Tamarrio Washington's Arc

Chapter 1 of 5

Tamarrio Washington hammered the wooden post into the dirt at the edge of Oldgrowth. The flag he stole from Governor Aldric snapped in the wind above it. This was his territory now. Not a throne, not yet. But proof that the sky wasn't the only thing he could take and keep. He found the building three days later. Weathered wood, ship wheels bolted to the walls, a roof that leaked when the rain came sideways. Someone had abandoned it years ago. Pirates before him, probably. Men who gave up or died trying. Tamarrio kicked open the door and claimed it anyway. Inside, he dragged the heavy chest to the center of the main room. He flipped the lid open and pulled out Aldric's gold chain. The metal caught the light from the window. He draped it across the chest's edge, then added the scraps of sail from the twelve ships he'd sent back in pieces. Each one a name he'd erased from the sky. He walked outside and raised his own flag above the building. Black cloth, white skull, crossbones beneath. The wind grabbed it and sent it snapping. Anyone who passed would know someone lived here now. Someone who took what he wanted and kept it. Tamarrio wasn't a drifter anymore. He had ground under his feet and trophies to prove it. The sky could wait. First, he needed a place worth returning to.