Make sail and run for the open sea!!” Chusor could barely hear Phoenix shouting across the space between their two ships as the Spear and the Argo—cutting through the waves side by side and a stone’s throw apart—fought with their sweeping oars against the strong wind, a growing gale that threatened to push them against the rocky eastern shore of Serifos an arrow’s flight to their right. The Spartan Killer and the Aphrodite had fallen behind them by several ship lengths. “There’s too many of them!” shouted Phoenix. Chusor, standing all alone on the small railed deck at the prow of the Spear, didn’t need the Athenian captain to state the obvious—he could see for himself the eight Korinthian triremes heading for them on a collision course from the opposite direction, only a quarter of a mile away. The enemy ships had come into view as the Spear and the Argo rounded a headland. The ships coming at them were heavy Korinthian triremes—far bulkier than their Athenian-made counterparts.
