In the year of our Lord 1695, the hurricane and the events on Providenciales, the beautiful island adjacent to the Caicos Passage, swept away the plans of Captain Flint and his crew. They may had been able to brave the hurricane, find the remains of the Urca de Lima and seize its valuable cargo, but they failed to get both themselves and the treasure to safety.
In order to save their crew, Flint and Scully had to surrender to the Spanish Crown. Flint’s crew was unsuccessful with boarding the Kaka de Fuego chaser and freeing the two of them as they had hoped. After stopping by on the Cayman Islands, Boatswain Pew took command of the Pearl while the Walrus headed for San Andrés off the coast of Costa Rica.
Now Flint and Scully set foot on Cartegena’s soil as prisoners. Their hope to be rescued was dwindling with each passing hour. Viceroy Don Caspar de la Cerda is a power-hungry tyrant and the master of puppets of all marionettes dancing to his tune in the viceroyalty of New Spain. His chief justice and grand inquisitor Don Matthäo Grosso de Cravallo as well as the sleeky scientist Professore Geronimus stand by his side.
Flint and Scully owe their life to only one circumstance: they alone know the whereabouts of the treasure of the Urca de Lima. Viceroy Don Caspar would stoop to anything to draw this secret from them. He puts them on a show trial, weaves a web of intrigues and perverts the values of civilisation, and all this for gold, silver and gemstones. As long as Don Caspar can rely on his vassals and his shadow, the Nordic warrioress Gerlinde, he feels superior and confident and will stop at nothing in order to attain his end. Neither Scully nor Doña Isadora, who has genuinely fallen in love with Flint, nor the pirate Ned Low, who is at the viceroy’s command, can be sure that they will get away with their lives. They all die because Don Caspar wants them to die.
But then things come thick and fast. The crew of the Walrus won’t come to their captain’s rescue. Instead, the Queen of Denmark, Margarethe II, arrives with her flagship Copenhagen and a certain Charles Vane shows up. Vane is not Flint’s best mate but an honourable pirate, at least honourable enough to save Flint. In a second-to-none, spectacular move, Vane is able to rescue Flint, not least thanks to the beautiful tavern owner Angelina de Loreal.
All hell is breaking loose in Cartagena de Indias; a roaring, merciless hell.
Here and today, Flint’s war on Spain begins. He’s stricken with pain by the events that unfolded during the last hours.
In the flickering light of the fire that perishes Cartagena, Captain Flint’s eyes have already been set on a place farther north, a place where the Spaniards are most vulnerable: Spanish Cuba …