Tempest and Tide [Nikolai Lantsov]

~ Chapter Four ~

The Volkvolny breaks through the waves, rocking steadily beneath me as each wave slaps against the hull. It's been a week since I accidentally boarded the vessel, a week since I agreed to help the Pirate - a decision I still question every moment. Despite my lingering uncertainty, my week aboard the ship has been the best week of my life.

Sailing has come to me naturally in a way that nothing at court ever did. The sun and wind and waves all breathing a new life into me.

The crew seems to have accepted my presence in the same facetious manner with which they treat the world. I think their Captain had something to do with that. He clearly spoke with the crew after our meeting that first night. While everyone's pleasant enough, only Tamar and the few other girls on the crew will come within three feet of me. I don't mind though, the space has kept the sick court memories at bay.

The Privateer seems to feel some sort of strange allegiance to me. Every time I set foot on deck he's at my side, chatting away on in his droll manner. Just as he is now.

"We're outnumbered five to one and yet there's no way that a crew as extraordinary as my own lets those odds stop us. The fighting lasted exactly eight minutes and in the end, I had the Shu Captain tossed overboard with the rest of his flailing crew."

This has to be his favorite story to tell, the swashbuckling tale of how he took over the Volkvolny.

"With that the ship was ours. This beauty, the Volkvolny." He pauses, glancing over at me, his legs swinging in the open air below us, "You know you're doing that all wrong."

"I'm never going to learn if you don't shut up!" I groan, tossing my hands up into the air and letting the strands of wind that I've been trying to weave into a mini cyclone evaporate.

We're seated high in the rigging, along the beam of the ship's mast. It's the only place that I can practice summoning without running the risk of sweeping someone overboard with an uncontrolled gust.

At first, the constant climbing was an irritant but this spot is quickly becoming my favorite place on the entire ship. From here I can see the vast nothing before us, the endless possibilities of the open sea.

"You know, why isn't one of the other summoners teaching me this? Someone who actually knows what they're doing." I huff.

It was quite a shock to learn that I wasn't the only Grisha on Sturmhonds ship and even more of a shock when he insisted on trying to teach me summoning himself. Apparently, his plan is so masterful that only he can teach me the necessary skills.

I think he's just full of it.

Sturmhond never really explained this 'plan' of his. I know there's something about a Fjerdan trading vessel moving weaponry to the Shu, but I'm still not clear on the reason he needs me. He already has Squallers on his crew. I can't be that important and unease still sits in the pit of my stomach. As kind as he's been, I still can't trust the Pirate, not completely.

I look over at him questioningly, but the Captain smirks and gestures to his mouth with a flourish.

"Yes, yes, very funny. You shut up like I asked," I groan, wishing I could summon a gust to knock the smug smile right off Sturmhonds face. I settle for a breeze strong enough to knock his shaggy hair into his eyes. I laugh, the sound so much freer than the girlish giggles that I forced out at court.

"Mature, Korina, real mature." He lets out a breath, blowing the coppery stands out of his eyes. I had to beg the crew to stop calling me Lady Beyove but Sturmhonds fell into it naturally, the others following his lead.