Chapter 13
For Better or Worse
"So," said Elena, "We're headed to the north side of the island?" "Yeah New Devon," replied Nathan, "It's home to the founders of Libertalia." Elena nodded, "And that's where Rafe is taking your brother now?" "Yeah," said Nathan, "the treasure is probably there, I just need to save Sam before they find it." They both began running into the jungle together. They had both been through so much together, and Nathan was incredibly grateful that Elena was there. His happiness almost overcame his shame, though he admired Elena for giving him a second chance. He only hoped to be able to repay her one day, though he knew he might never be able. After a bit of walking they came to a muddy slope. "Look," said Elena pointing up to the top of the slope. Nathan saw a Shoreline jeep sitting on a large ledge of rock. "I borrowed it from your Shoreline friends," Elena said with a grin. Nathan huffed, "You slid all the way down there?" Elena nodded, "Yeah it was the quickest way to get down to you. I watched your exchange with Rafe, saw you fall and I slid down." Nathan nodded. That explained how she was able to find him so fast. "Now we just have to find a way back up," she said. Nathan looked around. Just beside him was a ladder, though the bottom part of it had rotted away. Elena walked over to it. "Here, give me a boost," she said. Nathan held his hands and she struggled up onto his shoulders, before jumping onto the ladder, "It's been a while," Elena said, "I guess I'm a bit out of it…" Nathan chuckled, "Well you could come to the gym with me every so often," Elena laughed, "I'll think about it," she said. Although it had been a while since Elena had last adventured, Elena hadn't let herself become too comfortable in her chair. She regularly worked out, though climbing up rotting ladders wasn't usually on her regiment. Elena kicked the ladder down for Nathan, who clambered up. After reaching the top, they both jogged down a jungle path. The soil in this area of the jungle was orange, and there were large patches of yellow flowers. There were two rock cliffs on either side of them about fourteen feet tall. As they continued down the path Nathan tried to strike up some conversation, "So…" he said, "have you been here long?" "On the island?" replied Elena, "A few hours now." Nathan nodded, "Did you see the colony?" he asked. "I did," said Elena, "from the air." "Pretty incredible right?" Nathan said. Elena shook her head, "Well I didn't really get the full tour. I was a little preoccupied with finding you." "Right," said Nathan. They began walking through a stream. The water was incredibly clean, and it flowed swiftly down into a waterfall that ended in a crystal clear pool. "So," Nathan said still trying to get background info, "did Sully fill you in on everything here?" Elena nodded, "Yep," she replied, "Henry Avery, four-hundred million, twelve founders, hundreds of colonists...Something like that?" Nathan nodded, "Yeah pretty much. You got it. The four hundred million doesn't even matter anymore…" They suddenly came to a large opening. They were now on the side of one of the mountains. At least a hundred feet above where Elena had found Nathan. Through the opening, Elena looked to her right. She saw what looked like some large, primitive wooden elevator. "Hey Nathan!" she called. Nathan came over, "It looks like some sort of elevator," she said. Nathan shrugged, "Sure looks like it" Nathan replied "I'm telling you what, Avery must've recruited the best engineers of his time." "He must've used it to move his supplies up-river," Elena said. "Yeah, that's a fair bet," Nathan said. Now how to get to the elevator. Nathan looked around for some way to get up to it. "Look," said Elena, "Up there. There's an opening. And a ladder too." Nathan nodded, that was the only way up. There was a cliff-side that Nathan saw. "We can climb that cliff there," Nathan said. Elena nodded and jogged off to it. Suddenly she began jumping up the ledges with all the speed and agility of a cheetah. Nathan shook his head. She must've been at the gym while he was away. There was no other explanation. Nathan climbed up the cliff-side quite a bit slower than Elena. When he reached the top Elena smiled mischievously, "Out of it Mr. Drake?" she asked. Nathan gave her a look and smiled, "I will be once we get Sam and get out of here," he replied. They came to the ladder, but it was too high for Nathan to reach. He boosted Elena up the ladder. On the third step the ladder cracked and fell a few inches. "Elena be careful!" Nathan said with concern. "I'm OK," Elena said. She carefully climbed up the rest of the ladder, which thankfully didn't fall, at least while she was on it. As soon as she climbed onto the ledge, the ladder crumbled and fell to the ground in pieces. "Oh, sorry!" Elena said, "I'll find a way to get you up." Nathan nodded, "OK!" he replied. After a few seconds he heard Elena call, "Hey! There's a path up here!" A few more seconds and Elena said, "Alright! Here! Look out below!" Suddenly she shoved a large crate down to the ground. "Thanks!" Nathan called up. He looked around. There was a stone pillar in the middle of the ledge, and there was a handhold that he couldn't quite reach. He pushed the crate over, stood on it, and climbed up onto the pillar. Spanning the pillar was a large fallen log that reached over to the main cliff Elena was on. He began crossing the log, when suddenly Elena made a massive jump. She leapt from one cliff ledge to the other, at least fifteen feet away. "Whoa…" Nathan said to himself, "Hey nice jump!" Nathan called. Elena looked at Nathan and smiled, "Not bad right?" she called back. Crossing the log again, Nathan sighed and shook his head, "Way to go Nate," he said to himself, "lie to a girl like that…Idiot…" He walked out until he came to the elevator house. There was a waterwheel beside him, and the old rusted gears for what was probably a mill. The elevator was beside him, but too high up. Elena was at the elevator operating panel, too high for him to get to. "Can you get up here?" Elena called. Nathan shook his head, "It's a dead end!" he said. "I'll see if the elevator still works!" Elena yelled down. Nathan shook his head, "Ah I doubt it! It's over 300 years old, it's been exposed to the elements, it's only made of wood…I don't think that-" "Got it!" Called Elena. With a gigantic groan the elevator began creaking down towards Nathan. Shaking his head, Nathan jumped onto one of the outside beams of the elevator. Elena cranked the switch and the elevator began to groan back up. "Next floor, menswear," he said with a chuckle. "You know, the fact that this works is pretty amazing," Elena said. As soon as the words were out of her mouth the elevator jammed and stopped. "Ah," she said, "Jinxed it…" "Don't worry," Nathan said, "I'll meet you up top." Nathan jumped onto a small ledge of the cliff and shimmied over to his right. After a while, the cliff curved around ninety degrees and ended, meeting back to the mountainside. There was a tree branch poking out of the cliff, and Nathan jumped onto it. He began swinging back and forth to jump back onto the mountain, when suddenly he heard two voices. "Hey Rogers, you got any smokes?" Nathan stopped swinging. "Yeah but they're sopping wet. Had a bit of an accidental swim." Suddenly the two men turned around the corner. They were two Shoreline mercenaries. "Hey! Up there! It's Drake!" shouted one of them. Nathan held the branch with one hand, and he pulled out his pistol. He shot off three rounds then the magazine clicked. He was empty and he missed the three times. Suddenly he saw Elena come around the corner. She shot at one of the men and he fell. The other one turned around to face Elena, but she shot before he could react. Thoroughly impressed, Nathan swung onto the ground. "Nice moves hon," he said. "Nothing to it," Elena replied, "Now then…Where's the car?" Nathan looked around. "It'll be easier to spot from higher ground," he replied. Before they did, Elena, with her hands on her hips, stared up at the elevator. Nathan stood beside her, "You should've seen the stuff Avery built in Scotland," he said, "I mean there was this huge-" "Hold up," Elena interrupted, "You went to Scotland too?" Nathan immediately switched into explanation mode, "Oh, uh…Yeah…You see the last place Avery was uh…" Elena chuckled, "Relax," she said, "Sully filled me in." "Ah, right." Nathan said relieved. He shook his head and said, "Yeah well…I mean I…At least I didn't lie again." Elena nodded and looked at Nathan with eyes half closed, a wry smile on her face, "Mmm-Hmm," she said, "You don't get brownie points for doing what you're supposed to do pal…" Nathan would've chuckled, but he really wasn't in a position to…
They had climbed up to higher ground, and were now at the top of the mountain. This particular mountain was much lower in elevation than the others, and the top was a flat rock nearly, swampy for the most part and trees with massively wide trunks towering everywhere. There, just to their right several hundred yards away was their car. Nathan and Elena heard raised voices, and saw several Shoreline mercenaries looking at the jeep Elena had stolen. "They found our jeep!" Nathan said. "Technically it's their jeep," Elena said. Nathan heard one man shout, "You think she's with Drake?" "Gotta be!" replied another, "Some men said they heard a prop plane too!" Nathan and Elena slowly made their way towards the jeep, keeping out of sight of the Shoreline mercenaries. When they came to about fifty feet of the jeep, Elena made a crazy suggestion, "You think we can just hop in and drive out of here?" Nathan looked at her with a raised eyebrow, then thinking through it, he realized that it could work. "Worth a shot…" he said after a bit. They waited until the majority of the mercenaries had their back turned, then they made a break for it. Nathan lunged into the driver's seat. "Elena!" he said sharply. Elena jumped into the passenger's seat and Nathan turned on the engine. Suddenly he heard one of the mercenaries shout, "Hey! The car! They're getting away!" Nathan shoved his foot on the gas pedal and they revved forward. The car lunged forward, and several mercenaries started shooting the jeep. Fortunately, they were able to blow out of the camp and drive far away. They ended up in the middle of another river, this one flowing much faster than the others. This area of the jungle was nowhere near as thick as the parts near Saint Maries, and it was sparse enough to drive a jeep through. The reason for the sparseness was the soil. It was almost totally made up of huge flat rocks, with moss growing on it. Where there wasn't rock, there was mud. Driving through the river, Elena looked at Nathan, "So here's my question," she said, "Why does Rafe Adler need Avery's treasure? It's not like he needs the money." Nathan shook his head and shrugged, "He wants the glory," he said, "You can't buy that with money. He doesn't want to be known as a guy who got super-rich only because of his inheritance. Walking away isn't an option for him." Elena nodded, "Well Rafe is a good match for Shoreline," she said, "he needs their muscle and they need his money." Nathan raised an eyebrow, "They do? They seemed pretty well stocked." "Shoreline got in a few civil wars that didn't pan out for them," Elena replied, "Nadine inherited her father's mess. She's probably hoping that this'll put her back on the map." Nathan nodded, he hadn't really done much research on Shoreline's history. Shoreline was out to kill him, that's pretty much all he needed to know. Nathan soon found what looked like a pathway through the jungle. It was well carved out, and it led straight towards New Devon. The path was made of cobblestone, and after a bit they passed an angel statue sitting on the right side of the pathway. That settled it in Nathan's mind. This was the road to New Devon. The path stretched on until they came to a large basin of water, an extremely shallow lake that spread out over the area. Several small waterfalls poured into it. Nathan looked up to see the upper part of the mountain. He saw another elevator, though this one was far larger than the previous one. "Whoa," said Nathan, "Check out that elevator!" "It's massive," Elena replied. As they began driving towards it, Nathan chuckled, "I bet you could write an awesome article about all of this…" Elena laughed, "I could," she said, "But I doubt anybody would believe it." "Well you could take pictures, right?" Nathan asked. Elena shook her head, "I could've, but I didn't bring my camera…Kind of wish I did though…" Though this remark would've gone unnoticed by many others, Nathan was touched. Elena brought her camera with her wherever she went. Even going to the grocery store she kept a camera in her car in case she saw anything interesting, whether an animal or accident. It was the journalist in her that had never quite left when she left the job. But the fact that she left it behind when she knew full well that she was coming to a pirate colony, showed Nathan that Elena was only here to find him. Now, they both were going to rescue Sam, together. After a bit Elena asked Nathan, "So why didn't Sam come straight to you…After Rafe got him out of prison?" "I think he wanted to gather every clue Rafe had on Avery before he bailed on him. Plus he needed time to come up with that crazy Alcazar story…I mean if I had just looked it up!" he sighed, "I mean I guess nobody would expect their brother to lie about something like that…or their husband…" Elena looked at Nathan. She didn't say anything, but he could tell that Elena knew he was sorry. They drove out of the basin, and met back up with the pathway. Nathan saw a very slippery muddy part of the road ahead of them. He looked at Elena, "Uh…does this jeep have a winch?" he asked. Elena shrugged, "I don't know," she replied, "I didn't check." Nathan prayed it did. Soon, they came to the elevator. "That thing is huge," Nathan said, "It looks big enough to fit the car." The elevator wasn't a vertical shape, but it looked like a large wooden crate, almost the length and height of a standard dump truck. Elena drove the car inside and got out. There wasn't a lever inside the elevator, but instead it was on the outside, about thirty feet away. Nathan shrugged and ran over, then pulled the lever. Suddenly the elevator jerked up so suddenly Elena lost her balance and fell on the elevator floor. "Uh, Nate!" Elena called, "The elevator's moving! Get on quick!" Nathan ran over, and jumped onto the side of the elevator. Like looking at an animal in a cage, Nathan looked inside the elevator at Elena. She had a smile on her face and she shook her head, "Hey honey," Nathan said. Elena waved, "How are you?" she asked. "Oh, hanging in there," Nathan replied with a smirk. Elena rolled her eyes. Suddenly bullets began tearing through the air. Five Shoreline mercenaries started shooting Elena. "Get down!" Nathan shouted, "Use the car as cover!" Elena got down and pulled out her pistol. Nathan took his and shot one of the mercenaries down. "Don't shoot at my wife!" Nathan shouted as he shot down the second mercenary. Suddenly three more mercenaries arrived. He saw Nathan shoot another mercenary down, but one of them had his laser sight pointed directly on Elena's back. Nathan whipped around and shot the mercenary before he could kill Elena. The elevator still creeped upwards, but the mercenaries were crawling out of the rock ledges of the cliff. They were hiding behind rock pillars and shooting with fully automatic weapons. Suddenly he heard Elena shout, "Hey! Get off my elevator!" He looked down to see Elena kick a mercenary off the elevator, who fell over fifty feet to the ground. "Elena! You still with me?" Nathan shouted, "Yeah I'm still here!" Elena replied, "The car's got some holes in it though!" The elevator came almost right next to a rock pillar, so close Nathan could reach out and touch it. He saw a mercenary jump off the rock pillar all of the sudden, and onto the roof of the elevator. Nathan climbed onto the roof, and with mercenaries still shooting, Nathan kicked him off the elevator. The mercenary had left his sniper rifle behind. Nathan took it, and aiming for one of the mercenary's, he shot one down. The elevator continued going up until they came to the very top of the cliff. At the top were two Shoreline trailers. There were mercenaries leaving the trailers constantly. Suddenly Nathan saw laser sight come his way. It was a mercenary with an RPG. Nathan boldly aimed, and shot the mercenary in the chest, killing him. He dropped his RPG. "Nate, jump to the cliffs, you'll be able to get a better shot!" Nathan nodded and leapt off the elevator onto the cliff-edge. He climbed up, the mercenaries trailers right in front of him. He saw the body of the man with the RPG. He was close, but right out in the open. Mercenaries were shooting in every direction. He shot one of them down, and made a dash for the RPG. With bullets biting at his heels so close he could feel them dig into the dirt, he darted over, grabbed the RPG, and hid behind a rock. He took aim at one of the trailers and shot. It exploded into the air tremendously, fire billowing into the sky. Most of the mercenaries around the area were blown to their deaths, and some of the others even turned tail and ran. Suddenly the elevator started to move up again. After a bit it met up with the upper station. Nathan heard gunshots coming from there. He ran over, "Elena!" he shouted frantically, "Elena!" He ran over from the side, and saw two mercenaries unloading their magazines at the jeep. Suddenly, the jeep exploded out of the elevator, Elena in the driver's seat. Paying no heed, she ran the mercenaries over and stopped the jeep. Nathan was stunned. He ran over. "You drive!" Elena said. "You sure?" asked Nathan, "You seem to be doing fine." "After all that, I need a break!" Elena said. Nathan shrugged, she'd earned one he guessed. He hopped into the driver's seat. "Well the car looks a bit shot up, but I'm sure we'll be fine," Nathan said. Ignoring the three bullet holes in the windshield Nathan started driving. After they got a good ways away from the elevator Elena looked around and said, "You know I was thinking…All of this engineering and architecture, it doesn't come cheap. This stuff would be incredibly expensive today let alone three hundred years ago. Do you think there's even any treasure left?" Nathan shrugged, "Well we were wondering that ourselves. Only one way to find out…" They had been climbing up all this time, the pathway just continued up and up and up. Soon, they saw yet another elevator. This third elevator was by far the tallest, reaching up the side of an enormous cliff-face. It was at least two hundred feet high. After a bit, they came to it. Before driving inside though, Nathan saw a small house beside the elevator. They both entered. It was small and incredibly modest. "Who lived here?" Elena asked. "Uh, the elevator…keeper…person," Nathan replied. Elena laughed and squinted, "The elevator…keeper…person?" she repeated just as Nathan had. "Yeah," he replied, "I mean how else would you pass pirate safety inspections." Elena nodded. Nathan looked around a bit, and saw a letter lying on a desk. Nathan picked it up and read it. It was dated June 5th, 1718. The letter was written by the elevator keeper, and it spoke of the large amount of weapons entering Libertalia. How the founders, especially Thomas Tew, were acting quite strange and secretive, and that the writer of the letter would defend Libertalia to the death from tyranny. Nathan put the letter in his journal. The founders were pirates after all…After leaving the house they walked over to the elevator. This particular one had a gate in front. Nathan beckoned for Elena to come, and they both got their hands underneath it and grunted and heaved as they both tried to heft the gate up. It was extremely heavy, but they both were able to get into position, and shove it up. Unfortunately, the lock was gone, and it crashed right back down. "I'll hold it," said Nathan through clenched teeth, "Just get the car!" Elena ran back and got into the jeep. She turned it on and began driving. Nathan pushed the gate up with all his might, wincing. He was able to hold it high enough to let Elena and the jeep through, before he got to the other side and dropped the gate, which hit the ground with a thud. "Ah…that's heavy," said Nathan. This time, the switch was inside the elevator. "Well here goes nothing," said Nathan. He pulled the lever, and after a few squeaks and groans, the elevator began clanking upwards. "Three for three," said Elena looking out over the island. Nathan walked over beside her. "Gotta love that pirate engineering," he said. The elevator slowly climbed, smoother than the others. Out of the three, this one was also in the best condition. After a while they passed the tallest trees, which were only about forty feet tall. The eerie, predatory looking mountain was right in front of them. "Wow," said Elena admiring, "It's like a postcard…" Nathan chuckled, "Yeah, Libertalia. Come for the views, stay for the life-or-death gunfights…" Elena laughed softly. A few more moments passed, the mountains in the distance becoming clearer. Nathan put his hands on the railing. He needed to ask her. He wanted to know, "So what made you change your mind?" he asked. Elena cocked her head to the side a bit, "Hm?" she asked. "Well," said Nathan, "You…You said you almost didn't come back." Elena smiled slightly, "Well I couldn't leave you while you were clearly in over your head," she replied, "And you know there's that whole marriage vow thing." Nathan nodded, "For better or worse," he quoted. Elena looked at Nathan, "Yeah," she replied, "For better or worse…Not just for the better…" The elevator came to a stop, and Elena turned around and walked over to the gate, though Nathan stood there for a few more seconds, thinking over what Elena just said. It only made Nathan love her more. He turned around, "Here," Elena said, "Give me a hand with this," Nathan walked over to the gate and they began hefting this one up. Fortunately it was lighter than the bottom one, as they pushed it up, Elena said, "You know, even if you think you're protecting me, you don't have a right to shut me out like that." They pushed the gate up, and it locked in place properly. Elena turned to face Nathan. She sighed, "No matter what it is," she said, "You're supposed to come to me, so we can work it out together…as a team." Nathan sighed, "I know that," he said, "It's just that…I just couldn't…I didn't want to see you get…" He couldn't finish. Elena already knew what he was trying to say. "You know what," she said, "We should just stay focused. There'll be time for this later." She smiled, but Nathan didn't. He nodded and they both got inside the jeep. He got inside the jeep, and turned the keys, "Next stop, New Devon." He said. Driving up the pathway to New Devon, Nathan's thoughts were filled with their past adventures. He and Elena had been through so much together, and even now, after his huge mistake, Elena wasn't leaving him. The sunlight came down from above, and the mossy cobblestones of the path kept rising up and up. Nathan was grateful he could share this with Elena. And now here they were, discovering Libertalia. If this was to be his last adventure, Nathan could accept it. All he cared about now was his family. This time, he wasn't in it for the treasure. He only wanted his brother back. He was willing to make this his final adventure, to make it his "One last time," as he had told Sully way back in Italy. Soon, the path became clearer. He looked to see a tall statue of Captain Avery towering above him. Suddenly Elena's radio buzzed. "Hey!" Sully called in, "Elena? Nate?" Elena picked up the radio, "We're here Sully," she said, "Where are you?" "Still in the air," Sully replied, "Saw a bunch of Shoreline vehicles going north." Nathan sighed, "I guess we'll see them soon," he said. "You two doing OK so far?" Sully asked. "We hit a few hitches but so far so good," Elena replied. "Alright, good," Sully said, "Keep in touch will you? I'm not the 'no news is good news' type." "We'll try," Elena replied, "Over and out." They continued down the path until they reached a stone bridge. "Alright," Nathan said, "New Devon should be just over this bridge." Nathan looked at the bridge. He didn't like it at all. Cracked and crumbled, it looked about as structurally sound as a bridge made of silk. To make matters worse, there was a raging river just below it. He drove the jeep out over it, when suddenly he heard a massive crack. The bridge began to break in pieces. "Nate?!" Elena shouted, "Hold on!" Nathan replied, "Oh I hate bridges!" He slammed his foot on the gas pedal, and the jeep drove forward. The bridge segment they were on suddenly collapsed, and they fell into the water. While only a few feet deep, the current to the river was far too strong for even the best swimmer, and the jeep began drifting along in the current like a stick. "Turn around!" Elena pleaded, "We're heading for the falls!" Nathan looked ahead. There was a huge waterfall just ahead that was the height of a ten story building. The jeep smashed into a gigantic boulder in the middle of the river. "Brace yourself!" Nathan shouted. Suddenly the jeep was wedged between a huge log and another boulder. Fortunately, it was right next to the shore. There was a rock ledge only a few feet above the jeep. Elena jumped up, and pulled herself onto the rock. Nathan got out, and jumped onto the ledge, but his hand slipped and he fell into the backseat of the jeep. Suddenly the log snapped and the jeep began flowing directly towards the falls. There was a small, craggy tree sticking out in front of the waterfall. Nathan got out his grappling hook and threw it to the tree. He jumped off the jeep just before it fell over the falls. He dangled hundreds of feet above the bottom of the waterfall. The jeep exploded in a huge fireball when it hit the ground. "Nate!" Elena shouted. "I'm OK!" Nathan replied. "The tree!" Elena called pointing to it, "The tree is not OK!" The tree wasn't anchored into the ground well at all. He began swinging back and forth, trying to get to the ledge. He swung once, twice, then he leapt off the tree, taking his grappling hook with him. As soon as he leapt off, the tree broke off from the cliff-side and crashed to the ground far below. He landed on the cliff edge. "Here," said Elena giving Nathan her hand. She pulled Nathan up, and they both crouched there on the cliff. Elena looked over the side. "Well," she said, "So much for the car…" They both stood up. Nathan sighed. "Come on," said Elena giving Nathan a weak slap on the arm. As she turned to leave, Nathan shook his head, "I wasn't trying to protect you," he said. Elena turned around and Nathan walked towards her. He needed to say this. He needed to be completely honest with her, "It's just that…It's…I made a promise that I was done with this life." Elena nodded, "We both did," she said. "Yeah, but I broke it…I didn't tell you because I was…because I was afraid." "Afraid of what?" Elena asked. "Of losing you," Nathan answered. Elena stood there. She nodded. She wasn't looking at Nathan, she was looking into the distance, thinking. "I guess I was just protecting myself," Nathan said. Elena put her hands on her hips and nodded. "We have a lot of ground to cover," she said. Elena didn't smile, and she didn't reply. Nathan hoped she could get her to understand his reasons for lying, even though he had gone about it in the total wrong way. "We should keep moving," Nathan said. Elena nodded, and they looked into each other's eyes for a few seconds, before Elena turned and began walking off. Nathan followed, and after walking a bit, he came across a skeleton. He was still holding the withered remains of a piece of paper. Though faded, Nathan could still read it. It read, "I bade farewell to Eleanor and little Abigail at midnight. They joined the other escapees aboard the Swiftsure, bound for better shores. I pray I shall be able to join them soon. The founders have taken everything from me. From all of us. What little gold I have contributed is now gone, or behind the high walls of New Devon. We shall see soon enough. At dawn, we go forth to take back what is rightfully ours. They did not stop us at the treasury, they shall not stop us now. My darling Eleanor, my sweet Abigail, should I perish here, should I fail you, know only that I wished for your safety and happiness. Perhaps you may still have a chance for yourselves." Nathan put the note in his journal and walked around the corner. Suddenly they came to a clearing in the jungle. Laying in a heap on the ground was an entire pile of human bones. Nathan stood there in horror, staring at it all. At least thirty bodies were in an unorganized, rotting pile, the skulls bleached white from the sun. As if that wasn't horrible enough, Nathan looked up to see a skeleton inside a gibbet, which was a cage that they would leave the prisoner inside. The prisoner would then starve to death inside the cage with nothing to do for himself. Hung on this gibbet was the word "traitor." Nathan did a sketch of it in his journal. "Who is this?" asked Elena. "Well look at that," Nathan replied, "It says traitor. He's one of the rebel colonists." A bit further inside the clearing was another gibbet. Nathan huffed, and looked back at the immense pile of bones. Now he knew where all the skeletons were that had been missing inside of Saint Maries. They kept walking along the shore of the raging river. The further they went, the more horrors met them. Still more gibbets, and dead corpses, some with cutlasses and spears inside their ribcages. They came to yet another clearing, and it was the most horrifying of all.