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

Chapter 12: Tracking It All Wrong

Baghra, Mal and I walked back into the room with the two stone coffins. 

'Open it,' Baghra said. 'Let me make peace with whatever's in here.' Mal bent down, pushing it open ever so slightly. She reached in and pulled out a stone carving of a swan with a broken neck. 'He made me watch him as he built this coffin. His tears, his cruelty, and he knew he'd never use it.'

'Did he take her body with him?' I asked. 

'The bones aren't here because my sister was never buried,' Baghra replied. 'For hundreds of years, I suspected as much. There was no "village boy" saved by Sankt Ilya. There was only my sister.' She rose from the dirt, still holding the broken swan in her hands. And there was no firebird. At least not the version you're trying to find.'

'You think he brought her back to life?' Mal asked in shock. 

'More than that,' Baghra replied. 'He'd done it twice before. Resurrected a creature with merzost and one of his finger bones. Why wouldn't it work for her, the way it had for the Stag and the Sea Whip?'  

'Because she was the third amplifier,' I spoke. 

'An otkazat'sya girl who'd passed on what she was through generations,' Baghra said. 'Don't you see, boy? That's why you're here.' 

'I've been tracking all wrong. We're looking for a person.'

'Not looking. Not anymore,' Baghra said. 'How is it that you found the Stag and the Sea Whip, but can't find the Firebird? How is it that you walked past other orphanages until you found the one that felt like home? The one where the Sun Summoner lived? The one person who is your destiny?' Mal began to slowly shake his head. 'Come.' 

We stepped outside of the cave into the afternoon light of the forest, where we'd entered through not long ago. Baghra turned to him. 

'Close the door,' she said. 'How do you find yourself unless you admit what you are, boy?' He stayed silent. 'Give me your blade.' He passed her the blade, then she took his hand and sliced a cut in his thumb. 'Do it.' He pressed his bloodied thumb to the door, and it shut as he stumbled back in shock at the sight of it. The door completely shut. 'You can't hear the frequency because it's you.' He turned to her. 

'You're lying,' he hissed. 'You're lying. I'm not a Morozova.' 

'It's the truth,' Baghra said. 'We are the cursed progeny of a madman, and you, Malyen Oretsev, are the Firebird. You have to accept what you are. You must sacrifice yourself upon her blade or the Fold remains. And the girl dies trying to save everyone.' Suddenly, we heard Alina cry out. 

'No! Stop!' 

'Alina!' Mal shouted, and hurried into the cave, as did Baghra and I. We came to see the blue-ish/white light surrounding Alina as she was pinned to the wall. Mal tried to go to her, but I grabbed his arm. 

'Don't break the connection,' I said. 

'You said she's not strong enough to face him,' Mal replied, turning to Baghra. 

'Exactly.' She grabbed a torch off the wall. 'I will end this once and for all,' she added. 'Once I've killed my son, my time here is done. All this goes with me.' She tossed the torch onto a container full of ancient scrolls. 'You know what you have to do,' she said to Mal. 'And close the door on your way out.' She walked up to Alina, who was still surging with light, and placed her hand on Alina, revealing Kirigan choking her. He turned to her, his face morphing into both anger and shock. 

'How? How?!' he yelled in fury. 

'Have you forgotten who taught you all of your tricks?' she hissed. He met my eyes. 

'Amplifier or blood,' I spoke, 'it's all connection.' 

'No, wait,' Alina squeaked. 

'Run,' Baghra said with a soft smile. She speared Kirigan with a blast of her shadow, and he fell back, his projection vanishing. 

'Alina, come on,' Mal said, grabbing her arm. 'Adela, let's go!' 

'Can't leave her,' Alina said, tugging against Mal's grip. 

'She's not coming -' 

'She's not sacrificing herself for me!' Alina screamed. 

'There's nothing you can do!' Mal cried out. 

'The Firebird!' Alina exclaimed. 

'I know where the Firebird is. We have to go.' He pulled her towards the exit, and called out after me, but I stood in stunned silence, watching Baghra, my mother, simply stand there as Morozova's writings burned all around her. 

'Mother!' I called out. She looked over her shoulder but didn't say anything. Tears blurring my vision, I ran after the tracker and the Sun Summoner. 

'Alina, we have to go,' Mal said. 'Now.' The two ran to their horses, and I darted out the cave just in time, the smoke billowing out of the entrance. The three of us ran to our horses, and we mounted up and galloped away. 

Kirigan rose from where he laid on the ground, recovering himself. 

'We have lived through an eternity together,' he said to Baghra. 'There is no need for this. Have some faith in me!' 

'It can't go on, boy,' she said. 

'Then let me end it,' Aleksander urged, rising to his feet. 'Tell me where to find the Firebird.'

'It's too late to find the Firebird and for bargains.'

'Please don't threaten me,' he begged. 'It will be worse for you.' 

'Know that I loved you, Aleksander. Know that it wasn't enough.' She began to form the Cut, and he held out a hand to her. 

'Stop! No!' Just as she was about to launch the Cut, the nichevo'ya formed, one of them grabbing Baghra and squeezing her, crushing the life from her body. The Cut of shadow disappeared, and with it the nichevo'ya. Baghra fell to the floor, and he grabbed her, pulling her into his arms, sobbing.

'I - I never meant for this. I swear.' 

'Shush, child. Shush now,' she gasped, reaching up to him feebly. 'It's already happened.' She traced her shadows around his hand, and sliced it clean off. He screamed in pain, the dismembered hand with the antler remains of the Stag and the bladed ring falling to the ground. In his arms, she slowly turned to ash, and simply faded away. He sobbed. 

'Sorry,' he said brokenly. 

'Stupid boy,' Baghra said weakly inside the cave, and her body slackened in death, the hand clutching the broken swan freely opening, the toy falling to the dirt. All around her, Morozova's cave burned.