his flower queen (nikolai lantsov)

The Returning

Kaida woke up with a jolt. Tamar, was right in front of her, her face determined but also worried. She had beads of sweat trickling down her forehead. Kaida observed the rest of the group, everybody looked like a complete mess. Especially, Sergei and Stigg who were covered in mud. They must've been squished by the rocks, she thought. 

Pain shot through her leg and her head. As she moved to grip her leg, she saw the strange shape it was in. Nausea hitting her, she turned away from Tamar and threw up. Since she hadn't eaten anything recently, the liquid was as transparent as vomit could be. No clumps either. 

"Thanks for the warning, Tamar." Kaida said, wiping her mouth with her sleeve. 

"You're welcome," Tamar smiled, a relieved laugh escaping her. 

"Do you think you can move with that leg?" Mal asked rather gently even though it was clear he was in a rush. 

"Yeah," Kaida stood up, but everything went dizzy and her leg gave way, toppling to the ground again, nearly stepping into her vomit. "I might need some assistance, but we have to keep going." 

"Here," Tamar gave her a hand. 

Kaida wrapped her arm around Tamar's shoulder and as the group headed back to the more intact part of the tunnel, she limped along. Ignoring the sharp pain that shot up her leg every step as well as the ache in her head. 

One by one, the squallers released their power, as they waited to see if the ceiling would hold so they could rest. Kaida wanted to continue moving because there was no healer that could fix her leg and take away the pain, but she didn't complain because they took the time and energy to save her. Apparently it took two hours for them to find Stigg, Sergei and Kaida, so everyone was exhausted. 

They brushed the dust and grime off one another's faces and clothes as best they could, then passed a flask of kvas around. Stigg clung to it like a baby with a bottle. The whole time everybody tried to avoid looking at Kaida's deformed leg. 

"Everyone okay?" Mal asked. 

"Never better," said Genya shakily. 

David raised his hand. "I've been better." 

They all started laughing. 

"What?" he said. 

"How did you even do that?" Nadia asked Zoya. "That trick with the sound?" 

"It's just a way of creating an acoustical anomaly. We used to play with it back in school so we could eavesdrop on people in other rooms." 

Kaida had no idea what they were talking about, but it was a good distraction from everything, so she put all her attention on their conversation. 

Genya snorted. "Of course you did." 

"Could you show us how to do it?" asked Adrik. 

"If I'm ever bored enough." 

"Squallers and Kaida," Mal said, "are you ready to move again?" 

They all nodded. The squallers' faces had the gleam that came with using grisha power. 

"Then let's get the hell out of here," Mal said. 

"Yes please," Kaida muttered as Tamar heaved her up. 

Alina lit the way, still wary of what surprises might be waiting for them. They moved cautiously, squallers on alert, twisting through tunnels and passages until nobody - except Mal - had no sense of which way they'd gone. They were well off the map that David and Mal had created.