The rays of the sun had begun to peek through the gaps in the window curtains as Calico slowly opened his eyes. He raised one hand to shield his eyes from the light.
“Wh….Where am I?” he softly said as he tried to sit up in his bed. He felt a bruise on the side of his face and winced when he touched it with his hand. He tried to swing his legs over the side of the bed and let out a grunt. “Ouch!!” he grabbed the left side of his rib cage as a sharp pain jolted up his bones. Overhearing the yell, a nurse hurriedly walked into the room.
“Oh you’re awake already?” She walked towards Calico’s bedside. “Now don't go on moving, you have some serious bruising on your ribs, what the heck were you doing last night?”
‘Bruising?’ he thought to himself. He was certain he had at least two broken ribs from the fight with Draye the night before. He ran his finger down each of his ribs to see if he noticed any bumps that were out of place.
“Uhm, how exactly did I end up here?” he looked up from his ribs to the nurse. He didn't notice before, but on second glance, he saw just how beautiful she was. She had soft hazel eyes and her hair was tied up in a messy bun. Her light brown skin had a hint of rose around her face that reminded Calico of the color of the sand during sunrise. She walked over to one of the many cabinets and came back holding a loaf of warm bread and a cup of water.
“Here, eat this, you’re probably starving.”
On cue, his stomach began to rumble. He grabbed the food from her and began to chow down.
“Well, it was about 11 o’clock last night when I heard a knock on the door. It was the Warden, and he had you slung over his shoulder. He walked over to one of the beds here and I helped him place you down.”
“The Warden brought me here?” Calico lowered the bread from his mouth. He now remembered what had happened the night before. In his final standoff with Draye, he had lost. The bread in his palm became crushed as Calico squeezed his fist out of anger.
“Hey Hey! What did the bread ever do to you?!” the nurse scowled at him. “ I wont have you wasting food on my watch, not you, not anyone.”
Calico snapped back to normal. “Oh...I’m sorry.” He opened his fist and lifted the bread upt to his mouth, eating it with his head hung down in hopelessness. The wager he had made with the Warden had resulted in utter defeat. All Calico could think about was him having to wait till the age of 21 to take the Trial De Sangre. All the work that he had put in over the past years had gone to waste.
A worried look spread across the nurse’s face. “H...Hey, lighten up, don't take it personal, I have a weird sense of humor, that's all.” She looked over to the desk that was in the other side of the room.
“Oh yeah, that's right.” She got up and walked over to the desk and picked something up. “The Warden left me this envelope for you. He sealed it with his personal seal, so I think it might be important.”
Calico’s ears perked up as he thrust his head upwards to look at the envelope. ‘From...the Warden?’ he thought to himself.
Suddenly, the nurse flung the envelope towards Calico like a frisbee that cut through the air. Calico slapped his hands together to catch it out of the air and gave her a confused look.
“Well you’re reflexes seem to be intact, even with those injuries.” She began to turn around, “You’re cleared to leave whenever you want, you seem to be fine already.”
Calico looked down at the Warden’s wax seal on the envelope and then back to the nurse.
“Hey….uh….you never told me your name. Thanks for looking after me.” He quickly turned away as his cheeks began to turn pink.
“Haha, well I work here don't I, I had no other choice than to help you.” She said as turn around and walked out the door. “My name is Brya,” she said with a small smile as she closed the door.
Calico cracked a small smile, then quickly turned his attention down towards the envelope. He took a deep breath and ripped open the seal. He took the paper that was inside and held it up.
“Hey kid, you got knocked out cold on the beach last night, so I had no other choice than to drop you off at the Clinic. I'm sorry to say, but that means that you lost the wager.”
Calico stopped reading and leaned his head up towards the ceiling. With eyes closed, he slammed his fist into the bed and took a deep breath. He exhaled, then gathered himself before reading the rest of the letter.
“I can't remember the last time someone took one of my punches directly to the face and held me back. You’ve got guts kid, you’re a spitting image of you Father. You showed me something back on that beach that I’ve been waiting to see in a young man for years now. I’ve decided that I’ll let you register for the Trial De Sangre. However, under one condition. I want you to go to the Tidal Library, and talk to a man named Dara. Don't take this for granted, I’ll see you on the day of the Trials.”
The sounds of birds chirping could be heard from outside as silence filled the room. Calico couldn’t believe what he had just read. He had lost the wager, but the Warden still allowed him to register for the Trial. He jumped up to stand on the bed.
“HELL YEA!!!!” He yelled out as he started to jump from bed to bed, waving the letter in one hand. He made a full round before jumping stomach first back onto his own bead. Soft pants escaped his mouth as he tried to gather himself.
He sat up on the edge of his bed and placed his hand on his ribs.
“The pain….is gone.” he said as he tapped his ribs with more force to test the tenderness.
“Dara…...’ he thought to himself as he looked at the blue sky through the window. ‘I wonder what that's all about.’
Calico stepped out of the clinic and raised his hands to shield his eyes from the sunlight.
‘Damn, I’ve been inside for so long, what time is it?’ he thought to himself. The Main Square was buzzing with people quickly scurrying to places they needed to be.
“Oh! Roey and Dayno, I wonder what happened with them last night,” he said as he started walking through the crowd of passerbyers. “They’re probably at the usual spot.” A slow walk turned into a light jog as Calico went to go look for his friends to tell them the news.
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“I can’t believe it man,” Roey was rocking in a brown hammock tied to two low palm trees. “We missed our last chance to register.”
Dayno was munching on a fruit bowl that he had bought in the merchant alley near the middle of town. “Mhm, but there’s no use in worrying about it anymore, we can always try next year.”
“Yeah I know, but ever since we were kids, we always said that we’d all become Pirates together when we turn 17, the three of us.” Roey had taken out his spyglass and was looking out to the open ocean from where he was hanging.
Dayno stabbed an apple with his knife and popped it into his mouth. “Think of it this way, *crunch crunch*...... we have a whole year to train together. So by the time next year rolls around, we’ll all pass on our first try.” Roey turned to face him, but Dayno froze as he held another apple in front of his open mouth.
“Sorry man, I get hungry when I’m anxious.”Dayno tossed another apple into his mouth. “It isn't like Calico to disappear and not say a word like this.”
Just then, a figure of someone running towards the two boys emerged far in the horizon down the stretch of the beach. Calico had taken his shoes off and wore them on his hands as he ran in the sand, getting a bonus workout in since he had slept until 2 p.m.
“Yo guys!!!” Calico shouted as he raised one hand in the air.
“Speak of the devil! Look, its Calico.” Dayno set his bowl down and Roey hopped off his hammock.
“Holy crap, you’re right. You got a serious case of weird juju going on Dayno.” Roey teased as he turned to face Calico who was still running towards them.
“It took you long enough to show your face!” He yelled out at him, “You done with your solo operation or what?”
Calico reached the two boys, but made a quick pit stop to splash some ocean water on his face before walking up to them. They stood in an old abandoned building that was ravaged by some sort of destructive force. All the walls and ceilings were destroyed and only remnants of walls remained. This had been the boys’ hang out spot ever since they could remember. They spent many nights here training, joking around, and simply passing the time. It was really close to the ocean, about only 100 feet or so.
“Hey guys, sorry that we got separated last night.” Calico sat down on a block of stone that had once been a piece of a wall. “What did you guys end up doing?”
“Well we went home to drop off the bags of beans that you made us buy.” Roey sounded a little bit annoyed, “Afterwards, we went to Iron Beach like we said we would.”
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“Yeah, but no one was there, not even you.” Dayno sat down on a wooden chair and picked up his bowl again.
“Yeah...about that.” Calico seemed hesitant to tell his friends the news. “Well, I actually found the Warden.”
“You found him? Wait so what happened?” Roey also sat down next to Dayno.
Calico went on and explained the whole situation of what had happened the night before to the two boys. Everything up to what was written in the letter that the Warden had given him. He decided to keep that to himself.
“Wait...so let me get this straight…” Roey tilted his head a slight angle to the right. “You had a fist fight….with the WARDEN of all people…...and he let you register even tho you got beat down like that?”
“Y….yeah…” Calico felt a sense of awkwardness in the air, he didn't know how to respond.
“Holy crap Calico!! You’re crazy! Stupid, don't get me wrong. I mean, who would pick a fight with the Warden, that dude is one of the strongest guys in the city, but DAMN dude.
You’re one crazy dude.” Roey jumped up and put Calico in a chokehold with his arm.
“Hahahaha I got to say tho, even if I was there, I probably wouldn’t have had the balls to do what you did.” Roey smiled as he let Calico up. “Congrats bro. Now you have no excuse to pass this damn Trial.”
“Wait… I thought you guys would be mad. Since after all we had planned to take the Trial together.” Calico looked at Roey, then over to Dayno who had stopped eating.
“Calico, it doesn't matter if you go this year, and we go next year. I mean...it would’ve been cool if we would’ve taken it together.” Roey stepped in and cut Dayno off.
“As long as we all pass, become pirates, and can sail together, it shouldn’t matter how we get there.” Roey smiled for a few seconds as he turned his gaze towards the ocean.
“Well, knowing that I’m going to be a year behind of you now, I better start training as soon as possible. I’ve been meaning to go to my Uncle’s house down south in Aido, and now I got a good reason to. He’s a Pirate too, so he could help me train for the Trial next year.”
“That sounds like a good idea Roey, how about you Dayno? What will you do?”
Dayno reached in his bowl but was disappointed when there were no more apples left.
“Hmm, well I think I’ll stay here in Tortuga, after all, who else is going to help my mom with all the things I already do. I’ll train whenever I have free time, just like I’ve been doing already.”
Calico smiled at hearing what Dayno had to say. He always thought that he had a warm heart when it came to his friends and family.
“Well, you guys already know what my plan is. I gotta pass this Trial.” Calico stood up and began to stretch. “I think I’ll head home and get some food, I’m starving.”
As Calico said goodbye and began to walk away, Roey jumped up and called out. “Oh Calico, quick before you leave. Nira came by here a couple of hours ago, she said she was looking for you.”
“Nira came by?”
Dayno put one hand behind his head as he let out a smile. “Haha yea, she looked really pissed off too, what’d you do to her this time Calico?” Roey and Dayno exchanged a look before letting out a couple of laughs.
“Hey shut up, I already told you, it's not what it looks like.” Calico’s face began to turn red. “We’ve known eachother forever, we’re just friends.”
“Haha whatever you say man. Anyway, she said that she’ll be in the library at the Main Square.”
‘The library near the Main Square?’ Calico thought to himself. ‘That's the Tidal Library, the same one where this Dara guys is supposed to be in.”
“Oh… well alright, I guess I’ll head over there right now then.” Calico began to slip his shoes on. “Alright, well i’ll see you guys later.”
“See ya” the other two boys said in unison.
When Calico was far off in the distance, Roey stood up and put his hands in a cone around his mouth. “Hey you better run! You don't wanna get Nira MORE angry at you!!” Dayno let out a laugh and gave Roey a high five.
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The Tidal Library was an immense lengthy building that was covered in old brown bricks. All of the windows were lined with a black metal that made all of the accentuations more noticable. The main entrance was a set of double doors that lied on top of a 10 step platform. Although it once was one of the most popular placed in all of Tortuga, over time, its luster faded as well as its visitors.
Calico had reached the Main Square and faced towards the enormous building that stood before him. In all of the years that he had lived in Tortuga, he never once had entered the Library. He walked up the steps and stood before the large arch over the doors.
‘How am i even supposed to know what this Dara guy looks like, I’ve never even been here before,” he thought as he walked up to the doors and pushed them open. Upon entering, Calico’s nose was met with the smell of fresh ink. The windows on the front side of the building were letting in beams of light that cut through the dimly lit room. To Calico’s surprise, there weren’t many people in sight, only a few old people who were sitting far off in the other side of the inicial room. Looking around, he also noticed that many books were missing from the shelves as if the library was too big for the amount of books that it had. Next to the entrance was a picture with the breakdown of all the rooms in the Library. On first glance, Calico thought he was looking at a map of a labyrinth. ‘Since when was this library so damn huge?” he wondered.
‘Well, I might as well find Nira first. She knows this place better than I ever would,’ he thought as he walked over to the reception desk.
There was an old man standing behind the desk with glasses pulled down to the tip of his nose. He had long grey hair that fell to his shoulders and his face was littered with wrinkles.
“Uhm...Excuse me,” Calico said as the old man looked up from his book to see who was talking to him.
“Have you seen a girl walk in here recently?” The old man just blankly stared back at Calico without saying word.
“Oh..uh...she's about my age, tall, and has dreadlocks…..”
The old man simply lifted his index finger and pointed it up to the ceiling.
“Up?...what?....oh, like upstairs?” the old man slowly put his hand down and resumed reading his book.
Calico had an uneasy look on his face as he turned to scan the room for some stairs. He saw over in the corner a large winding staircase that went both upstairs and downstairs.
“Thanks….” he told the old man as he made his way over to the staircase.
As soon as he was about to make his way up, he heard some chattering coming from someone who was walking up from the bottom floor. He stepped aside to let them pass. Up from the stairs emerged two guys who looked to be in their mid 20’s. They were both wearing swords on their belts and had on brown leather vests. Calico’s eyes shot open when he saw a shining silver medallion hanging from both of their necks. These guys were Pirates, he was sure of it.
The Pirate Emblems on their necklaces slowly bounced on their chests as they reached the top floor Calico was on. One of the Pirates gave Calico a quick glance, then walked towards the exit with his companion.
“What the heck are two official Pirates doing in a place like this?” Calico mumbled as he peered down the winding staircase. A sudden urge to go see what was down there came across his whole body as he took a slow step downwards.
“Whatever, I’ll just go see what's down there real quick.” He made his way down the staircase in a steady spiral. The hand rail was one long piece of dark mahogany that looked like it had been worn down over time. Each step creaked as he made his way down towards the bottom floor, which Calico could now sense that was underground. When he reached the last step, he peered over the edge of the wall to see what lied in the mysterious room. To his surprise, it was almost identical to the room above. Old desks with books littered on top of them were spread throughout the huge room. The only difference was that this room was lit by candles, so it gave off a more gloomy and obscure vibe.
“There's nothing here, what the heck were those guys doing….Reading?” he uttered while staying on the last step of the staircase.
Calico stood there in silence, carefully observing the room to see if he could understand why the Pirates had been here. He strained his eyes and though he saw a corridor in the dark corner of the room when suddenly, he heard a loud screech that made him jump up and yell out.
“AHHH! What the hell was that?!?!” Calico yelled as he jumped off the stairs and frantically looked around.
He heard the screech again and deduced that it was coming from one of the floors above. He ran up the staircase back to the ground level floor and looked around to see what it was. The old man at the reception area lifted his head from his book and glanced at Calico. He raised a finger and pointed at the ceiling just like before.
Calico glanced upwards the staircase in confusion as he slowly made his way up. When he reached the last step, he slowly peeked his face over the edge of the wall to see where the screech was coming from.
“AHHHHH!!!! , GET IT AWAY FROM MEEEE!!!” a female voice belted out. She was standing on top of a table holding a broomstick firmly in between her hands. The dreadlocks on her head slowly waved from side to side as she shook her head.
“N...Nira?!” Calico yelled out.
Nira beamed her head over toward Calico. “Calico! Get the heck over here! Help me out!”
“What’s going on?!” He yelled as he hurriedly made his way over to the table where she was standing.
“It's right there!! Under the desk!” she pointed to a table across the room. “Here, take this broom and get it the heck away from me!!.”
“Get what away from you?! What are you talking about?” Calico was extremely confused and didn’t know what he was supposed to do with the broom being thrown at him.
“The rat!! Its huge! Kill the damn thing!”
“A rat?!” Just as Calico had said that, the rat emerged from under the table. It was the size of a small dog as it hissed at the broom he had in his hand.
All of a sudden the rat leaped towards Calico baring its teeth.
“AHHHHHHHHHH,” Nira yelled out as she jumped to another table.
In a swift move, Calico dropped the broom to the ground and reached behind his back to pull out one of his daggers. He thrust the tip of it into through the mouth of the rat, with the blade exiting through the back of its head. Blood began to drip onto the floor, so Calico hurried over to a window and threw the rat outside.
“What kind of damn rat was that? That’s one of the biggest ones I’ve ever seen,” he said as he cleaned the blood on his dagger with a piece of cloth.
The two of them sat down a one of the tables as Nira attempted to calm down.
“I….hate rats……,” she exhaled as she dropped her head down onto her crossed arms on the table.
“Yeah, ever since we were kids, you always froze up around those ugly things… haha.”
“Hey shut up!” she said as she jerked her head up. “By the way….what are you even doing here in the first place?”
“Roey told me that you were looking for me earlier, and to meet you here…”
“Ohh yeah…..now i remember….,” she stood up and walked over towards to where Calico was sitting.
Nira lifted her arm and brought her fist down onto the top of Calico’s head. “WHEN WERE YOU GOING TO TELL ME THAT YOU’RE ENTERING THE TRIALS THIS YEAR!!!!”
“Ouch!! What the heck??!” He rubbed his head with both hands. “How’d you even find out about that??”
“Your Aunt told me the other day when I ran into her in town.”
“Oh she did?... Damn, well, I didn’t think that it was a big deal….”
“Hmph….” Nira sat back down with her arms crossed. “The Trials are a death wish Calico…..I'm sure you already know how many people die every year in attempts of passing.”
“Yea, I know….but you don't need to worry. I’ll pass for sure.”
“Yea...whatever.” Nira turned her head toward the blue sky behind the window.
Calico had been friends with Nira ever since they were 5 years old and she could be considered his oldest friend. Nira was easily the smartest person Calico knew, as she would read countless books about all sorts of things. She was the one who taught Calico how to build his ship based off nautical books and ship blueprints that she had read.
“Hey I’m sorry, I was going to tell you, I just haven't seen you in a while ya know.” Calico could sense the awkwardness in the air, so he quickly changed the subject. “Hey by the way, do you know someone named Dara? I was told that I’d find him here.”
Nira glanced back toward Calico with a casual look. “Dara? Yeah, I see him every time I come to the Library….. Why?”
“Wait really? Well….I don't really know why, but I need to talk to him.”
“Well get up then, I’ll take you to where he’s at.” The two stood up and headed over towards the winding staircase.
“Wait, are we going to the bottom floor? I already checked there, there wasn’t anyone.”
“Haha well of course you didn’t see him, he’s in the secret room.”
“Secret…..room?”