Raven Girl

Chapter 11

Nadine heard Elias make a small sound of pain. She'd never heard or seen any sign of weakness from him before, so she wondered if she'd imagined it for a while. Gylfi and Regina were asleep, sleeping off their headache and shock respectively. Nadine had been staring into the fire, mulling their impending task over in her mind.

She looked around. Shadows flickered on the pitted circular wall. Elias was... climbing the stairs. They looked very unstable, but she didn't want to warn him down – it was likely he already knew.

She decided to follow him. Her shoes made soft sounds on the steps and she glided one hand along the stones beside her. Elias had stopped at the highest bit of the stairs that were still standing, gazing out of a window that was just a gaping hole.

"I'm keeping watch," he said without looking round at her. "Go back down."

Nadine leaned against the wall and gazed out at the view. Moors, flecked with gorse and rocks, rolled in undulating hills and valleys before them. The sun was rising, flooding everything with light, and in places it was still raining. She wondered what to say to this stern Easfallian warrior. "Are you in pain?"

"Not much. I've been in pain before, I can assure you."

"Have you treated your wounds?"

He glowered at her for one moment before looking back at the view. "Yes, Mother."

"Sorry. I was only asking."

"Because you really care that much."

"I have a heart of gold."

The usual shadow over his face seemed to lift somewhat, although Elias Karim did not smile.

This made Nadine feel bolder. "So... soldier-turned-assassin, huh? How did that happen?"

"You think I'm going to reveal my life story to you because we've travelled together, Sadovsky?"

"Well... we've also faced certain death together. And we will do again, most likely many, many times."

Elias's fingers traced the edges of the stones forming the window ledge, their corners worn smooth by nature. The view really was breathtaking when covered in that soft, golden light. "I was betrayed. That's why I became an assassin. The army in Easfall... wasn't what I once thought it was." He scowled at the moors.

"Is that why you're so...?"

He gave her one of his intense, dark-eyed looks. Nadine's courage failed her. "Um... I'm going to go back downstairs. To sleep. Enjoy the view." She scampered away.

His voice rumbled after her. "Enjoy the sleep."

When they woke, ate roasted pheasant along with some bread Elias had bought, and drank their fill of clean water, they decided to begin their planning. Gylfi left to scout the shrike base with Regina's map, while the other three sat on the floor, spreading papers around them and talking – well, arguing.

"Hey. Looks like the shrike base is on high alert." Gylfi shrugged his coat off as he stepped inside their shelter. "They were expecting those train passengers, and I'll bet they saw the explosion."


"What makes you say that?" Nadine asked.

"The place does look like a castle – old, stone, with towers. They'll see us coming a mile off."

"A vantage point to fire missiles from," Elias said thoughtfully.

"So." Nadine looked down at the papers, all of them stolen. "How do we get them to let us in?"


Gylfi scoffed. "Walk up and say 'hey, you know we've been sent by our governments to steal from you? Could you please open your gates?'"

"A business transaction," Regina said suddenly. She'd been quiet for a while, staring off into the distance with her brow furrowed. Elias and Nadine had left her to it.