The Phoenix and the Crow

Righteous Anger

Y/N could hear Nina yammering to Inej somewhere behind her, trying to teach her Fjerdan words. "No, Hring-kaaalle. You have to hang on the last syllable a bit."

"Hringalah?" tried Inej.

"Better but- here, it's like Kerch is a gazelle. It hops from word to word," she pantomimed. "Fjerdan is like gulls, all swoops and dives." Her hands became birds riding the currents in the air.

Y/N saw Matthias look back past her to stare at Nina and quickly cleared his throat, turning back to face forward. The group was eager to get to their next stop and rest their feet, all of them silently grumbling about the bitter cold.

Matthias, ahead of them, threw his arm out as if to stop them from continuing forward. "Stop! You don't want to-"

But it was too late. Nina clapped her hands over her mouth. Inej made some kind of warding sign in the air. Jesper shook his head and Wylan gagged. Kaz stood like a stone, his expression inscrutable.

Y/N. Y/N had the most heartbreaking reaction caused only by silence. She stared with a cold gaze, her mind racing through all the faces of the soldiers under her command. Those who were captured and tortured. Those who were caught and taken were never seen or heard from again. The people who placed their trust in her and this is where she had led them to.

The pyre had been made on a bluff. Whoever was responsible had tried to build the fire in the shelter of a rock outcropping, but it hadn't been enough to keep the flames from dying out in the wind. Three stakes had been driven into the icy ground, and three charred bodies were bound to them, their blackened, cracked skin still smoldering.

"Ghezen," Wylan swore. "What is this?"

"This. This is what Fjerdans do to Grisha," Y/N said. Her face was slack, and her eyes were ablaze.

"It's what criminals do," said Matthias. "The pyres have been illegal since-"

Y/N whirled on him and shoved his chest hard, pointing her finger at him threateningly. "Don't you dare," she seethes, fury burning like a halo around her. "Tell me the last time someone was prosecuted for putting a Grisha to the flames. Do you even call it murder when you put down dogs?"

"Y/N-"

"Do you have a different name for killing when you wear a uniform to do it?"

They heard it then– a moan, like a creaking wind.

"Saints," Jesper said. "One of them is still alive."

The sound came again, thin and keening, from the black hulk of the body on the far right. It was impossible to tell if the shape was male or female. Its hair had burned away, its clothing fused to its limbs. Black flakes of skin had peeled away in places, showing raw flesh.

A sob tore from Nina's throat. She raised her hands but she was shaking too badly to use her power to end the creature's suffering. She turned her tear-filled eyes to the others. "I... Please, someone..."

Jesper had brought out his gun but Y/N reached out to push his hand down. "Too loud." Her voice came out tense and overflowed with emotion.

She pulled out a knife she had tucked into her side and walked forward. She pulled her shoulders back and sucked in a deep breath, the cold threatening to choke her. She knelt before the burnt figure and placed her hand under their head.

"Lieutenant."

Her eyes widened as they spoke, their voice hoarse and cracking, barely able to be heard.

"Lieutenant, please... Hurts."

Y/N sobbed silently and held them tighter. "I'm so sorry. I failed you." She shifted them so she could hold the knife to their neck. "May the Saints receive you, soldier." Within seconds she had slit their throat and ended their suffering. She muttered a quick prayer over them and quickly composed herself, brushing the snow off her clothes and taking another deep breath. With every breath, a wave of panic washed over her with the fear of the air freezing her lungs. She turned back to the group and walked over. She didn't realize that the wind had carried their voices and the group of six stood before her had heard everything.

"Let's not waste more time."

"Thank you," Nina choked out. She plunged ahead over the frozen ground, following the shape of the path through the snow. She was weeping, stumbling over the terrain. Matthias followed.

"Nina, you mustn't stray from the group-"

"That's what you're going back to, Helvar," she said harshly. "That's the country you long to serve. Does it make you proud?"

"I've never sent a Grisha to the pyre. Grisha are given a fair trial-"

"Then why has a Grisha never been found innocent at the end of your supposedly fair trials?"

"I-"

"Because our crime is existing. Our crime is what we are."

Y/N mouthed the words with Nina. All second army Grisha knew the words. It's what had been repeated to them when they talked about the outside countries. The people who hunted Grisha. Their only fault was existing and they had to deal with it. Nothing could change the way the world saw them, so why fight it? Embrace it and be prepared.

Matthias went quiet for a moment before he spoke. "Nina, had it ever occurred to you that maybe... you weren't meant to exist?"

And that was it. Y/N snapped. Her eyes glinted with fire as she took a step toward the Fjerdan and stood in between the pair. "Maybe you're the ones who shouldn't exist, Helvar. Weak and soft, with your short lives and your sad little prejudices. You worship wood sprites and ice sprites who can't be bothered to show themselves, but you see real power, and you can't wait to stamp it out."

"Don't mock what you don't understand." He almost growled as he towered over her.

"My mockery offends you? My people would welcome your laughter in place of this barbarity." A look of supreme satisfaction crossed her face. "Ravka is rebuilding. So is the second army, and when I get back, you better hope we give you the fair trial you deserve. We will put the druskelle in shackles and make them stand to hear their crimes enumerated so the world will have an accounting of your evils."

"If you're so desperate to see Ravka rise, why aren't you there now?"

Y/N felt as if he had slapped her across the face. Her eyes that were burning aglow now dulled and turned cold. "I'm here to make sure this drug doesn't get into the wrong hands. To keep our world from getting worse and falling more than it already has." A spiteful rage bubbled in her chest as she spoke her next words. "I want you to have your pardon, Helvar. I want you to be here when the second army marches north and overruns every inch of this wasteland. I hope we'll burn your fields and salt the earth. I hope we send your friends and your family to the pyre."

"They already did, Y/N. My mother, my father, my baby sister. Inferni soldiers, you precious, persecuted Grisha, burned our village to the ground. I have nothing left to lose."

Y/N's laugh was bitter and short. "Maybe your stay in Hellgate was too short, Helvar. There is always more to lose."