GHOSTS • ⟨Inej Ghafa⟩

Chapter Nineteen

As they traveled further south they bombarded Matthias with questions and often quizzed each other on the details that they would need to remember. "No, Hring-kaaalle. You have to hang on the last syllable a bit" Nina said from behind Niklaus. She was attempting to teach Inej Fjerdan. "Hringalah?" Inej tried. "Better but – here, it’s like Kerch is a gazelle. It hops from word to word" she pantomimed. "Fjerdan is like gulls, all swoops and dives" She explained.

"Do not eat the snow. It will only dehydrate you and lower your body temperature" Matthias counseled. He plunged forward, but as he came over the rise of the hill, he halted dead in his tracks and then he turned round, holding out his arms. "Stop! You don’t want to-" he tried to warn them but it was too late. Nina clapped her hands over her mouth. Inej made some kind of warding sign in the air. Jesper shook his head, and Wylan gagged. Kaz stood like a stone, his expression inscrutable.

Niklaus muttered a string of curses under his breath, his stomach rolled. He'd seen worse things, hell, he'd done worse things. Oomen could confirm that. But ghezen, it remind him far too much of a time in his life he tried his best to forget. A time before the fold. A time when Grisha were persecuted all over, regardless of whether it was in Fjerda or Ravka. Three stakes had been driven into the icy ground, and three charred bodies were bound to them, their blackened, cracked skin still smoldering. It wasn't his first time encountering these pyers. They were all too common when he was a child. Then he used to close his eyes and hide behind his mother or brother. But he wasn't ten anymore and he neither were alive now.

"Ghezen" Wylan swore "What is this?" He asked "This is what Fjerdans do to Grisha" Nina said, anger pouring into her voice. "It’s what criminals do. The pyres have been illegal since-" Matthias tried to protest. Nina whirled on him and shoved his chest hard. "Don’t you dare" she seethed, "Tell me the last time someone was prosecuted for putting a Grisha to the flames. Do you even call it murder when you put down dogs?" She asked.

"Nina-" Matthias tried "Do you have a different name for killing when you wear a uniform to do it?" Nina continued. Then there was a moan, like a creaking wind. "Saints, one of them is alive" Jesper said. Niklaus tried and failed to keep his disgusted and queasy expression off his face. He may have done worse but he'd only done so to those who he felt deserved it. Never to the people whose only crime was being born different. The sound came again from the black hulk of the body on the far right.

A sob tore from Nina’s throat. She raised her hands but she was shaking too badly to use her power to end the Grisha's suffering. She turned her teary eyes to the others. "I... Please, someone..." Jesper moved before Niklaus could. Two shots rang out, and the body fell silent. Jesper returned his pistols to their holsters.
"Damn it, Jesper, you just announced our presence for miles" Kaz growled "So they think we’re a hunting party" Jesper replied "You should have let Niklaus or Inej do it" Kaz snapped.

"I didn’t want to do it. Thank you, Jesper" Inej said quietly. Niklaus's eyes remained trained on the bodies, he struggled to come up with a response. Kaz’s jaw ticked, but he said nothing more. "Thank you" Nina choked out. She plunged ahead over the frozen ground, following the shape of the path through the snow. She wept silently as she stumbled through the snow. Matthias attempted to go after her. Niklaus's jaw clenched tightly, he longed to lash out at Helvar with his shadows. He may have not done it but his people had, the very same people he was so determined to rejoin.

The shadows had fallen back into ease after Inej had awoken but now, the sight of the Grisha on the pyre had awoken them again. They squirmed and shrieked though not a soul could hear them but him. They'd heard Nina and Matthias arguing as they caught up with them "He’s right. You can’t go on this way" Jesper said, alerting the two to the other's presence. "Stay out of this" Nina snapped. "If you two keep fighting, you’re going to get us all killed, and I have a lot more card games I need to lose" Jesper said "You must find a way to make peace. At least for a while" Inej said "This is not your concern" Matthias growled.

Niklaus scowled at him "Watch your tone Drüskelle, I'm already tempted to drive my knives through your heart" he snapped. Matthias threw up his hands. "You’ve all been taken in by her. This is what she does. She makes you think she’s your friend and then-" Inej crossed her arms. "Then what?" She asked "Let it go, Inej" Nina said "No, Nina, tell them. You said you were my friend once. Do you remember?" Matthias turned to the others. "We traveled together for three weeks. I saved her life. We saved each other. When we got to Elling, we... I could have revealed her to the soldiers we saw there at any time. But I didn’t" He started pacing, his voice rising "I borrowed money. I arranged lodging. I was willing to betray everything I believed in for the sake of her safety. When I saw her down to the docks so we could try to book passage, there was a Kerch trader there, ready to set sail"

"Ask her what she did then, this honorable ally, this girl who stands in judgment of me and my kind" Matthias said. No one said a word, but they were watching, waiting. "Tell them, Nina" he demanded. "They should know how you treat your friends" Nina swallowed "I told the Kerch that he was a slaver and that he’d taken me prisoner. I threw myself on their mercy and begged them to help me. I had a seal I’d taken from a slaving ship we’d raided near the Wandering Isle. I used it as proof"

"I didn’t understand what was happening, I didn’t speak Kerch, but Nina certainly did. They seized me and put me in chains. They tossed me in the brig and kept me there in the dark for weeks while we crossed the sea. The next time I saw daylight was when they led me off the ship in Ketterdam" Matthias said "I had no choice" Nina said "You don’t know-" she was cut off by the Drüskelle "Just tell me one thing, if you could go back,
if you could undo what you did to me, would you?" He asked. Nina straightened her spine and lifted her chin. "No" she said "I’d do it all over again"

A sudden rumble shook the ground, breaking apart the argument. Niklaus stumbled but caught himself. His shadows were screaming now, roaring in his ears. The Crows exchanged puzzled glances. "Are there fault lines this far north?" Wylan asked. Matthias frowned. "Not that I know of, but-" A slab of earth shot up from beneath his feet, knocking him to the ground. Another erupted to Nina’s right, sending her sprawling. All around them, crooked pieces of earth and ice burst upwards. The once gentle wind turned harsh in an instant, it whipped at and stung their faces.

"What the hell is this?" Jesper cried "Some kind of earthquake!" Inej shouted. "No!" Nina pointed to a dark spot that seemed to be floating in the sky, unaffected by the howling wind. "We’re under attack" Niklaus ducked, trying to hide his face in his scarf. He glanced up at the person flying. He wondered if he could use the cut from down here to hit the person. No, not just a person, a Grisha. A Squallor. He hasn't spent a lot of time with other Grisha but he knew well enough that Squallors couldn't fly. That was common knowledge. Unless... He recalled what Kaz had told him. Jurda parem. It's power was more devastating than anything he could have imagined.

•~•~•~•

So, the shadows r semi sentient. At first they were normal but then after the fold Nik's shadows became semi sentient.