Blood and Water - The Darkling

Chapter 28: Choices

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𝕬𝖑𝖊𝖐𝖘𝖆𝖓𝖉𝖊𝖗 leans into my sister and whispers, "The tracker's being kept in camp, under guard. Do what's expected of you and he'll be released."

So much for no more lies. But I do see why he chose to apply this tactic.

Alina mumbles, "This isn't a good look for you. Everyone will see that I'm your prisoner."

"I doubt very much they'll notice anything but your neck," he hisses back.

For a long while, we drift in the black, the Grisha Squallers driving the skiffs forward over the sand.

"They're coming," my sister says.

"Yes," I respond.

"We should just tear this down now," she grumbles.

"And what can you really do on your own?" the Darkling asks even though he's not expecting a response.

I wave a hand lazily, "Besides, it would be a monumental waste of power."

We travel further into the Fold. I don't know for how long but then the Darkling's voice rings out, "Burn."

Huge clouds of flame burst from the Inferni on either side of the skiff, briefly illuminating the night sky. The ambassadors and even the guards around me stir nervously. Aleksander is announcing our location, calling the volcra directly to us.

It doesn't take long for them to answer, and a tremor of excitement rushes up my spine as I hear the distant beat of leathery wings. Maybe I've lost my mind. Because everyone else reacts in a more sane way. I feel fear spread through the passengers on the skiff and hear the Fjerdans begin to pray in their lilting tongue. In the flare of Grisha fire, I see the dim shapes of dark bodies flying toward us. The volcras' shrieks split the air.

The guards reach for their rifles. Someone begins to weep. But still, the Darkling waits as the volcra draw closer.

"Do something," Alina whispers.

"No. Remember who's driving. Your power is mine now," Aleksander says.

When the monsters are almost upon us, the Darkling grips my sister's arm and simply says, "Now."

I reach out through the darkness of the Fold, seeking starlight. It comes to me with a speed and fury that sets my body ablaze, breaking over me in a shower of brilliance. My sister is forced to do the same. Blue merges with gold to form white.

The Fold is alight, as bright as noon, as if its impenetrable darkness had never been. I see a long reach of blanched sand, hulks of what looks like shipwrecks dotting the dead landscape, and above it all, a teeming flock of volcra. They scream in terror, their writhing gray bodies gruesome in the bright light.

He nods at me and I know what he wants me to do. Make a path. I let the Fold close in around us as I focus the light, making a channel through which the skiff could pass, bordered on both sides by walls of rippling darkness. Alina's powers work in tandem with my own, the timing as perfect as when we practiced for the winter fete. The volcra flee into the dark, and I can hear them crying in rage and confusion as if from behind an impenetrable curtain.

"Why the half measure? Why just carve a tunnel?" Alina asks. "You have me. Us. You have this. Destroy the Fold. You said we could."

"And why would we destroy the Fold now? It's currently the greatest weapon that we've got," Aleksander replies.

"We will once we've made our point," I answer.

We speed over the colorless sands, the light spreading in glimmering waves before us. Far ahead, I see a flash of green. We're almost to the other side of the Shadow Fold. We are looking into West Ravka, and as we draw closer, I see their meadow, their drydocks, the village of Novokribirsk nestled behind it. The towers of Os Kervo gleam in the distance. Is it my imagination, or can I smell the salt tang of the True Sea in the air?