"Don't be scared, Kayss," Termillion said. He wanted to re-fasten the girl's cloak to make sure it was right. "It will seem like you're all alone out there but I promise you, you won't be. I'll be watching, and so will Hester. You won't be able to tell which ones we are, but we'll be there."
Kayss nodded, she was fighting her fear, but there was no hiding it from Termillion. "Thank you Termillion," she said, small hands holding the sides of her cloak. She turned around and, as a straight column wearing a hood, started forward down the hall. Before she reached the end Termillion exited, climbed a set of stairs, and sped down the round path until he got to his assigned opening.
Before he could reach it, an adult figure wearing its own cloak stepped out of a shadow. "Your protege's turn, Termillion," it said, and he heard an evil grin in the woman's voice. "Bound to be yet another failure on your record. I can't wait until the day you're kicked out of the academy and banished to crouch on rooftops and watch the streets."
Termillion passed the woman without a word. He reached his opening, an open arch in a stone wall. Beyond was a large circular room, total darkness except for a few torches. More than thirty identical openings around the border, ten feet up from the stone floor. Some of them held masked, hooded figures. He slipped on his own mask and looked down at the doorway Kayss would use to enter the arena.
"Termillion!"
He looked behind him, thinking it was Ummi come to goad again, but instead he found Hester. He stepped away from the opening and removed his mask. "What is it?"
"Ummi and her cadre mean to stonewall Kayss."
"Why would they do such a thing?" Termillion asked. "The girl has done nothing to hurt her. She will succeed the trial. She will become quick darkness."
"The girl is skilled, I can't deny. But she clings to you like you are her dead father. That is beside the point; Ummi looks to take control."
Termillion looked down at the woman. "What have you heard?"
"If Kayss fails the trial, Ummi will point out none of your students have passed, and move to eject you as a tutor from the academy."
"What will such a thing accomplish?" Termillion glanced toward the ground-level door in the testing area. It hadn't moved.
"You're one of Master Gos's most fervent supporters! With you out, it will be that much easier to usurp him and take control." Hester placed her hand on Termillion's arm. "We will all of us be in danger."
"How did you come to learn this?"
"I heard her and one of her scoundrels talking not long ago. I had my hearing turned up--they didn't expect it inside the academy."
"We can address it later," Termillion said. "I have no fear for Kayss. No one is more suited for the shadows then her."
He replaced his mask and turned back into his opening. "I hope you are correct," Hester said, before she slipped into the shadow.
A few minutes later all of the tutors were in place. The single person without a mask, Master Gos, rang a bell, and the door opened.
Kayss strode forward and Termillion felt pride swell. She was small, and narrow, and would never win a beauty contest no matter how much makeup she had, but her eyes pointed forward at Master Gos, and he detected no slightest tremble as she stood in the center pool of torchlight.
"Kayss Streetchild," Master Gos said in his slow, loud voice. "We are pleased to see you. You have bested your studies and are but three trials away from becoming an apprentice Umbris. Should you succeed this challenge, you will be paired with a current Umbris, taught the streets and the rooftops above them, shown how the people we are sworn to protect work and function.
"Should you fail, you will not be allowed to return to your studies. You will be ejected from the Academy tonight, and left for your own devices. Do you understand?"
"I understand, Master Gos." Kayss said the words without blinking, staring up at the master's opening.
"Then let the first trial begin."
The torches went out. The large round room, the openings for the tutors, and the hallways behind them plunged into darkness even they could not see through. Termillion heard stone blocks shifting. "Reach the target spot in the time allotted without being spotted or heard," Master Gos said. "You may begin..."
The torches came back up. Stones had moved themselves into streets, buildings, walkways, sewers, and alleys. Torches illuminated cobblestones and roofs. A banner hung under the master's opening for Kayss to grab and end the trial. "...now."
Any good trainee Umbris would have started moving ahead as soon as the lights went out, using the preternatural darkness and noisy blocks as easy cover. If Termillion was lucky, Kayss was already halfway to the banner. With the lights back on, and Ummi and her foul friends looking for anything to pronounce Kayss a failure, it was now much more difficult.
The tutors could see at midnight. They could hear a whisper a hundred feet away, if they chose. They could pass through a crowded street at high noon and remain unnoticed. The trainees always tried to get perfect marks, but it never happened. Sometimes it was because they tripped and made a racket, or got caught out in the open. Sometimes it was just the feeling of presence--enough cloak tails, enough small scrapes as they walked.
Kayss made no noise. For all Termillion could tell, she wasn't in the arena at all. A few minutes after the trial began he peered close, wondering. He had never lost a trainee taking the first trial so entirely. While he was still looking he heard a clatter and whipped his head toward the noise. Kayss stood with the banner in her hands, standing in the center of the torchlight at the end of the trial.
"The first trial has ended," Master Gos said. "Let the second trial begin. Defeat your opponents. The second trial begins..."
The stone blocks disappeared into the ground, making the room flat and expressionless. The far door, the one Kayss had entered through, opened, and three Umbris walked through with swords. Termillion watched Kayss draw a dagger from her belt and bend her knees, sinking into a half crouch. "...now."
The three Umbris, two men and a woman, dashed forward, through the circles of torchlight. Their swords caught the fire and spread small, stretched squares of brilliance on the ground. When they reached the far torch, they found Kayss gone.
She struck from the shadows, moving with speed rather than stealth, and the first warrior barely had time to strike her dagger away. The other man struck where Kayss had been, but hit empty air.
The woman fell, her knee kicked out from behind, and the small point of Kayss dagger traced a path a hair's breadth from her throat. The woman played dead, and Kayss faced the two men.
They tried to circle around her, but she backed away, keeping them on only one of her sides. The first ran forward, sword pointed ahead, and Kayss moved through the attack.
Termillion blinked, surprised. The girl should have been struck. Somehow she had hit first, punching the man in the stomach and then sweeping his feet out from under him.
She ran to the last warrior, making aggressive attacks. He blocked them, then swept his weapon from side to side. She ducked under it, grabbed his wrist, and fell to the ground, pitching the man over her head. As they tumbled down, she got his weapon into her own hand, and when she rose, she pointed it at him as he lay on the ground.
"The second trial has ended," Master Gos said. Kayss handed the weapon back, bowed, and watched the three warriors leave the arena. She returned her dagger to her belt. "Let the second trial begin. Kayss Streetchild...surprise us. You may begin..."
Termillion watched Kayss walk into the center of the arena. She looked far calmer and sure of herself than Termillion was when he faced the final trial. He had thrown out small slips of paper bearing runes of his own design, which made flashes of light, clouds of sleep gas, or other effects when they detected pressure--such as the boot of an unsuspecting walker. He leaned forward. What would Kayss show them?
"...now."
Kayss stood in the center of the arena, motionless, her long cloak hiding her hands and feet. For a few seconds, she did nothing, and Termillion wondered if she had frozen.
She loosened her hood and pulled it low, hiding even the smallest part of her face from the light. She grasped the edges of her cloak and pulled them together, making her, again, a smooth cylinder. She turned slowly, until she detected the darkest section of the arena. Moving without a sound, barely even with a motion, she made for the spot. She stepped into it, and removed herself from view.
Termillion's heart sank. Invisibility, he thought. Impressive for her age, but not surprising, and certainly not foolproof. Any Umbris worth their salt can see right through it. With a moment of concentration he turned on one of the classic Umbris abilities and searched for her.
He didn't find her. The arena was empty. Some new form? Unseeable even to Umbris? Surely that will impress them. Termillion looked at the tutor he thought was Ummi. She will cry foul.
"Looking for me?" he heard behind him.
He looked, expecting Ummi again, but instead found his impish student. A grin took over her face. "I know it's you. How long until I should go back?"
Termillion said nothing. He returned his gaze to the arena, hoping she would get the hint. A moment later she emerged from the darkest section of the arena, as if she had been there the entire time.
Impossible, Termillion thought. And surprising indeed.
Had they not been sworn to silence during the trials, no doubt the other masked tutors would have been muttering or exclaiming. "The third trial has ended," Master Gos said. "The challenge has ended. Tutors, you may remove your masks."
Termillion pulled his off, and Kayss stared straight at him, smiling.
"The girl clearly left the arena during the third trial," he heard Ummi say, a few spots to his left. "I call for her failure and dismissal."
Getting started early, are you?
"Patience, Ummi. Tutors, how fared Kayss Streetchild on the first trial?" Master Gos asked. "I detected no indication of motion, nor did I see her pass through even the weakest light."
"She displayed enviable technique," Hester, across the arena from Termillion, said. "She finished the trial at near-record pace."
"She cheated," Ummi said. A word of assent came from one of her lackeys. "She fooled with the trial beforehand to create a tunnel away from the light, that would lead her directly to the goal."
"Perhaps she did," Master Gos said. "But did you see or hear her doing so? If not, there are no marks against her."
Termillion smiled, then frowned. Another reason for Ummi to hate Master Gos. "Who believes Kayss Streetchild passed the first trial? Step forward."
Termillion stepped forward. Hester also did so, as well as nearly all of the other tutors. Ummi and three others remained back. Termillion saw Kayss smile and look his way. "Now, the second trial. We witnessed the child's ability first-hand."
"She failed to deliver a killing blow to Emer," Ummi said. "He should have risen and continued to fight her."
A few more words of agreement floated into the arena. "That is Emer's fault, not Kayss's," Termillion said. "He gave himself up. Besides that, she clearly defeated him."
"She used a trick," Ummi said, and Termillion knew the words were pointed straight at him. "A tool other than her weapon. It is forbidden."
"What evidence do you have?" Master Gos asked her. "Did you see such a tool? Hear her discussing it beforehand? Did you witness it shine in her grip?"
Ummi stayed silent. Termillion's mouth almost twitched into a smile.
"How did she evade his strike?" Tillis, one of Ummi's friends, asked. "Emer is a skilled and hardened warrior. She should not have been able to avoid such a quick attack."
"Perhaps the girl gave us a preview of the third trial, and we did not even notice," Hester said.
"More likely she convinced Emer to let her defeat him," Ummi said. Termillion heard a loud rustle of clothing from where she stood. "The second trial is designed to be an even field."
"Three on one is not an even field," Termillion said. "The second trial is supposed to be combat, not an honor duel. If Kayss convinced Emer to go easy on her before the battle, then she earned an advantage. She defeated him."
"Or perhaps it was Kayss's tutor who convinced Emer?" Ummi said to the tutors. "To avoid the shame of having another of his students fail."
"I must again ask: Do you have any evidence, Ummi?" Master Gos said.
"No."
"Do any others wish to make points?" Gos asked. No one said anything. "Who believes Kayss Streetchild passed the second trial? Step forward."
Termillion, Hester, and all but Ummi and six others stepped forward. Still a clear majority. "Finally, the third tri-"
"She left the arena!" Ummi said, and Termillion could nearly feel her spite through the stones. "There is no way she could have escaped our notice had she stayed within!"
Termillion watched Master Gos bend forward. "Kayss, did you leave the arena?"
Kayss clasped her hands together in front of her and looked at the stones under her feet. "Yes, master."
"She knows she is caught! Dismiss her!"
"Allow me but a moment, Tutor Ummi." Gos cleared his throat. "Kayss, how did you do so?"
"I teleported, Master Gos."
Ummi's laughter was almost a shriek. "Teleported! Master Gos, you cannot allow such foolishness and fiction within our halls or in our organization! I move to dismiss Kayss Streetchild immediately, followed by Tutor Termillion, who has failed to produce a single qualified apprentice Umbris!"
"Kayss, would you be willing to demonstrate your ability again? In a clear manner--to all."
"Yes, Master Gos."
Gos stood up straight. "In the light, if you please."
Kayss nodded. She drew in a breath and let her body sink as the air rushed back out. She pulled her cowl low, and pulled the sides of the cloak tight, again turning her into a smooth cylinder, like a pawn on a chessboard.
She stood silent and still for a moment.
Her cloak wavered. An unfelt wind pulled it to the side, and then it was if it became two-dimensional and flat, and Termillion was looking at the razor-sharp edge. Then it was gone.
A surprised noise came from Master Gos's opening. Termillion looked and found his student standing next to the master. She looked at him and smiled.
"How, Kayss?" Gos asked. "How have you accomplished such a feat?"
"Trickery!" Ummi said. "She has a body double hiding just outside! Master Gos, surely you must see through this lackluster attempt!"
"If it is a body double, then where is the original?" Termillion said. "Who is it in the alcove with Master Gos?"
Master Gos twitched the hood off the girl's head. It was Kayss. "Kayss, can you explain?"
"Yes, Master Gos."
"From your spot in the arena, please."
A few moments later Kayss was in the arena. There was no flash of light, or puff of smoke. Termillion's heart leapt with pride. Incredible.
"My." Master Gos paused. "I've never seen anything like it. Please, Kayss, go on."
Kayss cleared her throat. "I didn't know if it would work, I confess. I practiced for long hours, usually when I was supposed to be sleeping. I found mention of the skill in a half-translated tome in a corner of the library. The book called it 'shadowwalking.' At first I laughed at it as a fiction-" Kayss glanced in Ummi's direction "-but I decided to try it anyway. I took the book back to my room-"
"Removing a book from the library is forbidden!"
Kayss didn't look in Ummi's direction. "I asked the scribe's permission. He determined there was nothing of notable value and allowed me to take it back with me. You can check with him; it was Peal."
"Tutor Ummi, please refrain from outbursts until Kayss's explanation is complete."
"The book laid out the steps for shadowwalking. They are...arduous. It involves meditation, and distancing oneself from all distractions. I had to sit silent for a week until I thought I was ready for the next part. I had to...envision where I wanted to be. I had to...I'm sorry Master Gos, I don't really know how to explain it. I had to believe the place was right in front of me, even when it could be across the city. I had to believe I was there already."
"Forgive me, Kayss, but it seems like a simple thing."
"True belief came difficult to me, master. It was a month of constant practice before I succeeded even in the slightest. In the dark of my room, sitting in one place on my bed, I imagined myself sitting on the other side."
She brought her eyes up. "And then I was."
"You will allow us to see the book you found?"
"Yes, Master Gos."
"Could you demonstrate one last time?"
Termillion leaned forward. So did many of the other tutors. Kayss pulled her hood up and closed her eyes. Termillion found himself looking at an empty spot on the ground. Kayss was on the other side of the arena.
"A final question, Kayss." Master Gos had his hand on his chin. "Where did you go during the final trial?"
Don't say it.
"I visited my tutor. It is far easier to shadowwalk to a place you can already see."
Kayss, no.
"It is not allowed for the tutor and the student to communicate during the trials!" Ummi shouted. "It is clear deceit!"
"He didn't say anything to me!" Kayss said. "He barely looked at me!"
"What could Termillion say at that point, Ummi?" Hester said. "It was the last trial, and Kayss had already demonstrated her ability! If Termillion said nothing, there was no deceit, not in the smallest form!"
"Termillion." Master Gos looked at him. "Were you aware, in any way, of what Kayss meant to do?"
"Not the slightest amount, master," Termillion said.
"Do you vow you did nothing to assist her during the three trials?"
"I do so vow, master."
"And of course you believe him!" Ummi shouted.
"Hester is right, Ummi," Gos said. "Even if he had said anything, it would have had no effect on Kayss's trials."
Termillion felt Ummi's hatred. No doubt she was baring her teeth at Master Gos.
"This has gone on long enough. Who believes Kayss Streetchild passed the third trial? Step forward."
Termillion stepped forward. So did Hester. More than half showed themselves. Just barely more than half. Ummi's tactics were more convincing than I expected. Termillion thought. But she's failed. Kayss has passed the trials, and Ummi has no leverage to oust me.
"Congratulations, Kayss Streetchild. You have graduated from trainee to apprentice." Master Gos's voice intruded on Termillion's thoughts. "You may return to your room now. In due time I will come to see the book you found. If it does as you have related, it will surely be a powerful tool for our organization."
"You will be going nowhere, old man."
Ummi's voice struck Termillion numb. It didn't come from Ummi's normal alcove, but from behind Master Gos. There was a gasp--the sound of wet separation--Gos' body fell into the arena.
Ummi moved into the light, standing in the master's alcove. Her dagger dripped. "Too long has frailty encroached on the Umbris while we stagnate under an idiot's rule! There is a new master now! Anybody who does not submit to my rule will be removed!"
I doubt I'll have a choice in the matter. Termillion's hand went to his knife, then he caught sight of Kayss, still standing in the arena. She was in a crouch, arms out for balance. Just stay silent, Kayss.
"This is wrong!" Kayss shouted, and Termillion gritted his teeth.
At first he thought the outburst had escaped notice, then Ummi landed on her feet in the arena, stalking forward, red dagger shining in the torchlight.
Ummi started to say something, but Termillion landed in the arena before she could get the thought out. The woman turned toward him.
"So you as well," she said. "I get to kill both cheats at once."
Termillion dove his hand into a pocket of his cloak and clutched a folded piece of paper between two fingers. He flung it at Ummi, and as it closed toward her it began to glow. Termillion pulled his hood low as the rune burst into light, and he ran toward Kayss. He swept her up in one arm and grabbed another of his rune-missiles with the other hand, throwing it at the exit of the arena. It blasted the door off the hinges, but before he could slip through it, three of Ummi's conspirators appeared in front of him.
"Termillion!" he heard Hester shout behind him. He heard the sound of Ummi falling to the ground. "Get her out of here!"
A few more bodies landed in the arena, and they began to fight. The coup had the element of surprise, but they lacked the numbers, especially with three of them against Termillion.
"A fourth trial, Kayss," he said to his student. "Get out alive." He dropped her on her feet, and began to bring out rune-missiles, slapping them on the ground. "Come on, traitors. It's my second trial all over again. Three to one." They slid their feet forward, eyes stuck on the rune-missiles.
Termillion jumped over them and grabbed the first fighter's cloak, twisting and throwing him to the ground. When he tried to rise, his hand touched one of the runes, and he found the hand frozen to the ground, encased in ice. The second fighter swung her sword, and Termillion dodged backward, slinging a knife before she could recover. She caught it in the throat and collapsed in blood.
The last swung at Kayss. Termillion's student floated to the side, then struck back. Termillion saw her hesitate, still unwilling to take a life, and was at her side the next instant, plunging another knife through the assailant's temple. "Come!"
They ran for the arena exit, passing into the tunnel's shadow. He could hear the conflict in front of them, blades ringing together and hard breath.
How big is Ummi's faction? Can we beat them with sheer numbers alone? He looked behind and saw Hester blocking the way, Ummi and a few others trying to get past. Do I take Kayss somewhere safe? Join the battle as soon as possible? Ummi. She is the leader, she must be defeated. Termillion halted, and Kayss looked back at him with surprise. "Get to safety."
The girl nodded, then disappeared into the shadow. Termillion rounded toward Ummi and Hester, drawing another knife. "Hester!"
The woman sprang to the side as the knife sliced toward Ummi, who deflected it. Termillion emerged next to Hester, and he pressed forward against Ummi, bringing out another rune-missile. "You'll pay."
"Silence, fool," Ummi said, rushing at him. He danced backward and whipped the missile forward, but Ummi ducked under it. It exploded into capsaicin gas when it was past her head, and she smirked. "I know your tired tricks. You know what they say about old dogs."
"I know what they say about bitches," Termillion said, slapping a rune on the ground between them. A pillar of dense earth thrust out and struck Ummi in the chest. She flew backward and collapsed, screaming. She's broken a rib. He strode forward, readying a rune-missile to put her to sleep. She made a motion with her left hand.
A white-hot sensation drove into the back of his leg, and he sank to his knees, crying out. He pushed himself away and spun, finding Hester holding the dagger.
Her face told him it had been the plan all along. It told him she had no choice. It told him it hurt her nearly as much as it hurt him.
Wheezing laughter came from Ummi, which quickly changed to groans. Termillion tried to move away, but the shock from his injury wore off, and agony roared in to replace it. He grabbed the wound and felt the wave of pain wash over him.
"I tried, Termillion," Hester said. The dagger dropped out of her hand. She tore off her cloak and ripped her shirt open, showing a flowing design of glowing blue marks down her shoulder. "She kidnapped me. Drilled these into me. Unless I do as she says..." Her eyes fell. "I'm sorry. I did everything I could to warn you."
Ummi coughed and laughed. The sound was strained. "Kill him, puppet." She had an arm around her chest and was staring at the ceiling, lying next to Master Gos' body. "Stab him through the heart."
Hester gritted her teeth. Her feet scraped forward over the stones, straining. She bent down to take up her dagger again. "I can't stop, Termillion! You have to escape!"
"Don't let him escape!" Ummi shouted through the pain. "Destroy him!"
Termillion put his weight on his good leg, and rose. He dragged out a rune-missile and threw it at Hester. It cut across the arena toward her, and she held herself still until it latched onto her. Her muscles went weak, and she collapsed to the ground, limp. She started screaming.
"See what pain you put her through, Termillion!" Ummi shouted. She was up on one knee. "She can't follow my orders so the sigils burn her bones! If she doesn't do as I say, eventually she will die!" With one arm across her chest, she squeezed her other hand into a fist. "Rise, Hester! Kill him!"
One of Hester's hands landed flat against the floor and tried to push. Termillion saw her weak muscles twitch. Hester pulled her head up to look at him. It looked like she was asleep, her mouth slack and eyes hanging closed. "Run Termillion!" She shifted her legs across the ground under her. "I'm trying to hold it off as long as I can but...the pain is too great!"
The door to the arena opened and four Umbris ran in. Termillion recognized them as enemies. He shuffled backward, dragging his wounded leg. Hester found her feet, swaying as she stood.
"Hester!" Ummi clenched the fist harder. "Kill him!"
Hester cried out, wrapping her torso in her arms. Blood seeped through her clothes, and tears appeared in her eyes. She held the dagger out straight and walked forward, shutting her eyes as she got closer to Termillion. He moved away. Ummi's warriors closed the circle, pushing him against the wall of the arena. With his back against the cool stones, his hand dove into a pocket of his cloak, coming out with two missiles. He threw one of them at Hester and covered his eyes. The flash blinded all of them. He flicked the second missile at one of the warriors, and when it hit his clothes he jerked, electrocuted.
His hurt leg gave out and he slumped against the wall. He didn't have many missiles left, and was out of knives. He was no melee fighter, but he still had three good limbs.
Kayss walked forward past him. He stared at her--she had torn herself free from the shadows, and now stood as a barrier between him and death. "No!"
"Kill her!" Ummi shouted. "Kill them both!"
"Kayss, get away!" Termillion said. "Get help!"
"I am help!" she said. She ran to him and plunged a hand into his cloak, coming up with one of his missiles. She threw it at her feet and stomped on it. Dark smoke exploded around them, and Kayss hauled Termillion to the side. "Give me a boost!" she said into his ear. He linked his hands together and felt a boot enter it, launching itself up. "Your hand!" he heard above him.
He raised his hand and his student grabbed it, yanking him up. Kayss pulled him into one of the tutor alcoves around the arena. "Don't let them escape!" Ummi shouted. "Get up there!"
"You're stronger than you look," Termillion said, on his hands and knees.
"I'd have to be to get through your training," Kayss said. "Give me your arm."
She helped him up, supporting his injured side, and he limped into the dark hall beyond the alcoves. "Ummi's faction is bigger than I thought," he said. "We'll be in danger unless we get into the city."
"Could she have used those sigils on others?" Kayss said.
"Of course. Any of them. Some might know how to remove them, but not many. This way." He gestured down a hall, and Kayss carried him on. "There are plenty of ways to get out of here. If only I could walk." They heard voices and boots behind them.
"They'll be able to see us no matter what we do," Kayss said, keeping her voice low. "We can't hide from them."
"You can stop them," Termillion said. The pain was growing, and his breath caught in his throat. "Catch them off-guard."
"I...I don't know if I can shadowwalk right now. I have to be at ease."
"You did it before, when you pulled me out of the arena."
"What? No! I just dropped down in front of you from the alcove above us!"
Termillion's mind cycled through ideas. "Set me down against that wall," he told her. She settled him between a statue and a candelabra set in the wall. "Into the shadows--do everything you can to keep quiet. Kayss--try to make yourself at ease."
She nodded and drew in a breath, then wrapped her cloak around her and scampered away. Termillion looked to his right and saw two cloaks approaching.
"Where's the girl?" One of them asked when they got close. They had swords pointed at him from a distance, standing shoulder-to-shoulder in the hallway.
Termillion grinned and looked between them.
They spun, swords ready, and found no one. They heard Termillion laugh and spun again, coming right up to him. One of them put the tip of his blade under Termillion's chin. "Traitor," he said. "I'll enjoy watching Ummi flay you."
"Me?" Termillion chuckled. "I'm the traitor? Ummi kills Master Gos and you think I'm the one who's turned his coat?"
"Silence!" the other shouted. "Fight us if you're going to fight us!"
Termillion heard a sickening crunch and he fell. The other spun. Kayss knocked the weapon out of his hand, and slammed her foot into his shin, and brought her fist under his chin. He slumped against the wall next to Termillion.
"How come they didn't see me?" Kayss said, helping Termillion to his feet.
"They figured you had gone when I tried to trick them. It convinced them I was just stalling to help you escape." The assailant groaned and put a hand to his head. Termillion leaned on Kayss and cracked him with his boot. The assailant slumped over, a dark mass on the ground. "To the exit."
A few minutes later Termillion pushed a door open, showing them the city. The sun was near the horizon, sinking toward night, and the endless buildings around them spread lengthy shadows across the uneven cobblestones. They were on a balcony a few floors up, and Kayss shut the door as quietly as she could. She saw Termillion gripping the wound on his leg. "How do we get down?"
"You don't need to worry about me," he said. "I've been an Umbris longer than you've been alive. I could get down even if both of my legs were cut at the knee." He leaned against the railing. "But the pain is great. I need to see a doctor."
"Will any of the Umbris locations be safe?"
Termillion glanced at her. "No. We have to assume they'll either be on Ummi's side, or in danger of attack. We'll have to go to someone who is unaffiliated." Termillion hoisted himself onto the railing. "I have a friend among the Whites. We can trust him."
"How far is it?"
"Far enough." Termillion spun and dropped, grabbing the railing. He began to descend the stone wall, injured leg dangling under him. Kayss followed, moving faster than him. She reached the ground first and huddled in a shadow until he reached the street. She supported him, and they kept to the alleys as they wound toward Termillion's friend in the Whites.
The hospital was one of the bigger buildings in the city, and busy with workers and patients. Kayss hauled Termillion into the lobby, tracking blood, and Termillion asked for Mesthum once he caught his breath.
"Termillion!" Mesthum, an older man with small spectacles, rushed to his side, white robes flapping. "Here, quickly, lie down." Mesthum helped Kayss bring Termillion into an empty room and lay him on an examination table, where he striped Termillion until he could get to the wound. The window was open, and they could see the council tower, the clock tower, and the masts of ships at the docks. "This is because of that ruckus in the Umbris training grounds, isn't it?" The doctor glanced at Kayss, who crouched in the darkest corner of the room. "Who might you be, young lady?"
"My trainee, Kayss," Termillion said, gritting his teeth as Mesthum inspected the wound. "Ummi planned to deny her as a ploy to gain power, but Kayss succeeded, beyond even my wildest hopes."
"And so Ummi had to make a more violent takeover," Mesthum said. "A bad wound. I'll need to get material for stitches."
"How did you know about the takeover?" Kayss asked.
"Doesn't take a wizard. I'm happy to say the Umbris trust me, so I've heard plenty of gossip. As soon as I heard about a disturbance at the training grounds I feared the worst. Seems I was right." Mesthum stepped away from the table. "I'll be back soon. I'm afraid I'm quite busy at the moment...I have a few people I must talk to. If you'd request a different doctor..."
"I don't trust anyone else, Mesthum," Termillion said.
"...It must be difficult to trust anyone after what you just went through."
Mesthum left the door open a crack behind him; Kayss and Termillion heard him walk away. Kayss rushed to the table and helped Termillion rise. "Fetch bandages so I can at least wrap the wound," Termillion said. "Ummi must have carved her sigils on him, too. We won't have much time. They're probably already on the streets looking for us." Kayss opened a few cabinets, finding a roll of white gauze and handing it to him. "He's right. We won't be able to trust anyone."
"So what do we do?"
Termillion paused, roll of gauze partially covering the still-bleeding wound. "There's a place I have prepared for situations like this. I haven't been there in a few years, but I doubt anyone's found it."
"Why not?"
"It's in a noisy part of town."
"Where? The market? The concert hall?"
The clock tower's peals split the air, marking sundown. Termillion looked out the window at it. "Guess."
"Termillion," Kayss said. "Why wouldn't Ummi just put her sigils on you if you were the whole reason for wanting to fail me?"
"Well, she'd never be able to get to me," Termillion said. They limped up a hill toward the clock tower. Each step spread pain through him. "I wouldn't be surprised if it was also because she wanted to cause me as much pain as possible. Make my friends betray me, hurt me, kill me."
"Kill me?" Kayss asked.
"Don't say such things," Termillion said. "I'd go mad." He panted, wound stiffening.
"We're nearly there."
The clock tower was one of the city's tallest structures, built at the top of a hill and dwarfing the buildings around it. Its eight sides each had a clock face; a glorious design of gears and pendulums controlled them all simultaneously. Massive bells hung at the very top, ready to signal sunrise, sunset, and midday, as well as special occasions such as holidays, important notices, or an army on the horizon. Kayss let Termillion rest on a bench underneath it, the black stone already dark in the twilight.
"I suppose we won't be able to just go in the front door?" she asked. Termillion shook his head. He looked around for listeners, then back at her.
"We'll need to climb a little bit more. You have lock picks?" She shook her head. He sighed. "What do you have?"
"Just the things I was allowed to bring to the trials," she said. "Weapons, stealth gear, clothes."
"Rope?"
From one of her pockets she drew out a thin thread. She wrapped one end into a loop, and threw it at the decorative post Termillion indicated, on the corner of a balcony. The loop fell over the top of the post, and Kayss pulled the line tight. "You go first," Termillion said, "so you can help me up." She nodded and started scrambling up the thread, strong enough to support ten of her and not tear. After a few minutes she pulled herself over the balcony's railing. Termillion checked the road--most people had gone to their peaceful homes, sat at their tables with their families, to enjoy a hot meal and a restful night. Termillion thought about such a life as he used his tired arms to pull himself toward Kayss.
She grabbed his hand and helped pull him onto the balcony. The door next to them was locked, and the windows in the wall showed a dark room. "Everybody will have gone home, except for the night watchman and a steward," Termillion said, rubbing his hands. "Once we're inside we won't have to worry about anyone seeing us. Even so, I'm friends with some of the workers."
Kayss glanced at him, and he nodded. "I know. We can't trust them. Don't worry, in a dark place like this, they'll never even know we've been inside."
"Where's your safe room?"
"At the top." Termillion reached into a pocket and pulled out two metal rods. "Keep a look out for me."
A minute later the door clicked, and Termillion pushed it open. It swung into a dark corner room, and as soon as they entered they heard the shift and rumble of heavy metal sliding against itself. Termillion gestured down one of the hallways, and they crept through darkness, like sheets of dark cloth blowing across a field, the stars shining over heavy clouds. With the clockwork ringing around them, they could have run down the halls, making all the noise they pleased, and wouldn't have even heard themselves.
The main chamber of the clock faces was a hundred feet tall, thronged with pistons pumping, gears rotating with satisfying regularity, and time-keeping hands falling or rising no matter where they looked. Termillion pointed at a wall on the far side, past a deadly obstacle course of machinery, and Kayss used her Umbris eyes to detect one section of the wall different from the stones around it.
"How are you going to get through this-" Kayss looked at the gears, pistons, pendulums, and other unguarded slabs of metal "-with your injured leg?"
"What do you mean...ah. It's quite simple." He stood up and stretched his wounded leg a few times, moving the muscle carefully, then started walking toward the machinery. Kayss gasped and tried to make herself turn away.
A piston pounding up and down in his path halted for a moment as he went under it. The teeth of a huge gear--ten times his height--became a man-sized opening just as he passed through it. Termillion walked undaunted through the metal chaos until he reached the back wall. He waved Kayss forward.
She swallowed and took a look at the clock parts around her. If she concentrated, she could perceive sections, segments of a safe path, but she had nothing close to an idea how to get through unscathed. She looked past it all at Termillion, who was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. He looked tired. She shouldn't waste time.
She pulled her hood low over her face, and teased the edges of her cloak shut. The thunderous sounds of the clock eased down until it was a steady, dull pound, like the surf at morning--the crickets at night.
She looked up and found Termillion next to her. He noticed her the next moment, and jumped. She grinned, and a familiar feeling of surprising her tutor flooded her.
"Well, I suppose that's one way to do it," he said. "I hate Ummi for taking away your time of glory. You should be famous for that, even now." He pushed off from the wall and stuck a finger into a small gap in the mortar. A segment of stones swung open, revealing a pitch-black opening. Termillion squeezed inside, and Kayss followed. Her Umbris eyes revealed a room about ten feet by forty feet, with an old mattress, and piles of supplies. Termillion went to one and found a small jar. "I'll need your help in a moment. Pull the door closed."
"How did you manage this?" Kayss asked. Termillion lit a candle standing in a bronze stick, and a small flame spread orange light.
"Time. Help. A paranoid mind. Ummi and I have always been at odds, and I knew it was a good idea to have somewhere I could hide if things got too hot in the city. I used to be a city watcher...I've only been a tutor for ten years."
"Am I really your first successful trainee?"
"You are." Termillion sat and sighed, finally taking the weight off his leg. "No matter what Ummi says." He unscrewed the lid of the jar he held, and Kayss recoiled at the smell. "It's foul stuff, but it's what I need. I ask your assistance."
Kayss nodded and stepped closer. Termillion handed the jar to her, as well as a small paintbrush. "Just cover the wound."
He tore apart his leggings, allowing her access, and she began to untie the bandages. A red diamond had grown on the top level, and it got bigger as she unwrapped the white cloth. Kayss stirred the foul, green-gray substance, and dabbed a small amount on a corner of the wound. Termillion sucked in breath but said nothing.
"Have you ever had to hide here before?" Kayss asked, slowly adding more of the ointment.
Termillion took a moment to respond. "Hide? No. But I have used it for a few other reasons."
"Like what?"
"Oh..." Termillion waved his hand. "This and that."
"You brought a woman here, didn't you?"
"Kayss!" Termillion huffed. "A gentleman shouldn't tell."
"That tells me enough."
Termillion set his jaws against the ointment's smell, and the searing sensation it made when it touched the stab wound. He felt Kayss apply it, portion by portion.
"What was she like?"
"Just focus on the ointment, please."
"I am. You are too, and it's hurting you. Think about a good memory. Something to take your mind away from here, now." Termillion said nothing. "I'm not a child. I'm seventeen. You aren't going to tell me anything I don't know."
Termillion winced. "All right! All right. I don't want to hear any more." He shivered. Kayss chuckled to herself. "It was...almost twenty years ago, I think. Long before I became a tutor. I was still a city watcher. Young and strong and full of myself. I could slip inside a guarded mansion without a sound, leave a note on the chest of the sleeping lord inside, and escape again. I did, more than once. A fine way to send a message and build a little bit of a name for yourself."
He paused for a moment. "She was a wonderful woman-"
"How did you meet?"
Termillion grimaced. "Nothing so romantic as you might be expecting. I was crouched on a roof one night, and saw her working late in the yard of her father's metallurgy shop, putting tools away. She made her way to the pub afterward, and I jumped from roof to roof, trailing her."
"She must have been pretty." Termillion jumped when Kayss touched the wound with a harsh motion. "Sorry."
Termillion let a breath whistle out. "I think she was. I slipped to the ground and entered the pub. It's impossible not to look like an Umbris, especially at night, but no reason you can't have a drink. She was with her friends, and I spent most of an hour watching her dance. I should have been making sure the streets were safe, but instead I was fawning over a girl."
"What did she look like?"
"Raggedy, shoulder-length hair. Strong hands and arms. A fine, curving jaw." Termillion sighed. "The kind of eyes you can find in a dark room. They were bright. I introduced myself to her. She wanted me to dance with her. Hah, how would I have looked, dancing with an Umbris' outfit on?
"Foolish."
Kayss slowly spread the ointment. "What was her name?"
"She...told me it was Kressa."
"But it wasn't her real name."
"I don't believe so, no." Termillion paused. "She's dead, now. She never even got married. Killed just a few years later, in the plague riots."
Kayss frowned but continued painting his wound. "I'm almost done."
Termillion nodded. "We met a few more times, each night spending more time together. One night she rode my back as I took her to the top of the old hangman's turret. She couldn't look down. She thought we were going to fall."
"You climbed to the top of hangman's turret with someone on your back?"
Termillion nodded. "Young, strong, and full of myself, remember?" He sighed. "Eventually I took her here. Somewhere we could be alone--didn't have to worry about being interrupted. I put a bandana over her eyes and led her by the hand through the gears. She was terrified."
"A little bit like me, I guess," Kayss said. "There. Covered and smooth."
"Thank you." Termillion sat up. "A little bit like you, I suppose. To be fair, who wouldn't be hesitant to forge through that chaos?" He jerked his head toward the wall separating them from the clock's workings. "You got through it without my help, though."
"I did." Kayss replaced the lid on the ointment as Termillion wrapped bandages around his leg again.
"Get some rest," he said, pulling himself up from the mattress "We'll figure out what to do in the morning. You can have the mattress."
"I can, but I won't. I'm not the one who got stabbed today."
"I don't need it. I've slept in worse places than a stone floor."
"But I'm...what was it? Young, strong, and full of myself." She grinned at him. "You aren't my tutor anymore. I don't have to do what you say."
Termillion frowned at her, but sat back down on the mattress. He threw a blanket at her. "It gets cold up here." He showed her his back and blew out the candle. Kayss fluffed the blanket into a nest she could use to get comfortable. In a few minutes she heard slow, rhythmic breathing from the mattress, just audible over the constant spin and clank coming from the other side of the brick wall.
She rested her head against the cold stones behind her and let her eyes slip closed. The clock grinding away was the perfect sound to help her relax herself, even if she thought she wouldn't be able to fall asleep. She was wrong.
Her heart seized and her eyes flattened open. She shifted until she could look at Termillion, who held a finger against his lips. His eyes were on the camouflaged brick door. He shifted, and the stiffness in his leg made the motion slow. Kayss concentrated, filtering out the clock tower's machinery from her hearing. It faded from a roar to nothing louder than a quiet library, the small clock on the wall ticking each second away.
"You're lying to me! Again! How many more sigils do I have to carve into your skin, you worthless whore!"
Kayss recognized the voice, but when Termillion heard it his hands crept into fists. The next voice turned his entire body rigid. It was slow, gasping, like a person stuck in an iron maiden.
"Please...they're here. I know they're here." Termillion began writing runes on pieces of paper from his cloak as the voice continued. "He's told me about this place, I swear. He told me there was a false door in one of the walls."
"You two--start looking. You, get them to shut this down. Tell them it's official Umbris business. Notify the soldiers."
Kayss slipped her dagger free, careful to make as little noise as possible. Termillion folded the pieces of paper into missiles. He then grabbed a piece of scrap and wrote on it with a light hand, handing it to Kayss when he finished. We escape before they turn the clock off. It's advantageous. Don't fight, just go to the exits. Ready? Kayss nodded and let the paper flutter to the floor.
The tortured voice said "I heard something."
"Where? Tell me!"
"From over there."
"Liar!" They heard a stifled scream. "If you heard it then you go first!"
"You know," the tortured voice said. "You know I can't lie to you."
There was a pause. "You. Investigate that wall."
"But ma'am-" A third voice.
"Don't argue."
"...Yes ma'am."
Termillion dug a few knives out of the supplies in the room and slipped them into holsters inside his cloak. He crept to the door, easing his leg back and forth. He saw Kayss' look and waved it away. She joined him on the other side of the door. Termillion motioned he would open the door, then exit, and she would follow. Kayss pulled the hood low over her face and grinned.
Termillion shoved the door and bolted out. Pre-dawn light was coming through the frosted glass of the eight clock faces, revealing four people. Two of them were Umbris foot soldiers, working their way through the madness of the machinery. A third was Ummi, face carved into a scowl.
The last was Hester, but as Termillion had never seen her. Sigils, glowing blue, lay half-hidden on her skin. Dry, cracked blood turned her into a patchwork creature, and her motions were robotic and halting. Despite the fact they seemed to cause her pain, she seemed unable to cease.
"There they are!" Ummi shouted, pointing, as Termillion dashed through a brief open space. She looked at Hester and made a motion with her hand. "Kill him!"
Hester, unable to deny the command, darted forward. A cry split from between her lips, and her limbs pumped forward, darting around the rods controlling the clock. She made right for Termillion, jumping past metal parts without slowing.
Termillion let a ballast weight sink down in front of him, and he grabbed hold as it rose again. He climbed on top as it swayed, knocking into one of the gears, disturbing its timekeeping. Now more than twenty feet over Hester, Termillion jumped ahead, leg giving off a pang. He landed on one of the clockwork support beams, and walked along it, toward the stairs.
With Hester looking for a way up, Kayss left the safe room, vaulting over a rotating axle and sliding under another. Her cloak flapped behind her as she ran, right past Hester; the woman barely noticed.
"Get her!" Ummi shouted at the two foot soldiers next to her, and they pulled out weapons. Ummi positioned herself in front of the doorway leading to the stairs. "Hester! Don't delay!"
"I can't stop, Termillion!" Hester shouted. "I don't have any agency anymore! She controls every part of me! Termillion, please! Kill me!"
Termillion, crouched in a shadow above where Ummi stood, felt his stomach churning. He looked at Hester, who was scanning the machinery around her, and saw the back of her head had been shaved. Glowing sigils covered every inch of visible scalp. His vision moved to Kayss, who was moving toward the staircase, dagger in hand. He smiled.
Kayss jumped up in front of one of the soldiers, then sank under his attack. She jammed her dagger into his foot and hit his other leg out from under him, then rolled to her feet in front of the second. He swung down into empty air and felt her dagger pierce his throat. There was a cry and surge of blood as his body fell. Kayss was left facing Ummi with Hester on the other side of the clock's guts. Termillion landed next to his student, firing a rune-missile at the woman. It hit her in the chest, then fell to the ground with no effect.
"Old dogs, Termillion!" Ummi said. "My sigils do more than control!" She stretched her arms, displaying none of the injury Termillion had given her the day before. "They guard, and heal, and destroy!" She swung her sword at Kayss who dove out of the way. "Hester, to me!" She squeezed her left hand into a fist, and Termillion heard Hester gasp in pain. "Join me in their destruction!"
Termillion threw a dagger, Kayss rushed to the woman's side and attacked; Ummi moved aside to let the dagger past and whipped her sword in Kayss' path, the edge of the blade an inch from Kayss' face. Hester was moving toward Kayss, who had her back turned, Termillion intercepted her, Ummi swung at Kayss again, Kayss moved to the side and thrust forward with her dagger.
Termillion planted himself in front of Hester, who drew a sword from her belt. She lurched forward, swinging her sword with more speed than he anticipated, and he just barely got himself out of the way before it dug into the stones where he had been standing. He rose to his feet and flung a rune-missile at her, striking her in the chest. Like with Ummi, it dropped to the ground. "You need to flee, Termillion!" Hester shouted. "I can't stop!"
"What can I do?" Termillion said, backing away from Hester, who kept advancing. "Is there a weakness?"
"I can't think straight!" she said. "If I even think about denying her I feel pain all the way to my heart!" The woman's face looked like a statue trying to weep. "Kill me, Termillion! If you escape she'll just carve more into me! She's going to make me into a monster!"
"I'm not going to kill you!"
Kayss dove under Ummi's sword, and the woman roared. "Stay still, you little bitch!"
"Make me!" Kayss grabbed a gear's tooth and rode it up, kicking away before it meshed with another and crushed her hand, soaring over Ummi and rolling to her feet with the stairs behind her. "Termillion!" she shouted, then turned to the stairs and started to descend.
The door at the other end opened and revealed almost half a dozen Umbris foot soldiers. Kayss stood staring at them, and when they caught sight of her they skidded to a halt, feet on the bottom step.
Kayss heard Ummi running up behind her, and let her eyes slip closed. When she opened them she saw Ummi nearly tumbling down the stairs. "Where did she go?" Ummi spun until she found Kayss standing behind her. "Get that look off your face or I'll take it off!"
Kayss grinned and pulled her hood low. "Make me."
Ummi shrieked and ran up, swinging her sword at the motionless girl. To her surprise, she missed, finding Kayss just a touch to the right of where she swung. She swung again, missing once more. A chuckle came from behind Kayss' hood, and Ummi's face curled into a mask of rage. She swung three times, and each time her sword failed to bite into Kayss.
Termillion watched the Umbris soldiers flood into the room. The stairs were out of reach. There was no other way down, and now their capture was all but assured.
He turned away from Hester and dodged over a gear spinning in a gap in the floor. Ummi had all her attention on his student, and he rushed forward, removing a dagger from his cloak. Kayss saw him approaching, and her eyes widened. Ummi spun, looking toward him, and was barely able to dash out of the way of his thrust. He flipped the knife's point into his fingers and threw it, hoping to pierce Ummi's black heart.
She twirled away and the knife struck the stone wall behind her, clattering to the ground. She found Kayss waiting when she finished her evasion, her dagger's point already nearly in the woman's stomach.
Ummi grabbed her wrist and squeezed. Immense heat, like a branding iron, erupted on Kayss' skin, and she screamed, trying to pull out of the grasp. Her weapon fell from her hand, and the pain drove her to her knees. Ummi laughed. "Now die!"
A body collided with her, moments before she would have plunged her sword into Kayss' skull. Ummi fell and rolled to her feet, finding Hester standing between her and Kayss. Ummi scowled and made a motion with her left hand.
Hester screamed, and blood erupted from every inch of skin emblazoned with a sigil. She collapsed, staring with unblinking eyes at the pool growing under her.
Termillion grabbed Kayss and set her on her feet. He looked at Hester's body, then at Ummi.
"She isn't dead, fool," Ummi said, getting up. "But when she wakes up I'll make her wish she was. I will cover every inch of her body with sigils. She'll be my puppet, and she will hunt you until she brings you to me with your hands cut off and your feet bound together." Ummi stood tall, every ounce of fury pointed at Termillion. "And then I'll kill her." She looked at the Umbris foot soldiers behind her. "Get them."
"What do we do?" Kayss asked. She and Termillion backed away. The tower's machinery whirled behind them.
Termillion looked at the clock's east face. The dawn was growing. He glanced up, at the multitude of gears, support beams, and engines. The ballast he had used to rise over Hester was still swinging. His eyes bounced from one section of the machinery to another. "We go up." He looked forward, at the approaching Umbris soldiers. "Now."
Without waiting for Kayss, he jumped on top of a gear and then bounced to a horizontal beam, finding Kayss already standing on it. She grinned at him.
"Keep your head small or it will be taken off," Termillion said. "Keep moving."
"After them!" Ummi shouted. "If you let them get away Hester will look on you with pity!"
Kayss shadowwalked to another safe rafter as Termillion jumped away from the pursuing Umbris. One of them was too fast, and got in front of his path. The other three who had chased them up surrounded him with weapons drawn. One of them felt a weapon enter from his back, and he fell off the rafter, trailing blood, Kayss standing behind him. Termillion used the new avenue to dash up high, bypassing the most hectic section of the machinery. Kayss followed, swinging on a rafter to land next to him. "You have a plan?"
Termillion pointed at the immense bells hanging at the very top of the room. "We'll bring those down and clear the way. In the confusion we escape."
"And destroy the clock tower in the process."
"I'm open to other suggestions."
Kayss looked behind her, at the three Umbris soldiers scaling the gears and pistons. She and Termillion were hungry, Termillion still had a wounded leg, and Kayss was barely an adult.
Termillion looked at her but didn't find her. He heard her voice from above, thirty feet over his head. "Last one to the top swims the sewers!" He sighed and clawed his way up toward the huge bells, chasing his shadow-quick student. With his stiff, tired leg he wasn't able to widen the distance between himself and the Umbris soldiers, and near the top of the room he looked back and found them closer. The dark-clothed figures looked silly in the pink dawn light, but their weapons were still sharp.
One of them swiped at him, cutting a corner out of his cloak, and he flipped to a supporting beam of the huge bells. He spun a knife in the man's direction but watched it sail under his legs as the man climbed onto the rafters.
"Termillion!" Kayss shouted, watching the other two soldiers climb up.
"Just get in place!" Termillion said. He shot a hand into his cloak and pulled out a rune-missile as Kayss brought herself higher, above the huge curve of the bells. She looked around for the proper cord to cut, and found they were instead thick iron chains. She went to one of them, creeping along the metal girders at the very top of the room until she reached one far above Ummi. She looked down at Termillion, who had thrown the rune-missile and missed, and then stumbled to a knee thanks to his injured leg.
She returned her eyes to the bell and searched for something she could cut. It was all metal--old, wrought, as thick as her wrist and ten times as tough. She jammed her dagger into a small opening between the chain and the bell and tried to pry it open. Her arms strained, and sweat beaded all over her as she heard the sounds of battle below her.
She looked past the bell at Termillion, but something else caught her eye. There was a great deal of light coming through the east clock face, and then a very bright yellow light, making her turn away. Her eyes widened. "Uh oh."
The bells under her climbed up, and the first awakening peals blew all other sound away. More bells added their ear-shattering voices, and even Kayss' scream became nothing at all as soon as it left her mouth. With one eye shut against the pain she grabbed the hilt of her dagger and wrenched it against the metal. She felt something snap, and looked to see the swinging bell falling toward Termillion. She shut the other eye and prayed he would see it.
He did, but there was no way to avoid it. It struck a number of girders on the way down, knocking them out of place, and then hit the rafter he and the other combatants stood on, rolling toward them. All three of the Umbris turned and dove off the rafter, latching onto other parts of the clock, which were quickly knocked out of their places. The entire room began to fall to pieces. The bell, like an immense boulder, rolled toward Termillion. His injured leg pointed out how foolish it would be to jump, and he spun, looking directly at the frosted glass of the clock's north face.
He glanced toward where Kayss had been but didn't see her. He cried out--some in pain, some in frustration--and charged the clock's face, firing the last rune-missile he had. As soon as it hit the glass a spiderweb of cracks spread from the point of impact. An instant later the glass fell to pieces and he dove through, the bell just behind him, smashing through the clock's hands.
He was hundreds of feet above the next-highest building, listening to the clock tear itself to pieces behind him, dawn's light blinding him, gravity sucking him down, and as he fell he rotated to see the bell falling toward him.
Then Kayss appeared next to him and grabbed his cloak.
The next thing he knew, he had struck a hard surface and was rolling. He'd landed on his shoulder, and as he skidded new pain bloomed all over his body. Eventually he stopped moving, lying on his back and staring at the colors of the new day's sky. He listened to destruction, a choir of metals singing their last song as the clock tower took itself to the ground. The surface he was on vibrated, and despite his pain he brought his head up. He felt dizzy.
He and Kayss were on a roof, not far from the clock tower which, he was surprised to see, still stood. More accurately, the tower still stood, but there was little clock remaining inside it. The north clock face wasn't the only one destroyed, and he could have seen straight through, had he been at the right level.
Kayss was on her stomach, unresponsive. He crawled to her, too aware of his injuries, and felt for a pulse. It was there, and strong. She groaned and shifted when she felt him. A moment later Termillion realized she was laughing. "I did it."
"Are you alright?"
"I did it."
"Did what?"
Kayss pushed herself up, slowly, gasping. Her hand went to her right arm. "I brought you with me. You shadowwalked with me."
Termillion looked far above where they were, at the face the bell had chased him through. They couldn't have survived the fall from such a height. "How?"
Kayss brought her knees under her and coughed, moving slowly. "I don't know. All that noise...I could barely see. But...I wasn't going to let you fall."
"Thank you, Kayss."
"I..." Kayss sat. "We survived."
"We need to keep moving."
"I know." She looked around. "Where?" She looked at him and grinned. "I can take us anywhere. We can go to the top of Hangman's tower. You won't even have to carry me."
"I need to sit and rest for a bit," Termillion said, letting himself down next to his student. "I'm not built for..." he looked up at the empty tower. He imagined the street around the building was littered with debris. He hoped no innocent people had gotten hurt. "I'm an old man, Kayss. I'm just supposed to be a teacher. I shouldn't be doing all this."
"It's over now," Kayss said, looking at the sky. "You can go back to teaching."
"Not yet, he can't."
Termillion found his feet immediately. His entire body lit up with pain, and he watched a hand grab the lip of the building's roof. Ummi pulled herself up, and a moment later Hester followed. Both women looked battered and beaten--Hester more so. Ummi had blood running down her face, and seemed to be moving her legs slowly, but Hester looked like little more than a sack of bones. He skin and clothing was torn, and Termillion saw hundreds of overlapping sigils, still glowing blue, urging her on. She could have been a sleepwalker. Bruises and bleeding wounds were everywhere.
"I told you, Termillion," Ummi said. She held her sword in her right hand, and raised it to point at him. Her eyes burned. "My sigils do more then control. They defend. They heal."
She shuffled forward. "I'm going to tie that little whore of yours down and cover her in sigils. I'm going to break her mind up and gobble every little piece down! I'm going to make her an empty husk...but first I'm going to kill you!"
She rushed at him, and his body failed. He couldn't move fast enough to get out of the way. The sword came in toward him, then Ummi stopped. Something had blocked her.
Kayss held on to the hilt of the sword, gripping hard, as her blood dripped off the blade. Termillion saw it poking out her back, wet and red.
Ummi shook her off and turned again to Termillion, who had found his strength. He appeared alongside her and tore the sword from her hand, then grabbed the fingers of her left hand. The sword whistled down and cut through her left wrist, and Termillion was left holding the hand of the woman who had killed Kayss.
The sigils on Hester's skin went out, turning black, and she collapsed, painless for the first time in days. Ummi backed away, holding the stump to her chest, then looked at Termillion's face. She turned and sprinted toward the edge of the roof and jumped down. Termillion watched her go, then threw her hand after her. He sprang to Kayss, finding her with her hands pressed to her stomach and her clothes soaked with blood.
He knelt next to her and tried to turn her over. She gasped and coughed, and blood ejected from her mouth.
"Kayss...you shouldn't have done that."
"I know," she said. Her face was full of pain, creased and trembling. "You've always been so worried about me."
"I was your tutor."
She coughed. "That's not all you were. Right dad?"
"Kayss..."
"I know," she said. Her voice was faint. "I know. I love you too."
She stopped trembling.
Termillion closed her eyes. Her body was so small, just like her mother's. Small and lithe and full of life. Now she was dead, just like her mother. Both of the women who had made his heart sing were dead.
He looked at Hester. She was asleep. With Ummi's controlling hand severed, Hester was free to rest.
Termillion stood, wobbling, Kayss' corpse in his arms. He wandered toward the edge of the building, and saw the devastation she had caused when she'd freed the swinging bell. Almost a dozen buildings were destroyed, gears and rods and girders and colossal bells lay on the streets. People already swarmed around the rubble, trying to find anyone buried underneath.
Termillion took heavy breaths. Tears sprang to his eyes, and he tried to blink them away. Kayss' body was light, but his arms still shook.
"You killed me daughter," Termillion said to the city. "You killed my daughter, Ummi! You killed my daughter! I'm going to come after you! I'm going to destroy you! There won't be anywhere you can hide from me! There will be nowhere to run!
"Do you hear me? I'm coming for you! I will burn this city down around you!"
TO BE CONTINUED
Kayss nodded, she was fighting her fear, but there was no hiding it from Termillion. "Thank you Termillion," she said, small hands holding the sides of her cloak. She turned around and, as a straight column wearing a hood, started forward down the hall. Before she reached the end Termillion exited, climbed a set of stairs, and sped down the round path until he got to his assigned opening.
Before he could reach it, an adult figure wearing its own cloak stepped out of a shadow. "Your protege's turn, Termillion," it said, and he heard an evil grin in the woman's voice. "Bound to be yet another failure on your record. I can't wait until the day you're kicked out of the academy and banished to crouch on rooftops and watch the streets."
Termillion passed the woman without a word. He reached his opening, an open arch in a stone wall. Beyond was a large circular room, total darkness except for a few torches. More than thirty identical openings around the border, ten feet up from the stone floor. Some of them held masked, hooded figures. He slipped on his own mask and looked down at the doorway Kayss would use to enter the arena.
"Termillion!"
He looked behind him, thinking it was Ummi come to goad again, but instead he found Hester. He stepped away from the opening and removed his mask. "What is it?"
"Ummi and her cadre mean to stonewall Kayss."
"Why would they do such a thing?" Termillion asked. "The girl has done nothing to hurt her. She will succeed the trial. She will become quick darkness."
"The girl is skilled, I can't deny. But she clings to you like you are her dead father. That is beside the point; Ummi looks to take control."
Termillion looked down at the woman. "What have you heard?"
"If Kayss fails the trial, Ummi will point out none of your students have passed, and move to eject you as a tutor from the academy."
"What will such a thing accomplish?" Termillion glanced toward the ground-level door in the testing area. It hadn't moved.
"You're one of Master Gos's most fervent supporters! With you out, it will be that much easier to usurp him and take control." Hester placed her hand on Termillion's arm. "We will all of us be in danger."
"How did you come to learn this?"
"I heard her and one of her scoundrels talking not long ago. I had my hearing turned up--they didn't expect it inside the academy."
"We can address it later," Termillion said. "I have no fear for Kayss. No one is more suited for the shadows then her."
He replaced his mask and turned back into his opening. "I hope you are correct," Hester said, before she slipped into the shadow.
A few minutes later all of the tutors were in place. The single person without a mask, Master Gos, rang a bell, and the door opened.
Kayss strode forward and Termillion felt pride swell. She was small, and narrow, and would never win a beauty contest no matter how much makeup she had, but her eyes pointed forward at Master Gos, and he detected no slightest tremble as she stood in the center pool of torchlight.
"Kayss Streetchild," Master Gos said in his slow, loud voice. "We are pleased to see you. You have bested your studies and are but three trials away from becoming an apprentice Umbris. Should you succeed this challenge, you will be paired with a current Umbris, taught the streets and the rooftops above them, shown how the people we are sworn to protect work and function.
"Should you fail, you will not be allowed to return to your studies. You will be ejected from the Academy tonight, and left for your own devices. Do you understand?"
"I understand, Master Gos." Kayss said the words without blinking, staring up at the master's opening.
"Then let the first trial begin."
The torches went out. The large round room, the openings for the tutors, and the hallways behind them plunged into darkness even they could not see through. Termillion heard stone blocks shifting. "Reach the target spot in the time allotted without being spotted or heard," Master Gos said. "You may begin..."
The torches came back up. Stones had moved themselves into streets, buildings, walkways, sewers, and alleys. Torches illuminated cobblestones and roofs. A banner hung under the master's opening for Kayss to grab and end the trial. "...now."
Any good trainee Umbris would have started moving ahead as soon as the lights went out, using the preternatural darkness and noisy blocks as easy cover. If Termillion was lucky, Kayss was already halfway to the banner. With the lights back on, and Ummi and her foul friends looking for anything to pronounce Kayss a failure, it was now much more difficult.
The tutors could see at midnight. They could hear a whisper a hundred feet away, if they chose. They could pass through a crowded street at high noon and remain unnoticed. The trainees always tried to get perfect marks, but it never happened. Sometimes it was because they tripped and made a racket, or got caught out in the open. Sometimes it was just the feeling of presence--enough cloak tails, enough small scrapes as they walked.
Kayss made no noise. For all Termillion could tell, she wasn't in the arena at all. A few minutes after the trial began he peered close, wondering. He had never lost a trainee taking the first trial so entirely. While he was still looking he heard a clatter and whipped his head toward the noise. Kayss stood with the banner in her hands, standing in the center of the torchlight at the end of the trial.
"The first trial has ended," Master Gos said. "Let the second trial begin. Defeat your opponents. The second trial begins..."
The stone blocks disappeared into the ground, making the room flat and expressionless. The far door, the one Kayss had entered through, opened, and three Umbris walked through with swords. Termillion watched Kayss draw a dagger from her belt and bend her knees, sinking into a half crouch. "...now."
The three Umbris, two men and a woman, dashed forward, through the circles of torchlight. Their swords caught the fire and spread small, stretched squares of brilliance on the ground. When they reached the far torch, they found Kayss gone.
She struck from the shadows, moving with speed rather than stealth, and the first warrior barely had time to strike her dagger away. The other man struck where Kayss had been, but hit empty air.
The woman fell, her knee kicked out from behind, and the small point of Kayss dagger traced a path a hair's breadth from her throat. The woman played dead, and Kayss faced the two men.
They tried to circle around her, but she backed away, keeping them on only one of her sides. The first ran forward, sword pointed ahead, and Kayss moved through the attack.
Termillion blinked, surprised. The girl should have been struck. Somehow she had hit first, punching the man in the stomach and then sweeping his feet out from under him.
She ran to the last warrior, making aggressive attacks. He blocked them, then swept his weapon from side to side. She ducked under it, grabbed his wrist, and fell to the ground, pitching the man over her head. As they tumbled down, she got his weapon into her own hand, and when she rose, she pointed it at him as he lay on the ground.
"The second trial has ended," Master Gos said. Kayss handed the weapon back, bowed, and watched the three warriors leave the arena. She returned her dagger to her belt. "Let the second trial begin. Kayss Streetchild...surprise us. You may begin..."
Termillion watched Kayss walk into the center of the arena. She looked far calmer and sure of herself than Termillion was when he faced the final trial. He had thrown out small slips of paper bearing runes of his own design, which made flashes of light, clouds of sleep gas, or other effects when they detected pressure--such as the boot of an unsuspecting walker. He leaned forward. What would Kayss show them?
"...now."
Kayss stood in the center of the arena, motionless, her long cloak hiding her hands and feet. For a few seconds, she did nothing, and Termillion wondered if she had frozen.
She loosened her hood and pulled it low, hiding even the smallest part of her face from the light. She grasped the edges of her cloak and pulled them together, making her, again, a smooth cylinder. She turned slowly, until she detected the darkest section of the arena. Moving without a sound, barely even with a motion, she made for the spot. She stepped into it, and removed herself from view.
Termillion's heart sank. Invisibility, he thought. Impressive for her age, but not surprising, and certainly not foolproof. Any Umbris worth their salt can see right through it. With a moment of concentration he turned on one of the classic Umbris abilities and searched for her.
He didn't find her. The arena was empty. Some new form? Unseeable even to Umbris? Surely that will impress them. Termillion looked at the tutor he thought was Ummi. She will cry foul.
"Looking for me?" he heard behind him.
He looked, expecting Ummi again, but instead found his impish student. A grin took over her face. "I know it's you. How long until I should go back?"
Termillion said nothing. He returned his gaze to the arena, hoping she would get the hint. A moment later she emerged from the darkest section of the arena, as if she had been there the entire time.
Impossible, Termillion thought. And surprising indeed.
Had they not been sworn to silence during the trials, no doubt the other masked tutors would have been muttering or exclaiming. "The third trial has ended," Master Gos said. "The challenge has ended. Tutors, you may remove your masks."
Termillion pulled his off, and Kayss stared straight at him, smiling.
"The girl clearly left the arena during the third trial," he heard Ummi say, a few spots to his left. "I call for her failure and dismissal."
Getting started early, are you?
"Patience, Ummi. Tutors, how fared Kayss Streetchild on the first trial?" Master Gos asked. "I detected no indication of motion, nor did I see her pass through even the weakest light."
"She displayed enviable technique," Hester, across the arena from Termillion, said. "She finished the trial at near-record pace."
"She cheated," Ummi said. A word of assent came from one of her lackeys. "She fooled with the trial beforehand to create a tunnel away from the light, that would lead her directly to the goal."
"Perhaps she did," Master Gos said. "But did you see or hear her doing so? If not, there are no marks against her."
Termillion smiled, then frowned. Another reason for Ummi to hate Master Gos. "Who believes Kayss Streetchild passed the first trial? Step forward."
Termillion stepped forward. Hester also did so, as well as nearly all of the other tutors. Ummi and three others remained back. Termillion saw Kayss smile and look his way. "Now, the second trial. We witnessed the child's ability first-hand."
"She failed to deliver a killing blow to Emer," Ummi said. "He should have risen and continued to fight her."
A few more words of agreement floated into the arena. "That is Emer's fault, not Kayss's," Termillion said. "He gave himself up. Besides that, she clearly defeated him."
"She used a trick," Ummi said, and Termillion knew the words were pointed straight at him. "A tool other than her weapon. It is forbidden."
"What evidence do you have?" Master Gos asked her. "Did you see such a tool? Hear her discussing it beforehand? Did you witness it shine in her grip?"
Ummi stayed silent. Termillion's mouth almost twitched into a smile.
"How did she evade his strike?" Tillis, one of Ummi's friends, asked. "Emer is a skilled and hardened warrior. She should not have been able to avoid such a quick attack."
"Perhaps the girl gave us a preview of the third trial, and we did not even notice," Hester said.
"More likely she convinced Emer to let her defeat him," Ummi said. Termillion heard a loud rustle of clothing from where she stood. "The second trial is designed to be an even field."
"Three on one is not an even field," Termillion said. "The second trial is supposed to be combat, not an honor duel. If Kayss convinced Emer to go easy on her before the battle, then she earned an advantage. She defeated him."
"Or perhaps it was Kayss's tutor who convinced Emer?" Ummi said to the tutors. "To avoid the shame of having another of his students fail."
"I must again ask: Do you have any evidence, Ummi?" Master Gos said.
"No."
"Do any others wish to make points?" Gos asked. No one said anything. "Who believes Kayss Streetchild passed the second trial? Step forward."
Termillion, Hester, and all but Ummi and six others stepped forward. Still a clear majority. "Finally, the third tri-"
"She left the arena!" Ummi said, and Termillion could nearly feel her spite through the stones. "There is no way she could have escaped our notice had she stayed within!"
Termillion watched Master Gos bend forward. "Kayss, did you leave the arena?"
Kayss clasped her hands together in front of her and looked at the stones under her feet. "Yes, master."
"She knows she is caught! Dismiss her!"
"Allow me but a moment, Tutor Ummi." Gos cleared his throat. "Kayss, how did you do so?"
"I teleported, Master Gos."
Ummi's laughter was almost a shriek. "Teleported! Master Gos, you cannot allow such foolishness and fiction within our halls or in our organization! I move to dismiss Kayss Streetchild immediately, followed by Tutor Termillion, who has failed to produce a single qualified apprentice Umbris!"
"Kayss, would you be willing to demonstrate your ability again? In a clear manner--to all."
"Yes, Master Gos."
Gos stood up straight. "In the light, if you please."
Kayss nodded. She drew in a breath and let her body sink as the air rushed back out. She pulled her cowl low, and pulled the sides of the cloak tight, again turning her into a smooth cylinder, like a pawn on a chessboard.
She stood silent and still for a moment.
Her cloak wavered. An unfelt wind pulled it to the side, and then it was if it became two-dimensional and flat, and Termillion was looking at the razor-sharp edge. Then it was gone.
A surprised noise came from Master Gos's opening. Termillion looked and found his student standing next to the master. She looked at him and smiled.
"How, Kayss?" Gos asked. "How have you accomplished such a feat?"
"Trickery!" Ummi said. "She has a body double hiding just outside! Master Gos, surely you must see through this lackluster attempt!"
"If it is a body double, then where is the original?" Termillion said. "Who is it in the alcove with Master Gos?"
Master Gos twitched the hood off the girl's head. It was Kayss. "Kayss, can you explain?"
"Yes, Master Gos."
"From your spot in the arena, please."
A few moments later Kayss was in the arena. There was no flash of light, or puff of smoke. Termillion's heart leapt with pride. Incredible.
"My." Master Gos paused. "I've never seen anything like it. Please, Kayss, go on."
Kayss cleared her throat. "I didn't know if it would work, I confess. I practiced for long hours, usually when I was supposed to be sleeping. I found mention of the skill in a half-translated tome in a corner of the library. The book called it 'shadowwalking.' At first I laughed at it as a fiction-" Kayss glanced in Ummi's direction "-but I decided to try it anyway. I took the book back to my room-"
"Removing a book from the library is forbidden!"
Kayss didn't look in Ummi's direction. "I asked the scribe's permission. He determined there was nothing of notable value and allowed me to take it back with me. You can check with him; it was Peal."
"Tutor Ummi, please refrain from outbursts until Kayss's explanation is complete."
"The book laid out the steps for shadowwalking. They are...arduous. It involves meditation, and distancing oneself from all distractions. I had to sit silent for a week until I thought I was ready for the next part. I had to...envision where I wanted to be. I had to...I'm sorry Master Gos, I don't really know how to explain it. I had to believe the place was right in front of me, even when it could be across the city. I had to believe I was there already."
"Forgive me, Kayss, but it seems like a simple thing."
"True belief came difficult to me, master. It was a month of constant practice before I succeeded even in the slightest. In the dark of my room, sitting in one place on my bed, I imagined myself sitting on the other side."
She brought her eyes up. "And then I was."
"You will allow us to see the book you found?"
"Yes, Master Gos."
"Could you demonstrate one last time?"
Termillion leaned forward. So did many of the other tutors. Kayss pulled her hood up and closed her eyes. Termillion found himself looking at an empty spot on the ground. Kayss was on the other side of the arena.
"A final question, Kayss." Master Gos had his hand on his chin. "Where did you go during the final trial?"
Don't say it.
"I visited my tutor. It is far easier to shadowwalk to a place you can already see."
Kayss, no.
"It is not allowed for the tutor and the student to communicate during the trials!" Ummi shouted. "It is clear deceit!"
"He didn't say anything to me!" Kayss said. "He barely looked at me!"
"What could Termillion say at that point, Ummi?" Hester said. "It was the last trial, and Kayss had already demonstrated her ability! If Termillion said nothing, there was no deceit, not in the smallest form!"
"Termillion." Master Gos looked at him. "Were you aware, in any way, of what Kayss meant to do?"
"Not the slightest amount, master," Termillion said.
"Do you vow you did nothing to assist her during the three trials?"
"I do so vow, master."
"And of course you believe him!" Ummi shouted.
"Hester is right, Ummi," Gos said. "Even if he had said anything, it would have had no effect on Kayss's trials."
Termillion felt Ummi's hatred. No doubt she was baring her teeth at Master Gos.
"This has gone on long enough. Who believes Kayss Streetchild passed the third trial? Step forward."
Termillion stepped forward. So did Hester. More than half showed themselves. Just barely more than half. Ummi's tactics were more convincing than I expected. Termillion thought. But she's failed. Kayss has passed the trials, and Ummi has no leverage to oust me.
"Congratulations, Kayss Streetchild. You have graduated from trainee to apprentice." Master Gos's voice intruded on Termillion's thoughts. "You may return to your room now. In due time I will come to see the book you found. If it does as you have related, it will surely be a powerful tool for our organization."
"You will be going nowhere, old man."
Ummi's voice struck Termillion numb. It didn't come from Ummi's normal alcove, but from behind Master Gos. There was a gasp--the sound of wet separation--Gos' body fell into the arena.
Ummi moved into the light, standing in the master's alcove. Her dagger dripped. "Too long has frailty encroached on the Umbris while we stagnate under an idiot's rule! There is a new master now! Anybody who does not submit to my rule will be removed!"
I doubt I'll have a choice in the matter. Termillion's hand went to his knife, then he caught sight of Kayss, still standing in the arena. She was in a crouch, arms out for balance. Just stay silent, Kayss.
"This is wrong!" Kayss shouted, and Termillion gritted his teeth.
At first he thought the outburst had escaped notice, then Ummi landed on her feet in the arena, stalking forward, red dagger shining in the torchlight.
Ummi started to say something, but Termillion landed in the arena before she could get the thought out. The woman turned toward him.
"So you as well," she said. "I get to kill both cheats at once."
Termillion dove his hand into a pocket of his cloak and clutched a folded piece of paper between two fingers. He flung it at Ummi, and as it closed toward her it began to glow. Termillion pulled his hood low as the rune burst into light, and he ran toward Kayss. He swept her up in one arm and grabbed another of his rune-missiles with the other hand, throwing it at the exit of the arena. It blasted the door off the hinges, but before he could slip through it, three of Ummi's conspirators appeared in front of him.
"Termillion!" he heard Hester shout behind him. He heard the sound of Ummi falling to the ground. "Get her out of here!"
A few more bodies landed in the arena, and they began to fight. The coup had the element of surprise, but they lacked the numbers, especially with three of them against Termillion.
"A fourth trial, Kayss," he said to his student. "Get out alive." He dropped her on her feet, and began to bring out rune-missiles, slapping them on the ground. "Come on, traitors. It's my second trial all over again. Three to one." They slid their feet forward, eyes stuck on the rune-missiles.
Termillion jumped over them and grabbed the first fighter's cloak, twisting and throwing him to the ground. When he tried to rise, his hand touched one of the runes, and he found the hand frozen to the ground, encased in ice. The second fighter swung her sword, and Termillion dodged backward, slinging a knife before she could recover. She caught it in the throat and collapsed in blood.
The last swung at Kayss. Termillion's student floated to the side, then struck back. Termillion saw her hesitate, still unwilling to take a life, and was at her side the next instant, plunging another knife through the assailant's temple. "Come!"
They ran for the arena exit, passing into the tunnel's shadow. He could hear the conflict in front of them, blades ringing together and hard breath.
How big is Ummi's faction? Can we beat them with sheer numbers alone? He looked behind and saw Hester blocking the way, Ummi and a few others trying to get past. Do I take Kayss somewhere safe? Join the battle as soon as possible? Ummi. She is the leader, she must be defeated. Termillion halted, and Kayss looked back at him with surprise. "Get to safety."
The girl nodded, then disappeared into the shadow. Termillion rounded toward Ummi and Hester, drawing another knife. "Hester!"
The woman sprang to the side as the knife sliced toward Ummi, who deflected it. Termillion emerged next to Hester, and he pressed forward against Ummi, bringing out another rune-missile. "You'll pay."
"Silence, fool," Ummi said, rushing at him. He danced backward and whipped the missile forward, but Ummi ducked under it. It exploded into capsaicin gas when it was past her head, and she smirked. "I know your tired tricks. You know what they say about old dogs."
"I know what they say about bitches," Termillion said, slapping a rune on the ground between them. A pillar of dense earth thrust out and struck Ummi in the chest. She flew backward and collapsed, screaming. She's broken a rib. He strode forward, readying a rune-missile to put her to sleep. She made a motion with her left hand.
A white-hot sensation drove into the back of his leg, and he sank to his knees, crying out. He pushed himself away and spun, finding Hester holding the dagger.
Her face told him it had been the plan all along. It told him she had no choice. It told him it hurt her nearly as much as it hurt him.
Wheezing laughter came from Ummi, which quickly changed to groans. Termillion tried to move away, but the shock from his injury wore off, and agony roared in to replace it. He grabbed the wound and felt the wave of pain wash over him.
"I tried, Termillion," Hester said. The dagger dropped out of her hand. She tore off her cloak and ripped her shirt open, showing a flowing design of glowing blue marks down her shoulder. "She kidnapped me. Drilled these into me. Unless I do as she says..." Her eyes fell. "I'm sorry. I did everything I could to warn you."
Ummi coughed and laughed. The sound was strained. "Kill him, puppet." She had an arm around her chest and was staring at the ceiling, lying next to Master Gos' body. "Stab him through the heart."
Hester gritted her teeth. Her feet scraped forward over the stones, straining. She bent down to take up her dagger again. "I can't stop, Termillion! You have to escape!"
"Don't let him escape!" Ummi shouted through the pain. "Destroy him!"
Termillion put his weight on his good leg, and rose. He dragged out a rune-missile and threw it at Hester. It cut across the arena toward her, and she held herself still until it latched onto her. Her muscles went weak, and she collapsed to the ground, limp. She started screaming.
"See what pain you put her through, Termillion!" Ummi shouted. She was up on one knee. "She can't follow my orders so the sigils burn her bones! If she doesn't do as I say, eventually she will die!" With one arm across her chest, she squeezed her other hand into a fist. "Rise, Hester! Kill him!"
One of Hester's hands landed flat against the floor and tried to push. Termillion saw her weak muscles twitch. Hester pulled her head up to look at him. It looked like she was asleep, her mouth slack and eyes hanging closed. "Run Termillion!" She shifted her legs across the ground under her. "I'm trying to hold it off as long as I can but...the pain is too great!"
The door to the arena opened and four Umbris ran in. Termillion recognized them as enemies. He shuffled backward, dragging his wounded leg. Hester found her feet, swaying as she stood.
"Hester!" Ummi clenched the fist harder. "Kill him!"
Hester cried out, wrapping her torso in her arms. Blood seeped through her clothes, and tears appeared in her eyes. She held the dagger out straight and walked forward, shutting her eyes as she got closer to Termillion. He moved away. Ummi's warriors closed the circle, pushing him against the wall of the arena. With his back against the cool stones, his hand dove into a pocket of his cloak, coming out with two missiles. He threw one of them at Hester and covered his eyes. The flash blinded all of them. He flicked the second missile at one of the warriors, and when it hit his clothes he jerked, electrocuted.
His hurt leg gave out and he slumped against the wall. He didn't have many missiles left, and was out of knives. He was no melee fighter, but he still had three good limbs.
Kayss walked forward past him. He stared at her--she had torn herself free from the shadows, and now stood as a barrier between him and death. "No!"
"Kill her!" Ummi shouted. "Kill them both!"
"Kayss, get away!" Termillion said. "Get help!"
"I am help!" she said. She ran to him and plunged a hand into his cloak, coming up with one of his missiles. She threw it at her feet and stomped on it. Dark smoke exploded around them, and Kayss hauled Termillion to the side. "Give me a boost!" she said into his ear. He linked his hands together and felt a boot enter it, launching itself up. "Your hand!" he heard above him.
He raised his hand and his student grabbed it, yanking him up. Kayss pulled him into one of the tutor alcoves around the arena. "Don't let them escape!" Ummi shouted. "Get up there!"
"You're stronger than you look," Termillion said, on his hands and knees.
"I'd have to be to get through your training," Kayss said. "Give me your arm."
She helped him up, supporting his injured side, and he limped into the dark hall beyond the alcoves. "Ummi's faction is bigger than I thought," he said. "We'll be in danger unless we get into the city."
"Could she have used those sigils on others?" Kayss said.
"Of course. Any of them. Some might know how to remove them, but not many. This way." He gestured down a hall, and Kayss carried him on. "There are plenty of ways to get out of here. If only I could walk." They heard voices and boots behind them.
"They'll be able to see us no matter what we do," Kayss said, keeping her voice low. "We can't hide from them."
"You can stop them," Termillion said. The pain was growing, and his breath caught in his throat. "Catch them off-guard."
"I...I don't know if I can shadowwalk right now. I have to be at ease."
"You did it before, when you pulled me out of the arena."
"What? No! I just dropped down in front of you from the alcove above us!"
Termillion's mind cycled through ideas. "Set me down against that wall," he told her. She settled him between a statue and a candelabra set in the wall. "Into the shadows--do everything you can to keep quiet. Kayss--try to make yourself at ease."
She nodded and drew in a breath, then wrapped her cloak around her and scampered away. Termillion looked to his right and saw two cloaks approaching.
"Where's the girl?" One of them asked when they got close. They had swords pointed at him from a distance, standing shoulder-to-shoulder in the hallway.
Termillion grinned and looked between them.
They spun, swords ready, and found no one. They heard Termillion laugh and spun again, coming right up to him. One of them put the tip of his blade under Termillion's chin. "Traitor," he said. "I'll enjoy watching Ummi flay you."
"Me?" Termillion chuckled. "I'm the traitor? Ummi kills Master Gos and you think I'm the one who's turned his coat?"
"Silence!" the other shouted. "Fight us if you're going to fight us!"
Termillion heard a sickening crunch and he fell. The other spun. Kayss knocked the weapon out of his hand, and slammed her foot into his shin, and brought her fist under his chin. He slumped against the wall next to Termillion.
"How come they didn't see me?" Kayss said, helping Termillion to his feet.
"They figured you had gone when I tried to trick them. It convinced them I was just stalling to help you escape." The assailant groaned and put a hand to his head. Termillion leaned on Kayss and cracked him with his boot. The assailant slumped over, a dark mass on the ground. "To the exit."
A few minutes later Termillion pushed a door open, showing them the city. The sun was near the horizon, sinking toward night, and the endless buildings around them spread lengthy shadows across the uneven cobblestones. They were on a balcony a few floors up, and Kayss shut the door as quietly as she could. She saw Termillion gripping the wound on his leg. "How do we get down?"
"You don't need to worry about me," he said. "I've been an Umbris longer than you've been alive. I could get down even if both of my legs were cut at the knee." He leaned against the railing. "But the pain is great. I need to see a doctor."
"Will any of the Umbris locations be safe?"
Termillion glanced at her. "No. We have to assume they'll either be on Ummi's side, or in danger of attack. We'll have to go to someone who is unaffiliated." Termillion hoisted himself onto the railing. "I have a friend among the Whites. We can trust him."
"How far is it?"
"Far enough." Termillion spun and dropped, grabbing the railing. He began to descend the stone wall, injured leg dangling under him. Kayss followed, moving faster than him. She reached the ground first and huddled in a shadow until he reached the street. She supported him, and they kept to the alleys as they wound toward Termillion's friend in the Whites.
The hospital was one of the bigger buildings in the city, and busy with workers and patients. Kayss hauled Termillion into the lobby, tracking blood, and Termillion asked for Mesthum once he caught his breath.
"Termillion!" Mesthum, an older man with small spectacles, rushed to his side, white robes flapping. "Here, quickly, lie down." Mesthum helped Kayss bring Termillion into an empty room and lay him on an examination table, where he striped Termillion until he could get to the wound. The window was open, and they could see the council tower, the clock tower, and the masts of ships at the docks. "This is because of that ruckus in the Umbris training grounds, isn't it?" The doctor glanced at Kayss, who crouched in the darkest corner of the room. "Who might you be, young lady?"
"My trainee, Kayss," Termillion said, gritting his teeth as Mesthum inspected the wound. "Ummi planned to deny her as a ploy to gain power, but Kayss succeeded, beyond even my wildest hopes."
"And so Ummi had to make a more violent takeover," Mesthum said. "A bad wound. I'll need to get material for stitches."
"How did you know about the takeover?" Kayss asked.
"Doesn't take a wizard. I'm happy to say the Umbris trust me, so I've heard plenty of gossip. As soon as I heard about a disturbance at the training grounds I feared the worst. Seems I was right." Mesthum stepped away from the table. "I'll be back soon. I'm afraid I'm quite busy at the moment...I have a few people I must talk to. If you'd request a different doctor..."
"I don't trust anyone else, Mesthum," Termillion said.
"...It must be difficult to trust anyone after what you just went through."
Mesthum left the door open a crack behind him; Kayss and Termillion heard him walk away. Kayss rushed to the table and helped Termillion rise. "Fetch bandages so I can at least wrap the wound," Termillion said. "Ummi must have carved her sigils on him, too. We won't have much time. They're probably already on the streets looking for us." Kayss opened a few cabinets, finding a roll of white gauze and handing it to him. "He's right. We won't be able to trust anyone."
"So what do we do?"
Termillion paused, roll of gauze partially covering the still-bleeding wound. "There's a place I have prepared for situations like this. I haven't been there in a few years, but I doubt anyone's found it."
"Why not?"
"It's in a noisy part of town."
"Where? The market? The concert hall?"
The clock tower's peals split the air, marking sundown. Termillion looked out the window at it. "Guess."
"Termillion," Kayss said. "Why wouldn't Ummi just put her sigils on you if you were the whole reason for wanting to fail me?"
"Well, she'd never be able to get to me," Termillion said. They limped up a hill toward the clock tower. Each step spread pain through him. "I wouldn't be surprised if it was also because she wanted to cause me as much pain as possible. Make my friends betray me, hurt me, kill me."
"Kill me?" Kayss asked.
"Don't say such things," Termillion said. "I'd go mad." He panted, wound stiffening.
"We're nearly there."
The clock tower was one of the city's tallest structures, built at the top of a hill and dwarfing the buildings around it. Its eight sides each had a clock face; a glorious design of gears and pendulums controlled them all simultaneously. Massive bells hung at the very top, ready to signal sunrise, sunset, and midday, as well as special occasions such as holidays, important notices, or an army on the horizon. Kayss let Termillion rest on a bench underneath it, the black stone already dark in the twilight.
"I suppose we won't be able to just go in the front door?" she asked. Termillion shook his head. He looked around for listeners, then back at her.
"We'll need to climb a little bit more. You have lock picks?" She shook her head. He sighed. "What do you have?"
"Just the things I was allowed to bring to the trials," she said. "Weapons, stealth gear, clothes."
"Rope?"
From one of her pockets she drew out a thin thread. She wrapped one end into a loop, and threw it at the decorative post Termillion indicated, on the corner of a balcony. The loop fell over the top of the post, and Kayss pulled the line tight. "You go first," Termillion said, "so you can help me up." She nodded and started scrambling up the thread, strong enough to support ten of her and not tear. After a few minutes she pulled herself over the balcony's railing. Termillion checked the road--most people had gone to their peaceful homes, sat at their tables with their families, to enjoy a hot meal and a restful night. Termillion thought about such a life as he used his tired arms to pull himself toward Kayss.
She grabbed his hand and helped pull him onto the balcony. The door next to them was locked, and the windows in the wall showed a dark room. "Everybody will have gone home, except for the night watchman and a steward," Termillion said, rubbing his hands. "Once we're inside we won't have to worry about anyone seeing us. Even so, I'm friends with some of the workers."
Kayss glanced at him, and he nodded. "I know. We can't trust them. Don't worry, in a dark place like this, they'll never even know we've been inside."
"Where's your safe room?"
"At the top." Termillion reached into a pocket and pulled out two metal rods. "Keep a look out for me."
A minute later the door clicked, and Termillion pushed it open. It swung into a dark corner room, and as soon as they entered they heard the shift and rumble of heavy metal sliding against itself. Termillion gestured down one of the hallways, and they crept through darkness, like sheets of dark cloth blowing across a field, the stars shining over heavy clouds. With the clockwork ringing around them, they could have run down the halls, making all the noise they pleased, and wouldn't have even heard themselves.
The main chamber of the clock faces was a hundred feet tall, thronged with pistons pumping, gears rotating with satisfying regularity, and time-keeping hands falling or rising no matter where they looked. Termillion pointed at a wall on the far side, past a deadly obstacle course of machinery, and Kayss used her Umbris eyes to detect one section of the wall different from the stones around it.
"How are you going to get through this-" Kayss looked at the gears, pistons, pendulums, and other unguarded slabs of metal "-with your injured leg?"
"What do you mean...ah. It's quite simple." He stood up and stretched his wounded leg a few times, moving the muscle carefully, then started walking toward the machinery. Kayss gasped and tried to make herself turn away.
A piston pounding up and down in his path halted for a moment as he went under it. The teeth of a huge gear--ten times his height--became a man-sized opening just as he passed through it. Termillion walked undaunted through the metal chaos until he reached the back wall. He waved Kayss forward.
She swallowed and took a look at the clock parts around her. If she concentrated, she could perceive sections, segments of a safe path, but she had nothing close to an idea how to get through unscathed. She looked past it all at Termillion, who was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. He looked tired. She shouldn't waste time.
She pulled her hood low over her face, and teased the edges of her cloak shut. The thunderous sounds of the clock eased down until it was a steady, dull pound, like the surf at morning--the crickets at night.
She looked up and found Termillion next to her. He noticed her the next moment, and jumped. She grinned, and a familiar feeling of surprising her tutor flooded her.
"Well, I suppose that's one way to do it," he said. "I hate Ummi for taking away your time of glory. You should be famous for that, even now." He pushed off from the wall and stuck a finger into a small gap in the mortar. A segment of stones swung open, revealing a pitch-black opening. Termillion squeezed inside, and Kayss followed. Her Umbris eyes revealed a room about ten feet by forty feet, with an old mattress, and piles of supplies. Termillion went to one and found a small jar. "I'll need your help in a moment. Pull the door closed."
"How did you manage this?" Kayss asked. Termillion lit a candle standing in a bronze stick, and a small flame spread orange light.
"Time. Help. A paranoid mind. Ummi and I have always been at odds, and I knew it was a good idea to have somewhere I could hide if things got too hot in the city. I used to be a city watcher...I've only been a tutor for ten years."
"Am I really your first successful trainee?"
"You are." Termillion sat and sighed, finally taking the weight off his leg. "No matter what Ummi says." He unscrewed the lid of the jar he held, and Kayss recoiled at the smell. "It's foul stuff, but it's what I need. I ask your assistance."
Kayss nodded and stepped closer. Termillion handed the jar to her, as well as a small paintbrush. "Just cover the wound."
He tore apart his leggings, allowing her access, and she began to untie the bandages. A red diamond had grown on the top level, and it got bigger as she unwrapped the white cloth. Kayss stirred the foul, green-gray substance, and dabbed a small amount on a corner of the wound. Termillion sucked in breath but said nothing.
"Have you ever had to hide here before?" Kayss asked, slowly adding more of the ointment.
Termillion took a moment to respond. "Hide? No. But I have used it for a few other reasons."
"Like what?"
"Oh..." Termillion waved his hand. "This and that."
"You brought a woman here, didn't you?"
"Kayss!" Termillion huffed. "A gentleman shouldn't tell."
"That tells me enough."
Termillion set his jaws against the ointment's smell, and the searing sensation it made when it touched the stab wound. He felt Kayss apply it, portion by portion.
"What was she like?"
"Just focus on the ointment, please."
"I am. You are too, and it's hurting you. Think about a good memory. Something to take your mind away from here, now." Termillion said nothing. "I'm not a child. I'm seventeen. You aren't going to tell me anything I don't know."
Termillion winced. "All right! All right. I don't want to hear any more." He shivered. Kayss chuckled to herself. "It was...almost twenty years ago, I think. Long before I became a tutor. I was still a city watcher. Young and strong and full of myself. I could slip inside a guarded mansion without a sound, leave a note on the chest of the sleeping lord inside, and escape again. I did, more than once. A fine way to send a message and build a little bit of a name for yourself."
He paused for a moment. "She was a wonderful woman-"
"How did you meet?"
Termillion grimaced. "Nothing so romantic as you might be expecting. I was crouched on a roof one night, and saw her working late in the yard of her father's metallurgy shop, putting tools away. She made her way to the pub afterward, and I jumped from roof to roof, trailing her."
"She must have been pretty." Termillion jumped when Kayss touched the wound with a harsh motion. "Sorry."
Termillion let a breath whistle out. "I think she was. I slipped to the ground and entered the pub. It's impossible not to look like an Umbris, especially at night, but no reason you can't have a drink. She was with her friends, and I spent most of an hour watching her dance. I should have been making sure the streets were safe, but instead I was fawning over a girl."
"What did she look like?"
"Raggedy, shoulder-length hair. Strong hands and arms. A fine, curving jaw." Termillion sighed. "The kind of eyes you can find in a dark room. They were bright. I introduced myself to her. She wanted me to dance with her. Hah, how would I have looked, dancing with an Umbris' outfit on?
"Foolish."
Kayss slowly spread the ointment. "What was her name?"
"She...told me it was Kressa."
"But it wasn't her real name."
"I don't believe so, no." Termillion paused. "She's dead, now. She never even got married. Killed just a few years later, in the plague riots."
Kayss frowned but continued painting his wound. "I'm almost done."
Termillion nodded. "We met a few more times, each night spending more time together. One night she rode my back as I took her to the top of the old hangman's turret. She couldn't look down. She thought we were going to fall."
"You climbed to the top of hangman's turret with someone on your back?"
Termillion nodded. "Young, strong, and full of myself, remember?" He sighed. "Eventually I took her here. Somewhere we could be alone--didn't have to worry about being interrupted. I put a bandana over her eyes and led her by the hand through the gears. She was terrified."
"A little bit like me, I guess," Kayss said. "There. Covered and smooth."
"Thank you." Termillion sat up. "A little bit like you, I suppose. To be fair, who wouldn't be hesitant to forge through that chaos?" He jerked his head toward the wall separating them from the clock's workings. "You got through it without my help, though."
"I did." Kayss replaced the lid on the ointment as Termillion wrapped bandages around his leg again.
"Get some rest," he said, pulling himself up from the mattress "We'll figure out what to do in the morning. You can have the mattress."
"I can, but I won't. I'm not the one who got stabbed today."
"I don't need it. I've slept in worse places than a stone floor."
"But I'm...what was it? Young, strong, and full of myself." She grinned at him. "You aren't my tutor anymore. I don't have to do what you say."
Termillion frowned at her, but sat back down on the mattress. He threw a blanket at her. "It gets cold up here." He showed her his back and blew out the candle. Kayss fluffed the blanket into a nest she could use to get comfortable. In a few minutes she heard slow, rhythmic breathing from the mattress, just audible over the constant spin and clank coming from the other side of the brick wall.
She rested her head against the cold stones behind her and let her eyes slip closed. The clock grinding away was the perfect sound to help her relax herself, even if she thought she wouldn't be able to fall asleep. She was wrong.
Her heart seized and her eyes flattened open. She shifted until she could look at Termillion, who held a finger against his lips. His eyes were on the camouflaged brick door. He shifted, and the stiffness in his leg made the motion slow. Kayss concentrated, filtering out the clock tower's machinery from her hearing. It faded from a roar to nothing louder than a quiet library, the small clock on the wall ticking each second away.
"You're lying to me! Again! How many more sigils do I have to carve into your skin, you worthless whore!"
Kayss recognized the voice, but when Termillion heard it his hands crept into fists. The next voice turned his entire body rigid. It was slow, gasping, like a person stuck in an iron maiden.
"Please...they're here. I know they're here." Termillion began writing runes on pieces of paper from his cloak as the voice continued. "He's told me about this place, I swear. He told me there was a false door in one of the walls."
"You two--start looking. You, get them to shut this down. Tell them it's official Umbris business. Notify the soldiers."
Kayss slipped her dagger free, careful to make as little noise as possible. Termillion folded the pieces of paper into missiles. He then grabbed a piece of scrap and wrote on it with a light hand, handing it to Kayss when he finished. We escape before they turn the clock off. It's advantageous. Don't fight, just go to the exits. Ready? Kayss nodded and let the paper flutter to the floor.
The tortured voice said "I heard something."
"Where? Tell me!"
"From over there."
"Liar!" They heard a stifled scream. "If you heard it then you go first!"
"You know," the tortured voice said. "You know I can't lie to you."
There was a pause. "You. Investigate that wall."
"But ma'am-" A third voice.
"Don't argue."
"...Yes ma'am."
Termillion dug a few knives out of the supplies in the room and slipped them into holsters inside his cloak. He crept to the door, easing his leg back and forth. He saw Kayss' look and waved it away. She joined him on the other side of the door. Termillion motioned he would open the door, then exit, and she would follow. Kayss pulled the hood low over her face and grinned.
Termillion shoved the door and bolted out. Pre-dawn light was coming through the frosted glass of the eight clock faces, revealing four people. Two of them were Umbris foot soldiers, working their way through the madness of the machinery. A third was Ummi, face carved into a scowl.
The last was Hester, but as Termillion had never seen her. Sigils, glowing blue, lay half-hidden on her skin. Dry, cracked blood turned her into a patchwork creature, and her motions were robotic and halting. Despite the fact they seemed to cause her pain, she seemed unable to cease.
"There they are!" Ummi shouted, pointing, as Termillion dashed through a brief open space. She looked at Hester and made a motion with her hand. "Kill him!"
Hester, unable to deny the command, darted forward. A cry split from between her lips, and her limbs pumped forward, darting around the rods controlling the clock. She made right for Termillion, jumping past metal parts without slowing.
Termillion let a ballast weight sink down in front of him, and he grabbed hold as it rose again. He climbed on top as it swayed, knocking into one of the gears, disturbing its timekeeping. Now more than twenty feet over Hester, Termillion jumped ahead, leg giving off a pang. He landed on one of the clockwork support beams, and walked along it, toward the stairs.
With Hester looking for a way up, Kayss left the safe room, vaulting over a rotating axle and sliding under another. Her cloak flapped behind her as she ran, right past Hester; the woman barely noticed.
"Get her!" Ummi shouted at the two foot soldiers next to her, and they pulled out weapons. Ummi positioned herself in front of the doorway leading to the stairs. "Hester! Don't delay!"
"I can't stop, Termillion!" Hester shouted. "I don't have any agency anymore! She controls every part of me! Termillion, please! Kill me!"
Termillion, crouched in a shadow above where Ummi stood, felt his stomach churning. He looked at Hester, who was scanning the machinery around her, and saw the back of her head had been shaved. Glowing sigils covered every inch of visible scalp. His vision moved to Kayss, who was moving toward the staircase, dagger in hand. He smiled.
Kayss jumped up in front of one of the soldiers, then sank under his attack. She jammed her dagger into his foot and hit his other leg out from under him, then rolled to her feet in front of the second. He swung down into empty air and felt her dagger pierce his throat. There was a cry and surge of blood as his body fell. Kayss was left facing Ummi with Hester on the other side of the clock's guts. Termillion landed next to his student, firing a rune-missile at the woman. It hit her in the chest, then fell to the ground with no effect.
"Old dogs, Termillion!" Ummi said. "My sigils do more than control!" She stretched her arms, displaying none of the injury Termillion had given her the day before. "They guard, and heal, and destroy!" She swung her sword at Kayss who dove out of the way. "Hester, to me!" She squeezed her left hand into a fist, and Termillion heard Hester gasp in pain. "Join me in their destruction!"
Termillion threw a dagger, Kayss rushed to the woman's side and attacked; Ummi moved aside to let the dagger past and whipped her sword in Kayss' path, the edge of the blade an inch from Kayss' face. Hester was moving toward Kayss, who had her back turned, Termillion intercepted her, Ummi swung at Kayss again, Kayss moved to the side and thrust forward with her dagger.
Termillion planted himself in front of Hester, who drew a sword from her belt. She lurched forward, swinging her sword with more speed than he anticipated, and he just barely got himself out of the way before it dug into the stones where he had been standing. He rose to his feet and flung a rune-missile at her, striking her in the chest. Like with Ummi, it dropped to the ground. "You need to flee, Termillion!" Hester shouted. "I can't stop!"
"What can I do?" Termillion said, backing away from Hester, who kept advancing. "Is there a weakness?"
"I can't think straight!" she said. "If I even think about denying her I feel pain all the way to my heart!" The woman's face looked like a statue trying to weep. "Kill me, Termillion! If you escape she'll just carve more into me! She's going to make me into a monster!"
"I'm not going to kill you!"
Kayss dove under Ummi's sword, and the woman roared. "Stay still, you little bitch!"
"Make me!" Kayss grabbed a gear's tooth and rode it up, kicking away before it meshed with another and crushed her hand, soaring over Ummi and rolling to her feet with the stairs behind her. "Termillion!" she shouted, then turned to the stairs and started to descend.
The door at the other end opened and revealed almost half a dozen Umbris foot soldiers. Kayss stood staring at them, and when they caught sight of her they skidded to a halt, feet on the bottom step.
Kayss heard Ummi running up behind her, and let her eyes slip closed. When she opened them she saw Ummi nearly tumbling down the stairs. "Where did she go?" Ummi spun until she found Kayss standing behind her. "Get that look off your face or I'll take it off!"
Kayss grinned and pulled her hood low. "Make me."
Ummi shrieked and ran up, swinging her sword at the motionless girl. To her surprise, she missed, finding Kayss just a touch to the right of where she swung. She swung again, missing once more. A chuckle came from behind Kayss' hood, and Ummi's face curled into a mask of rage. She swung three times, and each time her sword failed to bite into Kayss.
Termillion watched the Umbris soldiers flood into the room. The stairs were out of reach. There was no other way down, and now their capture was all but assured.
He turned away from Hester and dodged over a gear spinning in a gap in the floor. Ummi had all her attention on his student, and he rushed forward, removing a dagger from his cloak. Kayss saw him approaching, and her eyes widened. Ummi spun, looking toward him, and was barely able to dash out of the way of his thrust. He flipped the knife's point into his fingers and threw it, hoping to pierce Ummi's black heart.
She twirled away and the knife struck the stone wall behind her, clattering to the ground. She found Kayss waiting when she finished her evasion, her dagger's point already nearly in the woman's stomach.
Ummi grabbed her wrist and squeezed. Immense heat, like a branding iron, erupted on Kayss' skin, and she screamed, trying to pull out of the grasp. Her weapon fell from her hand, and the pain drove her to her knees. Ummi laughed. "Now die!"
A body collided with her, moments before she would have plunged her sword into Kayss' skull. Ummi fell and rolled to her feet, finding Hester standing between her and Kayss. Ummi scowled and made a motion with her left hand.
Hester screamed, and blood erupted from every inch of skin emblazoned with a sigil. She collapsed, staring with unblinking eyes at the pool growing under her.
Termillion grabbed Kayss and set her on her feet. He looked at Hester's body, then at Ummi.
"She isn't dead, fool," Ummi said, getting up. "But when she wakes up I'll make her wish she was. I will cover every inch of her body with sigils. She'll be my puppet, and she will hunt you until she brings you to me with your hands cut off and your feet bound together." Ummi stood tall, every ounce of fury pointed at Termillion. "And then I'll kill her." She looked at the Umbris foot soldiers behind her. "Get them."
"What do we do?" Kayss asked. She and Termillion backed away. The tower's machinery whirled behind them.
Termillion looked at the clock's east face. The dawn was growing. He glanced up, at the multitude of gears, support beams, and engines. The ballast he had used to rise over Hester was still swinging. His eyes bounced from one section of the machinery to another. "We go up." He looked forward, at the approaching Umbris soldiers. "Now."
Without waiting for Kayss, he jumped on top of a gear and then bounced to a horizontal beam, finding Kayss already standing on it. She grinned at him.
"Keep your head small or it will be taken off," Termillion said. "Keep moving."
"After them!" Ummi shouted. "If you let them get away Hester will look on you with pity!"
Kayss shadowwalked to another safe rafter as Termillion jumped away from the pursuing Umbris. One of them was too fast, and got in front of his path. The other three who had chased them up surrounded him with weapons drawn. One of them felt a weapon enter from his back, and he fell off the rafter, trailing blood, Kayss standing behind him. Termillion used the new avenue to dash up high, bypassing the most hectic section of the machinery. Kayss followed, swinging on a rafter to land next to him. "You have a plan?"
Termillion pointed at the immense bells hanging at the very top of the room. "We'll bring those down and clear the way. In the confusion we escape."
"And destroy the clock tower in the process."
"I'm open to other suggestions."
Kayss looked behind her, at the three Umbris soldiers scaling the gears and pistons. She and Termillion were hungry, Termillion still had a wounded leg, and Kayss was barely an adult.
Termillion looked at her but didn't find her. He heard her voice from above, thirty feet over his head. "Last one to the top swims the sewers!" He sighed and clawed his way up toward the huge bells, chasing his shadow-quick student. With his stiff, tired leg he wasn't able to widen the distance between himself and the Umbris soldiers, and near the top of the room he looked back and found them closer. The dark-clothed figures looked silly in the pink dawn light, but their weapons were still sharp.
One of them swiped at him, cutting a corner out of his cloak, and he flipped to a supporting beam of the huge bells. He spun a knife in the man's direction but watched it sail under his legs as the man climbed onto the rafters.
"Termillion!" Kayss shouted, watching the other two soldiers climb up.
"Just get in place!" Termillion said. He shot a hand into his cloak and pulled out a rune-missile as Kayss brought herself higher, above the huge curve of the bells. She looked around for the proper cord to cut, and found they were instead thick iron chains. She went to one of them, creeping along the metal girders at the very top of the room until she reached one far above Ummi. She looked down at Termillion, who had thrown the rune-missile and missed, and then stumbled to a knee thanks to his injured leg.
She returned her eyes to the bell and searched for something she could cut. It was all metal--old, wrought, as thick as her wrist and ten times as tough. She jammed her dagger into a small opening between the chain and the bell and tried to pry it open. Her arms strained, and sweat beaded all over her as she heard the sounds of battle below her.
She looked past the bell at Termillion, but something else caught her eye. There was a great deal of light coming through the east clock face, and then a very bright yellow light, making her turn away. Her eyes widened. "Uh oh."
The bells under her climbed up, and the first awakening peals blew all other sound away. More bells added their ear-shattering voices, and even Kayss' scream became nothing at all as soon as it left her mouth. With one eye shut against the pain she grabbed the hilt of her dagger and wrenched it against the metal. She felt something snap, and looked to see the swinging bell falling toward Termillion. She shut the other eye and prayed he would see it.
He did, but there was no way to avoid it. It struck a number of girders on the way down, knocking them out of place, and then hit the rafter he and the other combatants stood on, rolling toward them. All three of the Umbris turned and dove off the rafter, latching onto other parts of the clock, which were quickly knocked out of their places. The entire room began to fall to pieces. The bell, like an immense boulder, rolled toward Termillion. His injured leg pointed out how foolish it would be to jump, and he spun, looking directly at the frosted glass of the clock's north face.
He glanced toward where Kayss had been but didn't see her. He cried out--some in pain, some in frustration--and charged the clock's face, firing the last rune-missile he had. As soon as it hit the glass a spiderweb of cracks spread from the point of impact. An instant later the glass fell to pieces and he dove through, the bell just behind him, smashing through the clock's hands.
He was hundreds of feet above the next-highest building, listening to the clock tear itself to pieces behind him, dawn's light blinding him, gravity sucking him down, and as he fell he rotated to see the bell falling toward him.
Then Kayss appeared next to him and grabbed his cloak.
The next thing he knew, he had struck a hard surface and was rolling. He'd landed on his shoulder, and as he skidded new pain bloomed all over his body. Eventually he stopped moving, lying on his back and staring at the colors of the new day's sky. He listened to destruction, a choir of metals singing their last song as the clock tower took itself to the ground. The surface he was on vibrated, and despite his pain he brought his head up. He felt dizzy.
He and Kayss were on a roof, not far from the clock tower which, he was surprised to see, still stood. More accurately, the tower still stood, but there was little clock remaining inside it. The north clock face wasn't the only one destroyed, and he could have seen straight through, had he been at the right level.
Kayss was on her stomach, unresponsive. He crawled to her, too aware of his injuries, and felt for a pulse. It was there, and strong. She groaned and shifted when she felt him. A moment later Termillion realized she was laughing. "I did it."
"Are you alright?"
"I did it."
"Did what?"
Kayss pushed herself up, slowly, gasping. Her hand went to her right arm. "I brought you with me. You shadowwalked with me."
Termillion looked far above where they were, at the face the bell had chased him through. They couldn't have survived the fall from such a height. "How?"
Kayss brought her knees under her and coughed, moving slowly. "I don't know. All that noise...I could barely see. But...I wasn't going to let you fall."
"Thank you, Kayss."
"I..." Kayss sat. "We survived."
"We need to keep moving."
"I know." She looked around. "Where?" She looked at him and grinned. "I can take us anywhere. We can go to the top of Hangman's tower. You won't even have to carry me."
"I need to sit and rest for a bit," Termillion said, letting himself down next to his student. "I'm not built for..." he looked up at the empty tower. He imagined the street around the building was littered with debris. He hoped no innocent people had gotten hurt. "I'm an old man, Kayss. I'm just supposed to be a teacher. I shouldn't be doing all this."
"It's over now," Kayss said, looking at the sky. "You can go back to teaching."
"Not yet, he can't."
Termillion found his feet immediately. His entire body lit up with pain, and he watched a hand grab the lip of the building's roof. Ummi pulled herself up, and a moment later Hester followed. Both women looked battered and beaten--Hester more so. Ummi had blood running down her face, and seemed to be moving her legs slowly, but Hester looked like little more than a sack of bones. He skin and clothing was torn, and Termillion saw hundreds of overlapping sigils, still glowing blue, urging her on. She could have been a sleepwalker. Bruises and bleeding wounds were everywhere.
"I told you, Termillion," Ummi said. She held her sword in her right hand, and raised it to point at him. Her eyes burned. "My sigils do more then control. They defend. They heal."
She shuffled forward. "I'm going to tie that little whore of yours down and cover her in sigils. I'm going to break her mind up and gobble every little piece down! I'm going to make her an empty husk...but first I'm going to kill you!"
She rushed at him, and his body failed. He couldn't move fast enough to get out of the way. The sword came in toward him, then Ummi stopped. Something had blocked her.
Kayss held on to the hilt of the sword, gripping hard, as her blood dripped off the blade. Termillion saw it poking out her back, wet and red.
Ummi shook her off and turned again to Termillion, who had found his strength. He appeared alongside her and tore the sword from her hand, then grabbed the fingers of her left hand. The sword whistled down and cut through her left wrist, and Termillion was left holding the hand of the woman who had killed Kayss.
The sigils on Hester's skin went out, turning black, and she collapsed, painless for the first time in days. Ummi backed away, holding the stump to her chest, then looked at Termillion's face. She turned and sprinted toward the edge of the roof and jumped down. Termillion watched her go, then threw her hand after her. He sprang to Kayss, finding her with her hands pressed to her stomach and her clothes soaked with blood.
He knelt next to her and tried to turn her over. She gasped and coughed, and blood ejected from her mouth.
"Kayss...you shouldn't have done that."
"I know," she said. Her face was full of pain, creased and trembling. "You've always been so worried about me."
"I was your tutor."
She coughed. "That's not all you were. Right dad?"
"Kayss..."
"I know," she said. Her voice was faint. "I know. I love you too."
She stopped trembling.
Termillion closed her eyes. Her body was so small, just like her mother's. Small and lithe and full of life. Now she was dead, just like her mother. Both of the women who had made his heart sing were dead.
He looked at Hester. She was asleep. With Ummi's controlling hand severed, Hester was free to rest.
Termillion stood, wobbling, Kayss' corpse in his arms. He wandered toward the edge of the building, and saw the devastation she had caused when she'd freed the swinging bell. Almost a dozen buildings were destroyed, gears and rods and girders and colossal bells lay on the streets. People already swarmed around the rubble, trying to find anyone buried underneath.
Termillion took heavy breaths. Tears sprang to his eyes, and he tried to blink them away. Kayss' body was light, but his arms still shook.
"You killed me daughter," Termillion said to the city. "You killed my daughter, Ummi! You killed my daughter! I'm going to come after you! I'm going to destroy you! There won't be anywhere you can hide from me! There will be nowhere to run!
"Do you hear me? I'm coming for you! I will burn this city down around you!"
TO BE CONTINUED