Blood and Water - The Darkling

Chapter 12: Arguments

*Unedited

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𝕸𝖞 eyes take in the stump of mountaintop that Alina severed. It's already covered in snow.

Are we not all things?

Like calls to like. But if the science is small enough, then we are like all things. The light and shadow lives in the spaces between. I am as much there as I am here. The same things that make the mountain make me. It has no lungs, so I will let it breathe with me. It has no pulse, so I will give it my heartbeat. This is the essence of the Small Science. The cut is already made.

I focus on the peak in the distance just behind Alina's, so far away that I can't make out its details.

I call the light and the darkness to me and then release it, letting myself go with it. I am in the clouds, above them, and I am in the dark of the mountain, feeling myself compressed and breathless. I am the spaces between, where the light and shadow live even if they can't be seen. When I bring my arms down, the arc I make is infinite, a shining white sword shot through with the darkness of the night sky. It exists in a moment and in every moment beyond it.

There is an echoing crack, like thunder from a distance. The sky seems to vibrate.

Silently, slowly, the top of the mountain behind Alina's begins to move. It doesn't tip, just slides inexorably to the side, snow, and rock cascading down its face, leaving a perfect diagonal line where a peak once was, a ledge of exposed gray rock, jutting just above the cloud bank.

My blood fizzes with power, my mind reeling from the reality, the permanence of what I'd just done. The time for holding back has passed. Push further, Lana.

A slow clap pulls me from my thoughts. I turn around to see Nikolai approaching me. He leans against the railing next to me.

"It's so interesting that though your sister claims she doesn't want attention she always savors it and subconsciously searches for it," the Prince contemplates aloud, "and you are the opposite. No audience to cheer you on. You do things for yourself."

"What do you want, Nikolai?"

He grins, "Just the pleasure of your company."

I simply raise an eyebrow.

"You're no fun lately," Nikolai replies with an eye roll. "But you're right. Alina has agreed to a detour. I have formed an alliance with West Ravka. It's still new, as you well know. I'm taking her and hopefully you to them while the others start scouting the Sikurzoi. I thought we might attend a few state dinners, shear off the top of a mountain range or two, put their minds at ease. I can take you both to join the others in the mountains on the way back from Os Kervo."

"Of course, you jumped at the opportunity to align with West Ravka after my 'rescue'."

"You would be disappointed in me if I had not," is his witty response.

"True," I answer. "I will go with you if the time allows. To be frank, at this rate the Darkling will most likely find us before we can depart. Not like you truly believe me."

We fall into a tense silence.

It's bitterly cold. The sky is bright blue, and the afternoon sun makes deep shadows. I sip tea, listening to the sound of the wind rushing in my ears as it ruffles the fur around my face. To my right and left, I can see the spikes of the eastern and western terraces.

I set down my glass and lean over the wall to look at the stone steps carved into the side of the mountain beneath us. Tamar claimed that in ancient times, pilgrims had made the climb on their knees. Faith is a powerful tool.