.ೃ࿐Burning Souls.ೃ࿐ [1]

3 - Saviors

Saviors

"Ivan, throw her overboard."

"I'm sorry, what?" Ekaterina's eyes widened. This is not how I imagined my week going, she thought. She would hear Alina's cries, begging the Darkling. She heard the fox shout, but all she would concentrate on was Ivan dragging her to the railing of the ship.

"I imagine we can get to an arrangement," Ekaterina said, her voice shaking slightly. She was now leaning above the sea. The only reason she wasn't falling in the cold waters of the True Sea was Ivan's iron grip on her thorn and bloody shirt. "Merchants," exclaimed the Darkling walking towards Ekaterina, "always trying to negotiate their way out of everything..."

Silence fell upon the whaler. Ekaterina looked around, taking her focus away from the waves beneath her. She started breathing heavily, feeling her body radiate inhuman heat. "What's happening to her?" asked one of the Shu twins. The Darkling smiled. "She's preparing for the fall," he said, making Alina turn her head to look at him. She could see everyone's confused glances. "Her body is heating, preparing to withstand the coldness of the water."

All the Darkling's Grisha were now whispering among themselves. "Is that even possible?" asked one of the squallers. "What's next? She's gonna create fire from nothing?" Silence fell upon the Grisha when the Darkling raised his voice. He nodded to Ivan, who pushed her forward. "Oh, come on! What did I do to deserve this?" But her question went unheard.

Ekaterina heard the cries of the fox captain and Alina's as Ivan pushed her over the railing. The woman closed her eyes and held her breath, finally hitting the icy water. She reached the dagger hid in her shirt, grateful that no one found it, and started to cut through the rope. Water flooded her lungs. The dagger slipped from her hand and sunk. Her blood was spreading through the water from her wound, and she started to fall unconscious. Her head felt dizzy. She stopped moving her hands and legs, letting herself float or sink. She had lost hope.

But, before falling into an oblivion of darkness, she felt an unknown current surround her body. She was being dragged out of the sea. She felt the air hit her wet skin and, gathering the last pinch of power she had in her body, she opened her eyes. Squallers were controlling the air currents around Ekaterina's body from a small opening in the ship. They were dragging her out of the sea. She felt her shoulders hit the wooden floor of the ship, then her back and her legs. She winced slightly when her wounded back touched the ground and she started coughing, spitting all the water from her lungs. She felt someone cut the rope around her hands. She continued coughing, both water and blood. Ekaterina was shaking badly. When the coughing stopped, she laid down on her back, ignoring the piercing pain coming from her wounds.

When she opened her eyes, she saw a young man, around her age, maybe even a year older, staring down at her. His hair was dark, almost black, and his eyes were blue like the sky.  "You alright, love?" he asked, holding out a hand. Ekaterina nodded and took his hand, lifting herself up, hissing from the pain that spread in her back. "I'm fine," she muttered, looking around the small cabin.