Shadow and Bone

dark, and I could hear them crying in rage and confusion as if
from behind an impenetrable curtain.
We sped over the colorless sands, the sunlight spreading in
glimmering waves before us. Far ahead, I saw a flash of green,
and I realized I was seeing the other side of the Shadow Fold.
We were looking into West Ravka, and as we drew closer, I
saw their meadow, their drydocks, the village of Novokribirsk
nestled behind it. The towers of Os Kervo gleamed in the
distance. Was it my imagination, or could I smell the salt tang
of the True Sea on the air?
People were streaming from the village and crowding onto
the drydocks, pointing at the light that had split the Fold open
before them. I saw children playing in the grass. I could hear
the dockworkers calling to each other.
At a signal from the Darkling, the skiff slowed, and he lifted
his arms. I felt a spike of horror as I understood what was
about to happen.
“They’re your own people!” I cried desperately.
He ignored me and brought his hands together with a sound
like a clap of thunder.
It all seemed to happen slowly. Darkness rippled out from
his hands. When it met the darkness of the Fold, a rumbling
sound rose up out of the dead sands. The black walls of the
path I’d created pulsed and swelled. It’s like it’s breathing, I
thought in terror.
The rumble grew to a roar. The Fold shook and trembled
around us and then burst forward in a terrible cascading tide.
A frightened wail went up from the crowd on the docks as
darkness rushed toward them. They ran, and I saw their fear,
heard their screams as the black fabric of the Fold crashed
over the drydocks and the village like a breaking wave.
Darkness enveloped them, and the volcra set upon their new
prey. A woman carrying a little boy stumbled, trying to outrun
the grasping dark, but it swallowed her, too.
I reached inside of myself desperately, trying to expand the
light, to drive the volcra off, to offer some kind of protection.