With a glance at his loyal helmsman, Captain Hades handed over the wheel of the Kraken. The setting sun painted the western sky in flames over the narrow straight. Its dying light turned the bloodstains the crew hadn't yet scrubbed from the deck to crimson.

In the Kraken's wake, a Veozian outpost was in flames brighter than sunset, relieved of its stores of wine, silk, and saltpetre. Fresh from the fight, the bitter smell of gunpowder still clung to the Kraken's sails, mingling with the sharp tang of the pitch being heated for repairs. The stench of Veosian blood mixed with that of his own wounded, the same for any man. Hades ensured that all the booty was safely stowed in the belly of his ship, so no life was lost in vain . Below deck, the survivors groaned, their cries rising to the high pitch and echoing through the timbers, as his first mate Leviathan stitched flesh the best he could and sawed through crashed bones.

On the galley, the cook had lit his stove, but the smell of cooking salt pork and hardtack couldn't mask the lingering stench of fear and fire that seemed burned into the Kraken's wooden sides.

For Hades, this was another day of survival in a world that valued riches and glory above blood. Soon, the crew's rough laughter would drown out the wailing of the wounded, and he didn't begrudge it to his men., This was the right of men who had faced death head-on and survived to collect their treasure. Let it echo across the water as darkness slid over the Kraken's sails and spread over her deck Hades would be worried if they didn't celebrate in anticipation of the shore leave flash with cash, leaving it to him to frown about the low stores and losses.

If the wind held overnight, by sunrise, they should arrive to Creoria, the capital city of Caibecia the safest port for a privateer like him. They would pick up water and pork, unload the treasure, and pay out the widows...The familiar symphony of groaning wood, smacks of waves against the hull, and the billowing of sails overhead lulled Hades. His three-hundred-men crew worked around him, stomping decks in bare feet, shouting commands, creaking ropes through blocks of wood, and the never-ending rhythm of everyday chores that kept them alive.

All is well. Just another day. He was about to succumb to his fatigue and go below to sleep, when the beatings of wings through the salty air and the distinctive chiming that Cejun's messenger pigeons alerted him.

Hades squinted into the dusk until he distinguished two birds against the overcast sky. The closer they came, the more their feathers shimmered blue. They ruffled their wind-tousled feathers as they landed on the railing after circling him once. One bird stared at him with eyes that were far too keen for a typical pigeon.

Hades reached his hands out. One pigeon held its envelope firmly in its beak, the edges slightly crumpled from the journey. The other crow had a small cylindrical tube strapped to its leg with a neatly rolled scroll tucked inside. He gave them a soft pat, telling them to return to their masters.

He opened the first, newer envelope and found it neatly packed. Hades immediately recognised the familiar handwriting.

"Hello, Hades.

Word spreads quickly—too quickly. Someone with deep pockets and a bitter grudge put obscene bounties on the Triad. Your pretty head is worth 1,500,000 plycyla. They're hungry for our blood and are watching our every move.

Get yourself to the Fortress of Dyolla if you want to stay alive.

Keep your sword sharp, we'll need it.

Portia"

Hades exhaled sharply as he finished reading Portia's letter. The words stuck to his mind like an awful nightmare.The crew's future, the plans he'd had for them, everything was all up in the air.

The Fortress of Dyolla was too far from his present heading. By the time he'd make his way there, Portia and Acheron would already be on the move. They always were, hungry for trouble and booty. It was that restlessness, that greed that would ultimately lead them—and all other pirate captains—to the untimely watery graves, but they were friends. At least that was what Portia called them face-to-face. Three broken souls who were finding their purpose in being the Triad of Dread.

After folding Portia's letter, Hades opened the second envelope, grimacing at the dry blood splatters on the paper. Acheron loved his theatrics.

"Hades,

If you've read Portia's letter, you already know what's hanging over your head. Nycokoris Hyrcanus approved the damn bounties—of course, he did. That snake's behind everything these days, pulling strings from his cushy chair at the head of Veozian Council with a smile while others get their hands dirty, and he is as dangerous as any man with a deck under his bot forts. The client who ordered our deaths is still unknown.

One last thing—my stubborn little sister is after you.

Acheron."

"Leviathan!" Hades hollered. "You! Get me Leviathan double-quick!"

The closest sailor dropped his mop and rushed below. In a few moments, Leviathan climbed the companionway and approached Hades, his stride quick. He tugged the bloodied gloves from his hands and shoved them behind his wide belt, blasting Hades with a fresh gust of the blood's scent. "Captain?"

"I've got tidings from Portia and Acheron. See for yourself." Hades handed the letters to Leviathan. "There goes the shore leave."

"Hell's fires, the bounties are rich this Cycle," Leviathan huffed after scanning the missives, then darting a glance at the crew from under the creased brow. "Maybe we're in the wrong business, Captain. Maybe we should do what the old rat Dixon did and sell the rest of the Triad out before they sell us. "

"The Hells they would. Veozia doesn't like long-living rodents, including Muriel Dixon. Nobody mourned this two-timing bastard."

Leviathan shrugged. Well, Captain, why would we mourn him, if his death ended the cursed last Cycle and made us famous?"

"Not all of us. Not all of us..." Hades guffawed. "That poor fool Acheron! He went into all these troubles dismembering Dixon and sending his body parts throughout Caibecia, each one with a message demanding his payment in full. And what did the Veozian Council do?"

The question was rhetorical, but Leviathan responded anyway. "The unfeeling bastards simply voided the bounty."

Sure, the Veozian actions may have had something to do with Acheron Nezzera being an infamous Exile, but this only muddied the picture when Hades wanted one thing to be crystal clear. "They would choke on their money before Acheron or any other Caibecian would get a single Plycyla."

"Achron at least has no cause to complain, seeing he's in the Triad now. He can always cash down his bounty, if he's strapped for cash." Leviathan hacked a gob of chewing tobacco overboard. "What are the orders, Cap?"

"Order the crew to assemble. I'll make an announcement," Hades commanded, carefully refolding the letters and hiding them in one pocket of his vest.

A few minutes later, as many crew lined up on the deck as was practical, and Hades stepped in front of them. Far more men than Hades feared stood at attention, despite their wounds and exhaustion. Thankfully, most of the bloodstains on their shirts weren't theirs. Hard stares met his gaze, the type that only comes after a brutal raid, and their fists still twitched with the need to strike at someone.

"Bounties are out, lads, and they're twice as large as the highest we'd seen the last cycle. This means no shore leave once we make our landfall in Caibecia. We'll put into port to restock, but everyone stays on board and lays low unless I say otherwise," Hades started, his voice loud and clear, cutting through the noise of the ship and the sea. The creak of the ship's timbers seemed to answer him, and a faint spray of salty mist carried on the breeze, dampening the air. "Remember the Veozians are out for our blood after the beating we've given them."

This was what it had come down to, wasn't it? Pirates pretending to be hunters, hunters pretending to be pirates. Alliances, lies, and corruption tangled like seaweed beneath the surface. Even now, in this very spot, nothing was certain. A faint scowl flickered across Hades' face before he quickly dismissed it. Maintaining focus was crucial for him, but his crew needed to be even more on the ball.

His response was a few gasps, then low grunts and murmured obscenities.

"If the Veosians want a fight, we should whoop their fat asses again, not tiptoe around them," someone growled.

He silenced the loud-mouth with a stare. "I'll be planning our next move with Portia and Acheron and we'll put Veozians into their place before the year is out, I promise you. Everyone who's dissatisfied with the delay and has a spare head to lose, is free to leave my pay. The rest of you will do what I say. Silently. Understood?"

He didn't expect merry smiles, but no back-talk from the ranks would do. Hades hated inspiring loyalty with a lash.

"That's all," he said. "Dismissed."

The crew members muttered as they dispersed. Their repressed anger pushed at Hades while he crossed the deck to go to his cabin. The creak of its door and the mess inside put a smile on his lips. This wasn't much by the pirate captains' standards, but it was all his and he refused to flash his wealth. Instead the honest smell of aged leather and salt filled the air within. Maps covered the walls, some of them crisp with minute detail and notes by his hand, others tattered and worn around the edges. Papers littered the surface of a small desk next to the porthole. On a shelf were two black bottles, one of which was broken open, revealing amber liquid that caught the lantern's dim light. It was a place where Hades could think without being disturbed by the chaos outside.

"Meiryll!" Hades called out once he closed the door.

The cabin boy set down the mop he was carefully manoeuvring around Hades' things. "Aye aye, Captain."

Hades' face softened as he patted the boy's head, briefly resting his fingers in Meiryll's black, wind-blown hair. "How many times have I told you to call me Hades?" he chided.

Meiryll, at nine, was proud of his position aboard Kraken's Wrath and he was passionately focused. He'd been with them since the previous Sailor's Remembrance Day, and though the boy's background was a closed box, Hades hadn't pried.

"Yes, Captain!." Meiryll swallowed, then grinned. "Hades, I mean." looking around the cabin.

"Have you done your daily praying to Cejun?" Hades asked, unrolling a small carpet.

Meiryll shook his head, his hand immediately clutching the pearl necklace Hades had gifted him. "Wouldn't you do it with me, Sir...Hades?"

Hades paused.

On one hand, the lad was nine already, and any special treatment would lead to ugly gossip. But ever since he'd pulled this stove-away from a barrel by the scruff of his neck, he had a soft spot for the lad. Something about Meiryll' sullen silence that night stopped Hades from putting him ashore. The next thing he knew, he found the boy cuddled up outside his cabin, shivering and wide-eyed.

"You know what day it is?" Hades asked, and the lad shook his head mutely.

"The Sailor's Remembrance, when we call to all the men lost at sea." He led the boy inside and spoken quietly about Cejun, the great god of Caibecia, whose watchful eyes protected sailors through the longest nights and granted them a berth on the Eternal Fleet. Meiryll had fallen asleep listening, his tiny hands clasped tightly in his lap.

Since then, they had often prayed together. It was just how things were. So Hades gave Meiryll a nod, urging him to say his words as they knelt under the first ray of the moonlight filtering in through the porthole.

"May Cejun keep you safe throughout the long hours of darkness, child," Hades said, as Meiryll's eyelids grew heavier.

"Same to you, Captain Hades," the boy replied as gravely as a much older man.

Hades placed a hand on Meiryll's shoulder, lowered his head, and brushed his fingers against the necklace he wore. It was identical to Meiryll's own, but with darker pearls. "Remember that you're safe."

As everyone who sailed with him would be. "Cejun, Lord of the Seas," he whispered, "safeguard my crew from those who hunt us. Shelter them. If I must bear their fate, so be it. Protect what we've built."

A/N: this chapter has been broken into two!
Second part will be posted tomorrow <3