For a moment, we were quiet. The women cannibals already left but we were just standing where they left us contemplating on what just happened.

"I'll follow them," Tibet broke the silence. "I will meet you by the boats."

"Be careful, mate," Puma responded.

Tibet nodded, "Don't worry about me, mate. You know I'm the best spy and scout there is when I am being serious," he said and then disappeared from our sight.

"We have to rescue him," I muttered. All of the remaining pirates looked at me. I looked at them, "We have to get him back!" I said louder.

Neville nodded, "Of course we will. But we need to regroup."

"Let's go to the boats first. The others are probably there waiting," Wabi remarked.

With heavy footsteps but alert minds, we hiked our way to the boats. At the sight of us coming, Paco waved. When we neared them, Thaddaeus scrunched his forehead after realizing something was off.

"Where is the Captain?" he asked.

Fifer scratched his head. The others looked down.

"WHERE IS THE CAPTAIN?" he thundered when no one replied. I was startled and stepped back because of the sound of his voice

"He was captured," Neville answered.

Lowen stood right away. His eyes filled with questions and a bit of anger. "Captured? Captain? He never let himself get captured! What happened?"

Neville sighed deeply before he answered. "He negotiated."

"Let me guess. Because of her..." Thaddaeus said and pointed at me. I could see the veins popping out of his temples. "Didn't I tell you, she is a liability?"

Paco tried to calm everyone. "Just settle down. There might be a good explanation about what happened. Neville?"

Neville sighed again. "The chieftess wanted the Captain to father her children."

Gondro laughed. "What? Well… well. well.. would you look at that? Looks like the Captain will bury the bone!" The other pirates couldn't help but laugh with him... of course except for Thaddaeus.

My eyes widened in anger. How could they laugh at a time like this? "Those women are cannibals!" I said.

"Cannibals?!"

Fifer nodded. "Aye. The chieftess said that if the Captain does not agree, they'll have Miss Darling for dinner," he answered.

"So it is because of you!" Thaddaeus made his point clear and looked at me with eyes seething.

Neville stepped in between Thaddaeus and me before responding, "Calm down, Thaddaeus. What do you want? Let them have Miss Darling for dinner?"

Paco nodded in agreement with Neville, "What we need to do is to get him back."

"How could we do that? We do not even know where these women are!" Thaddaeus argued again. I raised my brow. For someone who is quiet all the time, he sure was very loud today because he believed it was my fault.

"Tibet already followed them," I sassed.

"Their settlement is in the middle of the forest surrounded by cliffs. There is only one bridge that we can cross," Tibet reported right away.

"That could be tricky," Gondro responded. "Are there guards at the end of the bridge?" he asked.

Tibet nodded. Lowen answered, "I could easily take them down with my pistol but it was at Labyrinth."

"We could make improvised weapons that can project that same trajectory," I suggested.

Lowen nodded. "We could make a bow and an arrow or a slingshot," he agreed.

"What are we waiting for? Let's do this," Paco said and gave each one a task.

Thaddaeus, Gondro, Neville, Wabi, Puma, and Laurel will be left behind prepared to row the boats away when we come back. The gunners and the rest of us will retrieve Jacob. We were preparing our weapons when Thaddaeus approached and confronted me.

"If you ask me, you shouldn't go on this mission. The situation might get worse.." he taunted me.

I frowned and took a deep breath. I will just ignore him and hopefully he leaves. But Thaddaeus was livid. I never knew that he could be this confrontational if he's pushed beyond his limits. He needed someone to blame. And unfortunately, that SOMEONE was me.

"I knew this was a mistake. Coming here to this island was a mistake. Training you was a mistake. You can never do the things we can do. You are but a fragile woman who should have stayed in your mansion and waited til you got married!"

"THAT'S IT!!!" I snapped. I stood up and faced him... my sword to his neck. The whole time I was clenching my fist to control myself but that's it! How could he say those words? Those were the very reasons I ran away! The rest of the pirates looked in our direction but no one dared to do or say anything.

Thaddaeus was taken aback for a moment. He tried to push my sword away but I did not waver and put more force into it.

"I have been very understanding with all your animosity towards me! If you do not like me, I do not like you either!" I raised my voice at him.

Thaddaeus narrowed his eyes at me. But, I was not scared. Deep inside, I know he's not going to hurt me. It's against his nature.

I glared at him in response. "You may think that I do not belong here but I don't care. I make my own decisions. I will go where I want to and I will rescue whoever I like. You will not and cannot stop me. I will rescue Jacob even if it kills me! DON'T YOU EVER UNDERESTIMATE ME AGAIN!" I ranted. I withdrew my sword after and walked away from him.

All eyes were on me as I marched away. When I passed by Laurel, he tried to humor me. "Miss Darling, have you heard of the story--"

"Not now Laurel. Not now," I warned him. Laurel pressed his lips tightly. No one dared to speak after that. We all quietly did our own preparations until it was time to rescue our captain.

Two hours before dusk, we began our hikes. Tibet led the way, telling us to be wary of any traps the cannibals might have placed. When the settlement was within our view. Lowen searched for a place where he could aim and snipe. Elgo and Urdel went with him.

When the sun began to set, we saw the women cannibals begin to retire to their dwellings. Our plan was simple. Lowen will target the guards and when they were incapacitated, we will penetrate the settlement, locking all the women inside their dwellings. Then, we will find wherever Namibel hid Jacob, retrieve him, and leave.

The plan was going superbly well. Lowen succeeded in knocking out the guards. We infiltrated the settlement as stealthily as we could. Paco signalled the other pirates to seal the doors of the dwelling places so there would be no reinforcements or else we will be outnumbered. I followed Paco to the most obvious dwelling place for the chieftess. It looked the biggest and the fanciest.

There was a wooden frame but no wooden door to this dwelling place. Instead, an animal skin lining was used as covering. It was easy for Paco and me to get inside but what I saw inside shocked me.

Jacob was NOT in danger! To the left of the chieftess' bed was a tall ottoman with several colored cushions and there he was with Namibel on his lap! Namibel had her hands around his neck. He was still shirtless. And Jacob… Jacob's right hand was on the back of her head pulling her towards him and his other hand was around her waist. They were kissing like there was no tomorrow. When his lips let go off hers and went trailing towards her neck, she moaned in her language, "Mmm..mahh… see...rhum…"

Paco cleared his throat and I tightened my hold of my sword. The two separated for a while, their hands still on each other and looked at us. "Good evening, Captain," Paco said and waved.

"What are you doing here?" Jacob asked. He still looked delirious.

"Ughh!!!" I groaned. "We came here to rescue you but it looks like you are enjoying yourself too much. Did we interrupt you?" I said with every word dripping with sarcasm, irritation, and anger.

Jacob paused after realizing I was there. Namibel groaned and took hold of the spear beside the bedpost and hurled it at us. We quickly dodged it. Namibel took her sword and swung it at me! I deflected her attacks and swung my sword back at her in response. We were clashing swords in an equal footing for a while but Namibel was more used to sword fights and I was in her territory so she obviously had the upper hand.

When she pushed me, I stumbled on one of her trinkets on the floor and fell. She smirked and was about to strike me but Jacob caught her hand on time and twisted it behind her back until she dropped her sword. "My apologies, sweetheart. But you see, I do not let anyone lay a finger on her," he said and motioned to me.

He applied more force and pushed her on the bed until she tumbled over. Paco handed Jacob a rope and together they bound her arms and legs so she could not move.

"Sorry about this, Miss," Paco apologized as he put a gag on her mouth so she could not scream.

I knew Namibel might have been cursing but all we could hear were muffled sounds of her complaints. Jacob looked at me. I was still on the floor. He squatted in front of me and held out his hand.

"Are you alright?" he asked. When I did not respond he added, "Your sword fighting still has several flaws. You were clumsy back there."

I glared at him and pushed myself up. I took off my coat, pulled up his shirt, and threw it at his face. "Put this on!" I ordered and quickly put the coat back on.

Jacob stood up and chuckled. He put on his shirt then looked at me, "God, I miss you, Darling."