Newest entry (6/28/06)
One
The towers of the city rose up at the edge of the sea. The people who dwelt there called
it Redoubt, or The City of White Doors. When the monsoons came they stayed mostly indoors,
listening to the rain patter on the eaves of the ancient teahouses and shrines of the
lantern district, and the tolling of the brass and copper church bells in the late
afternoon. In the summer they launched homemade boats of wicker and driftwood, and
had races in the canals.
Two
Far away, on dangerous Scrimshaw Island, the pirate king Bartholemew schemed and planned,
spending bags of ill-gotten silver coins for maps of the city's harbor and hidden
entrances under the walls. His spies romanced merchant's daughters and waylaid travelers
and dressed in elaborate disguises, and made their way back to the skull-shaped caves to
spill their secrets at the feet of the pirate king.
Three
The dowager empress of the city held court on the third Thursday of each month, dressed
in breath-taking finery, with her courtiers and soldiers and advisors arrayed about her
coral throne, all clad in scarlet and cloth-of-gold. The day-to-day decisions of running
the city she left to her wisest advisors, and to Hargrave, the fat and comically-dishonest
mayor, but on court days she entertained the whims and complaints and feuds of the
townsfolk. She was just and unsentimental, and was held in great esteem by her subjects,
although she was not beloved. That honor was reserved for her daughter, the princess,
who was as joyful and beautiful as the morning.
Four
Though he had spent a king's ransom in gold and treasure, the pirate king Bartholemew had come
across no plan by which his pirate legions could seize the city. Filled with rage, he gnashed his teeth
and threw a stolen goblet against the wall of the cave and ordered some hostages beheaded. He was a
black-hearted man, and there was no good in him at all.
Five
There was a certain brave young man of the city guard who fell in love with the princess one spring
morning as she rode forth with her maidens to go hawking along the river. Hoping to somehow capture her heart
despite his meager station in life, he signed up immediately for the most dangerous wilderness patrol duty.
He was outfitted with mail and an axe and a brown horse named Constance, and sent into the wilds to
guard imperial roads from bandits and marauding ogres. His mother wept on the day of his departure,
and his father patted his son's shoulder awkwardly, filled with pride but having no great skill with words.
The sergeant, who had seen similar scenes many times and had no patience for them, ordered his men to mount up,
and they set off through the rain.
Six
"I have found a way through the city walls," said the one-eyed thief. The pirate king who had heard such tales
before, was skeptical, but he listened to the man's tale, and when it had finished, he laughed and laughed and laughed.
Seven
The royal magician, up late one night in his tower, felt a dread creep over him. He rose from his
work-bench and crossed the tower to the window, where a great cloud obscured the moon. His pet crow flapped
its black wings and let out a cry of warning: Death! Fire! Flood! No one was moving in the rain-dark streets
below, but the old women in the market quarter awoke with a nameless sense of fear, and could not get back to sleep.
Eight
In galleys and schooners and patchwork caravels, the pirates crossed the dark sea. Behind them came
the great triple-masted warship of their king, and they sharpened their knives and primed their pistols, and waited.
Nine
The magician tried to warn his empress, but she would not listen to his formless fears. "When you have something
to tell me," she said "I will pay better attention." On the docks, the fisherman unloaded their haul of marlin and
sunfish and trout, and the townspeople went about their business as usual.
Ten
The brave young ranger had been riding hard since morning, on the trail of a particularly brutish ogre that
had already eaten two merchants, three woodsmen and a grandmother. His months in the wilderness had made him lean
and hard, and he sat easily atop Constance. His axe was notched and his mail was scuffed from
countless battles, and the sergeant had taken to calling him "lad" instead of "soft hands". He volunteered for the
most dangerous missions, and his reputation for bravery and forthrightness had grown. He hoped that if he won
enough accolades in the wild, word of his deeds would reach the princess, and he could return to the City of White Doors
in glory.
These thoughts were in his mind as he rode, but as he came up out of the
trees onto a high bluff, he saw the pirate fleet scudding along the coast, and his heart sank.
Eleven
The fisherman were returning to the harbor after a long day's labor, the carved mermaids and dragons and lions of their
little fishing boats glinting in the red light of the setting sun. The first lanterns were beginning to glow in the city
before them, guttering and flickering in the rain, and the church bells tolled the end of the day. Far out to sea,
night was coming.
Twelve
Pacing in his tower, the magician waited for his crow to return with word from the south. He had worn a path in the rushes
from his balcony to his chair to the ornate spyglass mounted just below a high window. He put his eye to the lens, and carefully
trained the glass along the coastline. A tiny figure appeared as he watched, a mounted horseman no bigger than
a toy soldier. The magician recognized the tiny rider as one of the wilderness rangers, and he squinted hard to make out
the color of the banner whipping in the rain. As the rider drew nearer, he could see that it was a brilliant scarlet --
a war banner, a danger flag. With a fearful cry he dashed to the stair.
Behind him, unseen through the abandoned spyglass, the first ship rounded the cape.
Thirteen
Under the cover of the falling night, the terrible three-masted Warship Arrogance crested the waves through the
gathering storm. The pirate-king, grim-eyed and fearsome in the lawless dark, stood high atop the deck, his eyes
fastened on the towers of the city. Behind him, his men waited, anxious and wicked. Somewhere close at hand, lightning flashed.
Fourteen
He had come at full speed all the way from the distant bluffs, leaving a path of torn brambles and frightened rabbits behind
him. Contance's flanks were steaming in the rain, and her great heart was close to bursting as she ran. But the brave young
ranger urges his horse onwards to even greater speed as the walls of the city appeared below him. He waved the red banner
at the end of his lance furiously, and sounded a great note upon his horn. Away across the sea, a sudden flash illuminated
the darkness, and he could see the ships.
Fifteen
"Your majesty!" cried the majordomo. "The city is under attack! We must get you to safety!"
Drawing herself up to her full height, the queen frowned at her guards.
"We do not flee from our place of duty," she told the majordomo. She sent runners to fetch her military advisors and
guard-captains, and to see to the safety of her daughter. Then, after ordering the mayor to arm himself for battle, she
made her way to the tower.
Sixteen
At the harbor, a terrible battle raged. The pirates had landed in force, overcoming the tiny fleet of fishermen and leaving their boats wrecked and sinking in the black sea. The courageous fighters of the city guard formed a ragged line, but the dark mass of the pirates, gibbering and swarming and mugging for the cameras, rushed toward them, their dreadful king looming in the rain like a shadow.
Seventeen
The brave young ranger, his armor rent and torn, his breath coming in halting gasps, faced the pirate king, as the crowd of cutlass-waving blackguards drew back. He gritted his teeth and tightened his grip on his axe and thought of the beauty of his princess, and sprang forward.
Eighteen
The magician beckoned furiously, herding the last of the elderly woman and small children into the waiting boats. As the first boat crept uncertainly into the darkness, the princess looked back from the prow, her tears mingling with the rain. The magician had no time for sentimental goodbyes, however, and he returned to his task.
Nineteen
Bartholemew, faced with the determination of the brave young ranger, laughed his great sinister laugh. He was a pirate king, after all, and he loved melodrama.
Twenty
At the edge of the wharf, her finery soaked, protected from the edges of the fray by nothing more substantial than the table-leg the majordomo clutched in his hands, the queen watched her people fall beneath the cruel knives and hob-nailed boots of the pirates. Her face was betrayed no emotion. She was a queen, after all, and she had been raised to be stoic.
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