The Dying of the Communities

chilly breeze crept up from the dark ocean and through the joins of the old wooden front door. The clock in Hawkeye Pike's little shack by the seaside stroke midnight. It was calm and silent outside, but Hawkeye couldn't fall asleep. Nervously he tossed and turned in his bed, listening to the gurgling song of the waves splashing against the shore. Finally he got up, put on his shabby tricorne and tunic and slipped into his sandals. As he opened the door and stepped outside, he took a deep breath and inhaled the salty air. With a torch in one hand he mounted his horse and slowly rode northward. No sign of life, no sound was heard in the Red Skull Bay. Not a single pirate was around. He didn't meet his friends very often these days. A few minutes later he reached the square of the nearby Virtue Village. The fireplace glowed dimly in the darkness, and not a soul was to be seen.

Pictures appeared in his mind. Pictures of this square, crowded with people. Pirates molesting the women and threatening peasants of the Virtue Village, Virtue fighters at arms, the tension growing. The scene faded and he remembered the trial, where Counselors of Britannia were convicting the pirate Hook for treason. Anxious witnesses, strong guards, and a poisoned knife. Now the square was empty. The village seemed abandoned. Only a very lucky traveler would meet one of the inhabitants nowadays, who only showed up to refresh their houses or pay salary to their vendors. Hawkeye turned away and entered the Tavern of the Eight Virtues.

He sat down by the bar and ordered an ale. The vendor showed no reaction, he had run out of supplies a long time ago. Hawkeye brushed away the dust from the guest book and opened the yellowed pages, letting his eyes wander across the old entries. He remembered drunken pirates shouting and bawling in the tavern, angry villagers trying to chase them away. He saw a pretty lass playing an instrument while he himself was dancing to the music. The distant sound of her lute still echoed in his ears. He had liked this lass. Hawkeye sighed. The plates and glasses in the next room had not been touched in weeks. They still were neatly arranged on the big table. They did not remember anything.

The pirate left the tavern and headed to the Spire of the Ninth Virtue. The tower, too, was deserted. Nobody was there to complain as he entered the front door on horseback, riding up the stairs to the top of the tower. There had been fights and disputes about the use of magery and the use of poison, quarrels about pirate attacks. The relationship between the pirates and the villagers had not always been good. However, despite the quarrels and fights they had been neighbors and they had a relationship at all. He missed these days, even the times when he cursed the mages of the village, or the times when they cursed his deadly poisoned weapons. But the heads of the village, those who had kept it alive with their ideas and dedication, had mostly left. The Lords of the Eight Virtues, long gone. Kugelblitz, Sonata, Szordrin, Lofwyr. He hadn't seen them for months.
Hawkeye knew that not only the Virtue Village and Red Skull Bay had changed in such a way. Winterfell, Kinship and many other places seemed to suffer from the same fate. Things really had changed...

04/2000

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