Mavka was a Corporalnik like no other, a theif like no other, and a little sparrow among a murder of crows.
Her safe haven was with the boy with the cane and the pretty eyes, despite the two seeming like opposite ends of a live wire, and now they h...
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"You know those costumes. Heavy cloaks, hoods. That's all the Fjerdans will see. A Zemeni fawn, a Kaelish mare, a Suli lynx." Anyone could see that Inej was uncomfortable, but willing to do the job at any means necessary, which was what made her so good as the Wraith. She had come a long way.
"It's a risk."
"What job isn't?"
"Kaz, how are you and Matthias going to get through?" Asked Nina. "We might need you for locks, and if things go bad on the island, I dont want to be stranded. I doubt you can pass yourselves off as members of the Menagerie."
Mavka's anger was dissipating and now at the image of the two boys in dresses, she nearly cracked a smile. Nearly.
"That shouldn't be a problem," said Kaz. "Helvar's been holding out on us."
"Has he?" Inej asked.
They all looked at the Fjerdan expectantly, who opened his mouth to defend himself but found he couldn't. "It's not-" he dragged his hand over his cropped hair in exasperation. "How do you know these things, demjin?"
Kaz was back with a wicked smirk. "Logic. The whole Ice Court is a masterpiece of fail-safes and doubled systems. That glass bridge is impressive but in an emergency, there would have to be another way to get reinforcements to the White Island and get the royal family out."
"Yes," said Matthias reluctantly. "There's another way into the White Island. But its messy." He glanced at Nina for a few seconds too long, then to Mavka. "And it certainly can't be done in a gown."
The latter grimaced, resting a hand on her hip. She had blissfully been ignoring the fact they would have to disguise as menagerie women, but as it kept being brought up, she was convinced it was in spite. The thought of wearing a dress made her want to jump off of the very roof she stood on. And yet as she looked at Inej, she felt childish for thinking of such complaints.
This would be a thousand times worse for her. She shouldn't have had to do this, but she would, for their success and survival because that was the type of girl Inej Ghafa was.
"Hold on?" Jesper interrupted. "Who cares if you can all get onto the White Island? Let's say Nina sparkles Yul-Bayur's location out of some Fjerdan higher-up and you get him back here. We'll be trapped. By then, the prison guards will have completed their search and are going to know six inmates broke out of the sector somehow. Any chance we have of making it through the embassy gates and the checkpoints will be gone."
Kaz peered down past the dome of glass and light, through to the embassy's open courtyard and the ringwall gatehouse beyond.
"Wylan, how hard would it be to disable one of those gates?"
"To get it open?"
"To keep it closed."
"You mean to break it?" Wylan thought on it and shrugged casually. "Not too difficult. I couldn't see the mechanism when we entered the prison gate, but from the layout, I'm guessing its pretty standard."
