Purest Corruption - The Darkling [General Kirigan]

• Chapter 3 •

When Mal and I were younger, Grisha would come by the orphanage every year to test children of a certain age. If you were sick or injured however, you'd have to wait until the next year.

The year that Mal and I became eligible, he had hurt his hand which meant he'd have to wait. I didn't know whether or not I was Grisha, but getting tested wasn't a chance I was willing to take.

I took his hand when it was announced that the testers had arrived, and pulled him along as I ran into the meadow behind the orphanage. We laid down flat on the ground so we wouldn't be seen. I remember he had looked over at me with curious eyes.

"Don't you want to know if you're Grisha?"

"Not if we can't go together." I had replied.

We rolled over onto our backs and he reached over to grab my hand. I looked over at him and he looked over at me. In that moment we were just two best friends and not the orphaned children that had no one else.

I woke up and the first thing I felt was pain. My body felt like I had been thrown off a cliff but I don't remember that happening. I felt hands near my neck and that's when I realized I was still on the skiff.

"Hold! Your collarbone is fractured." The person who was touching me said.

A healer.

Panic set in as I started to remember what had happened.

Volcra attacked.

Mal was injured....dying.

"Mal! The tracker! Where is he?" I hurriedly asked.

"First Army goes to medical." The girl then moves her hands and I feel my collarbone start to heal. I grunt in pain as soon as it finishes.

And to think Mal and I joked about that being painless.

"Bring her to the general's tent" I hear from someone in front of me

"Who?" My voice comes out as more of a groan than I thought it would.

"But I'm not done yet." The healer exclaims, both women ignoring my question.

I hear an annoyed sigh from the other girl, "You can go with her."

The healer brings me off the skiff and hands me off to two burly men, but she trails behind us so she can continue tending to my wounds later.

"What's going on? Why am I being taken to see the general?"

Of course, they don't answer.

"I didn't do anything wrong!" My mind is racing with possibilities of what's happening, none of them good.

I barely register my surroundings as the men who hold my arms guide me through the camp towards him.

As soon as I see the black tent I tug my arms out of the men's hands. "I can walk in myself thank you very much."

They roll their eyes and try grabbing me again but I back away and shake my head.

"I said I can walk in myself." My stern tone catches me by surprise but it does the job because they don't try grabbing me again.

I walk through the opening and I'm greeted by what seems to be all the Grisha in the camp and directly in front of me is the general, however, all I see is back.

A hot back.

I scold myself for what I just thought and then he finally speaks.

"Bring her closer."