For Grisha, for Ravka (a Darkling prequel)

Part 2 - Chapter 7

The cold wind blew strong on the watchtower.
Alyssa didn't mind.
She stood alone, peering at the darkness that had torn her country in two.
The hatred for that dark wall her kept her warm.

Do you fear a wall of darkness and monsters? Her mother was used to mock. What if it was a wall of solid ice and rocks? How would you feed this country with just fish and hunting, when the long winter wouldn't allow you to grow any plant?

The noises of tired steps woke her from her thoughts.
Alyssa breathed deeply to compose herself, but when Ronan approached her and stood next to her, she lowered her guard.
She didn't need to act with him.
"You know you shouldn't ignore the harm that winter winds can do to your health" he scolded her like a loving father.
She simpered, rolling her eyes to the dark clouds that covered the sun in that morning.
"Any luck?" she asked, fearing the result.
His face wore an eloquent answer.
Another failure.
There was no way to cross the Fold.

"Wounded or what?" she inquired bitterly.
"Nobody died. But Lara is already tending at them" he sighed and added in a murmur "I fear they won't fully recover".
Alyssa clenched her fists on the iron railing.
What cure could heal the traumatic experience that the poor lambs suffered in their short journey into the Fold?
How many families would be fed with more hatred for every Grisha, just because of that abomination and of their desperare need of crossing it?
King Melech was more patient than his predecessors and didn't allow those journeys to end in useless bloodshed.
Alyssa knew most of the young people who were selected for those experiments and who agreed to sacrifice themselves for a bag of money for their poor families. Her heart broke too, each time she saw them coming back broken, no matter how fast the rescue system worked.
Not just the wounds, but also the pure terror in their wide eyes was a disturbing view.

"Pay them and their families" she instructed "Make sure they remember that this plague is our true enemy, not the Grisha, nor the wrong choices of our leaders".
Ronan nodded vaguely "Money isn't enough to convert their minds".
"But that's all they want. What about the assassin?".
"He had been already hanged" he said uneasily "At the first lights. I made sure he didn't suffer too much".
"But we didn't manage to get enough hints from him" she protested "Who paid him, how he was introduced into the palace, how he could hide in that damned corner".
"He preferred to die than to reveal more. Unless he said the truth and he was paid by a stranger lord who helped him to filter into the building".
Alyssa scoffed, her breathing becoming mist in the cold air "It seemed a poor plan. He was so close to harm the King or the Princess. Instead he attacked me".
"He was found. If you didn't see him, he wouldn't have attacked".
She didn't believe that "Kiril saved my life".
"Your life wasn't meant to be endangered".
"Are we not all in danger?".
Ronan crossed her eloquent glance and kept his mouth shut.
The bitter truth.

"So no links between Shea's being poisoned and the brute who attacked me?" she asked.
"It doesn't seem so".
She breathed deeply, but it was hard not be overwhelmed by desperation.
"We have too many enemies closing around us. How long before we are choked?".
"Our armies need a new General. The King wants to join the war himself" Ronan murmured.
"But he can't" Alyssa said sternly. What would happen if the king died? The idea worsened her headache "I've been waiting for a miracle, while our brothers are dying. General Rostov is dead. I'm just delaying the inevitable, by trying to keeping him comatose. Are you still sure of your decision?".
Ronan wore little of the fierce warrior she was used to know. He looked exhausted, vulnerable "Look at me, Alyssa. I'm too old and broken to lead anything. I only want the best for our country. And I can't offer it".
"I don't want to lose you too" she said emotionally "But if we keep waiting here, we'll die in this palace alone".
"Let's wait for Meira to marry the Lantsov prince. East Ravka is our only true ally now. They will come to save us".
She couldn't share his hope "I doubt it. Our only hope are the Grisha. But I'm the only one to believe it".
"A Grisha created this abomination" he recalled carefully, knowing how dangerous that topic was.
"A Grisha who had served our king and who was betrayed" she remarked, but she didn't care to argue on that "Anyway, this abomination killed that Darkling".
She peered at the Fold, hating how it looked indestructible.
Ronan moved uncomfortably next to her, then gathered his courage to ask quietly.
"Are you still obsessed with your plan?".