Chapter Summaries

Copilli arrived in western Cuba with three hundred Kingdom Warriors and met Priest Yao Yun, who described the island’s peaceful, rapidly growing conversion to the Main God. The story left the kingdom’s missionaries planning to bring the still-hesitant Havana tribes into the faith through continued peaceful preaching.

• Copilli landed at the West Mountain Tribe after a five-day sea crossing and counted his three Centuries, which had lost only a few men.
• Copilli met Priest Yao Yun and praised the tall Taino Militia, suggesting they be blooded in battle against tribes that resisted the Main God.
• Yao Yun explained that the West Mountain Tribe and several neighboring Taino tribes had converted, while local militia and Kingdom Warriors guarded the region.
• Yao Yun showed Copilli the shrine and new homes, describing how the kingdom’s farming techniques, arbitration, and missionary work had helped bring peace and new family customs.
• Yao Yun said the Havana tribes remained hesitant but that priests were already preaching there, and he expected central Havana to convert within a year.

Copilli and Taisitralco discussed how to secure the Main God’s influence among Havana’s prosperous Taino tribes without bloodshed. The chapter left Copilli preparing to demonstrate the Kingdom’s military might to intimidate the tribal elders.

• Copilli admired Cuba’s peaceful coast and recognized Havana as a fertile, strategically valuable region suited to become western Cuba’s center.
• Taisitralco explained that Havana’s Tribal Elder Council quietly obstructed missionary work, though the Taino tribes remained peaceful and lacked military strength.
• Copilli proposed killing the elders and forcing the tribes to convert, but Taisitralco rejected violence and stressed the priests’ conciliatory approach.
• Taisitralco asked Copilli to parade three hundred Samurai into Havana’s central square while the Galley’s Tiger-Crouching Cannon fired, hoping to awe the elders and remove obstacles to missionary work.

Copilli’s fleet secured conversions and left Kingdom Warriors at key Taino tribes across Cuba before meeting Tai Sun’s returning patrol ship. Tai Sun reported that the white-skinned demons had sailed back across the Eastern Sea after scouting Cuba, warning that another invasion could follow.

• After a show of force, the Havana tribal elders converted to the Main God, and Priest Taisitralco kept forty Kingdom Warriors to support the new believers.
• Copilli’s fleet left warriors at the Well River, Salt Shore, and Gabi tribes, where local resources included salt fields, copper, and tin.
• Copilli met Tai Sun aboard the caravel Grey Earth and initially mistook its white-skinned crewmen for demons before learning they had converted to the Main God.
• Tai Sun said the demons had rested in the Bahamas, repaired their ship, abducted Taino islanders, and sailed east across the ocean.
• Tai Sun warned that the demons had returned to their homeland with intelligence about Cuba and that a new invasion force might appear.

Chief Priest Tomatl assessed the Kingdom’s expanding influence across Cuba and the Eastern Sea as Iron Bay Town developed its ships, fishing, and musket forces. He concluded that the Kingdom needed more time and resources while remaining uncertain where the White-Skinned Demons’ fleet would appear next.

• The supporting Galley fleet arrived at Iron Bay Town, where Chief Priest Tomatl welcomed the Samurai and learned that the Maya-Cuba route had opened; one hundred Samurai stayed as garrison, while others were assigned to Cuba’s coasts.
• Chief Priest Tomatl studied a new map of the Eastern Sea and assessed the Kingdom’s expanding rule, trade, and exploration across Cuba and nearby islands.
• Carpenter Antonio, two veteran boatswains, and Arana devised an Arab-style lateen-rigged sloop, and Iron Bay Town began using sail technology to improve boats and ships.
• Taino fishermen learned to handle the new sails, while Tomatl planned a musket unit of selected Taino Militia to fight under Samurai protection.
• Tomatl considered Iron Bay Town’s iron production and the Kingdom’s need for more time, then wondered where the White-Skinned Demons’ fleet would appear next.

King John II learned that Martin Behaim had vanished from Faial Island and that Governor Jose accused the royal exploration fleet of abducting him. John and Nuno agreed to declare Martin’s disappearance a voluntary, heroic voyage, arrange a funeral for him, and warn Jose and the fleet’s commander Bruno.

• Jose van Werth wrote to King John II, reporting Martin Behaim’s disappearance and questioning a letter claiming Martin had willingly joined the exploration fleet.
• King John II suspected Jose blamed the royal family, while Nuno feared Bruno, whom he had recommended, was responsible for Martin’s disappearance.
• Nuno argued that Martin had freely devoted himself to the voyage and proposed treating him as dead and arranging a Church funeral.
• King John II approved Nuno’s plan, ordered a stern reply reminding Jose that the Azores belonged to Portugal, and directed that Martin receive an honorable funeral.
• John told Nuno to reprimand Bruno if he returned and said Bruno’s boatswain Haroldo should be considered to have died of illness at sea.

King John II condemned Pope Alexander VI’s ties to Aragon and judged that the pope’s greed would help trigger a French invasion of Italy, drawing Castile into a prolonged war and easing pressure on Portugal. He chose to answer the pope and King Fernando cautiously and accept the end of Columbus’s imprisonment, but his worsening illness left his plans uncertain.

• Nuno reminded King John II that he had not replied to letters from King Fernando and Pope Alexander VI.
• King John II denounced Pope Alexander VI’s Aragonese ties, political maneuvering, and appointment of his son and his mistress’s brother as cardinals.
• King John II predicted that King Charles VIII would invade Italy and that the conflict would divide the Church and eventually draw in Castile.
• King John II decided Portugal must feign compliance with the letters and that Columbus’s imprisonment would likely end.
• King John II suffered a severe coughing fit, tasted blood, and asked Nuno to bring him the two letters.

King John II tried to preserve Portugal’s neutrality and secure time to explore the Atlantic by arguing to Pope Alexander VI that Portugal had the right to detain Columbus. He planned to keep Columbus imprisoned until August, then ordered him moved to a death cell after receiving a letter from Fernando.

• King John II drafted a reply to Pope Alexander VI that warned of France’s threat and defended Portugal’s Atlantic claims under the Treaty of Alcáçovas.
• King John II cited six crimes to justify Columbus’s detention and declared that Columbus would be released in mid-August, too late to sail west that October.
• King John II calculated that delaying Castile’s exploration would give Portugal two years to pursue the new Atlantic route while its fleets explored westward.
• Nuno told King John II that Columbus had been moved to a comfortable noble’s cell after Queen Isabella’s letter and had gained weight there.
• After reading Fernando’s letter, King John II ordered Columbus transferred to the death cell and given the same food and water as condemned criminals.

After reaching an immense tropical rainforest at the mouth of a vast river, Bruno’s exploratory fleet sent Silveira and sailors ashore for supplies, while Bruno feared a repeat of their disastrous Congo expedition. The explorers found no village but returned with game and exotic birds, and an Arawak hunting party headed toward the sound of their gunfire.

• Bruno and the fleet wondered whether the vast forested coast belonged to an unknown continent after the storm drove them south.
• Bruno and the other veterans feared the rainforest because their earlier Congo expedition had brought illness and death, while Silveira volunteered to explore it.
• Silveira returned with sailors, a South American Tapir, fruit, fish, snakes, and a White-winged Cotinga, reporting no sign of human habitation.
• Bruno checked that the returning sailors showed no signs of illness and ordered the crew to eat the meat before it spoiled.
• Arawak hunters heard the explorers’ gunfire and turned toward the riverside to investigate.

Bruno confronted Knight Silveira after Silveira led sailors in killing a group of natives, then forced him to acknowledge Bruno’s command and follow Portugal’s prescribed approach to native peoples. The fleet prepared to leave that night, with Bruno warning that a powerful native kingdom nearby must be treated cautiously.

• Bruno arrived at the shore and found a dozen natives dead after Silveira and the sailors attacked them.
• Bruno drew his rapier, had Silveira forced to his knees, and asserted his authority as fleet captain.
• Silveira recited the Navigation Academy’s rules for dealing with native tribes, including plundering weak groups while avoiding powerful ones.
• Bruno warned Silveira that a powerful native kingdom was active nearby and must be approached with respect.
• Bruno ordered the sailors to dispose of the bodies, finish off any survivors, and prepare to sail that night.

Bruno’s fleet reached an uncharted tropical continent after a storm drove it far south of its intended route. He measured the fleet’s position and tried to persuade the offended scholar Martin to join him in exploring the new land.

• Bruno ordered navigator Pedro and scholar Martin to measure the fleet’s latitude, and both placed it at about 8.5 degrees north.
• Bruno recalled how a storm had driven the fleet south, depleted its supplies, and carried it past the route to the Bahamas until Martin spotted signs of nearby land.
• The fleet found a vast rainforest continent at 6 degrees north, and Bruno wondered where it lay in relation to India and the East.
• Bruno apologized to Martin for their earlier dispute and urged him to explore the continent by describing the stars and forest as wonders of an Odyssean voyage.

Martin Behaim convinced Bruno that the expedition had reached a previously unknown continent, while reports from a captive Lokono raised new questions about nearby islands and the people Columbus had encountered. Bruno decided to question the captive himself and continue investigating the region.

• Martin told Bruno that the unfamiliar land was a new continent rather than India or Seres.
• Bruno reconsidered the distances to the eastern lands and wondered how Columbus’s reported Cipangu and its eastern books fit his calculations.
• Haroldo and Martim reported that the captive Lokono spoke a language similar to A Shu’s and described small forest tribes, nearby islands, and raiding Carib.
• Bruno ordered A Shu to translate his interrogation of the captive and protected the guide from being used as food.
• Bruno resolved to investigate further, suspecting that the powerful people Columbus described were nearby.

Shushu and the Lokono captive Akachi discussed escape as the Portuguese fleet sailed to Black Oil Island, where the sailors found a vast asphalt lake and were attacked by Caribs covered in oil. The Caribs killed four sailors before cannon fire drove them away, leaving the fleet shaken.

• Shushu gave Akachi a piece of roasted tapir meat and asked about escaping, but Akachi warned that Caribs lived on Black Oil Island and would capture them.
• Shushu hid the warning from the Portuguese captain and continued working as the ships sailed northeast from the Orinoco River.
• The fleet reached Trinidad’s enormous Black Oil Lake, and the Portuguese sailors reacted fearfully to the dark asphalt landscape.
• Black-oil-covered Caribs charged the landed sailors, who fled toward their ships as the attackers killed four men who fell behind.
• Martin ordered the ship’s cannons fired, and the Caribs stopped their pursuit and scattered.

After Carib warriors ambushed the Portuguese near the black lake, Bruno blamed the crew’s panic and ordered the fleet to retrieve their dead and retaliate against native villages. As the fleet prepared to burn an empty village, Shushu quietly identified Martin as the white-skinned people’s shaman to A-Yue.

• The Portuguese fled the black lake after Carib warriors killed four sailors, and Martin explained that the attackers had been natives disguised with black oil.
• Bruno ordered Haroldo and several men to retrieve the bodies, then told Martim to prepare the fleet to circle the island and attack any native villages they found.
• Shushu calmed the frightened A-Yue and pointed out Martin as the Portuguese shaman who had ordered the cannon fire.
• The Portuguese retrieved the corpses and circled the island, finding an empty village and hidden canoes but no Carib warriors.
• Martim ordered sailors to burn the village and prepare grapeshot to shoot any natives who emerged from the jungle.

Bruno's Portuguese fleet attacked a Carib village, killed its people, and claimed the island for Portugal as Saint Vincent Island. The story left the island's original name, Youloumain, erased beneath the colonists' occupation.

• After losing sailors to a storm and an earlier island encounter, Bruno ordered the fleet north to raise morale and search for a native village.
• Bruno's sailors captured two Caribs for interrogation, then found a village of roughly one or two hundred people.
• Bruno ordered the village destroyed, and Silveira led the sailors in killing its defenders and inhabitants.
• Bruno chose the island as a site for a harbor fortress and named it Saint Vincent Island in Portugal's name.
• Bruno ordered a wooden cross and occupation marker erected on a hill, while the village burned below.

Bruno’s Portuguese fleet sailed north through the Lesser Antilles, recording resources and claiming islands before encountering a large Carib force at Martinique. When the Caribs attacked in overwhelming numbers, Bruno ordered the ships to flee around the island and continue northwest.

• Bruno questioned Scholar Martin about valuable tropical crops, and Martin described sugarcane, spices, coffee, and useful woods.
• Martin inspected Saint Lucia’s sulfur springs, found no gold or Philosopher’s Stone, and Bruno claimed the island for Portugal.
• The Portuguese fleet reached Martinique and encountered hundreds of Carib warriors gathering in canoes during their intermarriage festival.
• Carib headmen mistook the ships for invaders and led an attack, while Portuguese cannon fire frightened the warriors but caused few casualties.
• As more than four hundred Carib warriors surrounded the ships and launched arrows and stones, Bruno ordered the fleet to sail around Martinique and head northwest.

After Carib poisoned arrows killed sailors aboard Bruno’s fleet, Martin identified the toxin as Frog Venom but said he knew no antidote. Martin then revealed that the natives possessed valuable Tyrian Purple, leaving Bruno focused on the fortune and royal favor it could bring.

• Bruno ordered Haroldo to bring him to the poisoned sailors and summoned Martin to treat them.
• Martin examined the paralyzed sailors, and another sailor died while the crew feared the poison was a curse.
• A-Yue identified the toxin as Carib Frog Venom, but Shushu stopped him from using a poisonous arrow against the Europeans.
• Martin told Bruno the poison would not spread through ordinary contact and admitted he had no way to save the sailors.
• Martin pointed out the natives’ purple hair and identified it as evidence of Tyrian Purple, which thrilled Bruno with thoughts of wealth and royal support.

After suffering losses to Carib attacks, Bruno's Portugal fleet sailed north past Dominica and Guadeloupe, avoiding large native settlements and conserving gunpowder. Captives later reported that the islands ahead lay to the west and were home to Guanahaní people, and Bruno believed the Native Kingdom was near.

• The Portugal fleet buried six men killed by Carib arrows and poison, leaving its morale low.
• Bruno ordered the ships to skirt Dominica as Carib canoes attacked, and the fleet's cannons drove them off at the cost of more gunpowder.
• The fleet stopped briefly at Guadeloupe to take on fresh water, then sailed north without investigating the island's villages.
• After passing the Lesser Antilles, Bruno let the crew attack a small tribe and seize Ciboney laborers, slightly improving morale.
• Captives told the Portugal sailors that large islands lay to the west and that Guanahaní people lived there, like their guide Shu.
• Bruno declared that he sensed the Native Kingdom was on the large island ahead.

The Portuguese exploration fleet reached Haiti and encountered the Taino Higüey Alliance, whose villagers feared the newcomers as prophesied evil spirits. Bruno chose to offer gifts rather than attack, but cannon fire suddenly erupted as Haroldo prepared to approach the shore.

• The Portuguese fleet reached Haiti and saw a large Taino village on the eastern coast.
• The fishermen and villagers fled or gathered defensively, calling the white-skinned sailors evil spirits from a prophecy.
• The village chieftain organized two or three hundred men to guard the shore while messengers sought help from the Higüey Great Chieftain.
• Bruno held the fleet back and declined his officers' calls to fire on the Taino defenders.
• Haroldo recommended sending gifts to show goodwill, and Bruno ordered him to arrange the gesture.
• Cannon fire suddenly roared along the coast as Haroldo prepared to send a sailor ashore.

After a Portuguese gunner’s unauthorized attack drove off a Taino village, Bruno led the fleet north and captured two natives to learn why the tribes feared them. Their answers left interpreter Shushu shaken, while Bruno still sought news of the Taino kingdom and its ships.

• Deputy Silveira fired on a Taino gathering without orders, killing more than a dozen people, and Bruno reprimanded him before ordering the fleet to leave.
• Bruno sailed north along Haiti’s coast, passed through Samaná Bay, and ordered the fleet out after recognizing that its narrow shape could trap them.
• The Portuguese encountered Taino villages that fled or prepared to defend themselves, and Bruno ordered Martim to capture two natives alive for questioning.
• Bruno gave the captives gifts, food, and ale, then asked why the Taino feared the fleet and where their kingdom and naval ships could be found.
• Shushu translated the captives’ replies and grew tearful as their words reminded him of his own experiences.

After hearing a prophecy that a western island’s powerful shaman had foretold the Europeans’ arrival, Bruno and his officers feared the devil’s power but decided to sail farther west for information rather than turn back. Bruno silenced the two Dongri Tribe men who had shared the prophecy, threatened Shushu into keeping the fleet’s plans secret, and set the ships underway again.

• Shushu translated the Dongri Tribe’s account of a prophecy warning of white-skinned invaders and a powerful shaman on a great island to the west.
• Bruno and his officers connected the prophecy to their terrifying encounter with the Voodoo High Priest in Kongo, and several urged Bruno to return home.
• Bruno promised to avoid the western island but persuaded the crew to sail farther west, gather intelligence, and let another officer take responsibility for any retreat.
• At Bruno’s order, Martim and the sailors killed the two Dongri Tribe men and threw their bodies into the sea.
• Bruno warned Shushu not to reveal the fleet’s situation and ordered him to gather information about the western island and its kingdom.
• Bruno’s fleet left its anchorage and sailed on into the night.