TANGLED, genya safin

chapter twenty-one.

chapter twenty-one.
The Rise of a Grisha

WE EMERGED FROM THE FOLD SOMEWHERE SOUTH of Novokribirsk and took our first steps in West Ravka. The afternoon sun was bright, the meadow grass green and sweet, but we didn't stop to savor any of it.

We were tired, hungry, and wounded, but our enemies wouldn't rest, and neither could we. We walked until we found cover in an orchard and hid there until dark, afraid of being spotted and remembered. The air was thick with the smell of apple blossoms, but the fruit was far too small and green to eat.

There was a bucket full of fetid rainwater sitting beneath our tree, and we used it to wash the worst stains from Mal's bloodied shirt. He tried not to wince as he pulled the torn fabric over his head, but there was no disguising the deep wounds the volcra's claws had left across from trying to grab at him.

When night came, we began our trek to the coast. Zoya apologized for the way she treated us and went to find her family, the others Kaz, Jesper, and Inej stayed with us. They were heading home to ketterdam.

Shortly before dawn, we crested a hill and saw the broad sweep of Alkhem Bay and the glittering lights of Os Kervo below us. We knew we should get off the road. It would soon be busting with tradesmen and travelers who were sure to notice a cut-up tracker and two girls in black keftas. But we couldn't resist our first glimpse of the True Sea.

The sun rose at our backs, pink light gleaming off the city's slender towers then splintering gold on the waters of the bay. I saw the sprawl of the port, the great ships bobbing in the harbor, and beyond that blue, and blue, and blue again. The sea seemed to go on forever, stretching into an impossibly distant horizon.

I had seen plenty of maps. I knew there was land out there somewhere, beyond long weeks of travel and miles of ocean. But I still had the dizzying sense that we were standing at the edge of the world. A breeze came in off the water, carrying the smell of salt and damp, the faint cries of gulls.

"There's just so much of it," Alina said. Mal nodded then turned to the two of us, "A good place to hide, yes?"

He reached out and slid his hand into Alina's hair. He pulled one of the gold pins from the tangled waves. "For clothes," Mal said and dropped the pins into his pocket.

A day ago, Genya had placed the same golden pins into my hair. I would never see her again, never see any of them. My heart twisted. I didn't know if Genya had really been my friend, but I would miss her just the same.

Mal left us waiting for a little way off the road, hidden in a stand of trees. We'd all agreed it would be safer for him to enter Os Kervo by himself, but it was hard to watch him go in alone, not knowing if he'd make it back.

Alina and I had nightmares of the fold, of the Darkling. I had nightmares of Rebecca and Aliya, they had died at the price of power. It had been my fault, but it had also been the Darkling's fault and I hated him for it.

We had doomed them all, and I couldn't even be sure that the Darkling was dead. Had he been torn apart by the Volcra? Had the lost men and women of the Tula Valley finally had their revenge on the Black Heretic? Or was he, at this very moment, hurtling towards us over their dead reaches of the Unsea, ready to bring down his own kind of reckoning?

I shuddered and paced, flinching at every sound. I had gained some of my strength back after my power was taken away, but I still hadn't fully recovered and a part of me wondered if I ever really would. Something inside of me was missing, and it wanted to be returned I could feel it. But would it ever really be mine again?

By late afternoon, Alina was convinced that Mal had been identified and captured. When I heard footsteps and saw his familiar form emerge through the trees I sighed in relief but Alina stomped over to him and punched him in the arm.

"Don't you ever scare me like that again!" She shouted before hugging him. I laughed and shook my head, "any trouble?" I asked.

"Nope." He said. "I've never seen a city so crowded with people. No one even gave me a second glance." He wore a new shirt and an ill-fitting coat, and his arm was laden with clothes for me and Alina: a sack line dress in a red so faded it almost looked orange and a sacklike blue dress with red sleeves.

I fumbled with the tiny black buttons of the kefta. There seemed to be a thousand of them. When the silk finally slid over my shoulders and landed at my feet, I felt a great burden lift from me. The cool spring air prickled my bare skin and, for the first time, I dared to hope that we might really be free. I quashed that thought. Until we knew the Darkling was dead, I would never draw an easy breath.

I pulled on the rough wool dress and rose a brow at Mal when I came back around the corner, "Did you deliberately buy the ugliest clothes you could find?"

Mal turned to look at me and laughed, "I bought the first clothes I could find." Alina came around a few minutes later and I was slightly jealous, she almost looked better in her dress than I did.

Mal looked her up and down and whispered, "I never want to see you in black again." Alina held his gaze, "never," she whispered.

Mal reached over to our Kefta's and picked them up and curled his lip up in disgust, "what should we do with these?" I and Alina exchanged glances and smiled, "Burn them." We said.

And we did. As the flames consumed the silks, Mal slowly pulled the rest of the golden pins from Alina's curls, one by one until her hair tumbled around her shoulders. Gently, he pushed her hair back and kissed her neck, right where the antlers had once been, but now we're deep into the collars as she had taken back her power.

When Alina cried, he pulled her close to his chest and held her, until there was nothing left but ashes.

And the only person I could think of who could possibly ever give me the treatment that Mal had been giving Alina at this moment was Genya.

And I would never see her again. I walked away from them and hid away so that no one could see the tears leaking from my eyes.

END OF ACT ONE
SEASON ONE
  TANGLED

Words written:
1,180

『Authors note』

And that's a wrap to season one! I hope you enjoyed it! I'm kinda sad that it's over but I'm excited to start writing Act 2! Let me know your thoughts and opinions! ❤️👀