In The Name of Shadows - A Darklina Story

Chapter 11: Return of the Shadow Fold

Publishing date: 03/18/2022

Note: There is a bit of violence here, but nothing that big.

Alina was riding in silence, feeling like a prisoner being transported to a certain death. The tenants whom the Darkling had hired hadn't said a single word all the way towards Novokribirsk, which was even stranger as the fifth and final day of their journey to where one of Ravka's largest cities had once been had been just passing. Since the Shadow Fold was no longer here, the wayfarers had to travel the entire route on horseback – and not in a carriage, but only in a saddle.

The road seemed extremely long for Alina, especially since the Darkling limited the stops to the absolute minimum, as if he did not want to waste even a minute of his precious time unnecessarily. Surprisingly, the dark man was also very silent, as if he was absorbed in his own thoughts and he was also completely absent. It was the white-haired girl who had to make a conversation with him from time to time, feeling that she was about to go mad from the overwhelming landscapes that travelers were passing along their way.

Just sand, emptiness, cracks in the ground and the remains of ancient trees.

"Are you sure we couldn't take a detour?" Alina hissed, spitting the sand crunching between her teeth. "It's only two more days of journey, unless you've found a very surprising way to kill me. Believe me, there are much easier ways to do such a thing."

The Darkling said nothing to Alina's biting remark, hiding his face deeper under the high collar of his black kefta. There was not even a trace of his earlier otkazat'sya attire, and Aleksander flaunted his might more than ever.

Alina wondered why there was such a sudden change in the Black Heretic's attitude and why he had given up hiding of his identity. Sometimes the girl wished she could read his mind the way she had used to do it in the past as she herself was an easy target for his mental attacks.

"The entire coast is now a breeding ground for Fjerdan." The Darkling finally replied, glancing out of the corner of his eye towards the Havoc Summoner and riding off the sidelines. "Your boy king has stopped controlling the western border and it is impossible for us to reach Novokribirsk other than through the desert which appeared in the place of the Fold."

What? Alina thought. How is this a breeding ground for Fjerdan?

"Let me answer you normally and not in your mind. Every day new Fjerdan warriors come to Ravka from Djerholm. Our beloved king has practically lost Os Kervo, which means that Ravka has been deprived of its largest seaport. And how do you like it, my little Alina? Do you still think that Ravka has been going well since I was gone?" The Darkling smiled from the corner of his lips, squinting at the sandy breeze.

Aleksander had forced Alina to change her clothes due to the terrible weather conditions inside the former Fold. The girl had to cover her face constantly with a scarf so as not to inhale a fine dust and sand that were pressing under her eyelids from the moment the travelers had entered the place where not that long ago had been the Shadow Fold.

The Darkling had also prepared for his female companion a black and white kefta with gold ornaments. The clothes were tailor-made, and they reached Alina up to the ankles. The kefta was white on the breasts up to the sleeves and black on the back. Alina guessed that the two-tone garment was related to her new ability to summon both light and shadow. Beneath the Havoc Summoner's kefta Alina was still wearing a black traveling trousers and the knee-length boots. The young Grisha had pinned her hair up under the black scarf with a golden hairpin, releasing her white curls loosely over her shoulders.