𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫'𝐬 𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐥 | 𝐣𝐚𝐜𝐨𝐛 𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝

𝐢.

"𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞, 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐧 𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭... 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐥𝐞𝐞𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐫."

Children crowded around a certain bed, 'The Tales of Captain Crow' within the hands of a child as she read to the others, her chocolate curls bouncing with life as she read. The candlelight illuminated the pages enough for to her to see, and for the others to enjoy the life she brought from the pages.

"The dark times when those terrible sea beasts would ravage our shores, and no ship was safe from the sea."

The illustration within the book held a horrific tentacled creature passing the shore of the sea and invading a farmer's cabbage patch, the lady's face painted with fear as the farmers fought off the beast with their pitchforks.

Kids watched in awe, captivated by the story as they hung onto every word. The girl turned the page, revealing a strong woman, a spear in her hand as her arms were covered in bandages, a proud look on her face.

"But thanks to the hunters, those days are over," The girl smiled. "Today, these valiant warriors battle the beasts far beyond the horizon, risking their lives to rid the seas of those nightmare creatures."

A blue-eyed boy gasped softly in awe, the others smiling along as the girl continued to read, an illustration of a ship with bright red sails cutting through the water on the opposite page.

"And the greatest of hunting ships is the Inevitable–"

"And the greatest of hunters is Captain Crow!"

 A boy hollered out, interrupting the story as he held a stick sword over his head, a paper pirate hat sitting on top of his blonde locks as he donned a white singlet and shorts. An eyepatch sat on his right eye, the boy smiling enthusiastically as he stood on his bed.

"Yar!" The boy cheered, beating up his pillow with the stick as the other children cheered.

Feathers escaped from the boy's pillow as he continued to beat the poor item. With feathers soon exploding out of it, the other children continued to cheer, white specks floating down gently as the girl holding her red book smiled kindly.

"I'm Captain Crow, smelly old beast!" The boy continued to play.

"Hey!" The girl called out with a smirk, blowing a feather off of her chocolate curls. "Who's reading this story?"

The girl was once again interrupted by the sound of a door opening, an exclamation of horror escaping the matron as she stared at the sight of the children.

"Oh, my word! What's this?!" The woman hissed, a candle in her hands. "Lights-out was an hour ago. Oh, you'll be the death of me."

The woman rolled her eyes, placing her hands on her hips as the children sighed in exasperation, dispersing from the black girl's bed as the matron chased them off to their respective beds.

"Come on! Along! Along you pop!" She chased, the children running off. "And, Miss Maisie?"

The grey-eyed matron stared down at the little black girl, the 'Tales of Captain Crow' in her hand as she sat up straight. Her brown eyes watched the matron as a blank expression sat on her face.

"The King and Queen care for you hunter orphans out of their kindness," The matron held her arm up, gesturing to the two paintings of the respective rulers that sat above the door frame, the royal crest in between them.

A man with an abnormally large, teal crown sat on the left, his expression blank as his dark curls rested on his jewel-encrusted shoulders. On his right was his wife, a red-head with sharp cheekbones as a coral-like crown sat atop her large, heart-shaped hair. She, too, was expressionless.

"When you disobey the house rules, you disrespect them. And god knows how troubled they'd be after nearly losing their very own daughter to one of those creatures you read of," The matron huffed. "So, we're not going to have any more attempts now, are we?"

The matron neared Maisie, the little girl's expression still blank, her book still open in her lap as she shook her head slightly, her voice almost sounding robotic.

"Absolutely not," Maisie replied.

The matron hummed suspiciously, raising an eyebrow before she turned around, shutting the door behind her.

As soon as Maisie was sure that the woman in charge was gone, she shut her book, an adventurous look on her face as she jumped off the bed, pulling a dress from under where she sat. The girl pulled the dress over her plain pyjamas, standing by the bedside before crouching, pulling a satchel out from under it.

She put her book within it, placing the satchel on her bed as she slipped her shoes on, looking up at the window that was directly above her, but way too far from reach.

The girl smiled boldly, tossing a coin to a boy. He smirked at her, sitting in her bed before lying in it, tossing her covers completely over him as it covered his form.

Once that part of her plan was over, Maisie pushed a large chest towards the wall next to her bed, pulling the drawers out far enough to form stairs, stepping up each one as she grunted, pulling herself onto the window's sill.

She sat on the edge, a bucket that was hooked onto a stick being handed in her direction as she pulled out a stone mallet and a pointed chisel. She smiled brightly down at her friends, raising the items victoriously.

"Fair travels, me swabs!" She whisper-shouted, breaking the window's bind in half.

She placed the tools back into the bucket as she stood on the window sill, the cool night air brushing against her skin.

"And remember!" She chimed to the children below her who looked at her in awe. "Live a great life, and die a great death!"

And with that, she dashed out the window, a chorus of whispered farewells trailing after her as the girl walked towards a nearby gutter pipe.

"Bye-bye, Maisie!"

"We'll miss you!"

"See you tomorrow!"

The girl then slid down the pipe, determination present on her features, as she stumbled onto the ground, and ran into the night. 

Her feet crunched against the grass, leading her through the forest as she knew exactly where she was heading, the ocean's horizon not too far away.