Nathan
Looking at the treasure my eyes lit up, the only treasure I wanted to focus on was looking right back at me – but what did I do? Looked past it. Nice one Nate. I could see Elena, but I could also see something else, something I need to look away from – before she noticed - so had to move my gaze.
"Elena, it's been fun right?"
"What do you mean by that," Elena looked worried, but there was no need.
"You know, finding the treasures and…"
"Nate, what treasure did we find – that didn't nearly kill us?"
"Err, yeah good point."
It was a different time, nothing compared to the events of my past. But I had grown and now had responsibilities that were more dangerous than finding the golden man or the Cintamani Stone. I had found the inhabitants of my lost city – a city I'd never seen before, and I've seen the lost city of Ubar in the Rub' al Khali desert. No, this city was built around family – a home inside peace. I could see Elena talking to me and looked into her eyes remembering how lucky I was to come across her and the adventures we've been on together.
Although a little older than when I met her, she still looked beautiful. Her eyes were looking at me and hair looked golden – with the sun reflecting off it.
"Nate what are you thinking about?"
It had been quite a few years since Libertalia – wow Libertalia that was something. Seeing it – well the remains in person was something else. I remembered the Madagascan mountains sheltering this pirate colony. The site was quite something with thatched roofs and brick buildings. Some looked very expensive. Now mostly demolished – no thanks to Rafe and Nadine and their goons, but I'd been there and now I was here – Barbados – in a pirate themed bar.
"These guys aren't pirates look – that guy over there he doesn't even look the part." I pointed to a guy in a red and white jumper with an eye patch.
"Nate that guy looks like a pirate, except for the parrot, wonder if he's missing an ERRRYE" she said smiling and giggling at her own joke. Which was terrible.
"Elena, that was awful, besides pirate eye patches were worn so they could go between light and dark – when they fought – on the deck or below deck. It's still used in the military today."
I looked back to what I was looking at, listening to Elena talking, but focusing more on the image I had hoped to have found years ago.
"You know too much about this stuff…you salty dog…Nate are you listening to me?"
The design of the teardrop used to fit in place on the bar looked like the stone I'd recently read about. It was pulling me in closer – they'd used the same red paint and gave it a look as though it was shimmering in the light. It was off slightly so I began turning my head. Just to try and get what I could see in my head.
"Nate…Nate?"
"What…what?"
"What are you looking at?"
"At you obviously." I pushed a smile out.
"You're staring and moving your head, it's kindda creepy."
"Ah, didn't realise I was staring."
"I'll get us a drink, watch Cassie."
Elena got up to get a drink of the pirate's special grog. I sat staring at the image, thinking about what it meant. What it represented and the mythical powers the original supposedly held. But I stared too long and the blurriness of what I wasn't focusing on – came into focus. A red headed Russian female smiled back at me.
"Oh, no, no…sorry I wasn't looking at you…"
I was looking at the stone, but Elena thought I was looking at the Russian woman…in the red short skirt. I didn't even know she was there until my vision cleared up. She thought – I don't know what she thought – but I wasn't.
"Nate…you better explain yourself?" She said after slamming the two pints of the pirate's special grog on the table.
I don't see everything in front of me and of course I didn't see the two Russian men walking over to me until the last minute. I looked over at Cassie – playing by the pool. Although she was ten, she was still more brave than I would ever have been at that age. I look back at the woman – just to show her I had a child. She winked at me – I'm sure she thought I was looking at her caboose. I turned to a frowning Elena.
"Elena…no….wait…I!"
The two Russian brutes surround us at my table. They were kindda tall and kindda strong. I had flashbacks of beating the Brute in the Pelican Inn - that London pub – good ol' Charlie Cutter - he helped me deceive Marlowe. But these guys weren't Irish they were Russian, and I imagined they thought I was staring at their girl.
"Er…hi fellas, can I get you a drink? Smirnoff?"
It happened so suddenly, one of the brutes grabbed me – I was tall, but he was much taller – as my feet dangled a few inches off the floor. I realised that maybe they didn't want Smirnoff. I headbutted the brute and the force felt like my head was going to explode. He let me go and I crashed into the table. Knocking the drinks into the air. I had ripped his very well-tailored suit.
Elena looked down on me and said, "I don't think Russian's drink Smirnoff." I'm sure she enjoys watching me get beaten up. I guess I may've deserved it. The other guy tries to grab me as his brute friend bashes into him.
Taking a broken piece of the table I smashed into the brute's face. Bits of splintered wood broke off and fell to the floor. While I tried to push off every punch that came at me, I tried to explain some facts about the drink I offered.
Each punch came at me like an unstoppable freight train….
"While it is true…." Block "Smirnoff is made in the UK, its roots are…." Another block "in Russia." The strike from the brute knocked me back into the table – I needed to catch a breath. I grabbed a glass instead from the woman's table and smashed it into the Brute's face.
What is this guy made of – metal? I thought.
The glass just shattered and didn't faze him one bit. Shards of glass flew in the air. The brute grabbed me and threw me toward the bar – smashing my back into the bar stools lain in front.
Elena just watches me getting beaten up.
"You doing, okay? Need a hand?"
Of course, she was younger than me, and could hold her own. But my daughter was out there – oblivious to what was happening – she was just splashing her legs in the pool – not a care in the world about her old man getting the shit kicked out of him. I wished she could see that her old man could hold his own too. But we didn't want to show her that side of us – not until she was much older.
The wild punches came out in full force, it was time to end this. I rolled over the bar and reached for a bottle the bartender moved out of the way – reaching for the phone he said, "enough of this I'm calling the cops." The brutes back off and I put the bottle down – which was ready to smash over the brute's head.
Elena picked me up after a brute had pulled me from round the bar and threw me on the floor. "Sorry…fellas….maybe we can finish…this some other time?" I said catching every breath as each word tumbled out.
"Okay Nate that's enough, you look a mess – let's get you fixed up. Let's grab Cassie and get back to the hotel."
I hated to admit it, I did like this place it was something I couldn't possibly have imagined as a kid. This was a reimagining of what the Barbadian Pirate Sam Lord may have established with his treasure – it was also built to resemble Tortuga.
Redd Fisher the billionaire had done his research and created this truly wonderous place. Elena wanted to go to Volcano Bay in Disney World – but I wanted to go here, it was right where I needed to be.
I brushed over the minor blood splashes from the minor cuts I had on my face and remembered a time when I was a kid at Saint Francis'. My history teacher – this guy in his twenties – small in height but his frame showed he worked out a little. I remembered the full head of ginger curly hair.
I was Nathan Morgan back then, but that was a long while ago. Way before Sam and I became the Drakes. One of the classmates gave me a hard time – Edward, he'd beat me up a couple of times, but I got him back. He always wanted to get the better of me.
I remember during class the teacher spoke about Sir Francis Drake and his newly acquired navigator Nuno Da Silva. I had learned a thing or two about Drake from my mother's notes and realised that the teacher was saying something that just didn't sit right with me.
Sir Francis Drake had captured the Santa Maria despite being under fire from the guns of Praia – a fort in Cape Verde. He came upon a Portuguese navigator called Nuno Da Silva. The navigator convinced Sir Francis Drake he knew of the American waters and offered to chart them for him. He was adamant there wasn't anything un towards in the waters not like what his great grandfather had discovered.
Nuno Da Silva mentions that his great grandfather was a Merchant. But there was more to him than just this. He was a worldly man, and the family had his writings from 1408. I myself had seen these translated from Portuguese to English. Some of the events described were lost in translation but most were accounts of what happened. Nuno Da Silva mentions that the men aboard his ship had died – some virus that spread throughout the ship. But I knew there was more, and the teacher called me out when I told him I think your history books are missing some details.
Edward told the class my mom was…a nutcase. My emotions were already running high, and Edward was just the liquid in the pot ready to boil over. I told the teacher about the mysterious man on board the Merchant's ship. And that he wasn't among the dead. A few more words from Edward saw me in a separate room with the teacher. Edward had it coming I remember saying.
The teacher recognised who I was – I was Cassandra Morgan's son. To my surprise he knew of her. He told me she was quite an archaeologist. This I knew, but she was much much more than that. I would never have found Libertalia if it wasn't for her.
I still don't fully know how she died, and neither does Sam. I remember my teacher asking how she died – which I didn't have an answer for. But he said she took her own life. I don't know why she did that – if she did that!
Sam was older and so he helped me get through it. I reminded the teacher I didn't need a trip down memory lane. The teacher smiled at me and asked me to fill in the blanks of the story. So, I did…
I told him….
Well taught him….
That the men on board went crazy and they all killed each other. Something had gotten into their bloodstream and drove them mad. The merchant was much more than that and had been to a number of different islands – he had hoped to get something from one island – but when he arrived the inhabitants were killed or missing, and the village had been completely destroyed. Setting sail, the Merchant had followed Naveed – the destroyer of the village – to a hub off the coast of Guinea – West Africa.
Nuno Da Silva didn't accept his great grandfather to be a slave trader and it wasn't something Sir Francis Drake was involved in until he had a reason to be. I remember telling the teacher that Nuno Da Silva said his great grandfather helped people not hurt them. He saved many people from death and killed many who deserved it. He was also a well-educated man of his time. And went off in search of a sacred object known as Traan van Eva – loosely translated - 'Stone of Eve'. It was supposedly teardrop shaped, red in colour and made from her tears in the Garden of Eden.
This piqued my teacher's interest and we spoke about how I would one day become an adventurer and find this treasure. But so far, I hadn't even come close to finding it – it was only recently when discovering from an old friend that Redd Fisher had a link to the treasure. And was in search of it right here.
I smiled as I remember the teacher telling me that most adventurers know how to fight. I wasn't the best at fighting, but he taught me how to protect myself and so did Sam. You've got a good right cross, he'd say. It felt like it was one of those times when an older person says I see myself in you. He wasn't that much older than some of the sisters in the building. He reminded me that I needed money to go on these adventures – and how would I get that? By picking pockets – that's how.
His father was a billionaire and didn't want to share his wealth with his only son.
I don't remember him every marrying anyone – but that was a long time ago. And now I'm here in this Pirate Themed Amusement Park – owned by Redd Fisher looking for my daughter.
The number of tourists by the pool were blocking my sight of Cassie, but when me and Elena managed to wade our way through – she'd gone. "Cassie, Cassie…" I shouted hoping that she'd hear my voice. The aches from the bar fight were setting in but I could easily get passed them as my heart began to race. I asked the locals "She's wearing glasses and a blue and orange tie die shirt," but no one had seen her. Suddenly I spotted her, she'd walked quite a distance and was interested in what was happening at the sealed entrance of a cove that had construction equipment set up around it. They were making it safe for tourists to visit. The beautiful blue ocean fed into the banks of the cove and Cassie was heading towards a large gap in the rock.
Elena spotted her too and began going after her. Elena kept asking me what had happened back in the bar and what I was looking at. I told her we needed to get Cassie. This girl was born to two adventurers and there was no telling what would happen. Of course, we hadn't told her that we were adventurers and hoped she'd never find out. But there was this feeling deep inside that one day she might do - just that.
"What were you looking at back there?"
"The sym…" I realised what I was saying as the words starting to come out of my mouth, I had to change my words quickly. "The simplistic craftmanship of the bar…you can't get trims done like that anymore. The image of the stone sat nicely in place."
She didn't buy it…
She knew I was lying…
If there was one thing, I couldn't hide from her it was the truth. She could see I was making it up. Although they were nice trims.
"Nate what symbol were you looking at?"
See, she just knew. I had to come clean.
"The insignia of Redd Fisher enterprises."
"Nate why are we here and not Volcano Bay?"
I really wasn't ready to confess just yet. But her eyes knew I was here for a reason. What could I say but the truth?
"It struck me as odd that Redd Fisher had built this attraction here, I think he's found something."
"Found what?"
"Erm…something I wanted to find a few years back – ever since we found Sir Francis Drake's coffin."
"You mean the empty coffin – you mean the empty coffin that nearly got us killed?"
"Er..yeah."
The Redd Fisher article that Elena had written a few years back was really detailed and it cut deep in places about the man and his history. It was made into a biopic. This guy had gone from nothing to everything and was famous all over the world. Anyone who's anyone knew who he was.
Elena reminded me who he was – in case I had forgotten.
"Redd Fisher the billionaire? Who made his millions selling unclaimed treasures of the world? Not forgetting the alleged human trafficking and racketeering allegations."
"Er…yeah…it kind of doesn't work if you know all the answers. I forgot…is he a relation?"
"No he's not related to me Nate. I thought we gave up all this treasure hunting, after finding Libertalia…Sam…Sully. We have a daughter, and I don't want her knowing what we did."
Elena was right, she was right and is always right, but this wasn't just my idea – mostly mine but Cassie was interested too. I of course ignited the prospect of us finding such a valuable artifact.
Cassie had gotten a bit far from us, and I watched as she disappeared into the mouth of the rock face.
By the time I got there we were too late. To my surprise I saw Sully's Sea plane inside the cove and the face of a man I had not seen in person for a long time. A deal was happening, and I could see Cassie hiding behind the barrels on the landing dock.
Redd Fisher stood there with the largest Russian guy I had seen. An array of weapons attached to his side. Much more menacing than Zoran Lazarevic, this guy was dressed in full body armour and looked like he was ready to kill someone. Redd Fisher stood in a cream suit with a pistol at his side. He didn't need much more than that as he was surrounded by men and women with automatic weapons.
I needed to get Cassie out of this – whatever was going on here was not good and Cassie was right in the middle of it.
Thank you for reading.
Join me as we continue the adventure. In the next part we'll see what Redd Fisher wants with Sully. Nate sees an old acquaintance and they try to get his daughter away from here before all hell breaks loose.