The Rookie Pirates (Parts 1-6)

39. Greed

The captain's eyes wandered over the many civilians of Hive Island as he jumped from the docks onto the mud street of what was the port town of Honey Pot Port. The Islanders ran over to thank their hero, and some even started to cry when they realised who it was. Their King-Regent had finally returned to protect them.

Hive Island was a tropical island filled with a thick rainforest. At its centre was a mountain the shape of a beehive, hence how it got its name, as well as from the rare species of honey bees that lived there. The islanders themselves were accustomed to the modernising cultures of the outside world but stuck with their traditions, still opting to wear their Aztec style of clothing and live in small stone houses, and they had water aqueducts that ran throughout the different towns across the island. However, their simple life had been destroyed to make way for mining shafts to find their precious honey gold.

Everything had been destroyed. How and when did this happen?

The breath was taken out of him when a girl around the same age as his daughter engulfed him in a hug. Her raven hair sprawled across his jacket as she dug her head into his chest and silently cried tears of joy. Flint immediately knew who it was: a kind-natured girl who was Azalea's childhood friend.

"Daisy?" Zach croaked and stroked her raven hair. "Look at you. You've grown up so much. You were just a child the last time I saw you. Now you're a beautiful young lady."

The girl slowly raised her head. A deep sadness shone in her honey gold eyes, and a faint smile graced her lips, but she didn't utter a word. The silence confused Zach. Daisy was usually cheerful and upbeat; it was hard to speak a word between her ramblings.

"Daisy has been cursed. She had her voice taken from her by King Mordred," an older lady spoke out in her native language.

Zach looked behind him. The older woman had dark raven hair with wisps of grey showing through. She looked about forty years old with hardly a wrinkle in sight, but her looks were deceiving. She was almost eighty years of age. Hivian's tended to age gracefully and live longer than average. The woman wore a mound of beads and honey gold around her neck and extravagant clothing which left little to the imagination.

She was the high priestess and the royal family's most trusted advocate.

"Gardenia, what happened here?" Zach spoke back in their language.

She seemed to have come from out of nowhere, and due to what she was wearing and the little to no scars on her body compared to the rest of the Honey Tribe, she clearly had not been made a slave, unlike the rest with their tattered rags and bruised bodies.

"We are glad for your return, Your Highness, but you must come with me," Gardenia instructed, a stern sharpness to her voice. She seemed unhappy with him, which was not a good sign.

Zach nodded, understanding the seriousness of the situation, and looked back to his crew.

"Hawkins, help the rest of the tribe throughout the island. Free them, feed them, clothe them, help rebuild their homes, destroy all the mines, and bring smiles back to their faces, understood?"

"Aye, Captain!" Hawkins saluted.

Zach turned on his heel and followed after Gardenia, Daisy walking by his side and holding tightly to his hand like her life depended on it. He could only imagine the horrors Daisy had gone through, and so he squeezed her delicate hand, letting her know she was safe. Soon enough, her soft smile started to pick up.

The three of them trekked through the dense forest for quite some time until they finally made it to the base of Hive Mountain. Zach watched on curiously as Gardenia rhythmically knocked against the hard rock at the bottom of the mountain. A second later, a large boulder rolled out of the way to reveal a secret passageway into the mountain. Zach immediately recognised the Feline who had opened it from within the candlelit hall.