(malakai is partially non-verbal, so when dialogue is in italics it means that she or another character is using sign language.)
"and it's just around the corner, darlin'. because it lives in me"
peace by taylor swift
The market was busy, swarming with people running their errands in their own little world. They didn't even blink an eye at the duo weaving through the street. A blonde girl pausing to look at every stall, like a puppy. And a raven haired boy with a crow head cane, in lock step with her never letting her leave his sight.
Malakai smiled brightly as children ran past, giggling and calling out to one another. The smell of freshly baked treats filled the air. She savoured the feeling of not having to hide her identity. Pausing at a stall filled with colourful origami animals, Malakai marvelled at the intricate designs, carefully picking up a bright blue butterfly.
"Come on, Malakai. No detours remember." Kaz called out behind her. Smiling at the woman behind the table, she placed the butterfly back down and continued down the street.
Hearing the faint sound of bleating, Malakai turned around to Kaz who was following a few steps behind. "Found the goats!"
A small smile creeps onto the tall boy's face as he watches her practically run to the goats. Standing next to her, they both stare at the pen full of the small animals. Malakai grins, her chest rising and falling in excitement. She looks to Kaz for reassurance.
Nodding towards the goats, he looks back at her.
"Go on then."
Malakai clapped her hands, stepping forward to choose. She eyes each goat carefully to make sure she made the right choice before picking a white and grey one from the flock. Turning to Kaz for his approval. He raised his eyebrows at her and tilted his head slightly. She nodded in response. Without a second thought he hands the stall owner the money.
Heading back to the meeting point, Malakai holds the goat in both arms, pulling it closer to her chest. His fur was soft against her hands.
They pass a makeshift stage where a well dressed man stands speaking to a crowd of people. A demonstration. Pushing through the crowd Malakai and Kaz stood at the front, listening.
"They want you to believe that the Sun Summoner has been found to finally tear down the wall that divides us. How many times have we been fed a story like that? And how many times have we in the West been told to send our sons and daughters through the Fold for another year?"
Zlatan steps down from the stage and the pair's eyes follow him to a tent across the square. Arken steps out, talking inaudibly to him before shaking his hand. The two Crows look to each other at the same time, quickly turning to melt back into the crowd.
They find Inej looking up at a tall wall, her hands held behind her back. A monument with hundreds of names inscribed into the stone. Victims of the Fold. She turns at the sound of Kaz's cane on the cobblestone, smiling when she sees the goat in the blonde girl's arms.
"He's adorable." Inej says, Malakai beams with pride.
"Don't get attached like this one has." Kaz looked to the girl as well. "I didn't think I'd have to specify no detours to you."
"Even if just a few minutes could end a life time of questions?"
"Your parents are Suli. They don't cross the Fold. They go around."
"I just thought... that if I saw their names on there, I could let the idea of them go. This thing?" Inej pulls the stitched necklace from under her layers. "This was all that I had when I was sold to the Menagerie. Kaz this is all that I have left of them. Unless—"
"Hope is dangerous. It clouds your judgement. Pray, scream, do whatever you have to do to push this out of your mind and move on. We all have debts to pay."
Malakai stared blankly at Kaz, pushing the goat into his arms. He steps away, watching from a distance.
"One minute." She signs to him.
Malakai turns to Inej who still stares blankly at the wall, she places a caring hand on her shoulder.
"What are their names? I'll help you look." Inej smiled at the softly spoken girl.
Walking through the darkness, three of the Crows follow the Conductor who holds a flaming torch.
"Just a little further."
They pass a sign that makes Malakai's eyes go wide, abruptly turning to look at her friends.
"Land mines?" Inej questions the man who continues forward without hesitation.
Kaz holds both hands out to his side, stopping the girls from following. "We'll wait. Follow the path that you carve."
Arken stops in his tracks. "Oh, that sign, that was my idea to keep people away. Can't be too careful. We're fine. Come."
The trio raise their eyebrows at one another before Inej continues forward. Malakai goes to follow but Kaz holds his cane against her torso stopping her. He steps ahead of her, following Arken and Inej into the dark. The blonde girl swallows, holding the goat closer to her body for warmth before rushing forward to catch up.
Thunder boomed ominously ahead of them. The familiar pressure returns to the back of Malakai's skull. The realisation of the daunting journey ahead begins sinking in for her, taking deep breaths.
"It's one thing hearing about it, but this is—" Inej starts before the Conductor interrupts.
"Nothing compared to what lies within."
Kaz looks back at Malakai whose chest heaves with anxiety. He catches the glisten of fear in her eyes. Her warm honey eyes looked darker in this light.
From the dark fog, Arken wheels what looks to be some sort of large, metal, carriage? "So, goat, jurda... Now we're just waiting on..."
Right on cue, a succession of gunshots split through the still air and a voice travels through the wind. "Wait for me!"
Jesper.
Jesper with a group of men chasing him with fire and guns a blazing. The Crows didn't expect anything less from the Gunslinger.
Arken quickly pushes his own torch into the sand, plunging them into darkness. "They can't see the train."
Kaz grits his teeth, shouting out to the tall top hat. "Jesper, get here now!"
The boy skids to a stop at the sign. "Landmines!" Before a gunshot barely misses him. Without a second thought he drops the lantern and sprints into the unknown. "Oh, wait for me! Don't you go without me!"
Arken, Inej and Kaz quickly board the train. Malakai follows close behind, throwing the goat in first who bleats in protest. She crouches on her hands and knees on the floor of the train, her head sticking out of the door. For the first time, they hear her shout.
"Hurry up, Jesper Fahey!"
The boy clambers in, a sack thrown over his shoulder. Leaning out, Malakai quickly shuts the door, before turning to Jesper.
Still sitting in the floor, she signs furiously at him. "You stupid, stupid boy!" Leaning her head back against the wall in exasperation.
"Please tell me you have twenty pounds of alabaster coal." Arken scrambles around the tight metal box, flicking switches and turning lights on.
"Slight snag in the plan. Turns out the kid who was helping me buy the coal didn't exactly know how to, uh, buy the coal."
Malakai looked up at him with a confused face, her eyes squinted. Kaz stood face to face with him.
"We know you gambled it away."
A guilty look washed over Jesper's face. "I lost a little bit of money." Kaz now squinted at him too. "Okay, I lost all of the money. Uh, but I managed to steal twenty pounds of alabaster coal."
Arken looked down at the bag. "No, no, no. This is only sixteen pounds!"
"Sixteen pounds of alabaster coal." Jesper corrected himself, tearing off his over coat.
The blonde girl in the corner banged her head slightly against the metal. "Can we do it on sixteen?"
"Never been done before." The Conductor answered honestly.
"Great. Just great. Good going, Jesper."
Arken pushed Jesper onto a small wooden seat. "Sit here. Never shift your weight."
Inej sits down on a bench, Malakai stands to sit on the bench opposite her. Malakai's entire body shakes leaning forward with her hands gripping the edge of the seat. Her head overwhelmed my the loud noises surrounding her and the thought of their impending doom. Pulling his coat off, Kaz drapes it around her trembling body, taking a seat beside her. He nudges her shoulder with his reassuringly.
Tally mark scars line the Conductor's arms. Inej looks up at him, "You've crossed that many times?"
"It's a numbers game. Cross this often and you get nightmares."
A loud explosion outside the train attracts the attention of the Crows, all of their heads sharply turning.
"Land mines."
"I thought you said they weren't real."
Arken sat beside Inej, close to the burning engine.
"I said nothing of the sort. I just said I put up the sign myself."
They all stared at him in disbelief, before the train began moving further into the dark. Malakai leaned back, closing her eyes and pulling Kaz's coat closer to her body. Suddenly a metal clang echoes through the train.
Jesper's hands go straight to his holsters. Inej's to the blades sheathed in her clothes. Malakai's hands find eachother, clasping her fingers tightly together.
"What was that?" Asks Jesper shakily to the man who sits eerily calm.
"I've erected a system of timers along the line. Bits of metal hung on poles to keep me apprised if our pace."
"How did you know where to put the poles?"
"Physics and engineering account for... most of my success."
"And the rest?"
"What we might call divine intervention. What others might call luck. And after all, the Fold is thick with volcra, and the tracks are not complete." He adds, looking away from the Crows who eye him carefully. "More coal, please."
Malakai's head turns quickly. "I'm sorry... Did you just say the tracks weren't complete?"
"I said they aren't complete."
Jesper goes to stand. "What do you mea—"
Arken wiggles a finger at him. "Ah, ah, ah. No moving. We're a tad late. More coal." Kaz throws more into the fire.
Malakai sits up. "Okay, back to the real issue..."
Jesper continues for her, his hands gripping the lapel of his jacket. "We're on tracks that don't connect to other tracks?" He asks in disbelief.
"Yes, there's a gap—"
"How much of a gap?" Jesper asks, basically shouting at the man.
"I built slats on the car. They roll into place under the wheels. The turbine generates enough wind to push us all the way to the Eastern track. As long as we don't shift our weight." Metal clangs again. "Now, the noise may attract volcra, but it's the only way across."
The wheels screech as the train is pushed into the sand.
"Now, there's a nest nearby..."
Malakai tenses, her chest tightening. Everything goes quiet, as if she was under water. The sounds around her muffled. Panic set in deep in her bones. Looking up towards the sky, the blonde girl prayed for the first time in her life. Twisting the ring on her finger.
Saints, please. Don't let them feel me.
"but we'll be fine. If they haven't attacked us in—"
Suddenly a growl echoes above the train. It was too late. Arken rushes around pulling levers.
"How do you fight them off?" Kaz asks, desperate.
"I outrun them. Open the throttle and toss in all the coal, which works when there's twenty pounds of it."
A volcra snarls above them before a dark substance begins dripping from the ceiling.
"Damn it! Stupid thing impaled itself on a spike."
"Well, we need to get it off. The others will stand on it!"
"More coal!"
Kaz throws the rest in and the sack as well. "We're down to fumes!"
Thuds come from the ceiling as other volcra begin landing on the roof, attempting to reach the five people inside the train. Malakai looks around frantically, her heart racing so fast that she thought she might have a heart attack then and there.
"We won't make it with this extra weight."
"Give me a second." The Conductor's hands tremble as he looks down, thinking deeply.
"This is how we die?!" Jesper screams, sweat dripping from his forehead. But his hat still sits perfectly on his head, somehow.
"Jesper, grab the goat." Arken shouts.
"I'm not throwing out the goat!" Jesper shouts back.
"Grab the damn goat! It's not bait. It's for you!"
Inej holds the hilt of her blade against her forehead, praying to the saints.
"I need you to calm down. Hug the goat. Shut the hell up." Another metal clang. "We should have hit that twenty seconds ago."
"Twenty seconds is?" Kaz panics now too.
"My timings are precise to get us outside. Even twenty seconds behind means the train stops inside the Fold and... that means we die."
Malakai suddenly feels a sense of guilt deep in the pit of her stomach. This is my fault. Volcra screech as they claw at the metal.
"You may want to make your peace."
Getting up from her seat, Malakai allows the coat to slip off her shoulders. The others watch her in confusion and anticipation. Looking to Kaz, he simply nods once at her. She stands in the middle of the train, facing the front. Closing her eyes and holding her hands out to the side, slowly pushing her palms towards the floor.
Malakai could feel the shadows around her. Clasping her hands together, she wills the darkeness to come. Then almost instantaneously, the screeching stops.
"Are they all dead?" Inej could not peel her gaze away from the girl in front of her.
A scream erupts from all of them as a volcra suddenly tears through the metal, reaching only inches from Malakai's face who watches with wide eyes, stumbling backwards onto the floor. Then a gunshot sounds and the volcra disappears back into the darkness. Thank the Saints for Jesper Fahey.
Everything seems to move in slow motion as sunlight begins to filter through the cracks and holes in the train. Everyone's eyes are glued to the blonde girl who sits on the floor, propped up on her elbows, her legs splayed out in front of her and her chest heaving for air.
Malakai looks toward Kaz who stares down at her.
"Good girl."
Author's Note
wow. that's all i have to say.
i've been waiting to write this chapter for ages. what a roller coaster. what a turn of events. my head hurts. lmao.
anyways, so, yeah! Malakai is a grisha! and a shadow summoner at that. a saint, of sorts. so i think you all can guess what's coming next. did you guys expect it? i mean i kinda made it obvious. always saying that Malakai is part of the shadows, is a shadow. she knocked her attacker out just by touch his temples. Kaz acknowledging her every time the Black Heretic or grisha are mentioned. the Malakaz conversation before leaving for Novokribirsk where she basically tells Kaz that she refuses to use her powers. her reaction to the Drüskelle pin. gosh i love writing.
i really hope you guys liked this chapter because i've been so excited for it. lots to come, still five more episodes to write about for this season!
also, "Good girl."
how are we all feeling after than one?
hope you're all doing good and if not i hope that your pain will ease soon. this is a safe space. crows take care of one another. reach out.
love from valerie <3