Ravens and Crows

Chapter 30 ~Wylan~

"THE BOATS ARE A DISTRACTION!" Jesper yelled from the top of the rigging. "THEY'RE HEADED FOR THE SLAT!"

I turned to the left where his finger was pointing and watched as a small boat about the size of the one we were on passed us.

"Fuck." Ronan said, spotting the boat too.

"How the hell are we going to catch up to it?" Nina asked.

"Turn the boat around!" Inej yelled to her crew and Jesper came down from the rigging to meet us in the middle of the deck.

"What's the plan?" He asked. "Do we have a plan? I guess that's the better question." He looked to Kaz.

Kaz hardly missed a beat. "Ronan, call your bird creature. Take you, Jesper, and Wylan back to the mainland and when you touch down, send it back for the rest of us."

Ronan nodded and whistled to call the bird.

"What do we do once we get back to the Slat?" I asked.

"Alert every Barrel Boss and Slat worker. The Inferni are coming."

~-~

Giant raven dream creature is not my preferred method of travel. In fact, I'm pretty sure I screamed the entire flight while Jesper laughed his head off like an absolute maniac.

When we touched down my legs felt like jello and Jesper slung an arm around me to help keep me up. "You okay?" He asked.

"Yeah," I moved to stand on my own two feet. "I'll be fine." I reached into my satchel and took out a flash bomb. "Let's get everyone ready."

I pulled the rope on the bomb and threw up the flash bomb. The three of us covered our eyes as it went off. Shop owners from all around us run out of their shops to see what the cause of the ruckus was.

Jesper made the announcement. "Gather your weapons." He yelled. "The new merchant and her forces tricked us, they'll be here in seconds."

As if someone where controlling them, all the Slat workers went back into their business, then emerged again. Some emerged from their establishments with guns and bombs of their own, while others came out with money or other valuables and high tailed it in the opposite direction.

"Let's get to the dock." Jesper said, after a few seconds of watching the crowds. "I want to meet them when they get here."

We took off running. Some people ran with us, others fought against our current. Our voices joined those of the others that cried warnings of the grisha's arrival.

"What's the game plan?" Ronan asked while we ran.

"Stop them," Jesper said like it was obvious.

Ronan looked at me. "Got anything deeper to add to that fucking master plan?"

"If they can't find a spark, they can't light the fires," I said through my labored breaths, "at least not without parem. Don't give them anything they can use, and stop anyone who-" My voice faltered. I stopped running as realization struck me.

"Jesper." I said, but my voice was shaky and too quiet for him to hear so he kept running. "JESPER STOP!" I yelled and he finally stopped and turned to me.

"Wylan, what are you doing? They're right around this corner we have to-"

"We can't win this." I said, my voice hollow in my mouth.

"What are you talking about?" Jesper bounced on his heels like it was taking all his energy to stay put, it probably was. "Of course we-"

I shook my head, cutting him off. "Sparks, Jes. I'm an idiot for not thinking of it before."