After Dark {N. L}

14

─── ⋆⋅☼⋅⋆ ───

A gunshot was heard and suddenly Ira could breathe again. She turned back and saw who saved her. It was him. Sturmhond. The one who saved her. Again. The one who put her in that position in the first place. No. She's not going down so easily. Someone had to teach that narcissistic pirate a lesson.

Ira got up and fought amongst her Crows. Inej worked with her sister to take down the strongest Grisha. In the midst of the shooting, stabbing, and fighting, Ira spotted the pirate.

She dislocated her victim's arm and swung a punch at Sturmhond. 'You idiot!'. Then got back to fighting as if nothing happened. It caught the pirate by surprise, but he'd be lying if he said he didn't expect it. He did deserve it. The pirate screamed to the girl, 'I have a plan.'

'Screw your plans!'

Sturmhond told Kaz to get his crew to the upper level of the ship. All were there except their Watcher. Sturmhond did a quick crew check on the top level and saw her missing.

'Everyone stay here!' he ordered.

He went to find her.

She was on the bottom of the ship fighting like an assassin. Her movements were flawless. Every attack was carefully calculated in seconds. It came so naturally to her. Sturmhond was impressed. It was this type of chaos that Ira thrived in. He got distracted watching her for a minute, then he remembered their time was ticking.

He climbed down and reached her.

The pirate shot the man fighting and grabbed her hand. She was going to let go but he said, 'Trust me.'

She didn't trust him one bit. But she was going to die either way. What did she have to lose?

She followed him back onto the ship and ran towards her sister.

Ira looked around and saw Alina, her friend, the Crows, and some crew members keeping the Grisha away from the ship. She joined them and shot arrows at them from the deck.

The Volvony sailed away, leaving the Darkling and his crew stranded. Later on, Sturmhond gathered the Crows, the Sun Summoner, her friend, and some of his crew on the highest level of the ship. Everyone remained seated and waited for what the Pirate had planned.

Soon enough, the girl felt movement below her, and the smaller ship built in the ship began to shift.

The girl looked to her left and saw some of the crew Grisha manipulating the wind to carry up horizontal sails.

What is happening?

Before Ira could register what was happening, the smaller boat began to fly. The air was new territory for her that she was not ready to explore. She pulled her mask down looked down and saw that they were far above the ship. Nervousness set in as she grabbed the arm of the person standing next to her. 'Impossible.' she whispered.

'I prefer improbable.'

She turned to the voice. It was Sturmhond that she was holding. He had a bright smile on his face. A genuine one. One she's never seen before. That's when she realized.

His plan worked.

Sturmhond's smile seemed to be contagious since Ira just burst out laughing with joy. They'd actually survived.

'We're alive. You are insane!' she said while laughing with him.

Ira was so overwhelmed with joy that she ended up hugging the privateer that she hated at that moment. 'I can't believe we're alive.'

'How could you ever doubt my genius Ira?'

'Shut up. How is this even possible?'

Ira let go of him and looked around.

'Well, I am a man of many talents.'
Sturmhond turned to his people with endless questions waiting.

It made sense now. The plan. Sturmhond lured the Sun Summoner onto his ship by faking a deal with the Darkling. He thought that the pirate would help him. The crew couldn't have taken out all of the Grisha. What was the one place the Grisha could not touch them? The air. She couldn't believe it. It was actually genius.

'Ira, are you okay?' Inej checker to see if her sister sustained any serious injuries.

'I'm fine Akka.' the affectionate name seemed to warm Inej's heart. Akka. Big sister. It was a name that her little sister hadn't called her since they were little and together. Before it all happened. She pulled her into a firm hug. It was rare for the Wraith to act on her emotions during a job, but her sister broke down her walls with one word.

'I'm so sorry you had to be involved in this.' The regret that filled Inej was suffocating. She'd never meant to walk her little sister into her death. All she wanted was to be around her again. Now she's scattered with scars and bruises in the sky with a bunch of sketchy pirates.

'We are on our way to Ravka, as promised. If you're wondering who is that handsome man who invented this contraption. That would, of course, be me.'

Ira rolled her eyes. Narcissist.

'I call her the Hummingbird.' Sturmhond finished off with a smug and searched the crowd for a specific person's reaction. Ira. Everyone began clapping after Sturmhond's speech. All except Ira. Was she not impressed?