Written by StephanieProchaska

Note: One orange, bought from the Port Market to cure scurvy, is being used.

Once Sam and his crew were let out of the stadium, he finally got a good look at the land they'd found themselves in. He'd assumed the dirt had been limited to the arena floor, but he'd been mistaken. There was no greenery at all in the city, and only a few tufts of half-dead grass once they'd left it. Apparently, the inhabitants' overuse of magic had brought unforeseen consequences. Too much magic, not enough food. The sooner they got out of here, the better.

He stashed his newly-acquired wand, and using a few of the larger diamonds from their Grootslang adventure, purchased a ship of his very own; he and his crew were always lost on land, and this place seemed even worse than Pirates' Cove. They set sail, not bothering to look back.

But each passing day, Sam got more lethargic. He'd thought it was the strain of that Melee-mania— or maybe all the extra captaining he'd been doing— but the rest of the crew seemed to be suffering similar fates. When his gums started bleeding and Cuddy's old war wound opened up, he knew: scurvy. It was a good thing they'd left that famine-infected land when they did.

As they slept longer hours, it became harder to keep weather-watch. The whole crew was slumbering when the biggest storm Sam had ever seen rolled in. The waves crashed over the deck, making it hard for Sam to sleep. The ship rocked from side to side, until a particularly big wave struck, and Sam fell out of bed. He rubbed his eyes and dragged himself to the deck. As soon as he did, he wished he hadn't.

Rain was coming down in sheets, and the ship was listing so bad that he had to tie himself to the deck to keep from being swept overboard. He made his way over to help Finn with the rigging. Cuddy and the cabin boy came up not long after.

Cuddy manned the wheel, and the four of them managed to keep the ship going fairly straight for a few exhausting hours. The ship creaked worryingly. But Sam was convinced that through the torrential downpour he could see the faint outline of land in the distance.

"We're not going to make it!" Cuddy shouted into the wind.

"We are!" Sam insisted. "Just a few minutes longer!"

Sam hadn't come this far to be drowned at sea. He was going to sail into that bay in his brand-new ship if it killed him. It was too bad the ocean seemed to be trying its level best to make that a reality. Still, he wasn't about to give up. That is, until the mast came crashing down mere feet from his head.

It turned out, that was a pretty great way to kill a ship's momentum. Not long after, the ship capsized, sending the four crew members into the frothing sea.

The good news was that they were close enough to shore that they could make a swim for it. The bad news was that Sam wasn't going to be gliding up to port in style like he'd envisioned. This really wasn't going to do much for his reputation.

They dragged themselves up into the sand and collapsed on the beach.

"Everybody here?" Sam mumbled into the dirt.

His crewmates made various noises that he took for affirmations. The parrot squawked, landing on his back. Sam was too weak to bother with it.

As the rain continued pounding, someone came up and grabbed his arm. It took Sam a moment to realize he was being dragged into a nearby building. He was dumped unceremoniously onto a table, and let out a grunt. He looked around. It took a moment to orientate himself. And when he did, he let out a groan that had nothing to do with his illness or the terrifying shipwreck he'd just survived.

"Well, if it isn't Captain Calamity himself." a woman sneered. Sam raised his head as far off the table as he could manage and gave his best grin.

"Penelope!" he said. He tried to go for suave, but he ended up coughing on the last syllable. Penelope scoffed.

"Someone get this man some orange juice." she commanded. Sam heard footsteps receding. "So, you want to tell me about your latest misadventure?"

"You mean where I discovered a pit of diamonds, fought in a magical duel, and bought my very own ship?" he asked.

"Oh. Better add delusional to your symptoms then." she mumbled. "Where's this ship of yours then?"

"At the bottom of the ocean."

"Convenient."

"Really? I thought it was the opposite." Sam said, laying back down on the table.

Penelope scoffed. But when she spoke next, she didn't sound quite so annoyed. "Well, things have changed quite a bit while you've been off on your mad little quest."

"How so?"

"Well, Clarke's taken over as captain of The Amaryllis for a start."

"What happened to Williams?" Sam wanted to know.

"Taken at sea."

"Oh."

Sam had always liked Williams— they'd been on the same ship together, back before Marshall had been forcibly retired. But if Clarke was in charge of The Amaryllis now, he was the de facto ruler of the island. And he would not be excited to hear that Sam was back.

Sam managed to bribe Penelope into renting him a room. All he'd had to do was give her a few of the diamonds he'd sewn into his pockets before the wreck. And it was enough to get him a few decent meals and apparently all the orange juice he could drink. Sam grimaced; he never did like the stuff.

He wondered if he could make it taste better. He wasn't any better at magic than he had been in the arena, but he had all the time in the world to practise. He was just pulling that wand out of his otherwise-empty scabbard when the door flew open. He instantly let it drop back down.

A tall man in heavy boots sauntered into the room. His hair was windswept and his face looked like leather. He smiled humorlessly.

"Sam." the man grimaced.

"Clarke." Sam replied.