands are literally shaking." Nathan nodded, "Yeah, I know the feeling." He said. "It's either that or I need another cigarette," said Sam, "Maybe it's a little bit of both." Nathan rolled his eyes and soon they came to the island with the statue. Nathan parked the boat right beside the statue, which was on top of a man-made cliff or pedestal. It was very high, about the height of a two-story building counting the pedestal. Sam looked at the statue, "It looks like he's got a spyglass," Sam said, "But he's not really looking through it." Nathan cocked his head, "Yeah, you're right." He said. Avery was holding the spyglass beside his head, as if he was handing it to somebody behind him. As they climbed up the pedestal's staircase, the weather continued to get worse. It was now beginning to rain, and the wind was kicking up, bending the palm trees. The thunder was also steadily getting louder, and becoming more frequent. Soon, they arrived at the back of the statue, and Nathan saw a staircase that led up behind the spyglass for him to look through. He walked up and looked through it. He could see perfectly through it, and it pointed to another island. Flashes of lightning lit up the island. "There…" Nathan said. "So?" Sam asked, "Big skull-shaped island? What?" "Big island," Nathan replied. He jumped down off the statue, "No skull." Sam stepped forward excitedly, "That's gotta be it!" he said, "Libertalia." Thunder rumbled above their heads. "That's optimistic considering everything…" Nathan said. Sam shook his head. "You know it's just us here." He said, "You can feel just a tiny bit of excitement over this." Nathan chuckled, "Well I'll get excited once we get Alcazar's noose of your neck." Nathan began walking back to the boat, but Sam hung back and put his fingers to his eyes, "OK…" he said. Nathan sighed and turned around. "What?" he asked sternly. "I just said OK." Sam replied. Nathan shook his head, "No, no, no, no, no, no. You're 'OKs' are never just OK. It usually means the opposite of OK." Sam looked at the ground, and then they both heard something. Something bad. It sounded like motorboats. They rushed over to look at the ocean. There were about a dozen small patrol boats in the water, and one really big boat. Nathan sighed, "Is that our boy Rafe?" "Who else?!" Sam said as he turned around and walked quickly back to the boat."