Moonlight Waves

Siren

   As we hit the freezing water I hear a shout from above.
  "The prisoner! He's jumped!"
After that I hear nothing but water and the muffled sounds of the world above.
  I don't let Roman go up for air and instead drag him deeper into the sea and away from the surface. The water hits me like a thousand knives digging into my skin and I fight against the initial shock of my body and keep swimming. Faint light from lanterns pass over the waves, but I know they can't see us. The fog and cloudy skies have covered our escape.
  I start to swim away from The Widower and towards the rowboat where Robby is waiting, but Roman pulls me back towards him. One of his hands slips around my waist and his other hand buries itself in the hair at the back of my scalp. I know what's coming before it comes and I wrap my leg around his to keep us together. His lips press to mine and I raise my hands to the side of his face to bring him closer.
  The dark waters try to carry us apart but our lips, our need, for each other keeps us tethered to one another. I press my hands farther into his hair and he tries to pull me closer to him but we're already as close as we can be, our kisses hard and desperate.
  Deep beneath the waves, as we share each other's breath, a million words and apologizes pass between us that we were never able to say nor ever thought we'd be able to. With him here and in my arms, all the anxiety and stress from the last months release at all once in this lingering passionate kiss and in the silent tears that are carried away by sea just as fast as they fall.
  I feel my lungs start to burn, and I know that Roman's have to be aching by now too, so I slowly pull away from him and tug on his hand. Letting him know we're about to swim. I kick out and Roman follows behind me as we swim a little farther from The Widower, but we only get a few yards when Roman squeezes my hand. I angle myself towards the surface and slowly swim through the water until my lips are barely out of the water and gulp in oxygen. The cold air burns my lungs just as much as not having the oxygen, but I greedily suck it in. I can just see Roman out of the corner of my eye as he breathes in air too and on the other side of me, deep in the fog, I see the dark form of the rowboat and Robby waiting for us.
  Roman squeezes my hand once again and we carefully sink back down into the icy water till we're far enough in its depths to start kicking again. We swim as fast as we can, I know that they're not sure where we swam off to, but I don't want to take the chance that they'll lower their rowboats in pursuit of us. Captain Nico might just let Roman go, but then again I have no clue how this Captain will react. I've never even seen this man.
  Roman squeezes my hand and we break the surface to refill our lungs. I search out Robby in the darkness and mentally redirect our course for when we dive under. Roman lets me know he's ready and we submerge ourselves again, my course based purely on instinct and what I think was Robby in the mist.
We swim hard and fast, hindered slightly by our entwined hands but too scared to let go of each other. I start to feel the effects of being in the cold water for so long, but I push through them and force my body to keep moving, my blood to keep pumping. I look towards the surface but can't see where the rowboat is, I know we've swam far enough I just can't tell if it's to the left or the right of us.
I squeeze Roman's hand to let him know where we're headed and direct our course for the surface. I expect to break through the water, but my head hits something hard where the air should be and I sink back down. There's no time for me to warn Roman and I hear the muffled thump of him hitting his head beside me. I reach up with my free hand to first rub my head and then run my hand along the hard surface. The moment I touch the hard wood I know it to be our rowboat. I run my hand along it's hull and lead Roman out from under it, keeping it to the right of me.
My head comes out of the water and Robby is right there, waiting to help me in. His smile widens into a dazzling grin when he sees Roman next to me.
"My dear boy!." Robby whispers in greeting to Roman as he helps me into the rowboat. "I knew you couldn't be dead!"
"Nice to see you're not dead either." Roman answers, hauling himself in after me.
Robby doesn't waste any time picking up the oars and rowing us back to The Moonlighter. I try to help him by going to grab the other oar, but my fingers curl in on themselves with cold. My body starts to shake and my lips vibrate, next to me Roman trembles as well— we need to get warm fast before we catch our death.
Roman pulls me into his side and I start to relax as he wraps his arms around me and buries his face in my neck. Both of our breathing rapid still from swimming and our shivering making it impossible for us to fully catch our breath.
"You made that look easy." Robby says to me, barely straining as he guides the rowboat through the water.
"I thought it would.... be...harder." My words coming out shaky. "But...they....all below deck."
"I didn't tell them....about Heaven's Gateway...." Roman speaks up, "I'd hoped they'd run right into it."
Robby and I share a look as we know what that would've entailed for Roman, but we don't say anything. I'm sure Roman already knows what he was asking for by not telling them about the cruel joke of nature.
I try to stop my shivering by biting my lip, but that doesn't help, so I snuggle in closer to Roman's side. Shouts from the pirate crew carry through the quite night and follow us across the waves as they search for their escaped prisoner. The rhythm of the oars breaking through the water makes my eyelids heavy and I let them close for a moment.
"Stay awake, Mermaid." Robby says, "Else you want your eyelashes to freeze shut."
Roman nudges me softly with his elbow and I force my eyes to open, the cold air making them water immediately. My wet clothing sticks to my skin and with every slight breeze, my blood turns colder and colder.
The oar hits against the side of The Moonlighter and Robby positions the rowboat directly beneath the rope ladder. Dark figures from above throw down ropes for Robby to tie to the rowboat and I try to help him, but my fingers are too stiff to manipulate the rope.
"I've got this." Robby says, taking the rope from me. "Climb on up."
I don't argue with him and with the next wave that pushes the rowboat towards the ladder, I grab hold. My hands clutch to the rough rope and below me the waves push the rowboat out again. I turn my eyes upward to look for the next rung on the ladder and force my shivering limbs to move upwards. One rung after the other I climb higher until several hands grasp my arms and pull me onto the deck.
I curl up on the hard wood and a blanket is wrapped around my shoulders.
"Did you get him?" Ian asks, crouching down next to me.
The realization that we've made it back to The Moonlighter alive, and with Roman, hits me and a gigantic, cold, grin spreads across my face.
"Just taking his time, as usual." I answer through chattering teeth.
Ian spins on his heel and looks to see Roman falling over the side of the railing. He grabs him by the armpits and drags him over to my side, placing another blanket around him.
Ian's white toothed grin breaks through the darkness of the night and he claps a hand on Roman's and mine shoulders.
"Boy am I glad you're not dead." He says to Roman.
"That....makes...two of us." My beloved answers.
  "Get them below deck and warm," Captain Dax orders, suddenly appearing at our sides. "Then let's get out of here."
"Aye, Captain." The crew answers in chorus. The anchor is raised and the sails are filled with the wind as The Moonlighter starts to silently glide out of the treacherous precepts of Heaven's Gateway.
Ian puts an arm around Roman to help him stand and Mitz does the same to me. We slowly shuffle our freezing feet towards the stairs, our wet clothing leaving a trail of water behind us. I look up from the ground and meet Sí's eyes, but she tries to take a step back into the darkness.
  "We got him, Sí." I state the obvious. But instead of looking relieved like I thought she would, she looks frightened. I'm too cold to care at the moment so I concentrate on walking down the steps, but to my left Roman has stopped walking all together. His eyes search the darkness for something before coming to rest on Sí.
  "Captain," Roman says without breaking his gaze away from Sí's, "I'd suggest locking Miss Sí in the brig."
"What?" Everyone asks at once.
Sí's face turns red and she tries to fade even further into the shadows, but all eyes are now trained on her.
"She's one of them." Roman says, "She's a pirate."
I look back to Roman and start to protest, "No, Roman, she—" but I stop short because I know nothing about her. I trust Roman more than anything, his word will always mean more than any strangers. I turn my gaze to Sí and she straightens her shoulders under Roman's accusation, not even trying to deny it, but owning up to it.
"She's a scout of sorts," Roman starts to explain, "they leave her clinging to drift wood in the merchant vessel paths for her to be picked up. She then directs the sailors in her "general direction" of home and The Widower intercepts them. She leads them into traps."
"Like a siren?" Mitz asks after a moment of silence.
"Yeah, like a siren." Roman answers, "She scouts out towns and harbors too. Memorizes their defenses and figures out where they're the weakest for The Widower to attack."
"That's why you came to Crescent Island." I say, realizing now how Captain Nico intended to take my home. "You were scouting then too." I turn my full gaze on her so she can see the anger in my eyes, the rage warming me for a moment. "I brought you into my home! My family treated you like one of us!"
Mitz squeezes my arm in slight warning. A reminder how dangerously close we are still to The Widower and to lower my voice.
"Everyone's got to make their living, don't they?" Sí remarks. Her comment not helping the situation at all.
"It's almost time to light the lanterns." Captain Dax says, "Abram, James, take Miss Sígrun to the brig. We'll discuss this further once Cal and Nereida are warm."
  Mitz nudges me forward and I get my feet moving again. He takes me to my hammock and I grab my duffel bag, pulling out Roman's clothes for him and my dress for me—looking forward to the warm layers. I hand Roman his stuff and Mitz helps over to the corner where the blankets are still up and leaves me to get changed.
My wet tunic and trousers stick to my skin and it takes twice the energy to pull them off. When I get them off, I wad them up and throw them on the floor with a wet sop. The cold, night chill seeps through the walls of the ship and attacks my exposed skin, making goosebumps appear all over my arms and legs. I dry off as fast as I can and slip my dress over my head, almost wishing Sí could help tie the ties of my dress, my numb fingers making the process almost impossible.
I can't say that I feel heartbroken over Sí. The truth is we were never close, close. We were close in the manner of being the only two girls on a ship for weeks end, but we never shared an intimate bond. I suppose my mind was always preoccupied with stress to ever pursue a friendship with Sí. But there is a tinge of betrayal I can't push away. We accepted her into our home, and a part of me did trust her. Amadrya trusted her and treated her like a sister, and I trusted her to be the one to help get Roman back. And now thinking back on it, she never really did a whole lot to help get him back and all her questions usually did revolve more around The Widower and it's crew than it did Roman.
It's an interesting job, what Sí does, being a sort of siren. She'd have to have an unseemly amount of trust in Captain Nico and his crew. Being cast out on a piece of driftwood for the merchants to pick you up, they'd have to be sure they placed you in the right current with the right weather or she might have been claimed by the sea.
I come out from the corner of blankets and Charlie is waiting for me now instead of Mitz. He wraps a blanket around my shoulders and I sit down on the hammock to pull on my socks and boots.
"Cal is down in the kitchen gobbling down some hot porridge already." He tells me.
I nod my head in acknowledgment but am too focused on getting my fingers to lace up my boots.
"You got any gloves?" Charlie asks me, noticing my struggle.
"No." I answer, my voice a cold rasp.
Charlie rushes off to his own hammock and comes back a moment later with some wool gloves.
"Here." he hands them to me, "We should get you to the kitchen where it's warmer."
I nod and leave the laces on my boots undone for now. Charlie offers me his arm and helps me walk down into the kitchen. Roman sits across from Ian at the wood table, gobbling down porridge just as Charlie said with his own blanket wrapped around his shoulders.
Charlie helps me sit down next to Roman on the bench before leaving us to help the cook. I pull my wet braid over my shoulder and begin to take it out, the wet ends dripping onto the floor.
  "No messing with your hair in my kitchen." Cook warns me. I don't press my luck with him and push my hair over my shoulders and let it wet the backside of my blanket. I pull my knitted hat as far as I can over my ears before sitting on my hands to warm them.
Charlie sets a steaming bowl of what looks like chicken broth in front of me, and I lean over it to let the steam warm my face. I can tell it's way too hot to even try to eat, so I simply bask in its warmth.
"What's the plan now that you've angered Captain Nico?" Roman asks us around a bite of porridge.
"The plan was to anger him." I answer.
Ian shakes his head, "The plan is to get him to follow us. They'll have lit our lanterns by now and Captain Nico will have seen The Moonlighter sailing off and assumed that's where his prisoner would have gone. We'll keep ahead of them and lure them into our own trap."
"They're headed for home." Roman tells us.
"We know," I say, "we figured that out. But I don't know why in tarnation they'd choose little Crescent Island of all places."
Roman pushes his empty bowl away and puts his arm around my waist, combining our two blanket forms. I can feel how thin his arm is and I want to press him to eat more, but Mother always said that you don't force someone to eat a whole lot after they've barely eaten anything, makes them sick, so I let it go.
"I have a vague idea why." Roman says, "I think there's something on the island that only the elders know about."
Roman looks at Ian and I see Ian's eyes clear in realization.
"What?" I ask, wanting to be let in on the secret. "What's there?"
"The vault?" Ian asks Roman.
Roman nods his head, "It'd make sense, wouldn't it? Why there's always the 'special' cargo we're never allowed to check on, only the captain."
"Why we always sail straight to the mainland and never port anywhere else until after the 'special' cargo is delivered." Charlie adds, joining our conversation and sitting down next to Ian.
"What's the 'special cargo'?" I ask.
"Don't know for sure," Roman shrugs his shoulders, "I'm assuming something valuable though."
"What's the vault?" I ask instead.
"In town, among the sailors, there's a rumor that there's a vault on the island that a rich man once installed on the island a long time ago and is supposedly still there." Ian explains.
"Or the other rumor is that a pirate buried a shipload of treasure there." Charlie says.
"But if it was a long time ago, why would we be delivering it to someone on the mainland and why would the elders of the island feel a need to ship out the 'treasure'?" Roman asks.
 "The King," I say, wagging my finger in the air as I remember the conversation I had with Captain Dax. "Captain Dax said he knew why Captain Nico would target Crescent Island but he said he couldn't tell me because he had 'taken an oath'. When I asked who he had sworn the oath to, he said the king."
"The king?" Charlie asks, "We're really getting involved in something with the king."
"That still doesn't explain what's on our island."Ian points out.
"Captain Dax said I was close enough when I mentioned 'treasure'." I say. "So I think we're on the right track there."
Heavy feet clomping down the steps pulls our conversation to a halt and we all look up as Robby enters the kitchen.
"Everything is going as we planned." Robby says, sitting down on the other side of me. "We've lit our lanterns and the Widower has started to follow us at a steady pace. There's about a safe 300 yard distance between us, and the Moonlighter should continue to outpace her until we meet up with Captain Cutler by tomorrow."
"Hold up." Roman says, "Captain Cutler?"
I can hear the shock and anger in Roman's voice and I really don't want to meet his gaze to only feel like a shamed puppy. Instead I pick up my bowl of broth and calmly sip on it, staring at the wood table.
"Don't look at us. It was your girlfriend's idea." Robby snitches.
"Sitara!" Roman says my name as a reprimand.
I set my bowl down and turn to look at him.
"Okay, look. We had no one else to turn to and Sahar has been very helpful and very honest in everything so far. She's done everything she can to help us and not once threatened to back out of our deal."
I stop to let Roman have a chance to think about it and I can see he's still a little angry with me for turning to the pirate who tried to kidnap me. No, not angry at me, angry that I had to go to Sahar in order to save him in the first place.
"Besides," I add, "I'm starting to the think the whole kidnapping-me-thing was just a ruse for Sahar to see Captain Dax."
Robby snorts and Charlie laughs.
"I was starting to think the same thing." Robby says.
I look back to Roman and he lets out a sigh, but a grin slowly covers his face as he shakes his head.
"The two captains are sweet on each other, aye?" He asks.
After that, Roman and I continue to get warm as we spend the next hour talking and laughing. Actually laughing, our childhood friend group together again (minus Amadrya for the moment) and the weight of the world doesn't seem so heavy when we all share the weight together.