chapter 51:
10 years later...
One of the advantages of a near eternal life, is that patience becomes easy. The shadow summoner had never been so close to finding her. He could feel it...soon he would be able to face her, ask his questions and get some answer. Soon, his mind would be able to rest.
The war that had sparked between Ravka and the south had been a mess. Loss on both sides and little to gain. Alexhander had found it troubling that the ambassadors denied all accusations concerning the terrorist attack in the capital's lower city. They had even been very insistent on the desire to avoid a declaration of war. Yet, the King had angrily sputtered that he knew the truth and would not hear otherwise. Thus, they continued to prepare for war.
The general was so occupied by the preparations, to protect the royal family, call upon Grisha retired soldiers in all 4 corners of the country, he had barely seen Kara. It had seemed for the better. He was still very angry about her backhanded maneuver to operate on the princess. Plus, he still did not know then how he felt about her total vulnerability. Finding out that she was immune to Ania's healing abilities had frightened him. Still, he had been able to secure a safe place in the lower city for her and Yurii. He had made sure she was well settled, giving her the coldest polite kiss on the forehead. Kara had looked both pained and angry but had not said a word.
Then, war was upon them. The wall of the lower city had been thickened and braced but very few soldiers had been left to protect its people. Family's fled, with few belongings days before the first fight. Alexhander had felt the urge to go see his lover one last time. She had received him in her tiny home alone. He had been surprised not to see Yurii, but she had sighed and explained, " I have asked Soshi to take him. He has found a friend in her nephew and they are fleeing into the mountains with the princess and Queen. He will be safer with them than with me". Her body had shuddered in sadness, her tears already spent. Alexhander had felt a terribly tight lump in his throat. He wanted her to be safe. However his monarch had made it clear that she could no longer set foot into the Palace. He had a plan to send her away to Chenast, were they had first met. The Ravkan peace treaty now signed with their neighbors in the north, it was safer there. He looked out the window musing. How is it possible to love someone and yet feel so little trust? She had lied about her plans with the princess. She seemed to move away from his touch as if his skin was made of fire. Her gaze was often lost in space and time, her mind and thoughts inaccessible to him.
He knew she was angry with him. That much was clear. She knew that her army position had been abolished by a joined move between him and general Biryukov. She had not found it in her heart to forgive either of them. Even the older general had come back from a visit shaking his head. She had served him tea and then become of marble. One he had explained all the good arguments of her forced retirement, she had nodded and invited him to leave.
Then the day before the war began, Kara vanished into thin air. She had managed to slip between the fingers of her Grisha protection and leave the city. Alexhander had been furious, almost letting his rage kill the poor messenger. Timofei seemed to have vanished too. The shadow summoner was not surprised. What a fool he had been with the blood oaths! having the Tailor's guardian become a friend made him able to leave with her. They would be eternally bound but free to flee.
To further Alexhander's anguish, the war was an appalling mess. Discussions with Shu ambassadors showed that they fought a war after the shadow summoner's actions months prior, destroyed a complete village on their border. They continued to deny the terrorist attack onto their neighbors capital. Meanwhile, both sides lost too many soldiers. In the end, no one won anything, only financial loss and wreaked cities.
General Kirigan had marched into the king's chambers, seeking to reason with him. The monarch had become pale and twitchy, drinking too much and sleeping too little. He had learned days prior, that the princess had not survived the journey to their second palace in the mountains. She had died in her sleep after a strenuous day of walking. The king had burst into tears and revealed a horrible truth. The country's finances had melted like snow in the spring many years prior. The terrorist attack on the city was his doing, since triggering a war seemed the best idea to pillage and steal, thus filling their vaults again with much needed money. By accusing Shu Han of attacking the capital, he had had no resistance from his minister to declare war. Alexhander's face was ashen at the revelation. Kara had warned him. She had guessed a part of the truth and he had not listened. His mind was disconnected from his body as his darkness reached for the king and wrapped black tendrils around his neck. The monarch did not even whimper, almost welcoming an end to his suffering. He continued to weep, " Had I known what it would cost us, that I would lose my daughter prematurely through my selfish act...I would never have provoked this!".
Alexhander had dropped him, disgusted. In the end, killing the king would make things worst for Grisha. He had kept him alive but had been very clear, "I'm getting Ravka out of this war and then...I will make decisions for its people, not you". The king had barely nodded, his body prostrate at the shadow summoner's knees. His soldiers found him hanging from his room's balcony the next morning. After signing the peace treaty, the country was in shambles. Alexhander found no better solution than to appoint the prince as new king of the country. The young man was in shock of losing both his father and sister. He was therefore quite easy to manipulate as needed.
Once the shadow summoner had found a little time of his own, he looked for Kara. Despite interrogating and trying to bribe a few townspeople, he found nothing. People had either fled or been killed. He had hoped that Yurii might know where his adoptive mother. The young man had shaken his head upon questioning. " we parted ways to save ourselves Moi General. She said she would find me in due time..." The boy seemed sincere and sad. Alexhander did not push any further. The shadow summoner began to grow restless. He felt guilty. Guilty to not have trusted Kara as he should have. Guilty not to have been able to protect her as he should have. Guilty that his rash revenge on his southern battalion had angered the Shu enough to take the bait of a war. He also felt angry. Oh yes, a burning anguish of a thing. Why had she left him without any form of goodbye? How could she had left with his Tailor, so precious in a time of war?
As his scouts came back everytime without a trace of her whereabouts, the shadow summoner became puzzled. Ravka was not a big country. Where could she possibly be? A voice in his mind began to wonder...did she cross to the other side? would she confront the Fold again? Years went by without him getting any answers. Despite his threats and insults, his mother had revealed nothing. Her lips were sealed shut. The only thing she had said was, " she loved you Alexhander, but love, in certain circumstances isn't enough". So the general thought, I am a patient man. If she ever loved me, I'll find her again in her lifetime.
Indeed, almost a decade after her disappearance, a curious information came to his attention. His scouts had been baffled in the past few years of disappearances. Some Grisha or ungifted soldiers would vanish from Ravkan territories, only to reappear under other identifies on the other side of the Fold. However, there was no record of them ever coming onboard a sandskiff to cross over. The shadow summoner had been intrigued. How had they been able to make their way across?
Alexhander had heard of a few Fold smugglers over the years. Of people making illegal contraptions to make their way across the darkness. However, their luck would often run out after just a few attempts. The Volcra always ended up finding them in the end. Therefore, he had never had to bother making any arrests. This time was different however. His heart-render spies had mingled with travelers in the most putrid of bars and heard whispers. A one-eyed woman able to pass you through the Fold without detection. If rumors were true, she had been active for the past decade, without ever getting caught. If rumors were true... she had done almost a hundred crossings.
The shadow summoner had trembled and grown pale at the news. Igor, now one of his most trusted, was in shock. He had admired the woman when they had met all those years ago. It seemed almost impossible to imagine the blond healer reconverted into such a dangerous and suicidal activity. and yet...the incident by the Fold...her attempt at Igraya Smrak had been all too ...smooth. Alexhander had pondered the question...could it be that her immunity...worked also for the Fold? He entrusted Igor with a secret mission. To find his past lover at all costs and to bring her to him alive. He needed answers. He needed closure.
Despite several attempts in the following months to infiltrate the underground canals of information, Igor found no way to pass as a fugitive. He asked different strangers who could help him cross the Fold, no one seemed ready to disclose the information to him. He did not seem scared enough, not desperate enough to truly want to cross over. after hours upon hours of mingling, drinking too much mead and losing coins to games of cards, he ended up grabbing an interesting piece of information. It seemed that people "dissapeared" at a more narrow crossing of the Fold towards the border with Ferdja. Indeed, even if the smuggler had talent they were no fools. The shorter the extent of Fold to cross, the more likely it could be a success.
Alexhander had saddled his horse quickly after hearing Igor. Halmhend was a city close to the upmost extremity of the unsea. Ravkan migrants would not dare cross into unfriendly Ferdjan territory...but the woman he had known knew these lands...she had been close when she had been raised by the hermit. The shadow summoner had pranced in the snow with his Corpsewitch for days until he found an environment which seemed strategic. The Fold was quite narrow there, theoretically a 20 minute crossing on foot. The darkness engulfed a better portion of a forest, ideal for deserters wanted to make an illegal crossing to save their lives.
They waited. They waited for days on end until Alexhander grew restless. what foolishness was pushing him to seek a past lover? To what end?
Then one evening, his patience was finally rewarded. His scouts had been able to, through several indirect contacts, to organize a meeting with the smuggler. Two young Grisha soldiers had passed as a couple trying to flee the country. The smuggler had answered through passed on words...they would meet at midnight by the tallest fir tree of the forest, right by the Fold.
Alexhander's heart drummed in his chest. He had dressed in his warmest fur coat, posted himself in the forest close to the meeting point and sent away his escorts. They protested but he left them no choice. There was no foe more dangerous than him at this moment. He would be safe. He needed to see her alone. His hands grew numb. His body grew stiff. Yet, the shadow summoner remained calm and waited until midnight. Then, out of the darkness stepped a familiar figure. Her hair was longer and paler. Her body, hidden away under folds of travel gear seemed leaner and made for running. She was dressed in his color, all black, even her eyepatch.
Despite the many scenarios he had imagined, all the prior preparation he had made in his head, the general was at a loss for words. His mouth was dry and his throat frozen. Kara seemed surprised not to see a couple waiting for her by the fir tree and looked around. When her gaze found his, she stiffened slightly. Her eye narrowed and she whispered, " Alexhander? ...".