The Shadow Crow (A Shadow and Bone: Season 2 Fanfiction)

Chapter 10: The Neshyenyer

In an eatery in Ketterdam... 

'The Neshyenyer?' Nina exclaimed in disbelief, setting her cup of tea down. 'Sankta Neyar's blade?' 

'So, you haven't completely forgotten what you were taught at the Little Palace,' Zoya Nazyalensky replied with a smug smirk, leaning back in her chair. 'Just your loyalty to Ravka.' 

'Ravka?' Nina replied. 'Or Kirigan? It didn't take him destroying a city for me to question my loyalty.' 

'So, now that we all know that you two have history -' Jesper remarked, 'what's the payment for this particular job?'

'Name your price,' Tolya replied from where he was sitting next to Zoya. 'It matters that much.' 

'Is that the Lantsov family crest?' Wylan asked from where he stood behind Nina, looking at the letter. 

'You know it is because it's hideous,' Nina snarked, glaring at Zoya, but she simply kept her head held high with an imperious look. 

'Prince Nikolai requests your services to retrieve and deliver the Neshyenyer to Alina Starkov in East Ravka,' Tolya said. 

'She's returned?' Nina asked. 

'As has the Darkling,' Zoya replied. 'With an indestructible army of shadow monsters.'

'I do not like the sound of that,' Jesper said sourly, downing a drink of some kind. Kaz sat at the table, silent. 

'She needs the blade to kill them. It's the only thing that might work,' Zoya said. 

'Retrieve the blade and the prince will pay you whatever you ask,' Tolya added. 

'But I like the sound of that,' Jesper quipped, and downed another shot of the drink he was currently holding. 

'I assume same goes for you?' Zoya asked, looking over at the morose Kaz. 

'I'd welcome the chance to help your Prince spend his country's money,' Kaz said with a wicked smirk. 

'I don't need kruge. I need to get someone out of Hellgate,' Nina interjected. 'Lantsovs must be able to pull strings with the Kerch government.' 

'For a certain Fjerdan?' Zoya replied with a proud smirk. 'He must be quite the slab of fur.' Nina smiled slightly, looking down with a blush growing on her cheeks. 

'The offer is the offer,' Tolya said. 'Prince Nikolai is a man of his word.'

'But,' Zoya added, 'we need to go now.'

'It's settled,' Kaz said, tucking the letter into his jacket. 

'And your Wraith?' Zoya asked, looking over at him. 'I was expecting to see her.'

'She's gone,' Kaz replied, his face passive. 

'No, she's not. Not yet. She's -' Jesper began to say, but Kaz cut him off sharply. 

'Not an option.'

Below the Spinning Wheel (in a network of caves) ... 

The escapees tended to their wounded, those who were badly injured in the attack by the nichevo'ya, when suddenly they heard a rumbling in the cave. Part of the roof began to cave in, and dust gathered. Nikolai picked up a weapon, Alina just behind him. 

'There's an above ground exit farther down,' Nikolai said to Nadia. He turned to Alina. 'Go with her. There's a fort south of Kribirsk called Zvedya. Go there and find Dominik Vertov.'

'But you need me,' Alina exclaimed. The dust settled, and Alina heard a familiar voice. 

'Stupid girl! How long are you planning to make us wait before you show us a way down?' 

'Baghra?' Alina asked. 

Tamar walked into another part of the cave, and behind her followed Baghra and a very ragged-looking Genya Safin. 

'Perhaps I should have let Aleksander finish us off,' Baghra grumbled. 

'Genya?' David called out, coming over from where he was tending to some of the wounded. She hid her face and hurried away from him, even as he kept attempting to talk to her. 

Baghra entered another room, where Tamar stood at the door, and Alina and Nikolai were nearby. 

'Hardly the Little Palace,' she said, 'but here we are.'

'You're the Grisha teacher,' Nikolai said. She met his eyes with a look of flat annoyance. 

'The Puppy Prince.' 

'Mother?' I asked, coming into the room. Baghra turned. 'Mother!' I threw my arms around her, and she cradled my face gently. 

'Has Aleksander hurt you, my child?' 

'No. No, Mother. I've been away most of the time, outside of Ravka. I was lucky. It's so good to see you,' I said, wiping away some stray tears. 'I thought you were dead.' 

'I'm alright now. Wipe those tears.' I withdrew from my mother, and wiped my eyes free of the tears, standing over near Nikolai and Alina. 

'I always imagined you were a myth,' Nikolai remarked as Baghra turned back to them. 

'Well, myth no more, boy. This country has clearly been destroyed. My question is: will you be the one to make it right?' Alina looked to the entrance to see Genya slowly walking in, her head still lowered. Alina stepped towards her, her face twisting into sadness, and hugged Genya warmly, who hesitantly returned her embrace. Then I stepped up, fighting back tears. I pulled back after a moment, studying her for a brief moment, seeing for the first time the damage that Aleksander's nichevo'ya had done to her face. Marred forever by shapeless beasts, and there was nothing anyone could do about it. You could hardly offer words of comfort for someone who had been marred that badly. It was all I could do not to stare, not when she felt such shame. 

'What happened?' Alina asked, cradling her face with one hand. 

'Who do you think, girl?' Baghra snapped.

'Kirigan did this to you?' Alina asked. Genya struggled to speak for a moment, and then she spoke softly. 

'His nichevo'ya.' 

'Genya?' Nikolai asked, his face now morphing into one of utter hate. 'Genya Safin? The Grisha who poisoned the King?' Alina turned, positioning herself in front of Genya to protect her, and Genya curtsied ever so slightly. 

'Moi tsarevich.' 

'Moi tsar,' Tamar snapped. 'He's your King now.' 

'No. Not until the coronation,' Nikolai remarked, 'at which time you'll stand trial for treason against your Crown and country.' 

'No, she won't,' Alina said. 

'She colluded with the Darkling,' Nikolai exclaimed angrily. 

'She did what she had to to survive!' I growled. 'Not everyone was as lucky as you to escape the Grand Palace.' 

'You were away for too many years, Sobachka,' Baghra reminded him gently. 'Even so, you know what your family is capable of.' Nikolai's face softened slightly. 

'Did he force you?' Nikolai asked. 

'I - I never sought his attention,' Genya replied, not looking at the prince. 

'The King no longer lives to pay for his crimes,' Alina said. 'You cannot punish her for this.' 

'Her allegiance no longer lies with the Darkling?' Nikolai asked. 

'Look at what he did to her!' Alina exclaimed. Her posture was still rigid, but even so, she calmed after that small outburst. 'Kirigan manipulated her, as he did all of us.' Nikolai turned away for a moment, and then turned to her. 

'You're safe here,' he said to Genya. 'As future King of Ravka, you have my word. And if you can point to his base on a map, I swear by all Saints, once we are healed and ready to move, I will hammer him with everything I have.'