Z wasn't quite sure what he was looking at until he heard someone say sloop. Briggsy's crashed sloop was absurdly far inland, but he could distinctly make out the quarter-deck and the torn sail and the bowsprit — it was definitely a sloop that had impressively run aground.
For as much as her shoulder bothered her, Blue was still willing to show off how nimble she was. She slipped into the mid-deck with ease, but when the time came for her — and a book — to come back out, he took her good arm in hand and helped pull her out. He was just glad Blue wasn't fighting him anymore when he tried to help.
"Well, it does not have any more notes in it," she said as she looked over the letters.
Visibly annoyed by that, Rezin crossed his arms and asked, "What is it then?"
"Ah, it seems to be a recollection of Briggsy's arrival here," Garrett answered, looking over Blue's shoulder.
She nodded. "Interesting, but not useful."
Blue had brought a sling bag over from the sloop. With her shoulder the way it was, she couldn't carry it and her rifle together and so Rezin had offered to carry it. She handed the book to him to put away within it.
Though Rezin did what was expected of him, he still asked, "Is this worth keeping?" Z found that he shared that sentiment.
"Perhaps, perhaps not," Blue said.
Garrett piped up: "Useful or not, it should be documented. Briggsy made history when she stepped foot on this island."
"It doesn't really matter, does it?" Blue gave him an unimpressed look. When his return expression was one of curiosity, she added: "She turned into a monster and was slain, yes? Her adventure here seems rather irrelevant."
That didn't seem right. Rezin didn't seem to care about the matter while Garrett was clearly annoyed by her reaction. He couldn't figure out why exactly, but her reaction just didn't seem right to Z, not with how often she tended to her own log.
Z came up alongside Rezin and said, "Keep that book, would ya?" When he got a grunt of acknowledgement, he pressed further past the man, catching up to Blue as they made their way south.
They stood in a room underneath one of the peaks of Tribute Peak. Before them were four stone pillars, three of which clearly had cubes near their base which could be manipulated. The third one appeared cracked, though no one dared to comment on it.
Blue looked up from the book she had copied some of Briggsy's notes into for the vault that they currently stood within. Those notes made the solution to the puzzle seem obvious enough, but getting to that point was less so.
"We need to light the braziers," Rezin said, stepping around a corner of the slightly elevated table in the middle of the room. In every corner was a brazier, ready to be lit. "We had to do this before."
Garrett looked around the room before settling on Rezin and the centrepiece. "So we light the braziers, turn the stones in the pillars…"
"Then press down on the tablet in the table."
Blue looked at the book again and then back to the cubes in the pillars. Z wasn't sure what she was thinking, but he thought all of this felt like a trap.
With his lantern in hand, Rezin asked, "We ready then?"
When no one else spoke up quickly enough, Z shrugged and put his hands on his hips. "Light 'em up."
Rezin went around the table, lighting three of the braziers before he paused. He eyed Garrett, who stood at the button, before lighting the final corner. The room instantly came alive. A stone door came down, cutting them off from the short tunnel they had gone through. Lighting up in an unearthly green hue, glyphs became visible on the cubes within the pillars. Most worryingly, water slowly began to pour into the room from a few openings in the walls. Not only that…
Standing beside it, Blue declared, "The third pillar is broken. The damage is not superficial." No one had said it, but everyone had silently hoped that wasn't the case.
"Well, that's not good," Garrett said. Everyone was taking in the rapidly changing situation in the room as he spoke, the water now touching the bottom of the stairs surrounding the table. "Guess we've got to try and hope for the best."
"Indeed," Blue said as she looked down at her book. "The first grouping is that of an arrow, a kraken, a boar, and a feather." She lifted her head. "Check the pillars — do they have those shapes?"
Rezin and Z were already doing exactly that.
"I've got the arrow here," Rezin said from the first pillar.
It took two spins, but Z found one on the fourth pillar. "Kraken here." And in his peripheral vision… "Second's got the boar."
Blue was closest to that one, so she took the step she needed to spin that cube once. Even with one hand, it spun easily.
Garrett was stood at the table and took in the sight of the three pillars. "Arrow, boar, and kraken." He awkwardly pointed at the broken pillar for a moment before appearing to decide against saying something. Then he spoke, "Are we ready to try this?"
"May as well," she said.
No one had an argument to voice so Garrett pressed down on the button. It slid with a satisfying noise. The glowing images on the blocks lit up brightly then disappeared, new ones taking their place.
"That seems promising."
Indeed, everyone was a little excited by that. Not drowning was always nice.
"What about the next one?" Z asked.
Blue looked at the book once more. "I think it is a ship, and a merfolk, a bird, and a snake."
Rezin had the mer picture a moment later. Z looked at his block and had to rotate it three times — for it refused to rotate the other way — to get the bird symbol on his and then looked to Blue. She found the ship symbol on hers. Everyone looked to Garrett and he nodded before pressing the tablet again.
Once again, the blocks reset.
"All right, all right," Z said with some positivity, nodding as he did. Despite the water's slow crawl up their boots and the walls of the room, it seemed they were not doomed.
"And the last one?" Rezin asked.
"A turtle, a beetle, a kraken, and a person holding two swords above their head."
The turtle was easy enough for Rezin to find. Z had little issue finding the kraken on his. Blue had to turn her block three times to find the insect on hers. Garrett pressed the button without prompt this time.
Between the second and third pillars came the sound of stone on stone, a door sliding down. Everyone gathered around it, saying nothing about the water at their ankles draining. Inside was a pedestal that presented them with a roughly circular object: a medallion, just as promised, with a marking on it of a shark that matched the etching in the stone just beside the entrance.
As she was closest to the little chamber that had just opened up, Blue invited herself to step forward and pick up the item. Z wanted to scold her, but nothing happened so he refrained from making a scene.
"Well then, that was easy enough," Garrett declared, peering over their shoulders.
Rezin seemed less amused and instead pointed out, "We were quick. We should take that back to the Octavia and see if the others are done with their vault."
From the crow's nest, Z spotted them long before they made for the ship, skittering across the island, constantly darting in and out of his vision. The women looked absolutely exhausted by the time they made it back to the ship itself, the sun on its way down.
Sitting on the stairs leading up to the quarter-deck, Kata said with a slight slur of exhaustion, "We had t' go all over the island."
Blue and Z looked to each other, quizzical. Rezin shot straight: "Why?"
"Briggsy was serious when she said that the secrets were all over the island," Madeleine explained after a greedy sip of grog.
"Some'a them were on moving things, too!" Bean cut in. "And there were skellies at the third spot!"
Kata just groaned and put a hand over her face.
Madeleine stared out at nothing for a long moment before shifting her gaze to her feet. "We got it done, though." She paused before nodding to herself and holding up the medallion from the western vault, the markings of a ship upon it.
Not wanting to bother the exhausted group, Z stepped away, as did Blue, allowing Garrett and the galleon's crew to socialise amongst each other.
"What do you think?" he asked her as they made their way to the forecastle.
Blue gave him a look, then asked, "What do I think about what?"
He shrugged. "Them runnin' 'round all day, I guess."
They settled against the railing. Blue was silent long enough that he had doubted that he would get a response, then: "I am glad we did not have that vault."
They could both laugh about that.
Getting into bed had been easier than it had been the previous night. Z had once again let Blue get settled in first before he curled up on his side, back facing her. He was comfortable enough, tired enough to sleep, and yet Blue was keeping him awake. They were slight movements, but she was constantly shifting a little bit here and there, what felt like every few seconds. He couldn't help shifting slightly himself after a time, growing uncomfortable.
With one particularly obnoxious movement, Z lifted his head to look at her. More than a little tired and agitated, he couldn't help blurting out, "Woman, I'm 'bout t' hold you down myself if y' don't stop movin'."
After he had said it, he forced himself to lie back down and start thinking up an apology. Before he could speak it, he heard a noise of curiosity come from Blue. Bewildered, he sat up properly to look at her. She shifted again, noticed his stare, and sat up herself.
"What?"
"What do you— what? What do y' mean what?"
"I was only wondering what you meant and how you might go about it."
Blue looked tired and that was the only reason he could imagine she said what she did. He stared at her for a long moment before tearing his eyes from hers, flinging himself back down onto his side. "Nothin'." He ground his molars when he heard her laugh softly and could practically feel her staring holes into his back.
"What, is a brute such as yourself above enacting your will upon a cripple now?"
He absolutely hated everything in that sentence.
"Look, Blue," he started, rolling onto his back and lifting himself on his elbows to look at her; "I'm tired's all and y' keep—" He had no idea what to make of that smirk on her face. "What?"
"Every so often you say something and that makes me wonder…"
"Oh for—" He gave an exasperated sigh. "Quit yer wonderin'! I'm just tired's all."
Blue made a face and looked away from him as though she was about to let the matter lie before turning her gaze back to him. He nearly kicked her for it; instead, he settled for a long exhale.
"What now?"
"I simply wonder what you might—"
He about screeched. "I'm not actually gonna hold you down or touch ya or enact my will upon ya! Or do anythin' else y' don't want me doin'!"
Blue looked at him for a long moment. "Huh." She looked away before shrugging as well as her shoulder allowed. "I have had enough of that for a lifetime, anyhow. What I am really curious about—"
"Wait, wha?"
"—is whether or not you remember your offer from some time ago."
That was a lot to think about. That was a lot to take in. In not so many words, Blue had just revealed something about herself that he wasn't sure he had wanted to know about and now a thousand ideas were taking root in his mind. Maybe it explained the scars. Maybe it didn't. What did that mean exactly? It just raised more questions that he wasn't sure he ever wanted to voice. And then bringing up his poorly worded offer from before the whole fiasco with the Winter's End just compounded how baffled he was — so that night hadn't been a weird dream.
Nervous, he asked, "Where we goin' with this, Blue?"
"What about the things I do want you to do?"
The look on his face certainly felt ridiculous.
"What do you…"
She looked away and waved him off. "I am — mm, mostly I am teasing."
"What—" So she was coming onto him. But… "Why?"
That stupid subtle look of amusement fell from her face with a huff and she finally admitted: "I forgot to bring my medicine."
"Oh." That… made sense, and yet he still found it difficult to believe he understood what she was getting at. "So y're askin'…"
When he couldn't quite put the thoughts into words, she did for him: "So I am looking for relief otherwise."
Z must have looked ridiculous because he certainly felt it. This was crazy. Her reasoning made sense, but it didn't help him shake the awkwardness. Surely anyone else in his position would be delighted at such a prospect, but not him.
"You can say no if—"
"It's not that, it—"
He thought of Blue as a decent friend and that gave him reason to say both yes and no, but he couldn't quite decide which was louder. How to voice those thoughts was another matter that was eluding him.
He sat upright and took a deep breath. "Are y' sure?"
"The alternative is that I do not sleep at all and keep us both up—"
She cut herself off by snickering and that seemed strange to him until he realised how warm his face felt and that he'd been staring wide-eyed. He tried amending that by grinding his teeth some.
Rather than tease him some more, she finally said simply, "But yes, I am certain."
"Y're really sure—"
"You may still say no."
"No— not that, I'm—"
He groaned and buried his face in a hand. The words were impossible to find. Blue looked like she had to hold back a laugh, but at least she did if that was indeed the case. He took a moment to breathe before extending his arm out in invitation, one which she responded to by gently settling into his lap.
The uncertainty that plagued his mind disappeared the moment she kissed him.
The journey to the northern end of the island had been taken together as one big group. Madeleine led them up along the eastern shore after her group had discovered the day before that it had a beach along most of its length; the other side was more rocky and generally unpleasant to traverse. Things got wet as they neared the eastern vault — the Warrior vault — as the beach was only just above sea level. They split up there; Madeleine's group went east while the other went to the northern vault.
Z wasn't sure that he had said anything so far today and considering the trek they had taken, that was saying something. When they activated the puzzle of their vault, he swore along with the other three.
The room resembled that of yesterday's with a table in the middle and four stone pillars along the wall past it, each with a block that could be turned. The moment the fourth brazier was lit, spikes had jutted out of the floor near the entry point — the door of which closed, just like the other — out of contraptions that were partially buried in the sandy ground. They began to lower just as more came out in a clockwise direction around the room.
Z and Rezin had jumped onto the table while Garrett and Blue fought the plants along the walls for safety.
"Shit. All right." Blue had pressed her back against the wall between the third and fourth pillars. "This could be worse."
"Really?" Rezin asked incredulously, raising a brow when he saw Garrett nodding in agreement.
"It could certainly be worse, my boy."
Z was more concerned with watching the spikes that came out of the floor than bickering. Once they had gone around the room entirely, the spikes started again from the entryway, going in that circle endlessly.
Staring at Blue, he asked sternly, "What do Briggsy's notes say?"
Holding the book up to her face, she read: "Always four of the same but had to tread carefully." She looked past the top of the book. "That is an understatement."
Garrett peeked out and watched another rotation of the spikes. The moment it was safe, he quickly stepped out from between the second and third pillars and repositioned himself to the spot between the first and second. As the spikes went around in another rotation past them, he and Blue looked at each other and nodded.
"From where you stand, you should be able to help us figure out what four we're matching," Garrett said to Z and Rezin. With everyone understanding, he then asked, "Do any blocks currently match?" They shook their heads and Garrett scratched at his beard. "What glyphs are present?"
"Uhh, it looks like two people under… a star maybe?" Rezin said, gesturing to the first block; he looked to the second. "Then a mer."
Garrett looked to the side of the first block that faced him. "I have another mer here."
Z pointed to the third block. "Fire and—" he pointed to the fourth "—a ship in the Shroud."
Blue leaned back some, eyeing the third block. "I also have a mer…" She looked to the fourth one and began to turn it. "There are only three of that glyph."
"So not that one."
"There's the fire, people, and ship ones on the last three, though," Rezin pointed out.
"One of those then."
Garrett looked to the first block and turned it a few times. "I have the ship on this one. As well as fire…" He did the same to the second cube. "I believe we are matching the fire glyph."
A few turns of each rotating cube proved that to be the case. Just as in the other vault, once the button of the table was pressed, the glyphs glowed brightly before fading away, new ones appearing in their place.
No one lingered on conversation, the looming threat of being impaled causing all four to be on edge despite their relatively safe positions.
They matched three more sets of glyphs before the door between the second and third pillars began to slide open, the spikes in the floor going through their rotation one more time before staying nestled in the ground. Everyone took a moment to confirm that they had receded for good before moving, finding a pedestal in the tiny room just like before whereupon a medallion sat. On the face of this one was a kraken, unmistakable, just like the stone etching outside.
"This could have been worse," Garrett declared with satisfaction. Rezin gave him a look and he quickly added, "That is not to understate the severity of what we just endured."
Z just shook his head and started back to the ship ahead of the others. They didn't get very far before stumbling upon Captain Montagne's group, their medallion in hand.
"We had to rebuild the symbol of a key before the room flooded," she had explained. While that struck everyone as odd, it was Garrett who discerned why.
"That is peculiar — the rest of the vaults were positively Ancient in design."
Blue picked up on his wording. "Ancient?"
"Yes, Ancient. As in: the people who lived here before and left behind all the stone paintings, the carvings—"
"I see." She was quiet for a moment after her interruption, then: "That is rather peculiar, I suppose, but knowing what we know…"
The group mumbled its acknowledgement.
"I believe we know where these go," Madeleine said, eyes upon the eastern vault's medallion. "We discovered a path through the island that leads over to the western side's peak. There was a stone face with a place to set all four of them in."
Rather than head back to the ship, Rezin suggested, "We might as well head there and save us some time."
No one argued that and so they went back south along the coastline. Madeleine pulled them further inland when they were about two-thirds of the way back to the ship, turning inland and then north up a slope above a waterfall. The path took them through the middle peak, winding west at a point. From there they could see the northern side of the island, three land masses pointing out into the ocean. In the middle was also a rock jutted out, a bridge bringing the two parts of the island together.
"That's convenient," Kata commented.
The path along this part of the island was shadowed by tall rock formations, including one in their way that forced the path to turn into two separate paths. Everyone stayed together, though it was noted that either path led the same way.
"I am quite certain that this is the Compass vault Briggsy spoke of," Madeleine said as they began down a slope into said room.
Just as she had said before, there was a flat rock wall with carvings in it that looked like each medallion would fit into; the spots were even marked with the glyphs. The two medallions they had with them settled perfectly into their respective places.
"I guess we should bring the other medallions in," Rezin said.
"Well, hold on," Garrett interjected; "What exactly did Briggsy do after that?"
Madeleine opened the book to a later page. "She says something about sitting on the throne of a toppled titan… That must be referring to the lines of statues."
Z rose a brow. "Statues?"
"Yes. This area north of the shark vault—" she flipped to the page with the island's map on it and then held the book out for Z to look at "—There are two lines of giant stone people sitting in thrones. We found it yesterday when we had to run all over the island. One of the two closest to the water there was broken."
"Wait," Garrett said, realisation crossing his features. "Didn't Briggsy say she had to use an abandoned ship's cannon to get up there?"
"In not so many words, yes." Madeleine thumbed through the pages to make sure of that and nodded.
"Can't we jus' climb up it?" Z asked.
Bean shook her head vigorously. "The stone's too smooth to get a grip on."
"So…"
"I'll move the gally over here," Rezin offered.
"I can help!" Bean chimed in as they stepped away from the group.
Kata shook her head before looking to her captain. "I'll go make sure they don't wreck the ship," she said with amusement before trotting after them.
Blue had been lagging behind the group most of the walk over. Z had assumed she was tired, but as she rejoined them with another book in hand, he understood.
"It seems Briggsy left her records all over the island," she said. She showed the books to them as she spoke. "This one was over there, and this one was on the path before the bridge."
"Oh, we found one as well," Madeleine said. "I thought perhaps it was a one-off thing."
"Apparently not." Blue looked to Garrett, his hand on his chin. "What?"
"We should go over those before we worry about heading into the island," he said.
"I agree."
Z wasn't quite sure what about this bothered him. Blue at least seemed to pick up on that, even if she didn't do anything more about it but eye him.
"We should make our way to the statues, yes?"
Madeleine nodded before starting back out of the vault.
Z really didn't know what to make of all the thrones or the people sitting in them. Blue seemed to be of a similar opinion while Garrett had been absolutely fascinated by them. They let him and the captain worry about them while they stood underneath the broken statue, its head long since gone. At its base was an entryway, passage blocked by a stone door.
"I guess this is why we need t' go in from the top," he commented. Blue huffed and he looked at her. "What?"
"I could have climbed that before Graymarrow."
"Oh. … Y' sure?"
"I am certain. If the vines are sturdy, there are enough footholds to get up there."
Z wrinkled his nose some. He wasn't bad at climbing, but no way could he go up something that smooth. Blue had been making it a habit to climb up to the tops of islands before her injury…
"There's enough people here that y' don't need t' be the one doin' this," he said. Blue looked to him once again and he couldn't pinpoint her expression, only stared back with a fraction of her intensity. "I mean that in the best'a ways."
She tore her eyes away from him. "Sure you do."
He gave an exasperated sigh. "I do." Very deliberately — and gently — did he put a hand on her right shoulder. "And this ain't the end'a the world." He felt her tense up, refusing to look at him. "I promise. For now, let's go see if the gally's here."
With the Octavia moved into the bay nearby, Madeleine, Kata, and Bean collected the remaining two medallions and took them to the compass vault. They weren't gone very long and when they returned, they held a single, nice looking medallion with a Gold Hoarders key emblem on it. After that, they turned their attention to Briggsy's books that they had been recovering from across the island.
By this point, Z wasn't surprised that he and Rezin were the only ones who didn't really care about them. He could somewhat appreciate that about the other man, but damn was he insufferable otherwise. He understood Blue's mild enthusiasm, what with her writing all the time, but the other women and Garrett… well, Garrett seemed like something of a scholar now that he thought about it. Madeleine and Kata just seemed to have a normal case of curiosity.
Unfortunately, there wasn't much to those journals. So far everything useful that Briggsy had written down was in the book the Pirate Lord had given them; everything else was just her adventuring.
"This likely means there are more to be found," Garrett said as though he were thinking aloud.
"Probably," Blue said sharply. "Not that these really matter."
"Perhaps one of them will."
She eyed him accusingly but said nothing more.
"Perhaps, perhaps not," Madeleine said. "It is worth documenting all the same."
The night came and went without anything remarkable happening, much to Z's relief. That morning, however, started with a gunshot. Blue was up and out the door before he was, what with his fumbling with his pegleg. When he was able to follow her, he understood.
On the beach nearest to the ship was a pack of skeletons. Two of them held swords, one held nothing, one a blunderbuss, and the fifth one a pistol, who had taken a shot at Rezin and missed. It did not live long to regret that mistake for he found purchase on a cannon to return fire with. That skeleton and the one beside it exploded into a mess of bones. The remaining three hissed at the situation they found themselves in but didn't budge. Two more cannonballs dispatched them as well.
"That's that," Rezin said, brushing his hands together to rid them of gunpowder as he stepped down to the galley. Blue looked bewildered by what she had witnessed and Z just laughed.
Breakfast was eaten slowly or quickly depending on who wanted to be launched out of a cannon at a giant stone statue. Bean had no qualms whatsoever with this; Madeleine, Kata, and Garrett seemed eager enough while Z and Rezin both made their wildsplashes last longer than they needed to. And Blue… well, Z couldn't see her participating in that, nor did she say or do anything to suggest she would. He certainly didn't intend to allow her to anyway.
As she was the best shot, it was Kata who spent the time aiming the cannon at their intended target. Occasionally she fired a cannonball, and while it was far lighter than any of the people were, it still helped her gauge the angle. When the time came for someone to test it in earnest, Bean was happy to volunteer. The shot was astonishingly close, if a little high, thus causing her to land on a further inland statue.
"Hey! There's a book up here!"
How… why? The sheer ridiculousness of that garnered some curiosity from Z.
When she was back on the ship, a soaking wet Bean handed Madeleine the recovered journal and it was read aloud to the group. Unfortunately, it was more of the same: interesting to those interested in Briggsy's adventures, but holding no information relevant to them.
Z did spy something in Blue's expression. Briggsy declared herself a good climber, and he knew Blue had the knack for it, too, but if the legendary adventurer hadn't been able to climb the statues herself… did Blue still think she could have without her injury? The thought lingered in Z's mind as the group's efforts went back to getting the right cannon angle. It only took two more tries — and a few bananas — for Bean to land on the correct statue.
"Hey, there's a hole here!" Without waiting, she dove down into the hollowed out inside of the statue.
Madeleine and Kata had given each other a concerned look before jumping off the ship and heading over to the statue's base. A moment later and the rest of the group followed, assembling at the door that had just been opened. Bean was on the other side, a satisfied grin across her face.
"There's a lever," she explained, leaving on it.
"So there is," Captain Montagne murmured. She peered past her crewman into the tunnel.
"There's a door just down the way and before it's a spot where it looks like the thing goes."
Madeleine made a thoughtful expression before turning to look at the rest of the group.
"Are we ready then?"
The group looked amongst each other, everyone gauging one another's readiness.
"We should go back t' the ship and make sure we've got everythin' we need fer a fight," Z said. "That's what I'm gonna do."
Without another word, he turned to do just that. He heard the group quickly discuss that being a good idea before hearing them follow. Considering what lay before them, he wasn't quite sure how that required any discussion. Doing that a bit later to fairly distribute out supplies was something he understood when the captain called everyone together, making sure everyone had their share of good food. A stern tone from her made certain that no one tried to play martyr.
Blue had tried to make a good case for that. Should she be injured any further, she would likely be worthless in a fight if not an outright liability. As far as Z was concerned, and thankfully the others were, that was all the more reason to make sure she was well equipped.
While they were downstairs gathering their weapons and ammunition, he nearly couldn't hold back to urge to talk to her about that, but Madeleine had done a fine job of it; there'd be nothing more to gain by bothering her. He did notice her filling four pouches — two on either hip — with shot and powder for her musket.
"Not bringin' a sword?" he asked, unable to resist that question. The look he earned himself was dirty.
"I cannot use a sword in a meaningful manner with either of my arms."
He bit at the inside of his lip before huffing. "Fair enough."
They said nothing more to each other as they prepared to depart.
When everyone was ready, they once again trudged through the water onto the island and grouped up before the corridor. It turned sharply for a second time and before them at the junction was a stone structure, a place to hold the medallion cut into it. Madeleine had already asked them before they hopped off the ship if everyone was ready; she looked like she was about to ask again. A nod from Kata kept her quiet and instead the captain simply slotted the medallion into its resting place. Golden light shimmered off of it before the door opened, half of it sliding into the wall on either side. Directly in front of them was a green and gold banner of the Gold Hoarders, their key-shaped emblem upon it.
Blue and Z looked at each other for a long moment.
