CHAPTER 4

Play With Fire

     Ma always had a saying. If there's no kindness for you somewhere, they do not deserve your kindness. She had a lot of sayings, but this was the one that stayed with Brynn through her stay in Ketterdam.

Now, she tried to remember that exact saying. But between the ringing in her ears, the sounds of gunshots, and people yelling all over the place, Brynn couldn't exactly do much thinking. All she knew was pain.

The schooner exploded, throwing her forward. Brynn had always been clumsy, so of course she landed in an awkward position that caused more embarrassment than pain. The ground underneath her was hard, it scraped her hands and knees as she stumbled to get up.

They do not deserve your kindness, Brynn.

Her mother's voice brought her out of her stupor. Who was shooting at them? And why? Kaz had warned them that other gangs would be competition for this job, but this was too early. Someone must have talked.

Luckily, the decoy schooner did its job. Brynn was thankful that Kaz actually told her about this one little piece in the puzzle of plans, because she knew she'd be freaking out right about now.

But first, she needed to find Inej.

Blinking rapidly to clear her vision, Brynn saw Jesper and Wylan running down the docks, passing Nina and Matthias. Kaz and Inej were nowhere to be seen.

Brynn checked her rings to make sure they were still secure. She didn't want to use her Grisha abilities right now, but if she had to, she would. The people shooting at them might not deserve her kindness, but the crew did. Her crew did.

A bullet whipped past Brynn at lightning speed and she ducked behind a crate. She had no weapons, nowhere to run, with only one more option left.

If they find out you're Grisha, they'll take you away to Ravka and we'll never see you again, Da's voice reminded her.

The phantom voices of distant red-haired bullies spoke louder than him. Grisha are magical, so they should give their lives for ours! They're dangerous, but that's okay, because we'll be dangerous, too, when we drink their blood.

No weapons. No place to hide. One more option left or die.

Choose, Brynn!

She chose fire.

She had forgotten how easy it was to create a spark with the rings, and once she did, she knew exactly what to do. Create a flame out of the spark, throw the flame at her opponents. It was that easy, and yet Brynn still felt sick to her stomach.

Every scream she caused, she made sure to remember it. Every scorched and charred body she sent up in flames, she kept those pictures locked away in her head. She was a monster, and she'd better remember it.

Finally, Brynn spotted Inej. And, just behind her with a knife in his hands, Oomen. She'd remembered a few things about some of the Black Tips' enforcer, the one who could supposedly crush skulls with his bare hands.

Even if she thought it was just rumors, she didn't want to take that chance. Brynn ran as fast as she could, creating spark after spark that she used to take down countless other enemies.

She saw the knife too late. Oomen stuck the knife in Inej's side, dragging her down with his big arms. Brynn ran faster, pumping her legs until she thought she might fall over. But it was all worth it when she reached them before Oomen could dig the knife even further.

Brynn reached out and burned Oomen's hand, releasing his grip from the knife. Inej slid to the ground, her eyes clenching from the pain. Just hold on a little longer, Inej, thought Brynn as Oomen turned to her, an unnatural glint in his eyes.

"So now I'm going to catch a Wraith and an Inferni?" He grinned. "Today's my lucky day."

Brynn struck her rings together again, holding the fire in her hands. "Lucky? No, today's your death-day."

Oomen cocked his head. "We'll see about that, witch."

She winced at the name, but slepped closer to him, glancing between him and Inej. Well, now she didn't have to hide her secret anymore.

Oomen dodged the first flame she threw at him, and then the next. He was big and fast, a combination that was both deadly and scary. Brynn continued to throw flames at Oomen, hoping one of them might actually hit him.

Brynn realized how close he was to her too late. Oomen struck her face with his large fist and she immediately fell to the ground. She tried getting another spark with her rings, until his meaty hands clamped a pair of handcuffs over her wrists. Brynn's eyes widened and Oomen laughed.

"I bet you weren't expecting that!" He hauled her up off the ground. "These were originally for the Heartrender, but an Inferni is just as good."

Brynn gritted her teeth and brought her arms up, giving him a nice punch with both fists to his head. Oomen stumbled back, but kept a firm grip on her.

"Feisty, this one," he grinned. "I like it!" Then, he pulled something out of his pocket. "But you're going to have to pay for that."

She felt the knife before she saw it. It was a searing pain, right in her abdomen, but it only got worse. Oomen laughed, digging the knife deeper.

"Think you've paid enough?" he teased.

"I think you talk too much," Brynn mumbled.

He dragged the deep knife across her stomach quickly, grinning all the way. He's insane, Brynn thought.

The pain was too much. It was searing hot and icy cold at the same time. Every time Brynn took a breath, she wasn't sure how long she was going to make it. Red stained her vision.

Oomen stepped back and Brynn took her chance. Slowly, she grabbed the hilt of the knife and pulled it out of her gut and, when Oomen wasn't paying attention to her and instead to Inej, Brynn stabbed him.

Blood was everywhere. Brynn couldn't breathe. Was this what dying felt like? If so, Brynn was glad she decided not to all those years ago. It hurt.

She stumbled over to Inej, helping the lithe girl up with her cuffed hands. If they both weren't bleeding out, Brynn would try to get out of the handcuffs, but they needed to get to the real Ferolind first.

Progress was slow, but eventually, they made it to berth twenty-two, where the actual schooner was docked. It looked like chaos aboard, and Brynn could just barely see Jesper on the deck. Brynn limped on board with Inej's arm slung over her shoulder.

Was she going to die? And on Ketterdam's harbors, no less? Before the job even started, she was going to bleed out after carrying Inej halfway across Fifth Harbor.

When Jesper caught sight of them, his eyes widened. "Kaz," Brynn croaked. "Where's Kaz?"

"I don't know," he answered. "But Nina's belowdecks. Come on, let me help."

Brynn let him take Inej from him. Without the extra weight, she felt a little better, but only a little. Her vision was going in and out, she felt like she might throw up.

No one was there to catch her when she fell.

~~~

Kaz didn't know what had gotten into him. The moment Brynn stumbled onto the Ferolind with Inej's arm over her shoulders, the only thing he felt was rage. Rage at whoever had done this to Brynn. Rage that he hadn't gone looking for her. And now someone needed to pay.

Oomen was giggling by the rail, his hands bound. Kaz didn't know why he did it, or even how long it took. But once it was done, it was done.

Kaz held Oomen's eyeball in front of the man's face, ignoring his crew's disgustful reactions. Oomen shrieked, squirming under Helvar's grip. But Kaz didn't care. If blood was what Geels wanted, then blood he would get.

"Please," sobbed Oomen. "I don't wanna die."

Throwing his eyeball out into the ocean, Kaz shrugged. "You should've thought of that before."

When he grabbed Oomen and leaned him over the rail, Oomen shouted, "Pekka Rollins hired us!" Kaz paused, and the burly man took his chance to talk. "Geels got five thousand kruge to bring the Black Tips out! We even got some Razorgulls, too! We were just supposed to stop you from getting out of the harbor!"

Kaz narrowed his eyes. "Is that so?"

Oomen bobbed his head quickly. "Yeah. I—I need a medik. Please."

Kaz wasn't feeling very merciful. He leaned Oomen further across the rail and leaned in close to whisper, "Brynn would have spared you. But, thanks to you, she's not here to plead your case."

Swiftly, Kaz took out another knife from his sleeve and dug it deep into Oomen's abdomen, dragging it all the way across, and pulled the knife out.

Then, he tipped Oomen into the sea.

Ignoring everyone else's expressions, Kaz walked to the other side of the deck. Inej and Brynn were belowdecks, being tended to by Nina. He wished he had an actual Healer, but a Heartrender would do.

He couldn't get the image of Brynn's pale face and her bleeding stomach. She'd practically been gutted by Oomen, but she still had the strength to carry Inej all the way back to the Ferolind. Always thinking about others before herself.

And then she passed out and Kaz nearly dove to catch her. But he was too slow, and Helvar picked her up instead, following Jesper with Inej in his arms down to Nina.

She needed to make it. She just had to. If she didn't, Kaz didn't know what he would do about it. But he did know one thing. It wouldn't be pretty. 

a/n—Ooooh angry Kaz is on board! (Get it, 'cause they're on a ship? And we're shipping Kaz and Brynn...you know what, nevermind) Let me know what you think!