Bucelt's Shiny Skull

[Traveller 2114]

Spoiler

 

Bucelt's Shiny Skull

An artist's rough depiction of the bejewelled skull.

Oswald Bucelt gripped the heavy skull with both of his hands. The skull's lifeless, bedizened eyes challenged Oswald to a competition, one which he would accept. Soon, the decrepit seaman shook out of the trance, not realising that the source was that of the skull. He looked up from the object and zoned back into his surroundings. Drops of sweat were beading down his forehead, dripping from the bristles of hair on his brow onto the grains of sand below his feet like dew on grass on a Summer's morning.

 

Oswald turned his visage back towards the vast ocean from which he had just washed up from. His one-man boat was still sat there, just as it had been two minutes prior. He shook his head once more, pondering to himself why he was contemplating such silly questions in his mind. For a moment, he could've sworn he saw someone sat in his boat, but once he focused his gaze on the boat, nobody was there in his line of vision.

 

The skull fell from his hands, splattering the sand. He would take a well-deserved rest on the soft ground next to the mysterious object. He spent the next few hours pondering the skull before the sky turned a fiery red, indicating the sunset was imminent. Rope-like strands of his inky hair fell onto his face, shading him from the last remaining rays of light that would hit him before the sky turned dark.

 

During the night, Oswald remained sat in the same location, patting the sand and cradling the skull in his lap. Many shadow-men were seen in the corner of Oswald's vision, stood in the darkness. As soon as he turned to them, however, they disappeared from reality. Throughout the night, a lack of sleep was had and the shadow-men got closer. Just before they were about to claim him and drag him into the darkness, the figures disappeared and the sun arose from the cliffs surrounding the man.

 

Unbeknownst to him, ships were anchoring in the sea behind him and their footsteps getting closer were deaf to his ears, he just continued cradling the bejewelled skull. One of the soldiers put his hand on Oswald's shoulder, realising it was the legendary pirate, although he didn't quite look like what he was depicted in the tales. The soldier would drag the wanted man by the collar of his shirt along the beach, with no resistance from Oswald. He'd drop the skull on the beach as he was hauled away, leaving it to stay put in the glistening specs of red on the ground, where it would remain until it would claim a new owner.