2 • Fugitives

For days between sky and road, Darya rode with her small group of soldiers, a footman and two handmaids. She wasn't sure of many things, as a matter of fact, she was sure of only three things.

The first thing was that it wasn't yet time to cry. The second was that she needed to find the Darkling. The third one was that she needed to get to the lands she inherited in Novyi Zem.

Out of those three tasks, only one of them was easy: she was far too shocked to cry.

She felt truly useless, for she had no clue on how to find the Darkling. Her greatest assets now were rumors and gossip. Not only did Darya search and listen to every bit of gossip about him she could find, but also spread all the possible rumors that she was looking for him.

After nearly two months, she finally gave up and moved with her ragged company that had picked up a few Grisha along the way to the path that led to Os Kervo.

It was when a clap of thunder shook the road beneath their horse's hooves and far in the horizon there appeared a dark spot that grew upwards and sideways until it looked like it had taken the entire horizon.

With widened eyes and no previous warning, Darya pushed her horse to a fast gallop, therefore obliging all of her traveling companions to follow her. A predicament, indeed, for unlike her, not all of them were good riders.

They spent almost an entire day switching between unbridled gallop and rapid trot so that they could keep up with the princess, who rode no less than the fastest steed in all of Ravka.

When she, at last, found herself before him she wanted to cry, but that was not the moment, Not yet.

He was simply standing there, staring at that mass of thundering darkness in front of him.

"Oh, finally!" Darya breathed out, dismounting from her horse.

The Darkling turned around with a defensive look in his eyes, shadows swirling around him.

"Dasha?" he furrowed his eyebrows, the shadows settling, though not vanishing. "What are you doing here?"

"He killed Ilyana. I had to flee. He must have already killed Vladmir too. We need to go. Run. Regroup." she told in a hurry, approaching in the anxious steps of one who hadn't slept in days.

"Dasha!" he exclaimed holding her by the shoulders and making her look him in the eye. "Were you followed?"

"No. Some people came along with me. They should be right behind us." she said in a restless way, looking behind herself. "We are losing time. We need to go, Darkling! We-"

"Never call me by that name ever again!" he growled furiously, using one of his hands to grab Darya's chin.

"Oh, let go of me!" she pushed him with an annoyed look. "I don't even know your name! How am I supposed to know how I should call you?"

The Shadow Summoner sighed heavily, his stance crumbling, and when both of them looked at each other once again, they saw the exact same thing in the eyes of one another: grief and tiredness. So much tiredness.

For the first time, they saw each other in such an untidy state. The royal advisor and the princess, who used to be dressed in the finest fabrics, every strand of hair in their perfectly planned places, now wearing worn-out ridding attire, tired features, the road's dust in their skins and the wind in their hairs.

"Please, I have no one else." Darya whispered, her voice hoarse and tears threatening to fall.

"Neither do I. Not anymore." he replied in the very same tone, and then as a peace gesture, offered his hand. "Aleksander."

She held onto his hand with the firmness of despair, a small smile gracing her exhausted face.

"Zasha." she mumbled with a soft chuckle, the most popular Ravkan nickname for Aleksander.

"I detest that nickname..." Aleksander muttered, rolling his eyes, before returning to his previous seriousness. "What is your plan?"

"Getting to the harbor, but..." she vaguely gestured to the thundering darkness that rose between them and the harbor. "How far does it go?"

"All the way to the borders." he gave her an inquiring look, being able to see the idea brewing in the woman's mind.

"Can we cross it?" Darya asked, finally looking him in the eye.

"I tried to." Aleksander replied, lifting up his sleeve and showing his arm covered in nasty blackened wounds.

"Aleksander!" she yelped, eyes widened as she pulled him closer by the wounded arm.

The princess's eyebrows furrowed in concentration, one hand holding his arm while the other ran an inch away over the torn skin, her fingers closing one by one starting with her little finger until her hand was fisted. Under Darya's command, the cells reproduced faster, the tissue repairing itself until where the ugly wounds were, all that was left was soft skin slightly marked by faded grayish lines almost unnoticeable where the wounds were.

"How?" Aleksander questioned, looking in wonder between his arm and the woman.

"Ilyana taught me. " she answered in a mumble, carefully pulling down his sleeve and buttoning his cuff, just so that she had something to do with her hands. "Vlad also taught me how to Heartrender."

"So you did it." his voice had a tone of renewed hope, and when she looked at his eyes again, they had a glimmer of forming strategies. "You are an All Summoner."

When Darya's ragged entourage reached them, it was decided they should make camp along the line of the darkness. They didn't think anyone would be brave enough to get so close to it.

Aleksander took his time in assessing the Grisha that Darya had collected along the way: a Fabrikator named Vasilissa, two Squallers named Alexey and Ekaterina, an Inferni named Pyotr, and a Heartrender named Ivan.

All very talented were asked to meet them at the main tent in the camp - the one that would house Darya and Aleksander for the time being - to plan their next steps.

"There are three Grisha encampments that are yet untouched by king Anastas." Alexey said pointing at the map over the makeshift table at the center of the tent. "One of them was here in Kribirsk. The other two are in Ulensk and at the fishing harbor of Arkesk."

Alexey was tall, even taller than Aleksander. He had broad shoulders, the posture of a leader, and the gorgeous Suli dark skin.

"Well, the one in Kribirsk is no longer." Aleksander said with a long and defeated sigh.

"Perhaps we could build a fortress in Balakirev. Even though the king is handing out the title to anyone, Lantsovograd is your province by birthright, moya tsarevna." Ivan said looking at Darya.

Ivan was a bit shorter, with broad shoulders despite his lean figure. He was serious, even grumpy, yet fiercely loyal to those who helped him, and Darya was very grateful for his loyalty.

"Balakirev is too close to Os Alta to be safe. It would only put us all at risk and, at the moment, it seems that according to Anastas my only birthright is death." she shook her head. "We aren't strong enough to remain in Ravka. We must go to my lands in Novyi Zem."

"With all due respect, but all of this planning doesn't mean a damn thing if we can't get to Os Kervo, and for that, we need to cross that thing out there." said Ekaterina and, as if reinforcing what she had said, the darkness thundered loudly, shaking the tent's structures.

The Squaller was even shorter than Darya - a true accomplishment -, and rarely kept her opinions to herself. She spoke loudly, confidently, and had the look in her eyes of an untamed stallion.

"No one will be able to form any plans correctly right now. We haven't slept in days. We need to rest so that we can think." Vasilissa told calmly, therefore deciding what should be done for the rest of the night.

Vasilissa was that kind of delicate woman, tall and lean, with perfect blonde hair, perfect blue eyes, perfectly round and sharp cheekbones. Everything about Vasilissa's appearance was perfect, standardized as if she was cutom-made. She had a calm temper and was quiet.

"We shall leave you for the night." Pyotr said with a wink as he exited the tent, earning piercing glares from the All Summoner and the Shadow Summoner.

Pyotr seemed to have the same personality as the fire he mastered: rebellious, confident, reckless, uncontrollable. He was the youngest among the Grisha there, only a teenager. He was 17 years old.

Once they were left alone, Darya and Aleksander exchanged uncomfortable looks before returning to analyze the map they both had already memorized very long ago. What followed was one of those hollowed silences that shouldn't exist.

"They're all sharing tents. I was the only one who had a tent all for myself, now the situation is fairer." she said after clearing her throat.

"I will sleep outside." Aleksander said lowly, bringing a furrow to the princess's brows.

"But..." she blinked a few times. "When you resided at the palace, at times you did sleep at my quarters. What has changed?"

"It's been six years, Dasha. A lot has changed."

Instantly, Darya recognized the look in his eyes:

"What's her name?"

Aleksander stared at her in silence, his eyes scanning over Darya's face, absorbing every feature. Eyes of the famous Lantsov blue, the upturned nose, dark hair that shone dark red under the right light.

"Luda." he said at last, after long minutes of that silent analysis. "Her name was Luda."

"It's a good name. Beautiful, strong, respectable. The kind of name given to a woman who won't let anyone trample her." Darya complimented with a small understanding smile. "I assume Anastas's soldiers happened to her?"

"She was a Healer, like your sister Ilyana." Aleksander's eyes filled with tears. "And no, she never let anyone trample her. I... I used to tell her that if someday the two of you met, you would be great friends."

"Why would you ever tell her about me?" Darya asked with a bit of sarcasm, carefully pulling Aleksander to sit beside her on one of the makeshift beds.

"Because... You are, quite probably, the closest thing I have to a friend."

"I never took you for such a sentimental person, Zasha." she smirked, standing up and going back to analyzing the map.

"Not that nickname..." he let out a tired sigh. "You won't call me that all of the time, will you?"

"You've been calling me Dasha ever since before I even knew your name. It is only fair, Zasha." she chuckled lightly, emphasizing his nickname.

"Let it be clear that if anyone else calls me that, your ragged caravan will be a member short!" Aleksander warned.

"Our ragged caravan. This is a conjointed mission now." Darya mumbled distractedly, her eyes more and more focused on the map as if she saw something new. "That's it... That's it! I know how we'll get to the harbor!"

"How?" he got up immediately, walking two short steps until he was right behind her, looking at the map from the same angle, which wasn't hard once Darya was considerably shorter.

"You won't like it."

"Just say it already!"

"Alexey spoke of the other Grisha encampments in Ulensk and Arkesk. We could travel close to the darkness until we get to Ulensk. We collect the Grisha there and continue Northbound 'till we reach the end of the darkness. And now comes the part you won't like." Darya nibbled at the inside of her lower lip before telling the rest of the plan. "We will pass through Fjerda before crossing back to Ravka on the other side of the darkness, always close to it. When we enter Ravka again, we go to Arkesk. We could buy a big fishing ship and set sail to Novyi Zem.

"Through Fjerda... Drüskelle country... With a large caravan of Grisha." Aleksander slowly listed before grumbling in displeasure. "How exactly do you plan on doing that, Dasha?"

"Oh, you should never underestimate my creativity, Zasha." she shot back with a confident smirk that would cause most men's knees to shake.

⚜️
This just gets better and better! These two are honestly so, so good together they could conquer anything!

I added a Ravkan map to the chapter's media so that you guys could have a better understanding of the geography of Dasha's plan.

If you search Google for the most popular Russian nicknames for the name Aleksander, you will see that it is "Sasha", but as single S in Russian usually have a Z sound, I decided to write it as "Zasha" to make your reading easier.

As my dear, dear friend Júlia pointed out, they're Zasha and Dasha. So we started calling them Shasha and there is NO GOING BACK FROM IT!

Next chapter will probably have more action.

Please vote and comment!

Love, hugs, stay safe, drink water, do therapy! Ari.