The Killjoy cut through the water with ease, its sails full of wind and a thick fog billowing off into the air from around its waterline. Captain Pike Chelingham smiled to himself as he let the night air rush through his clothing, ruffling his calico overcoat. He turned his head up and looked at the full moon glowing brightly, the sky almost empty of clouds and full of stars. If he tilted his head just right, he would lose sight of the Killjoy in his peripheral vision, and it was as if he were floating in the void, the dark sea an infinity to match that of the vacuum of space.
He could hear Sharktooth clucking out laughs from the bow, excited little hiccups of happiness that grew in intensity as the ship brought them closer to the hidden wizard. For almost two-hundred years Pike and his crew had been searching for the thief Konrad Onorien, sailing to every far flung port-of-call on the edge of the globe looking for a hint of a clue as to what had become of the conniving wizard. And here he was, hiding in the muddle of The Devil’s Triangle’s magics, using the swirling forces of one of the world’s innately supernatural spots to mask his location.
But the stone in Sharktooth’s hands showed the way to Onorien’s lair, and it glowed intensely, the locator ball on it a constantly repeating a collapsing ring of concentric circles homing in on the spot where The Left Eye lay. The rings had quickly run through the colors of the rainbow, starting at red and shifting through orange and yellow until reaching indigo, certain proof that the Killjoy was closing in. The rings would turn violet when they were finally close enough to retrieve it.
Portnoy Witherspoon clattered up behind him, the hard soles of his feet clicking on the deck as he made his way. Chelingham would’ve smiled at the lack of stealth, if he could still smile. He turned his head and cocked it to the side.
“Well, Port, we’re closing in on the bastard. Soon, we’ll have it back,” Pike said.
“I can’t believe he been hidin’ in here the whole time,” Portnoy said. “We been through here scores o’ times.”
Pike patted the railing with the palm of his hand as if comforting the ship. “Port, you know well as me that there ain’t no understandin’ the magics or how theys work. The Devil’s Triangle is a confusin’ place even for those who can’t be swallowed up by it. Who knows what a power such as a wizard can do with it, hiding himself in the creases of the Demon Winds.”
“I ain’t never bothered to ask ‘cause I ain’t never bothered to think we might be about to fix him in our sites,” Portnoy said. “But jus’ how you goin’ to get the ol’ wiz to return our property? It ain’t likely he’s just goin’ to hand it over no muss, no fuss.”
“Why Port, I thought that was plain obvious as the nose used to be on yer face,” Pike roared with laughter. “He’ll give it back once he re’lizes who we is and knows the curse ain’t jus’ fer us, but can be made over to any man who claims to own the crystal.”
Sharktooth clicked across the deck and slipped between Pike and Portnoy, turning his head from one to the other. “Oh, I hope he resists, I do,” Sharktooth said, “He won’t know what hit him until it’s too late, and then I’ll just rip him apart at the joints. A couple of his bones sewn into me and I’ll have a measure of the wizard’s power unlike any other of our kind. And then who can stand in our way?”