Chapter Text
Honestly, these fools weren’t as smart as they thought they were. Impressive they built lights strong enough to chase his shadows away and light up his cell but what they didn’t count on were the grisha still loyal to him. Seriously, most of the grisha had sided with him when he staged his coup, why on earth did they think that they wouldn’t find out he was back and make a plan to free him. He was their protector, their defender, he had made a safe place for them to grow up and had risked it all to get the throne so he could help them even more.
His soldiers had infiltrated the 24 hour guard he had, slipping messages to him when his meals were delivered. They decided they should wait to free him when the palace was hosting a wedding where everyone would be too busy to pay much attention to anything happening at his cell. Such a simple plan. After they would free him, they would take off to Novi Zem and from there, who knew? He had never traveled farther than that but Vlad mentioned talks of an island nation across what was called the Black Sea. Maybe that would be their new home.
Two weeks later the plan was set in motion. No one noticed at all as they celebrated Genya and David’s wedding. Vlad and the others had horses waiting in the woods by the fountain he used to visit. To his absolute surprise, Ivan and Feydor were there. He had hoped they got away safely after he had died. They had been working to help the Grisha who didn’t want to go back to the Little Palace and serve under Zoya and Nikolai.
“General, good to see you again,”Feydor said with a smile.
“Not really a General anymore. It is good to see you and Ivan again,”Sasha replied as he gave them both a quick one armed hug and pat on the back.
Ivan nodded his head in agreement before saying they did need to get a move on. Time was of the essence. None of them wanted to be caught. They mounted their horses and set off on a determined pace, one that wouldn’t tire their horses anytime soon. It was a tense couple of hours until they felt they had made considerable distance from Os Alta. They took a break at dawn to eat some cold jerky before heading out once again. The next week was a blur of the same. With the Fold gone, it was pretty easy to cross into West Ravka to the True Sea where Vlad’s ship was. Vlad had bought a ship after the Civil War and had been using it to help Grisha refugees go where they wanted. He may have turned pirate also, going after Fjierdan and Shu Han ships, attacking their coasts as well.
Ivan and Feydor joined him in his cabin to update him more on what had all happened since his death. They and the others in his army had fought back after he was killed by Alina but had lost weeks later to Nikolai. Some had taken the pardons but the rest, like Ivan, Feydor and Vlad, had run after escaping their cells. They took to the forests of Ravka, hiding in caves and the mountains. Many still fought for Ravka but in their own ways. They helped the villages near the borders, they helped train the young grisha who didn’t go to the Little Palace and kept up their own spy network. Nikolai may think he found and commanded Sasha’s spy network but they reported more to Feydor than him. That is how they found out he was back. Most of the spies only stayed in the network to help the grisha they came across, it wasn’t because they were loyal to Nikolai, it also didn’t help that he put an incomptent person in charge of the spy network making it so much easier for them to convince others to join them and to also then spy on the palace.
“How will we get to this Island nation?”Sasha asked them the next day.
“Ekaterina has discovered a river system that would allow Vlad to sail his ship through Novi Zem to the other side. From there we have to cross the uncharted waters of the Black Sea and hope we reach this Island,”Feydor replied.
“If there is one.”Ivan scoffed. He was a bit skeptical that there was an Island but secretly he had hope too that there was one and that it would be a safe haven for them.
“Ahh Vanya, always so optimistic,”Feydor laughed.
“We have no confirmation that this place is real, only stories. What will we do if they are false? No one we know has crossed the Black Sea and it has treacherous waters from what we have heard.”
“Lucky for us we have plenty of Squaller and Tidemakers on the ship to help us. Vlad has told me he has gathered enough money for us to buy plenty of supplies to last us six months at sea if need be. If we are wrong and we do starve or drown then you can say you told us so, Ivan.''Sasha said with a small smirk.
Ivan rolled his eyes at both of them.
One Week Later
They arrived at Novi Zem, only going ashore to buy supplies before following Ekaterina’s map of the river system that went all the way to the Black Sea. Everyone spoke of their hope for the future while some,like Ivan, talked of the skepticism of the possibility of there being an island. The one good thing about traveling by the river system was seeing the beautiful landscape and seeing different animals that some had never seen before. Feydor had wanted to try and catch a monkey but unfortunately Ivan said no,bringing up the fact that they may not even survive out on the Black Sea and wouldn’t Feydor be more sad if something happened to the monkey.
It took about three weeks for them to reach the gulf that leads out to the sea.
“Great work,Katya. Those couple of years of you tracing this river system really paid off,”Sasha praised her.
“Thank you, General.”
Sasha shook his head as she called him General. No matter how many times he told his followers he wasn’t a general anymore, they would shake their heads saying he would always be their general. Only Vlad, Ivan and Feydor would call him by his name sometimes.
As they sailed out into the unknown, some grisha said a little prayer to Rammir, the old Ravkan god of the sea. Sasha closed his eyes and gave a little prayer too, hoping the old gods hadn’t forgotten them. Feydor stood by him at the front of the ship, holding Ivan’s hand. As they exited the gulf into the open sea waters, the sun broke through the clouds in a line of light, like it was lighting the way for them. Perhaps this was a good omen….they could only hope.