Dawn had yet to break, and the dark Sea heaved.
Three narrow sailing ships lay in wait on the morning tide. A gaunt, one-eyed pirate stood in a masthead lookout, gazing toward the Coast, where the lights looked like a few dying stars the sky had no use for.
"This is Star-Moon Bay?"
He leaned over the edge of the lookout.
"Th-this isn't Star-Moon Bay. It's Glacier Harbor. We came from here..." A man stripped down to his shorts and bound with Hemp Rope hunched his shoulders. "Star-Moon Bay is another 150 nautical miles north..."
Just then, a Pirates ran over carrying a buoy he had fished out of the Sea.
No one here could read. The One-Eyed Pirate shouted, "Trickster! What does it say?"
A filthy boy who had been scrubbing the Deck hurried over and read the Wooden Sign. "Welcome to Star-Moon Bay... We're here!"
"You hear that, boys? This is Star-Moon Bay!"
The One-Eyed Pirate raised his Rapier, and a chorus of strange cries echoed across the Deck like calls from a swamp rainforest.
"That's impossible! This is Glacier Harbor! You've been tricked!"
The nearly naked man screamed. The One-Eyed Pirate dropped a thick fishhook toward him. Instead of catching the Hemp Rope as intended, it slipped free, scored a bloody line across the man's chest, and lodged in his jaw. As the One-Eyed Pirate hauled the line taut, the man shrieked and kicked until he was dragged up to the lookout.
"No one tricks the Sea Hawk..." the One-Eyed Pirate whispered in his ear, gripping his hair, then yanked out the hook.
The man gave a feeble scream. The One-Eyed Pirate tied him to the lookout, then slid down the mast to the Deck.
Trickster came closer. "Boss, could this be a trap? Why would anyone