Chapter 9: Surprise Attack

                                    

                                          


                          
The carriage rattled along with the convoy of Grisha, both front and back on its way to Os Alta. The two Grisha, sitting opposite Alina, were looking out the window. One elbowed the other one, the one who had dragged her into the carriage. He inclined his head towards her. The other Grisha said, 
                          
'This is Fedyor.' The younger Grisha smiled. 
                          
'Pleasure to meet you.' Alina fiddled with the sleeves of the thick red coat she was wearing. 'They call this a kefta. It's bulletproof. The uniform of the Second Army.' 
                          
'What about the First Army? Back in Kribirsk. A thousand soldiers marching with us. Isn't that safer?' 
                          
'Slower, not safer. Not really,' the older Grisha replied.
                          
'If you left me with the cartography unit, no one would look twice at us,' she replied. 
                          
'Why is that?' Fedyor asked. 'You summon pure sunlight. Your kind of Etherealki has just been a theory, a picture in a storybook. Until now. You're a very special girl, so how has no one looked at you twice before?' 
                          
'Are you joking?' she asked incredulously. 'Maybe it's nicer inside the Little Palace, but out here, when you're different, when you look different, everything's at risk of becoming a fight.' 
                          
'Do you know why the Little Palace has walls in the first place?' the older Grisha snapped, turning towards her. 'Because for years, being Grisha was a death sentence. At least now, thanks to General Kirigan, we're protected. Feared. And that's how we survive. Not by being overlooked, but by making them look, and knowing you're powerful.' 
                          
'I've survived long enough without your protection, thank you,' Alina snapped. 
                          
'But you wouldn't last a minute now that you are you,' Fedyor replied. 'All of Ravka has been waiting for you.'
                          
'I get it. The whole country wants to see the Fold gone.'
                          
'But it's bigger than that,' Fedyor said. 'You are hope for the country, yes, but a myth come true for a Grisha. It was a Grisha who created the Fold. If a Grisha destroys it, maybe... Maybe we wouldn't need those high walls to protect us anymore.' There was silence as the carriage moved along the road once more. Just then there was a shout. 
                          
'The road is blocked! Beware!' The carriage stopped. There was someone shouting for a second, and then the older Grisha turned towards Alina. 
                          
'Stay here, and don't move.' He stepped outside the carriage, with Fedyor stopping to look at Alina and give her a soft smile. 
                          
'He means well.' He stepped out too, leaving Alina alone in the carriage. There were shouts, and screams, and gunfire. Some gunfire made its way into the carriage, making Alina shriek, pull the kefta over her head and duck down to the floor. She thought she was safe. Until a smoke grenade went off, filling the tight, cramped room of the carriage with smoke. She coughed, and crawled towards the door. Someone pulled her out, shouting in a thick, unidentified language, 
                          
'Witch!' The stranger pulled her from the carriage, screaming in terror as he dragged her through the grass. 
                          
'Please!' Alina begged, still screaming. 'No! Please! Please! I'm not Grisha! I'm a mapmaker!' He continued to drag her, ignoring her pleas. He turned her over, and tried to pin her to the ground. She lashed out, and he punched her in the head. 
                          
'What you are is a witch,' he said thickly in that same language. In her haze, she saw something in the distance. Tall, and dark-robed. She was still knocked senseless from the punch, and she only became more alert when the splash of blood fell upon her face. She gasped as the torso-less body of the Fjerdan hunter turned to look at her, and then fell to the ground. The blurry form of General Kirigan walked up to her. 
                          
'Are you hurt?' he asked. 
                          
'No. Not really.' He lowered his hand down to her. 
                          
'The others will have fled now that they know I'm here. You ride with me.' She took his hand, and he pulled her up. Seconds later, the two galloped away on Kirigan's black steed, leaving the body of the dead Fjerdan behind. 
                          


                          
The two galloped along the landscapes of Ravka for what seemed like ages. 
                          
'Can we stop? Please.' Alina asked. 
                          
'Why?' 
                          
'My tailbone is killing me.' 
                          


                          
Alina leaned over some paces away from where General Kirigan was minding his horse. He passed her a handkerchief and she took it cautiously. 
                          
'For your face,' he said. She took it and wiped the blood off of her face, staring at the sickening red colour against the black cloth.
                          
'What happened back there?' she asked. 
                          
'Druskelle,' Kirigan replied, going over to his horse. 'Elite members of the Fjerdan military trained to infiltrate deep behind our lines and kidnap or kill Grisha.' 
                          
'I meant how you sliced one of them in half from a dozen paces.' 
                          
'Would you rather I used a sword?' he asked with an intrigued look on his face. 
                          
'I don't know. Sorry.' 
                          
'It's fine,' he apologised, walking up close to her. 'There is matter to everything. Even air. Or shadow. Too small to see. The Cut is something a Summoner can do, but it requires tremendous skill. And I would only use it as a last resort. Like that ambush.' 
                          
'Saints...' Alina said in shock, looking out into the distance. 'Is this my life now? Hunted wherever I go?' 
                          
'You get used to it.' 
                          
'How did they even know about me?' 
                          
'Your little light show in the Fold was visible from miles away. Whatever their original mission was, they must have diverted to find you. That's why I'm travelling with you.'
                          
'They're that scared of you?' she asked. 
                          
'I think they're more scared of you.'
                          
'Why?' 
                          
'What your power means to us. You may well be the first of your kind, but we've always had a name for you. For what we hope you can do. Enter the Fold. Destroy it from within. With proper trainng, some amplification, you could be...' 
                          
'No,' she snapped. He lifted an eyebrow, stepping ever closer to her, intrigued by her defiance. 
                          
'No? No... what?' 
                          
'I don't want any of this. Why don't you get rid of it?' 
                          
'Do you think I haven't tried, Miss Starkov? If I enter the Fold, I'm a beacon for the volcra. All I can do is make it worse.' 
                          
'Then just... can't you use some Grisha science to transfer this to someone who could use it?' 
                          
'You would give up your gift?' 
                          
'Gift?' she scoffed. 'You dragged me away from my only friends and now, according to you, I'll be a target for the rest of my life. You know why you've never found someone with this power? Maybe it's because they don't want to be found.' 
                          
'I'm going to ask you again. Were you tested as a child?' There was silence between the two. 
                          
'We hid. We were different enough already. Didn't want to be any more alone.' He stepped closer to her, forcing Alina to glance at his lips slightly, then back up at his eyes. 
                          
'You are Grisha,' he said softly. 'You are not alone.' He walked away and to his horse, and moments later, he came up to her, mounted. Sweeping his long cloak back, he offered his hand to her. 
                          


                          
The two soon galloped away, towards Os Alta.