A dark mist hung over the water like a cloak, hiding the lone ship from watchful eyes. Black sails billowed in a noiseless phantom wind. A white tree etched into a torn black flag glowed eerily, a symbol of a long lost realm.
The ship eased in among the wreckage, leaving but a breath of disturbance on the still water. A lone voice carried a sad melody over the railings and across the water before disappearing in to the mist.
Come down
Give a hand
Ye who tire of land
Bear your crown
To Arvedui our King
Have you seen?
O’er the sea
Past Dead Man’s Plea
Gold to glean
For Arvedui our King
The ship seemed to shudder each time the voice sang “Arvedui our King”. The black hull stopped amid the wreckage without a sound.
Ready the boat
Hoist high
Them who lie
Dead afloat
For Arvedui our King
A small boat, battered and dented, crashed into the water. Five dark figures, four rowing one standing, rowed toward the nearest body, bloated and grotesque after three days dead on the sea. The standing man began to sing in that same low, ominous tone.
Heave, ho
A grappling hook lashed onto a thick pole bit into the dead man’s skin.
Lift them near
The singing man pulled the body next to the boat.
Bring them here
He hoisted the body into the boat with one bony hand.
It’s time to go
The boat rowed to the next body.
To Arvedui our King
More boats followed the first, each with five men, each singing the same tune until the sea was filled with the sound of a dead man’s song cascading over and over itself until not a word could be made out except for “Arvedui our King”.
Just as quickly as the black sailed ship had come it was gone, leaving behind the wreckage and the stench of death in its wake.
****************************
Hope you don't mind my using your prologue idea, Gerithor. I didn't do it exactly, but I liked the opening description and went from there.
Chapter One will also be very similar mostly because I liked it and because I'm trying out a slightly different writing style loosely based on what you had already. Hope you don't mind. It'll get better as I get used to writing this way and develop my own style.
Music credited to BrunuhVille
Epic Fantasy Music - Pirates of the Underworld - BrunuhVille
July 22nd, 2017
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A Middle Earth Story: The Corsairs of Oros
FanfictionSail the high seas in search of riches beyond the imagination with Captain Oros and his crew of motley and dangerous corsairs from around the whole of Middle Earth. In search of a mythical shipwreck said to hold the untold riches of the long dead A...
