Blood In The Water ~ Shadow & Bone

6

I'm struggling to find time to get a new chapter of Midnight Thoughts out, so here, have a short blood water :]

The trip to Novyi Zem was one often taken by the Volkvolny, and it was among Marina's favorite journeys to make. The open sea was much more peaceful on the Western side of Kerch, and with a ship as fast as theirs, it was crossed relatively quickly. Scouts were quickly sent out to search for any sign of the runaway Saint, and it was naturally the twins that came back with news that the Ravkan First Army was in Weddle and guarding the harbor to find someone important. Nikolai being Nikolai, he of course paid handsomely to clear the harbor of every ship except the Volkvolny and the Ravkan army's transport.

It was clear which the Sun Summoner would be drawn to.

When the sun went down and the crew was ready to set sail quickly, the twins, Marina, and Aurelie gathered by the foot of the ramp to wait. Tolya and Tamar, of course, refused to sit, but Aurelie sat on the ground while Marina perched on the railing on the edge of the water. She stared down at it with a smile, making small, subtle movements as she bent it into small shapes. Tamar glanced down as she noticed the girl's focus.

"What is that?" the Shu woman asked, making Marina glance up at her. The blue-eyed girl sighed contently as she watched the shapes form.

"Not sure, honestly," she admitted. "Maybe something from home, from the Wandering Isle, that my brain remembers but I don't." She shrugged. "In any case, it looks pretty." It was true. The image of soft rolling hills set in front of sharp mountains was one that instantly brought a smile to Aurelie's face as she saw it.

"I wish I could see something like that in real life," the young girl said quietly. "Everything in Ravka is dark and stormy or flat, and I've never been far enough inland anywhere else." Marina looked up at her, smiling softly.

"You will one day," she assured the forest-eyed girl. Tolya nodded.

"The world has many wonders," he told her. "And you're young. You have plenty of time to see them all." The girl smiled a bit and nodded, and the four soon had their attention drawn but the sound of two sets of feet running towards them.

"Hey, stop." Marina held back a smile at the sight of the girl whose face graced nearly every Wanted poster in the world. "We need a charter out of here immediately." The four sailors glanced between each other, and the Summoner quickly reached into her pocket. "I can pay." She held out a shining hairpin m, which Tamar took skeptically. "It's gold." Tamar and Marina shared a look, and the latter shrugged. The Shu woman bit down on the pin before removing it from her mouth and shrugging.

"That'll do," she said. She handed the pin to Tolya, who inspected it as he spoke.

"Come on then," he said. "Hurry up." He looked back at Marina. "You wanna take them to the captain?" The girl smiled a bit and nodded, jumping down from her seat on the railing.

"Follow me," she said kindly. Alina smiled thankfully.

"Thank you." The Tidemaker nodded, but as Alina and her friend were boarding the ship, a loud voice called out after them.

"You! Stop!" A First Army officer stopped in front of the sailors and pointed up at the Summoner. Tamar grinned and flipped one of her axes in her hand.

"You want to fight, Ravka? Hey?" She held her ax up a mere foot away from him, but he didn't seem phased. Marina and Tolya stepped forward.

"That man is a deserter of the First Army," the white-haired man said. "He belongs in our custody." Marina smirked.

"Is that so?" she asked. She shrugged. "All right then." She placed two fingers in her mouth and whistled loudly, catching the attention of the crew on the deck as Tamar raised her axes.

"Ravka wants a fight!" Instantly, the crew on board set every gun and cannon on the ship to face the soldiers across from their crew mates. The Ravkan sighed and shook his head.

"I don't want to escalate the fight with Shu Han." Marina furrowed her brows, but the smirk never left her lips.

"You really believe that everyone that looks a certain way is aligned with the country that claims them?" she asked. She clicked her tongue disappointedly and shook her head as Tolya drew his sword, stepping up next to his sister.

"We're not," he said. "We're independent." Tamar nodded.

"Maybe you save your bullets for the war, old man?" she said. Marina stepped up beside her friends and nodded, resting her hands on her hips, pulling back her jacket which revealed a few of her knives, wrapped around her waist.

"First Army needs to know its place."