Echo • Six Of Crows - Kaz Brekker

10

In the dead of night, the harsh swaying of the entire room and the hard surface under her back was what eventually brought Mavka out of the land of unconsciousness.

Her eyes flickered open. She took some hollow breaths that weren't as painful as she thought they'd be - then came to a slow realisation that her ribs weren't hurting her anymore. Sluggishly, her hand moved across her side and ran across her half undone shirt, fingertips grazing thick bandages around her stomach that sent sensitive waves of pain up her torso. She grimaced and tentatively pressed against her ribs. That pain, at least, was gone.

Her head turned slowly and she was surprised to see two occupants there- Inej asleep in the corner with one knee drawn up and her hands locked around it, and Nina who had dozed off on a chair practically drooling onto her own shoulder - a wave of confusion drowned Mavka as her gaze of focus began kicking in.

Nina was red in the face, the nose especially. Inej had visible tear tracks down her cheeks, worry lines between her eyebrows.

Mavka's eyebrows furrowed and her vision swam once again. Her neck was stiff, her limbs feeling like they were heavy. Her muscles were sore and aching terribly.

They must have made it to the 'Ferolind'. She only came to that conclusion because the room hadn't stopped swaying back and forth and she could feel bile rising in her throat.

Fuck-

The surface she was on wasn't as sturdy as she thought as the ship took on a wave roughly - the floor went sideways and she weakly attempted to put a hand on the edge of the table to stop herself from sliding off, but gravity wasn't in her favour and that hand gave out.

A gasp and the floor rose up to meet her. Suddenly her whole body became alert as she attempted to catch herself but to no avail.

A heavy thud followed by a loud scream of pain made Inej and Nina jolt out of their sleep, Nina's shoulder hitting the wall as the ship swayed heavily.

"JĒBAT!" (Fuck!)

Her insides felt like they were being torn apart.

Glass shattered somewhere in the room. The lanterns hissed and distinguished, plunging the room to darkness.

Nina and Inej pulled their hands away from their ears, giving eachother a wide eyed look at the uncharacteristicness from Mavka. Nina rushed to her friends aid.

"Fuck, Mav, are you okay?" She knelt and put a hand on her back.

Mavka used her good hand to keep herself from face planting while the other was siezed by Nina, who put her own hand over her mouth to stifle another gasp.

"Shit, you've gone and undone all my work!"

Mavka's entire body was shaking with the effort to keep herself awake.

Nina put her arm under Mavka's armpits and helped her stand, but she couldnt straighten herself out without feeling like she was going to vomit.

Inej made quick work of relighting the lanterns, ignoring the shattered glass and going to help Nina.

"Mavka, say something for me to let me know you can hear, yeah?" Nina put a hand on her cheek, thankful for Inej holding the injured girl by the hips so she could rest against the tables edge.

Said girl looked pale and her pupils were dilated. She said nothing, swallowing thickly and in the light they could see a clamour begin to appear, a thin sheen of sweat across her skin.

Inej looked down at her right hand that she was holding out weakly, it tremoring. The skin was quickly bruising once again, a few of her fingers having an odd turn to them.