Journey to The Isle of Gold

Chapter 1: Short Alliances, Quick Betrayals

Tristan

"So..." A voice asked, breaking the silence. "What're you in for?"

Tristan blinked back into consciousness. He had nodded off in his cell without realizing. Who would've thought being left to rot would be so boring. "...What?" He asked as he blinked his blurred vision away. He found himself sitting against a wall, leaning on the iron bars of his cell, his left arm resting on his knee. In front of him he saw the previously unoccupied cell, now housing an older teen about his age. She had long brown hair, a single bang slightly covering her left eye. Here eyelashes were long and curled, her pupils bright amber. They reminded him of the countless sunsets he's seen over the sea's horizon. She wore a feathered hat that resembled the fashion of the people of Marleybone. It was slick and made of dark leather, her sharpshooters coat and tight corset matched her hat. She wore black high heeled boots and leggings that hugged her figure. Tristan immediately assumed she was some pampered child of a high ranking commander of the Marleybonian navy. But something about the way she carried herself made him think otherwise.

"What'd you do to get locked up here?" She asked again. "Must've been pretty bad to get the attention of Deacon."

Tristan's blood boiled at the thought of the automaton. "Wrong place, wrong time.." He said simply. He grunted and averted his gaze away from the young woman. He wanted the conversation to end then and there. If he was going to rot here, he wanted to do it in peace. Not plagued with the social anxiety of having to keep this awkward conversation going until they died. "...What about you?" He finally asked. "What're you in for?" He glanced back at her. He secretly admired her attempts at putting a brave front. He could tell this was her first time being behind bars. Perhaps she wasn't pampered, but certainly sheltered from the realities of the spiral for most of her life.

"I was smuggling weapons from the Armada, hoping to get some intel as payment." She admitted. "Got caught red handed and cornered." She then gestured to everything around her. "Now I'm here."

"That's rough..." Tristan muttered.

"At least the company isn't dull." She said,

Tristan couldn't tell if she was being genuine or sarcastic. His opinion of her would be mostly positive if she could take a hint and realize he was in no mood for a conversation. "Uh huh." He agreed.

"But Deacon said something that scared me." The girl continued, much to his chagrin. She sat down and hugged her knees to her chest, leaning against the iron bars. She looked up at the spider webs on the ceiling. "Something about my parents."

"Oh yeah?" Tristan rolled his eyes. He was not in the mood to hear another sob story. Not while locked in this cell for eternity. Maybe if a guard came down here, she could distract the automaton by talking it to death.

"They disappeared years ago, but he spoke like he knew them." She said. "he said that they managed to find the one thing the Armada has been looking for. El Dorado."

"El what?" Tristan asked, feinting ignorance. Of course he knew what El Dorado was. You weren't a real pirate if you hadn't heard the legends.

"It's a fool's tale." The girl said with an annoyed scoff. "An island completely made of gold, hiding somewhere in the skyways of the Spiral. Said to hold unfathomable amount of riches." The girl sighed. "I can't believe the Armada are wasting their time looking for a myth."

Tristan couldn't help but agree. Personally he never believed the idea of a floating island made completely of gold. He thought the idea was made up in a tavern in Scrimshaw. But if the Armada were really looking for it, then...

"Deacon locked me up because he somehow thinks my parents will come back for me. 'Humans are predictable and emotional creatures,' He said, 'They'd put themselves in danger for their offspring,' or something stupid like that." The girl said in a terrible but humorous attempt to imitate Deacon's monotonous way of speaking. She sighed miserably. "...So much for that. My parents aren't coming back. And now I'm going to rot in a cell because of it."