Many thanks to
Unicorn Bell for hosting
A Picture Paints a Thousand Words Blog Hop!
Here's my entry:
The Identity Crisis of Captain Wrath
Moonbeams
shining eerily through clumps of clouds, a flock of watergulls skimming the
rim of the Western Edge, sails taut against the wind and the Dauntless racing
along the sea . . .it should have been exciting, but it
wasn’t. Not for Captain Wrath, aka Douglas Cranton, Jr., who had made this
voyage every night for the last three lunar years.
He
sighed to himself in his cabin, pouring over the passenger list. In the next
few hours he had a burial at sea, a wedding, and a christening to perform. All
of these duties, plus he needed to recite his stirring speech about the danger
and excitement, the glory of life and death, and all that nonsense about living
on the edge of the known world. It was all balderdash. Out of all the cruise ship captain jobs
available to him after flunking out of the Royal Space Navy, he had landed this
one. At the time, it seemed more exciting than the pleasure cruises to the “Forbidden”
Isles.
Someone
knocked on his door, and he welcomed the interruption. “Come in,” he said in a
low, booming voice that he adopted for his job.
“Sir,
it’s just me,” said Telli, the cook, entering with a soft step and a discreet
closing of the door behind her. Her face looked pinched with worry. “It seems
we have a small problem with the wine we need for our three ceremonies and the
finale speech.”
Douglas
groaned, and ran his right hand over his face with weariness and frustration.
In his normal tone, he asked, “Would that small problem be Syparian Sea Slugs
or Davies?” Davies, the first mate had a penchant for alcoholic drink. In fact,
he had been transferred from one of the Forbidden Isle cruises due to his
inability to say no to wine or women.
“I
think it’s the slugs this time, sir,” said Telli. “I put out the salt like you
showed me and the beer traps . . . although I think Davies drank those.” She
whined and cowered a little as she spoke, keeping in her role as cowed cook for
Captain Wrath.
“Telli,”
he said softly. “We don’t need to stay in our roles in my office. I believe you
did your best, as always.”
“Oh, I
couldn’t be too familiar with you, sir. You’re Captain Wrath when you’re on
this ship, sir. Don’t forget that.”
“I’m
still Douglas underneath all this,” he growled, waving his hand over his
ghastly makeup and heavy black beard.
“Sir!”
she said sharply. “We need a Captain Wrath, and I think, if you don’t mind my
saying, that this job is far more enjoyable when you play your part.”
He
sighed, and stood, strapping on his double blaster belt, and his sword.
Thankfully the blasted parrot had died last season and he didn’t have anything
on his shoulder squawking in his ear.
Outside
his cabin, Doug took on the role of Captain Wrath for the sake of the paying
passengers. He stomped in his heavy black boots, swore at the crew, and threw
open the door to the ships’ mess with a thunderous bang. Once there, he slammed
the door shut behind him, and then walked quietly to the wine cellar. The salt
circles around the bottles were still intact. There were no slime trails, but
there were little foot prints, and he thought he saw movement out of the corner
of his eye. He turned quickly, and
overturned a few of the rum jugs in his haste, grabbing at a pair of legs.
The
little being struggled in his grasp for a moment, and then became quiet with
affronted dignity. It appeared to be a very small man dressed in green. “Unhand
me at once, you oaf,” he shouted squeakily.
“What
the devil!” shouted Doug, not even having to try for his Captain Wrath
impersonation this time. He glared at the little man, and gave him a small
squeeze. “I don’t recall any Leprachanarian on my passenger list!”
Doug
felt little pinpricks of pain on his ankle and looked down to see a horde of
the tiny little people stabbing him with their tiny knives.
“Stop,
or I will stomp on you,” he shouted. “You’re all charged with trespassing,
assault, and damages to Universal Cruise Lines.” Then with the hook on his left
hand he fumbled with his com button. “Cookie, get in here. We have
stowaways aboard,” he snarled. “Bring a sack.”
“A sack,
sir?”
“We
have an infestation of Leprachanarian trespessers,” he growled.
“We’ll
give you our gold,” said the little man in his hand.
“I’m
not falling for that one,” said Doug. “Your people are the reason I was thrown
out of the Royal Space Navy.”
“You’re
Doug Cranton?” the little man peered at him, with a smile at the corner of his
mouth. “That Doug Cranton?” He started to giggle.
“I’m
Captain Wrath aboard this ship,” snarled Doug. “Don’t you forget it.”
“That’s
right,” said Tilli, from behind him. She smiled at him, and then using a broom
and a catchall bag, she swept up the other Leprachanarians in one swooping
blow.
“Nice
work, Cookie,” Doug said. “Now, throw them in the bilge with the rats, and find
us some drink in the cargo hold. We have paying passengers to attend to before the moon sets.”
“Yes,
sir,” she said, seriously, and then she winked. “Nice to have Captain Wrath
aboard tonight.”
I had a much different idea in mind when I chose this picture, but Doug, aka Captain Wrath, kept popping in my head and I had a hard time sticking with anything serious. For me, the picture was more like a writing prompt, and the story took off in a different direction from that starting point. For more awesome information and to see some of the amazing pics for this blog hop, follow the link above and check it out.
A to Z is just two days away. Just two days!!!! Are you ready? I am partially ready, partially going to be flying by the seat of my pants. It will be interesting, fun, and challenging.
I am totally surprised by the totally unexpected placement of my story in the top 5 of the 
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