AVALANCHES | K.BREKKER

one

Winnie polished her metal staff with a firm hand gripping onto a rag, a necessity she grew to detest. Sebastian had always teased her for not being able to polish her weapon correctly, his obvious farmer heritage tipping hazardously as complained that she wasn't putting the right work in. Not positioning the staff correctly, not using enough of her upper body strength. He had since then started to clean her staff occasionally.

She sat idly in Kaz Brekker's office, always noticing how the lone window to her right was always left open, allowing cool frosty wind to enter the room. She quickly realised it was open for Inej Ghafa, the wraith.

"There's a job for thirty million kruge." Winnie frowned, snapping her gaze toward the door. "I need a team. A good one, quickly."

Kaz's face ached with determination, the same scheming look in his coffee ground eyes, making the Shu sit a little straighter in her chair. "You've got us crows. Who else do you need?" she questions, placing her staff between her legs.

"A heartrender," He turned towards the bleak sink behind his desk, immediately taking his gloves off. "Remember the second army passing the fold two weeks ago? One made it out alive. They're being held."

Winnie made a note of the rapid speed of his words, a slight edge to his tone. "I'm sure Heleen has a heartrender, though you may have to spare a few kruge."

He turned, his fierce gaze cutting the air around Winnie. Dark and calculating; she had sudden withdrawal of him and she almost felt nauseous. "I'd rather not be in any more debt with Heleen. She's already slithering around for the rest of Inej's indenture." Her eyes stauntered away from the boy, allowing him privacy to place his gloves back on. Of course, she narrowed her eyes; she forgot about the indenture.

Kaz halted his movements and watched Winnie for a moment, she had a slight glare on her face and he wondered what she could possibly be thinking about. Winnie gripped the side of the chair with one hand and the other her staff. She turned back to Kaz and caught his gaze. "She's one of the few that would willingly allow you to use her heartrender." Winnie almost cringed at how her voice sounded in the room.

Kaz wobbled toward his desk and sat down, stretching his bad leg with a slight wince. "She's sneaky. What if she doesn't give me a heartrender? I would have wasted my kruge on that old bat."

Winnie cracked a small smile at the jest and nodded at his words. He wasn't wrong. Heleen was sneaky and was proud of it, a menace that polluted the barrel - a virus of sorts. She was horrible dealing with, unless it was for her own gain. Many times Winnie had met her, she had to be quick on her toes, otherwise the large boulder she always travelled with would snatch her and throw her into her business with the rest of them.

"I'll go with Sebastian to sneak one out. Saints know how long he's been itching to do something." Winnie said, tilting her head.

Sebastian would be delighted to hear the news.

When it was time to get the heartrender, Winnie hadn't realised her organs would drip into liquid inside of her. Kaz Brekker's warning of sneaking behind the back road toward the house of exoics hadn't stopped the nervousness from pooling into her pores. She pondered whether or not she'd be able to actually smuggle the girl out or not, she could already picture the livid face on Kaz's face and clutched onto her staff a little harsher.

Sebastian raised his hand, "We're getting closer to the back door."

Sebastian finally pushed open the hatch door, grunting out "Saints," which she barely heard over the loud rustle of leaves crunching under their feet. She briefly snapped her gaze behind her shoulder, molten eyes narrowing into her surroundings. They walked through the dark corridor with screwed expression, strong smells of sawdust and earth threaded around their  nose as they walked below the house of exotics. "You'd think with how tight Heleen is with security, she would have boarded that entrance."

Winnie only nodded and shuddered every time the wooden ceiling huffed over the weight of footsteps tumbling over it. Had she thought of the plan, they would have gone through the house by the entrance. Winnie hated unnecessary sneaking and would rather fight head on. She watched Sebastian's broad back and blessed under her breath as she tried to look over his shoulder.

With a huff, Winnie pushed past the Kaelish male. She'd rather be in front of the male than be behind him in the dark, she thought back to the time on their first week in Kerch where they almost got separated in a vast crowd due to being behind Sebastian. The male raised a brow behind her thin shoulder and said sarcastically, "No, please, come in front of me and barge into me whilst doing so."

"You'll attract attention from the girls." she barked back, her skin slightly bristling when movement above them would pause. She picked her pace and made it to the end of the corridor soon, Sebastian barely registered her next move before she darted toward a mahogany door. He only watched as she began to pry at the doors hinges, the flat screw design on the tip of her staff stuffed between the rusted metal. A thin layer of sweat on her forehead as she tried to rip the hinges off the door.

"Won't that make noise?" he questioned, strolling beside her. She paused and looked toward the male, her eyes narrowed as if insulted at the question. Adrenaline rushed around her body and Winnie had to bite her tongue to stop any witty remarks to be thrown toward the boy.  "Obviously, but they're not going to come down here. Now are they?" she replied instead.

Once the door was off its hinges, Sebastian quickly and carefully placed the mahogany onto the floor. Winnie's breath finally slowed as she knew the hardest part was done. The duo made their way up a small passage of concrete steps and sauntered into one of the many floors of the house. They both whipped their heads back and forth, trying to pinpoint which floor they were on.

Stuck between the walls of the door they had just walked through, Winnie looked up at the deep eyes of her companion, trying to find an answer in his eyes before having to make one of her own. "Suli." he breathed, and Winnie was surprised at the slight edge in his voice. "So, this is where Inej lived?"

There was a slow stroke of malice in his usually happy voice, the malice of a man who had been personally affected. His eyes flickered down the corridor with a new fire in his blue eyes and it struck a chord in Winnie. "How do you know?" she said, questioning, curious.

"I heard a girl walk into one of the rooms, she had bells on her." he almost spat, disgusted by the stereotype that the girl had been forced upon. "The decor too."

"Third floor then." she concluded, her mind already wiring over the layout Inej had described to her. If she was right, then they would have to go two floors up to get to the Grisha. Sebastian watched her quietly, but Winnie didn't mind. His eyes were ablaze with hatred at his surroundings.

Once again, the same cheeky look of mischief dripped onto Winnie's face and Sebastian couldn't help but smirk back. "I suppose we're not just going to sneak a heartrender?" probed Sebastian, his tone almost causing the female to flinch at the sudden tone.

"I've been needing to go shopping for jewelry anyways." she said cheekily, as they made their way to the fifth floor. "I'm not a fan of peacock feathers, so I guess necklaces would do."

Sebastian fought back the urge to roll his eyes. The girl reminded him too much of a magpie, an insatiable habit of stealing anything that was shiny. "Heartrender, first." 

"Please, we'll get her." Winnie pauses. "Heleen's jewellery too."