“It must be mid-morning by now.  I snapped awake as I heard a hoarse scream that I recognized as my quartermaster.  Again he screamed, and I realized that he had spotted land!  Could it be true?  Land?  After such a storm?  I had not expected to make landfall at such a time.  It was imperative that we get to shore.  I finally went above, and I demanded the scope from my quartermaster.  He willingly obliged, and as soon as I put my eye inside of it, I silently hoped that my quartermaster had not awakened me for nothing.  I gaze briefly along the sea, and I finally see something that resembles a shore.  My fleet is still miles away from it, and we need to dock quickly.  One of my ships has sustained significant damage from a storm in this perilous and crafty ocean.  I do not know how much longer my ships will hold up.  My crew has reached wits’ end.  They starve.  They fight.  Morale is at an all-time low.  We’ve been sailing for weeks and we have not found anything.  This is becoming progressively normal, but I will not accept that I have failed.  My King and Queen have bestowed upon me a fleet and their blessing to conquer land for my home country.
As I look along the bay, I see many miles of water which seem to gently erode the surface.  This is much different than what I am used to.  As we finally covered distance from the bay, I began to wonder just exactly where I was.  As I peered again into my scope, I saw that the shoreline which held nothing.  After looking at the shoreline, I now understood that I must journey inland in the hopes to find anything.  I have not found anything, but I am hoping to unearth something about this land.
After journeying further into the bay, we finally pass men and women who are riding on something that resembled a boat.  After seeing this, I silently come to the conclusion that this land has an indigenous population.  I silently pray that these people are friendly.  The last thing that I need is these natives ready to go to war against us.  I knew that we would lose in just a matter of moments.  Then again, all my men may have is mere moments.  I must not make any hasty decisions.  I do not prefer to fight, but if need be, I will arm my crew so that we at least will stand a fighting chance.
If these people are friendly, they may just be able to help.  I weighed the odds silently, and I had a sneaking suspicion that they knew their land.  In all honesty, they may even have medicine and herbs to heal my men.  I know what I need, so I silently ordered my men to go inland.  I hoped that I had not led these poor men on an exploration that was foolhardy and unneeded.  However, I knew that these men were either former prisoners or they just had a passion for the sea.  They trusted me with their lives.  I would not let it end like this!
After disembarking, we made the dangerous trek into the dense, thick, and overbearing underbrush.  Not even five minutes had passed when we were intercepted by the natives.  We were cornered.  We gave up without a fight, and we were escorted to their leader.  He stood at an exceptional height of about six feet, and he was also sturdily built.  This showed the years of spiritual concentration and meditation he had done.  He was eating well, and by my estimate, he weighed at least a whopping 200 pounds.  This meant that he easily outweighed me by at least forty pounds.  That was not good for our chances.  He walked up and spoke some kind of gibberish that we could not understand.  He stared at us, and then he came directly in front of me.  Again he spoke, but this time, he spoke in a rough English accent.
“How is it that you have come to our land?”   I knew that if I did not answer, he would surely behead us all.  I could not have that happening!  My troops and I would surely be rewarded I we found treasure and claimed this land.
I was weak in my knees at the sight of him.  I knew that I had to talk.  I looked up at him with all the strength I could muster.  The strength and resolve I once held evaporated quickly.  “Sir, we have come looking for land and treasure for our King and Queen.  Surely you could spare us and possibly give us food and drink?  I am not trying to ask a lot, but if you cannot do either, I will understand.”  And with that, the world turned black…
“Wake up you mangy cur!”  I woke with a start.  I didn’t even realize that I had passed out.  I groggily stood to my feet and I noticed that I was in a strange object that supposedly passed for a house.  As my eyes adjusted to the light, I noticed that the man I had set eyes upon was sitting in an elegant seat along with a woman and a small child.  As I assessed the current situation, I realized that my men were missing!
“Where are my men?”
“Relax, strange outlander.  They are resting comfortably…in the barracks.”  The chieftain smiled with such grandeur that it was very hard to believe that my men were in the barracks.
“Have they at least been fed?”  This weighed on my mind more heavily than anything else.  Of all concerns, their hunger was the most pressing.  “If they’ve been fed, then I will submit to any form of punishment.  I alone am responsible for trespassing on your land.”
“Quiet, you insignificant specimen of life.”  I immediately shut my mouth, but I couldn’t help but look up with surprise.  The chieftain had not said anything, but I noticed that it had to have been the wife.  The voice was so…perfect.  Her voice was as light as a summer’s breeze, but it sounded so powerful.  I couldn’t even gaze at her face for long.  Those forty-five seconds were all I needed to remember that face.  She had long, flowing locks of gold hair that shimmered like the sun.  Her high angled cheekbones complimented her perfectly rounded chin and perfectly full lips.  There was only thing I didn’t understand.  She wasn’t the same complexion as the natives.  She was fairly lighter.  A ghastly white much like the Graia from Greek legend.  I thought I had detected a faint accent in her voice, but maybe I was just imagining things.
“Young sailor from lands unknown, you say that you have a King and Queen that you serve?”
“That is correct, Chieftain.  I certainly do.”  He nodded silently, and all the while, the lady silently stared at me with hazel eyes.  She seemed to be scrutinizing my very soul with that piercing scowl she wore.  I couldn’t drop her stare.  Her scowl then went into a full-blown murderous look…but it wasn’t at me.  It was at her husband.  I silently put together that she must not have chosen this for herself, but rather she was a victim of forced marriage.  I internally gagged at the sight of this woman who must have been very young at the time of her marriage to this giant of a man.
Just after I had the thought, a young man entered who I easily recognized as their son.  This was one of the men who led us here.  He and I stared at each other with undeniable hate, but I soon dropped the malicious thoughts.  I had no such time for petty nonsense.  I was currently worried about escaping here and leaving with my men.  I courteously bowed to the heir, although every bone in my body was telling me to teach him a lesson.  However, I knew that I would get him back soon enough.
“Father, why is this alien in your quarters?”
“Lentelli, you dare to question me?”
“No, sir.”  He looked at the ground quickly.  Just as he looked down, his father struck him across the face.  After being struck, the young man’s nose gushed blood and he stumbled out of the quarters and went looking for something to stifle his nose.  The chieftain turned back to me.
“I’m sorry that you had to see that.  My son sometimes acts brash and he doesn’t think about the things he says.  Someday, it’s going to get him in trouble.  I wish that he would put a hold on his tongue, but I know that’ll never happen.  As for letting your men go, they are free to leave.  You on the other hand…you will be nursed back to health until we deem you fit to leave.  If you leave before then and forsake our hospitality…we will have no choice but to kill you.
“I will not leave.  I thank you for not only allowing my men to go free, but also for agreeing to let me take refuge here.  I should be up and going before long.  A good meal and a night of rest ought to do me well.  I do not wish to overstay my welcome.  It seems as if some of your villagers are calling for my very neck.  I cannot allow that.”
“Do not worry, young captain.  On my honor, I promise that none of the villagers will harm you.”  I saw that his hands were behind his back when he said this.  I’m no fool and I recognized that he was lying.  More than likely, he was lying about letting my men go free.  I would have to get them out myself.  After this thought, the guards untied my hands and I was bade out the royal house. 
I did not notice that the wife was behind us when we left.  The wife moved around us and motioned me to follow her to the next house over.  She silently kneeled and placed a bowl of food in front of me.  “Eat.  My husband will not be so forgiving if he finds out that you have not eaten your food.”  I silently ate and I noticed that the wife did not leave my side.  She sat and watched me eat.  That was very peculiar.  She wasn’t supposed to be here watching me.  I couldn’t figure out what she wanted with me.
Suddenly, I noticed that she was beginning to cry.  If she was crying, then the chieftain was definitely up to something.  But what could it be?  I silently looked at her and I noticed that she was now starting to shake violently.  What could possibly be going on?  She seemed so cool in demeanor earlier.  She looked at me with saddened eyes and she murmured something that I could not make out.  Again she whispered it, but time, she finally said it louder.
“He’s going to kill all of you.”
“What?  Are you sure?”
“I am positive.  He kills all who wander onto his land.”
“I suspected that he was lying.”
“He was not completely lying.  He is going to let you stay until you are healthy.  He is also going to let your men go.  However, he is going to kill all of you.  He will slaughter your men before they can reach the ship, and he will kill you the moment you become healthy.  This land is full of treasure.  If you can find a way to defeat him, then he will give you what you seek.”
“Don’t worry.  Leave it to me.  Your husband will not die.  He will be defeated, but I will humble him.  And experience will be my witness as I carry out this deed.”
“Please…just promise me that you will take me with you?  I do not wish to stay here.  I wish to return home.”
“Ah.  So you are of Spanish descent?”
“Yes, I am.  My former name is Luna Rachel Rodriguez.  I am from Spain.  I wish to be taken back home.”
“Wait a minute.  Your name is Luna Rodriguez?!  You went missing quite some time ago!  How could this be?  How did this happen?  Did he do this to you?!”
“Yes.  My ship was ambushed by the natives.  All the women were taken and the men slaughtered.  Their remains were thrown from a cliff into a valley of some kind.  However, this is not important.  We must escape by tonight.  Your men will be let go in just a mere two hours.  You ought to rest until then.  You will need it.”  With that, she left me to rest.
Two hours later, I was awoken by Luna.  “Your men have been let go early!  They were released twenty minutes ago!  We must hurry!”  With that, I got up, and we hurried through the dark outside the camp.  At Luna’s insistence, I knocked out any natives along the way who may have spotted us.
After thirty minutes of wondering back through the brush, I heard an almost inaudible whisper.  “Captain Lemans?  Is it you?”
“Leroy?  Where is everyone else?  Please tell me that they have not been killed.”
“No, sir.  All is not lost.  We split up into groups and we led them on a chase.  We figured that they would try to hunt us.  We knocked out a few of the natives and we took their weapons in order to defend ourselves.”
“You smart rascal.  Well done.  You are just as clever as people say you are.”  Suddenly, I heard a soft bird call among the trees.  And with that, Leroy took off at full sprint through the woods.  Luna and I did not waste anytime either, and we soon were behind him. 
As we ran through the woods, we heard yipping and weird calls that apparently was coming from the natives; suddenly, I heard a muffled sound that must have been one of our flintlock pistols.  I honestly had not thought that the natives would be dumb enough to attack the ship.  Then again, I had not thought about a lot of things, and I see what happens when things are not really thought through.
BOOM!  We all stopped suddenly.
“Leroy, did you hear that?”
“Aye, Captain.  That’d be a cannon that was just fired.”  Luna stood by us inaudibly, and she stood in shock.
“You never said that your men would use cannons on the natives.”
“Some things should not have to be said.  I did not expect my men to have to resort to cannons…nor pistols.  It seems to be the only way to live.”
“Your men could kill all the natives.”
“Luna, at the moment, I don’t care.  I just want to get the heck out of here.  Let’s go!”  After our time-consuming exchange of words, we finally were out of the woods.  But what lay there…would scar my eyes forever.
Bodies littered the coastline.  And just when we were halfway across the beach, a bright light from behind us went up.  The forest had gone up in flames!  I knew that these natives would not stand a chance against a full warship.  The ship was equipped with six starboard cannons, six broadside cannons and two portside cannons.  That wasn’t all.  The ship had a catapult that could be mobilized anywhere.  It was very moderate in size, but it would have explained why the forest had gone up in flames so suddenly.
After watching the forest go up in flames, I turned around back towards the beach.  Luna and Leroy had already reached the ship and my men were helping them onboard.  As I looked on, my men screamed for me to run to the ship.  Not even seconds had passed when I heard a rustling of leaves and branches.  The chief appeared out of the flames and he did not appear to be in a happy mood.  He seemed to be dazed and angry.  Not only had he lost his prisoners, he also lost something much more dear to him…his wife.  He looked at me with smoldering eyes and held up a small basket with many fine pieces of gold.
“All of this?  You did all of this for treasure?”
“No.  You caused this by trying to hunt us down.”
“You escaped.  How did you know?”
“Simple.  Your wife told me.  You took her for a prize after assaulting her ship…didn’t you?”
“I did.”
“What happened to the men?”
“What men are you talking about?”
“Don’t play stupid!  I know about the men on her boat!”
“They were taken prisoner.  They were not killed.  However, we did leave them to die near a valley.”
“Wait…your wife told me that you had them killed and thrown into a valley.”
“That is not true.  Like I said before, we left them.  They were more than likely hunted down by wolves, or something.”
“You’re a liar!  What did you do with those men?!” He looked at me with such a calm expression that he angered me further.
“I have told you already.  I am not responsible for their deaths.  I did not kill them.  I suppose that I should tell you the truth though.  My sons and his friends are responsible for the deaths of the men.  I left their fate in his hands.”  Right after I heard this, I remembered the son.  The image of him being hit in the face came to my mind briefly.  I didn’t even have time to notice that my fist was going straight for his face.  He didn’t have time to react. 
After everything finally came back into focus, I realized that the chief was on his backside.  Not only that, he was also holding his nose.  That made me rush with pride at the sight of blood trickling down his face. After looking at him for a minute or so, I turned around and glanced at the ship.  That’s when I noticed that the ship was creaking slowly and moving further into the water.  If it went much further, I’d be stuck here forever. 
With the ship threatening to pull away, I took off sprinting across the beach with my new gold in-hand.  Suddenly, I felt a stinging sensation in my right shoulder blade.  I stopped and felt along my back, and that was when I noticed that I had been shot with a dart.  After pulling it out, I took off sprinting again.  I couldn’t sprint very fast and I was losing feeling in my body.  I began sprinting even harder and I barely had enough time to get the treasure on board.  That was when the tide swept away the ship.  Just like that I was in the freezing water and my body was losing feeling.  If I didn’t get to the ship soon, I was going to die. I was going to die either by the poison in my body or by hypothermia.  I immediately began swimming as hard as I could towards the ship.  I was pulled aboard, and after landing on deck, I looked back at the chief who was still sitting in the sand.  He didn’t even move.  He just sat there and watched as four of his greatest treasures sailed away:  his wife, his prisoners, his gold, and his dignity.Again, I felt the pain, and I passed out from exhaustion…