.ೃ࿐Burning Souls.ೃ࿐ [1]

14 - Invaders

14 - Invaders

Hours turned into days, days into weeks, and so, the time passed at the royal court of Ravka. It was the day of Nikolai's birthday dinner, that somehow Ekaterina managed not to attend. She had nothing against the royal court, even though she didn't feel well in the presence of the King, and she has a deep hatred for Vasily. She just never liked formal dinners, not even the ones organized by her father.

She stayed the whole day in the war room, analyzing all the maps and books she found. However, she didn't feel well. She wasn't sick again, but something told her that the day wasn't going to be as she expected.

For this reason, the woman was staring at herself in the mirror of her chambers. It was the first time in weeks she wore her usual clothes. Her large white shirt was tugged into her trousers. The wide belt at her waist held multiple weapons, like her gun on the left side and her multitude of daggers on the right side. Her viridian coat hung on her shoulders, hiding her not so discrete revolver tugged in the shoulder holster on her right. The few bottles of poison that came with the dagger Tamar gifted her were in the small inner pocket of the coat.

She put her gloved in her pocket and took her wide-brimmed hat. She walked out of her chambers, her heeled boots making a sound with every step. When she arrived in the courtyard, she saw Tolya walking around.

"Tolya," she shouted, making the man look at her, "I'll take a walk outside of the city grounds. See if the people settled at the outskirts of the city aren't causing problems."

"Are you sure it's a good idea?"

Ekaterina nodded and left the grounds of the palace. Right when she walked to one of the carriages at the entrance of the Royal Court, the city's alarm system started blasting.

A fearful expression washed over her features as she looked at the Palace. As fast as she could, she ran back towards the Little Palace. She didn't know what was happening, but it had to be something bad.

But, before she could get to the main courtyard, nichevo'ya swarmed around her. Her eyes widened and she stopped in her tracks. The horrible creatures were everywhere around her, but they were frozen in their spots. Suddenly, a man walked towards her. The nichevo'ya moved around, letting the man walk inside the circle the creatures created. Ekaterina patted the pocket of her trousers until she took out a few bullets. Behind her back, she struggles to open each one and let the gunpowder fall around her. Turning in a circle, she let the powder fall all over the ground.

"Listen, I don't want to hurt you," the man said as he stopped in front of Ekaterina, "I have orders to bring you alive..." He held himself tall, with a smug smirk on his face. The woman recognized his red kefta as the one of a Heartrender.

"Well," started the Inferni. Like Baghra taught her, she concentrated on her abilities and a small flame appeared on her hand. "Unfortunately, the feeling isn't mutual. And I, on the other hand, wasn't ordered to bring you alive."

Before the Heartrender could squeeze her heart, she let the small flame fall on the carpet of gunpowder. In an instant, everything caught fire. Ekaterina directed it all around her, burning the man and scaring the nichevo'ya away.