The bright orange light of fire drew ever closer. The screams became louder. There were people running through the streets, both citizens of Greymouth, crew members of Captain Dallin's ship, Galliot, and men that had never been seen in the town ever before. The men that ran the streets, with torches in one hand and swords in the other, were some of the ugliest men that anybody had seen. Dirt and mud covered their clothes and faces, their skin was wrinkled as if they were old, clothes torn and battered and looked like a pack of dogs got a hold of 'em. There was no sure sign of who they were, but it was clear to everybody. The pirates were invading the town from their ship.
Loud bangs could be heard from the lowest floor of the Inn. Men were yelling as they slammed into the doors, attempting to bash the door open, which ended up succeeding. As the mangled men flooded into the inn, most of them began going through the crates and barrels that had been brought to the Inn by Captain Dallin, shoving whatever goods and riches they could into their pockets and in old sacks hung from their shoulders. But a few of the others came charging up the steps, opening any door they could, as well as bashing into the doors that were locked. The Inn was never build for destruction or strength such as this, so it was no surprise when room doors began to fly open. One of the very first doors that they got open was the door closest to the steps.
As three men came running into the room, they began searching drawers, desks, anything they could. There had to be some riches stored away in these rooms somewhere. And the men were determined. As one of them reached the wardrobe that sat in the corner of the room, he went to open the door but stopped, hearing what sounded like a muffled cry from inside. It was only brief, but he heard it. With a broken smile made of cracked and missing teeth, he motioned to the other two in the room, waiting for both of them to come over before pulling the door open.
As the door came open, a woman wearing an apron over a green dress and a small hat grabbed the back of the door, attempting to stop it from opening, but it was too late. As she held on, the man who opened the door grabbed onto her wrist and pulled her out of the wardrobe, taking a few steps back to get a hold of her hair and restrict her arms. "Let me go you dirty heathens!" As the woman yelled, the men merely laughed. She was weaker than they were, only being a mere cook in a pampered in, favored by Greymouth's governor. It wasn't like she could do anything to them. The most she would do was yell and call them names, which didn't seem all that different from their everyday lives.
Not long after one of them pulled her out, another reached into the wardrobe and let out a chuckle. "Looky what we've got here!" Out next to him the other man pulled out a girl with silver hair and green eyes, holding her by the hair that she did have. The girl had tears going down her cheeks and she was shaking. The man's hands were much larger than her own, and his grip was stronger than any she had felt before. As the girl cried, the man who had grabbed her lifted her up, wrapping one arm around her legs and the other around her torso to keep her from struggling to much. As he did so, the cook showed that the men were underestimating her. While she didn't have nearly as much strength as they did, she had an advantage. With his hand over her mouth to prevent her from screaming, the lady adjusted her head and bit down as hard as she could on the man's hand, which resulted in him releasing her and rushing towards her daughter and the man holding her.
"Get off of her you damn pirates!" Before she could rush forward anymore, her arm was grabbed and yanked backwards, almost hard enough to pop her shoulder out of place, or at least it felt like it. As the man whose hand she had bitten tried to grab onto her again, Tawny tried to struggle in the other pirate's arms, but she had an even less change of getting out of his grip than her mother. Her struggle continued until she looked over to where her mother was being held. The young girl's green eyes watched as the man hissed in her mother's ears.
"That's it! I'll quiet you for good, " he snarled before time seemed to stop. The cook's eyes went wide and her struggle stopped in an instant, as well as Tawny's. Out of the woman's chest came the end of a sword, covered in blood, as the man behind her's hand pushed his sword through. As he pulled the sword back out, the woman got one last look at her daughter's screaming, tearful face as she collapsed to the ground, light fading from her eyes and her body gone still.
Tawny let out a high pitched scream as her mother fell, the men grabbing what they could and walking out of the Inn door. Other screams were heard through the halls as other women and children were either removed from their rooms or killed, just as the cook was. The men put one of their free bags over Tawny's head, rushing down the steps and out of the Inn door as their comrades left with bags and jackets full of goodies.
She was scared. It was dark all around her. Images of her mother with a sword piercing through her chest was stuck in her mind, playing the scene over and over again. The more she thought of what was happening, the more the young girl shook. She couldn't see anything around her and her hearing was muffled, but she knew that she heard screams and felt arms constricting her. She didn't know where these men were taking her, but she knew that it had to be far from the Inn...and her mother.
Suddenly, she began to hear unfamiliar voices all around her. Some were yelling about getting as much on the ships as possible. Others were saying to keep the prisoners and the goods separate. But one phrase stood out that seemed to be in almost every sentence she heard. Sea grail. What that meant, she didn't know. But all of these pirates brought it up multiple times. She couldn't think about it long before she felt herself pulled down off the man's shoulders and shoved into something that instantly seemed to wobble as she landed. She felt others set next to her, maybe other children since they didn't feel very large. She then felt a few other masses, most likely the pirates, get into the thing with them before she felt a jerk from the thing they were in. She had never been in one of these, but she could tell it was a boat based on the somewhat rough rocking that it was doing. Before long, the boat stopped, bumping into something larger than the boat. She felt the others around her picked up before she was heaved over the shoulder of one of the pirates, arm around her leg. Even if she wanted to struggle, the feeling she got after she was on his shoulder told her not to. She felt as though the whole top portion of her body was hanging, and despite the lack of sight, she could tell that if she struggled and was dropped, she would either land head first into the boat or land in the water, both of which she didn't want.
Soon, that feeling went away as she was nearly thrown up onto a hard ground, other bodies pushed against her. She then heard many more voices than before, but one stood out. It was a somewhat deeper voice, scratchy and for sure that of a man. "Line 'em up!" As the words were spoke, she was once again lifted from her spot on the ground, not put over a shoulder but just grabbed and pulled up. She was then pushed down to the ground, not laying down like before but sitting on her small legs with her knees to the ground, her head still covered. The sound of bags being tore open was heard off to one side of her, getting closer each time it happened until rough hands reached her. The bag that had been thrown over her head after she watched her mother die was then cut into from the back, taken from her head.
The scene around her was one she wished she would never have seen. Pirates, a lot of them, surrounded her, as well as other kids around her. The other children were either her age or older, but all of them were still stuck, the same way as she. They were lined up along the deck of a ship, much larger than those boats they came in probably were. People were staring at the kids, wicked smiles glued to their faces and the occasional look of confusion. Even though all the pirates were looking at the kids, she felt eyes locked on her specifically. When she looked over, she saw a man standing at the top of a small set of stairs. He wore a long black coat, a torn up shirt underneath, pants that almost looked to big for him, a pair of muddy brown boots, and a big hat with red lining around the edges and a feather sticking out of one side. As the man took slow, hard steps down the stairs, she felt her body, as well as those around her, getting more and more tense. As he got to the bottom of the steps, her and the rest of the children all put their heads down, not daring to look at the man whom they presumed was the Captain. As he walked passed each of them, he would stop to look at each of them. Each time he did, he would flick his finger and the child he was looking at would be swept away, passed the crowd that was gathered.
As he neared her, Tawny closed her eyes tight, hoping that this was just an awful nightmare and that she would wake up. She felt something grab a small portion of her hair, pulling it forward slightly before a hand was shoved under her chin, forcing her to look upwards. The Captain was older, possibly older than Dallin. His face was tan with darker marks here and there, his nose looked like it had been broken at one point, his lips were cracked near every corner, his beard covered most of his chin and jaw, and his eyes were as gray and nearly emotionless as a statue. "Where in blazes did you find this one?" One of the other pirates told him of the Inn and the lady that caused them so much trouble. Seeming to be fascinated by how much trouble they went through to get this tiny little girl, a crooked smile appeared on the Captain's face. "Put 'er with the ones we be keepin', I like the look of this one, " he stated before moving along to the other kids.
One of the pirates stepped forward and picked her up, holding her arms against her sides and taking her to where they took the others. As she was hauled below deck, her head smacked off of the edge of the deck as they went down the steps. The last thing she remembered was seeing a couple of the kids from before with bags over their heads and small weights attached to their hands. She also saw the scared eyes of one of the kids as a bag was put over their head and the world went black.
Here is Chapter 2! Since I forgot to put one on the first chapter I will do it here.
I own every character that has shown up in these chapters so far. I haven't used any characters from the movies. And if any characters from the movies do show up, I do not own them. If any canon characters appear, I will put another disclaimer.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the second part! What do you think little Tawny will see when she does wake up?
