Pirates on Deck : The prophecy of the winter mermaid

chapter one

19 years later

Chapter 1

England

December, 1717

 Snow was slowly falling to the ground into the shoulders of a young boy who turned nineteen today named Eddie. The wind was getting chilly and with a last chop, he finished his last wood exhaling an air of weariness but it was nothing compared to his mother’s.

His heart was warming with just a single thought of his mother on his head. Growing up without a father, his mother struggled to raise him up on her own on a strange land very far away from her own. Carrying a few of his and her clothes on her back, a newborn baby and a bag of few silver coins, she ran away.

He then gathered the firewood and tied it to bundles. Putting the fifteen bundles into a small, worn and wooden wagon, he grabbed his knapsack, opening it and showed a bottle of water and two loaves of bread.

Grabbing it by hand, he broke the first bread into halves and shoved the other half into the bag to save it for tomorrow. They were running short of money this month. He started eating it and felt the enormous hunger rolled into him at once. After finishing one bread and a half, he still wasn’t famished but there was no helping it.

He started pulling the wagon but a shout broke through the woods. “Eddie! Eddie Shaw!” Eddie turned his sandy-blonde head and deep gray eyes and looked towards the figure of a lanky boy around his age running towards him. He stumbled quite a lot as he made his way towards Eddie.

Eddie’s gray eyes smiled as he looked at his friend, Gren Smith. Gren stopped and sat down a large rock as he caught his breath. He eyed Eddie. “Is it true, then?” he asked.

“What are you talking about?” Eddie asked while untying the rope connecting the wagon to the tree.

“That your mum’s agreed to marry Sir Pinnacle!” Gren practically shouted.

“Hmmm-hmm?” He wasn’t paying attention and was continuing his work.

“Hey! Answer me, will you? I’ve practically been running on my butt since I heard the news.” Gren begged helplessly. “Look, my butt is already full of bruises and wounds!” he said motioning to his butt.

Eddie continued preparing the wagon but nonetheless he answered. “Sir Pinnacle is an absolute pig-hearted, arrogant and faint-hearted jerk who thinks that if he rises above his station, he can have anything or anyone he wants.” He finished untying the rope and turned to face Gren. “He’s not a man I can and would  entrust my mother with or a man she’d love.”

That pricked Gren’s curiosity and grinned. “Hey, what kind of man would your mother love? Surely not me.”

Eddie’s face darkened and shook his head. “Don’t ask.”

“You won’t tell your bestfriend?” Gren made a ghastly look. “Eddie—I—I think I love you—”

He threw a snow at Gren’s face, but he quickly dodged.

Gren smirked. “Come on, Ed, you know I won’t give up if my curiosity’s pricked. Besides you can rest your worries if you’re thinking I meant to prove her, unless…”

“Okay but don’t tell.” Eddie exhaled. “She harbors small affection to those people who remind her of my father.”

“Like the thief?”

Eddie appeared uncomfortable. It was hard to admit all of this to someone much less to Gren because he always manages to embarrass the hell out of him.

“Yes”

“And the conman?” his grin broadened.

“Yes”