The Quest

Port Ohahii

Pendleton helped Timothy up onto the deck and into the sun. Timothy was supported by Pendleton's arm, on his walk across the deck.

"How long have I been out?" He asked.

"It's been about three days since the cabin boy helped you back to your bed. We just arrived at Port yesterday evening. I was getting worried about you, you were fevered the whole time you were asleep and you were very restless."

Timothy stared forward, It makes sense. He thought to himself. He didn't understand how it had been three days. It had felt real, like he was reliving it. He shivered despite the warm sea air and bright sun.

"Sir's I am going to need you to disembark and come into the base."

Timothy turned to the smartly dressed naval officer that stood behind them. He was a giant of a man. He stood taller than Pendleton by at least two feet. He had snapped a salute to both of them. Both the adventures awkwardly returned his salute. He lowered it quickly and started to herd them to the gangplank.

"That is Admiral Beaks. He commands the whole royal navy in this portion of the South Sea." Pendleton whispered in Timothy's ear.

They walked down the gangplank and towards the naval outpost. The guard outside stopped them.

"Any weapons?" He asked.

Pendleton dropped Timothy with a look of horror on his face.

"Rusteel has my sword. I don't have my sword!" He continued to yell to himself repeating the same thing over and over again.

The Admiral walked up behind him and pinched his neck. He crumpled into the Admiral's arms. He threw Pendleton over his shoulder and continued inside. Timothy lifted himself off the ground. He slowly followed after.

The inside of the base was well lit and filled with soldiers and weapons. All seemed to have stopped talking when the Admiral walked in with Pendleton and Timothy. They all just stared and watched as they went to the very back and into a locked room. A few whispered to each other and a few pointed at the party, but none said anything directly.

The locked room was the Admiral's 'office'. It was more of a storage closet. There were boxes of new weapons and uniforms in the corners making the room even more cramped. The Admiral layed Pendleton onto two of the boxes and dragged another over for Timothy to sit on. The room itself was sparcely decorated. It had gray stone walls with normal oak wood flooring. It was just a smaller version of the room they walked through to get there. The Admiral sat at a desk that was to small for the man. It was dwarfed by his huge body.

"We're you just promoted?" Asked Timothy.

"Oh, yes. Yes I was just last week. Still trying to get everything sorted out. But that enough about me, I want to know about you and your companion over there. Why were you in a lifeboat from the Shocker?" His voice boomed and took command of the conversation.

"The Shocker?"

Timothy had never heard of a ship called that before.

"It is Captain Rusteel's flagship. It is his favorite ship to sail in."

"We were on that because he captured us on our way to the South Sea."

"Rusteel doesn't take prisoners, you should know that."

"What do you..." Timothy started to understand where the Admiral was going, "You think we're part of his crew don't you?"

"To be frank with you young man, yes, I believe you are part of the crew of the Shocker and work for Captain Rusteel in some way. I don't know why you sold steal one of his life boats, but that isn't important. If you sailed with him you should know where his secret headquarters is. The royal navy placed me in this position for one reason and it was to find this pirate and destroy his operations utterly. If you don't help me then I'll have you both incarcerated. You can go free if you just tell me anything."

He sat at the desk and stared into Timothy's eyes. Timothy was stunned. He couldn't believe that the first leg of thier adventure was already being swamped down by stupid occurances. First they are captured by pirates and now they are being accused of being pirates.

"I don't know what to say to you Admiral. We aren't pirates. We were kidnapped by Rusteel and his crew. Don't you recognize my companion? His name is Pendleton, you know the kings brother and hero of the land."

"Young man I do recognize Pendleton, but I have seen men fall to the dark side. Take Rusteel for instance." The Admiral stood up and looked out the small window that lit the whole room. "He was one of the best naval officers I had ever seen. We were in basic training together many years ago. We both fought together in the Sahalo-Saxon War. That was about ten years before the Sahalan Civil War. When we got back from the far shores of the Saxon lands, something had changed in him. We were now both in command of separate ships and we didn't talk as much. I should have seen something in him and stopped it from going this far. He started doing experiments with gunpowder. He started using strange mechanics and magic with his gunpowder. Then the Sahalan Civil War started and Rusteel sided with Zhen Su. The last time I saw him he had sank four of his sister ships and almost got me."

The Admiral turned back around and looked into Timothy's eyes, his eyes were misty.

"Rusteel saw something over seas that changed him. He is still the intelligent Rusteel I sailed with but he isn't a man anymore. I need to know where he is held up so I can fix what I should have stopped years ago. Now tell me where he is."

Timothy looked behind him at Pendleton.

Could something like that happen to him.

He shook his head and looked at the Admiral, "We aren't pirates and we're here to find a portion of the ancient sword."

The Admiral was speechless for a moment, then he started laughing. It started with just a chuckle but it evolved into a hardy laugh that came from low in the Admiral's chest.

"You think that the Sword of Fire Clarent is on one of my islands? That sword has been lost to time. And if Rusteel is looking for it then, he gonna have a hard time."

The Admiral stood up and walked to the door out of his office.

"Captain can you escort these two to the jail cells. I'm done interrogating them for now."

A large soldier walked in and grabbed Timothy by his shirt and threw Pendleton's still sleeping body over his shoulder.

"Wait, no! I'm telling the truth! I have no idea what this Clarent thing is."

Timothy's yells fell on deaf ears.