William Davis

Pirates run

Nothing shapes our domain like ego. Ego built and destroyed the world we had. Then, it rebuilt that blackened husk into what we have now. A lone continent on a sphere of blue aptly named Remains. Along with this a council of churches to govern over this new kingdom. It also made two decent men seeking freedom lead others outside that councils borders to flourish unfettered. Even starting a rivalry between the lifelong friends. Of the two, Reed was far more imposing despite his kind hearted and upbeat nature. A large muscular man having the stature of a viking warrior with a scruffled crimson beard. Reed’s intense personality was magnified by a palpable, booming voice that made you feel you were being scolded by a volcano. Norin on the other hand was a quiet and slender medium height fellow with short blonde hair that was always messier than seemingly possible. Growing up with such a loud and fervid best friend was always agreeable with Norin, as it allowed him to stay relatively unnoticed. He always thought of himself as the architect to Reed’s foreman. The only unclaimed territory left in Remains was a derelict peninsula residing along the Northwestern coast. Splitting it from the cape into a northern expanse of wetlands and a southern expanse of floodplains was the mouth of the Manette river. The conflict started simply enough being merely a matter of North versus South of the river. With Reed wanting to build Mercston on stilts in the shade of the northern wetlands trees, and Norin wanting to build Kingstown in the sun of the southern floodplains. Neither man willing to compromise they parted ways to build their own kingdoms. Over the next twenty years both kingdoms flourished. Naturally, living on the river they excelled at the art of boat making. Using there aquatic transportation they setup good trade habits between themselves. Each kingdom possessing crops and resources the other had no access to. Eventually the ego behind their craftsmanship lead to a friendly competition of boatmanship and scavenging.  The annual festival known as “Pirate’s Run” would start upriver at the spilt from the source a day and a half inside the councils borders. Following the Manette river down the entire length of the continent to the south delta. The crews would stop at cities and areas of interest along the way to scavenge and trade. Once inside the Southern seas they would race up the coast to the cape entrance in the Northwest and back to whichever kingdom’s turn it was to host the event. Those not competing would enjoy a week of festivities including, singing, dancing, drinking, brawling, and all other manner of behavior deemed inappropriate and unlawful by the council. The foremost activity for the week being gambling, especially on Pirate’s Run. Which accounted for a vast majority of the years commerce between them. In the middle of the night two days into the seven day festival tragedy struck the kingdom of Mercston. While the townspeople celebrated around King Reed, his beloved Queen Astelle was found lying dead on the floor by the castle staff. In a rage fueled outburst King Reed confronted King Norin accusing him of conspiring. King Norin fervently denied the accusations against him, but King Reed was deaf to his pleas. Following a brief tussle ending with a knife to King Reeds throat, the two part ways again.  Exhausted and broken, clutching the queen’s heart-shaped locket, King Reed shambled in the rays of the next mornings sun down the hallways of his castle. When approached by a messenger Reed couldn’t even find the strength to look him in the eye. The messenger relayed to the king that the princess had gone missing. After five days and nights of searching the swamp, the only lead took them upriver a few miles, then disappeared. Stricken with grief King Reed canceled Pirate’s Run and made a proclamation that the denizens of their cross-river kingdom, Kingstown, were no longer welcome on the shores of Mercston. Continuing that any ship from Kingstown that breaches Mercston waters would be treated as an attack and met with full force. Also, even at detriment to both kingdoms, all trade be stopped immediately. Eight years later, on a night not much unlike any other in the kingdom of Mercston. As moonlight poured down between leaves and branches into columns and beams speckling the marsh floor. The sounds of an unknowable amount of wetland bug species singing together hummed through the hollows. Smells of bogs and swamps combining with the breeze of nearby saltwater made for a unique atmosphere. The stilted dock city-kingdom of Mercston seemed haunted and empty. The thick fog rolling in off the river gave a chill in the humid night air. The calm of the evening broken by the screams of the night watch as the bow of a massive ship careened through the docks. The screeching of metal and wood grinding and splintering drowned out the screams of the bystanders. The ship blasted into the bank with a thunderous boom. Tearing through buildings and huts as it slows to a rest. As silence returns to the riverside kingdom the night was set ablaze by the usually comforting now fallen torches that lit the docks and town. The flames had almost completely taken the ship by the time King Reed arrived. Time slowed as King Reed focused his gaze on the burning wreckage. He was barely able to make out the words on the side through the flames and smoke. “King’s Dagger”, the flagship of Kingstown. Squeezing the heart-shaped locket in his hand so tightly blood drips from between his fingers, he squints his eyes and growls under his breath, “Norin”.