Miro shaded his eyes. Further along the beach… there was something there. The remains of scaffolding? He decided it would be the last thing he investigated.
Miro picked up his pace as he approached. The scaffolding rose from a wide hole in the ground, big enough to house ten ships the size of the Delphin.
Miro felt a surge of triumph as he arrived.
It was a dry dock, and the ship being repaired was still in it.
Immediately Miro saw signs of Toro Marossa having been this way. The ship was decayed, but there was a makeshift ladder someone had built to allow them to descend into the hole. A second ladder rose from the sunken floor to the side of the ship, obviously constructed by the same group. The ladders were hastily built with tall trees and twine. Miro knew the islands' inhabitants hadn't made them.
As Miro reached the side of the pit, he gazed at the ship in awe.
He'd never seen anything so big. It made the Delphin look puny in comparison. Even the Infinity was small compared to this ship.
She was held in place by huge ribs of wood and had three great masts, but the foremost had fallen down at some point, crashing through the deck and smashing the ship's front. There was a row of wooden shutters along the sides; they looked like they could open, but Miro had no idea why.
He looked down at the ladder descending into the pit. Miro squatted and shook it; the ladder seemed sturdy.
Miro descended the ladder, praying the rungs wouldn't break. It took an eternity before he was on the ground, and then he had an even longer ascent ahead of him. Finally, Miro stood on the deck. For some reason, the ship had survived the ravages of time where many of the buildings hadn't. Perhaps she was built of a harder wood. Miro supposed a ship must be stronger even than a house.
Searching the huge vessel would take time, so Miro decided to search level by level until he reached the hold. Planks creaked beneath his feet as he heaved open a hatch and descended.
Discovering this level empty, Miro found steps leading down and searched the next level. Also empty.
The next deck below was cramped. Miro saw strange tubes of bronze, now rusted, each leading to one of the wooden shutters visible from the outside. Once, rollers enabled the bronze tubes to be pointed out the side of the ship. It was yet another mystery.
Avoiding the rotten sections of the planks, Miro finally found the hold. Given the cavernous storage area Miro wondered how large the ship's crew had once been. Now, it was apparently as empty as the rest of the ship.
Miro walked almost the entire length of the ship before he saw them: a score of small barrels, kegs really, each marked with the symbol of a flame.
Miro's breath caught. Long ago, Toro Marossa once stood in this very place.
Some of the kegs had a second symbol beside that of the flame. It was a skull, an additional warning to stay clear. Next to an open keg black powder sat in a small pile.
Miro stayed clear of the barrels, but knew he'd found the poison. He searched the hold again before he gave up. It was always a long shot.
Just because he'd found the poison didn't mean there was a cure nearby. It was the people who'd once lived here he wanted to find.
With a sigh, Miro decided to return to the shelter.
~
IT WAS hours past sundown and Miro was worried. He didn't have the means to build a fire but the light cast by a crescent moon outlined the white beach. He watched the beach relentlessly, desperate for a sign of Amber. If she walked on the beach, he would see her.
Should he leave the shelter and head towards the second settlement? What if he missed her?
Miro's fists clenched and unclenched. He should never have let Amber go out on her own. Who knew what she'd found? He'd almost put his foot through the rotten planks of the ship more than once. What if she was stuck somewhere? Perhaps a roof had collapsed on her, or she'd been attacked by a dog. She could have come across some of the island's inhabitants, perhaps someone violent.
As Miro's thoughts turned darker and darker, he finally saw a figure in the distance. Miro leapt up and he began to run.
She made slow progress, dragging something behind her, something large and square, obviously heavy.
"Amber!" Miro cried.
"Here, help me with this," she gasped.
"What is it?"
"Tell you later."
The light was low, and Miro only saw it was a piece of wood the size of a large door. She must have laboured for hours to bring it.
"Here," Miro said, "let me take one end. You take the other."
Between the two of them, they managed to get it off the ground and stumble with it back to the shelter. Finally they dropped it to the ground with a thud, and both sank to the ground, puffing and wheezing.
"What… is it?" Miro panted.
"Can't see now." Amber coughed. "Show you in the morning. I'm exhausted."