Centuries

Chapter 18

Time seemed to slow as General Janazain lifted his gun to my head.

"Don't shoot."

I didn't need to turn around to know it was the Darkling who interrupted. He certainly liked dramatic entrances. A cloud of darkness flooded the camp when General Janazain didn't lower his gun. I couldn't tell anymore if he was going to fire or not.

The darkness flooding the camp began to flicker. I knew the grisha cuffs would still weaken the Darkling. My hands still being bound made it awkward to run. But I still needed to get away from him somehow.

Zoya found me and cut off the rope. The shadows disappeared completely and we were left without cover. The camp erupted in chaos as Zoya then sent a gust of wind at General Janazain and blew him backwards. Suddenly several soldiers had their rifles aimed at us.

An inferni set a few of the trees around the camp on fire which directed the attention away from me. I took the chance to run towards the Darkling and Willow.

Someone grabbed my wrist and I was relieved to see that it was just Kate. Her hand was warm, as if she had just used fire.

"I'll distract everyone and you need to escape." she explained quickly

"Thank you, but what about you?"
I couldn't let Kate sacrifice herself for me. Mal was already enough.

"He doesn't know it was me yet and there's plenty of inferni here, go you're our best chance at ending this war."

I ran, I couldn't leave without the stag's antlers so I briefly ran to my tent and grabbed my belongings and Willow's I couldn't leave her and Aleksander in this mess that was my own fault.

I ran into a soldier and blinded her with little effort, I felt more free than I had in months now that I could use it again. I searched for Zoya and found her with Kate, the two of them were hiding behind a fallen tent from the soldiers who were looking for the grisha that started the fire.

"Come on," I whispered when I was sure nobody had seen me. "I just need to find Willow and Aleksander and then we can leave."

"I already explained, you need to leave us behind. Find Willow and Aleksander and run."

It was hopeless to convince Kate to come with me but Zoya followed. I pulled a fur hat over my head so I wouldn't be recognized. I spotted the Darkling and Willow near the border of the camp, I was relieved they had the same idea as us to run.

The forest would've provided better cover but that side of the camp was too guarded so we settled for the open valley.

Willow and the Darkling were behind us by a lot and Zoya and I came to a stop in a tall patch of grass behind a bush. I flashed a small amount of light to get their attention. The other soldiers didn't seem to know where we had escaped to since we hadn't been followed. As far as I knew.

"Well that was a subtle way of revealing your power." Willow said sarcastically when she found us.

"I don't think there was a subtle way to do that." I retorted

"We need a plan." the Darkling interrupted,

"Agreed." it was probably the only time Zoya would ever agree with him.

"We should probably take off our jackets, they will look for army uniforms."
Willow pointed out while shrugging off her jacket.
Everyone else did the same and hid them in the bush we were behind.

"It's not the best plan but I have an idea." the Darkling announced
"So we're hopeless?" said Willow, the Darkling glowered at her and continued