Blood In The Water ~ Shadow & Bone

11

Marina and Nikolai bore giddy smiles as they entered the war room of the Volkvolny with Mal, Alina, and Tamar following closely behind them. Tolya grinned and wrapped both his arms around Tamar and Marina's shoulders, squeezing them gently as Nikolai addressed the crew.

"Thanks to navigation from our Summoner's tracker friend here," he said, "we've traversed the Bone Road to the island of Jelka." A few members of the crew let out skeptical murmurs, but they quickly silenced themselves upon seeing Marina's disapproving glances. "As for the Sea Whip, we have some storybook drawings. No telling what it really looks like." He shrugged, stepping over to the curtain in front of the armory. "Rule of thumb for the unknown, come prepared!" He pulled the cord, drawing the curtains back, and Marina chuckled quietly at Mal's awe-struck expression. The twins and the Tidemaker happily ducked past the Sun Summoner and tracker to pull their own weapons from the wall.

"Are all pirates this well-armed?" Mal asked with furrowed brows.

"Privateer," Nikolai and Marina retorted instinctively. Mal shook his head.

"I don't know the difference." Nikolai chuckled and looked back at him.

"The difference is I have a license," he said. He gestured at the wall of weapons. "And a healthy love for innovation." Marina grinned, throwing the strap of a crossbow over her shoulder.

"Especially gadgets, marvels, and things that go boom, right?" Nikolai grinned and threw an arm over her shoulders, resting his other hand on his hip as he looked at Mal.

"Anything pique your interest?" he asked. Mal chuckled and nodded.

"Yeah." The privateer shrugged.

"Well, take it. For our excursion." Mal laughed and nodded, plucking a harpoon gun off the wall and inspecting it closely. Marina hummed, knowing that his choice would set off a long rant on Nikolai's pride in his work.

"Fabulous choice," Nikolai claimed, just as Marina thought. "You have excellent taste in weaponry, Mal." He dropped his arm from around Marina and walked over to the tracker, pointing down at the gun. "The cable's Fabrikator-made. Tensile strength of 80,000. Yield, 50." Mal chuckled under his breath and shook his head.

"Impossible," he muttered. Marina shook her head.

"Ooh, don't use that word around here." Nikolai grinned and nodded.

"When people say 'impossible,' they usually mean 'improbable.'" Mal shook his head.

"Not me," he said. "It's incredible."

"I designed it myself." The captain gestured around the ship. "In fact, my inventions are all around you." He shared a glance with Marina and the twins. "You just have to know where to look." He looked down at the Tidemaker and nodded towards the rest of the crew, making her chuckle and nod before whistling loudly to capture the sailors' attention. Once they were all gathered, Nikolai nodded.

"So," he said, "we'll go in quietly, on Miss Starkov's orders, to injure it for your death blow." His words made the aforementioned Summoner frown and shake her head.

"I'm not killing it," she said. The room went still as everyone stared at her. Tamar furrowed her brows, chuckling under her breath.

"You have to kill it," she said, "to claim its power. That's how amplifiers work." The girl shook her head.

"It wasn't with the Stag," she said. "I think I can do it without killing it." The crew exchanged an uncertain glance, and Nikolai chuckled, shaking his head.

"As lovely as that sounds," he said, "we're not sending our crew in to tame a mythical beast with nets and good intentions." Alina straightened up and nodded firmly.

"This is the job you were hired for, privateer." Marina held back a smirk at the correct term. "We capture it. Alive." Nikolai and Marina looked each other in the eye, having a silent conversation before the Quartermaster sighed and the Captain smirked. He looked across the table at the Sun Summoner and nodded, but before another word could be said, Grevyen marched into the room, muttering something in Shu. He looked up at Nikolai and nodded.

"We've reached the island," he announced. Nikolai nodded and led the Ravkans, the twins, and Marina up to the deck. The six of them leaned up against the rail as they stared across the water at the dark island.

"Well, that's not foreboding," Marina muttered, stormy eyes scanning the coast. Tolya sighed.

"Could be anywhere in there." Mal shook his head and pointed at a cave towards the center of the visible beach.

"We enter through that one," he told them. Marina frowned, and Tamar looked up at him, furrowing her brows.

"You sure?" she asked. The tracker nodded.

"There's a frequency," he said. "I've heard it before. It's in there." Nikolai and Marina shared a glance, and eventually the Tidemaker gave in, sighing as she nodded. Nikolai smiled a bit.

"You heard him," he told the twins, turning back to address the rest of the crew on deck. "We're going ashore!" He looked back at Marina and waved her towards his quarters. The two of them closed the door behind them as they entered, and Marina crossed her arms.

"A frequency?" she repeated. She scoffed, and Nikolai smiled a bit. "What the hell is he talking about, hearing a frequency? I don't hear any bloody frequency." He chuckled and shook his head.

"It's okay, lyubov," he said. "I'm sure there are plenty of things you get to hear that Mal doesn't." She glared at him lightheartedly.

"That's not helping." He laughed and shook his head, walking over to her and running his hands up and down her arms.

"I know, I know," he said softly. "Just remember that the sooner we get this done, the sooner we have our way into Ravka. To fix things. That's the goal." She sighed deeply and nodded, resting her forehead against his chest. "Now come along, my love." He hooked a finger under her chin, making her look up at him as he grinned mischievously. "We have a sea serpent to catch."