𝕬𝖗𝖘𝖔𝖓𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖘 𝕷𝖚𝖑𝖑𝖆𝖇𝖞 - [𝗞𝗮𝘇 𝗕𝗿𝗲𝗸𝗸𝗲𝗿]

𝐱𝐱𝐢. 𝘤𝘶𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘴

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐘-𝐎𝐍𝐄 — cut your losses

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 𝐈𝐓 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐃𝐀𝐘𝐁𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐊 by the time Aleksa and Kaz managed to find themselves at the fountain and rendezvous with both Jesper and inej. Jesper seemed as chipper as usual as he danced his fingers along the handles of his pistols for comfort, clearly his own fight had gone rather well.

 Inej, however, was leaning the majority of her weight against the brick wall, blood seeping through her shirt and staining the skin of her fingertips. Aleksa had surged forth the moment she caught sight of the blood, crouching ever so slightly as she pried Inej's hand away from her wound.

 "What happened?" Aleksa muttered softly as she scanned the injury whilst Jesper curled his arm around the Wraith's waist to keep her steady.

 "The Inferni..." Inej's swallow was audible to them all, "She's dead."

 Aleksa peered up at her friend and whilst she felt that sliver of sympathy for the Inferni, it was easily overwhelmed by the relief that Inej was alive. She stood from her crouch, eyes meeting Inej's, "You won't be able to manage a horse... We need to stitch that up."

 Jesper groaned and readjusted his grip; he could easily watch with glee as his shining bullets carved through flesh and bone, yet the thought of a blood-stained needle weaving through skin was enough for his stomach to flip. He was glad that Aleksa had steady enough hands to do the task; she never did shy away from stitching any of them up, nor soaking their knuckles with the sting of alcohol.

 Aleksa joined Inej's side, her own arm slipping behind the Wraith to assist Jesper; she had no care if droplets of blood-stained her sleeves or trailed to her boots. As the Shadow Summoner glanced back at Kaz, his attention had departed from his Crows and landed on the extravagant carriage that had been left behind by the Darkling and his Grisha.

 The carriage was made of sleek ebony wood, each curve lined with a smattering of gold paint that glinted in the sunlight.

 Kaz flicked his muddy eyes back to them, "That's a pretty nice ride."

 From where they stood, mere metres away from the luxurious ride, they could all easily see the top of a person's head. Unkempt hair stuck up, darting to and fro as the head lightly bobbed. Aleksa knew that the person inside was likely a Grisha if they had been chosen to accompany her brother... yet Aleksander wasn't foolish, he wouldn't have left a Heartrender behind, nor an Etherialnik.

 Aleksa nodded to the carriage just as the person inside shifted, allowing her a perfect view of the Garish purple kefta he wore, "He's probably a Fabrikator, we won't have much trouble," The grip she had on Inej tightened as she addressed Jesper, "Go on, I've got her."