Scarlet Minor and the Twin Pikes of Nebo

Scarlet sails south toward the fabled Twin Pikes, surviving sea-monster attacks with Strongy and Skimpy before a pirate ship, the Anchora, captures their vessel and brings them under the hard-but-fair Captain Mady, who eventually renames the boy “Scarlet Minor.” The British Brigade hunts them; ghost-faced amphibious raiders try a night boarding and are beaten back, and later, in fog, Scarlet leads a daring lifeboat strike that cripples British ships. Mady is mortally wounded in the running fight; his sealed letter names Scarlet the next
captain, and the crew buries Mady at Tracun before refitting at Iswana.

Pushing down the Atlantic, the Anchora is rammed by the eerie Dutchman and then sucked through a whirlpool/undersea-volcano passage near the Cape of Good Hope into a hidden inland sea—the gateway to Betusabeneath the Twin Pikes of Nebo. In Betusa’s palace—its rulers seated on legendary golden stools—King Aram and Queen Saira confirm prophecies that Scarlet is the protector destined to end the Curse of Bodiaka and reclaim the Renegade from the traitor Stonecold Ambioca. Princess Araya shows Scarlet Betusa’s vast hidden
wealth—gold, diamonds, and rubies stored within the Twin Pikes—and teaches him their people’s history and laws. Guided by the Oracle of the Silver Stone, Scarlet learns about the Potion of Light and the task of retrieving Stragon’s fangs in the land of Gull as part of breaking the Curse.

Scarlet and Araya fall in love and marry in a week-long celebration, after which Scarlet sails to check on his parents in Portugal; along the way he frees a kidnapped boy—naming him Seth—instead of buying him, reinforcing his code as a just pirate-captain. While Scarlet is away, Ambioca, aided by the Sea Hag and through British connivance, unleashes wraithlike Ghost Face warriors on Betusa, killing the King and Queen and looting part of
the treasure. Scarlet returns through the whirlpool to find the city sacked; he discovers Araya alive, buries her parents, and smuggles his new wife aboard disguised as the cabin boy Aliezer. With his parents now under his protection on the Anchora, Scarlet vows to avenge Betusa, recover its treasures, break the Curse’s protection around Ambioca, and ultimately reclaim command of the Renegade