Six of Crows

by Leigh Bardugo

  No, he would not look through those skylights. He could afford no more weakness, especially on this night. It was time to move forward.

  They reached the lip of the roof overlooking the ice moat. From here it looked solid, its surface polished bright as a mirror and illuminated by the guard towers on the White Island. But the moat’s waters were ever shifting, concealed only by a wafer-thin skin of frost.

  Kaz secured another coil of rope to the roof’s edge and prepared to rappel down to the shore.

  “You know what to do,” he said to Jesper and Wylan. “Eleven bells and not before.”

  “When have I ever been early?” asked Jesper.

  Kaz braced himself for the descent and vanished over the side. Matthias followed, hands gripping the rope, bare feet pressed against the wall. When he glanced up, he saw Wylan and Jesper gazing down at him. But the next time he looked, they were gone.

  The shore surrounding the ice moat was little more than a slender, slippery rind of white stone. Kaz perched there, pressed against the wall and frowning out at the moat.

  “How do we cross? I don’t see anything.”

  “Because you are not worthy.”

  “I’m also not nearsighted. There’s nothing there.”

  Matthias began edging along the wall, running his hand over the stone at hip level. “On Hringkälla the drüskelle finish our initiation,” he said. “We go from aspirant to novice drüskelle in the ceremony at the sacred ash.”

  “Where the tree talks to you.”

  Matthias resisted the urge to shove him into the water. “Where we hope to hear the voice of Djel. But that’s the final step. First, we have to cross the ice moat undetected. If we are judged worthy, Djel shows us the path.”

  In truth, elder drüskelle simply passed the secret of the crossing along to aspirants they wished to see enter the order; it was a way of culling the weak or those who had simply not meshed successfully with the group. If you’d made friends, if you’d proven yourself, then one of the brothers would take you aside and tell you that on the night of the initiation, you should go to the shore of the ice moat and run your hand along the wall of the drüskelle sector. At its center, you would find an etching of a wolf that marked the location of another glass bridge—not grand and arching like the one that spanned the moat from the embassy wing, but flat, level, and only a few feet wide. It lay just under the frozen skin of the surface, invisible if you didn’t know to look for it. Commander Brum himself had been the one to tell Matthias how to find the secret bridge, as well as the trick for crossing it undetected.

  It took Matthias two passes along the wall before his fingers found the carved lines of the wolf. He rested his hand there briefly, feeling the traditions that connected him to the order of drüskelle, as old as the Ice Court itself.

  “Here,” he said.

  Kaz shuffled over and squinted across the moat. He leaned out and Matthias yanked him back.

  He pointed to the guard towers on the top of the wall surrounding the White Island. “You’ll be visible,” he said. “Use this.”

  He scraped his hand along the wall and his palm came away white. The night of his initiation, Matthias had rubbed his clothes and hair with the same chalky powder. Camouflaged from the view of the guards in their towers, he’d crossed the slender path to the island to meet his brothers.

  Now he and Kaz did the same, though Matthias noticed Kaz tucked his gloves neatly away first. Inej must have returned them.

  Matthias stepped onto the secret bridge, then heard Kaz hiss when the icy waters of the moat closed over his feet.

  “Chilly, Brekker?”

  “If only we had time for a swim. Get moving.”

  Despite his taunts to Kaz, by the time they were halfway to the island, Matthias’ feet had gone almost completely numb, and he was keenly aware of the guard towers high above the moat. Drüskelle would have come this way earlier tonight. He’d never heard of any aspirant being spotted or shot at on the bridge, but anything was possible.

  “All this to be a witchhunter?” Kaz said behind him. “The Dregs need a better initiation.”

  “This is only one part of Hringkälla.”

  “Yes, I know, then a tree tells you the secret handshake.”

  “I feel sorry for you, Brekker. There is nothing sacred in your life.”

  There was a long pause, and then Kaz said, “You’re wrong.”

  The outer wall of the White Island loomed up before them, covered in a rippling pattern of scales. It took a moment to locate the ridge of scales that hid the gate. Only a short while ago, drüskelle would have been gathered in this niche of the wall to welcome their new brothers ashore, but now it was empty, the iron grating chained. Kaz made quick work of the lock, and soon they were in a slender passage that would lead them to the gardens that backed the barracks of the royal guard.

  “Were you always good at locks?”

  “No.”

  “How did you learn?”

  “The way you learn about anything. Take it apart.”

  “And the magic tricks?”

  Kaz snorted. “So you don’t think I’m a demon anymore?”

  “I know you’re a demon, but your tricks are human.”

  “Some people see a magic trick and say, ‘Impossible!’ They clap their hands, turn over their money, and forget about it ten minutes later. Other people ask how it worked. They go home, get into bed, toss and turn, wondering how it was done. It takes them a good night’s sleep to forget all about it. And then there are the ones who stay awake, running through the trick again and again, looking for that skip in perception, the crack in the illusion that will explain how their eyes got duped; they’re the kind who won’t rest until they’ve mastered that little bit of mystery for themselves. I’m that kind.”

  “You love trickery.”

  “I love puzzles. Trickery is just my native tongue.”

  “The gardens,” Matthias said, pointing to the hedges up ahead. “We can follow them all the way around to the ballroom.”

  Just as they were about to emerge from the passage, two guards rounded the corner—both in black-and-silver drüskelle uniforms, both carrying rifles.

  “Perjenger!” one of them shouted in surprise. Prisoners. “Sten!”

  Without thinking, Matthias said, “Desjenet, Djel comenden!” Stand down, Djel wills it so. They were the words of a drüskelle commanding officer, and he delivered them with all the authority he’d ever learned to muster.

  The soldiers exchanged a confused glance. That moment of hesitation was enough. Matthias grabbed the first soldier’s rifle and head-butted him hard. The drüskelle collapsed.

  Kaz slammed into the other soldier, knocking him over. The drüskelle kept hold of his rifle, but Kaz slipped behind him and brought his forearm across the soldier’s throat, applying pressure until the soldier’s eyes shut, and his head fell forward as he slipped into unconsciousness.

  Kaz rolled the body off of him and stood.

  The reality of the situation struck Matthias suddenly. Kaz hadn’t picked up the rifle. Matthias had a gun in his hands, and Kaz Brekker was unarmed. They were standing over the bodies of two unconscious drüskelle, men who were supposed to be Matthias’ brothers. I can shoot him, Matthias thought. Doom Nina and the rest of them with a single act. Again, Matthias had the strange sense of his life viewed the wrong way up. He was dressed in prison clothes, an intruder in the place he’d once called home. Who am I now?

  He looked at Kaz Brekker, a boy whose only cause was himself. Still, he was a survivor, and his own kind of soldier. He had honored his bargain with Matthias. At any point, he might have decided that Matthias had served his purpose—once he’d helped them draw up the plans, once they’d gotten past the holding cells, once Matthias had revealed the secret bridge. And whoever he’d become, Matthias was not going to shoot someone unarmed. He’d not yet sunk so far.

  Matthias lowered his weapon.

  A faint smile touched Kaz’s lip
s. “I wasn’t sure what you’d do if it came down to this.”

  “Neither was I,” Matthias admitted. Kaz lifted a brow, and the truth struck Matthias with the force of a blow. “It was a test. You chose not to pick up the rifle.”

  “I needed to be sure you were really with us. All of us.”

  “How did you know I wouldn’t shoot?”

  “Because, Matthias, you stink of decency.”

  “You’re mad.”

  “Do you know the secret to gambling, Helvar?” Kaz brought his good foot down on the butt of the fallen soldier’s rifle. The gun flipped up. Kaz had it in his hands and pointed at Matthias in the space of a breath. He’d never been in any danger at all. “Cheat. Now let’s clean up and get those uniforms on. We have a party to go to.”

  “One day you’ll run out of tricks, demjin.”

  “You’d better hope it’s not today.”

  We’ll see what this night brings, Matthias thought as he bent to the task. Trickery is not my native tongue, but I may learn to speak it yet.

  30

  JESPER

  NINE BELLS AND QUARTER CHIME

  Jesper knew he should be mad at Kaz—for going after Pekka Rollins and blowing their first plan to bits, and for pushing them into deeper danger with this new scheme. But as he and Wylan crept along the drüskelle roof toward the gatehouse, he was too damn happy to be mad. His heart was pounding, and adrenaline crackled through his body in delicious spikes. It was a little like a party he’d once gone to on West Stave. Someone had filled a city fountain with champagne, and it had taken about two seconds for Jesper to dive in with boots off and gullet open. Now it was risk filling up his nose and mouth, making him feel giddy and invincible. He loved it, and he hated himself for loving it. He should be thinking about the job, the money, getting out from under his debt, making sure his father didn’t suffer for his antics. But when Jesper’s mind even brushed up against those thoughts, everything in him recoiled. Trying not to die was the best possible distraction.

  Even so, Jesper was more conscious of the sounds they made now that they were away from the crowds and chaos of the embassy. This night belonged to the drüskelle. Hringkälla was their holiday, and they were all safely ensconced on the White Island. This building was probably the safest place for him and Wylan to be at the moment. But the silence here seemed weighted, sinister. There were no willows or fountains here, as there had been at the embassy. Like the prison, this part of the Ice Court wasn’t intended for public eyes. Jesper caught himself nervously wiggling the baleen wedged between his teeth with his tongue and forced himself to stop before he triggered it. He was fairly sure Wylan would never let him forget a blunder like that.

  A large pyramid-shaped skylight looked down on what seemed to be a training room, its floor emblazoned with the drüskelle wolf’s head, the shelves lined with weapons. Through the next glass pyramid, he glimpsed a big dining hall. One wall was taken up by a massive hearth, a wolf’s head carved into the stone above it. The opposite wall was adorned by an enormous banner with no discernible pattern, a patchwork of slender strips of cloth—mostly red and blue, but some purple, too. It took Jesper a moment to understand what he was seeing.

  “Saints,” he said, feeling a little sick. “Grisha colors.”

  Wylan squinted. “The banner?”

  “Red for Corporalki. Blue for Etherealki. Purple for Materialki. Those are pieces of the kefta that Grisha wear in battle. They’re trophies.”

  “There are so many.”

  Hundreds. Thousands. I would have worn purple, Jesper thought, if I’d joined the Second Army. He reached for the fizzy elation that had been bubbling through him moments before. He’d been willing, even eager to risk capture and execution as a thief and hired gun. Why was it worse to think about being hunted as a Grisha?

  “Let’s keep moving.”

  Just like the prison and the embassy, the gatehouse in the drüskelle sector was built around a courtyard so anyone entering could be observed and fired upon from above. But with the gate out of operation, the courtyard battlements were as deserted as the rest of the building. Here, slabs of sleek black stone were inlaid with the silver wolf’s head, the surfaces lit with eerie blue flame. It was the one part of the Ice Court he’d seen that wasn’t white or gray. Even the gate was some kind of black metal that looked impossibly heavy.

  A guard was visible below, leaning against the gatehouse arch, a rifle slung over his shoulder.

  “Only one?” asked Wylan.

  “Matthias said four guards for non-operational gates.”

  “Maybe Yellow Protocol is working in our favor,” said Wylan. “They could have been sent to the prison sector or—”

  “Or maybe there are twelve big Fjerdans keeping warm inside.”

  As he and Wylan watched, the guard opened a tin of jurda and shoved a wad of the dried orange blossoms into his mouth. He looked bored and irritated, probably frustrated to be stationed far from the fun of the Hringkälla festivities.

  I don’t blame you, Jesper thought. But your life’s about to get a lot more exciting.

  At least the guard was wearing an ordinary uniform instead of drüskelle black, Jesper considered, still unable to shake the image of that banner from his mind. His mother was Zemeni, but his father had the Kaelish blood that had given Jesper his gray eyes, and he’d never quite shaken the superstitions of the Wandering Isle. When Jesper had started to show his power, his father had been heartbroken. He’d encouraged Jesper to keep it hidden. “I’m afraid for you,” he’d said. “The world can be cruel to your kind.” But Jesper had always wondered if maybe his father had been a little afraid of him, too.

  What if I’d gone to Ravka instead of Kerch? Jesper thought. What if I’d joined the Second Army? Did they even let Fabrikators fight, or were they kept walled up in workshops? Ravka was more stable now, rebuilding. There was no compulsory draft for Grisha. He could go, visit, maybe learn to use his power better, leave the gambling dens of Ketterdam behind. If they succeeded in delivering Bo Yul-Bayur to the Merchant Council, anything might be possible. He gave himself a shake. What was he thinking? He needed a dose of imminent peril to get his head straight.

  He rose out of his crouch. “I’m going in.”

  “What’s the plan?”

  “You’ll see.”

  “Let me help.”

  “You can help by shutting up and staying out of the way. Here,” Jesper said as he hooked the rope over the side of the roof, letting it drop down behind a row of stone slabs lining the walkway. “Wait until I’ve immobilized the guards, then lower yourself down.”

  “Jesper—”

  Jesper took off across the roof, keeping low as he gave the lip overlooking the courtyard a wide berth. He positioned himself on the wall behind the guard.

  As noiselessly as he could, he secured another section of rope to the roof and slowly began to rappel down the wall. The guard was almost directly beneath him. Jesper was no Wraith, but if he could just make the drop silently and sneak up behind the guard he could keep things quiet.

  He tensed, ready to drop. Another guard strode out of the gatehouse, clapping his hands in the cold and talking loudly, then a third appeared. Jesper froze. He was dangling over three armed guards, halfway down a wall, completely exposed. This was why Kaz did the planning. Sweat broke out on his brow. He couldn’t take three guards at once. And what if there were more in the gatehouse, ready to ring the alarm?

  “Wait,” said one of the guards. “Did you hear something?”

  Don’t look up. Oh, Saints, don’t look up.

  The guards moved in a slow circle, rifles raised. One of them craned his head back, scanning the roof. He began to turn.

  A strange, sweet sound pierced the air.

  “Skerden Fjerda, kende hjertzeeeeeng, lendten isen en de waaaanden.”

  Fjerdan words Jesper didn’t understand crested over the courtyard in a shimmering, perfect tenor that seemed to catch upon the black stone battleme
nts.

  Wylan.

  The guards whirled, rifles pointed at the walkway that led to the courtyard, seeking the source of the sound.

  “Olander?” one called.

  “Nilson?” said another.

  Their guns were raised, but their voices were more bemused and curious than aggressive.

  What the hell is he doing?

  A silhouette appeared in the walkway arch, lurching left and right.

  “Skerden Fjerda, kende hjertzeeeeeng,” Wylan sang, doing a surprisingly convincing impression of a drunk but very talented Fjerdan.

  The guards burst out laughing, joining in on the song. “Lendten isen…”

  Jesper leapt down. He seized the closest Fjerdan, snapped his neck, and grabbed his rifle. As the next guard turned, Jesper slammed the butt of the rifle into his face with a nasty crunch. The third guard raised his weapon, but Wylan snagged his arms from behind in an awkward hold. The rifle dropped from the guard’s hands, clattering against the stone. Before he could cry out, Jesper lunged forward and rammed the butt of his rifle into the guard’s gut, then finished him with two strikes to the jaw.

  He reached down and tossed one of the rifles to Wylan. They stood over the guards’ bodies, panting, weapons raised, waiting for more Fjerdan soldiers to flood out of the gatehouse. No one came. Maybe the fourth guard had been pulled away for Yellow Protocol.

  “Is that how you shut up and stay out of the way?” Jesper whispered as they dragged the guards’ bodies out of view behind one of the stone slabs.

  “Is that how you say thank you?” Wylan retorted.