Tempest and Tide [Nikolai Lantsov]

~ Chapter One ~

[ thirteen years later ]

A hard wind whistles around me, pushing me to run even faster as I sprint through the spiraling streets of the tiny port town. I can hear the footsteps of the soldiers behind me closing in with every moment.

Cursing under my breath, I round a corner drop to the ground behind a crate that's been unloaded from one of the various ships. The stinking smell of fish hits me and I reel back, barely suppressing a gag as the soldiers thunder past on the other side.

Pinching my nose, I lean forward again, daring to peer around the side of my hiding spot. My satchel presses into my ribs, the coins inside jingling slightly with the movement. It's strapped around my waist beneath my clothes, high enough that pickpockets and street urchins with roving hands won't be able to reach it. It's all I have now. As soon as the soldiers found me I tossed off my pack, knowing that it would only slow me down.

I've lost sight of the soldiers in the crowd of merchants and sailors spilling over from the docks. Even from my position a few streets away I can see the masts of ships rising above the small dockside buildings.

So close but so far.

My eyes skim through the flags flapping in the midafternoon wind until I find the one I'm looking for. The Novyi Zem trading flag flying high above the sails. That's how I'm going to escape, and it would have been easy if it weren't for the Saints forsaken Darkling and his need for every Grisha to be in his little army.

I've never met him, but that did nothing to stop the Darkling from sending hoards of soldiers after me the moment everything fell apart.

My parents, being the pacifists that they are, hid me away during the Grisha examination. I was too young to really understand that this one act would cascade, changing the entire course of my future. Because of that moment, I spent the years of my life hiding a power that I wasn't even sure I had. Because of that moment, I'm not another cog in the King's army. Because of that moment, I had to run, leaving everything I knew behind.

I barely got out in time.

And now it seems as though half the First Army is out looking for me - a girl with no Grisha training and no extraordinary power. It seems as though the Darkling can't stand the idea that just one of us might slip through his fingers.

I can't imagine what he would have done if I was special.

Not for the first time I pray to the Saints that some Heartrender will have the good sense to stop the Darklings shriveled little heart before we all end up dead in this war. Him and the rest of the court. I know it will never happen but a girl can dream right.

Another pair of soldiers race past my hiding spot and I shrink back into the shadows. I don't know how they found me. I was so careful. If I'm caught now the weeks of grueling travel across Ravka will all be for nothing and I can't stand the thought.

Do you know how much walking it takes to cross the entire country?

Too much. It's absolutely disgusting - hiking for hours on end alone in the woods, especially after growing up wrapped in the comforts of Os Alta. I've never been particularly athletic, it's not ladylike, and there's a part of me that proud I made it this far.

That word, ladylike, it's haunted me for my entire journey across the kingdom. Nothing about this endeavor has been ladylike.

Maybe that's a good thing.

Every step I take farther from the city helps, but I can still feel the chill of fingers against my hips. The brush of hot intoxicated breath against my skin. The disgust and the fear warring