New Allies

"THE GRISHA BETRAYED US! Their general and the Sun Summoner caused that."

Thunder crashed inside the fold as the man pointed towards it. A whole crowd of people stood, torches in hand. It was still dark, though, and not a single one of them realizes Lev Ostrovsky had slipped between them.

All over Ravka, grisha were being hunted down in revenge for what the Darkling and Sun Summoner had done. Here had been their easiest targets. A group of First Army soldiers had comes upon the remains of the grisha left behind by the Darkling when he crossed the Fold. Cut off from information, they were taken completely unaware. The soldiers had beaten them, bond their hands, and tied locked them in changes.

Now, Lev was not grisha. Micha would have told him to move on. Mother and Father would have told them to join them. Purge their country from the treacherous witches. But his sisters had been grisha and Lev wasn't a monster – as anyone would have to be to do what the soldiers were planning to do to these grisha.

"We fought for you!" The leader shouted towards the caged grisha. The crowd shouted in agreement. "We sacrificed out front lines for you!"

Lev made his way to one of the cages. A woman in in a red kefta. He didn't have all their colors memorized, but he did know that red meant corporalki. Materialki might have been better, since they could help by destroying the locks, but there were none among them. Back at the Little Palace, Lev supposed.

The woman – or perhaps an older girl? It was hard for Lev to tell in the dark – started to say something. Lev quickly shushed her and set to work attempting to pick the lock to her cage. He was good at it. Probably the best he knew. Years of breaking into the cabinet for nighttime snacks wore off, even if not in a way he would expect.

"And now the Fold is coming for us all. Because of you!"

"What are you doing?" the corporalki whispered. She kept glancing over his head, as if afraid he was going to get them caught.

"I'm getting you out of here," Lev said quickly.

Lev turned to see where she was looking. He doubted any of them were looking close enough to noticed, though, and quickly set back to work.

"Why?"

Because you're people, Lev thought, and he was fourteen, not stupid. You had to be stupid to this this was how you treated people.

"They say the Grisha are Ravkan. Loyal to the King. The same king the Grisha poisoned."

"My sisters are like you. I could have been, I suppose," Lev finally said. He looked over to see the crowd had started to move between the cages. Lowering his voice he added, "My names Lev. Ostrovsky."

That seemed to surprise the corporalki. But before she could say anything's he crowd passed them. Lev quickly stood and blocked the lock from their view. He held his breath and he suspected the woman was doing the same. It didn't matter. None of them turned to look at either of them.

"I am a healer," the woman suddenly said. Lev winced. She was desperate, he supposed, but he wished she hadn't brought attention to them. "I can help your soldiers."

The solider only glared at her.

"If you leave us here, you will kill all of us," the woman insisted.

The soldier laughed. They all laughed.

"It's not us you would be worrying about now. It's the things inside the Fold," the solider said. He laughed, then looked down at Lev. "What are you doing here, boy? You'll want to get going. That thing will be moving soon."

"Let them go," Lev said.

He tried to sound commanding. But his voice broke, which it only made them laugh harder. Lev tried to swing at them. The solider only stepped aside and shoved him to the ground. Lev scrambled to his feet and raised his fists in front of him. As if he could actually fight a grown man. He could see the woman shaking her head from behind the solider.

"Run along, you little brat." The soldier spat at him. "Before we put you in a cage, too."

Suddenly, a growl cut through the air. One of the soldiers shouted. They turned to see something coming out of the Fold.

"How?" The soldier turned to approach the writhing mass. "The volcra can't leave the Fold."

As he approached. Lev ran to the cage. He wrenched the lock of and hired inside to attempt to get the woman's hand's loose. He'd only gotten one when the gunfire started.

The two stared in horror as a cloud of shadow began to grow out of the Fold. It looked almost humanoid. Except there was no face, or arms, or legs. Only a swirling mass of darkness in a humans' form. No matter how many bullets torn through it, it continued forwards. The soldiers screamed about Kirigan being dead. They fled. But it made no difference. In seconds the creature tore through all of them.

A man stepped out of Fold. Dressed in a dark black robe, it was no secret who he was. As terrified as he was, Lev missed that the woman had gotten free. He flinched in surprise when she pulled him closer to herself.

"I have returned!" The Darkling announced. "And I've made some new friends."

Three shadow like creatures came to stand next to him. They were quickly absorbed into him. The Darkling turned to take in his surrounding. He made his way through the crowd of cages.

"So, this again. Locking us up in cages. I shall have to over throw the King, now."

With a snap of his wrist, a shadow broke the lock of one one the grisha near him. As the man ran to free the others, the Darkling approached Lev and the woman.

"Genya. Am I glad to see you," The Darkling said. Then, his gaze fell to Lev. "And who are you, boy? You aren't Second Army...What is your name?"

Lev didn't miss the shadows growing at the man's feet.

"Lev Ostrovsky, General." Lev looked up at Genya, and then back to the Darkling. He insisted, "I'm not First Army, either. I was only trying to help. They were going – they were going to feed them to the volcra. I couldn't just leave them."

The Darkling let out a small noise. Lev wasn't sure what that meant, but he didn't cut him down. Instead, he turned and started out of the cage.

"I am famished. I think I'll head into town," The Darkling announced to the crowd of Grisha. "Dispose of the First Army there and cook up some dinner. If anyone...cares to join me."

He looked right at Genya and added, "Bring the boy, too."

☼ ☼ ☼

SOMETHING WAS WRONG AT THE HARBOR. They hid behind barrels, protected by the night's darkness, and from there Nonna could see there were only two ships. That seemed impossible. Weddle was a harbor town. Even at night, there should be far more than just two ships. Perhaps they weren't coming and going, but at least they would have been there for the night. Even stranger was the fact that there was soldiers pacing back and forth along the harbor.

They were guarding the ships. Already the roads out of town were cut off. Nonna held her breath. If they couldn't get through tonight, they would slowly be cornered.

"But the First Army doesn't have jurisdiction here," Mal pointed out in response to the idea that General Bohden had ordered away the ships.

"Perhaps the promise of twenty million kruge is good enough to buy our access to the docks," Alina said.

Nonna turned to see her digging through the bag. What she pulled out surprised her, though not to the extent that she felt it ought to. A wanted poster for both Alina and the Darkling. They must have thought they went to Kerch, Nonna supposed. It would explain why the Fjerdans – she knew the language was Fjerdan and it mentioned it was put out by the Fjerdan government – while still offering the money in only kruge.

Sveta in particular seemed incensed by the poster. She promptly grabbed it from Alina and crumpled it with a vengeance, muttering something about stupid posters and stupid Kirigan and stupid Fjerdans. Nonna had to grab it from her before she could throw it and give them away.

"I hate him," Sveta muttered. "And I hate them for thinking we worked with him."

Nonna wrapped an arm around the girl's shoulders and squeezed lightly. While the Darkling hadn't done anything to Sveta personally, seeing him meld the stag's antlers into Alina's flesh and stealing her powers had clearly left an impression on her. More than once Sveta had huddled next to her at night, scared to fall asleep because of nightmare about someone doing the same to her. Unlike Sveta and Alina, who'd had a life before the Little Palace, Sveta had been raised there. She was saved from Drüskelle before she even had a name. Her identity was heartrender.

If someone took control of her powers, it wasn't just taking control of her body, as horrible as that already was. It was taking everything she was.

"I wish he was alive just so I could punch that face again," Mal agreed.

"Unfortunately, I think you'll get your chance," Nonna said. When the others gave her a confused look, she added, "He must be. How else would the Fold be expanding? I don't know how he did it but...he did."

Alina sighed.

"Thanks you him, the whole world sees me as a traitorous villain," Alina muttered.

"We don't," Sveta declared.

"Exactly," Mal said. "And they're wrong."

To prove it, Mal took the already crumpled paper, ripped it up, and threw the pieces to the side.

"Valient of you, but I'm sure they printed more than one," Alina said.

"Well, I guess we've got a job on our hands," Nonna retorted.

Alina gave a slight smile. It was still something, though.

"So, what now?" Alina asked.

"We find that Sea Whip," Mal said. He squinted into the darkness. "Hang on. That ship's not flying any flag. It's private."

Mal was right. Most ships flew the flag of the country they came from. It meant it was beholden to the government's wants, and that the soldiers could force them to do whatever they wanted. A private ship? Well, they might hand them over, but they didn't have to. It was risky, but not as doomed as their other options.

The four hurried down the shore. They were careful to avoid any of the solider's line of sight. Instead they went right towards people preparing the ship. A shu woman and man, who looked similar enough to be related. Nonna wouldn't be surprised if they were. Most private ships were family ventures.

"Hey, stop," Alina called. "We need charter out of here immediately."

The two hesitated. Obviously they were concerned about letting aboard random strangers who had appeared out of the darkness. Nonna didn't know how they could get more suspicious than they already were.

"I can pay." Alina held out one of the hair pins she had been wearing when they crossed the Fold. It was how they paid for their room as well, and their main form of currency at the moment. "It's gold."

The woman bit it. Just in case. It was really gold, though, and so she passed it off to the man behind her.

"Come on then, hurry up. I'll take you to the captain," the man said, nodding back towards the ship.

Looking back, Nonna might have been suspicious of their kindness. Instead she followed the others on board. They were already on the gangplank when the soldiers realized what was happening. Bohden led a small group of them over. To Nonna's surprise, the woman promptly pulled an ax and stepped forward to stop them.

"You want to fight, Ravka? Hey?" the woman threatened.

"That man is a deserter of the First Army. He belongs in our custody," Bohden accused.

There was little mention about Nonna and Sveta deserting the Second Army. Perhaps Bohden didn't know, Nonna supposed. Or perhaps he didn't care. Likely it was both, as the First Army never really cared to pay attention to what their grisha counterparts were doing. A part of her was relieved for that. She couldn't imagine how this would have gone down if the general had thought to grab some grisha for back up.

"Is that so? All right then," the woman said. For a moment Nonna thought she was going to hand them over. Instead, she turned to the boat and shouted, "Ravka what's a fight!"

In seconds those on board had pulled a variety of weapons. Nonna was startled by the suddenness of it all. Clearly they had been prepared for a fight already.

"I don't want to escalate the fight with Shu Han," Bohden said.

"We're not with Shu Han," the man said. He pulled a blade from the sheathe on his back and stepped forward. "We're independent."

A part of Nonna understood why they were quick to make the correction. Clearly he'd only assumed Shu Han based on the fact that two shu people were standing in front of him. A glance up would have found him a mix of people – Nonna would have assumed Kerch first based on that. Another wished they hadn't. The backing of a country was a better threat than just one ship. It wasn't like Bohden wouldn't have figured out later one.

"Maybe shave your bullets for the war, old man?" the woman said. "First Army needs to know its place."

For a moment, Nonna thought that Bohden was going to fight away. Instead he backed down.

☼ ☼ ☼

FINDING A HEARTRENDER WAS HARDER THAN SERAFIMA MADE IT OUT TO BE. Most grisha who came to Ketterdam ended up indentures or part of gangs. They were too useful to those around them for them to be left unaligned. Heartrenders were popular especially with brothels, who would use them to give them customers emotional support, and gangs who found them strong fighters. Not all of them were connected to Rollins, but any sort of alliance could be dangerous in the Barrel.

Ultimately, Serafima ended up hanging out in Little Ravka. It was the highest population of unaffiliated grisha, having specifically fled Ravka to go to this small, immigrant community. But the was still unsuccessful. Remaining out of the Barrel's trouble took work. Anyone who was doing that work wasn't just going to give it up over nothing.

When Serafima and Minke arrived, Jesper was already there. Jesper and some other kid who looked their age. Likely a little younger, actually.

"Do you know him?" Jesper asked, motioning to the boy.

"Why would I know him?" Serafima replied.

The boy started to say something, only to cut himself short.

"Well, according to him, he's our new demoman," Jesper said, with a great deal of sarcasm.

Serafima studied the boy. He didn't look like a demoman. He looked like some merchant's kid that had been on the streets a little too long. Still, Serafima supposed the area looked like a chemist lab. Maybe he was very new, or very careful and able to keep himself in one piece for more than one day.

This as confirmed when Kaz arrived and got the same earful from Jesper.

"Raske is better. Or even Pim," Jesper complained.

"And yet Wylan is the one I hired," Kaz said.

"Besides, Raske is annoying and Pim nearly killed us all at least twice," Serafima pointed out. She turned to the boy. "You're Wylan?"

"I–I am," he muttered.

"Shouldn't you be graduating university and, I don't know, starting a desk job?" Jesper continued.

At the same time, the door opened once again. Serafima turned to see Inej had finally arrived. With her was a woman. A heartreader. Because, as Serafima suddenly realized, not even Kaz had found one. She scoffed. What had happened to him being able to get one?

The heartrender wasn't inherently any more impressive than Wylan. Like him, she was around their age, and like him she dressed a little too nice for the Barrel. A dress of fine fabric. Serafima wasn't certain it was silk, but it wouldn't have surprised her. A hate sat on her head, decorated with a variety of ordainments. An immigrant, Serafima bet, or someone rich and stupid.

"Nina Zenik. At your service," The girl said.

At once there more than a few confused repetitions of her name. The group shared a surprised look. The Nina Zenik?

"Well, that's a reaction." Nina chuckled. "Is there a famous Nina Zenik that I don't know of?"

"We thought you were kidnapped! We were going to go rescue you before...all this..." Minke motioned awkwardly around himself.

"What?" Serafima gave him a confused look. "No, we weren't."

"We weren't?" Minke turned to look at the others for support. Eventually he sighed and gave Nina a sympathetic look. "I'm sure I would have convinced them eventually. It's good to see you're safe and here and not in the Ice Court like we thought."

Nina frowned at the comment, though only for a second. Serafima wondered how she had managed to escape.

"Can I get anyone some tea?" Wylan offered.

"Ooo." Minke perked up. "What kind?"

Before Wylan could answer, Kaz continued the conversation with Nina: "You worked with Arken."

Right. Serafima had been so busy being surprised that Nina was even alive to consider what her connection to Arken meant. How much knowledge did she have about his plans? More importantly, how invested was she in him? If Nina and Arken had been close allies, there was no way they could let her in, incase hearing they had betrayed him made her turn on them.

"It was more of a limited partnership," Nina said.

Rather dismissively, but also a bit quick for Serafima's liking. Either she was hiding something or thought they were going to judge her.

"Did you trust him?" Kaz asked.

Nina scoffed.

"That turncoat? Not on your life. He was shadier than an oak at three bells."

"What's your price?"

"I've expended the legal avenues on my problem," Nina admitted. "Every clark in the city says the same thing. 'The judge will see you in six months.'"

"Try a year," Serafima said sardonically.

Assuming they listened to you at all. The Kerch legal system only existed so rich people could protect themselves and crush anyone below them.

"And so you're looking for the not-so-legal route on...what, exactly?" Kaz asked.

"I'm told you could free someone from Hellgate," Nina said. "Someone, I say as if he's anyone, and in truth he's the love of my life."

They all turned to look at Inej. Since when did she got around making false promises. Serafima made a point of elbowing Minke's arm as well. She wondered where Inej had gotten that idea. Couldn't have anything to do with someone claiming that, if anyone could break out of Hellgate, it would be them.

Easy for him to say when he wasn't he one who'd end up in it. Hellgate was a massive prison off the shore of Ketterdam. The sharks in the water were actively fed human corpses to get them use to human bodies meaning food. So you couldn't swim out. Attempting to just leave would require help from the outside, and even with that it would be near impossible since they would need to get in and out. Serafima understood why Inej promised it. Clearly Nina was distressed and desperate to get whoever this was out of Hellgate, and Inej was exactly the kind of person who would fall for that sympathetic story. But if they couldn't do it, Nina would be come a threat.

"Have you consider just...getting a new one?" Serafima offered.

She was pretty sure Nina would have torn her apart, but Minke interrupted first.

"Serafima!" Minke scolded. Quickly he assured, "We'll try our best. I promise."

Serafima threw up her hands in protests. What? Sure, it wasn't the most sensitive option, but it would be easier than breaking into Hellgate. People moved on, even from 'the loves of their lives' all the time. It happened.

"I can't get you realize from Hellgate," Kaz corrected. "But I can get you a visit. In exchange for your services."

Personally, Serafima thought that was a weak offer. Yet that seemed to be enough for Nina. Kaz turned, leading them up a flight of stairs. From the corner of eye she caught Minke whisper someone to Nina as he passed her. She ran a hand down her face. Knowing him, he'd promised they'd try to get Nina's lover free, because saints forbid he not try to be a hero for once. Serafima wished they could do that for her. She wasn't heartless. But sometimes it was better to just back off.

The stairs led to the room of Wylan's shop. From there they could see over almost the entirety of the city. Serafima leaned against the railing, trying to see what Kaz was attempting to show off.

This ended up being to her detriment. A massive explosion cut went off in the distance, sending up a fire ball that illuminated the entire sky. Serafima stumbled back, surprised by the suddenness, even if the distance deafened the noise. It took her a second to realize what happened.

"Was that..." Serafima started.

"The Crow Club," Inej said.

They were still talking, but Serafima wasn't listening. Instead she just stared into the distance and tried to convince herself not to shove Kaz Brekker off that ledge. Because Kaz was himself, he gave some quippy one liner that explained nothing and then started off. Like always. And Like always he expected none of them to question it. When Serafima did follow him, he didn't even notice.

"Brekker!" Serafima said. Kaz didn't listen. "Brekker, I swear –"

Serafima had grabbed Kaz's shoulder, and was promptly cut short when he whipped around. At once she regretted it. As mad as Serafima was at him, she hadn't expected the look of visceral fear that flashed across his face. She thought Kaz might have taken her head off if he hadn't realized who she was.

Then it disappeared into a glare, so quick Serafima almost thought she missed it.

"Are you insane?" Serafima snapped. "Did you even consider telling us before you blew up our home?"

"You only would have tried to stop me," Kaz stated plainly.

Once again he tried to leave. Once again, Serafima kept up with him, which earned her a scowl.

"Of course, I would have, because apparently I'm only one thinking between the two of us," Serafima said. "In case you forgot, the plan was to get the club back. What are you doing here if it's just a pile of rubble?"

"The club can be rebuilt. What's important is that we sent a message."

"What message, exactly?"

Kaz paused and raised an eyebrow at Serafima. She narrowed her eyes back at him. So, perhaps she did know what message he was trying to send – that Rollins couldn't hold anything against him, not even the Crow Club – but that wasn't the point. Not really. The point was that he had made a choice that would affect all of them without even telling them it happened. What if, say, Jesper had attempted to go back for the coats and hats he had left in the building?

"This isn't just about you, Kaz," Serafima said. She took a deep breath, trying to sound like less of an ass. "If we fail, Jesper and I will go to Hellgate, too, and only the Saints know what will happen to Inej and Minke. Wylan and Nina don't even know what they've gotten into. You can't just go making choices for all of us anymore."

For a moment, Kaz only stared at her. It was time like these Serafima wished she could tell what he was thinking. Finally, he simply said:

"I'll tell you what you need to know. Understand?"