Rope? Check.

Bandages? Check.

Daggers? Check.

New Idle Dragons cards? Check.

Everything on Eddie’s last minute supply list had been attained. Now they could really get going on their excursion. He was itching to get out of Pirate Town and  not because he was afraid of Haven. The open sea and the hunger of adventure was calling for him. Captain Atlas was about to make history yet again.

Haven had been sitting on this map for so long and he probably had no idea where the map led. In fact the average citizen of Pirate Town probably didn’t know. There were many rumors circulating about the map he had snatched, all of them leading to great treasure, but one look at this map and Eddie could tell exactly where they were heading to.

When he was younger his mother used to tell him about a vault that the fairies had built during the Fairy War to preserve their irreplaceable magic and items. Eddie wouldn’t say that the items were priceless, but he knew he could make a very very large profit out of the things inside of it.

Which is why he didn’t want to waste anymore time standing around in Pirate Town. Time to get back to the ship.

Eddie quickly made his way back to the docks, but found a crowd in his way. There were usually only two reasons for such a commotion: a spilled sack of gold or an impending brawl. Eddie didn't have time for either. He needed to get back to his ship and set sail for his destination. Pushing through the crowd, he caught a glimpse of the commotion's center: a blonde haired idiot blathering and bothering the nearest pirate who passed him. The onlookers sneered at him, but were scanning for something to steal off him.

Eddie looked at him sideways. Although they were a bit dirty, he could tell that his clothes were made of the finest material. And his sword didn’t look cheaply made either. If Eddie had to guess, it was made in the Conquered Lands for a knight. What was someone like that doing here?

“I’m looking for a Captain Haven.” The blonde said to the next pirate that passed him. “I have an inquiry for him.”

“What makes you think I’ll tell you where he is for free?” A pirate sneered at him.

“What’re you even looking for? The lots of you don’t do well in this town.” Another one said sizing the blonde up.

“The lots of me?” The blonde said, stomping his foot. “How dare you! A filthy pirate such as yourself has no room to criticize me.”

Eddie’s eyebrows shot up. He sounded like royalty. Eddie didn’t keep up with royalty unless he was planning to rob them, but he was sure he had never seen this person in his life.

There was no way this potential prince was from Breland, the king there only had one daughter, Evelyn, and she had been missing for ages. He looked quite young so the princes from Regalia, Donnok, Poartle, and Horizo were out of the question. And he hadn’t been there in ages, but there was no chance that the queen of Thalyne had any children. So that left…

Prince Augustus of Mellion. Curious. The prince never stepped foot out of Mellion before and even more curious was the fact that he had no bodyguards around him. Likely that he wasn’t supposed to be here and his father also didn’t know he was here, or Pirate Town would be swarmed despite the fact that it resided in the Unconquered Lands.

Sooner or later, however, his father would come looking for him and it would be best for him to be long gone by then. Not that he was afraid of the king. He just didn’t need the trouble. Eddie turned to continue pushing to his ship.

“I need to speak to Haven about a map!” Augustus snapped at the pirates badgering him.

“That map? Captain Atlas stole it from him yesterday. Look, he's right over there!”

Eddie froze in his tracks. Somehow trouble always had a way of finding him.

“You over there! Captain Atlas I must speak with you immediately.”

The prince walked over to him pushing past the other pirates. Eddie frowned and delivered a deadly glare to the pirate who had opened their blathering mouth.

“Okay. Okay,” Atlas said to the prince. “What do you want?”

“Ahem. We should speak in a more…” The prince looked around at the crowded street. “Private area.”

***

Eddie sat across from the blonde prince inside a small room in the nearest tavern Eddie could find. He didn’t really want to hear him out, but it would be worse if the prince just followed him back to his ship.

“And you are?” Eddie started.

“Walter. I’m an… adventurer!”

Eddie held his laugh. Wasn’t his cousin named Walter? Okay so he was disguising his identity. Not very well, but the effort was there. For now he’d keep his mouth shut about knowing his real identity.

“Captain… Atlas… What should I call you?”

Eddie smiled. “Captain will suffice.”

The prince looked slightly appalled. “Alright then.. Captain, I am in need of your assistance. I have been informed that you are in possession of a map that will lead me where I need to go.”

“You’re asking me, a pirate, to divulge the location of great treasure?”

The prince scoffed. “I don’t need treasure. I believe I am looking for a book.”

“You believe? You don’t know what you’re looking for?”

“The place the map leads to is a fairy vault, no?”

Eddie squinted his eyes. “How do you know that?”

“Walter” straightened his back and a gleam of excitement shone in his eyes. “A very kind runi told me! He was once a disciple of Lux-”

“The Lux?”

“Yes, although I’m still not sure who that is,” The prince continued. “And I have been sent on a quest that she prophesied before she died! But I have little knowledge about this quest or exactly how to fulfill the prophecy or what exactly the prophecy is…”

“It sounds like you know nothing.”

The prince glared at him. “The runi told me that Lux used to keep notes of her spells and the things she learned.”

“And you believe that these notes could be in the vault.”

“Precisely! So as you can tell I don’t need the treasure. Just the map.”

Eddie looked at the prince in silence for a few moments. He was quite brazen, which could be expected from royalty, but this kind of brazenness was almost unprecedented. 

“You want me to just hand the map over to you?”

“Well… it’s for a good cause.”

Eddie scoffed. “And how exactly do you plan on traveling to the vault? You mentioned a runi? That’s how you got here I assume.”

The prince shuffled in his seat which told him that it was indeed how he got there. Which meant he did not have a ship and his father was definitely not on board with this quest. He’d probably pop a blood vessel knowing that his son used magic to travel across the ocean.

“I won’t disclose its exact location, but it’ll take at least a week of sailing for us to arrive there, and unless you can walk on water, I don’t think you’ll be getting there any time soon.”

“In that case, I will strike a bargain! You take me to the vault and you can have anything in the vault except for the books I need.”

“How exactly does that benefit me?”

The prince frowned. “I thought it might come to this.”

He took a pouch out from his cloak and slid it across the table to him.

“Payment for the voyage.”

Eddie picked up the sack. “No. But I’ll be keeping this sack of gold for the time you’ve wasted and just the inconvenience in general.”

The prince slammed his hands on the table and pushed himself up. “WHAT? Isn’t that just robbery?”

“Consider it a consultation fee.”

“I didn’t travel all the way to this pirate infested den just for you to say no!” The prince spluttered. “And what kind of name is Pirate Town? That’s stupid! That’s like naming your horse Horse!”

“I didn’t name it.” Eddie said, slightly amused. “I’ll be taking my leave now.” He said standing up.

The prince grabbed his arm. “No. Please wait.”

Eddie paused as he saw a flash of desperation and sincerity in his eyes.

“This quest isn’t just about my honor. Princess Evelyn needs my help. She’s been trapped in the Dark Dimension for years and I can finally do something about it. Please I am the only one who can help her. I just need passage to the vault. I swear on my father’s honor that I will bother you no more after this.”

The prince’s eyes shone with anticipation. This was probably his last shot and Evelyn’s as well. Eddie groaned. He was sure that he was going to regret this, but the prince seemed sincere enough. One ride couldn’t hurt…

“Fine, but you’re going to have to pay me a lot more than this.”

The prince brightened. “Thank you! You are quite honorable. Even for a pirate!”

Eddie was already starting to regret his decision. “And you might as well go by your own name Augustus.”

The prince looked a little shocked. “You knew this whole time???”

“Of course I did.”

“Your lack of manners is quite appalling then Captain!”

“Don’t expect me or anyone else to call you prince or your highness. It’ll just be Augustus.”

The prince frowned. “I go by August.”