Who is my mother, really? (A Shadow and Bone Fanfic)

Part Fourteen

A few steps out into the hall left my stomach churning dangerously. Out here, the stench of the whaler overwhelmed everything; my body didn't know what to do with these horrendous foreign smells as bile surged up my throat. 

I took a few shallow breaths, forcing everything back down before Ivan jerked me along. 

Genya walked beside me, but we traveled down the corridors in silence. My chains and the swaying beat of the ocean against the hull kept me company. Sweat beaded on my brow as my worry grew with every passed corner. I hoped the Darkling would let me see the girls. Did he need both of them whole or would he stoop as low as to kill a child?

Fortunately, Ivan's long strides kept him several paces ahead of us, but he would occasionally stop to pull me along when he felt I wasn't moving sufficiently. 

I gritted my teeth and kept moving, and, eventually, we reached a hatch leading out onto the bustling deck. Before I could attempt the stairs myself, Ivan hauled me up them and deposited me in the sunlight like a sack of laundry left to dry. 

My first few breaths of fresh air burned. The air reeked of what I could only assume was rendered blubber and sweaty bodies as sailors rushed about the deck. 

Though the sailors wore peasant roughspun, I was unprepared to see the Grisha clustered about in their bright kefta. There were so many of them. They loitered at the rail and beneath the masts, one was even tucked beside a coil of rope reading. A few Squallers had their arms raised, driving the ship forward across the waves. 

The short time I'd spent with the Darkling, I'd only seen a handful of Corporalki and the few Etherealki that made up his service. Very few had actually performed the Small Science around me. Now it was overwhelming, and I couldn't help staring. 

I felt like a child being shepherded across the deck. What did I truly know about this world? The things I'd read in a book? Pitiful. 

Ivan didn't wait for me to drown in my realizations. No, he strode across the deck, pulling me along behind him as if I really were an unruly child. He had no mercy for traitors. 

When I tripped beneath the mainmast, he gave me a hard shove. Stumbling to my knees, I seized the opportunity to search the rigging for the twins I knew would be there, careful to keep my movements loose. Every small action would draw the Darkling's attention, and I couldn't let Sturmhond's plan fail because of my own stupidity. 

With a little luck, thank the Saints, between the thick ropes and wooden beams, I met their golden gazes. 

Tolya and Tamar didn't know Alina or me yet, but I already knew they would be great allies. So as they hung from the rigging like two great birds, I mouthed them a message. I know about Sturmhond. 

Their joint looks of dread carried me across the remaining deck to the Darkling, his back turned to us, his black kefta billowing behind him. Leigh had described it as a banner of war, and the description fit too well. 

Genya and Ivan deposited me before him, sketched quick bows, and took off. So eager to be away from the man they adored. 

For a moment, I stared out across the water, standing in silence with the man who had enslaved my mother. We were already far from the Zemeni coastline with nothing but open sea for miles. If something went wrong out here, there would be no help and nowhere to run. I had to be careful playing this game. 

"Where are the girls?" I asked, still refusing to face the man. I'd rather thump him across the head, dump him into the sea, anything, but finally, he turned to me. 

His gray eyes glittered with amusement. "As predictable as your mother, I see."

"Sorry to bore you." As she would have said. I turned on my heel, staring down the length of deck where I knew the girls would be before he could tell me. The girls stood by the railing, their tiny bodies flanked by Corporalki guards. Tears streaked their faces, but they were whole.

I released a breath. If I was as predictable as Alina, he, at least, could be counted on to follow the same patterns. Like a piece of slate.

With a wave of the Darkling's hand, Ann and Marie were pulled back below deck. Their screams and cries for help pounded through my ears, but I remained motionless. There was no point fighting when I would only get a few steps. 

"They're safe for now, Lassie. But don't test me. If one of you steps out of line, the other will suffer. I've told them the same."

I whirled around to face the Darkling, jamming a bound hand in his direction. "Spare your breath. I already know what you're planning."

 "Do tell?"

"We're going after the sea whip," I said. North, towards the breaking waters surrounding Fjerda and the wild northern islands. To kill a dragon of myths. "You mean to bring together all of Morozova's amplifiers."

There was a flicker of surprise before his face shuttered. He was silent, studying me in that cold way I'd only read about but that left me feeling as exposed as an open book. "You truly know what's going to happen, then."

A note of danger went off in my head. I studied the toes of my boots. Had I been too brash?

He stepped closer, running a knuckle down my cheek, bringing my eyes back to his. "Then you know we'll be in the ice soon. You know what I want from them. The girls find the sea whip, and you keep your pretty face." His voice was soft, pleasant as if we talked of dolphins breaking the waves, not the breaking of my face. 

I jerked away from him. "Keep your knife sheathed. They're only children."

"This game you're playing, you think you can best me." He shook his head, a look close to pity on his face. "If there's a way, you'll find it. You'll avoid your fates. But a book can't save you, Lassie." 

"Try seven, then."

"I have hundreds of years on those tales. Countless experiences," he said. "With a flick of my fingers, I can easily avoid a singular path one little witch predicted."

"I get it. I live in one moment, you live in a thousand." I invaded his space, resting a hand upon his arm as Alina had done so many years ago in the Grisha pavilion. "But can you truly avoid it all? You might succeed in avoiding these small moments, but what of the finale?"

I felt Ivan hovering behind me, yanking on my shoulder to release me from his master. I let him pull me away, but I stared up into the Darkling's gray eyes. 

"All paths converge at some point, and I know how yours ends, Aleksander." 

A/N: Songs for this chapter are:

1. Into the I-LAND by IU

2. Pink (Freak) by Elliot Lee