TANGLED, genya safin

chapter eighteen.

Nikolai signaled Fedyor, who rose and began to walk the Grisha through the weak points of the southern border. Because he'd been stationed at Sikursk, the Corporalnik knew the area well.

"It's almost impossible to patrol all the mountain passes coming out of the Sikurzoi," he observed grimly. "Shu raiding parties have been taking advantage of the fact for years. It would be easy enough for the Darkling to slip through."

"Then it's a straight march to Os Alta," said Sergei.

"Passed the military base at Poliznaya," Nikolai noted. "That could work to our advantage. Either way, when he marches, we'll be ready."

"Ready?" Pavel snorted. "For an army of indestructible monsters?"

"They're not indestructible," Nikolai said, nodding his head to Me and Alina. "And the Darkling isn't either. I know. I shot him."

Zoya's eyes widened. "You shot him?"

"Yes," he said. "Unfortunately, I didn't do a very good job of it, but I'm sure I'll improve with practice." He surveyed the Grisha, looking into each worried face before he spoke again. "The Darkling is powerful, but so are we. He's never faced the might of the First and Second Armies working in tandem, or the kinds of weapons I intend to supply. We face him. We flank him. We see which bullet gets lucky."

While the Darkling's shadow horde was focused on the Little Palace, he would be vulnerable. Small, heavily armed units of Grisha and soldiers would be stationed at two-mile intervals around the capital. Once the fighting began, they would close on the Darkling and unleash all the firepower that Nikolai could muster.

In a way, it was what the Darkling had always feared. Again, I remembered how he'd described the new weaponry being created beyond Ravka's borders.  

Paja cleared her throat. "Do we know what happens to the shadow soldiers when we kill the Darkling?"

I wanted to hug her. I didn't know what might happen to the Nichevo'ya if we managed to put the Darkling down. They might vanish to nothing, or they might go into a mad frenzy or worse, but she'd said it: When we kill the Darkling. Tentative, frightened, but it still sounded suspiciously like hope.

❂♕

We focused the majority of our efforts on Os Alta's defense. The city had an ancient system of warning bells to alert the palace when an enemy was in sight. With his father's permission, Nikolai had installed heavy guns like those on the Hummingbird above the city and palace walls. Despite Grisha grumbling, Alina and I'd had several placed on the roof of the Little Palace. They might not stop the Nichevo'ya, but they would slow them.

Tentatively, the other Grisha has begun to open up to the value of the Fabrikators. With help from the Inferni, the Materalki were trying to create grenatki that might produce a powerful enough flash of light to stall or stun the shadow soldiers.

The problem was doing it without using blasting powders that would level everyone and everything around them. I sometimes worried that they might blow up the entire Little Palace and do the Darkling's work for him. More than once, I saw Grisha in the dining hall with burnt cuffs or singed brows. I encouraged them to try the more dangerous work by the lakeside with the Tidemakers on hand in case of emergency.

Nikolai was intrigued enough by the project that he insisted on getting involved in the design. The Fabrikators tried to ignore him, then pretended to indulge him, but they quickly learned that Nikolai was more than a bored prince who liked to dabble.