Greed bows to me

And I bow to no man but the weight of the sword pressing on my back

Chapter Two

CARMEN

That's not right, Carmen thought as she paced around the room. Multiple textbooks lay strewn on the dining table of her cramped flat, and yet none held the answer to a very specific question on iron alloys. After getting back from the Crow Club, she was quite stressed with her Chemistry exam tomorrow, especially with how she couldn't study when her mind kept jumping back to Kaz Brekker's face. Why did it have to be turned in her direction? He knew who she was now, she wasn't just a random passerby.

Were all people stressed when meeting notorious gang leaders for the first time? Word was Dirtyhands knew everything about anyone, could it be he'd find out things about her she didn't even know herself? This was bad, this was bad.  Not to mention Inej, Carmen was sure she must be affiliated with the Crows as well. And Jesper.

At least she knew he could be trusted with her life. Inej seemed restrained enough, but who knew what the suited man was hiding under his sleek leather gloves.

Hands, Carmen, just hands. She sighed, using her own to pick up "Metallic Bonds and the Small Science." Leafing through the pages, she left it open on a paragraph that seemed particularly promising and went to grab her notes from across the table to compare.

A breeze passed through the room, ruffling the open book and losing her spot. In frustration, Carmen went to slam the darn kitchen window shut, but as she pushed it down, it was stopped halfway by a small hand. Jumping back in shock, the hand continued to push the window open, and a figure climbed through.

"I live on the fourth floor," Carmen pointed out, as Inej stepped into her apartment.

"Come with me," the girl replied, moving closer to Carmen.

"Why?" Carmen moved to rub the back of her neck, stepping back.

Inej's expression steeled, "I know you are a friend of Jesper's, but don't blame me for this," and rushed forward to hit her in the back of the head.

-

Carmen awoke in a room she quickly recognized as being part of the Crow Club. The bustle of gamblers was still heard through the walls late at night, though it didn't seem like that's what those in front of her wanted to do.

Kaz Brekker stood imposing looking down at her, both Jesper and Inej flanking him in the small office. He radiated both authority and confidence. Carmen's hands were bound behind her as she sat with her back straight against the wall. Is this because I was seen with Jesper? But she had gambled with him plenty before. What have they found out about me for this to happen?

"I'm not anyone of importance," she quickly stated.

"I do not care about you." Dirtyhands replied, facing her. Then why take the energy to bring me here? "What do you know of a girl named Alina Starkov?"

"Alina?" She watched from the floor how Jesper fidgeted and Inej's posture straightened. "Starkov? I know nothing of her."

Kaz bent down, looking her straight in the eye with that impassive look. He obviously knew she was lying. But how would he know about Alina? Was she here, in Ketterdam, and causing trouble? Except that would be impossible, since she was serving in the First Army.

"So you are assuming your friend Jesper lied to me about your past acquaintance?"

Jesper? Carmen thought back to when he had accompanied her to the post, when they both just started University. He told her how he was sending a letter to his father, letting him know how he had settled into the city and new classes. 

Carmen had described to him her letter as well, to a friend named Alina, back where she was from in Ravka. Carmen had promised Alina before leaving to write as much as they could to each other, eager to hear of what life was like out of the orphanage and across the Fold. He must have seen the last name on the envelope's address. Alina Starkov. They had bonded over their newfound experience in Ketterdam. But why would Jesper tell Brekker such a frivolous thing?

"I'm not sure how they do it in the Upper sectors, but here in the Barrel, people know better than to lie to me when cornered. I hear you and Miss Starkov have a close acquaintance?"

Carmen nodded apprehensively.

"Good. Tell me what she looks like."

Silence blanketed the room and if Kaz was getting frustrated, he hid it well. If anything, he hardened his expression. Were they going to find Alina, knock her out and kidnap her just the same?

"Why?"

Kaz stood and wrapped his hands over his crow-headed cane, leaning forward. "I doubt going to such an expensive school has taught you anything about how the world works. Let me teach you a lesson-- if I ask you a question, you answer it. Or are you waiting for me to untie you so you can raise your hand?"

"And if you want your information, I think it's best you explain yourself," his taunts would do nothing if his goal was to harm Alina. She looked at Jesper across the room. It seemed like she could not trust him with her safety. His loyalty lay to his gang more than it did her. What could Brekker possibly offer to make Jesper sell out a friend and tell of her acquaintances?

"Kaz, we can trust her. You don't have to be so harsh." Jesper pleaded, taking notice to the steeling look on Carmen's face. He hadn't seen her look like this before.

The impassive gaze Kaz showed did not change.

"Look, she's the only one who knows her West of the Shadow Fold. We need this information before we go. And she's my friend. So ease up, won't you?"

"'Before we go'?" Carmen was incredulous from her place on the floor, "You are planning to cross the Fold to find Alina? She has not wronged any of you!"

Kaz looked at Jesper, almost seething, "What next? We tell her the exact details of our plan?"

"What plan? There is no plan yet, not without her. Just think. She is the best asset to assist us-- not only does she know Alina, but... she can speak Ravkan! She has crossed the Fold before, maybe she could be our ticket across it. And she's the smartest person I know, if she comes with..."

Despite being touched by Jesper's compliments, he had still brought her to this position. And somehow implicated Alina in all of this. Kaz and Jesper continued to argue, and Carmen moved her gaze to Inej on the other side of the room. It still confused her how she was able to scale her building and enter through the window almost unseen. To have skills like that, Alina-

"Did you just say Sun Summoner?" Carmen interjected. Both Kaz and Jesper stopped talking. Inej shifted on her feet. They were going to capture Alina because they thought she was the Sun Summoner? Carmen almost laughed. There was no way Alina of all people could be the Sun Summoner. And yet these people seemed completely serious. Even Jesper wasn't joking around.

"I was there when she was tested. She's not Grisha, she's in the First Army," But nothing she said changed the looks on their faces.

Kaz again walked towards her with a challenging look. "Tests can be cheated. I have reason to believe Alina Starkov is a Sun Summoner, and I have reason to go after her. Yet, I don't have quite the reason to believe you." He shot a glance at Jesper and moved to the door to leave.

"Untie me. I'll go with you."

Kaz paused and turned around. "You aren't coming with us. You give us a sketch, and a description. Once she is captured, you will get a cut of the reward if you were able to offer us valuable information."

Carmen scoffed. This would be just another Barrel scam, then. You give me information I desperately need, and I'll offer you something- maybe- as it is contingent on a contract I made up. Plus, despite being friends with Jesper, there was no telling he wouldn't kill her on the spot once he got the 'description' he needed. This was the Bastard of the Barrel she was dealing with.

"No information, at least not until we pass the Fold." It's been a while since she saw Alina, anyway. "And I don't need your dirty money."

Inej spoke up, "We should bring her, Kaz. We need this information. If she truly knows Alina Starkov it will help us greatly."

"And if she doesn't?"

Inej was silent.

"I will be an asset to your team. Jesper trusts me, I don't have any affiliations with other gangs. You can kill me if I rat you out, I'm just a student."

"Just a student?" Kaz replied. "Everyone has their secrets, though I hope those about this Sun Summoner will come into my knowledge soon enough." And he finally left the room, slamming the door behind him.

A long bit of silence. "Does that mean I'm joining you?" Carmen asked Inej and Jesper, still standing in the room.

"I...think so?" Jesper tentatively replied, and Inej nodded in confirmation. "Oh, that's great! Now I can finally call you my partner in crime!"

Carmen smiled, unsure of what she would be getting herself into.

"I don't suppose you know a way through the Fold?" Inej  questioned. 

"Would you mind untying me first?"

--

The Ketterdam Daily spread out between her hands and midnight cold drafted through the air as Carmen sat in her flat to read the  paper. It did her well to keep up with the headlines, bright and deadly, staring back at her as she read. Usually it calmed her, and she tried to capitalize on that feeling now, the fact that such gruesome things happened in the world and she was not involved.

"Ravkan Military Bankrupt? Kerch Investors are Angered..."

"Shu Ambassador Murdered and Dismembered, Bringing the Count to Four..."

"Ten Fun and Easy Volcra Recipes to Try at Home..."

Nothing new, then. The first article made her think, though, reading through. If she could invest and buy into the Ravkan military now, when they most needed money, she could get a larger stake for lower cost.  When news of a Sun Summoner inevitably breaks through, she would certainly get a large turnover when others turned to buy shares. Like insider trading, she knew of it first. Now to take the chance on whether the Sun Summoner was real or not...Well, she was already taking the chance with her life, wasn't she? By going with the Crows across the Fold.

Suddenly losing interest in reading, Carmen rolled up her paper and tucked it in her coat pocket. She had told her professors in the rising dawn that she would be absent from class for a couple weeks. Something about an old friend's passing, so they would not expect her (or rather, suspect, her).

She had gone back to the University District to tie up a few loose ends, though Jesper had said he would fetch her once they had everything prepared for the journey. Carmen knew that as an outsider to the Crows, she would not be included in every detail of the planning and trips. She was skeptical they could find a way through at all, though just hoped they could come up with something safe to travel in. Death by the Fold was absolutely not the way Carmen planned to go out.

When coming to Ketterdam, Carmen had taken a sand skiff, manned by Grisha squallers. It was a common thing, and safer than most passages. Skiffs would be sent to the West full of people, civilians like herself with business on the other side, and supplies for the war and food would be sent back. In theory, at least. It wasn't all too common to see the skiffs return successful.

She was one of the lucky ones, she had told Inej. But there was no way they would be allowed on a skiff without a valid reason, looking as they were (a bunch of criminals), not to mention they would have to book a spot weeks in advance, there was no telling a skiff was even scheduled to go so soon, and they would have to go through multiple security checks. These skiffs were manned by the Ravkan Second Army, after all.

Unsure of what this trip would take, Carmen set to packing. She found her trench coat-like jacket in her closet, a heavy number, though with durable fabric, and the most important part-- it extended all the way to her knees.

Carmen moved to her nightside table,  grabbing two ties of leather cord, her whetstone, and a knife for protection. She tucked the knife and stone into the concealed chest pocket of her jacket.

Laying down on her back, Carmen slid under her bed. Dust covered her hair and clothing as her fingers worked to untie what was adhered to one of the bedframe's rungs.

--

author's note:

gasp what is she hiding?? :O