11||HELL HATH NO FURY LIKE A WOMAN SCORNED

Thunder rumbled through the sky like the heartbeat of a living creature as the sandskiff slowly pushed forward. Anya ducked inside a large crate in the cargo hold, silently counting the markers they had passed. "Marker 5." She whispered to herself. Her heart raged in the same cadence of the thunder, hair on her arms and in her neck standing upright as she shivered. The clang of the grate to the deck being opened, resonating through the skiff's belly.

The raven-haired put her ear to the crate, hearing shuffling on the other side as the board creaked under the weight of whoever just walked in. A high pitched creak caught her attention, someone sitting down on a smaller crate close to hers, unable to peak through. "This is a bad idea." A muffled voice protested on the other side. "I think it's rather practical." Another one chimed in, his tone rather seriously. Something about him, about the way he spoke, felt familiar to the Oryalen woman in bones. "What? How?" The first voice huffed once more, something clanging as he spoke. "I don't see how we step off this boat without you pulling those guns." The second voice retorted sharply.

'Guns?' The young grisha woman thought. The first man chuckled skeptically, snorting at the words of his friend. "I don't mean this, I mean THIS." He breezed in annoyance. The cries and shrieks of volcra resonated through the air, halting the conversation for a minute before the first voice spoke again. "We are in the worst place in the world, on a ship full of people who want us dead, surrounded by monsters who want us in their gullets." He ranted in panic. "Oh I should've brought Milo." Suddenly, it was as if a penny had dropped for the inferni. 'This idiot.' She thought as she almost facepalmed herself.

"How many bullets do you have?" Kaz inquired sternly. Anya could hear Jesper spin one of his guns as he answered. "Not enough." The raven-haired chuckled, loudly, the cargo hold suddenly silent. "Need some help?" She asked before she kicked and punched of the walls in the crate, clawing her way out through the hole, met with a barrel pointed at her face. "Good to know that you missed me." She remarked, taking in the expressions of the other crows with a small smile, the Zemeni man immediately lowering his gun. "Saints! I could've shot you!" He complained as he gave her a strong pat on the shoulder, Inej shooting her a grateful smile.

"I'd really prefer it if you didn't. Don't need my face to go even more to hell." The Oryalen woman chuckled darkly. "What's the estimate on people up there?" She demanded, pacing slightly as she looked up. "The usual squaller at the sails and a heartrender, the same ones from the group that attacked us Ryevost. The other heartrender is on the deck behind Kirigan and Alina. The usual dignitaries are up there too, about 4 to 6 people." The young barrel boss replied quickly. "So what's the plan exactly?" The sharpshooter wondered nervously. The young grisha woman was about to answer as dirtyhands interrupted her, the wraith walking to the back of the skiff's belly.

"We wait." He stated simply, as if it was the most obvious thing to do. "For what?" The Fahey man and the inferni asked at the same time. "For whatever the general has planned." The bastard of the barrel announced, earning a sharp look from Anya as she scrunched up her nose. "Are you insane?" She hissed, Kaz almost considering his answer on it. "Consider this scenario. The sun summoner's fled from the little palace. And now she's tied to the deck." He started, trying to calm his companion down with his words. "We've set sail for a city. A city with Zlatan, who hired Arken to kill her and..." the young barrel boss hesitated, looking down at the raven-haired as she bit the inside of his cheek. "And someone who made a deal with the Fjerdans."

Dirtyhands limped a bit closer to Jesper, narrowing his eyes. "I saw his face as he boarded. I know that look." He almost whispered, slyly looking at the Oryalen woman before looking up through a gap in the deck above them. "He's someone utterly consumed by vengeance." The Zemeni man arched an eyebrow at his words. "Seen it enough in the mirror, do you?" He remarked, suddenly on the receiving end of a glare from the bastard of the barrel. "What kind of revenge do you think he is planning exactly?" The sharpshooter asked. The young grisha woman sat down on a crate, thinking deeply, thinking back to anything he had ever told her.

Her mind flashed back to a drawing she had once seen in Alina's room, one she had told came from a dream. Once more, an image came forth in her head, the Istorii Sankt'ya splayed open on Kirigan's desk and turned to the page of Sankt Ilya in chains. Ilya Morozova. The man who had used merzost to create three powerful amplifier in his thirst for knowledge and pursuit of power. The inferni shuddered as realization coursed through her. "Oh shit." She cursed, her eyes wide. "He has the stag." She added, earning strange looks from the others before she started explaining.

"Do you know the story of Sankt Ilya in chains, the man who they presume is the Bonesmith? It is said that with merzost, he created three powerful amplifiers, the fire bird, the sea serpent and Morozova's stag." She stated, looking at the others as her chest heaved with the epiphany. "I don't know why I didn't realize this sooner but I remember now. The general is obessed with Morozova's stag. Alina dreamed of it, often. I think he found it and fused an amplifier on Alina! That's how he's controlling her!" Anya almost shouted, clenching her fists in disgust, the others eyeing her in slight shock. He was using her as he pawn, like had everybody else. Like he had her.

"We know his plan requires the sun summoner, which makes her valuable to us. She's the one keeping keeping everyone safe in here. If we have control of her, we call the shots." Kaz informed, his scheming face back on. "We need to threaten her life." Shouts of surprise emanated from the raven-haired, Mal and the Ghafa woman, who had a gun at his head. "And who the hell are you?" The sharpshooter demanded as he pulled out his gun, the Oryalen woman only sighed as she pinched the bridge of her notes. "Saints I almost forgot about you. Guys, this is Mal, he's with me. Mal, these are the crows, they helped me fuck shit up at the little palace." She told, pointing between the two of them.

"I just want to kill the general and save Alina." The tracker said resolutely, his face dead serious. The young barrel boss walked forward menacingly as he spoke. "So you know Alina?" The young grisha woman snorted. "I think he does a little bit more than knowing her." She joked. Dirtyhands was silently, his icy eyes flickering between the dagger expert, the man from Keramzin and the inferni as his side. "Inej, give him back his gun." He ordered. "Why?" She asked with gritted teeth, her brow furrowed. "Because if he isn't with the darkling's crew and he's with Anya, he's with our crew." The bastard of the barrel replied, the Fahey man putting his gun back in its holster, earning a thankful nod from corporal.

The raven-haired looked between the four, a plan emerging from her mind. "Someone needs to distract the general. At least long enough for me to break through the deck and burn through the ropes." Light peaked through a crack in the deck, a split second before the skiff lurched to a stop and a golden ray of light fell onto the Oryalen woman. "What's he doing?" Inej inquired before Kaz shushed her silent. And then, the shadow summoner's voice boomed in the air. "One more demonstration." He stated, his voice loud and the stomps of his feet getting closer and closer to the group. "Now bear witness to what I can do. With her power." The young grisha woman's breath caught in her throat, understanding what was going on, what he had planned, all at once.

"Saints." she whispered, fear gripping her heart as it beat a mile per minute. "He wants to expand it. He wants to-" The inferni swallowed, her obsidian eyes filled with worry. "He wants to weaponize the fold." She fought back the tears that were threatening to spill over. Suddenly she found herself standing below an opening as she watched the black general. Anya watched him as he moved his hands forward in formation. She watched him as dark, shadow tendrils reached forward. She watched Kirigan, the man she had looked up to for over a decade, the man who was her mentor, her friend, as the fold tore into Novokribirsk, swallowing it whole.

Pain and sorrow radiated through the raven-haired's body as a small and weak whisper escaped her lips, nails digging into her palms."Please." She pleaded. "No." As she watched the young Starkov woman struggle against his hold on her, watching her try to save those people that were standing on the docks, watching her fall to the ground as he stopped her in her efforts, something sank into the Oryalen woman. Another girl. Another pawn. How many had been there before the sun summoner? How many had been there before herself? How many would there be after? Another thing dawned on her. There were no winners in this game.

"What do we do now?" Jesper's voice inquired from behind her. "We wait." The young barrel boss replied in a way that made it sounds as if it was the most obvious conclusion. She could feel their eyes burning into the back of her skull. "Kaz, you can hear him slaughtering a city!" The wraith objected, her face slightly twisted in disgust. "So you understand the severityof the situation? The scale of his power? Good." He snapped. "What we need to do is act now." The Oretsev man protested with a look of anger. Dirtyhands turned to him, irritation present on his face, his nostrils flaring with resentment in his eyes. "And the smart move right now, is to get clear of the dawned fold first!" He almost shouted.

"We won't." The young grisha woman finally spoke once more, their heads turning to her. Mal nodded before turning around as he spoke. "I never said I was smart. I'll distract him. Anya go ahead." He retorted before climbing up, the Ghafa woman following him. "You guys go. I've got this." The inferni stated resolutely, the Zemeni man shooting her a look of sympathy. "Be careful out there okay?" He said. Anya arched an eyebrow and almost laughed at his worry. "It's only a rope Jesper. Now go." She demanded, motioning her head to the grate that lead to the deck. Anya turned her back to them as she walked forward, hearing the sharpshooter and the bastard of the barrel say those words. "No mourners." They said. "No funerals."

As the raven-haired moved in the cargo hold, she heard the general's voice ringing through the air. "Today we redraw all maps." Darkness fell over her, a form lying on the deck above her. "With the sun summoner at my command, I control the fold. I can move it to any harbor, stop any trade, engulf any city. So when you get off this skiff, go back to the leaders of your country. Tell our enemies of the North and our enemies in the South. Tell them that the war with Ravka is over." The Oryalen could almost feel his smugness as he stood not too far from the Keramzin woman. "All countries answer to us now." He uttered, his voice laced with threats. Suddenly, shouts emanated through the air, a shot releasing from a gun.

The tracker fired shot after shot until suddenly it stopped, a body thudding to the ground. "Keep him alive. He might be of use to us." The shadow summoner demanded. The young grisha woman could see him, in a split in the deck above her, as he crouched down to meet Alina's eyes. "I'd focus if I were you. You are the one keeping him alive after all." He threatened, looking up at the sun seared gate way he had created with her powers. The fold was closing in, slowly but surely, until the young Starkov woman forced herself back up slightly, hands moving to push the ceiling of the gate way back before she collapsed on the deck in exhaustion, the darkling walking away.

Then, the inferni punched the deck above her. She landed hit after hit, some of her knuckles starting to split as blood trickled down but it did not deter her. She struck the deck again and again until the wood caved, her hand bursting through and the sun summoner's face looking down in surprise. "You didn't think I'd leave you, did you?" Anya joked as a maddening smile broke out over her friend's face. The raven-haired wrapped her hand around the rope, the threads snapping underneath the heat of her summoned flame in her palm. The Oryalen woman ducked low as the Keramzin woman covered the hole with her dress and kefta, leaving a tiny gap for her friend to look through.

Ivan gripped the corporal's heart as his grunted, his hand desperately trying to hold Alina's. "General Kirigan!" A female voice shouted, the ambassador of Kerch. "If you do this, it will only turn the world against you and all grisha! You'll be branded as a heretic." She pleaded, trying to reason with him. The young grisha woman could see the black general giving a small, almost unnoticeable nod at the heartrender, his hands moving in a detailed formation as their bodies started to drop to the ground, one by one. Out of nowhere, the skiff lurched forward, launched through the sands once more. There was only one squaller present and it meant only one thing. Zoya had turned against Kirigan. "ZOYA!" he shouted enraged.

In a split second, another shot was released and the inferni knew that it was the Fahey man. Her hands gripped the sides of the hole as she pulled herself up, jumping onto the deck with the young Starkov woman proudly standing next to her. The general quickly gathered some shadows, sending a small cut his way before Kaz pulled him out of its path. "I will not let you hurt them!" Anya snapped her fingers, a flame so large flickering to life that it put a house burning down to shame. She drew back her arm and launched it, hurling it at the shadow summoner's back. As he let out a howl of pain, flames sputtering over to the side, lighting pieces of the deck on fire, his head snapped to her.

Something deeper than simple hatred burned in his eyes before a shape flew through the air, a dagger deeply embedding itself into his chest. 'Inej.' The raven-haired realized thankfully. Shock filled the darkling's eyes, his head moving to look up at the sky. The Oryalen woman's eyes widened in surprise as he mumbled in an unknown language, dark, black veins tangling up his neck, his eyes encased in darkness before he shakily pulled the dagger from his chest, howls of volcra in the background. "IT WILL TAKE MORE THAN THIS!" He screamed as the black veins receded. In a split second, before the young grisha woman could react, before she could stop him, the black general pulled. The fold grew, shrouding the back of the skiff along with the Nazyalensky woman and the crows in the dark.

The inferni's eyes looked around frantically, spotting the volcra throught the stormy clouds. The sun summoner and the Oretsev man laid down on the ground, blood sputtering from the latter's lips as Ivan kept his hold on their hearts. Jesper way lying unconscious in the back, the dark haired woman knocked out at the upper deck near the sails, the dagger expert standing over her as she sent knives and daggers out into the cloud and the young barrel boss was nowhere to be seen. They were losing. They were dying. Before she even knew it, before she had even realized it, Anya's feet had started running, launching herself through the air.

Cloaked in flames, she wrestled him to the ground, flipping to the other side, hand planted on the deck, all the flames around growing scorching as it lit the skiff. As Kirigan looked up through the fire, the sea of flames parted, a lone figure walking towards him. The raven-haired leaned down, gripping his shoulder, her hand still shimmering hot as she pressed him further into the ground. "Tell me darkling," she hissed as she leaned in menacingly, her eyes burning with anger and hatred, pure and utter loathing, with a fire stronger then the flames of purgatory itself. "Do you bleed?"

It was in that moment, that split second, that when everyone looked at the Oryalen woman, they realized that she was neither human nor grisha. She was something else entirely, maybe even the personification of the famous flames from hell itself. She was the purgatory inferni and come hell or high water, she unquestionably deserved that title. She raised her hand, gathering the fire around her as it brew to life, ready to arch it down. Without a warning, blood splattered onto her chin from her mouth. The flames in her hands fanned out as she fell to her knees, clutching her chest. There, on the middle of the deck as she lurched forward and gasped for breath, Anya's heart stopped.

With one knee on the deck, the raven-haired looked up, baring her bloodied teeth as she snarled at the general, taking one step forward. "I-"she breathed, crawling forward. "Do not give up." She uttered, her eyes ablaze as the heartrender rooted her in place. The shadow summoner kneeled down to meet her eye, holding her chin in his hand. "You never know how to quite do you?" The Oryalen woman's vision was starting to blur as he let go of his hold on her. Her head rested on the deck when a voice whispered in her head. 'Do not sleep. Do not falter. The future of Ravka lies with you.'

The darkling turned away, walking towards the Keramzin woman. "It's just you and me now, Alina. And we are all we need anyway." He almost whispered, something tender in his eyes besides the greed that was consuming him as she took his stretched out hand. "You may have needed me..." she started before her face twisted in a snarl. "...but I never needed you!" Inej's dagger fell into her hands, seconds before she drove it through the black general's hand, the piece of the stag that was embedded in his hand flying through the air. He fell to the ground against the railing, clutching his hand as Ivan released his hold on the young grisha woman and Mal, both of them finally gasping a desperate breath as they split the blood from their mouth on the ground.

Alina weaved her fingers together, the light of the gateway pulsing around them. "Your first words to me were 'what are you?' This is what I am." Her hands burst loose, pushing back the darkness of the fold, the gateway growing as she cleared the skiff. "How do you claim such power?" Kirigan demanded in shock. "I killed the stag! It's power belongs to me!" He shouted, deranged. "What was not given to you cannot be claimed." The young Starkov woman stated coldly, disgust in her eyes. "The stag chose me." The general stood up, his nostrils flaring as his eyes were wide, as if in a crazed state. "You chose to betray our people. I was trying to save us." He growled.

Shakily but determined, the inferni stood up, her voice booming through the air. "No. You only seek glory for yourself. And you would win it of the backs of MY PEOPLE!" A deep cry for battle ripped from Anya's lips as she ran to him, time seemingly slowing down as she dove for the shadow summoner, plunging to down as they fell, flung to the other side of the deck by the sheer force. "ANYA!" Voices shouted in fear as she grappled the darkling. The heartrender awoke once more, the sun summoner choking on air as the gateway recedded completely. The raven-haired saw blood streaming down from her nose, ducking as the black general threw a punch her way.

The Zemeni man rose from behind the crates, aiming his gun at Ivan before it went off, sending him back as he collided with the railing. Two shot were fired before the shrapshooter's hand contorted his face crippling in worry as Ivan's hands moved in a flurry of motions, his opponent's finger so close to pulling the trigger. The Fahey man struggled against his grasp, finger inching closer. He groaned in pain as his hand moved, the gun almost discarded as the heartrender punched him. Jesper ducked low, aiming his gun at his opponent once more before it went off with a bang, sending Ivan sprawling over the railing and into the sand.

The Oryalen woman battered her fist underneath Kirigan's chin as he staggered back, blood trickling down from his lip. He raised his fist before he charged, slamming her down to the ground. In a split second, the general crawled on top of the young grisha woman, drawing his fist back before she gouged him in the eyes and kicked him off. As she looked around, she saw the group gathering at the railing on the other side. The tracker cradled Alina in his lap, begging her to wake up before she let out a starled breath. Light sorched from her hand as she blasted a volcra from behind him. Everybody was there, from the wraith to dirtyhands to the squaller. But something behind the inferni stirred, the shadow summoner rising from his daze. Shadows gathered in front of him as he prepared to make the cut.

Anya's eyes widened. The young Starkov woman was too hurt to fight him, Zoya too dazed and the others didn't have the power to take the darkling on. It meant one thing and one thing only. The raven-haired needed to stay behind. The other's looked at her expectantly before she locked eyes with the bastard of the barrel, her obsidian ones saddening and his wide, as if he understood. 'Don't.' He almost seemed to shout. As if he knew what she was about to do. The Oryalen woman dashed to Kirigan lightning fast and struck his hand with a jab, kocking the cut away from the group as the mast shattered, separating the group. "Anya!" The Ghafa woman shouted. The young grisha woman crossed her arms as she raised her leg, sending the general across the deck. "GO!" she shouted desperately, her voice hoarse as she watched them climb over the railing, disapearing from her line of sight.

Slowly but surely, the inferni turned back to the shadow summoner. "Come on Kirigan, it's just you and me now. The showdown that was always meant to be." She hissed hauntingly, every bit of her words dripping with venom. "This is a foolish attempt at extending their life, you know that right? Sooner or later I will find them all." The darkling inquired, his  nose scrunched up. Anya shook her head and chuckled darkly as she met his eyes. "You have lived for far too long, darkling. You might live to see another hundred years but there is one thing you are forgetting. If you kill me, I will haunt you in your dreams. I will not rest until I have driven you mad. Not just with anger but with grief." she snapped.

"My bones may crumble and my skin may wither with time but even if I die tonight, you will never truly be rid of me. My memory, my being, my goals, will be passed on to those who believe in me. And that is something you can never, ever take away from me." The black general gathered shadows, a wave of it sent Anya's way before a ripple of fire blocked. Kirigan's eyes widened at the sightof the rift between them. They weren't friends anymore nor were they family. They were just two souls destined to cross paths and destined to be enemies, in this life and the next.

The general gritted his teeth as his onyx eyes locked with the obsidian ones of the raven-haired, frustration in his and betrayal in hers as he spoke."I will hunt you down like an animal. As long as I am still alive, you will never know peace. You don't seem to realise this yet but I will find you, sooner or later. And when I do, it won't be pretty. I will take everything away from you, until there is nothing left, until you realize that your place is here besides me and nowhere else." At his words, something inside the Oryalen woman called to her, power surging through her body as the flames suddenly blew sky high all around them.

For the first time in a long while, the shadow summoner seemed afraid of her, afraid of her power, afraid of what she could dp. "What are you doing?!" the darkling shouted, his voice ablaze with anger. "I'm taking us of the board." The young grisha woman looked down on him. Her fingers itched as she called the fire to her. "We were born in your world," she started, bringing the embers of burning forests, bringing the flames, closer to one another as the fire inside her lit her fingertips alight. "But you will die in ours!" She roared, enveloping herself in a wall of flames until a sea of darkness clashed against it, scathing past one another and their makers, lighting up the fold like an ominous beacon.

The fire grew and grew until it over took the skiff, the other masts and booms falling down, blocking the two from one another. She took a deep breath, her arms and legs exhausted. With the last of her energy she vaulted over the railing of the skiff, landing deftly in the sand with a roll. As she turned to look back behind her, she snapped her fingers once more as flames started to lick her fingers hungrily. With a hiss, the inferni shot one of her hands up, gathering the flames in front of her before arching it down, a roaring blade of fire singing through the air as it cut all in its wake, the wreckage sand skiff crumbling to the ground. Her heart swelled, a stab of pain in her chest as she thought about the people but there was nothing she could do about it anymore. Their blood was on her hands as much as they were on his. Darkness enveloped as she turned around and Anya realized what she had to. She had to track through the fold and survive.

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EMOTIONS, EMOTIONS!
Also a cliffhanger.