Sea of Secrets

Chapter 1 - Mira

Nikolai loved the tavern. The loud whooping from the table playing cards, the mixed aroma of sweat, cigar smoke, and hard alcohol looming in the air. He spent most afternoons telling the same tall tales of his youth to the other drunkards who had no place else to go. This afternoon was no different, as Mira watched Nikolai sit atop the barstool, his voice echoing as he delivered his retelling.

"My first bounty you asked?" He set down his shot glass and looked out to the men seated on barstools next to him. "I still remember the name, Lucius Cornwall, a gunslinger in the Slums, one of the most dangerous Davorian history. The man was said to have seven revolvers from each different day of the week, and he'd never be caught shooting one on the wrong day."

Oh, she'd heard this before. Many times. The people in the tavern listening had, too. Either they were too nice to stop the old man's story, or they were too drunk to care.

Mira wasn't really listening, just passing time. Her sketchpad was in front of her and she had begun to draw Nikolai with his joyous, drunken smile on his monstrous figure.

Nikolai continued, "So I tracked Lucius down and had him cornered in the alleyway. Just me and him. He aimed a gun at me, and I studied that revolver real hard and long, and you know what I said to him?"

The men on the bar stools all shook their heads, and a grin passed over Nikolai's face, "I said, 'It's not a Wednesday, it's a Thursday!"

The tables of the tavern all went around clapping and cheering as if this was the funniest story they'd ever been told. Nikolai fed off the applause, taking down a shot of whiskey. The applause became even louder and Mira's head had started to throb from the smoke-filled air. She got up from the table where she'd been drawing and went to Nikolai, who was still gleaming with drunken joy and carrying on with the others.

She tapped him on the shoulder, having to yell over the constant roar of the tavern, "I'm going outside!"

He looked away from his friend, then patted her hard on the back. "Stay awhile, Kid. What did you think of my story?"

Mira gave him a side glance, "You ever going to stop reliving your glory days and get some bounties from Viktor? My prize money from throwing can't pay for it all."

He readjusted his brown leather cap, "Are you ever going to lighten up?" He lifted up his shot glass, clinking it with his friend's, "It's time to have some fun. Live a little."

Live a little. Sometimes she'd felt like more of an adult around here, having to keep Nikolai in check. He was down mammos for the landlord, who had knocked on our door countless times already. They hadn't completed a bounty in who knows how long, and here he was telling her to have fun? He was a child in a giant's body.

Mira turned away from him, "I'll be outside. Don't get too crazy." She heard his drunken laughs as she poured out of the tavern and onto the street.

She began walking toward the Harbor, the smell of saltwater was pleasant compared to the heavy cigar smoke in the tavern. The street lamps lit the way down the cobblestone, and the heels of her boots echoed through the empty street.

Mira climbed up on the railing overlooking the shore of the sea. The waves were rushing in and out, reflecting the moonlit, and the seafoam brushed up against the cement barrier. She closed her eyes, just listening to the calming sounds. She wouldn't dare go in the water after what happened in Odina, but she could've fallen asleep there on the rail, all peaceful and relaxed.

But then shouts started coming in from the end of the street.

Her eyes shifted open. Nikolai, she thought, another bar fight. As she sprang up from the railing and onto the street, the shouts became louder. It seemed they weren't from the tavern, but the warehouse on the opposite end of the street.