The Prize

Captain Okes order is deceptively straightforward, a minor detail in the grand theatre of naval warfare: "Deliver the prize to the Admiral in Antigua." But for Lieutenant Isaac Donland, freshly minted into his first independent command, the simplicity of the order was a cruel jest. The "prize" was a sieve, her timbers groaning, her pumps sputtering a losing battle against the relentless ingress of the Caribbean Sea. Each shudder felt like a death rattle beneath Donland's feet, the scent of mildew and despair thick in the air as his command threatened to dissolve into the inky depths.

Complicating this impending maritime disaster was a small, silent passenger: a young boy with wide, haunted eyes and no memory, a living cipher whose very existence the formidable French fleet desperately sought to capture. Was he a child of nobility, a witness to horrors, or perhaps even a key to intelligence vital to their enemies? Donland didn't know, but the boy's fragile life now rested squarely on his shoulders, adding an unbearable weight to an already impossible task.

Indeed, Donland's first command seemed destined to be his only command. He was not merely battling the elements and the relentless ingress of water; he was fighting a war on all fronts. Within his own beleaguered crew, disloyal whispers turned to open defiance, revealing mutinous traitors ready to sell their king for a handful of shillings. And then there was her: a formidable young woman with a sharp wit, an even sharper blade, and a gaze that promised to "split his gizzard" as soon as look at him. Her motives were as tangled as a mariner's knot, her animosity towards Donland as was one of disgust, making her a dangerous, unpredictable variable in a journey already rife with peril. Every moment was a desperate gamble, every decision a potential plunge into watery oblivion, and Donland knew, with a cold certainty, that many more besides his ship would likely go down with him.