Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo (z-lib.org).mobi

in their cries.
When they were almost upon us, the Darkling gripped my arm and simply
said, “Now.”
That invisible hand took hold of the power inside me, and I felt it stretch,
reaching through the darkness of the Fold, seeking the light. It came to me with a
speed and fury that nearly knocked me from my feet, breaking over me in a
shower of brilliance and warmth.
The Fold was alight, as bright as noon, as if its impenetrable darkness had
never been. I saw a long reach of blanched sand, hulks of what looked like
shipwrecks dotting the dead landscape, and above it all, a teeming flock of
volcra. They screamed in terror, their writhing grey bodies gruesome in the
bright sunlight. This is the truth of him, I thought as I squinted in the dazzling
light. Like calls to like. This was his soul made flesh, the truth of him laid bare in
the blazing sun, shorn of mystery and shadow. This was the truth behind the
handsome face and the miraculous powers, the truth that was the dead and empty
space between the stars, a wasteland peopled by frightened monsters.
Make a path. I wasn’t sure if he had spoken or thought the command that
reverberated through me. Helpless, I let the Fold close in around us as I focused
the light, making a channel through which the skiff could pass, bordered on both
sides by walls of rippling darkness. The volcra fled into the dark, and I could
hear them crying in rage and confusion as if from behind an impenetrable
curtain.
We sped over the colourless sands, the sunlight spreading in glimmering
waves before us. Far ahead, I saw a flash of green, and I realised 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 dry docks, 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 dry docks,
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