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" And I'd roll my eyes,
And you'd pull me in,
I'm not one for dancing,
But for you I did "
―WE ALL MEET up at Chetya's Well, a fountain between four major tunnels, the gentle trickle of water soothing like the coo of a mother lulling a baby to sleep. I suspect Alina was hoping to get a bit of secrecy as to where we depart, but large groups of pilgrims join us to bid farewell, much to our dismay. We've all donned ordinary clothes, and I feel bare without my silks or kefta, instead wearing a long coat and a too-large scarf that covers my mouth and nose.
All of the pilgrims crowd around Alina and I, offering bread rolls, polished stones that gleam like jewels compared to the blandness of the White Cathedral, bits of lace, and clutches of salt lilies that have long lost their sweetened scents. I thank them with a smile, finding it endearing how they look at me as though they're mothers watching a girl grow up.
They're kind and sweet, and I mourn the fact that the Apparat has a grip so powerful on people so innocent as these. I accept a few hugs and grant a few small kisses and words of affirmation.
At long last, we set out through one of the tunnels. With David's knowledge and access to the archives along with Mal's intuition and restless sense of direction, we have a roughly scrapped map of the tunnels and we begin to plot a route to Ryevost.
I've been told that since our escape, the Darkling has begun closing off the tunnels with new bombs created by his Alkemi that collapse buildings and release combustile gas belowground that need only the spark of an Inferni to destroy an entire pathway.
There's word of cave-ins to the west, to Mal leads us through the tunnels north.
As the tunnels darken and the shadows deepen, I feel more and more like a little girl hiding in my bed again, holding my lantern high as though that flickering light can ward off the beasts of shadow and gore.
I remember the days my brothers would warn me of dark spirits who haunted children who didn't stay in bed. I always kept my lamp on until it burnt out after that.
You're not a little girl anymore, Yi, I chide, but a new voice rises in my mind.
Aren't you? How naive can you be to believe that this group of Grisha can defeat the Darkling?
I take a deep breath.
Maybe I'm not sure about them. But I have a blade with the Darkling's name on it. And I promise you, he'll receive it when I want him to.
An oath to myself.
I will be the one to finish him.
I'm going to watch the light in his eyes fade until he goes still, my blade in his chest and his blood on my hands.
