Centuries

Chapter 10

I followed the Darkling from a distance as he left the camp. He didn't go to the forest
where I'd gone the times I left the camp. There was still enough cover from bushes for me to go unseen. Where was he going? This seemed like a dangerously open area, especially for something so secretive.

I was still following the Darkling when he came to a stop in a clearing. He was almost out of sight from my hiding spot. I had to get closer to him. I bolted to the nearest bush and stepped on a branch. It didn't make much sound. Still enough for the Darkling to hear and fire a pistol in my direction. Not the cut. I noted.

That could have been because he didn't want to give away that he was grisha. Or it was because of my words. Either way guilt rose in my chest. What was I thinking? I wasn't worried about losing his trust anymore. I was worried about how I hurt him and how I wanted to stay friends with him.

I peeked from behind the grass and bushes to get a better glimpse at what the Darkling was doing. The Darkling was fidgeting with the cuff of his jacket. My best guess was that he was waiting for someone. Several minutes dragged on and I finally saw a figure approaching the Darkling.

At first I thought he was fijerdan from his blonde hair but I got a better look and he wasn't tall enough and didn't have the blue eyes they usually had. Also the Darkling would kill him in an instant if he was. I was straining to hear them and much to my frustration they were speaking in a kerch, which I didn't know. I tried to read their facial expressions. Unfortunately in the dark I couldn't see much. I wasn't going to find anything out.

I was about to find my way back to camp when the Darkling pulled out of his pocket what had to be at least five hundred kurge. Why and how did he have that much kurge? It would be useless in Ravka. After they exchange the money whoever the Darkling was talking to left. I turned away and was about to make my way to the next bush to hide behind when I heard the Darkling.

   "What are you doing here?"
The harshness in his voice stung.
 
"Trying to see what you're doing."
 
  "Do you know what confidential means?" He somehow sounded even more angry than a few seconds ago.

   "Well whatever I just saw shows that I was right to follow you!"
 
"I promise that I'll explain everything soon just trust me- oh wait you don't because of something I can't control!"

"I didn't mean it like that!" I was getting really frustrated at his pettiness

"Just shut up!" the Darkling looked almost shocked at what he just said.

I hated that he had a good point. His power wasn't something he chose. I doubted there would be any grisha if we could choose our power. I wondered what could have happened between us if we weren't opposites. If we weren't enemies I could have given into my heart. I was about to apologize when a gunshot went off.

The safer and more logical idea would be to run away from the gunshot but we went to investigate anyway. We searched around for about a half hour. Whoever fired that gun didn't want the body being found.

I found the gun lying on the ground with no sign of who fired it. It was a distraction. We found the body of the man the Darkling met up with a little while ago with a knife in his heart.

   "Damn it he was the best source for information." the Darkling muttered
 
"Of course you're only worried about the information and not the fact he could've had a family."

I probably shouldn't have said anything else to anger him but he was already furious with me so I didn't care anymore.

  "He'd have to be really stupid to agree to this and have a family."

  "How do you know he wasn't really stupid?" I challenged

   The Darkling just rolled his eyes and sighed. The clouds were clearing and the moonlight made it easier to see. That meant I could see how annoyed at me the Darkling was.

  "Do you think it was a Fijerdan?" the Darkling questioned.

  "I doubt there's anyone else that would kill him."

hopefully that was true, I still wasn't entirely sure what the situation was here. The Darkling and I walked alongside the river to cover our noise.

Hiking was the last thing I wanted to be doing considering what I needed to go through last night. The fear that someone would come charging out of the bushes was the only thing keeping me from falling asleep in the grass. How did the Darkling never seem tired? He was keeping a brutal pace, I had a feeling he wanted me to fall behind so I couldn't talk to him. Well I didn't want to talk to him either.

I heard a snap ahead of me and it was too far away to be the Darkling. The drüskelle found us.

   "Please tell me you were at least smart enough to bring a weapon."

It wasn't much but I pulled a knife out of my pocket.

The Darkling was less than impressed. We got back to back and I felt the rush of him amplifying my power. I wished I could use it. If I revealed it would the Darkling understand I didn't mean what I said earlier.

That was the least of my problems when the drüskelle got tired of waiting and attacked. I drew my knife and circled the soldier who was concentrating on me. I needed him to attack first in order to have an advantage. My heart was pounding and my anxiety was climbing. What was he doing? Why wasn't he attacking? I risked a glance at the Darkling, he was summoning shadows around the other soldier to lure him to his death.

That was my mistake. The other soldier knew I would eventually look away from him and used that as a chance to attack me. I stepped out of the way just out of his path. In the forest I had an advantage thanks to Fijerdans being large and clumsy but here out in the open I was at a disadvantage.

The Fijerdan regained his control and drew a far better blade than I had. I backed up until I was knee deep in the river. I thought maybe he could slip on a rock and I didn't know where else to go. When he chased me, I reached my free hand into the river and hurled a rock at his head. I missed and hit him in the chest.

I didn't do much other than send him running back to the shore. I followed him and lunged forward with my knife. He grabbed my wrists an instant before the blade entered his chest. I kicked him hard in the knee which made him falter and release my wrists while throwing me back.

I stumbled and lashed out with my knife. I heard him cry out so I cut him. It took me a little too long to recover and the fijerdan managed to stab me. Pain sliced through my side and I fell to the ground. The fijerdan was about to deliver a killing blow when I mustered the last of my strength to slit his throat.

Blood soaked my shirt, some of it was the fijerdan's, however most of it was mine. I got up but I only made it a few paces before I collapsed. I was loosing blood fast. Where was the Darkling? I didn't want to move and make my wound worse. I turned my head and saw him. He looked fine other than a slight limp. The grass was too tall for me to see if the other soldier had fallen but I knew he had to have been killed. The Darkling wouldn't let him live.

Black spots were appearing in my vision which definitely wasn't a good thing. Somehow my side was throbbing even more than before. Did waking a few paces make it worse? I pressed my hands to the wound to slow the bleeding but it sent another wave of pain crashing over me.

   "Alina. Where are you?" the Darkling called out

"Over here." I croaked

The Darkling rushed to my side.

  "Saints are you okay?"
None of his anger was there anymore. Only concern.

   "Not really, I got stabbed."

Even on the verge of bleeding out I wanted to get on his nerves. The Darkling picked me up gently. The surety of his touch made me feel slightly better. I blacked out for a second before the Darkling shook me.

  "Try to stay awake." He spoke softly.

That seemed like too much effort but I still tried. And failing. The Darkling was trying to keep me conscious. Everything hurt and I was growing tired.

   "Stay with me." urged the Darkling

I couldn't. That was the last thing I heard before the world blackened around me.