Fire and Shadows (DarklingxOC) (Shadowandbone fanfic)

Chapter 13

"Hi." I greet, taking a couple steps closer to him. He walks over to me, so were standing right in front of each other.

"I've made my decision." I say, looking up into his eyes.

He looks at me intently, awaiting my answer.

"I'll help you."

A smile spreads itself over his lips.

"That's great."

"But I have some terms." I say, before he can get too excited.

"Oh uhm, what are they?" He asks, not expecting me to have conditions.

"We won't hurt Alina. I understand that we need her powers, but we have to do it without hurting her." I start.

He nods. "Of course."

"Also, I want to learn more than just hand to hand combat. Like how to us a bow and arrow or how to ride a horse, stuff like that."

"I was already planning on that."

"And I want to be able to wear something else than just my Kefta all the time. Of course, I''ll wear my Kefta for combat training, but the rest of the time I would like to be able to wear dresses."

This may sound dumb, but I'm so done wearing pants all the time. I have so many pretty dresses, I should be able to wear them.

"Whatever you want, Pchelka." He answers, with a kind smile.

I blush. I will never get over that nickname.

"That's it. Those are all my terms." I say, once I regain my composure.

"Those can get arranged."

"Good. So what's our game-plan now?" I ask, glad we agreed on everything.

He walk over to his desk and takes out a rolled up piece of paper.

"First, we need an amplifier." He states, walking back over to me and rolling the paper open on the table.

It's a map of Ravka, with a circle around Chernest.

"Can't we just use you?" I ask, turning away from the map. He looks up at me, eyebrows furrowed. "I mean, you're an amplifier, right?"

"Yes, I am." He answers, turning back to the map and placing some paperweights on the corners. "But for this, we'll need one of Morozova's creatures. More precisely: the Stag."

"How are you going to find it?" I ask. From what I learned in the orphanage, Morozova's creatures were myths, but Baghra also talked about them as if they're real, so I guess they are.

"I already did." He answers with a proud smirk, moving his gaze from the map to me.

"Really? Where is it?" I ask, turning to the map. There's no specific area marked on the map, just Chernest.

"Well," Aleksander starts, "I know the grand area the Stag's in. I asked the first army to send a tracker to find it. He did."

"Mal?" I guess, before I can stop myself.

"For a matter of fact, yes. It was Mal." He answers, going to stand on my other side.

"You met him?" I ask surprised, turning with him.

"For a couple of minutes yesterday."

"Yesterday?" I repeat. "Why didn't you tell me?"

I would have liked to talk to him. It's been months since I last saw him.

"Well, I was going to once we were done discussing the Stag, but he only told me vaguely were it was, he said he wanted to see Alina first."

"He didn't ask to see me?" I ask, a bit disappointed.