CHAPTER FOUR
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CHAOS WAS A GOOD WORD TO DESCRIBE the first time Nikolai had seen Morana.

Dawn was upon them and he had been hired to take a shipment of kruge as well a group of Merchants back to Kerch. The sky was clear and the ocean serene—the calm before the storm.

On the horizon, he'd spotted a fleet of crimson ships, that emerged from thin air and were shuddering like a mirage from the heat would. They'd gotten closer to his own ship and Nikolai's breath was knocked out of his lungs, along with any doubts that the word impossible was a lie. The cursed and haunted ships were being steered by bleeding nymphs of the sea wailing silently in their beauty.

Then Bluebeard's ship had appeared in between the mirage and all hell had broken loose. Safe to say, his first time seeing the Crimson Mirage was not impressive at all once he saw her. Morana stood at the front of the ship, the light of dawn making her face glow as her hair blew in the wind. She'd wiped a trail of blood trickling down her nose and grinned his way once their eyes met. The Crimson Mirage might've been out of the ordinary, a true mythical appearance, but Morana was a siren, a Goddess of the sea, and Nikolai's heart had stopped beating as she stood there.

Her face was the last thing he saw as he slipped into darkness after a rather nasty blow to the head. When he woke up the kruge in the ship was gone, the merchants that hadn't fallen over the ship were riled up, and Tamar had hit him over his healed head for getting distracted by the mysterious pirate princess.

Naturally, from that moment on, he kept wanting to see her again, perhaps get to know this mysterious siren amongst the pirates, and the ocean heard his prayers. And every time he saw the Crimson Mirage right before getting his ship attacked by pirates, she was also there—they favor pirate crews, she'd told him, the nymphs, I mean.

Damn his license.

The Crimson Mirage was a menace of the sea, and no matter how much he warned his crew, for them to beware it was simply an illusion, they fell over to the water anyway, falling right into its trap. And then the pirates attacked. And she was there.

The last time he'd seen the Crimson Mirage was also the last time he'd seen Morana; and now she was merrily chatting away with his navigators, aboard his ship—planning on staying.

It had something to do with the Sun Summoner, this new urge of hers to stay aboard his ship, and it vexed him deeply he couldn't figure out exactly what it was. But that was Morana. A siren in all her might. Tricking him with her beauty, whilst hiding her lies beneath the waters of the sea, and Nikolai was afraid he'd drown if he looked too far.

He didn't trust her, not in the slightest (and she didn't trust him either, he was sure), but she was his friend. A lovely company he had. Someone he could chat away with, as he tried to pry the puzzle she was into order, but there were too many pieces and nearly all of them were face down. That night, when her screams had sliced through the air of the night, and he'd found her curled into herself, pain painted all over her features, Nikolai was sure a couple more pieces had faced up.

He'd never seen her like that. But then again, he never had her by his side for so long. His eyes met hers as he walked up to the deck where she stood, and she excused herself from the navigators and walked over to him.

Nikolai grinned. "You look lovely in the morning, darling."

She scoffed with a deadpan expression, "I look lovely all the time."

I know, Nikolai thought to himself, even when you're aching. That was an image he could not get out of his head and it was taking everything in him to act normal around her, to act as if it never happened because that's what they did wasn't it?

Hide between banter and teasing smiles, without ever letting go of too much. Their toes only grazed the waters because they both knew that if they threw themselves in, they would only drown. He had his secrets. His family, his duty. She had hers. And as much as he wanted to know all of her, he was scared to shatter the friendship, the bond they shared between them—one forged in the ocean, one that had never left the waters of the True Sea.

But he was also curious and wary of her motives. "Now that we're all well rested," he said, pausing as glanced over her face for any sign that she wasn't in fact well rested, when he found nothing out of the extraordinary, he resumed, "I'm going to ask. What's your angle here?"

"My angle?" she questioned, raising a brow his way, "Like I'm a thief planning a heist?"

"Like you're someone who got on my ship for the Sun Summoner yet claims to not want to sell her to the highest bidder," he replied.

"She's a person. I'm not going to sell her off."

"Sell her off, hand her over for a reward, it's all semantics." He waved her off. "What I really want to know is why you're staying."

"For the Sun Summoner. Sankta Alina," she replied matter of factly, Nikolai narrowed his eyes.

"You don't believe in Saints."

"Well... I changed my mind."

"I don't quite believe you, Mora."

"Not my problem," she said with a shrug, smirking slightly. Nikolai's eye twitched and her smirk grew wider.

He forced a smile on his face, leaning over to her ear he whispered, "I don't trust you, Mora. You're up to something and I won't let you out of my sight until I find just what that is."

Her breathing hitched when his lips grazed over her earlobe and Nikolai smiled smugly as he pulled away, to see Morana glaring at him. She stepped closer to him and narrowed her eyes.

"Good luck then," she said lowly, "you'll drown in my secrets before you even reach the one you're looking for."

"But, darling," Nikolai replied with a grin, "I'm a spectacular swimmer."

Her lips opened to say something but she spotted something over his shoulder and she clamped her lips shut. Nikolai glanced over his shoulder to see Alina and her friend walking up to the deck.

The friend reached for the lever that detached the Hummingbird from the main ship. He rushed over to them, "Ooh. Definitely don't touch that." The friend took his hand away and Nikolai turned to Alina. "So, Miss Starkov, what say you and I chart the course to your destiny to find the Sea Whip."

"That'll be me," said the sidekick, "I'm the tracker."

Nikolai tilted his head and looked to the side at Morana, stretching out his hand, "My lucky compass."

She grinned unabashedly, "I think I sold it."

Nikolai gaped at her, "You sold it?"

Shrugging, she replied, "Money's scarce, Blondie, I needed to get by. Novyi Zem is expensive."

Alina made a face as if she knew Morana was lying and Nikolai's jaw clenched as he looked back at Morana's gleeful face. "You sold my compass?"

"Are you mad?" she asked. Nikolai's eye twitched. Morana grinned. She reached for the pocket of her trousers and took out his compass, placing it over his neck, "I just wanted to see you squirm, darling."

He glared at her before turning to Mal and Alina again and grabbing his compass, "My lucky compass. Seen me through thick and thin. Okay then, tracker, which way is north?"

The tracker looked at Alina before shrugging, "Well, I can tell you a few ways, based on the position of the sun and my shadow, based on the direction that we're sailing in, and based on... It's that way." He gestured over Nikolai's shoulder.

Looking down at his compass Nikolai confirmed the tracker was right. He grinned. "Let me introduce you to our navigators," he said throwing one arm around the tracker's shoulders, "What did you say your name was again?"

After introducing Mal (the tracker) to his navigators, Nikolai was in the middle of a conversation about charting their path when Tolya approached him, gesturing with his head for Nikolai to follow.

Frowning, Nikolai followed his friend to a lonely corner of the main deck, "What is it?"

Tolya hesitated before sighing. "Tamar told me... Zal recognized Morana."

"He's a pirate," Nikolai reasoned, "Must've been on a crew she was on."

Nodding Tolya scratched the back of his neck, "I figured that was it, but Tamar... Well, she said Zal was trembling. Scared of her. He even attacked Morana."

Nikolai's eyebrows shot to his hairline, "He attacked her?"

Tolya nodded, "Tamar said he tried to kill her. Morana was faster and Zal begged her not to kill him. Says she's a sea witch."

"A sea witch?" Nikolai echoed as his eyes roamed over the deck and he found Zal, their most recent crew member, with a mop in his hand, yet he wasn't mopping the floor at all, he was glaring and as Nikolai followed his line of sight he found Morana sitting amongst the Sun Summoner, Tamar and others as they played cards. He turned to Tolya, "Is that all he said?"

Tolya grimaced and he shrugged. "Tamar didn't say that much—"

"But she did say something else."

Tolya sighed. "It's not my secret to tell, Captain. I just figured you should know about Zal."

Nikolai narrowed his eyes, "Now we have secrets aboard?"

"You know what it meant letting Morana stay," replied Tolya with a pointed look, "If I thought anything would harm you or the crew I would tell you."

Nikolai nodded, his jaw clenched as he looked over at Morana again, she was smiling at Alina, laughing at something she said, her face lit up and perhaps it was genuine. But Morana was a liar, just like him. "Do you trust her?"

He turned to the side to see Tolya shrugging. "Mora is a complicated person. I don't think she even trusts herself."

"Do we know anything about her?" Nikolai found himself asking. Even though they'd known each other for years he couldn't even say he knew her family name, she knew parts of her, but did he?

Tolya sighed and clapped his shoulder. "You know her as well she knows you," he told him.

"No poem on the matter?"

Tolya let out a laugh, "Dare they live, the chaos survive; the Saints shall give and they shall strive."

When Nikolai frowned Tolya shrugged
before he walked away leaving Nikolai alone with his thoughts.

You know her as well she knows you, it was true, Tolya was right. Nikolai might've doubted Morana and whether to place his trust in her, whether he knew her at all, but she didn't know him either. She didn't even know his name.

Nikolai had thought about hearing his name from her lips countless times before, but trusting Morana with that secret would be like throwing himself into a stormy sea. He wanted to believe she wouldn't use it against him, but how could he?

She was a pirate with no crew. She was a daughter of the sea. She was a siren, beautiful and hypnotizing and Nikolai was afraid he'd drown because of her.

And why would Zal be afraid of Morana? Want to kill her? A sea witch? It seemed every time Nikolai thought he was starting to figure her out she got more complicated. More secrets.

Nikolai's eyes fell on Zal again, and the pirate kept watching Morana warily, flinching every time she raised her hands as she won the game, his hands twitching as if he was fighting the urge to dig his sword into her heart. Nikolai didn't know what made Zal fear and loathe her so much, and he would find out, but he would kill the pirate if he even got a scratch on Morana's skin.

He waltzed over to the pirate a grin on his face, "Zal! How come you're not joining the game?"

Zal's head snapped his way and his eyes widened, as he fervently shook his head. "I can't play."

"Because of Morana?"

Zal's eyebrows furrowed, and his face looked lost as he scratched his beard. "Who, Captain?"

He didn't know Morana? Nikolai gestured over to the girl in question with his head, "Morana. I thought you knew her."

"Aye, I know 'er. Blimey, the Crimson Mirage has a name?" Zal muttered under his breath, as he took a step back, even though he couldn't be further away from Morana.

"What did you just say?" Nikolai asked, curiosity spiking inside his head.

Zal shook his head, "Pirate code, Captain. I said too much..."

"Then say a bit more, Zal. We have no secrets aboard."

"She'll have my soul," he said earnestly, "Pirate code," he repeated and then all but fled from Nikolai's side.

The Crimson Mirage has a name? Zal's words echoed in his head. Wasn't the Crimson Mirage a fleet of phantom ships? Says she's a sea witch. What if she was? What if Morana was the Crimson Mirage, a sea witch who fabricated illusions to trick sailors? Now that he thought about it he'd never seen one without seeing the other. He wanted to say it was impossible but was it? If he was a pirate he'd probably know all about it.

"Damn my license," Nikolai muttered under his breath as his eyes focused on Morana again. Her eyes snapped in his direction and she twirled a hand at him in a wave, a small smile on her lips.

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