» CHAPTER THREE
❛ Looking death into
the eye ❜
( episode three, season one )

              𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗡𝗘𝗫𝗧 𝗠𝗢𝗥𝗡𝗜𝗡𝗚
the rain had stopped and a few rays of sunlight fought their way through the thick cloud cover. The streets were still wet and fog had spread across the streets.

Kaz had informed Estelle and Inej earlier, that he had made a deal with Heleen and that the two could join him and Jesper on the journey to the Little Palace.

Estelle couldn't wait to finally leave the dark streets of Katterdam behind. After year that she had prisoned in this disgusting city, she finally would see something else.

They currently were on their way to Novokribirsk, which was a city in west Ravka, but Estelle didn't really knew much about it.

The carriage shook as they rolled over the thick stones that laid on the street.

"I didn't hire you simply to get us across the Fold. You're with us smuggle Grisha out of the Little Palace, and that's the location of our target", Kaz explained to the smuggler, who still seemed pretty tense as he sat next to Jesper and Inej on Estelle's and Kaz opposite.

"Sun summoner", Inej immediatley corrected Kaz who gave her a dark look. "Alleged", the two exchanged a annoyed look.

"They wouldn't keep a fraud in the most secure location in all of Ravka", Inej reasoned with him. But Kaz didn't reacted to her words as he turned to the man again. "You said you have a contact who can get us inside. A Heartrender."

The man looked at him carefully through his galsses as he let out a hum, "Mhm."

"How do I know we can trust her?", Kaz questioned him as he stared at the smuggler intimidating.

"Nina grew up there."

Kaz immediatley interrupted him, "Most Grisha grew up in the Little Palace. Very few would betray their general, and fewer still would help foreigners kidnap their most prized possession."

Estelle looked out of the carriage as she mad a face, if only he would know. Estelle hadn't told Kaz or anyone about her power.

Sometimes, when it was dark she crept into a courtyard or an empty and dark ally to practiced with her power. Of course the woman wasn't as trained as the Grisha that were in the Army, but it was enough to defend herself when it would come down to it.

"Nina is a radical. Thinks Grisha should get to choose if they serve the Crown. She despises involuntary service more than she does Fjerdans", the Conductor answered him as he looked out of the carriage as well.

Their journey by carriage lasted a few more hours, an uncomfortable silence had spread between the travelers which was only interrupted from time to time by Jesper's babbling.

Estelle just ignored him and watched through the curtains of the carriage as the sun was setting lower and lower behind a mountain in the distance.

After a moment the carriage finally stopped at the hostel that was supposed to be the meeting spot with Nina Zenik.

It was already evening as the group stept out of the carriage and entered the building. A dark skinned man stood behind the counter, counting some money before he noticed them.

Estelle stept forward and leaned on the counter looking at the man, "We would like to know if someone with the name, Nina Zenik has made use of your services"

The man just looked at her blankly until Kaz stepped forward and passed him a couple of kruge.

The man looked up at them and nodded, "Room, 25."

Estelle had a weird feeling, she didn't knew why, but she knew something was wrong.

As she walked up the stairs the young woman looked at the man one more time, who now put the money into a drawer behind the counter.

After a couple of minutes they had finally found the room but as they opened the door it was destroyed. As far as Estelle could tell, it looked like a fight had taken place.

She was the first who entered the room, her hand on her knife, ready to defend herself if someone was to attack her. But there was no one, the room was empty.

The others, who had followed after her eyed the room curious. "She knew to expect us", Arken told them as he walked through the room clueless.

"She isn't late. She's gone", Kaz told him as he closed Nina's trunk with his cane. Revealing a golden thaler that looked like a wolf's head.

"Yes, but her things are all-", Arken wanted to say as Jesper spotted the thaler.

"What is that?"

Arken took the golden thaler and eyed it, "Drüskelle. They are ruthless Grisha hunters."

"Explaines the Fjerdans krydda, the innkeeper was counting when we arrived. It's likely he ratted her out", Kaz spoke up as he leaned on his cane.

Arken looked up at him, "She's probably captive on a ship to Fjerda by now."

Inej who had walked to the window now looked at Kaz, "They had a clear line of attack."

Kaz looked at Inej and Estelle, "Take a look. Make sure there aren't any more surprises."

The two nodded and immediatley left the room through the small balcony. The two woman jumped onto the next one and looked inside of every room they came by.

But they couldn't find any Drüskelle or other people that could be a threat to them. So they continued their way around the building and jumped down from the balcony as Kaz and the others walked out of the building.

"All clear", Estelle informed Kaz as she started to walk besides him.

"This seems like a reasonable juncture to abandon this whole Sun Summoner plan", the Conductor spoke up making them all stop in their trail.

Kaz turned around and looked at the man seriously, "Abandon?- We're in this now. And I know what a million Kruge means to me."

He looked at the others a questioning look on his face,"What does it mean to you?"

"Freedom", Inej and Estelle answered him in synchrony.

"Fun. Like, a least few months", Jesper answered him with a smirk on his face as he looked at the Conductor, who had remained scilent.

"Retirement", the man with the glasses answered Kaz shortly.

"Right, so we press on", the young man told them firmly. "Get us across the Fold and I'll figure out the rest on the other side."

Arken nodded at him as he agreed, "Fine." He grabbed a small notepad from his pocket, "To cross, I'll need 20 pounds of alabaster coal. A peck of Majadaloun jurda. Uh, not the Kind from Ketch. It's too weak. And, uh- a goat." He wrote it down on his notepad as he gave Jesper a side look.

Estelle and Jesper exchange a confused look as he said the word goat but shrugged as they looked back at Kaz.

"Now, we meet in the dead of night. There's a wreckage of a skiff northeast, on the edge of town", Arken explained before he ripped of the paper and held it up. "So, who gets what?"

"Inej and Estelle, Jurda. I'll get the goat", Kaz instructed them before he approached Jesper, "And Jesper- just the coal, no detours."

He gave him a dark look as Jesper scoffed and took the paper from his hands chuckling.

Estelle rolled with her eyes, she could already tell that the minute Jesper would set a foot on the market the money would be gone.

"Shouldn't I go with him?", she questioned Kaz as she pointed at Jesper who have her an annoyed looked.

"No. I said you go with Inej", Kaz told her as he gave her a dark look.

Estelle sighed as she nodded her head and immediately went after Inej, who already was on her way down the full street.

The two black haired women quickly found what they were looking for so they decided to walk through the market for a bit.

At some point Estelle had lost Inej in the crowd but she was sure that the girl was okay, after all Inej could take care of herself pretty well.

Estelle continued her way down the street as she arrived by the large market square.

She stopped and let her gaze wander around the crowed of people that had gathered. As she turned her head to the right she could see a couple of stone walls that were built next to each other behind the people.

The black haired girl was curious as she made her way through the crowd. She finally reached the stone walls and only now she could see that there were names craved into the stone. People that had gone into the Fold and never came back.

Ravka was Estelle's brith place and even if she hoped not to find her parent name on the walls she wondered if they were. So the young woman immediately started to search for her parents names.

She didn't knew how long she stood there and let her gaze wander over the big stones but at some point, she realized that someone was standig besides the walls looking at her.

Estelle turned her head towards that someone and saw that it was Kaz, who had a goat on his arm, as always a serious look on his face.

"He's adorable", Estelle commented looking at the two smiling, but actually she thought that Kaz looked pretty adorable too, with that goat on his arm.

"Don't get attached", he warned her as a small smile made his way onto his lips, but it quickly vanished again as if Kaz didn't wanted that anyone saw him smile.

Sometimes Estelle was wondering why he was so closed off. She felt like she was the only person, who had ever seen him smile, which was pretty sad because his smile was actually very attractive.

"I didn't think I'd have to specify no detours to you" The smile on her face disappeared as well, "Even if these few minutes could end a lifetime of questions?"

He slowly walked towards her, "Do you wanted to find them on these stones?"

Estelle immediately shook her head as she watched him getting closer. "Of course not. I just thought that if they're not on here, they may be alive. And who knows maybe they are searching as much for me as I for them.— I thought that maybe it would give me hope—", she explained to him as tears whelmed up in her eyes.

Kaz got even closer as he looked down at her intensive, "Hope is dangerous." He turned his body a bit away from her, "It clouds your judgement. —Pray, scream, do whatever you have to do to push this out of your mind and move on."

Estelle looked directly into his eyes as he did the same with her, "We all have debts to pay." And with that he walked away from her, leaving Estelle to heavily breath out before she followed after him.

The two met Inej a little later at the end of the ally before they continued their way northeast like the Conductor had told them to.

The sun was already gone and the darkness had already consumed the city as the group of three met Arken on the edge of Novokribirsk.

The full moon shone down on the three dark figures as they followed after Arken, who had a big torch in his hand.

"We're almost there."

Kaz looked at Estelle and Inej who walked besides him in silence, "Where the hell is Jesper?"

Estelle shrugged at him as she continued to look straight ahead, "You sent him to the market alone."

"Just a little further", she heard Arken's voice infront of them.

They suddenly walked past a warning poster, "Landmines", Inej spoke up worried as she looked at the large poster.

The goat bleated several times as Kaz spoke up loudly making them all stop, "We'll wait! Follow the path that you carve."

The man with the glasses spun around and stared at them, "That sign, that was my idea to keep people away. Can't be too careful. We're fine. Come." He turned around again and continued his way further into the darkness.

The three exchanged sceptical looks before they slowly started to follow after the smuggler. "It's one thing hearing about it, but this is-", Inej spoke up reverent as she followed after Arken.

"Nothing compared to what lies within", the man interrupted her as he stopped and looked at her seriously.

The goat bleated again as he handed Inej the torch and made his way further towards the Fold.

There was a thunder rumbling inside of it, which made Estelle flinch as she eyed the giant dark wall in fear.

They suddenly heard wheels squeaking before a small train stopped right infront of them.

"So, goat, jurda- Thank you", he said as Estelle handed him the bag.

"Now we're just waiting on-", he muttered to himself as suddenly Jesper's screams could be heard in the distance, "Wait for me!"

They all turned towards him as they saw how he was chased by a couple of men, who fired gunshots at him.

"They can't see the train", Arken hissed as he hectically yanked the torch out of Inej's hand and put it out.

Estelle could see a couple of flames in the distance as Kaz shouted from besides her, "Jesper, get here now!"

"Leave the lantern!", Inej shouted at him as well.

"Landmines!", they could hear Jesper exclaim from where he stood, but in that moment another gunshot could be heard and Jesper began to shout again, "Oh, wait for me!"

"Don't you go without me!"

They all quickly climed into the train as he shouted again, "Wait!"

Estelle held the door open for him as he quickly climbed in, heavily breathing.

The black haired girl closed the door as fast as she could, hearing the men shout in the darkness.

"Please tell me you have 20 pounds of alabaster coal", Arken said to Jepser who now stood in the middle of the small train.

"Slight snag in the plan. Turns out that the kid who was helping me buy the coal didn't exactly know how to, uh- buy coal", Jesper explained to them as they all turned on the blue light lamps.

"You don't have to lie, we know you gambled it away", Estelle spoke up from where she stood while she gave him a death glare.

Jesper chuckled nervously before he turned towards Kaz, who looked pretty dangerous at the moment. "I lost a little bit of the money.- I lost all of the money. Uh, but I managed to steal 20 pounds of alabaster coal."

He handed Arken the bag as he took off his coat, "No, no, there's sixteen pounds", the man spoke up worried as he eyed the bag.

"Sixteen pounds of alabaster coal", Jesper corrected himself quickly as he looked at Kaz, smiling.

"Can we do it in sixteen?", Kaz asked Arken. "Never been done before!", the man hissed at them angryly.

Suddenly gunshots were fired at the train making them all duke immediately as they looked at the door.

Arken quickly locked the door before he turned towards them, "Sit here! Never shift your weight!"

He rolled up his sleeves and Estelle eyes widended as she eyed his right arm, where a couple of dark scares could be seen.

"You've crossed it that many times?", she asked him disbelieving.

"It's a numbers game", the conductor answered her before he turned towards the coal. "Cross this often and you get nightmares."

Suddenly there was a explosion outside and then the men were screaming. "Landmines", Jesper stated as he looked out of the train through a small opening.

Kaz sat down as he looked at Arken, "I thought you said they weren't real."

"I said nothing of the sort", he answered him innocent. "I just said I put up the signs myself." He quickly put the coal into the fire and after that the group started their dangerous journey through the Fold.

The five sat there in complet scilence as they only listened to the train that drove on the rails. Estelle was deep in thoughts as she suddenly heard a metal clanging sound, which let Jesper flinch as Estelle looked up towards the celling.

"What was that?", Jesper questioned the man nervous while he still eyed the celling. "I've created a system of timers along the line. Bits of metal hung on poles to keep me apprised of our pace."

"How did you know where to put the poles?", Kaz asked him curious his back facing Estelle and the others.

Arken folded his hands as he looked at the floor, "Physics and engineering account for- most of my success."

"And the rest?"

"What we might call divine intervention. What others might call luck. And after all, the Fold is thick with volcra, and the tracks are not complete."

He pointed at the age of coal, "Coal, please."

"I'm sorry. Did you say the tracks weren't complete?", Jesper asked him incensed. "I said they aren't complete", the man repeated himself to Jesper.

"What!?-", Jesper let out as he wanted to stand up but Arken stopped him.

"Ah, ah, ah! No moving!", he reminded the young man, who remained on his seat staring at him darkly.

"We're a tad late. More coal", he instructed Kaz, who sat infront of the fire. "Back to the real issue", Jesper interrupted him as he grabbed onto his warm coat. "We're in tracks that don't connect to other tracks?"

Arken sighed as he looked at Jesper, "Yes, there is a gap-"

"You said you could get us through", Kaz interrupted the man immediatley.

"How much of a gap?", Jesper asked the man loudly as he held up his hands.

"I built slats on the car. They roll into places under the wheels. The turbine generates enough wind to push us all the way to the eastern track", Arken explained to them calmly while he eyed them through his galsses. "As long as we don't shift our weight."

There was another metal clanging again as Arken looked at his pocket watch. "Now, the noise may attract volcra, but it's the only way across." He yanked on a handel which made flames go up into the air.

"Now there's a nest nearby. But we'll be fine. If their haven't attacked us in-", the man wanted to inform the other's but in that exact moment they could hear the volcras growl in the distance.

"Well now we got a problem", Arken told them louder as he looked out of a small gap in fear.

Estelle grabbed onto one of her many knifes as she turned her head towards the celling and closed her eyes for a moment. She let out a deep breath before she looked back ahead.

Arken quickly stood up as Kaz looked at the man with big eyes, "How do you fight them off?"

"I outrun them", the man with the glasses answered him as he grabbed onto the handel. "Open the throttle and toss in all the coal, which works when there's twenty pounds of it."

They could hear the volcras snarling from outside as they flew over the small train.

Estelle gave Jesper a dark look as she pointed her knife at him, "When the volcras won't kill you, I will!"

Suddenly blood splashed down next to Estelle making the woman quickly move towards Inej as they both stared at it in disgusted.

Arken looked out of one of the tiny windows, "Damn it! The stupid things impaled itself on a spike!"

"We need to get it off. The others will stand on it!", Kaz told him loudly as he looked around searching for something.

"More coal", the man shouted at him but Kaz looked inside the bag, "We're down to fumes!" He threw the bag into the fire as something landed on top of the roof.

"We won't make it with this extra weight!"

"Give me a second!"

Jesper breathed heavily as he looked straight ahead, "This is how we die?"

"Jesper, grab the goat!", Arken instructed the young man, who was about to panic.

"I'm not throwing out the goat!", he replied to the man loudly. But Arken pointed at the goat angryly, "Grab the damn goat! It's not bait. It's for you!"

Estelle watched Inej, who put her hands together and started to pray while Jesper grabbed the little goat and placed it on his lap.

"I need you to come down. Hug the goat. Shut the hell up!"

There was the metal clanging again, which made them all look up, "We should have hit that twenty second ago", Arken told them in a worried thone.

"Twenty seconds is?"

"My timings are precise to get us outside. Even twenty seconds behind mean the train stops inside the Fold and- that means we die."

They all exchanged fearful glances as Arken looked out of the gap again, "There's more coming."

The whole train shook as something hit it, making them all look around. Jesper immediately hugged the goat tighter as he petted it.

"So soft."

One of the things landed on top of the roof and they all could hear it growling loudly.

"You may want to make your peace", Arken told them as he laid on the ground starring at the metal celling, where now little pieces fell to the ground.

But Estelle's attention was drawn to her left as she saw that Jesper slowly stood up, the goat still under his arm.

The black haired girl furrowed her brows while Jesper closed his eyes and seemed to completely relax.

Suddenly he stopped in the middle of the train, opened his eyes and grabbed his gun. The young man swung it around elegantly before he began to shoot at the celling a couple of times.

The group could hear how the volcras growled and screamed in pain as Jesper shot his last bullet through the metal.

He quickly swung his gun again and put it back into his holster before he grabbed the next one and shot at the little gap, where a volcra just tried to stick his giant claw through.

The creature screamed in pain before it let go off the train but Jesper held his gun still in the air as he shot a couple of times through the gap. He then swung his gun again and slowly sat the goat onto the ground.

Estelle was speechless as she eyed Jesper impressed. "Are they all dead?", Inej questioned, her knife in her hands, who were still folded to pray.

No one answered her, but suddenly a loud thud could be heard and then something digged it's way through the celling into the train.

Arken screamed loudly as the others all moved away from the hole in the celling where now a Volcra tried to get through.

Jesper quickly raised his arm again, he close his eyes and after a short moment he shot the volcra into the face making it fall off the train.

He put his gun back as they heard anothet metal clanging which meant they had just hit another mark.

Arken looked at his watch as Jesper walked back to his seat, but then out of nowhere the train was brightened by small rays of sunshine that found there way through the little gaps.

Estelle let out a relieved breath as she propped herself up on her legs with her elbows. She slowly stuck her black hair from her face as Jesper smiled to himself and fell back onto his seat.

"That was pretty impressive", Estelle complemented him as she raised an eyebrow at her friend, who gave her a smirk, "What can I say, it's a talent."

Estelle shook her head at him chuckling befor her gaze fell onto Kaz, who stared at the wall on his opposite.

She studied his serious face expression as she listened to the rattle of the wheels that fastly rolled over the old tracks.

𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗿'𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗲 !
𝗂'𝗆 𝗇𝗈𝗍 𝗍𝗁𝖺𝗍 𝖼𝗈𝗇𝗏𝗂𝗇𝖼𝖾𝖽
𝖺𝖻𝗈𝗎𝗍 𝗍𝗁𝗂𝗌 𝖼𝗁𝖺𝗉𝗍𝖾𝗋 𝖻𝗎𝗍
𝖨'𝗆 𝗀𝗈𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗍𝗈 𝗉𝗈𝗌𝗍 𝗂𝗍 𝖺𝗇𝗒𝗐𝖺𝗒 :)