Chapter 8
The demon tracked Nikolai Lantsov and his friends from Os Kervo up to the Fjerdan woods. Its hunting was only mildly hampered by Mal fighting the whole way—he couldn't break away from the control the Darkling held over him. He was also desperate to see Alina, see if she was all right, so even though the order to capture her simmered in the background, in that, he and the demon were of like mind, and so he eventually found them.
A small campfire flickered in the darkness beneath the trees. The demon hopped from branch to branch to get closer, stopping when he finally spotted Alina huddled close to the fire for warmth. The orange flames cast amber hues across her dark hair. She was subdued, gaze downcast. Mal gazed at her for a long time in yearning, the demon for once silent.
Until Nikolai stood up to stoke the fire, and then the demon snapped to attention. It had its command.
Mal's own anger suddenly ignited as well—he blamed Nikolai for bringing the Darkling to them, for causing all this. And that anger fueled the demon, who launched from its perch and soared through the air to grab the prince, tackling him to the ground several feet away. It raised a clawed hand and struck, but Nikolai threw an arm up to shield his face, and the talons raked across forearm rather than jugular. Blood spattered the air along with a pained cry.
"Mal!" Alina screamed.
He jerked his head toward her. The twins had leaped up and drawn their weapons, and Tolya took a swing at him. The demon leaped back, avoiding the cut of steel.
"Don't hurt him!" Alina cried.
He spun back toward Nikolai, but a sudden gust of wind slammed into him, knocking him back several feet. His talons gouged through the earth for purchase. Zoya now stood over the prince, hands moving and the very air around her swirling in tandem. The demon snarled and charged again, but Alina jumped into his path, and he skidded to a stop.
"Mal, no! I know you're in there, please don't do this," she begged. "Please come back to me."
The demon shifted its focus onto her, the command to capture the Sun Summoner and bring her to the Darkling rising to the forefront. Mal's fear bubbled up, overriding his fury at Nikolai. He couldn't deliver Alina to Kirigan. No matter what, he had to protect her. The demon wanted to move, wanted to pounce, but Mal held it back with all his might. For a long moment, they were suspended like that, outwardly staring hungrily at their prey while internally a battle was being waged.
And then something inside his mind finally snapped, and suddenly Mal was the demon. He took a step back from Alina, his heart screaming.
"Mal…" She lifted a trembling hand toward him, and he recoiled.
He shot one last hateful glower at Nikolai Lantsov before flapping his shadowy wings and flying up into the dark sky. The Darkling's hold over him had been broken, but he was still a monster.
Mal howled at the eclipsed sun as he careened into the darkness.
Alina stared in devastation as Mal disappeared from sight. Her heart shattered at the agonized keen that echoed in the distance. Commotion and an uttered curse drew her attention back to where Nikolai sat on the ground clutching his arm while the twins attempted to staunch the blood pouring from huge gashes with the bottom half of his coat.
"I don't know why he attacked," Alina said numbly.
"Probably on Kirigan's orders," Tamar replied. "He's no doubt heard by now that Nikolai is rallying against him as the rightful king."
"I must be a real threat, then," he grunted.
Zoya crouched behind him, bracing his back as he struggled to hold himself up against the pain.
"Mal stopped, though," Alina went on, desperate for hope to hold onto. "That must mean he is still in there."
No one responded to that. Only Nikolai met her eyes with a commiserative look of sympathy.
"This is bleeding too much," Tolya spoke up. "Alina, can you heal it?"
She shook herself out of her tormented thoughts and summoned light, then came over to kneel in front of Nikolai. The gashes were wide and grisly, and she poured the liquid sunlight into them. Nikolai sucked in a sharp breath and reeled back against Zoya, but even so, he couldn't help but watch in apparent fascination. Alina couldn't fully heal it, just like before, but the light sort of…cauterized the wounds, at least to the point where the bleeding stopped. From there, the twins cleaned and bandaged Nikolai's arm and fashioned a sling for him.
"Mal didn't mean it," Alina felt compelled to say. "It was the Darkling."
"We know," Nikolai replied kindly. "We'll find a way to get him back."
The promise felt hollow, but it was all they had, and Alina appreciated that he bothered to offer it at all after nearly getting eviscerated.
Alina was even more determined to find the Stag and increase her power. But their break was prolonged now that Nikolai had to recover a little from the attack. She used the time to practice her summoning more.
"Maybe we shouldn't draw attention," Tamar cautioned.
"Mal found us anyway," she replied.
Silence hung over their campsite until they decided to move on again.
"Wandering around the woods for the Stag is like looking for a needle in a haystack," Nikolai commented.
"I wish we had more to go on," Tolya said. "But the legends only reference the Fjerdan woods and nothing more specific. And that's more than I've found on the Firebird, which is nothing at all."
Nikolai sighed wearily. "Then the Stag will have to be enough."
They pressed on. Alina summoned a tiny ball of light to keep low to the ground in search of animal tracks. They came upon several that belonged to a herd and followed them, but they didn't come across any deer, let alone a mythical Stag.
Tolya abruptly shot a hand up, signaling them to stop. He turned his head slowly as though listening.
"Is it the Stag?" Alina whispered eagerly.
"I don't think so…"
An arrow flew out of the darkness and struck him in the shoulder. He grunted as he staggered and almost tripped.
"Ambush!" Nikolai yelled, drawing a sword as Fjerdan soldiers charged them. He swung the blade clumsily with his other arm in a sling.
Tamar had her battle axes out in a flash and the clang of steel resounded loudly in the forest.
Alina scrambled backward, weaponless, except she wasn't. She took a breath and summoned light, pushing it into some men's eyes and blinding them. They shouted in surprise and staggered, allowing Tamar and Nikolai to cut them down. Zoya summoned wind as she stood protectively near Tolya and he also struggled to use his sword with one arm wounded.
"Alina!" Nikolai shouted in warning.
She spun around; a soldier had come up behind her, sword raised. She had no time to summon, but in that split moment before he struck a fatal blow, Mal came swooping down and snatched him away. He screamed as the demon tore into him mid flight.
Alina was once again too stunned to watch her back, and Nikolai leaped in to fend off another attacker. She snapped herself out of her stupor and summoned more sun, focusing on using it as a weapon. This time when she blasted a soldier, he screamed and went flying into a tree. When the body fell to the ground, smoke was rising from its singed torso. Yet again, Alina was struck dumbfounded where she stood.
Tamar dispatched two more soldiers, leaving one last one. The demon tackled him and with one vicious snarl, tore his throat out. Then it was just them and Mal staring each other down. Tamar held her battle axes at the ready, while Nikolai's sword hung halfway down guardedly.
With blood dripping down his chin and opaque black eyes, Mal looked horrific and terrifying. Then with a growl, he flapped his wings and fled again.
"Mal!" Alina called after him helplessly, but he was gone.
"We should find shelter and deal with this," Tamar said as she gave her brother a shoulder to lean on.
He nodded.
Alina wordlessly followed as they hurried away from the site of the ambush. She didn't know how frequent patrols were in this area. She shouldn't have been summoning light in the darkness after all.
She kept glancing back, hoping to see Mal. Though if he was there, the demon blended with the ever-present shadows.
Still, he had come back and saved them. Saved her. That hope Alina was clinging to kindled just a little more.
They found the steep side of an escarpment that at least offered some cover.
"I need light," Tamar said as she eased Tolya onto the ground.
Alina stepped forward and summoned the smallest amount she could. Nikolai and Zoya stood over her, blocking as much of the light from sight as possible. Alina held it as closely as she could without getting in Tamar's way as she grasped the arrow shaft and pulled it out. Tolya didn't make a sound, though his body jerked. Fortunately, the arrowhead hadn't broken off.
"I should…" Alina started, gesturing vaguely with the light.
Tamar nodded and leaned back.
Alina concentrated on changing the light to what she'd used to heal Nikolai, though she wasn't sure she could really call this "healing." It was less tactile mending and more like purification—burning out potential infection and speeding the healing process along. At least it was something.
Once that was done and Tolya's shoulder bandaged, Tamar and Zoya checked Nikolai's wounds next. Alina's stomach clenched at the hideous lacerations Mal had made. But they hadn't started bleeding again, which was something. Even so, both he and Tolya needed rest now, so they set watches and took turns trying to get some sleep.
Alina lay on the ground, looking up at a fulvous sky. The stars weren't visible with the eclipse. The Darkling chose his sainthood name well, she thought wryly.
She didn't sleep, and she eventually got up early for her watch. Tamar didn't call her on it as they switched.
They hadn't lit a campfire for fear of drawing attention, and so Alina wouldn't practice summoning either. After she got the Amplifier, she would. They'd find a secluded place to do so safely.
The hairs on the back of her neck prickled, and she looked around at the surrounding shadows warily. Something shifted out there. She tensed as she heard a faint scuffing sound. But no one attacked.
She glanced at the others, all asleep, then quietly got to her feet. There was a snuffling noise and she followed it, stepping lightly so as not to wake anyone.
Several yards away from the camp, a shadowed figure moved in the darkness.
Alina bit her lip, then called tentatively, "Mal?"
He slowly emerged, though she could barely make him out, his wings of shadow blending with the night and the black veins in his skin camouflaging him as well. But the silhouette of the demon was recognizable.
Alina risked summoning just a tiny amount of light. It caught the features of his face, his black eyes and elongated fangs. He flinched away from the illumination but didn't flee.
"Mal," she choked and reached a hand out toward him.
He hesitated, but then shuffled forward. The light reflected in his opaque eyes, and they were almost pleading as they gazed at Alina. She pursed her mouth, desperate to help him but not knowing how. She looked at the light in the palm of her hand, then carefully lifted it. Mal's gaze didn't leave hers, so she turned the light toward him and focused on pushing it into him, seeing if she could banish the curse the same way she could infection and change him back.
He made a pained sound and doubled over. Alina jerked back, but his talons seized her wrist. She tensed, but he didn't hurt her, just pressed her hand insistently against his chest. He wanted her to try, and so she pushed harder, summoning more light until the air was ablaze with it. Mal was shuddering, and then he finally threw his head back with a pained screech. He released her wrist and flapped his wings, careening into the sky.
A sob broke from her throat as he fled, and the light faded, plunging Alina into darkness once more. She wrapped her arms around herself and returned to camp.
"Alina!" Nikolai exclaimed anxiously. Everyone was up and looking harried at her absence. "Are you all right?"
She nodded numbly. "Mal was here. I tried to change him back."
His expression softened. "It didn't work?" he asked gently.
"No. It hurt him and he flew away again."
"I'm sorry. It was worth a try though. And maybe with the Stag as an Amplifier, it will work."
"Maybe," Alina murmured.
Now that they were all up, they wordlessly continued on their way, chasing a hope that was as elusive as the sun was now in this doomed world.
"There's no trace of them, moi soverenyi."
Kirigan sat on the throne, the shadows at his feet seething as his soldiers reported their failure to capture Alina. "How is it you could not manage to apprehend one girl?" he asked with deadly calm.
"She destroyed your shadow creature," the man stammered. "And one of the others, the girl Zoya, she possessed strange magic over wind and lightning."
Kirigan straightened sharply at that. "What?"
The soldier flinched. "The locals we questioned said Nikolai's group went out to sea for a week and then returned. Now they are calling the girl the Storm Witch."
Kirigan clenched his fists. They must have found one of Morozova's Amplifiers—the Sea Whip. How did they even learn about it? Baghra wouldn't have told them. And if she had, Alina would have been the one to seek it, so how had this peasant girl obtained its power? Kirigan should have obliterated them all at Raven's Crossing along with Vasily.
He rose to his feet. "It seems if I want something done right, I'll have to do it myself."
The men exchanged uncertain looks as Kirigan walked past them. But the moment they exuded a flicker of relief, Kirigan pivoted and summoned a blade of shadow that cut them all down where they stood. Blood splattered across the floor and walls. He turned and stormed out.
Alina and her little friends would be after the Stag now, as the Firebird was one secret Kirigan knew his mother took to the grave. Little did she know he had figured it out long ago. So what if the commoner had gotten the Sea Whip? Kirigan would claim the other two and then there would be no one on this earth strong enough to challenge him.