Something was going on and he wanted no part of it. The Captain had charged him to look out for the ship and that was just what he would do.

Flynn backed up to the wheelhouse wall and out of the side of his mouth he whispered, "Ortega?"

"Si?"

"Speak English for pity's sake! This ain't Mexico or wherever it is that you come from!"

"It's not America either Senor!" Came Ortega's smart response through the broken window of the wheelhouse.

Flint gritted his teeth hard for a moment before he had to ruefully acknowledge that the Salvadorian had a point.

"Give it a good ten count and then give the Celestia's Prize all the throttle she's got!"

"I will do it Senor!" Ortega responded with.

Flynn stepped away from the shattered out windows of the wheelhouse and made his way along the side of the boat moored to the dock nonchalantly slicing through the mooring ropes with a sharp knife he pulled from his belt.

The front end of the Celestia's Prize fell away from the dock and it became obvious what Flynn was up to. He raced for the last rope and sliced through it as the on looking crowd came unglued and started for the boat in mass intent to stop it from its unplanned exodus from port.

Advertisement..

The Celestia's Prize roared to life and jolted forward like a runner off the starting block. The shotgun blasts were a rhythmic percussion of sound as hot lead spewed forth scything through the onrushing crowd in an unexpected display of firepower.

Free of the dock the Celestia's Prize kicked up a foamy wake as it surged out for the open sea beyond the harbor. Two of the whaling ships attempted to break free of anchor and unfurl their sails to give pursuit, but the task was made bulky and untimely given the limitations of a maritime ship of a bygone era in comparison with a modern design not reliant on wind power for propulsion.

The Celestia's Prize was a dot on the horizon, with any hope of catching her gone as she began to be cloaked by the permanent fog bank that lay offshore. The two whalers heaved to and re-anchored in defeat.

He began to chant out in an old language best left forgotten and the runes carved into the metal surrounding the crystal began to glow.




Most Popular