Ravensblood Forest I ran all night and day.

Days had rolled by. Nothing. No sign of the gunner Kingsley, barely a whiff of the old merc's stench on the sands. No sign of his work anywhere. Pity that. More disheartening to her was the lack of signs. Nothing to indicate where the mutineer had gone. She knew little of the boy's life, no stories muttered of home. Not even a lie. The boy had stayed with them for barely a few months after all. That had been her driving point, what made her finally pull up and bring herself to this land in the first place when Kingsley failed to report back, but it turned out to be her faltering point. 

She was a stubborn woman, though. She couldn't well return to Tortuga without her target and expect to maintain her position. More important than that, she had a code to upkeep, for herself and for her crew. She would find him. Find him and drag him back screaming to Tortuga. Let Lynford have his fun — take his tongue, then something else. To show Alizarin and everyone else what happens to those who break their word to her and her crew. 

She'd paced the Coast north and south, constantly telling herself that there was some chance that the boy was here somewhere. She had said it to herself before — he could've gone inland. Definitely would — pirates would scour the coast for days, too dimwitted to think that there was anything worthwhile away from the sea. Eartha wasn't a pirate. She was better than a pirate. She turned her eye inland, following a river towards the land beyond the ocean. The forest that she found herself in was dark and cool. She appreciated the shade upon her sun-kissed fur. Though the air tasted of brine it was silent, far from the constant din that the ocean created with its waves and its raucous gulls. She felt as if she could hear every sound as if they bounced off the tree trunks. She thought she saw something moving off in the trees. She stepped towards it, getting closer and closer until the shape solidified and brightened in her sight. Eartha gaped for a moment.

The boy.

The traitor.

Alizarin, Eartha snarled, her chest rumbling, the storm of frustration and anger bubbling to the surface as she stared down the boy. You mutinous little bastard, she began to charge towards him, cursing herself for not bringing backup, for not finding Kingsley first. Then she could corner the little shit. No, she'd had to rush him. And even if she lost him now, she had his scent.