Kingdom of Scourge and Shadow (The Sightstone Series #1)

Chapter Forty-Eight: Alina

"O Almighty, Lord above, I entreat thee, deliver me. O Almighty God of all, have mercy and deliver me. For I have seen the evil of man, and I have seen the encroaching darkness. And now, O Lord, I pray thee, grant me your blessing and your protection, and carry me from these cursed shores."

-from Sankt Lazar's Creed, the Holy Scriptures of the Allsaints

***

Alina's arrival in Allerstad could best be described as inauspicious.

The Sankta Anastasia docked late one evening, after a weather-plagued journey south along the Caedish coast. At least they hadn't encountered any enemy vessels, Alina thought ruefully, as she watched the smoggy, sooty cityscape of Allerstad growing larger in front of her as the ship slipped, unheralded, into port.

Captain Novikov tried to insist on sending some of his crew to escort Alina to the Saroviyan embassy, but, since her plan involved avoiding the Saroviyan embassy at all costs, she managed to dissuade him by reminding him that he had cargo that needed unloading, and it would go faster if he had his whole crew.

And so it was that she found herself walking, alone, up the wide boulevard called St. Roland Straat that flanked a murky canal, with no plan in mind, and no idea what to do or where to go. It was bitterly cold, and the air was dirty and laced with all kinds of less-than-pleasant smells, and she spared a longing thought for the clean air of the seas. Already, she missed her time on the Sankta Anastasia with a dull ache that refused to ebb, and her heart ached as she trudged away from the harbor, bundled up against the cold.

The first thing she did was purchase, with the little money she had, a change of clothes. Her uniform had already attracted attention, and, though it pained her to take it off and shove it into her bag, as though she was taking away some part of herself, she didn't have a choice. She exchanged it for a Rijkean style wool dress, plain but warm, and a too-large coat that was still cozy. They weren't as nice as the uniform she'd stolen from Sofiya, but nobody looked twice at her anymore. She was just another girl on the streets.

It was kind of nice, the anonymity. In Saroviya, she'd been recognizable. In her uniform, with her pale hair and Skellan features, she was recognizable. Even in the borrowed olive jacket, she was a rarity, something to be gawped at. In Allerstad, in a simple dress and baggy coat, even with her Skellan coloring and the Saroviyan cast of her face, she was, for the first time in her life, ordinary.

That first night was the first time she'd ever been truly alone. At first, she found a little coffeehouse, where she ordered a strong black coffee and gorged herself on her favorite Rijkean pastries, the ones she'd so rarely gotten to eat in Saroviya. But, soon enough, the novelty wore off, and her fear and loneliness returned.

She really ought to try to come up with a plan, she knew, but, after everything she learned, after everything she'd been through, her mind refused to cooperate and her whole body was numb. She stayed at the coffeehouse until it closed, late at night, then found a tavern to wait out the night. She wasn't brave enough, or weary enough, to seek out rented accommodation. She had a feeling that, if she rented a room somewhere, she'd use that as an excuse not to leave, not to finish what she'd set out to do. She'd let herself get comfortable, if she found a room, and she wouldn't want to leave, just like she hadn't wanted to leave the Sankta Anastasia.

Besides, she was too wired to sleep. At the tavern, she ordered a pint of ale, hoping it would take the edge off her nerves, but, as the night wore slowly and inexorably on, her stomach tightened and began to churn so much that she could no longer stomach so much as a sip. She could barely sit still, either, but, through sheer force of will, somehow she managed to stay tucked away in a dark corner of the smoky tavern until the sky outside began to lighten and the barkeep began kicking people out.