The tattered remains of the ship’s sail fluttered. Ropes moaned, and buckles clattered. The hull listed toward starboard. The intruder stumbled across the sloped deck. Another historian sought the truth behind the murder of Ava the Avenger.

There had been many theories about how she had been murdered, all legendary, all glorious. Ava, the most notorious pirate on the Emerald Seas, knew better, and the irony galled her.

She released a scornful laugh. The resulting wail spooked the skittish man. His back to the rail, he searched wildly for the ghost of the dreaded pirate.

Which stories had he heard?

A siren sang her to her death? A vengeful merman spread that one, resenting Ava for ensnaring his brother in her nets and keeping him as a pet.

A mutinous crew encircled her and fought to a bloody end in which she took them all down with her. Laughable. Not even a whole boatload of craven pirates could take her. And her crew had been unfailingly loyal, out of respect and fear, she did not care.

A cobra smuggled aboard in a chest of stolen gems.

Knifed by a lover.

All Lies.

Ava’s specter floated before the anxious historian. She released a gunfire crack of a sneeze into his face. He started, staggered, but caught himself short of falling to his death over the rail.

Hmmph. Startled to your death by an ill-timed sneeze must only happen to the fiercest of pirates on the open seas, but it still rankled.