A Gamblers Luck | Jesper Fahey

Welcome to the Ice Court

Eliana felt a pair of gloved hands jostle her awake. 

"Wake up Valentina," said Kaz. 

She rolled over and muttered, "go away you miserable lump."

"Maybe you should have slept instead of talking to your boyfriend all night." 

Eliana rolled her eyes and got up. She reached up to stretch out her sore limbs. She couldn't wait to sleep in a normal bed again. They walked out towards where the rest of the group was waiting. 

"Finally the beast awakens," said Jesper with a wink. 

"Good morning to you too." 

She walked next to Jesper as they made their way towards where the prison wagon would be. Nina handed Inej and Eliana each a left over cookie and walked towards where Matthias was kneeling down next to a cut down tree.

"Is he praying?" Asked Inej. She turned her head towards Eliana. Inej looked significantly better today. It seemed her wound had healed for the most part.

"I have no idea," Mumbled Eliana. She shook her head. "Although, I do know that Kaz will beat his ass if he takes any longer." Sure enough, Kaz raised a gloved hand to snap at the Fjerdan. Inej chuckled. 

"Glad to see you ladies are enjoying what is most likely your last day on this Earth," said Jesper. He came up towards the girls and stood next to Eliana. 

"Aren't you a little ray of sunshine," said Eliana. 

"No. That's Wylan. Geez El, get it right," said Jesper in a mocking tone. His usual bright, patterned clothes were replaced with a white button up and black pants. His hands were fidgeting with where his guns used to be. They left most of their weapons in the gully. Kaz told them the night before to just bring a couple for the guards to find. A criminal without weapons would look suspicious. 

After the tree was successfully positioned across the road, Jesper left Eliana's side to go to his hideout behind a bush. He would signal to the group with a quick flash of light so they would know when to go. The other walked back into the gully. 

A few minutes later, a quick flash of light indicated the wagon had stopped. Eliana felt her nerves deep in the pit of her stomach. The six Dregs hid behind trees as they watched the prison guards exit the wagon. 

"I have butterflies from the nerves in my stomach right now," whispered Eliana to the Heartrender crouched next to her. 

Nina shook her head. "So do I." 

"What are you two mumbling about," growled Kaz. 

"We have butterflies Brekker," stated Nina pointedly. 

"Well swallow them," quipped Kaz. He moved away from the shelter of his tree, the others following pursuit. He signaled for them to stay hidden as he picked the locks to the wagon. Once the wagon door swung open, he stared it. 

"Whys he just standing there?" Asked Nina.

"Maybe the prisoners aren't hooded?" Offered Wylan.

Jesper came up behind the group and waited. "What is taking him so long," he grumbled. As if snapping from a daze, Kaz signaled them over. 

Eliana looked at the wagon. The prisoners were so close together. Kaz unlocked the prisoners shackles and cuffs and Matthias and Jesper moved them into the gully. Once the prisoners were disposed of, the group made their way into the wagon. Kaz shakily shackled and cuffed everyone. He started putting the hoods on them. Before the hood came over Eliana's head, she got her first good look at Kaz Brekker, Dirtyhands, Bastard of the Barrel. He looked shaken. Small. 

Like a boy.

The hood came over her head and she was immediately enveloped in the smell of sweat. She gagged. She heard the prison guards return to the wagon, and then felt the it start. The small confines of the wagon started to become unbearable. Every second spent shackled next to all the bodies of her crew felt alarmingly like the minutes she waited in the cabinet while her family died. She could hear her brother screaming. Her mother, her father. She could hear them all screaming. Cursing her for being a coward. She closed her eyes and saw them.

"It should have been you! Not Kiyo. My only son," sobbed her mother while holding the lifeless body of her brother. 

"My wife," sobbed Elianas father. His Fjerdan eyes, so much like Matthias', lined with tears. The dream faded to another one. It was just her brother looking at her now. His body covered with the markings of a knife, the markings of his death. 

"They killed me last," he said. He held his head high despite his young age. Then his demeaner completely changed. " You said you'd protect me!" He screamed. Eliana wanted to scream, to cry. She wanted to hold  her brother. But then she heard a familiar voice calling her name.

"Eliana," the voice said. 

"Eliana," it said again, urgently almost. 

This time, the voice shook her. "Eliana!" 

She was Eliana Valentina. And through blood, through sin, she had avenged her family. She realized now, she could never forget them. She didn't want to. So when the voice called her name again, 

she let it wake her up. 

"Finally," sighed Jesper. He looked worried, anxious. 

"What happened?" Mumbled Eliana. 

"You passed out." 

Eliana looked out the small window in the wagon through a hole in her hood. She saw they were almost at the top of the cliff the Ice Court was on. She spent the next few moments recalling her dream, until a voice said, "We're here." 

The wagon opened and the guards began hauling out the prisoners. Once they were out of the wagon, the were counted, identified, and put into rows by gender. They began walking single file. Eliana looked towards the building, at the carefully sculpted structure. There was no way it wasn't Fabrikator made. The 7 Dregs made they're way towards the building, and through the doors.

Into the Ice Court.