Swan Song ~ Shadow & Bone

14

just fyi.... shit hits the fan 0-0

Shadowy thunder rolled as we plunged into the depths of the Fold. I glanced around as nearly invisible shadows flew through the darkness.

"Can you feel them?" I asked Ivan as he surveyed the area.

"No heartbeats yet, ma'am." I nodded and walked back to Aleksander and Alina as the girl looked around nervously.

"They're coming," she murmured. Aleksander nodded.

"Yes." She sighed and shook her head.

"I should just tear this down now." He scoffed and held up his hand, which showed the piece of Morozova's stag's antlers.

"And what can you really do on your own?" He sighed. "Besides, it would be a monumental waste of power." Before long, volcra began diving down across the top of the skiff, and Alina shifted around on the deck as she watched.

"Do something!" she commanded. When neither of us moved, she went to summon, but Aleksander clamped a hand onto her shoulder, shaking his head.

"No," he said. "Remember who's driving." She shuddered, and a wave of light surged, shooting a tunnel of safety through the shroud of the Fold. "Your power is mine now." She frowned and looked around.

"Why this half measure?" she asked. "Why just carve a tunnel? You have me. You have this." She pressed a hand to the collar. "Destroy the Fold. You said we could." I shook my head, smirking and furrowing my brows.

"And why would we destroy the Fold?" I asked her. "It's the greatest weapon that we've got." I could see the edges of Novokribirsk in the distance, the city that had stolen my life away from me in exchange for another one. A more dangerous one. But as we slid to a stop at the edge of the Fold, a sly smirk spread across my lips, and Aleksander turned to the diplomats and representatives behind us.

"One more demonstration," he announced. "You've seen what the Sun Summoner can do. Now bear witness to what I can do... with her power." Alina scowled and shook her head.

"Whatever it is you want me to do, I won't do it." He shook his head.

"You've done your part," he said lowly. "Now I shall do mine." He clasped his hands together before pushing the Fold beyond its confines. The darkness overtook the city, and I could hear faint screams as the volcra swarmed down on them. Alina's eyes widened.

"What have you done?" she asked incredulously. She moved to disperse the deadly shadows, but I grabbed her hands quickly.

"No, you don't." She grunted and tried to pull herself free, but my grip only tightened.

"They are traitors who tried to kill you and would've killed me," I hissed. "This is retribution." Aleksander turned to the crowd behind us.

"Today, we redraw all the maps," he told them firmly. "With the power of the Sun Summoner at my command, I control the Fold and its monsters. I can move it to any border I like. Engulf any harbor. Consume any city." He glanced back at me, and I nodded, stepping forward to address them as well.

"Take what you have seen back to your home countries," I said. "Tell the Fjerdans. Tell the Shu Han. There will be no more war with Ravka." I smirked. "All countries will answer to us. For who would oppose us now?" Before we could go any further, a gunshot rang out, and an oprichnik fell to the floor, dead, as a familiar face pushed through the crowd.

"Mal!" Alina cried. The boy continued shooting the oprichniki, knowing bullets would do no good against Grisha in keftas, but he was cut short as Ivan shot his hands out. He clutched his chest in pain, falling to his knees as Alina cried again.

"Keep him alive," Aleksander told Ivan. "He could be useful to us." The tracker on the ground kept trying to crawl towards his friend, despite his pain, and in her distraction, Alina's tunnel began to falter. Aleksander gripped her arm tightly.

"Focus," he demanded. "You put your attention on the light that's keeping us all safe, or your friend dies now." She let out a quiet sob but did as he said, and I nodded.

"Good girl," I muttered. "Keep us alive, or you won't be."

"General Kirigan and Lieutenant Markov," one of the delegates said. I looked up at her. "This will only turn the world against you and all Grisha. You'll be seen not as a savior, but a heretic." The guards surrounding the diplomats raised their pistols, and Aleks sighed and waved a hand towards Ivan. Alina's eyes widened.

"No!" It was in vain. In moments, their hearts were stopped, and they dropped to the floor, dead.

"Shame," he said, glancing at me. "We'll have to give that speech again now." Before Alina could get another word out, the skiff surged forward, and my eyes shot up towards the upper level of the ship.

"Zoya?" I asked incredulously. "Zoya!" She refused to look down at me, and I caught a glance of two familiar dark-haired girls behind her. I gritted my teeth and looked down, meeting the cold gaze of my twin. I growled quietly as his jaw clenched. Before I could realize what was happening, Aleks sent the Cut in their direction. Kaz jumped towards the boy next to him, latching onto him and pulling him out of the way. My eyes widened a bit at his willingness to touch even his friend to get him away from danger.

A blade flew past my head as I thought, and I flinched out of the way. But my breath hitched when it lodged itself into Aleksander's chest.

"No!" He froze, shaking as he lifted a hand to pull the knife out of his flesh. I rushed over to him, one hand cupping his cheek and the other resting on top of his to stabilize it as he removed the blade. Black veins crawled up his neck as he groaned, but he seemed otherwise unharmed as he glared up at Inej, who had thrown the knife.

"It will take more than this!" he yelled furiously. He lifted his hands, pulling the shadows from beside the skiff to engulf the back end of it. "You stay in the dark." I glanced in the direction Kaz had disappeared in before turning away and walking back to Alina. "It's just us now, Alina. And we are all we need, anyway." He extended a hand to her, and she looked up at us from her place on the floor, slowly placing her hand in his.

"You may have needed me," she muttered. She shook her head. "But I never needed you." Her other hand, which I now realized held the knife Aleks had dropped, shot up and into his hand, forcing the amplifier out of the back of it. He yelled in pain as he fell, clutching his hand to his chest. My eyes widened.

"Aleks!" I yelled. I ran over and kneeled beside him, holding his hand tightly as we looked up at her.

"Your first words to me were, 'What are you?'" she said. "This is what I am." She threw her hands forward and forced the shadows away from the Crows and Zoya.

"How do you claim such power?" Aleks asked through gritted teeth. "I am the one who killed the Stag." She shook her head.

"I didn't understand before, but I do now. You cannot claim what was not given to you. The Stag chose me." As the collar around her neck melded into her skin, I jumped up and stood in front of Aleks, shielding him from her view.

"You chose to betray our people!" I exclaimed. "We were trying to save us!" I shook my head. "I never wanted to hurt you, Alina." I gritted my teeth. "But I will not let you hurt him." I clasped my hands together before pulling the small amount of heat in the area to me and forcing a beam of flame towards her. She summoned a shield of sunlight to block it, and it took every ounce of strength I had left to push against it. My eyes burned as I fought her.

But before either of us could overpower the other, a body crashed into mine, throwing both of us out into the open Fold.

Completely unprotected.