CHAPTER 10

The Prisoner Wagon

     When Nina finished putting on Brynn's paraffin, Inej was fast asleep. Even though Brynn had healed the girl fairly well, she had nothing to help with the exhaustion. But she didn't have time to feel bad for too long when Jesper sent up the flare signaling that the prison wagon was approaching.

Nina went to wake up Inej, but Brynn shook her head. "Let her sleep a little longer," she whispered to the Ravkan girl. "It's been a long few days." Nina nodded and she went to join the others at a tree not too far away.

Wylan kneeled down at the base of a thick red fir, Kaz and Matthias watching carefully. The boy shifted awkwardly. "Stop staring," he whispered to them. "I can't focus when people are looking at me."

"You'd better get used to people staring at you while you work," Kaz said.

"Besides, if you get used to it, you won't be as likely to crack under pressure," added Brynn.

Eventually, Wylan stepped back and the tree fell over, its roots withered and smoky. It looked like it had simply been felled by disease and fell over on its own. Wylan had done a good job.

"What was that?"

Brynn nearly screamed at the sound of Inej's voice coming from next to her. She might have almost died just a week ago, but she was still agile and a part of the shadows, even at midday. Nina sidled up next to her. "Salt concentrate."

"I thought I told you to let her sleep," Brynn told her.

Nina shrugged. "She woke up."

Inej cocked her head, looking over at Matthias, his head bowed in prayer. "Is Matthias...praying?"

"Saying a blessing," answered Nina. "Fjerdans do it whenever they cut down a tree."

"Every time?"

"The blessings depend on how you intend to use the wood. One for houses, one for bridges." She paused. "One for kindling."

Kaz turned to them. "Once the wagon stops, the tree will buy us about fifteen minutes and not much more. Move quickly. The prisoners should be hooded, but they'll be able to hear, so not a word. We can't afford to arouse suspicion. For all they know, this is a routine stop, and we want to keep it that way."

So many ways for this plan to go wrong, so many things unaccounted for to happen and mess it all up. Even if it worked, Brynn wasn't completely sure how she felt about being locked up in the Ice Court.

The wagon came rolling along past them in the gully, stopping in front of the tree. The drivers cursed to each other, sliding down from the box seat and walking over to the fallen tree. They just stood there, staring at it as if they'd never seen anything like it before.

"How lazy can they be?" muttered Kaz.

Brynn murmured, "Believe me, if you think this is lazy, you have no idea how lazy they can get."

Finally, they turned and walked back to the wagon, retrieving a heavy coil of rope and one of the horses to drag the tree out of the road.

"Be ready," Kaz said, then scampered out of the gully and over to the back of the wagon. His walking stick was left in the ditch with them, and he hid his pain well, if he felt any at all. In seconds, the padlock on the wagon door popped open with a little work from the professional thief. He glanced briefly at the men who were now tying the ropes around the tree, then opened the wagon door.

The signal didn't come. Brynn squinted, waiting. But it still didn't come. Kaz was just standing there, staring into the wagon.

"What's happening?" asked Wylan.

"Maybe they aren't hooded?" replied Inej. Brynn didn't think that was it. Kaz might scowl if they didn't have hoods, not stare at the prisoners as if in a daze. "I'll go."

Brynn watched as Inej leapt out of the gully silently, coming up behind Kaz. She could just barely make out a sheen layer of sweat on his face in the afternoon sun. When Inej briefly touched his shoulder, he flinched.

What is in that wagon? wondered Brynn. Or, rather, who?

Inej tapped Kaz's shoulder again, and that seemed to bring him out of his stupor. He lurched forward, unlocking the prisoner's collars.

The Suli girl signaled to Matthias and Brynn. He climbed out of the gully, then offered his hand to help her out, too. They hurried over to the wagon.

One of the prisoners asked something in Ravkan, a language Brynn had never learned. Brynn had learned Fjerdan, Shu, and Kerch, while Sasha was the one who took up Zemeni, Suli, and Ravkan. Neither were very good at the foreign languages, but they knew enough to get by.

Matthias silenced the prisoner with a single, harsh, "Tig!" His whole demeanor changed with the single Fjerdan word, his back straightened and his eyes sharp. Matthias was no longer the convict, he was a drüskelle. Brynn took a step away from him while Inej eyed him nervously.

Brynn took the chance to peer into the wagon and she almost felt sick. There were far more prisoners inside than there had been at the checkpoint. They all stood next to each other, hands and feet shackled, thick iron collars around their necks. The collars clipped to hooks in the wagon's roof, surely cutting off anyone's airway should they slump or fall over. They were too tightly packed, Brynn already felt like she couldn't breathe.

She could feel her parents' arms around her, smell their charred skin. Get a hold of yourself, Brynn! she shouted in her mind.

Finally, after what felt like a century, Kaz unlocked seven sets of hand and foot shackles. Inej, Matthias, and Brynn unloaded the prisoners, leading them to the edge of the gully. There wasn't time to check if they'd freed women or men, old or young, as the progress of the guards on the road moved along steadily.

Nina dropped the prisoners' pulses and they slumped to the ground. Wylan removed their hoods and Brynn counted who they'd released. Four men, a middle-aged woman, a Shu boy, and a teenage Zemeni girl. Brynn frowned, but she knew this would most likely happen. Hopefully the guards wouldn't fret too much over the accuracy of a group of chained and shackled convicts.

While Wylan and Inej rolled the prisoners into the gully behind the trees after Nina gave them a sleeping solution, Brynn helped Nina out of the gully and over to the wagon. She waited patiently as Matthias locked Wylan, Nina, and Jesper in, stepping in to help Inej pull the sacks over their heads. Then Brynn let Inej put shackles on her feet and hands, then the collar on her neck. But she stopped the girl before she put the sack over her head. Brynn still wanted to see how Kaz was going to lock them in. This was one thing she would not let Kaz keep a secret from her.

Kaz signaled to Inej. She leapt down, the wagon door shutting behind her, the padlock fastening with a satisfying click, and the bolt sliding into place again. A second later, the opposite side of the door pushed open, the hinges removed. Brynn had to focus in the dark of the wagon to see what he was doing. Inej gripped the lip of the door and swung herself up, squeezing inside. She gave Brynn a little smile as Kaz started replacing the hinges.

Brynn helped Inej get her shackles and collar on, a look of apology on her face as she did so. She didn't know much about the girl's past, but what she did know was that she'd come from the Menagerie, taken from her home and her family. Hopefully after this job, she might be able to pay off her indenture to Per Haskell and see her family again. Brynn would give almost anything to see her family again.

Kaz was going too slow, she could tell in the dim light. His breathing was shallow, his gloved hands too clumsy to be his. What was wrong? When he dropped one of the screws, Brynn frowned again and kicked it back to him, trying to ignore the pounding of her own heart and her own panicked breathing.

Ma held onto her tighter than Da, but Da gave her a kiss on her forehead as they burned, tears in his eyes. Ma and Da gave each other knowing looks, but held on tight. Sasha's screams in the distance did not cease.

He continued to fiddle with the hinges. Footsteps were on the right side of the wagon, one guard shouting to the other in Fjerdan. Hurry up, Kaz. Brynn sent a silent prayer up to whoever was listening. She'd never been the one to believe in gods or saints, but she wasn't taking any chances. Maybe Inej had rubbed off on her.

Kaz cursed under his breath when Brynn heard another ping of a screw dropping to the floor. He braced his hand against the hinge as the door shook from the guard giving the chained padlock a rattle. Brynn couldn't breathe.

Why did she even come here? She was a Grisha in a Grisha-hating land. Why did she think she'd even live to tell the tales of the heist?

The hinges held. She'd prayed to the right saints.

Brynn's vision was blurry, but she forced herself to stay awake. She'd had too many panic attacks in front of the crew, she didn't need to add another one to her list. Kaz took his place next to her, shoving a hood over her head.

Everyone was too close. She was having flashbacks, remembering her parents' last moments, the crackling of fire drowning out the shrieks around her.

Focus on something else.

Kaz's breathing was the one thing Brynn could focus on without thinking too much about passing out. It was shallow—much shallower than Brynn would ever imagine Kaz sounding. It was unnatural and Brynn almost asked him if he was alright. Then she remembered how he snapped at her back in the bakery and shut her mouth, letting the musty smell of the hood fill her nostrils.

Just when Brynn thought the wagon ride couldn't get any more confusing, Kaz Brekker, Dirtyhands, the deadliest boy in Ketterdam, fainted. 

a/n— Let me know what you think!