Tremble

More Sea Of Aly (LEA)

They knew. They could see it entering the bay. The sails were all ragged but it was still impressive. The flag flying high in the main topmast didn’t fool anyone. The pirates were coming. Men ran to the battlements; women grabbed their children rushing them to hide. The pirates were coming.  Fierce and heartless, they roared “No mercy!” proud of their ruthlessness. As the ship approached, there was no one on deck. The men grew more and more suspicious. There was not a soul in sight. A silent, empty pirate ship glided eerily towards the pier where it stopped. For a few minutes, no one knew what to do. It would be too dangerous to go inside, for sure, some thought. Others, filled with that false courage unique to those in fear, urged for an immediate entry in the forsaken ship. While a decision was being made, a crow flew from the Captain’s cabin. It landed on the bowsprit and cawed “Tremble, tremble, tremble.” The men looked at one another. That’s what they had been doing for at least an hour. The mysterious black eyes swept over the growing crowd. “Tremble, tremble,” it repeated flapping the wings nervously. Some people started laughing. Suddenly, a child pointed at something in the sky. Everyone looked up. A black cloud, like a dark storm, was getting closer and closer. “Tremble.” And they did. The ship sailed on to another port, silent, empty, eerie. And the town vanished from all the maps of the kingdom, forgotten, as if it had never existed. Before flying away, the crow sat on the top branch of the old oak and whispered “shhhh”… The oak knew what that meant and its leaves whispered back “shhhhhhhhh”.

Writer's Dash