chapter fifteen.
The Rise of a Grisha
COLD AIR CREPT THROUGH THE CART'S WOODEN slates, and I was grabbing for the thick coat Baghra had provided us. We were weary and uncomfortable, but mostly just frightened. We were running from the most powerful man in Ravka. The Grisha, the first army, and everything we'd ever known.
What chances did we have of making it to the fold on our own? And if we did make it to West Ravka and onto the Verloren, then what? We'd be alone in a strange land where we didn't speak the language and we knew no one.
Tears sprung from the corners of my eyes and I brushed them away before Alina could notice. If I started crying, I didn't think I'd be able to stop.
❂♕
We traveled through the early hours of the morning, past the stone streets of Os Alta and onto the wide dirt swath of the Vy. Dawn came and went. Occasionally, we'd doze off, but our fear and discomfort kept us awake for most of the ride.
When the sun was high in the sky and we'd begun to sweat in our thick coats, the wagon rolled to a stop. I risked a peek over the side of the cart. We were behind what looked like a tavern or an inn. I glanced back and Alina and nodded before stretching my legs and wincing as the blood rushed painfully back to my toes.
We waited until the driver and the other members of the troupe had gone inside before sliding ourselves out of the hiding place.
But once we had three figures appeared. I noticed immediately that two of them had been the guards that had come to escort me to dinner the night the darkling had told me he knew of my feelings for Genya and gaped at them in horror, "Ms. Starkov." The Suli girl said, "Ms. Julikov,"
Alina and I glanced at each other, bringing our arms together as the one with the hat said, "I wouldn't do that if I were you."
"What do you want?" I asked, "If it's to take us back to Os Alta, then no we will not."
The one in the middle who I assumed was the leader said, "that won't be necessary." He said, "we are just doing our jobs, you two have a bounty on your heads as it is. We can help get you to safety."
Alina shook her head, "We prefer to travel alone, thank you." she said, "and I have a hard time believing that."
"We are done being prisoners, so whatever this is and whoever you are we will not go with you," I said.
The man in the grey hat stepped forward, "then I'm sorry for what we have to do." He said and glanced at the female and the leader.
But right then and there I acted out, throwing my arms up and creating a shield of light. The trio stepped back when I did and once I was sure they were aware of what I could do they held up their hands.
The Suli girl looked from me to Alina nodding, and bowing her head.
I turned to Alina and grabbed her by the hand and we ran off down the street until we got into the bustling part of the town. We searched the streets for Grisha but found none in sight. It has been four days since we escaped and I wondered if the Darkling had sent out his Grisha yet, most likely.
"I think we are in Ryevost," Alina said from behind me. I nodded, swallowing. Rebecca and Aliya must be here still unless the tracker unit got sent after us. But I doubted it, the darkling had his Grisha.
I couldn't risk going into the base with Alina though, it was too dangerous for us at the moment. We eavesdropped a little, listening in for anything of the two sun summoners, but luckily heard none. We'd gotten lucky; we were still heading in the right direction, but we'd also have a longer commute to get to where we were supposed to be heading.
❂♕
We kept our heads low the further into Ryevost we got, sure that eventually we'd find posters of our faces on lampposts and shop windows. But the deeper we got into the city, the more we began to relax. Maybe word of our disappearance hadn't spread as far or as fast as we'd expected it to.
Our mouths watered at the smell of roasting lamb and fresh bread, and I treated myself to an apple as me and Alina refreshed our supplies of hard cheese and dried meat.
I was tying my new bedroll to my traveling pack and trying to figure out how we were going lug the extra weight up the mountainside when we rounded a corner and nearly ran right into a group of soldiers.
My heart slammed into a gallop at the sight of their long olive coats and rifles on their backs. First Army trackers, surely they would recognize me.
I wanted to turn on my heels and grab Alina's hand and run off in the opposite direction, but I kept my head low grabbed Alina by the elbow, and kept us walking at a normal pace. Once we'd passed them, I risked a glance back. They weren't looking after us suspiciously at all. In fact, they didn't seem to be doing anything at all. They were talking and joking, one of them catcalling at a girl hanging out the wash.
We stepped into a side street and waited for our heartbeats to return to normal. What was going on? We'd escaped the Little Palace well over a week ago. The alarm must have been raised by now. I'd been sure the Darkling would send his Grisha, and maybe riders to every town by now. Unless he decided to go out looking for us.
As we drew closer to heading out of Ryevost, we saw other soldiers. Some were on leave, others on duty, but none of them seemed to be looking for us. I didn't know what to make of it. I wondered if I had Baghra to thank. Maybe she'd managed to convince the Darkling that we'd been kidnapped or even killed by Fjerdans. Or maybe he just thought that we'd made it farther west. I decided not to press my luck and hurried us to find our way out of town.
❂♕
It took us longer than I'd expected, and we didn't reach the western outskirts of the city until well past nightfall. The streets were darker and empty except for a few disreputable-looking taverns and an old drunk man leaning up against a building, singing softly to himself.
As we hurried past a noisy Inn, the door flew open and a heavyset man toppled out into the streets on a burst of light and music.
He grabbed hold of Alina and said, "Hello pretty! Have you come to keep me warm?" Alina tried to pull away, "You're strong for such a little thing." I could smell the stink of stale beer on his hot breath from only standing six feet away.
"Let go of me," Alina said in a low voice, "Don't be like that, lapushka," he crooned. "We could have fun, you and me."
I suppressed a shiver, only two months ago had I been in the same situation Alina was now in, this was how my power had been discovered. I slowly rose my hands, in case the man tried to do something out of line.
"I said let go of me!" Alina pushed against his chest, "not for a bit yet." He chucked, pulling her into the shadows of an alleyway beside the tavern. "I want to show you something."
Before he could do anything else though Alina had her hands in his eyes and light flared, blinding him. He grunted throwing his hands up and letting go of her. She did what Boktin had instructed. She stomped down hard on the arch of his foot and then hooked her leg behind his ankle, sending him to the ground with a loud thud.
At that moment, the side to the tavern door flew open. A uniformed soldier emerged, a bottle of Kvas in one hand and a scantily clad woman clutched in the other. With a wave of dread, I saw that he was dressed in the charcoal uniform of the Darkling's guard. His bleary glance at the scene: the man on the ground and Alina standing over him, and me standing close by.
"What's all this?" he slurred. The girl on his arm tittered. "I'm blind!" wailed the man on the ground. "She blinded me!" The oprichink looked at him and then peered at Alina and then me.
His eyes looked between the two of us, and then recognition spread across his face. Our luck had run out. Even if no one else was looking for us, the Darkling's guards were.
"You two...." He whispered. But Alina was grabbing me and we bolted down an alleyway and into a maze of narrow streets, our hearts pounding in our chests. As soon as we cleared the last few dingy buildings of Ryevost, we hurtled off the main road and into the underbrush. Branches stung our cheeks and foreheads as we stumbled deeper into the woods.
Behind us rose the sound of pursuit: men shouting to one another, heavy footfalls through the wood. I wanted to run blindly, but gripped Alina's elbow and stopped her, putting a finger to my lips and listened.
They were to the east of us, I noted, searching near the road. I couldn't tell how many there were. I quieted my breath, looking back over to Alina and holding her hand tightly.
Not too far away, I could hear the sound of rushing water. There was a stream nearby, a tributary of the river. If we could make it to the water in time we could hide our tracks, and they would be hard-pressed to find us in the darkness.
I slowly got to my feet, Alina's hand still in mine, and made a run for it, stopping periodically to correct my course. We struggled up a hill so steep we were almost crawling, pulling myself up by branches and exposed tree roots. I turned to make sure Alina was okay and then focused back on the task.
"There!" The voice called out from below us and I looked over my shoulder, I saw lights moving through the woods towards the base of the hill.
I clawed my way higher, the earth slipping beneath my hands, each breath burning in my lungs. When I got to the top, I turned and pulled Alina up and over the edge.
She held tight to me and let out a breathless laugh, "I'm never doing that again." I shook my head and smiled.
I felt a surge of hope when I looked away from her and spotted moonlight glimmering off the surface of the stream.
We slid down the steep hill, leaning back to try to keep my balance, moving as fast as we dared. I heard shouts, and when I looked behind me, I saw the shapes of our pursuers silhouetted against the sky. They had reached the top of the hill.
Panic got the best of us, and we started to run down the slope, sending showers of pebbles clattering down the hill to the stream below. The grade was too steep. We lost our footing and fell forward, scraping our hands as we hit the ground hard and, unable to stop our momentum, somersaulted down the hill and plunged into the freezing water.
For a moment, I thought my heart might stop. The cold was like a hand, squeezing my body in a relentless, icy grip as we both stumbled through the water. Then my head broke the surface and I gasped, drawing in precious air before the current grabbed me and pulled me under again. I didn't know where Alina was or how far the water took me. All I thought about was when my next breath was and the growing numbness in my limbs.
Finally, when I thought I couldn't fight my way to the surface again, the current drove me into a slow, silent pool. I grabbed hold of the rock and pulled myself into the shallows, dragging myself to my feet, my boots slipping on the smooth river stone as I stumbled under the weight of my sodden coat.
I didn't know how I did it, but I pushed my way into the woods and burrowed under a thick copse of bushes before I let myself collapse, shivering in the cold and still coughing river water. I looked around for Alina but she was nowhere in sight, tears sprung from the corners of my eyes and I let them fall because the saints knew just how much I was going through right now.
❂♕
It was easily the worst night of my life. My coat was soaked through. My feet were numb in my boots. I started at any sound, hoping it was Alina and not any of the soldiers. My fur hat, my pack full of food, and my new bedroll had all been lost somewhere upstream, so my disastrous excursion into Ryevost with Alina had been for nothing. My money pouch was gone. At least my knife was still safely sheathed at my hip.
Sometime new dawn, I let myself summon a little sunlight to dry my boots and warm my clammy hands. I dozed off and dreamed of Baghra holding my own knife to my throat, her laugh a dry rattle in my ear.
I awoke to the pounding of my heart and the sound of movement in the woods around me. I had fallen asleep slumped against the base of a tree, hidden— I hoped at least— behind the copse of bushes. From where I sat, I could see no one, but I could hear voices in the distance.
I hesitated, frozen in place, unsure of what to do. If I moved, I risked giving away my position, but if I stayed silent, it would only be a matter of time before they found me.
But what if it's Alina, I thought, What if she's close right now searching? My heart began to race as the sounds grew closer, too many footsteps, it's not her, it's the soldiers unless they caught her.
Through the leaves, I glimpsed a stocky, bearded soldier. He had a rifle in his hands, but I knew there was no chance that they would kill me. I was too valuable. It gave me an advantage if I was willing to die.
They're not going to take me. The thought came to me with sure and sudden clarity. I won't go back.
I flicked my wrist and pulled out my knife, feeling the weight of Grisha steel in my palm. Silently, I drew myself into a crouch and waited, listening. I was frightened, but I was surprised to find some part of me felt eager.
I watched the bearded soldier through the leaves, circling closer until he was just a few feet from me. I could see a bead of sweat trickling down his neck, the morning light gleaming off his riffle barrel, and for a moment, I thought he might be looking right at me. A call sounded from deep in the woods.
The soldier shouted back to them. "Nichyevo!" Nothing. And then, to my amazement, he turned and walked away from me.
I listened as the sounds faded, the voices growing more distorted, the footfalls fainter. Could I possibly be so lucky? Had they mistaken an animal's trail or another traveler's for mine? Or was it some kind of trick? I waited, my body trembling until all I could hear was the relative quiet of the wood, the calls of insects and birds, and the rustle of the wind in the trees.
At last, I slid my knife back into the sheath and took a deep shuddering breath, and rose from out of my crouch. I reached for my still-damp coat lying in a crumpled heap on the ground and froze at the unmistakable sound of a soft step behind me.
I spun on my heels, my heart in my throat, and saw a figure hidden by beaches, only a few feet away from me. I'd been so focused on the bearded soldier that I hadn't realized there was someone behind me. In an instant, the knife was back in my hand and the figure emerged silently from behind the trees. I stared but then relaxed when he held up his hands, Alina appearing at his side, sighing and walking up to and drawing me into a tight embrace.
Alina pulled away and I opened my mouth to speak but she shook her head gesturing to the brown-haired tracker beside her. His eyes locked with mine for a moment then turned back to Alina and nodded.
Alina and the boy then started walking and I grabbed my coat and hurried after them. We moved silently through the woods, but the boy was incredibly silent with his steps, slipping like a shadow through the branches as if he could see paths invisible to others' eyes.
He led us through a stream, to a shallow bend where we were able to slog across. I cringed at as the icy water poured into my boots again. When we emerged on the other side, he circled back without a word to Alina and me to cover our tracks.
I was bursting with questions, and my mind jumped from one thought to the next. How had they found me? Had the boy and Alina been tracking me with the soldiers? What did it mean? And he was helping us?
I wanted to reach and ask Alina, I wanted to punch Alina actually, I had gone hours upon hours hoping she was okay, and then she just magically appears with a tracker boy.
We walked for hours in complete silence. Periodically, he would gesture for us to stop, and we would wait as he disappeared into the underbrush to hide our tracks. Sometime in the afternoon, we began climbing a rocky path. I wasn't sure where the stream had spit me out, but I felt fairly certain that he must be leading us into the Petrazoi.
Each step was agony. My boots were still wet, and fresh blisters formed on my heels and toes. My miserable night in the woods had left me with a pounding headache, and I was dizzy from the lack of food, but I wasn't about to complain.
I kept quiet, holding Alina's hand as he led us down a mountain and then off the trail, scrabbling over the rocks until my legs were shaking with fatigue and my throat burned with thirst. When we finally stopped, we were up on the mountain, hidden from view by an enormous outcropping of rock and a few scraggly pines.
"Here." The boy said, dropping his pack. He slid sure-footed back down the mountain, but we knew he was going back to cover our tracks.
Gratefully, I sank to the ground by Alina and closed my eyes, and asked, "Are you going to tell me who that is?"
"It's Mal." Alina replied, "I went looking for you after I managed to get out of the current." Alina said, "I was so scared that the soldiers might have gotten you."
I nodded and grabbed her hand, "I thought they had taken you." Alina smiled and looked down, "he found me a few minutes after I got out, it wasn't a friendly one, but he did help."
I nodded and we lied side by side together, eventually falling asleep.
❂♕
Dusk was falling by the time Mal returned, moving silently over the terrain. He sat down across from Alina and pulled a canteen from his pack. After taking a swig, he swiped his hand over his mouth and passed it to Alina who drank it deeply.
"Slow down." He said. "That has to last us through tomorrow." He said.
Alina passed it to me next and I too took a drink from it before pulling it away with a silent gasp, "I hope you don't mind." I said Mal smiled and shook his head, "not at all."
We sat in silence before Alina said, "Mal." he looked over at her, "Did you find the herd? Did you capture Morozova's stag?"
He tapped his hand on his knee, "Why is it so important?" Alina sighed, "It's a long story. We need to know, does he have the stag?"
"No." He said after a few seconds, "They're close, though?" I asked.
He nodded, giving me a curious glance, "But.." he started, "but what?" I asked.
Mal hesitated, looking back at Alina and then me, "I don't think he'll find it without me."
I raised an eyebrow, "Because you're that good?" He shook his head, "how'd you know that? Who even are you?"
I looked at Alina who was just watching the scene unfold, "I'm Freya Julikov," I started, "I am half Tidemaker and half Sun Summoner."
He rose his brows, "and Fjerdan apparently." he mumbled but Alina had already jabbed his in the side with her foot.
I snickered, "half Fjerdan." And then he shrugged his shoulders and laughed, "I don't see a difference."
I just rolled my eyes and looked at Alina again, but she was looking grimly at Mal.
"Why did you two run?" Alina and I exchanged glances before she said, "If we told you we are trying to save the world, would you believe us?"
He stared at her, eyes hard. "So this isn't some kind of lovers' quarrel where you turn around and go running back to him?"
"No!" She exclaimed in shock, "It's not... we're not."
"She wasn't the only one who got pulled into his game." I said lowly, "he lied to us."
He looked over at me and then asked, "what does he want from you?"
I looked back at Alina and felt fear prickling its way into my gut, "Everything." I whispered.
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『Authors note』
This chapter was a pain to write. Kinda hurt too if I'm being honest.