IT TOOK TEN DAYS TO REACH FJERDA. They docked miles from the nearest port, left their most valuable and precious belongings on the Ferolind, and set out across the snow. Asra had always had an odd affinity for the cold. The dragonish steam of breath before her face, the funny feel of goosbumps along her skin, the peaceful barrenness of snow. She'd always liked it. But Fjerda was really pushing her limits.
The first day was silent. Matthias quickly took the lead. Chatter quickly froze as they trudged ahead. Asra buried her face in the turned up collar of her coat, furry hood pulled up over her head. She settled somewhere towards the back of the group, falling to the outskirts out of habit. The sun eventually began to dip and they set up tents, eating and retiring without a word.
However, the second day, shouldering on their packs and finishing their measly breakfast, Kaz finally decided to divulge the plan. He hadn't on the Ferolind incase one of the crew couldn't be trusted.
"If we get this right we're going to be in and out of the Ice Court before the Fjerdans ever know their prize scientist is gone. When we enter the prison we'll be taken to the holding area beneath the men's and women's cellblocks to await charges. If Matthias is right and the procedures are still the same, the patrols only pass through the holding cells three times a day for headcounts. Once we're out of the cells we should have at least six hours to cross to the embassy, locate Yul-Bayur on the White Island, and get him down to the harbour before they realise anyone is missing."
"What about the other prisoners in the holding cells?" Matthias asked.
"We have that covered." Kaz said. "Once we're out the cells, Matthias and Jesper will secure rope from the stables while Wylan and I get Asra, Nina and Inej out of the women's holding area. The basement is our meet. That's where the incinerator is, and no one should be in the laundry after the prison shuts down for the night. While Inej makes the climb, Wylan, Asra and I scour the laundry for anything he can use for demo. And just in case the Fjerdans decided to stash Bo Yul-Bayur in the prison and make life easy for us Nina, Matthias and Jesper will search the top level cells."
"Nina and Matthias?" Jesper said. "Far be it from me to doubt anyone's professionalism but is that really the ideal pairing?"
"Matthias knows the prison procedure and Nina can handle any guards without a noisy fight. Your job is to keep them from killing each other."
"Because I'm the diplomat of the group?" Jesper said.
"There is no diplomat of the group." Kaz said. "Now listen, the rest of the prison isn't like the holding area. Patrols in the cellblock rotate every two hours, and we don't want to risk anyone sounding an alarm, so be smart. We coordinate everything to the chiming of the Elderclock. We're out of the cells right after six bells, we're up the incinerator and on the roof by eight bells. No exceptions."
"And then what?" Wylan asked.
"We cross to the embassy sector roof and get access to the glass bridge through there."
"We'll be on the other side of the checkpoints." Matthias said, smiling slightly. "The guards on the bridge will assume we passed through the embassy gate and had our papers scrutinised there."
Wylan frowned. "In prison uniforms?"
"Phase two," Jesper said. "The fake."
"That's right." Kaz said. "Inej, Nina, Matthias and I will borrow a change of clothes from one of the delegations, and a little something extra for our friend Bo Yul-Bayur when we find him, and stroll across the glass bridge. We locate Yul-Bayur and get him to the embassy. Nina, if there's time, you'll Tailor him as much as possible, but so long as we don't trigger any alarms no one is going to notice one more Shu among the guests."
"So what I'm getting from this," Jesper said. "Is that I'm stuck with Wylan."
"Unless you've suddenly acquired an encyclopedic knowledge or the White Island, the ability to pick locks, scale unsaleable walls or flirt confidential information out of high level officials, yes." Kaz said. "I want two sets of hands making bombs. And Asra will be with you, keeping an eye."
"On them or the Fjerdans?" Asra asked.
"Whichever requires the most attention."
"I don't need a babysitter." Jesper said. Wylan's face said the same, though it was hard to tell through the goggles and scarf. Asra shrugged at them.
Nina folded her arms. "Let's say all this works. How do we get out?"
"We walk. That's the beauty of this plan." Kaz said. "Remember what I said about guiding the mark's attention? At the embassy gate all eyes will be focused on the guests coming into the Ice Court. People leaving aren't a security risk."
"Then why the bombs?" Wylan asked.
"Precautions. There are seven miles of road between the Ice Court and the harbour. If someone notices Bo Yul-Bayur is missing, we're going to have to cover that territory fast." Kaz drew a line in the snow. He'd left his crow-headed cane on the Ferolind. Now he just held a simple wooden walking stick. "The main road crosses a gorge. We blow the bridge, no one can follow."
Matthias held his head in his hands. Kaz glared at him.
"It's one prisoner, Helvar."
"And a bridge." Wyaln added.
"And anything we have to blow up between." Jesper put it with a grin.
"Everyone shut up."
"I don't like any of this." Nina said.
Kaz raised a brow. "Well at least you and Helvar found something to agree on."
They kept walking. Talk came easier now, drilling each other for plans and facts. Spots of forests started to pop up as they headed deeper inland. Asra was walking silently beside Kaz. Nina was trying to teach Inej Fjerdan. Matthias was trying to hide the fact he was staring at Nina. It was all rather entertaining.
Until they reached the pyre.
Matthias had tried to stop them. They hadn't listened. Wylan gagged. Nina's hands clamped over her mouth. Inej made a warding sign in the air. Jesper shook his head. Asra felt herself stiffen. Kaz was still and silent as ever.
There were three stakes on the pyre, long since burnt out. A body was tied to each stake, blackened and burnt, still smouldering, the smell of cooked meat riding the winds to meet them.
"Ghezen," Wylan swore. "What is this?"
"This is what Fjerdans do to Grisha." Nina said, voice slack.
"It's what criminals do." Matthias said. Even the Fjerdan looked ill. "The pyres have been illegal since -"
Nina rounded on him and shoved him hard. "Don't you dare tell me the last time someone was prosecuted for putting a Grisha to the flames. Do you even call it murder when you drown dogs?"
"Nina -"
"Do you have a different name for killing when you wear a uniform to do it?" She kept on, then quieted.
They all heard it, soft and pained like the wind. A moan. One was alive.
Nina sobbed. She raised her hands to end it for them but her hands were shaking too badly to use her power. She turned to them. "I... someone, please..."
Jesper was quickest. He shot twice, bullets finding the chest of the one on the far right. They fell silent. Jesper holstered his guns.
"Damnit Jesper." Kaz muttered. "You just announced our presence for miles."
"So they think we're a hunting party."
"You should've let Inej do it." Kaz said.
"I didn't want to do it." Inej put in quietly. "Thank you, Jesper."
"Thank you." Nina repeated, voice choked. She took off suddenly, stumbling through the snow.
"Nina," Matthias said. "You mustn't stray from the group -"
Nina's voice was harsh and hurt. "That's what you're going back to, Helvar. That's the country you long to serve. Does it make you proud?"
Matthias tensed. "I've never sent a Grisha to the pyre. Grisha are given a fair trial -"
Nina rounded on him, goggles up, tears frozen on her cheeks. "Then why has a Grisha never been found innocent at the end of your supposedly fair trials?"
"I -"
"Because our crime is existing. Our crime is what we are."
Matthias went quiet. "Nina, has it ever occurred to you that maybe... you weren't meant to exist?"
Nina's eyes were like fire. She stepped closer. "Maybe you're the ones who shouldn't exist, Helvar. Weak and soft with your short lives and your sad little prejudices. You worship woodsprites and ice spirits who can't be bothered to show themselves, but you see real power and you can't wait to stamp it out."
"Don't mock what you don't understand." Matthias growled.
"My mockery offends you? My people would welcome your laughter in place of this barbarity." A look of grim satisfaction crossed her face. "Ravka is rebuilding. So is the Second Army. And when they do, I hope they give you the fair trial you deserve. I hope they put the drüskelle in shackles and make them stand to hear their crimes enumerated so the world will have an accounting of your evils."
"If you're so desperate to see Ravka rise why aren't you there now?" Matthias snapped.
"I want you to have your pardon, Helvar. I want you to be here when the Second Army marches north and overruns every inch of this wasteland. I hope they burn your fields and salt the earth. I hope they send your friends and family to the pyre."
"They already did, Zenik. My mother, my father, my baby sister. Inferni soldiers. Your precious, persecuted Grisha, burned our village to the ground. I have nothing left to lose."
Nina laughed. "Maybe your stay in Hellgate was too short Matthias. There's always more to lose."
She turned away again and trudged off. Matthias was the first to follow. The others hesitated.
"That was personal." Asra said flatly.
"I feel really intrusive." Jesper muttered.
"We should probably give them some privacy." Wylan said.
"We don't have time for privacy." Kaz said, storming after them. "We can't afford to draw any more attention."
Asra had been next to follow. Eavesdropping wasn't exactly a new thing for her, but she wasn't used to doing it so obviously. She felt exposed. Why had Nina reminded her of her sister for a split second? Asra didn't like it. Any of this.
They watched as Nina stormed ahead, as Matthias grabbed her arm to stop her, as Nina clenched her fist and closed his throat. The drüskelle grabbed her arms and pinned them to her sides tightly. Asra picked up her pace. There it was again, worry, like a weed or an infection. Maybe Fjerda was freezing her brain.
"Let me go." Nina said, glaring at Matthias, squirming in his hold.
"I can't. Not when you're a threat." He said.
"I'm always a threat to you, Matthias."
"I know." He smiled a sad smile, then released her. "This has to stop."
"He's right." Jesper said. Nina and Matthias jumped at his voice. "You can't go on this way."
"Stay out of this." Nina snapped.
"Kiss and kill each other on the Ferolind." Asra said. "You're gonna get us all killed if you keep shouting."
"Quiet." Matthias snapped at her, voice low as a wolf's growl. "This is not your concern."
Kaz stepped forward, voice just as dangerous. "It's very much our concern. And watch your tone."
The Fjerdan threw up his hands. "You've all been taken by her. This is what she does. She makes you think she's your friend and then -"
"Then what?" Inej asked, arms folded.
"Let it go, Inej." Nina said.
"No, Nina. Tell them." Matthias said. "You said we were friends once. Do you remember? We travelled 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 bagan pacing through the snow, voice rising, losing himself to the memories. "I borrowed money. I arranged lodging. I was willing to betray everything I believed 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 ready to set sail. Ask her what she did then, this honourable ally, this girl who stands judgment of me and my kind."
No one spoke.
Matthias was practically shaking. "Tell them, Nina. They should know how you treat your friends."
Nina swallowed and met their eyes. "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. Asra could hear the sob building in her throat. "You don't know -"
"Just tell me one thing," Matthias said, voice odd. There was anger there, but something else, hidden beneath. Pleading. "If you could go back, if you could undo what you did to me, would you?"
Nina stared Matthias down, back straight, chin high, voice certain as a soldier at war. "No. I'd do it all again."
Before anyone else could speak, the ground shook. Asra crouched, eyes wide, hands going to the pistol on her hip.
"Are there fault lines this far north?" Wylan asked.
"Not that I know of." Matthias said, frowning. "But -"
He never finished. A slab of jagged earth shot up beneath his feet. The same happened to Nina. They both fell. All around them, slabs of forzen mud and ice jutted up from the floor and encased them. Wind whipped at Asra's face, sending the snow flying.
"What the hell is this?" Jesper yelled.
"Some kind of earthquake!" Inej shouted.
"No," Nina said, pointing to the sky. "We're under attack."
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Author's note:
Not much to say about this chapter :/
Some protective Kaz, some Helnik angst. Tbh the this chapter and the next are a little boring but hey ho
(: