“How have none of them noticed us yet?” Maya whispered. “We don’t exactly blend in.”

Cyll repressed a curse. Maya jerked back and spun to look, but the man was just staring at the spyglass in his hand.

“I totally forgot I had this,” Cyll muttered, unaware of his captain glaring in his direction.

He extended the telescope to its full length and lifted it to one eye, peering at the ship directly in front of them.

Maya sighed and let some of the tension out of her muscles. Greenhill was already shrinking behind them, nothing more than a slightly unsettling memory. All that remained was to break away from the fleet and make a beeline for Dredd’s Tomb.

Patty ambled over to the two of them, watching Cyll curiously.

“Is that a spyglass?” Patty asked.

“It is, and it’s being held by an idiot,” Maya grumbled irritably. “What are you looking at, Cyll? You’re going to draw attention to us.”

“Nobody is watching us that closely,” Patty pointed out. “If anything, they already know we’re here because of our boat and lack of ugly flags. I doubt one person using a spyglass would draw any attention. Now, let me see it. I want to take a look.”

Cyll didn’t respond. Maya frowned, nudging him on the shoulder.

“Cyll? You okay?”

The immortal pirate had gone as stiff as a board. His brow was furrowed and his narrow with fury. He reached to his side for the hilt of a weapon that wasn’t there.

Patty pried the spyglass out of Cyll’s hands. She lifted it to her eye and looked in the direction Cyll had been watching.

“What do you see? What’s going on with Cyll?” Maya asked, grabbing her frozen crewmate by the shoulders and shaking him roughly.

The puppet lowered the spyglass, giving Maya a sheepish smile.

“There’s a lady with a blue eyepatch looking at us,” Patty said.

“That’s no lady,” Cyll growled, contempt dripping from his words. He spun, tearing his gaze from the fleet. He grabbed the wheel of the ship. The man’s knuckles turned white as he seemed to fight an internal battle. “She’s one of the godforsaken bastards that locked me up ten thousand years ago.”

“Ah. Shit,” Maya said eloquently.

Cyll seemed to lose an internal battle. He gritted his teeth and spun the wheel, turning Wavedance away from the fleet.

“I’m going to kill her,” Cyll said through his teeth. “But not today. We need to get out of here. We stand no chance.”

“Does she recognize you?” Maya asked, her watery cloak rippling in response to her discomfort.

“Eyepatch woman is smiling now,” Patty reported, peering through the spyglass once again. “She’s still looking at us.”

“Her name is Katrina, and she’s playing with us,” Cyll snarled. “She might not even have recognized who I am. I’m sure the cursed creature thinks I’m long gone. She just likes playing with her food. She probably waited until we noticed her before doing anything.”

Several of the galleons in front of them started to slowly turn their broadsides towards Wavedance. Maya eyed the numerous rows of cannons pointed in their direction.

“Shit,” she and Cyll said simultaneously.

Maya leapt down the stairs, racing to the trapdoor leading below deck. She ripped it open.

“Get out here, Humbol! We have a situation!” Maya yelled.

The man poked his head out from behind a barrel.

“I’m only here to protect Patty. Not my problem.”

“I’ll rephrase. Either you get out here and help, or I kill you before they kill me,” Maya barked. “You chose to be part of the crew, so you get the drawbacks and the benefits. Now get your ass in gear before I do it for you.”

“Well, if you put it that way,” Humbol said, ascending to the deck and tipping his hat slightly to Maya. “I hope you’ll forgive me for the little test. I have no desire to work for someone without a spine.”

“Move!”

“Yes, ma’am!” Humbol blurred into action, darting to the railing to assess the situation. The dead pirate grimaced. “Ah. We really do have a situation. You should have told me.”

He lifted his hands into the air. Unnatural white wind billowed up behind the sails, filling them instantly. Wavedance practically leapt from the ocean with the sudden force behind the ship.

Explosions rocked the sea as what must have been hundreds of cannonballs filled the air. They peppered the sea where Wavedance had been moments before, sending plumes of water high into the air.

“Do you know how to use a cannon?” Maya yelled to Humbol.

“I’ve tried my hand at it, once or twice!” The other pirate called back in a tone that was much to calm for the situation.

“Then get on the cannons. Patty, help him!” Maya ordered. She didn’t wait to watch the two crewmembers follow her orders.

The young woman scrambled to the railing, wincing as cannonballs howled through the air and slammed into the water around Wavedance. They seemed to be getting closer. In fact, the entire fleet seemed to be wrapping around in front of them, sealing off their exits.

“What is this woman’s problem?” Maya cursed. “Who spends this much effort over some random ship?”

She stretched her thoughts out to the watery cape on her back, but it had no suggestions. The scale of the battle was far too large for it. The captain hesitantly reached out towards the ocean, but there was no response.

Wood splintered with a heartrending shriek as a cannonball tore through the crow’s nest. It crashed into the sea with a loud crash that was followed by a slew of curses from Cyll.

“There are to damn many of them,” Cyll yelled over the racket. Both he and Maya flinched as a loud explosion ripped through the day once again.

Humbol staggered back from the cannon, his shot going wide and splashing into the water harmlessly a fair distance away from the enemy fleet.

“They’ve basically covered the whole horizon!” Cyll barked. “How can you miss?”

Patty flickered into vision beside Humbol with a cannonball in each hand. She loaded one of them as the other pirate took aim again and lit the fuse on the cannon.

“I’m rusty, okay?” Humbol said back. A tinge of stress had entered his voice.