Centuries

Chapter 12

The next morning I woke up to wind howling and whipping against the tent. I was relieved that the wind meant I would be able to wear a scarf to cover the collar without anyone questioning it. I wouldn't be giving myself away as a saint but wearing antlers around my neck would still  draw unwanted attention.

The sun hadn't even risen yet and the camp was already wide awake. We were leaving to attack the Fijerdan camp today. It was a two day's journey which I wasn't looking forward to. The high winds made it impossible to make any maps thanks to papers blowing everywhere. Kate and I weren't assigned to do anything else. She  was keeping a small fire under control while I braided her curly hair.

A little while later we needed to meet in the center of the camp to go over our plan  once more. There were about thirty of us going and most of the other soldiers were grisha. The Darkling explained that we would wait for a patrol to leave and then attack while there were less people there. I agreed with all his decisions until he said that along with a few other soldiers I would be backup.

It was an improvement from not going at all but I still didn't think it was fair that after I proved myself several times I could hold my ground in a fight. When we were done going over the plan.

"Backup? Really?" I said as I sat next to the Darkling. He was sitting on a rock next to one of the fires while writing something.

"You're lucky that I was too tired to argue with you and you're even going."

I sighed, it seemed pretty pointless to argue with him and being annoying wasn't going to help me get closer to stopping him from creating the fold.

A gust of wind blew hair into my face, I was a bit surprised when the Darkling brushed it out of my face. The surety of his power was calming as it rushed through me. I made eye contact with him for a brief moment and smiled at him. He gave me the same half smile he'd given me a few times at the little palace.

The Darkling got distracted by something and left me sitting alone. I gathered the
notes he left behind so they wouldn't blow away. I didn't really know why I thought I would find anything of importance when I flipped through his messy notes. As far as I knew he didn't have much to hide yet. He was also smart enough to not write it down.

We left camp about a half hour later and headed in the direction the scouts said the camp was. Although I'd been in the army long enough to be used to walking long distances I still hated it. I wanted to talk to the Darkling although I didn't know exactly what I would say. When I looked around at the people the Darkling chose I noticed that all of them were grisha except for Willow.

After hiking through the mountains we came into a meadow about a mile away from the Fijerdan camp. The Darkling took several grisha to get a better look at the camp while the rest of us stayed behind to set up. The wind was significantly less strong here and the sky was clear so thankfully I didn't need to set up any tents.

When night came I took the first watch with Willow. A small part of me wished I could have had the Darkling with me. I knew I was risking a lot growing close to him but I didn't know what else to do in order to one day kill him.

He needed to be alive for probably at least fifty years to help strengthen Ravka. And I wouldn't age so I would need to be with him the entire time in order to one day stop him. I was afraid to be alone for centuries. I could love many people during that time but I would lose them all. Except for the Darkling.

I was avoiding talking so we wouldn't wake anyone up but Willow broke the silence after about an hour.

"Where were you posted before here?"
she questioned. Saints, did she figure something out? She could also just be trying to get to know me better, it didn't mean something was wrong. How would she figure anything out anyway, there wasn't anyone to tell her anything.

"I just got drafted." I lied

"Well that explains why you're inexperienced."

I was a little bit offended but she had a point. I really didn't know what was happening and there were plenty of landmarks that weren't commonly marked yet so her thinking I was just drafted was probably a good thing.

"How old are you if you were just drafted?"

"Seventeen."
There was no point in lying about my age too.Willow thankfully didn't ask anything else. She didn't act suspicious but I still thought she was giving mixed signals.

The forest around us was thick and I jumped at every small noise thinking we were being attacked. When my shift was finally over I went to wake up the Darkling for his turn.

"Hey it's your turn to take watch." I
whispered as I gently shook his shoulder.

He mumbled something about strangling me into his pillow.

"Well good morning to you too, sunshine." I said sarcastically

"It's the middle of the night." He complained

"Which means I'm going to sleep. Good night."

"You just said that it was morning." the Darkling said

"Morning for you dumbass." I retorted while going to set up my sleeping pad.

I didn't expect to sleep well considering how uncomfortable the ground was but I surprisingly didn't have much trouble falling asleep. The camp was buzzing with anticipation when I woke up that morning.

I was going to stay a bit behind with the other people on backup and the Darkling would signal us if he needed us. Which hopefully he didn't. Although a small part of me still wanted a fight.

As we approached the camp I couldn't shake the feeling something was wrong. It was late enough in the morning that there should be more people out considering the size of their camp. We were still concealed by the forest and the Darkling covered us with a light shadow.

I climbed on top of a boulder to get a clearer look at the camp while everyone else advanced. When the soldiers were still out of the sight of the Fijerdans that was when I saw it. They were somehow expecting our attack.

As if this was something they had been prepared for they lined up and faced us. The Darkling shot a shadow upwards. The signal for backup. It looked like I was going to get the fight I wanted.