A scream, a rush of air, then a loud splash. All that disturbed the eerie silence of the deep caverns. The murky waters were struck fiercely by two figures that plummeted from above.

The woman was smart enough to lean her body sharply, letting her legs be the first thing to pierce the surface. The man was much less graceful, sure that his body was about to be mangled by rough stones. Neither suffered a brutal collision thanks to her attentive and firm hold.

The plunge was nonetheless strong. Although the dark pond was narrow, its depth was endless. Their bodies sunk a lot into it, causing their consequent emergence to be delayed. As soon as their surge slowed down, they reacted. While she glared upwards instantly and began to kick angrily for the surface, he opened his eyes in a surprised and startled manner. She ignored how he floated pitifully below her, knowing that his instincts would soon drive him up as well.

Indeed, Olve threw a hand onto his neck after a second, realizing that he was submerged in salty water. The sting of the cut helped him remember that he needed to breathe, so he began to kick and follow.

She was not the first to emerge. Pirates did not follow strict trainings like the men of the royal navy did; in fact, some of her kind never bothered to learn to swim. He was faster than her both on land and water, as he had already proved when they threw him off the ship and while he fled through the jungle.

They had barely been able to see through the waters of the dark pond. When they surfaced, they did not find much light around them either. The leap led them down to the caverns; to be precise, a deep watery chasm in their core. There were rocky walls all around, which blockaded the pond from the other cavities that surrounded it.

Olve had paused there, floating on the surface. His mind was still trying to process that he had not been splattered into pieces after the fall, and it did not help that he noted that there was no clear shore by the pond, only stones and debris where to perhaps sit down.

It was a growl what finally snapped him into reality. Barbara swam blindly past him, without bothering to swat her long black hair off her face. She reached the rocks in seconds, to then slam her hands to climb onto them.

He shook his head to clear his eyes and followed; by the time he reached her, she had already yanked at her hair and pressured it to get the water off. When he climbed nearby and got out of the water too, she gave him a very harsh stare down. He did not pay it much mind for the time being. He laid there, outstretched on the stones, panting. His eyes stared up at the ceiling, or what little he could see of it; there were glimmers in the shadows all around, from the huge piles of amber that laid in the caverns.

She kept dealing with her long hair while he brushed his face with a hand, trying to clean off the amber that the natives had painted him with. A displeased sigh escaped him, because it was dissolving and falling messily, like the droplets of water on him.

Some parts of his ceremonial garments had shattered with the plunge; the scarab shell that covered part of his torso was now fragmented, not as grand and polished as before. He could not mourn his unkempt looks too much however, not when the robes had muffled his whirling drop.

The thought of surviving the fall cleared his mind a little bit. He remembered that he had been saved from a worse fate than a broken neck. That was why he leaned his head to glance at her tiredly. She was ignoring him, examining her surroundings with her hostile gaze.

“You…” He was slightly breathless, but he did his best to speak. “Let me guess, you didn’t know either that there was water down here.”

She answered his snide remark with a scoff, without bothering to look at him.

“I did, estupido.” She stood up to her feet, glaring at the walls to ponder which one was best to climb to reach the outer cavities. “I entered the den through these caverns; the channel outside pierces the earth and goes into it. Problem is… it flows deep.”

These chasms, she had noticed, but from far above. They were so deep that the tribe always had to wander out in order to gather water; climbing down here would be pointless. She could not tell in which direction to head to, and it made her nervous. His obliviousness to what could lurk not too far made her feel jealous as well.

“Well, at least they will take a very long while to reach us now.” He spat some water he had swallowed and sat up a little. His apprehension was as clear as hers, and it was directed at each other. “I’m not sure how to feel about that, however.”

He considered her less dangerous than the natives, but not by much. Her attitude was hostile, constantly.

“You should be thankful, and quiet.”

He smirked nervously, noting that she had her hand on her knife, and that she was not wielding it. Not yet.

“Ah, I kind of expected you to begin interrogating me as soon as you had some time to spare.” He brushed his scarred neck awkwardly, remembering how she cut him. “You must have realized by now that these robes don’t have any pockets and that I’m not wearing the-“

Her eyes shot open wide; she shouted the word before he could whisper it.

“The necklace!”

She threw her hands onto herself, patting the multiple small satchels on her belt and the big pockets in her baggy pants. Her heart had skipped a huge beat, and it was only when she felt a chain that she breathed out. She took out the trinket to look at it in instinctive respite, deadly afraid to have lost it to the deep water… The motion also allowed him to see it, of course.

“What the-“ She blinked and cringed, realizing that she had revealed it to him. “You had it all this time?!”

She hid it again before he could finish the sentence. He sat mouth agape, astonished by the revelation and her following stern denial.

“No. That was not THE necklace.” It was the first time he saw her flustered, in a subtle manner. “That was just another trinket I snatched on my way in. These savages have lots of hoards.”

To prove a point, she took out some amber and golden coins from a purse. She waved them in front of her with a more dignified stance, hellbent on keeping her sympathetic intentions concealed. He was foolish and sometimes naive, but not stupid. She snarled when he pointed at her, giving her an incredulous look.

“What you have in there is no mere trinket. That IS the royal necklace. I’ve seen the jewel glimmer in your hand.”

She opened her mouth, considering saying that he was wrong, that it was a cheap garnet and not a bright shining ruby what he saw gleam. However, she thought twice, knowing that such an excuse would not work. That was why she did not keep trying.

“Whatever.” She proceeded to turn away sharply, dismissive of his realization. “Forget about setting your hands on it again. I finally have it, and getting out with it is all I really care about.”

For once, she felt threatened. He had gotten to his feet, and his intent serious stare made her anxious. His next step and whisper made her tuck away the coins and amber, to allow herself to put a hand on her knife again.

“You did not come here for the necklace.”

The accusation was bold. It was also a tentative question. One that she did not want to acknowledge or answer. She tried to disregard his doubts, never fond of her own truths.

“Don’t be ridiculous; I only want loot and fortune. You dropped the damn thing, and I absolutely had to figure out where those savages could have tucked it away.” She shrugged and smirked, taunting his reminiscent words. “Luck was on my side; when I entered this place to question you about its whereabouts, I came across a vault with it inside. After I snatched it back, you were just an afterthought. An easy addition to my plunder. You could win me a good ransom, after all.”

She had to justify her intervention in some way to keep him from thinking too much, and the usual avarice that pirates displayed was her best bet. To her surprise, it did not work, for his outlook on her had been twisted far too much.

Olve kept quiet for some seconds. Although he was only a little taller than Barbara, his stance now seemed to tower over her. His stare was piercing, and when she refused to answer his silent allegations, he said it all plainly.

“You rushed into a chamber full of armed savages with little more than a knife and a smoke bomb. Your sword, which you seemed very fond of, is broken, forever lost inside some vile mechanisms that could have ended up unleashing lava on you too. You jumped down a pit, instead of surrendering me to an angry mob. That is no easy or good plunder, but pure steadfast madness.” She moved up her knife and pointed it at him, something he ignored while inching closer. “I could understand you doing all that for the necklace. But I did not have it, you did. You could have left at some point, no matter when. All those hazards can’t be outweighed by whatever small ransom you get from my superiors. Why did you rescue me?”

She questioned herself as well, even if she knew the answer, like she always did. Her defiance was so strong that she threatened him again.

“Back off, boy. I can still stab you, set off with the necklace, and leave you to die in this godsforsaken place.”

“As if, you have already-“ He tried to lay a hand on the knife and take it away from her, sure that after all that she did she would not dare stab him. Indeed, she wouldn’t kill him, but she did not doubt to hurt him. “Agh!”

He took back his hand and held it away, blinking down at the fresh cut on it. Meanwhile, she twirled the knife in her hand and cleaned the blood, scolding his audacity.

“You can live without your fingers, you know? I only need you to keep your legs and eyes to get you out of here.”

That was an admission, even if very small. He lost most of his brashness, confused to no end by her actions.

“You shot at my ship, killed my crewmates, made walk the plank, forced me to evade deadly eels, chased me through a dangerous jungle, caused my entrapment in some ruins, and led me to be kidnapped by these-!”

“I told you to hide! You didn’t listen when I said to lay low by the piles of gold!” She missed completely that he was not trying to criticize her murderous ways, but the way in which they contrasted her most recent actions. “I’ve saved you more than once, so you better shut your mouth!”

“That is-“ He opened his hands at his sides, uncapable of understanding her contradictory and prideful assertions. “That is exactly the issue! You wanted me dead, and now you save me! For what?! It can’t possibly be for a bounty, because you didn’t chain me while my ship sunk! What reason do you have to spare me death?!”

Her gaze softened a little under pressure, but her anger did not fade. She let out a long sigh and lowered her knife, to then cross her arms tiredly. He kept quiet while she admitted, in a way that seemed to bother her much more than being denied of her prize.

“At first, it was a mere mischievous pity, I guess.” Her green eyes met his blue ones, somehow both hateful and benign. “Your crewmates were the type of men that would sneer at my girls if they found them alone in some secluded docks. One ends up getting used to those looks, and they tend to come from people that should hold more virtue. I distrust anyone who serves the royalty; nothing but leeches. However, of all those well-dressed thugs, you seemed to hint some semblance of goodwill and candid pride. Far too innocent, naïve in your dedication.”

She looked him squarely in the eye after a pause, judging. The critical tone in her voice and the way she grimaced made him very self-conscious.

“Yes, I saw a stupid, devoted fool then. Still do… but much more clearly now. In those ruins, I sadly got to hear your childish laments.” She scoffed and looked away, prompting him to frown in thought for her next regretful words. “It should not have reached that point, I did not want to hear it; I let you swim to shore instead of axing you, gave you a chance to hand out the trinket without being shot. But no, you had to snatch the necklace and runoff, time and time again. I want to know as well why didn’t I simply kill you or leave. You are nothing special: a young man who does not really know where to place his bets.”

Much like all the ones she had sheltered in her dear vessel. Like a real oyster, she gathered eroded fragments and allowed them to rebuild themselves into something precious. Freedom and dignity were priceless, and not easy to attain. She tended to offer those things freely, sometimes to ones that defied her in their first encounter.

He was as critical as she was towards her intentions, trying to puzzle together her true character. She was infamous in the region, and even a royal sailor would hear the murmurs exchanged in the taverns. Wherever she went, she would sail over any man that would cross her way. The reefs would forage on the carcasses of her targets, which were never women. Having witnessed her himself, now he had an idea of what her real modus operandi was.

“I’m a man, you are right.” He leaned his head in a puzzled manner, trying to read her stern expression. His tone was not accusative, but uncertain. “People say that you like to surround yourself with the fairest of maidens, while the blood of men pours like wine.”

She had the same interest for men as he had for women: none. It was clear that the care that made her come to the rescue was not based in that sort of significance. It never was. The way in which she whispered next hinted how much she loathed her repressed kindness.

“Ah, men do tend to bleed a lot if near me. But not all do. I do not hate people because of what they have between their legs. It is their circumstances and acts that sway my judgment. One does not find the most righteous humans near or at sea. So, I never need to doubt much while swinging my cutlass.” She laid a hand on her chest, closing her eyes for a moment with a tired smirk. “I wish I were colder. The greatest pirates always are. Part of me wishes I had let my girls remain in chains, figuratively or not. Sadly, I’m crazy, as you say.”

Her crew was the closest she had to a family. It was volatile, murderous, and very flawed… but it was hers. She put it together for the destitute to join. Sadly, he was not all that moved by the notion, remembering how they assaulted his vessel. Still, he did feel some sympathy and reflection for her words.

“Your girls, huh?” He looked up, pondering how much they would need to climb to get out the pit. “Where the hell are they?”

Last he saw them, it was in the jungle, as the ground broke to make way for sharp pincers. Now that he knew of her real ambitions, even if he did not fully comprehend them, the absence of her crew felt more bizarre.

Barbara let out a snarl when Olve questioned the whereabouts of her sisters in arms. She kicked a rock into the water and cracked her neck, remembering that they could not just stand there like fools.

“Perhaps they are still docked at the beach, lending me some extra time. But they could be out at sea already.”

He flinched at that, because they were on an island, with no other civilization than this tribe.

“They what?” He grew extremely anxious, unnerved by how plainly she said that. “They have gone back to the ship, and they are willing to leave you?!”

Barbara gave Olve a raise of eyebrow, amused by his surprised expression.

“Hey, we are pirates. We snatch what we can, all the time. If there is room for some camaraderie, we lend it, but it’s never to be expected. If a venture goes wrong, we deal with the loses and move on.”

She definitely had not moved on any of the times she lost the necklace, but he decided that saying it was a very bad idea.

“You are telling me we could be trapped on the island?” He began to pace, tugging at his broken garments. “How are you planning on us surviving? The navy may not investigate in weeks, and even if they do, they will hang you at the next port they dock at.”

Her green eyes narrowed, noticing how concerned he seemed by the thought of her being hanged, something he did not realize in his nervousness. She tried to ease his worries, but her next words were not very reassuring.

“Calm down; if they have set sail, they will have left behind a rowboat for me to take. They always show some appreciativeness. With luck, they will have tied it by the beginning of the waterway. They knew I was headed here, after all.” She pulled up her sleeves, eyeing a wall with a scowl. “If we follow the channel, we will get to the boat or the beach where La ostra roja was.”

He threw a hand to his hair, finding the endeavor even more suicidal now. All this time, he had believed her crew to be in tow, only to find out they were less adamant on getting the royal trinket.

“We are dead meat…”

She scolded his defeated comment, striding towards the wall she had examined.

“We will be if we don’t get going. I would rather be roasted by some cannibals than these artsy savages.” As always, he was dumbfounded by her assertiveness and resolve. She sunk her knife into the wall and slammed her free hand onto the rocky ledges, beginning the long hike up. He stared at her in doubt, and it did not take long for her to yell back at him. “Don’t just stand there! I won’t be throwing down a rope once I’m at the top! Use your hands; I haven’t cut them off!”

He really couldn’t afford to stay idle by the water, so he was quick to obey. Unlike her, he did not have a knife to help himself, so he ascended a little more sluggishly. The pit was deep, and it took multiple minutes for them to reach the middle point of the wall, so he found himself in an uncomfortable state of mind. He gathered some courage and opened his mouth, whispering while they climbed.

“I haven’t thanked you for stopping them, have I?”

He had debated if he should, and he concluded that she deserved the gratitude, no matter what she did to him once they escaped the den. Her answer to his uncertain murmur was harsh, cold as always.

“Don’t thank me yet.” She let out a dark chuckle, and not because she was pondering locking him in her ship’s brig. “Can you hear it?”

He was puzzled by her question until she stopped climbing for a moment. Of course, he did too. It took him a few seconds to notice it, but he soon was alarmed by how there was no complete silence, even if they had paused midway up on some ledges. There were clicking noises, faint and distant. The sound was very similar to the one the natives let out to communicate, and yet, he could tell that it was not coming from them. It did not sound human, far too raspy and stiff. Whatever moved out there in those cavities was big.

She smiled mockingly, entertained by his gradual horrified realization. There came the warning, which made his heart race again.

“I will try to get you out of this hive in one piece… but it’s not a promise.”

Olve did not resume his ascent as eagerly as Barbara did. He glanced all around him, at the tunnels and holes above, remembering the ants that had surged out of the ground in the jungle. They had saved his neck back then, but…

“Okay, alright.” He took a deep breath and tensed, glaring up as decidedly as possible. “Just some big daft ants. I evaded them well enough before.”

She did not stop smiling derisively, shaking her head. Telling him that these ants were bigger would do them no favors. His surprised alarm could come in handy later, a source of adrenaline.

After a while, they reached the top of the wall. They huffed and pulled themselves onto the edge, taking a moment to catch their breaths in the tunnel. It diverged into multiple cavities, and only the gods knew which one led to the exit.

“So many paths, too many possible choices.” She leaned her head and looked at him, twirling a coin between her fingers. “I have no way of telling which one is safer. Want to choose one, or shall I toss this coin?”

He truly did not like to gamble. That was why he frowned, trying to think carefully and critically.

“Have you seen those ants on your way in?”

“A few drones, the smallest ones for sure.” She admitted the truth, even if it was not nice to hear. “Those were bigger than any in the jungle.”

At least as big as a three horned bull then…

He hated to picture such size, but it was important that he did. After that inner debate, he looked at a path that stood a few feet away, one that was very narrow. They would have to crouch, but an ant would not fit in it.

“This one then.”

He moved in first, not concerned by any possible backstabbing. She did not protest his lead, because they were as lost now. The only way in which she could possibly recognize her surroundings would be if they got out of the depths, and that would take a while.

They were quiet while they advanced carefully through the darkness. The holes and layered cavities seemed to intensify the echoes of the beasts, and there was no way of telling from where they originated.

The chasms really felt like the guts of a huge hungry animal. Somewhere, sharp pincers kept breaking apart the amber, gathering it as a source of food and protection. The deep cracks around them gleamed constantly, hinting the presence of the shiny fake gold within. There was light, but it was scarce and very dim, eerie.

“Do you have any matches left?”

“I do.”

He looked back, expecting her to take one out and help him mind his step. She did not offer any, something that prompted him to complain.

“I have gotten enough bruises in this ordeal already; light one so I don’t hit my head on any rocks, would you?”

“Allow me to save your life again.” She closed her satchel a little more tightly, refusing his request tauntingly. “How many times will you test your luck with fire?”

He was quick to catch her warning.

“No, you can’t be saying that-“ He moved his hand away from the amber on a wall, and then he looked at himself. The paint made of amber had not washed completely off him. “This stuff is flammable?! Is that why they live in the dark?!”

“Who knows.” Past the echoes of the caverns, the constant rumble of the volcano could still be heard. “Foolish or brilliant, can’t tell what they are. This amber can do wonders in their stony machinery when combined with lava.”

The rumbles of the furnace would forever be engraved in his mind. He did not look forward to those nightmares. First things first, however… he had to get out of this one.

“Anything else I should be worried about?”

“You may get pneumonia once we escape and spend some time rowing out at sea, because your clothes don’t offer much warmth or coverage. But I think that’s an issue to consider latter, hmm?”

He kept walking ahead strongly, irked by her jabbing bluntness.

“You always have to call out every single little detail no matter what, don’t you?”

“It’s a gift. You wouldn’t believe how many fools I have disarmed with some simple remarks.”

“Maybe they just let go of their weapons to stop hearing you bark at them.”

She smirked, unbothered by his subtle insult. Many had called her a bitch before him, and profanity was easily brushed off by any pirate.

Although there was clear animosity between them, they had a silent agreement. Both focused on moving, saving any possible fights for later; if they would be physical or not, they did not debate it much now. Both wanted to escape with their lives and the necklace. He still wanted to protect it somehow, but he knew that she wouldn’t let him.

It wouldn’t be easy to leave the caverns. The eerie tranquility around them did not last forever. Olve kept choosing small paths to traverse, and it was a wise move… but nature was capricious. The caverns were not man-made, far too chaotic, and without a clear layout. Eventually, the narrow path they followed began to widen, and it led them to a bigger cavity. It was spacious, but not that huge. Both leaned their heads to look up, seeing many holes and openings in its endless walls. They cringed, seeing something sticky dangling from the distant ceiling and rocks. It looked like a watery spider web, but it wasn’t.

“Stand back.”

She stepped in front of him with her knife in hand, alerted immediately by the marks that were on the amber and walls. The substance had been stabbed at, molded into the threads that hung all over. It was clear that it had been done by the hive, to facilitate their movements over the holes and surfaces.

Both knew that they would eventually encounter a space where the ants roamed, but he still felt bad about having led them to one. It made him feel much more frustrated to see her sneak forth first, surer of herself than he was.

She was the only one that had a blade, even if small. That was why she neared the only opening they could reach, scowling. It was blocked by multiple threads of sticky amber. She began to cut at them, huffing when she struggled to do so.

“Damn things…” The insects dissolved the amber with water, to then let it solidify in the shapes they wanted. “Should have picked some water from that pit. This stuff is as hard as the hide of a desert boar.”

Olve moved slowly through the cavity, minding his step because he was barefoot and the sticky amber was all over. His eyes were fixated on the ground… and that fact was what allowed him to see something he would have missed otherwise. His blue eyes opened slowly, noticing a small continuous trickling of amber. If he had not been looking at the black earth, he would have not been able to distinguish it in the dim lighted air. It was very watery; it almost looked like saliva.

It only took him a second to realize it was indeed drool. Its amber tonality was murkier, slightly silverish. He looked up, expecting to see a reddish ant hanging from the wall above. There were only golden glimmers. But that did not mean nothing crept there, in plain sight.

He flinched, tensing as he saw that golden mass twitch, make a subtle approach. What had looked like a huge amalgamation of amber inched closer to loom over her. A shiver ran down his back as he noted the four long pincers opening. His shout came too late.

“Watch out!”

Barbara gasped, alerted by Olve’s yell. She stopped slashing at the threads and tried to turn around, but she did not manage. A surprised yelp escaped her when the pincers closed near her neck; if he had not yelled and made her flinch, she would have maybe been decapitated.

Olve dashed forward, seeing the huge ant snatch Barbara upwards by the back of her collar. It had also managed to grasp some of her hair, making her scream in pain as it dragged her up slowly towards another hole.

The knife fell off her hand when she tried to swing it back into the insect, because she hit the amber that covered one of its long legs. The blade clattered onto the ground at his feet, out of her reach. He acted in instinct. There was a chance for him to leave her to her luck, prevent whatever she could do once they left the island. He did not take it.

Barbara hissed, unable to see or do much while she was dragged up in the dark. She kept punching and kicking, but the drone was unfazed by her efforts. Her hits hurt her more than they hurt it; almost all its body was covered in thick amber. Almost.

A furious growl echoed, and it did not come from the ant. There was a rush, something hurled forcefully from below. A sharp crack and thump echoed, and it was followed by a loud screech from the insect. The next thing Barbara knew, the pincers opened, letting her fall. She gasped and huffed, hitting the ground while the beast cowered into an upper hole. Before it got out of sight, she managed to sneak a look at it and the knife that had sunk into the front of its head.

Olve panted there, glaring holes through the ant. His hand still trembled, having thrown the blade at the only part that it had not covered with amber, unreachable by its pincers. The exoskeleton was thick, but not enough to prevent him from hurting it enough.

Barbara sat there, stunned. Once the ant crawled away and was far out of sight in the shadows, she looked up at him. It took him some seconds to return her surprised glance, which he did tiredly. He let his shoulders relax and then commented plainly, stepping away from her.

“Sorry about your knife.”

She had let go of her jacket, her cutlass and now this. There was no way of getting them back, and he was aware of the fact.

There was not much she could do in her daze. She slowly stood up, watching him approach the blockade of murky threads. His hands slammed onto them and began to pull, so angrily that he managed to rip a few. It did not come without cost, because he got a few small cuts. Nonetheless, he procured a small hole for them to pass through. He turned to face her again, motioning at the path with a long exhale.

“It may come back.” He frowned, eyeing her feet while remembering she just dropped down harshly. “Need me to-?”

“No, I’m fine.” He watched her pat her stained clothes and scoff at his offer. Still, as she passed firmly by him, she let out another word, so softly that he almost did not hear it. “Thanks.”

Through she went, scowling, like if nothing had happened. Neither believed they were even now, for different reasons. Both felt they were in debt, even if only slightly.

Olve did not follow through right away, taking a moment to glance up at the cavity and its endless openings above. He could hear creaking, continuous thuds. There were more of those things lurking ahead, and neither had any weapons to fend them off.

He looked down at his scarred hands, silently. They were strong, but not as much as those sharp pincers. Nonetheless, now he was awfully aware that he would strike like if they were made of stone, for they would have been if she had not stepped in between.

With one last deep breath, he followed her deeper into the treacherous and dark tunnels. He would also do his best to ensure that she got out, exposing his life to death if needed.