My Name Is Adela Kirigan (A Shadow and Bone Season 1 Fanfiction)

Chapter 5: The Volcra Attack

It was as quiet as it was dark in the deep depths of the Shadow Fold. The skiff travelled through, cutting the darkness like a knife, but more darkness swallowed up behind the skiff, so in reality no darkness was cut through, making it seem like the Fold travelled for miles. Alina glanced around, near panic threatening to overwhelm her from the inside, but she kept it quiet as the inhuman squeals and growls of the volcra sounded all around her in the flashing, rumbling darkness. The men stood at attention at the side, their weapons relaxed but ready as the lightning inside the Fold illuminated the wrecks of skiffs that had long since attempted to pass through the Fold and failed, taking the lives of their crew with them. 

'Marker one,' the main crew-lady announced, walking past Alina silently. 

'How many more are there?' she asked, the panic and painful anticipation of a potential attack rising inside of her. 

'Thirty-seven,' the woman said, walking past Mal, who turned silently, and met Alina's eyes. Just then, a loud growl sounded, and Alina looked up as a burst of lightning and thunder rocked the sky just to see a shadow of large bat-like wings cross over the sails. She gasped. Mal went to the deck with his rifle and the crew braced themselves. Another loud, inhuman growl sounded and Mal glanced at Alina once more. Seeming to get the cue, she ducked beneath the rail to hide herself. Mal lifted his gun and cocked it, staring out into the deep, dark distance. Just then, the blue light at the mast went out. The darkness was foiled when a crew-member, one of the young male Ravkans, lit a lantern with his lighter. They all turned in horror as a black-as-midnight creature appeared behind the young man, growling in anticipation of the prey before him. Just as the young man turned, the volcra speared its claws into it and took off, dropping him off the side, screaming. 

The lantern that he'd lit crashed onto the deck and exploded into flames, Alina scrabbling away from the raging flames in fear. Then the Squaller controlling the boat's forward direction was taken, then Raisa was taken, and another crew-member jumped in fear, or was taken by the volcra, Alina wasn't sure. Mal fired bullets at the volcra that was taking yet another crew member and the dead man was dropped onto the deck, bloodied, at Alina's feet. She gasped. Soon the crew leader was taken, stabbed to death by the long claws and dropped over the side of the skiff. Alexei, one of the youngest crew members, crawled to the hole made in the skiff when Raisa was taken and jumped through to the dark sand of the Shadow Fold. 

'Alexei, no!' Alina screamed, but there was nothing she could do. She looked up, the horror and adrenaline coursing through her, to see a volcra stabbing Mal in the chest, but not so deep that he was already dead. 'Mal!' she shouted. Her best friend met her eyes, taking out his dagger and stabbing the volcra multiple times in the leg, blood flowing from the flesh wounds. Alina scrambled over through the wooden shards of the skiff's deck, found a gun and aimed it at the volcra's stomach with shaking hands. She fired, and the creature dropped Mal to the deck. Dropping the gun, she scrambled over to him on hands and knees. She pulled his hand to her chest. 'Mal.' He smiled, achingly, despite his pain, and spoke softly. 

'I'll meet you at the meadow.' She sobbed. Just then, a volcra's claw entered her back, making her gasp at the creature attempted to pull her up and out of Mal's grasp. Seemingly, then, as if the volcra piercing her had triggered something deep within her, she gasped as white, searing light flowed through and out of her, incinerating the volcra above and around the skiff, turning everything a bright light. 

In Ketterdam... 

A man mopped the blood off the rug in the building that now belonged to Pekka Rollins. He sat on the desk, overlooking his men like a king who had just won a castle. 

'So... new management, gents,' Pekka said. 'Here's the deal.' Just before he was about to say his next words, a dark-skinned man burst through the crowd. 

'The Heartrender is gone, boss. Someone else got her,' the man said. 

'Who?' 

Somewhere near a building (still in Ketterdam)...

As the crew walked, Kaz Brekker led with a smirk on his face, limping slightly with the aid of the cane as he looked back at the Heartrender that followed behind him. 

'I really appreciate new business,' the woman said, walking quickly behind Kaz as quickly as she could in a thick dress. 'But you've only paid for a hour of my time, and I have to be back at the Orchid.' 

'The Orchid isn't safe tonight. Your life's in danger with this job,' Kaz replied, not sparing a glance back at the girl. 'Make yourself scarce for a few days afterwards.' 

'Mr. Brekker, are you threatening me? Really? Even if I'm nice, my boss will call the stadwatch on you.'

'It's not me you're in danger with,' Kaz turned to her and replied, calm as ever. 'It's Pekka Rollins.'

'My boss would call the stadwatch on him as well.' 

'Which is why your boss is already dead.' He walked up to the gate, the man within the gate shouting, 

'Who are you lot?!' 

'We're here to see Dreesen.' 

'You're not with Pekka's crew.' 

'And you're not in Pekka's pocket anymore if you don't owe him anymore,' Kaz replied, tossing a coin pouch through the gate, leaving the man to catch it as him, the Heartrender, Jesper and Inej walked through the gate. 

'Hey, where did you get that coin?' Jesper asked, falling in step with Kaz. 

'Hey!' the man shouted from his position at the gate. 'One of these has a hole in it!' 

'Saints,' Jesper breathed, smiling with a goofy smirk on his face. 

'Inside. Inside,' Kaz said, ushering them all into Dreesen's mansion. The group laughed as they made their way inside.