xiv. broken bridges

20.5K 1K 990
                                    




CHAPTER FOURTEEN ─── broken bridges 


Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.



𝕿he climb up the cliff face, away from the river, proved to be the perfect thing to take Stasiaj's mind off of her moment of panic.

The rocks were cold and icy, her dress weighing her down like an anchor. But she was alive and that alone made Stasiaj persevere after Kaz, who was surprisingly agile despite his bad leg.

A rumbling began from somewhere in the direction of the Ice Court.

"Oh, Saints, please let that be Jesper," Nina pleaded, as Stasiaj turned and pulled the girl over the lip of the gorge, with Matthias' help.

"Whatever is coming, it's big," said Matthias.

"Crow Man? Your plan?" Stasiaj asked, turning to look at the man.

"Wait," he said as the sound grew louder.

"How about 'take cover'?" Nina asked, bouncing nervously from foot to foot. "'Have heart'? 'I stashed twenty rifles in this convenient shrubbery'? Give us something."

"How about a few million kruge?" said Kaz.

A tank rumbled over the hill, dust and gravel spewing from its treads. Someone was waving to them from its gun turret – no, two someones. Inej and Wylan were yelling and gesturing wildly from behind the dome.

Nina let out a victorious whoop, both her and Stasiaj laughing hysterically, as Matthias stared in disbelief. 

"Saints, Kaz, you actually look happy." Stasiaj turned at Nina's words, looking back at Kaz. 

"Don't be ridiculous," he snapped. But there was no mistaking it. Kaz Brekker was grinning like an idiot and Stasiaj felt her heart skip a little beat as she watched him. 

A column of tanks had crested the hill and was crashing down the moonlit road, dust rising in plumes from their treads and Stasiaj stopped focusing on the Crow Man and instead back on the situation at hand.

It wasn't until Inej and Wylan were thundering over the trestles of the bridge that Stasiaj could make out what they were yelling: "Get out of the way!"

They leaped from the path as the tank roared past them, then came to a gear-grinding stop.

"We have a tank," marvelled Nina. "Kaz, you creepy little genius, the plan worked. You got us a tank."

𝐖𝐀𝐑 𝐎𝐅 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐒 ↦ Kaz BrekkerWhere stories live. Discover now