𝕂𝕚𝕝𝕝𝕖𝕣 ℂ𝕝𝕠𝕨𝕟| Kaz Brekker

~KAZ~

KAZ HEARD SCREAMS AND ROARS from the arena. While planned, they were early, and they weren't ready. He'd planned everything down to the second, it wasn't a difficult job, just tedious. 

With him was Nina, Inej. And before the alarms went off he was trying to convince a large Fjerdan to break out of prison.

As all the noise rang around him in the dirty cell, Kaz cursed. "They were supposed to wait until three bells."

"It is three bells," Inej remarked from the shadowed corner of the room, almost unnoticeable if you didn't know she was there.

"Since when were those two punctual," he frowned, glancing down at his wrist watch, then up at beaten Fjerdan in front of him. "On your feet, Helvar." He offered Matthias his gloved hand to get him up quicker, but instead he just stared at it. "You want to rot in jail then?"

Quickly Matthias snapped out of it and grabbed Kaz's hand. Inej stepped forward and draped the new member of the crew in a cloak and komedie brute mask. After that they ran, while running upstream in the crowd of screaming civilians Nina decides to share her epiphany with the group. 

"You said those two? Who's the other one other than Jesper?" She has a puzzled look on her face and they push through the crowd to get to an archway on the far right.

Kaz took a sharp turn, clenching his teeth as people ran past him, brushing against his arms. "You'll meet her soon, I'm sure you'll get along just swimmingly." The sarcastic tone was noticeable, even over the agonizing screams.

Out of the corner of his eye Kaz noticed Matthias trying to make a run for it in the wrong direction, toward an officer infested gate. "Boys like you weren't meant to get ideas, Helvar" said Kaz. "That staircase leads to a bottleneck. You think the guards won't check under that mask before they let you through?"

While he didn't respond, Matthias continued on with the group as the dove around the arch and into the arena, where hell could only pray to be at this level of pandemonium.

The group plunged into the sand pit and then out through the tunnels. The wild beasts took notice of them,  but the few that approached couldn't get passed Inej's knives. 

When moonlight was finally visible at the other end of the tunnel, so were two silhouettes sitting in a small boat. The pungent smell of salt water let everyone know they'd made it out and the bone light in the hands masked girl let them know that Jesper and Evilynn had made it out as well.

The group slowed down as the exited the tunnel, joining the two by the shore.

Kaz gave them a look, "you were early."

Evilynn slipped off her porcelain mask to reveal a confused expression, "we were perfectly on time thank you very much."

"For you two, that's early.  Next time you plan to impress me give me some warning."

She rolled her eyes, "You got your large man, can we leave now?"

Jesper elbowed her, "What she means is we got the animals out and the boat. Perhaps a thank you is in order?"

"Thank you, Jesper and..." Nina paused, trying to come up with a name.

Evilynn's head turned when she heard what Kaz forgot would be a new voice. She grinned. "Evilynn." She stood and quickly bowed to the heartrender. "And you are very welcome, beautiful." She then shot a glare at Kaz. "See Kaz? This is how civilized people talk, you should give it a try."

With his cane he gave her a sharp knock on the shoulder to get her to sit back down. "I didn't know you classified as 'civilized'."

Before Evilynn could come up with some witty reply, Matthias threw his body at Inej. Of course he widely miscalculated and was thrown to the ground and had two guns pointed at him, Jesper and Evilynn's guns.

Nina tried to come to his side but Matthias but he moved away from her like she had the plague.

"Clumsy this one," Inej said impassively, standing above him.

Evilynn let out a short laugh, "he better be worth all this trouble."

Without acknowledging the two girls Kaz turned to Nina. "Put him under." The look on his face wasn't up for any argument, he had money to make.

Matthias was opposed to the idea of being unconscious, "Don't." He protested.

"You're dumb enough to capsize the boat."

Still Matthias yelled at the heartrender, "Stay away from me, witch!"

"With. Pleasure." Nina spoke with a hard expression, motioning her hands forward.

Matthias' eyelids fell heavy as she dragged him into unconsciousness. "Kill you," he mumbled.

"Sleep well," her voice rung in a hurt and sad tune.

Kaz was more concerned with getting off the island then watching the two have their moment, so in the dim lights they began to pack up, starting with moving the Fjerdan onto the boat. 

Once on the boat they all sat in silence, other than Inej who'd offered to steer. Evilynn laid against Jesper's shoulder, one foot off the edge, analyzing the mask left for her. He remembered the first time they'd used the trick and they wanted to keep her identity hidden while still making her noticeable to catch peoples attention.

Kaz hadn't planned on it sticking, but she insisted it was fun, so he let her continue the gimmick, even encouraging it as he'd done tonight. 

The moonlight made sure everyone looked just as delinquent as they truly were, other then the heartrender and her angry Fjerdan man, one of which was unconscious and the other who looked terrified. 

~🃏~

The second they arrived back at the crow club, they tied Matthias to a chair and found Wylan. He had been quite antsy ever since Kaz told him Evilynn would be joining, leading him to look deeper into the two's potential relations.

What he found was extremely intriguing, but it was an easy choice to keep this to himself, and from Evilynn's usual behavior he knew she must have forgotten him.

The windows on the club were all covered and the familiar look of the crow wallpaper and card tables made it easier to feel in control. He'd have no trouble getting Matthias on his side, willingly or not.

As he awoke, everyone watched, eyes glued to the scene about to unfold.

AN: I'M SORRY IT'S SO SHORT MY BRAIN WASN'T PROCESSING WELL TODAY BUT I WANTED TO MAKE SURE I GOT SOMETHING OUT.

So I present to you my brain fumes...

Anyway, thank you all for your continued support, even when I put out shorter chapters 😅