A/N: a bunch of covid restrictions just got lifted where i live and you can finally have people in your house again! i haven't seen my older brother in like eight months besides going on hikes and runs with them because we're both so busy and im just really excited to make him watch shadow and bone with me the second they come over :))))
An A/N That's Actually Relevant: yooo so i really liked the concept from the show where Inej had a brother who also got taken, so im kinda borrowing that and running with it
The wind whipped Inej's dark braid against her back as she stood on the deck of The Wraith. Her crew was silent, but efficient, moving quickly across the moonlit deck, securing ropes and sails with a degree of skill that made her envious. Though her knowledge of seafaring had improved far beyond what she had anticipated these past few months, Inej's talents lay in the next part of her job. The boat inched closer to the massive slaver ship, sneaking its way forward into a blind spot that Naimh, a Kaelish Tidemaker who had escaped the Wandering Isle and become a pirate, before joining Inej's crew. Naimh had been invaluable these past few weeks; now that slavers knew The Wraith was patrolling the waters, they had begun to toss potential indentures overboard to avoid being caught. It was only through Naimh's careful maneuvering of the waves and the quick thinking of Inej's crew that they had managed to save those cast into the sea.
Inej sucked down a deep lungful of the salty night air as they drew closer to the ship. She let the calm of her many jobs with Kaz wash over her like the waves below, forcing nerves down. Running her hands over the many knives strapped to her body, Inej silently named each of them, willing herself into the confident captain that her crew had become accustomed to.
She gave a low, two-note whistle and everyone hurried over to the rail of the ship, tucking against the side while Naimh used her power to keep them on course. Akai, the first person Inej had rescued that had chosen to join her crew, sat perched on one of the small platforms surrounding the mast, their dark hair gleaming in the light of the moon.
Using the height of their perch to peer onto the deck of the slaver's ship, Akai waited a moment, before whistling back in response.
At their signal, Inej popped her head up over the side of the rail, analyzing the uneven hull of the other ship. Spotting a suitable grip, she stood and moved back ten paces across the deck. In the blink of an eye, Inej had sprinted soundlessly across the wooden planks and bounded over the rail, soaring towards the other ship. Nothing more than a soft thud was heard as she dug her rubber soled shoes into the side of the ship, the exterior made slippery with the spray from the sea. But she was the Wraith. A splatter of seawater would keep her from nothing, least of all this. She forced her fingers into the narrow holds and pulled herself up towards the rail of the ship.
Just as she swept herself over the railing, Inej heard Akai's whistle, a sharp sound that could only mean one thing: someone was coming. She sunk down into the shadows and pulled Sankta Lizabeta from its sheath at her side. A man came into view, his eyes on the horizon, missing Inej completely as she prepared herself to attack. Just as he moved past her, Inej stepped out behind him and brought the rose-engraved hilt of her blade to his temple.
The man crumpled to the ground, Inej catching him by the back of his shirt to prevent the sound of the smacking of his head against the deck from giving them away. Sheathing her blade, Inej pulled a thick coil of rope from the loop at her belt. Mustering her strength, she tossed the knotted end back down to her crew still tucked away under the railing of The Wraith, She quickly tied the other end around a post and helped her crew as they clambered up and over the side of the slavers' ship. Within minutes, Inej and her crew stood on the deck, spare for Akai and Naimh, the latter who would be keeping their ship in position while Akai maintained their perch in the mast, ready with a quiver of arrows if someone attempted an attack on the boat.
Inej and her crew moved with brutal efficiency through the ship, disabling or knocking out anyone they saw. But their progress was bound to be noticed at some point. Shouts rang out through the night and they could hear footsteps pounding against the deck overhead.
"Lifeboats!" came a muffled voice from overhead. "Get to the lifeboats!"
"Dima, you're with me," Inej ordered. "The rest of you, head above deck and keep the slavers from fleeing."
Her crew nodded, the remaining seven of them hurrying towards the narrow staircase they had spotted moments before.
"Let's go," she said to Dima, and they began to jog down the hallway, looking for a way down to the lower levels where captives were typically kept.
As they still hadn't found anyone with a set of keys, Inej would have to rely on her own lock picking skills, as well as Dima's considerable talents as a Fabrikator, to free those below from their irons. A bang went off, shaking the ship and sending Dima careening into a wall.
"Are they setting off bombs?" the boy said as they rushed through the labyrinth of hallways.
Inej shook her head, unsure. At least the sound had come from below them, meaning her crew was still safe up on the deck. Wrenching open a door, Inej came face to face with a burly looking man, red faced from rushing up the stairs on which he stood. Inej slammed her elbow into his nose hard enough to send a splatter of blood arching up through the air as he toppled down the steps.
The man stayed down as Dima and Inej raced after him down the steps. Once they had reached the bottom, the sinking feeling in her gut alerted Inej to a much bigger problem.
"His boots are wet, but he's still in his night clothes," Dima puffed as they hurried past the man.
"They're sinking the ship!" said Inej, hauling Dima forward.
She slammed open another door, hurtling down the stairs with Dima in tow. They splashed down to the floor, water spilling over their ankles. Rows of prisoners stood before them, their hands chained over their heads, many of them sobbing and calling out for Saints, Ghezen or whatever else they could think of to save them. A quick count showed sixteen people, and the sizable hole in the wall proving Inej's theory.
"Move quickly" she called to Dima as she slid the picks from her pocket and set to work.
"Help us! Free us!" the prisoners called out to them, in more languages than the few Inej had managed to pick up over the years. '
She pushed their words from her mind, forcing herself to focus on the task in front of her. These weren't complicated locks, but freeing this many people under the time constraint of a sinking ship was a near impossible feat. How she wished Kaz were here, with his swift fingers and level head! The clank of irons falling to the ground was the only sound Inej allowed herself to take in until she caught the sudden gasp from Dima that had her turning on her heel in a second.
Three men, slavers, undoubtedly, had barrelled down the stairs.
"Keep going," she commanded Dima, pushing through two cowering captives and launching herself at the men.
The first grunted at the strength of her blow, but managed to stop her blade with his rifle. She twisted away from him before he could strike, weaving between the slavers and ducking down to slash Sankt Petyr and Sankta Alina across the shins of the man closest to the stairs. He went down in a heap, screaming in pain as her blades sliced through the muscles and tendons across the front of his legs. The one she had swung at first tried to grab her hair and tug her backwards, but she turned before he could react, plunging Sankta Alina through his hand. The man howled, falling back against the wall and cradling his hand. Inej turned to the final man, ducking his messy swipe at her and kicking the pistol from his hand before he could shoot at her. She dodged the swipe of his knife, using his momentum to slam him into his companions crumpled on the floor.
Just as she moved to plunge Sankt Petyr into the man's stomach, she caught sight of his face and stopped her blade a half-inch from his belly. She knew that face. She doubted that she would ever be able to forget that face, leering down at her as she was dragged from her family's tent alongside her younger brother. Inej hesitated for barely a moment, blinded by shock. It was hardly any time at all, little more than half a second, but it was enough time for the man to slice at her ribs with his dirty blade.
She felt the skin burst open, the jarring grate of metal on bone and the hot pulsing of the blood that rushed from the wound. She slammed her knee into the man's shoulder and he dropped the blade with a grunt. Inej brought her knife down, plunging it into the soft space between his collarbone and neck. It wouldn't kill him, at least not right away, and that was all Inej needed.
Forcing the pain from her mind, Inej rushed over to Dima, who was busy freeing the last of the captives. She made quick work of the locks binding the girl's feet while Dima bent the metal away from her hands. She could feel her hot blood running down her side, mixing with the water that had already risen to knee height.
The girl's chains splashed down to the ground, sending a splatter of seawater over Inej.
"Help her," Inej said, pushing Dima towards one of the captives who was struggling on an injured leg to get up the stairs. She stumbled after him, sloshing through the icy water. She grabbed the man who had stolen her from her family by the back of his collar. He gasped as he pulled his head above the water and began tugging him up the stairs, her knife still deep in his shoulder. Though he seemed too weak from his wounds to struggle against her, the man was dead weight and Inej was much smaller than him. Her breaths came in sudden gasps as she lugged the man up the stairs, following the captives rushing after Dima. The ship was mostly quiet now, save for the panicked voices ahead of her and the rush of water filling the hull.
"Inej!" cried Alje, rushing towards her. She had been sent up above decks with the rest of the crew. "The slavers are secured and oh my Saints-" she trailed off, taking in the sight of Inej's bloodstained side.
Alje moved to help her, but Inej brushed her aside, "Get the captives on the ship and send Kelvin to help me get this one across."
Alje hesitated for a moment, but nodded, turning on her heel and sprinting back up the hallway. Inej lugged the slaver up the last flight of stairs, the cool air from outside stinging against the slash on her ribs. She hobbled towards The Wraith.
As she rounded the corner, Inej could see Akai pacing in front of the bound slavers, their bow exchanged for two gleaming pistols, now that subtlety was no longer a concern. The captives were being herded inside the cabin of the ship, her crew already seeing to their injuries.
"Captain," Kelvin said, rushing to meet her and hauling the slaver onto his shoulder like a sack of grain. If he looked surprised to see the man, who clearly hadn't been a captive, he didn't show it. "Can you manage the rope back?"
The ship lurched suddenly and Inej barely managed to stay on her feet before gasping, "Yes, I'll be alright." She waited, back to the sea and knives out, ready for anything as Kelvin scaled the rope back down to The Wraith, the unconscious man in tow.
Once she heard the thud of Kelvin's boots against the deck, she slid the end of the rope from its tight knot. Tucking her knives back into their sheaths, she climbed onto the railing as gracefully as she could manage. Wrapping the rope around her wrist, Inej rocked back onto her heels, then leaped from the railing. She soared over the sea, dangling from one hand as if she was performing on the silks. As she reached the peak of her swing, Inej released the rope, landing gracefully on the deck of her ship. Or rather, it was graceful until she fell to her knees as the reverberations of her landing racked through the wound across her torso.
She staggered to her feet and followed Kelvin as he lugged the slaver into the cabin. Kelvin pulled the man off his shoulder and set him down on a table. Alje, who possessed a small amount of the Heartrender gift rushed over to her as she collapsed into a chair.
"We need to move away from the ship," Inej said, running down the mental list of things she had to take care of before she could rest. "When it submerges, the force of it going under could damage The Wraith, too." She let out a sharp gasp of pain as Alje peeled her shirt away from the sticky wound.
"On it," Kelvin said, vanishing from the cabin.
"How many did we get?" Inej asked.
"Eight slavers, the sixteen people you and Dima freed and two Naimh pulled in from the water," Alje told her, now threading a needle.
"I can do that," Inej said, taking the needle and thread from her hands.
"Are you going to tell me why there's a slaver with your knife sticking out of him on my table?" she asked, turning to the man, moving her hands over him to assess how bad his injuries were.
"Please keep him alive," Inej whispered. "He has the answers I've been looking for since I came to Ketterdam."
Alje looked at her for a second. "I will," she said quietly, before moving to pull Inej's knife from the man's shoulder. She swiped it on her shirt before setting it beside Inej.
Tying off her stitches, Inej picked the blade up, feeling comforted by the way it fit in her hand. Sankt Petyr. The first knife she had ever got. The one Kaz had given to her. The blade that had saved her more than once now, given to her by the boy who had saved her in all the ways that mattered.
Inej limped to her small cabin and sat on her bed, her back pressed against the wall. She closed her eyes against the throbbing pain in her side and held the sheathed blade to her heart, embracing the knife she had carried for years. At least this incident provided the perfect excuse to return to Ketterdam a few days early. They could set sail at dawn, and tomorrow, she'd be in Kaz's bed, holding his hand instead of his knife.