KAZ WASN'T SPEAKING TO HER. Asra was grateful for that. She thought. She wasn't fully sure. She never was with him, not anymore. He'd come back towards sunset, and the three of them headed carefully back into the Barrel and down the Grafcanal, docking on Black Veil island.
The island was damp, coated in a thick mist. Mausoleums made to look like ships were dotted all around them like ghosts. Gravestones sprung up from the ground in neat rows between them. Inside one of the stone hulls, through the windows carved into the side, light and voices poured out. Asra felt herself grin and speed up.
She didn't think as she threw open the door. Everyone inside rose, guns drawn and fists rasied. Then Nina shrieked.
"Asra!" She rushed towards her. Nina swept her up in a hug which Asra returned. It was hard to tell who was more surprised. Then Jesper was hugging her instead, arms wrapped around her waist, swinging her round and round. Matthias stood still the whole time, but he was smiling at her. As was one of the identical Shu boys. The other didn't look too interested in any of them, besides Jesper.
"Wylan?" Asra asked the smiling Shu. Nina's Tailoring was yet to fade, assuming it ever would.
He nodded, smile faltering a moment. "Sorry about my father."
Asra shrugged. She had the strangest urge to hug him. "Parents are shit. I get it."
Wylan's smile returned slightly. He was a little taller than Kuwei Yul-Bo, face slightly rounder. And he held himself differently. Wylan had been taught to stand tall and proud. And be had a more nervous energy to him as well.
Kaz thudded his cane against the floor, stood in the doorway to the tomb. "If everyone is done cuddling, we have a job to do."
"Hold up," Jesper said, arm still around Asra's shoulders. "We're not talking about the job until we figure out what those things were on the Stave."
"The explosions?" Asra said obviously.
"No, the two Shu with wings that tried to kill us."
Asra thought. "Must've missed them. Wings? Like a bird or..."
Nina steered her towards a table in the middle of the tomb, cluttered with bullets and maps and chemicals and snacks. "No, more like a moth. A deadly, mechanical moth. Are you hungry? We have chocolate biscuits."
"Oh sure," Jesper said. "She gets the cookie hoard."
"Of course I do," Asra said, taking a biscuit from the tin Nina held out. She sat down, Nina beside her, nibbling on her own biscuit. Asra frowned slightly. Nina Zenik didn't nibble.
"There were two Shu with wings, and a man and a woman who were... not normal." Nina said.
"Nina's power had no effect on them." Wylan said.
Nina hummed, taking another small bite of her biscuit. Asra was already on her second. Matthias sat down beside Nina.
"The Shu woman we faced was stronger than me, Jesper and Wylan put together."
"You heard right," Jesper said. "Stronger than Wylan."
"I did my part." Wylan said indignantly.
"You most definitely did, merchling." Jesper said. "What was that violet stuff?"
"Something new I've been working on. It's based on a Ravkan invention called lumiya." Wylan said. "The flames are almost impossible to extinguish, but I changed the formulation so that it burns a lot hotter."
"We were lucky to have you there." Matthias said. He gave a small bow. Wylan went red. "The creatures were nearly impervious to bullets."
"Nearly." Nina said, face grim. "They had nets. They were looking to hunt and capture Grisha."
Kaz leant against the wall slightly. "Were they using parem?"
Nina shook her head. "No. I don't think they were Grisha. They didn't display many powers and they weren't healing their wounds. It looked like they had some kind of metal plating beneath their skin."
Asra was deep in thought, absentmindedly twirling a blade she'd picked up in her hand. "Sounds like the Kherguud."
They all stared at her blankly, except Kuwei.
"How do you know about that?" He asked in better Kerch than Asra expected.
"I know everything." She shrugged, then hesitated. "My mother was contemplating reaching out to the Shu about them, though I don't know the details." She turned to Kuwei, switching to Shu. "Care to enlighten us, Yul-Bo? This sounds like something your father would've had a hand in."
Kuwei sighed. "When my father made parem, the government tests it on Fabrikators."
Jesper, sprawled out in a chair with his hands on his guns, cocked in his head to the side. "Is it me or is your Kerch getting better?"
"My Kerch is good. You all talk too fast." Kuwei said.
"Okay," Jesper said slowly. "Why did your dear Shu friends test parem on Fabrikators?"
"They have more Fabrikators in captivity." Kuwei said.
"They're easiest to capture." Matthias added, ignoring Nina's look. "Until recently they received little combat training, and without parem their powers are poorly suited to battle."
Asra couldn't help but snort. Everyone turned to her.
"Okay," Jesper said. "Before we go on, I demand to know who the hell you are. I mean, you didn't really make sense before, but now it's relevant."
Asra forced a sigh, glancing about the room. All their gazes were curious, expectant, none more so than Kaz's. She decided against looking at him, at any of them. Almost subconsciously, she traced the target tattoo on her left wrist, the blade like ice on her skin. She settled the point of the dagger on the spot in the centre of the blood red tattoo.
"I used to be... an assassin. Of sorts. I didn't choose it, I was... I don't know how we all got there. About a year ago, I ran away. I've been living in hiding since with you lot with my own name and well, you all know who I am now. Kinda. My mother runs the... organisation, I guess you'd call it. It's difficult to word it all. Van Eck contacted her just before we left for Fjerda. She'll be in Kerch within the month to take me... back. But by then I'll have left Kerch. My work took me all over the world. I did a lot, killed a lot, learnt a lot." She shrugged. "I know things."
She could feel them staring at her. She refused to look at them.
"You're leaving?" Nina asked.
Asra nodded, silent. The information settled over the room, thick and heavy as smog. Asra felt like she was drowning.
Jesper opened his mouth, hesitated, turned to Kaz. "Did you know about all this?"
Kaz shrugged. "I had my suspicions."
"Of course you did." Asra muttered, resting her head in her hand. She laughed lightly, though she wanted to cry. She didn't know why.
Inej reached out and lay a gentle hand on Asra's shoulder. She felt herself tense at the touch, but gripped Inej's hand when she tried to pull away.
"What will happen?" Wylan asked. "When your mother arrives."
Asra shrugged. "Hopefully she'll see I'm gone and go back to... whatever she's been doing this last year."
"Hopefully?" Jesper repeated.
Asra shook her head. "It doesn't matter now. I'm finishing this job before anything else." She faced Kuwei. "What did the Shu want with Fabrikators?"
"Our leaders want to conduct more experiments, but they don't know how many Grisha they can find -"
"Maybe if they hadn't killed so many?" Nina put in.
"Yes," Kuwei nodded, either missing or ignoring the sarcasm. "They have few Grisha, and using parem shortens a Grisha's life. So they bring doctors to work with the Fabrikators already sick from parem. They plan to make a new kind of soldier, the Kherguud. I don't know if they succeed."
"I think I can answer that question with a big fat yes." Jesper said.
Asra nodded. "Body alterations, mechanical innards, altered brain chemistry. It all makes them stronger and deadlier. More obedient. Perfect."
"What did your mother want with them?" Kuwei asked.
"I think she wanted to make her own brand, use the process on us." Asra said. She remembered her mother ranting about them now, the adoration in her voice. The Kherguud had been little more than whispers then. Asra had been just toying with the idea of leaving.
"How many men does your mother have?" Kaz asked.
Asra shrugged. "A couple hundred, I'd guess. We come and go. I was isolated usually, as her daughter."
He nodded. Asra saw a scheming face coming on. She didn't want to know what he was planning.
"Fabrikators deal in solids," Jesper said. "Metal, glass, textiles. This seems more like Corporalki work."
"Tailors blur the line between Fabrikator and Corporalnik." Nina said. "I had a teacher in Ravka, Genya Safin. She could have been Heartrender or Fabrikator if she'd wanted to, instead she became a great Tailor. The work your describing is really just an advanced kind of Tailoring."
Asra suppressed a shudder at the advanved Tailoring she'd seen back at the House. "Were the wings organic or metal?"
"Mechanical." Nina said. "Some kind of metal frame, and canvas maybe. But it's more sophisticated than just slapping a pair of wings between someone's shoulder blades. You'd have to link the musculature, hollow out the bones to decrease body weight, then somehow compensate for the loss of bone marrow, maybe replace the skeleton entirely. The level of complexity -"
"Parem." Matthias said, brows furrowed. "A Fabrikator using parem could manage that kind of Tailoring."
Nina turned to Kaz, pushing away from the table. "Won't the Merchant Council do anything about the Shu attack? Are they just allowed to waltz into Kerch and start blowing things up and kidnapping people?"
"I doubt the Council will act. Unless the Shu who attacked you were in uniforms, the Shu Han government will probably deny any knowledge of the attack." Kaz said.
"So they just get away with it?" Nina said.
"Maybe not." Kaz said. "I spent a little time gathering intelligence at the harbours today. Those two Shu warships? The Council of Tides dry-docked them."
Jesper's feet slid from the table, hitting the floor with a dull thud. "What?"
"They pulled back the tide, all of it, used the sea to carve a new island with both of those warships beached on it. You can see them lying on their sides, sails dragging in the mud, right there in the harbour."
"A show of force." Matthias said.
"On behalf of Grisha or the city?" Jesper asked.
Kaz shrugged. "Who knows? But it might make the Shu a little more careful about hunting on the Ketterdam streets."
"Could the Council of Tides help us?" Wylan asked. "If they know about parem, they have to be worried about what might happen if the wrong people get their hands on it."
"How would you find them? No one knows the Tides' identities. No one ever sees them coming or going from those watchtowers." Nina said bitterly. "The Shu won't stay cowed forever. They created those soldiers for a reason."
"Hunting Grisha." Asra said slowly. "They're perfect soldiers when you think about it. They don't die easily, especially of something like age. They don't think like people do. They're designed to capture and fight."
Matthias shook his head. "Indestructible soldiers who outlive their creators."
"Exactly."
Jesper ran a hand over his face. "And who can go out an hunt more Grisha? I swear to the Saints one of them found us by our smell."
"Is that even possible?" Inej asked.
"I don't see why not." Asra shrugged. "Everything has a smell, you just have to be good enough to pick it up."
"I don't think this was the first attack." Jesper said. "Wylan, remember how terrified that Squaller in the rare books room was? And what about that merch ship?"
"It was torn apart." Inej said. "The crew was found dead. They thought it was their Squaller breaking out of his indenture."
"But maybe he didn't dissappear." Kaz nodded. "Maybe he was captured. He was one of old Councilman Hoed's Grisha."
"Emil Retvenko." Nina said.
"That's the one. You knew him?" Kaz said.
"I knew of him." Nina said. "Most of the Grisha in Ketterdam know about each other. We share information, try to keep an eye out for one another. The Shu must have spies here if they knew where to look for each of us. The other Grisha -"
She stood, then stumbled, gripping the back of her chair. Matthias and Inej were stood instantly. Asra was surprised to find herself on her feet too.
"Are you alright?" Inej asked.
"Splendid," Nina flashed a unconvincing smile. "But if the other Grisha in Ketterdam are in danger -"
"You're going to do what?" Jesper said. There was an edge to his voice Asra didn't expect. "You're lucky to be alive after what happened today. Those Shu soldiers can smell us Nina." He rounded on Kuwei. "Your father made that possible."
"Hey, go easy." Wylan put in.
"Go easy?" Jesper repeated. "Like things weren't bad enough for the Grisha before. What if they track us to Black Veil? There are three of us here."
Kaz rapped his knuckles on the table. "Wylan's right, go easy. The city wasn't safe before and it's not safe now, so let's all get rich enough to relocate."
Nina placed her hands on her hips. "Are we really talking about money?"
"We're talking about the job and making Van Eck pay up." Kaz said.
Inej looped an arm through Nina's. "I want to know what we can do to help the Grisha who are still in Ketterdam."
"I'd like to know the plan for Van Eck." Asra added, planting herself beside Nina and Inej, arms folded.
"There are bigger issues here." Matthias said.
"Not for me." Jesper said. "I have two days left to get right with my father."
"Your what?" Asra said.
"Yup." Jesper said airily. "Family reunion in Ketterdam. Everyone's invited."
"Debt?" She guessed.
Hands on his guns, the gambler nodded. "Yeah."
"It's alright." Asra flashed a smile. "We can get our asses beat together."
Jesper chuckled lightly. "Well, before it comes to that I'd really like to know just how we intended to settle this score."
Kaz shifted his weight slightly. "Have any of you wondered what I did with all the cash Pekka Rollins gave us?"
Asra falteted. "You went to Rollins? He must've asked for something in return."
"I sold him my shares in Fifth Harbour and the Crow Club."
Asra didn't know why she cared. "But -"
"Where do you think the money went?" Kaz repeated.
Asra threw her hands up. "Bribes?"
"Guns?"
"Ships?"
"Bombs?"
Nina leaned into Matthias. "This is where you tell us how awful we are." She whispered.
Matthias shrugged. "They all seem like practical choices."
"Sugar." Kaz said simply.
Jesper slid the bowl over to him.
Kaz rolled his eyes. "Not for my coffee you podge. I used the money to buy up sugar shares and placed them in private accounts for all of us. Under aliases, of course."
"I don't like speculation." Matthias said.
"Of course you don't. You like things you can see, like piles of snow and benevolent tree gods."
Matthias scowled.
"Besides," Kaz went on. "It's hardly speculation if you know the outcome."
"You know something about sugar crop?" Jesper asked.
"I know something about the supply." Kaz said.
Wylan sat up suddenly. "The silos. The silos at Sweet Reef."
"Very good, merchling." Kaz said.
Matthias shook his head. "What's Sweet Reef?"
"It's an area just south of Sixth Harbour. It's where they keep molasses, raw cane, and the processing plants to refine sugar. We were right near there today." Inej said. "That wasn't a coincidence, was it?"
"No." Kaz said. "I wanted you to get a look at the terrain. Most sugar cane comes from the Southern Colonies and Novyi Zem, but there won't be another crop until three months from now. This season's crop has already been harvested, processed, refined, and stored in the Sweet Reef silos."
"There are thirty silos." Wylan said. "My father owns ten of them."
Jesper whistled. "Van Eck controls one third of the world's sugar supply?"
"He owns the silos, but only a fraction of the sugar inside them. He maintains the silos at his own expense, supplies the guards for them, and pays the Squallers who monitor the humidity inside the silos to make sure the sugar stays dry and separate. The merchants who own the sugar pay him a small percentage of every one of their sales. It adds up quickly."
"Such enormous wealth under one man's protection," Matthias said thoughtfully. "If anything were to happen to those silos the price of sugar -"
"Would go off like a cheap pair of six-shooters." Jesper said, shooting to his feet and pacing about the room.
"We'd sell and be rich." Asra said.
"Thirty million kruge rich?" Inej asked.
Kaz almost smiled. "Give or take a million."
Wylan was biting his thumbnail. "My father can weather a loss. The other merchants, the ones with sugar in the silos will be hit worse."
"True," Matthias said. "And if we destroy the silos it will be clear Van Eck was targeted."
"We could make it look like an accident." Nina suggested.
"It will. Initially, thanks to the weevil. Tell them Wylan." Kaz said.
Wylan, looking very excited, produced a vial from his pocket. "This version works."
Asra frowned. "Remind me what a weevil is."
"This is a chemical weevil." Jesper explained. "But Wylan still hasn't named it. My vote is for the Wyvil."
"That's terrible." Wylan said.
"It's brilliant." Jesper winked. "Just like you."
Wylan flushed.
"I like Wyvil." Asra put in.
"Tell them how it works." Kaz said.
Wylan cleared his throat. "I got the idea from cane blight. Just a little bacteria can ruin the whole crop. Once the weevil-"
"Wyvil." Asra said.
Wylan sighef. "Once the Wyvil is dropped into the silo it will keep burrowing down using the refined sugar as fuel until the sugar is nothing but useless mush."
"It reacts to sugar?" Jesper asked.
"Yes, any kind of sugar. Even trace amounts if there's enough moisture, so keep it away from sweat, blood and saliva."
"Do not lick Wyvil. Does someone want to write that down?" Jesper said.
"Those silos are huge." Inej said. "How much will we need?"
"One vial for each silo."
Inej blinked. "Truly?"
"Tiny and ferocious. Just like you." Jesper winked again.
Nina burst out laughing. Asra couldn't help but laugh too, leaning into her. Nina put an arm around around her shoulders.
"The weevil will make the destruction of the sugar look like an accident." Wylan said.
"It will, until the other merchants learn that Van Eck has been buying up sugar that isn't stored in his silos." Kaz said.
"What?" Wylan said, eyes wide.
"I used half of the money for our shares. I used the rest to purchase shares on behalf of Van Eck- well, on behalf of a holding company in Alys' name. Couldn't make it too obvious. The shares were purchased in cash, untraceable. But the certificates authenticating their purchase will be found stamped and sealed at his attorney's office."
"Cornelis Smeet." Matthias said. "Deception upon deception. You weren't just trying to figure out where Alys Van Eck was being kept when you broke into his office."
"You don't win by running one game. Van Eck's reputation will take a hit when the sugar is lost. But when the people who paid him to keep it safe find out he profited off their loss they'll look more closely at those silos."
"And find remnants of the weevil." Wylan finished.
"Destruction of property, tampering with the markets, it will be the end of him." Inej said, voice steadily gaining volume. "Could he go to prison?"
He'll be dead before they have time to cuff him. Asra kept quiet, shifting slightly. Nina held her closer.
"He'll be charged with violating a contract and attempting to interfere with the market. There's no greater crime according to Kerch law. The sentences are the same as for murder." Kaz said. He glanced at Asra. "He could hang."
"Will he?" Wylan asked softly, drawing a line on the map to his father's house. There was a quiet fear in his voice, mourning. It made Asra's eyes widen.
He doesn't want him dead. The idea hadn't crossed her mind. Of course she'd thought of Wylan when deciding his father's fate, but she'd assumed the boy would agree with her decision. He'd tried to kill him at least once, probably more, yet Wylan didn't want his father killed. Guilt bubbled in her throat and she couldn't breathe. Asra swallowed.
"No, probably not. He's rich, famous and important. They'll give him a slap on the wrist and send him home with a warning, most likely." Where I'll be waiting. She'd tell him, eventually. She owed him that much. Just... she'd wait until the right time.
"He'll be barred from trade." Wylan said, voice dazed. "His holdings will be seized to make good on the lost sugar."
"It will be the end of the Van Eck empire." Kaz said, eyes narrowing slightly. "Nina, what are you doing?"
Nina ignored him, one hand rooting around Asra's hair. She gasped. "You dye your hair."
"What?" Asra chorused with the rest of them. She was suddenly swarmed, everyone trying to get a look at her hair. She ducked away, almost instinctively going to Kaz's untouchable side. A small mirror sat on the table. Asra snatched it up and used it to look at her roots.
"Lying bastard."
"What's Kaz done now?" Jesper asked.
"No not Kaz, the Fabrikator I paid to change my hair. He promised it would last at least two years." She tossed the mirror down with a clatter, running a hand through her mousy brown hair.
Jesper threw up his hands in playful exasperation. "Any other secrets, Behandelar? Let me guess, that's not even your real name."
Asra frowned. "Of course it's not. Why would I run away and keep my name?"
Nina had folded her arms. "I demand to know what colour your hair is naturally."
"Red." The colour of power in the House. A crown she'd been born wearing. Her first taste of power. The first hint she was meant for more. It had been easier to get rid of than she expected. "Can we get back to it? Yes, I have more secrets than the rest of you put together, big deal."
Wylan turned to Kaz. "What about Alys?"
Kaz shrugged. "No one will believe that girl had anything to do with a financial scheme. Alys will sue for divorce and probably move back in with her parents. She'll cry for a week, sing for two, and get over it. Maybe she'll marry a prince."
"There's just one small problem." Jesper said. "And by small I mean huge, glaring, let's scrap this and go get a lager. The silos, I know we're all about breaching the unbreachable, but how are we supposed to get inside?"
"Kaz can pick the locks." Wylan said.
"No," he said. "I can't."
"I don't think I've ever heard those words leave your lips." Nina said in awe.
"Are you feeling alright?" Asra asked, carefully extending a hand as if he were about to collapse. "Do you need something? Drink, medik, sleep?"
Kaz ignored them both. "They're quatrefoil locks. Four keys in four locks turned at the same time or they trigger security doors and an alarm. I can pick any lock, but I can't pick four at once."
"Then how do we get in?" Jesper asked.
"The silos also open at the top."
"Those silos are nearly twenty stories high! Is Inej going to go up and down ten of them in one night?"
"Just one." Kaz said.
"And then what?" Nina asked, hands on her hips, eyes blazing.
"And then," Inej said, eyes shining. "I'm going to walk a high wire from one silo to the next."
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Author's note:
Asra's confusion every time she feels positive emotion is so funny to me I can't lie
Sudden end but this chapter in the actual book is so long wtf