The Chronicle of the Scourge of the Seas

Part One

"The sun is yet to shine, and the day is... I have lost track of time, if I am to be honest, but it all started a few weeks ago. I can remember everything like it happened yesterday..."

***

The fireplace was burning bright, bathing the room with its warmth and light, as the tavernkeeper was scrubbing some stains from the countertop. A faint melody was playing in the background, the screeching sound coming from an old wooden music box. It was a peculiar object, with two round disks made of bone. She carefully took the box in her hands and cleaned the little skeleton pirate on top of one of the disks. As she turned a small key at the side of the case, the skeleton started to spin..

"Ah, my good old George; I still remember the day when you came into my tavern and gifted me this weird music box" the tavernkeeper said to herself, looking at the box, smiling nostalgically. "Ms. Tracy, please accept this gift as a token of my love for you, you said to me." She giggled as she looked towards the tavern's door. "Silly sailor, you told me that the bones were those of a Kraken, and the sound that it played was the weeping of the beast." She shook her head and chuckled.

The tavern was becoming more and more lively, all due to a crew of pirates that had one too many tankards of grog. They were all sat around a big wooden table, each with a couple of mugs in front of them. "Shiver me timbers if ye win this one too, I be singing ye all a shanty!" one of them shouted as they threw a pair of dice onto the table.

"You better lose then!" Tracy laughed, walking to them, carrying under her right arm a big barrel of grog, a barrel that she placed in the middle of the table.

The pirates threw their dice, cheering and getting noisier by each moment. As the die rolled on the table, an unexpected little guest flew in the tavern through the back window. It glided above the table and in a swift motion it swooped for the die that was still rolling. It stole it in its beak and nimbly flew back through the window.

"Ye wretched creature! I be making a stew out of ye! Arrr!" the pirate, infuriated and tipsy, cursed at the parrot and steadied himself on the edge of the table to stand up. As he got on his feet, his knees buckled and once he turned towards the door, he fell right back on the stool. "I be getting' ye!".

"Easy there, pirate! You won't be getting anything in your current state" Tracy shook her head, looking at him.

"I'll put five doubloons down that he won't make it to the door," Duke said from near the fireplace as he reached inside his pouch.

"Ha! Before you go around making bets, you might want to pay your debts!" Tracy turned around and eyed Duke, tapping her fingernails on the counter.

"Don't worry! I will get the die back for you!" a young lad's voice echoed from the other side of the tavern.

"You will do no such thing, young man!" Tracy scolded him. "It's pouring outside! You hear me?!"

"I won't be long, mother! I promise!" he joyfully exclaimed as he rushed past the tavern's door, kicking it wide open.

The rain was pouring outside, thunder shaking the tavern's windows each time it rumbled. The lightning was brightening up the muddy path around the tavern, as he walked along the side of the building. "Come here, little one! Come here!" the young lad started shouting, looking up to the trees for the parrot. "Come on, where are you?".

"Scurvy, food! Scurvy! Scurvy!" the boy heard the parrot squawking from atop of a branch. "What food? Food?! No! Hey, that's not food!" the young lad shouted at the parrot as it held the die in its claw, trying to chew on it.

The lad started throwing little pebbles at the parrot, hoping it would drop the die, but it only made things worse. "Scurvy run!" the parrot squawked as it flew away, landing on top of the tavern stairs' railing. "Oh, you're mine now" the boy exclaimed, slowly walking towards the bird.