A SEER'S SOLACE , KAZ BREKKER

xxxi. the seas of fate

"Sorry," Randvi moaned, dragging herself off Nina and onto her feet.

"You two are very graceful in battle, just not when it comes to falling."

"Funnily enough, I was never taught how to fall from air ducts." Randvi laughed softly. "We can't all be Suli acrobats."

"Missed that day in school." Nina grinned.

They stripped the Suli and Kaelish girls down to their underclothes. Randvi did the same with the Fjerdan guard, feeling guilt wash over her. She bound her ankles and wrists with cords from the curtains, gagging her with torn pieces of prison clothing.

Whilst Nina worked on bleeding colours from the Kaelish girl onto herself, Randvi dragged the body of the guard into a tall silver wood cabinet against the far wall, trying her best to arrange her limbs in a way that would be comfortable.

"Me jer jonink." Randvi whispered. Forgive me.

Nina and Inej dragged the bodies of the Menagerie girls Ito the same cabinet, and Randvi set about changing into the guards uniform. It felt wrong, as though she were wearing the skin of someone else. It was the uniform of the men that had tried to kill her, a symbol of Fjerdan military might. And yet, as she pulled the shirt on, she felt untouchable.

A tap came at the door, followed by a voice speaking Fjerdan.

"They need the room for the next girls," Nina translated for Inej in a whisper.

"Ven tidder," Randvi shouted back to the guard on the other side of the door.

The three of them hurriedly pulled on the rest of their disguises. Randvi's uniform was the only one to fit correctly, Inej's silks hung off her body and her bell shoes too big for her feet, Nina's too small.

"What the hell is this supposed to be?" She said, looking at herself in the mirror. The gown barely covered her cleavage and clung to her body tightly. It looked as though it were made from blue and green scales, as though meant to represent a mermaid.

"Maybe a mermaid?" Suggested Inej. "Or a wave?"

"You look like a Sildroher, the sea creatures that live in the northern seas."

"Really? I thought I was a horse."

"Well they weren't going to put you in a dress of hooves."

Nina smoothed her hands over the costume. "I'm about to be very popular."

"Matthias is a very lucky man," Randvi grinned, moving to stand besides Nina and peer at her reflection in the mirror.

"I wonder what he would say about that outfit."

"He wouldn't approve."

"He doesn't approve of anything you do. But when you laugh he perks up like a tulip in fresh water."

Nina snorted. "Matthias the tulip."

"The big, brooding, yellow tulip." Inej smiled.

At that moment, there was another knock at the door, but this time it was much louder and harsher. For a second, Randvi thought the door might be knocked down.

"Sedjet!" Shouted a voice it Fjerdan. It wasn't the voice of the female guard from earlier.

"Desjenet!" Randvi shouted back, but the thudding at the door persisted. "We should go now before we become too suspicious." She whispered to Nina and Inej.

With a deep breath, Randvi straightened out her guards uniform, trying to push aside the guilt and fear bubbling away inside her. She could be caught the moment she stepped outside the waiting room, but what choice did she have? There was no turning back now.

She cast one last glance at Inej and Nina, grabbing the handle of the door and swinging it open. But, as she did, the guard from the other side pushed the door, almost knocking her off her feet.

"Shimkopper." Randvi cursed in anger, forgetting she were addressing a drüskelle.

"Me jer jonink." The drüskelle apologised quickly.

Perhaps being a woman and being seen as a delicate flower in Fjerda was working in her favour.

Randvi brushed off her uniform, straightening out the creases, pushing Nina and Inej out of the door into a hallway. They were hidden underneath heavy hoods, guards waving them down impatiently. The moment Nina and Inej left the room, she was alone. Her body suddenly felt twice as heavy, her shoulders weighed down by guilt and anxiety. She cast a glance up to the drüskelle that had almost knocked her out with the door mere moments ago.

And she felt the ground beneath give way – she was falling.

Before her stood a boy not much older than her, his hair flowing back in perfect blonde locks, the beginnings of a beard on his chin. He had eyes the colour of ice against the sun, eyes like her mothers.

"Eivor?"