Her Balance | Nikolai x Reader x Darkling

~ Chapter 6 ~

Hello!!!

Immediete continuation of the previous chapter!

Let's get into it.

First Person - Y/n

"Your confidence will probably get us killed," said Mal from beside me. 

"It hasn't so far," replied Sturmhond. 

Sturmhond gave Privyet, who was oddly dressed like him, an envelope sealed with a blob of pale blue wax, then clapped him on the back. Maybe it was the moonlight, but the first mate looked like he might cry. 

Tolya and Tamar slipped over the railing, holding tight to the weighted ladder secured to the schooner.

I peered over the side. I'd expected to see an ordinary boat, so I was surprised to see a little craft floating alongside the Volkvolny. It had two hulls that looked like pair of hollowed-out shoes, and they were held together by a deck with a giant hole in its center.

Mal, Alina, and I followed, stepping slowly onto one of the boat. We waddled our way across it and boarded the central deck, towards the sunken cockpit.

Sturmhond leaped down after us, then swung up onto a raised platform behind the cockpit and took his place at the ship's wheel.

"Y/n, if you please," said Sturmhond pointing to the space next to him. 

"Why?" I asked. 

"Because I said please," replied Sturmhond. "And because I like your company."

"What is this thing?" I asked as I went and stood next to him as he smiled like a little child with candy. 

"I call her the Hummingbird," he said, consulting some kind of chart that I couldn't see, "though I'm thinking of renaming her the Firebird." 

"I will leave," I snapped. 

"No, please don't," said Sturmhond before he grinned, "Cut anchor and release!"

Tamar and Tolya unhitched the knots of rope that held us to the Volkvolny. I saw the anchor line slowly disappear over the Hummingbird's stern and fall into the sea. 

I would have thought we'd need an anchor when we made port, but I supposed, more so hoped, that Sturmhond knew what he was doing.

"Make sail," called Sturmhond.

The sails released. Though the Hummingbird's masts were considerably shorter than those aboard the other ship, its double sails were huge, rectangular things, and required two crewmen each to maneuver them into position.

A light breeze caught the canvas, and we pulled farther from the Volkvolny. I looked to my side and saw Sturmhond watching the ship slip away. 

I had the weird sense that he was saying goodbye but I didn't understand why. He would be back to it. 

He shook himself, then called out, "Squallers!"

A Grisha was positioned in each hull. They raised their arms, and wind billowed around us, filling the sails. Sturmhond adjusted our course and called for more speed. The Squallers obliged, and the strange little boat leaped forward.

"Take these," said Sturmhond. He handed me a pair of goggles into my lap and tossed another two pairs to Mal and Alina. They looked similar to those worn by Fabrikators in the workshops of the Little Palace. 

All of the crew seemed to be wearing them, along with Sturmhond. We pulled them over our heads and the speed of the boat picked up. 

"Why are we in such a hurry?" I asked but Sturmhond just shrugged. "What's the point of having me stand next to you if you're not going to talk to me?"