CHAPTER FOURTY
vol ii — home turf

DINARA WAS ONLY slightly worried on her way back to the tomb, hoping that the others were alive, her fingers intertwined with Inej, both wanting the same thing. When they walked inside, they were faced with guns and fists pointed at them, Dinara chuckling as she continued walking, wanting to grab a cookie from Nina's stash before the girl noticed. Dinara wanted to keep her hands, knowing that they were going to be needed to cause some bleeding in the streets of Ketterdam soon enough. When they realized who was standing in front of them, they charged at the girl, attacking her with all sorts of affection, glad to see the girl alive.

"The Wraith returns!"
"Wylan?"
"Sorry about my father."
"We are not our fathers."
"If everyone is done cuddling. We have a job."

Jesper snapped his head up towards Kaz, wanting to know why the man was interrupting their moment with the girl they had missed dearly. "Hold up. We're not talking about the job until we figure out what those things were on the Stave?"

"What things?"
"Did you miss half of the Stave going boom?"
"We only saw the bomb at the White Rose."
"Then heard others."
"At the Anvil."
"After that, we ran."

"That was your big mistake. If you'd stuck around, you could have nearly been killed by a Shu guy with wings," Jesper said, nodding his head solemnly. He was disappointed that they had missed out on the sight that almost killed them.

"Two of them."
"Two wings?"
"Two guys?"
"What the fuck?"
"With wings? Like a bird?"

Nina let out a scoff, thinking back to the thing that attacked them. "More like a moth, a deadly, mechanical moth. Are you hungry? We have chocolate biscuits."

"Really?" Dinara asked, staring at Nina with wide eyes. "I almost died and I didn't get a cookie. But when Inej comes back, in almost perfect condition might I add, minus a few things, how come she gets one? I thought we had more than that, Nina."

Nina stuck her tongue out at the girl, enjoying the way she had managed to piss off Dinara. "Eat," she said, pointing at the chair in front of her, staring at Inej. "There were two Shu guys with wings, and a man and woman who were...not normal."

"Nina's power had no effect on them."
"How? That's not how this works."
"The Shu woman was stronger than us together."
"You heard right. Stronger than Wylan."
"I did my part."

"You certainly did, merchling. What was that violet stuff?" Jesper asked, sending a small wink at the boy, grinning at the flushed cheeks that he caused.

"Something new I've been working on. It's based on a Ravkan invention called lumiya; the flames are almost impossible to extinguish, but I changed the formulation so that it burns a lot hotter."

"We were lucky to have you there," Matthias said in a grim voice. "The creatures were nearly impervious to bullets."

"Nearly," Nina said, her nose scrunched up. "They had nets. They were looking to capture Grisha." Matthias let out a small growl when Kaz asked about parem, the only thing he could think about was what the drug did to Nina and how he wanted to find a way to get rid of it forever. "No. I don't think they were Grisha. They didn't display any powers, and they weren't healing their wounds. It looked like they had some type of metal plating beneath their skin."

"Kherguud," Kuwei groaned out. "When my father made parem, the government tested it on Fabrikators," he explained once he saw the look on everyone's faces.

"Is your Kerch getting better?"
"Not the time, Jesper."
"My Kerch is good. You all talk too fast."

"Okay. Why did your dear Shu friends test parem on Fabrikators?" Jesper asked, kicking his feet up on the table, making himself comfortable.

"They have more of them in captivity."
"Easier to capture."
"More expedients on the ones they can find."
"Maybe if they hadn't killed so many."

Kuwei nodded his head, ignoring the glare Nina was sending him due to his association with the drug. "Yes. They have few Grisha, and using parem shortens a Grisha's life. So they bring doctors to work with the Fabrikators already sick from parem. They plan to make a new kind of soldier, the Kherguud. I don't know if they succeeded."

"I'm gonna go on a limb and say yes," Dinara snarked as she took in all the information, putting the piece together in her mind.

"Specially tailored soldiers. Before the war I heard they tried something similar in Ravka, reinforcing skeletons, tampering with bone density, and metal implants. They experimented on First Army volunteers. Oh, stop grimacing, Matthias. Your Fjerdan masters probably would have gotten around to trying the same thing, given the time."

"Fabrikators deal in solids," Jesper said, keeping his own identity under wraps, but spilling the information that he knew. "Metal, glass, textiles. This seems like Corporalki work."

"Tailors blur the line between Fabrikator and Corporalki. I had a teacher in Ravka, Genya Safin. She could have been either a Heartrender or a Fabrikator if she wanted to — instead she became a great tailor. The work you're describing is really just an advanced kind of tailoring." Inej asked about the wings, not grasping onto the concept of what was being explained to her. "No, they were mechanical. Some kind of metal frame, and canvas, maybe? But it's more sophisticated than just slapping a pair of wings between someone's shoulder blades. You'd have to link the musculature, hollow out the bones to decrease body weight, then somehow compensate for the loss of bone marrow, maybe replace the skeleton entirely. The level of complexity—"

"Parem," Matthias said, a growl lacing his tone. "A Fabrikator using parem could manage that kind of tailoring."

"Won't the merchant council do anything about the Shu attack? Are they just allowed to waltz into Kerch and start blowing things up and kidnapping people," Nina asked, shoving her hands against the table.

"Essentially yes. The council won't step in unless the Shu attacked those who were wearing uniforms the Shu government will deny all involvement," Dinara said, a scowl crossing her features. She wanted to get back at the Shu, especially for going after those that were innocent. "They could be caught for what they caused. Kaz sent me to get information on the warships. Turns out the Council of Tides docked them." Jesper's boots fell off the table in shock, not able to comprehend the words that just came out of Dinara's mouth. "They pulled back the tide. All of it. Used the sea to carve a new island with both of those warships beached in it. You can see them lying on their sides, sails dragging in the mud, right there in the harbor."

"A show of force."
"On behalf of Grisha or the city?"

"Who knows?" Kaz shrugged, leaning against the wall. "But it might make the Shu a little more careful about hunting on the Ketterdam streets."

"Could the Council of Tides help us? If they know about parem, they have to be worried about what might happen if the wrong people get their hands on it," Wylan started to ramble, his mind working through all of the ways they could find a way to make their city safe again, well safer.

"How would you find them? No one knows the Tides' identities, no one ever sees them coming or going from those watchtowers," Nina said bitterly.

"It's actually quite smart if you think about it," Dinara snarked out. "I wish that I was able to do that, but I kind of can, but who knows. I'm gonna shut up now."

thank you for 56k!!