Charlisse drew her knife. The pirates continued their advance.

Isabel let out a stifled cry.

They raised their swords, bloodlust in their eyes.

Above them, the dark sky folded in on itself and crouched as if ready to strike. Hissing charged the airlike the sound of a sizzling linstock thrust into the touchhole of the cannon.

A flash ignited the sky with a buzzing crackle. The muted grays of the gloomy day sparked into stark whites and ...