The Price of the Horizon

A daring raid earns Black-Eye gold, glory, and a place at sea. Winner!

The Devil’s Mercy sliced through the dawn mist, her black sails whispering of murder and fortune. Black-Eye Blackburn stood at the bow, the tang of salt on his lips and the promise of gold in his thoughts. Captain Scarlett had promised him a share, if he proved himself on today’s raid.

Below deck, the crew murmured over mugs of bitter coffee, their hands tightening around cutlass hilts as the silhouette of a Spanish galleon emerged through the fog. She was fat with cargo, slow in the water, a gift from the sea herself.

Scarlett appeared beside him, her red coat snapping in the wind. “You ready, lad?”

Black-Eye flexed his hand around the hilt of his dagger. “Born ready.”

When they struck, it was like lightning hitting a mast, quick, violent, and unstoppable. Grappling hooks sang through the air, steel clashed, and the screams of men were swallowed by cannon smoke. Black-Eye moved through the chaos like a shadow, cutting down a sailor who lunged at Scarlett from behind.

Minutes later, the deck was theirs.

In the captain’s cabin, chests spilled open, gold coins cascading like sunlight onto the planks. Black-Eye crouched, running the warm metal through his fingers. Every coin was another step away from the boy who’d starved in Port Royal.

Scarlett clapped a hand on his shoulder. “You’ve earned your place, Black-Eye.”

He met her gaze, breathing hard. “Then let’s see how far this sea will take us.”

She grinned, sharp as a cutlass. “Farther than you dare dream.”

As the Devil’s Mercy turned toward the open horizon, Black-Eye sipped the last of his coffee, the taste bitter and bold on his tongue, like the life he’d chosen, and the blood that bought it.

Word Count: 287
Prompt: Write a story that includes the words: gold, hand, coffee
Written for: "Daily Flash Fiction Challenge"