Spirit Wrangler

Please note that this book was written several years ago and is largely unedited.

PART 1

Chapter 1 - Sareti

Sareti slipped a small dagger into her hair as was custom and stepped into the grand hallway. Her eyes widened momentarily but she quickly smoothed her face. I am used to this, she told herself, nothing is out of the ordinary. Eyes that were used to lavish carpets and tapestries followed her as she flowed down the black carpet. They think they are being discreet! She thought and suppressed a smile. 

The wide hallway opened out, carpet becoming polished dark wood and the tapestries becoming ornate stands holding vials of spirit fire. She grimaced both at the number of people watching her and the source of the light. They flaunt their wealth in front of eyes that could be those of a thief. 

She stopped to exchange greetings with those who would be rude to ignore but her attention remained on a man in purple robes, long hair tied in a dark bun like hers, with a short dagger through it.

She stepped from between the last two groups of expensively dressed couples and stopped before him. He turned his rough face towards her and froze, his company forgotten about. He glanced from side to side before stepping closer to her. Did he just do that so I would have to look up at him?  

He put his hand on his forehead and dipped his head. Sareti mirrored his action. She suddenly wished for the sense of spirit fire coursing up through her but pushed it away, it was far too dangerous here.

“Sareti Ven,” he said, any sense of shock now suppressed, “I was not… expecting you.” His lips barely moved as he spoke, the sound barely loud enough for her to hear. She smiled at the unease in his tone.

“I just thought to thank you for your hospitality,” she said. “Of course, how did you get past the guards?” His eyes widened, “I didn’t mean that, you must understand that I am informed of every guest…”

“Of course,” Sareti said sweetly. She looked around the room as if judging his guests and continued, “You have quite a range of guests here, but I don’t see the king.”

“He was… busy,” Badsin said, stumbling over his words, “Busy with the duties of the king, I am sure.”

She almost grinned, in East Seshi she would never have managed such a manoeuvre without them seeing through it, now for the barb. “Tell me, I see many vials of spirit fire, but surely you have one of the biggest in the whole of Seshi,” she gestured to a long vial of swirling red fire hanging from the roof with gold chains.

“One of the biggest,” Badsin said, seeming to forget his misstep, “But definitely not the biggest, I am always searching…” He cut off, gaze swinging back to her, eyes narrowing. 

“They are beautiful,” Sareti said quickly gazing up in wonder, only half faked, “the way they swirl around like they are alive.”

“Yes, but I must go, I have other guests I promised I would speak to,” he bowed his head to her and stepped back, quickly disappearing through the crowd. 

Sareti could hardly contain her grin as she wove her way back through the huge room and into the corridor. She slowed in the hallway and swept down it as if she were in no hurry at all when her legs wanted to run and then slipped back through the door she had come through. Welcoming darkness enveloped her.

She leaned back against the closed door letting out a sigh and a grin spread across her face. It had never been so easy to trick nobles into mentioning the mysterious lost vial. The stories of a vial big enough that the user could reshape the landscape of Seshi would spill their words as they drooled over the thought of it.

The sound of a distant footstep rouser her from her slump and she let the spirit fire course through her, her dark skin glowing bright. She dashed off down the hallway, kicking off her shoes feeling the soft carpet through her feet. 

This corridor was slimmer and shorter, leading to a set of spiral stairs that twisted out of view. A thin layer of dust coated the worn handrail and the stone steps. She shook her head in wonder, if Badsin had enough money to have carpets laid in unused hallways then he surely could feed the streets and streets of hungry  people further down the city. Even in the East, leaders were not greedy with their money, things like that could be burned or stolen.  

She froze. One set of footprints marred the dust, on every second step. Whoever had come here had been in a hurry. She proceeded with more caution, dimming her glowing fist so that she could just see. Then she reached the top, dust ending in a wooden door.

She pushed it open and stepped out into a well lit hallway, the glow vanishing from her skin. She froze. Across the black carpet lay two prone forms in polished scaled armour. Someone is here for the same reason I am, she thought, it was true that many of the more powerful nobles in West seshi were discreetly searching for this giant vial, it was possible that one of them had decided to make an open move.

Otherwise the hallway was empty, ending to her right and left with a window, the dark night just visible in the distance. 

The first five doors opened onto empty rooms, full of furniture but empty of anything else, some with beds that might have been for guests. 

She glanced to either side and bent down, pressing her hand to the keyhole. A glow began to show from the metal beneath and the smell of charring wood filled her head. Then there was a crack and the door swung inwards. 

She drew breath. The room was lit. She sighed with relief when she realised that it was empty of people. She stepped inside glancing around. A tall bookcase lined one wall, the others panelled with stained wood matching a wide desk piled with papers haphazardly scattered across it.

The door thudded shut behind her as she stepped across the room in three short steps. She quickly began sifting through the papers. Nothing. She rounded the desk and emptied the contents of a drawer onto the floor. Nothing again. She grumbled in frustration. 

“Looking for these?” Sareti almost jumped in shock. The voice came from a man no taller than she with dark skin and short black hair. He wore wide black trousers and a loose black shirt that was cut off just below the shoulder.

She jumped onto the desk sending papers flying, baring a long dagger. 

The man raised an eyebrow and leaned against the wooden panels. 

“What is on them?” Sareti said in a level tone. 

“Something that you should not be looking at, information that is very dangerous, should this get into the wrong…”

“Shut up.” She jumped down from the desk and launched herself forwards, knife slashing where he had been. The floorboard under her cracked and she tripped sending her crashing against the wall. 

“You will rouse the whole castle!” He said now sitting on the desk, tucking the papers into his shirt.

Sareti pulled herself to her feet looking around for her dagger. No matter, she had other weapons. Let him think she was unarmed. She stepped closer, feeling the floorboards as she went. 

“Just let me see them once and we can both leave without the guards finding us.”

“I don’t think so,” the man said. She was sure he was grinning behind those mischievous eyes although his face was serene. “You see, the more people that know about what we are searching for, the more people are likely to die.”

Sareti stopped in her tracks, only two paces from the man. Close enough to… “What do you mean?”

He sighed before speaking, “If a noble or the king finds this ‘giant’ vial of spirit earth then the East will be wiped from the map, and if you or a leader finds it, this castle will be among rubble."

Sareti found her mouth hanging open but snapped it shut realising she had let her Eastern accent slip through. “How do you know all this?” She said, “And why do you care. This place is full of rich selfish people.” 

“The east isn’t?” 

She pursed her lips. Of course if she did find it then she would use it but not to destroy West Seshi, just the rich parts of it, she even felt sorry for some of its inhabitants, ignorant as they were.

“You might want to get out of here,” he said standing, “Being caught is bad enough but if they find out what you can do then I think you will find something worse than a cell waiting for you.”

He darted out of the room before she could speak, the door banging against the wall in his wake. She stood there staring at it for several moments before she heard the heavy footsteps from the hallway. She grimaced and glanced back at the papers. He would not have left anything useful behind.

She stepped out into the hallway. Spotting the running guards instantly, armour clinking. Despite herself she chuckled, the guards were carrying their boots as they ran. They dropped them as soon as they saw her and lowered short spears.

Sareti made for the end of the hallway where she hoped there would be another staircase. There wasn’t. She burst the last door open with just her momentum, the glow in her arm gone. An empty room, a table, two chairs and a hearth next to a small window. She made for the window but when a knife nicked her ear and clattered onto the floor she dived for the fireplace. My spirit fire is low, she thought. Blasting the window open would require more.   

She kept her face turned away, she couldn’t let any of them recognise her. They fanned out into the room, long and unpractical spears pointed towards her. They approached her warily. In normal circumstances, more than two guards would not be needed, but someone in Badsin's quarters could easily be a trained assassin. She was more dangerous or at least she liked to think so.

She pushed her hand into the fire, letting the glow run up her arm and into the rest of her body until she was lighting the room just as much as the fire was. She looked up, if only they would just run. They had stopped, eyes wide. Then as one, they moved, long spears covering the distance quickly. 

Sareti slammed her palm against the stone floor. She felt the explosion lift her off the ground but when she landed, the guards were lying prone against a very blackened wall. Along with the broken pieces that had been a table and chair. Several forms groaned, others didn’t move.

The door was gone, blasted back into the hallway, as was the window, letting in a cool breeze. She pushed her hand into the fire again which was only a few glowing embers now and made for the window. She slid through it with ease, dropping down the other side. Sareti pushed the glow down to her feet as she fell, hands scraping against the cold wall.

The dark ground came up to meet her and then a shock travelled up her body and she landed in a heap on carefully tended grass, echoes of her landing still bouncing off the castle walls. 

She jumped up and ran away from the castle walls. She very nearly ran into a group of guards hastily making for the castle, drawn by the sound of the explosions. 

She slowed as she approached a watchtower and a thick metal gate. The only break in the outer courtyard. The walls were difficult to climb, she had tried that already, no there was an easier way. 

She produced a large key that was tucked behind the knife in her hair and slid it into the lock, then after levering it open and locking it behind her, stepped out into East Seshi.

West Seshi was quiet compared to East, over the other side of the estuary. Well at least in the wealthy part, with houses in neat lines, streets empty save for glowing street lights, glass spheres encasing swirling spirit fire. It almost felt sad to have it trapped like that, unused and slowly fading until they were replaced.

Of course, if they were not being used as street lights they would be used in killing eastern mercenaries. She supposed that she preferred them lighting streets. The fact that she didn’t know how they were made still irritated her them, she had no idea. She had tried herself, pulling in a spirit and putting it inside a glass container but it had just resulted in an exploding glass. 

Sareti met nobody on the street for a long while before people began to appear out of the shadows, long flowing robes of black and grey. She suddenly felt exposed in her tattered dress, so she clung to the edges of the buildings as she walked.

As soon as she caught sight of a few people she leapt up and grabbed the closest second story windowsill, effortlessly pulling herself up and up until she was clambering up rough roof tiles. 

She stopped on the ridge of the roof for a few moments to pull off her dress exposing a tight black shirt and short trousers with folds of black cloth sewn over it diagonally so that nobody would be able to tell what they saw was actually a human.

She slipped along the roof and jumping the short gap to the next one. She was in no rush so slowed as soon as the distant shouts of guards were blown away by the warm breeze. 

Something moved in front of her and she let herself fall forwards, catching herself with her hands and pressing herself against the roof. Nothing moved for several moments until a shape, clearly defined as human with dark leatherbark strips, wound around them covering every bit of skin. Her breath caught. 

An Otess! Anger surged up in her but was swallowed by the gaping hole of fear. She had only sene one twice since arriving in West Seshi although she knew that there had likely been more she had missed. But here was one crouching on the ridge of the roof barely twenty paces from her. It seemed to be staring across the street at a building there.

She turned her head slowly and followed its gaze. The house opposite was boarded up, windows covered although cracks of light seeped from one almost level with them. She frowned, Otess did not kill poor people, not usually, surely nobody who owned a house like that was worth hiring an Otess to kill them. Unless they wanted it done with no chance of it failing.

The Otess moved, striding down the roof in two paces and disappearing over the edge without a sound. She didn’t even hear it land but caught sight of it again briefly as it slipped through the door to the house. 

She sighed with relief and pushed herself to her feet and began to move again. She always assumed that they were after her but then nobody should have anything against ‘Sareti Ven’ to send an Otess against her, unless some of the nobles had realised it was her, breaking into their offices and stealing everything they had on the giant vial. 

She began to move along the roof and stopped glancing at the building again. If an Otess were going inside an abandoned house there must be something important there, someone. 

Nothing to do with me, she thought, but what if it has something to do with the vial… 

Before she knew it she was pulling herself up the opposite windowsill and straightening against the wooden boards that covered the opening. Sure enough there was a finger width of a gap at one side. Voices came to her ears as she pressed her eye up again the slit. She blinked at the dim light in the room.

The light came from a vial the size of her fist in the centre of a round table. Around it sat a dozen men and woman dressed in dark clothes, faces shadowed by cloak cowls.

“The Otess are being less discreet,” A woman’s voice said, “Why they killed a whole family that I was friendly with just two days ago.”

“A year ago that would have been unheard of,” a deeper voice said, “but now it is common.”

Sareti frowned. Otess killing a whole family? It was unheard of, they were employed to do a job, usually one or two deaths and that was that, but a family?

A murmur of agreement rounded the table and a different woman spoke, “Surely it is not a coincidence that the ‘family’ were instrumental in the king securing his role, he is in deeper water now, without them to back him he will have a more difficult time…” 

Sareti wondered which family it had been. She had not heard of anything like that but then again the nobles were quite good at keeping news from lesser nobles and regular people. Once again she wished she had taken the role of a more powerful noble.

“I still don’t know if I agree with you though,” the deeper voice said, “the Otess would not meddle in the politics, they are just assassins, blasted things.”

Sareti’s eyes widened. Otess meddling in politics? That was just impossible. 

“It is that or somebody is employing them very frequently to undermine the king and a handful of other powerful nobles here, I also hear that something similar is happening in the East, although they are all probably in league with the Otess, Eastern fools.”

Sareti bit her lip to stop from hissing. 

“We are the only ones,” another man said, “we need to spread this information through the city, if what you think is true then we have a bigger danger than even the East trying to invade again, the Otess could provide a huge threat and we would not even realise until they controlled us.”

A low laugh rounded the room but the hooded people nodded. Something thudded from inside the room and the sound cut off. She felt a chill inside her as the door burst open revealing a shape wrapped in leatherbark strips.

The people screamed and drew long daggers from their belts and some from behind their cowls. But most of their slashes just glanced off the tough bark as the Otess moved among them like a viper. Cracks sounded and screams cut off as the Otess grabbed peoples necks and quickly twisted them. 

Sareti pulled her knife free of her hair but stopped herself from bursting through the boards, the blades that punched into the hide and drew blood didn’t slow the Otess. She let out a small gasp of fear as she watched, frozen in her half crouch.

Within moments there was silence again and the Otess pulled a dagger from its side, the blood stopping almost immediately. She frowned. Surely that would have hampered it. Then its gaze swung towards her, locking on her. It darted for the door.

Sareti let out a yelp and jumped, landing with a crash on the street below, pavers cracking under her bare feet. A woman staggered back from where she had landed, a tall woman. “Run!” Sareti said but the woman just shook her head meeting her panicked gaze with a cool one. Sareti dashed off into the night, zig zagging through the city until her breath was so ragged she thought she might cough up her lungs. She then quietly slipped through a dark set of gates and up to a house, hidden in the darkness.

Chapter 2 - Sareti

Sareti gave up trying to sleep and pushed the blanket off, careful not to knock the papers piled next to it onto the stone floor. Even though there was no torches this deep in the cellar a purple light pulsed in the room coming from a collection of wrangling vials on one wall, illuminating a narrow hall of a room.

Her desk was clear, papers that had been stacked on it previously now in piles, their contents imbedded in her memory. It only seemed to serve her frustration at losing what she knew would have been a new lead to a man that had made her feel like a fool. 

She stood up and pulled on a pair of deep red trousers so wide that she thought she might fit several of her stacks of papers in them and a black coat that lay across the simple chair, cuffs so heavy with worked silver that she thought they were meant to keep her hands at her sides. 

Although there was no draft here, with the only entrance shut tight, she shivered and opened the door to the main cellar, a think oak construction that looked on one side to be just another shelf.

The smell of old wine hit her. The woman who had previously owned the house must have stopped drinking the stuff for the remaining barrels were undrinkable and covered in dust.

She pushed the door shut behind her and light burst from her feet, illuminating only the stone steps under them. Through another thick door and into the main house.

Sareti shoved down the spirit fire and stalked through the expensively furnished hallways in the dim moonlight. Nothing moved so far as she could tell but who was to know where an Otess could hide unseen. 

Don’t think about it! She thought gritting her teeth, they didn’t even know who she was, there was no reason for them to hunt for her anyway. Of course if she were the only person remaining who had been at that meeting, or had witnessed it at least that made her a target. 

She shook her head, if only she could get a definitive answer to where this vial was hidden. Every lead she had found, stolen, had led her to dead ends. If only I knew what that man knew, she thought, that was if he knew more than her. Unlikely, she had spent months on the case, too many months. 

“If you are hiding,” she called out, “Then I am waiting.” She gave a laugh that sounded too forced and found her way to the kitchen, a strange room full of cupboards and surfaces that were supposed to be used to prepare food on. 

The remains of her first and last attempt to make some food still rested on an ornate plate. Instead she pulled a slice of thick bread and cheese from a stone box, the lid so heavy she had to heave it half way off to slip her hand in. 

She returned to the room that most resembled her rooms in the East with comfy chairs and a low table, all except the huge windows giving her an admittedly beautiful view of the city below. Very stupid, she thought, windows like that were absolutely defenceless. She sat there for a long while before she realised that a glow had spread across the eastern sky. 

She pulled on a waist length cloak that was also deep red and stepped into soft slippers. The footwear was almost as stupid as the windows and on every step through the dark garden she thought they might fall off but apparently it was not acceptable to wander through the city barefoot, this meant at least she could kick them off if need be.

She soon exited the small grove of mansions and dark gardens to enter the city for proper. Here the buildings stood next to each other, the curved roofs extending over the street to provide shade and rain cover, and also, she thought grimly , shadows for Otess hide in. A few dark figures between them moved into the street but she drew a long dagger from her curly hair letting it spill down her back. Without breaking stride she replaced it, the figures gone. She smiled, back home it was never so easy. The smile slipped when she remembered the Otess. They would not shrink back from a dagger, not even from a dozen, or two dozen, a whole room of people and not one of them managed… 

She started as a somebody darted out from another alleyway, further down the street. Her hand went to her dagger but she stopped, hand on head when she realised that the figure was a young boy, maybe half her age.

She dropped her hand and waited as he ran up to her. 

“I am sorry my lady,” he said, averting his eyes, “I did not mean to disturb you from your walk but I was to deliver a note.” 

“Who from?” She started but the boy was already disappearing into the alleyway. She sighed and stepped under a pulsing red lamp. Spirit fire. It was strange how they treated those like her with contempt as animals yet they used their abilities everywhere.

She unfolded the rough parchment and read it. I apologise for the inconvenience I caused you, it read, it is much too important. CASTLE MERHN. Tonight. 

Sareti read it several times more and then crumpled it in her fist, before dropping the ashes to the street, “As if I would fall for that,” she said out loud. There was no doubt who had sent the note, but he surely was trying to trick her into a false lead, she had broken into Castle Merhn before, and had found it empty of anything of importance. Unless there was something I missed. “I am not an idiot,” she said loud enough that it echoed off the walls, glowing now with the sunrise. 

She set off again no longer caring if her walk befitted a noble or not, anybody who commented would regret it. 

The view of the harbour brimming with tall masted ships of all shapes and sizes improved as the street began to slope more steeply. This time in the morning the West felt like it was holding its breath. Few people moved this early and she saw no sign of a patrol of city guards, not yet. There hadn’t been any large scale fighting for at least the last few months. 

Eventually she reached the correct street that branched off her own and followed the narrower one in between two large inns. It opened up into a large training ground where noises of guard drills were being shouted out and the thudding feet seemed drummed through her head. The building at the end of the drill yard was long and wide roofed like most this side of the estuary although it only covered two stories. She strode right up to the main entrance and pushed her way inside, the scaled guards to either side not even bothering to ask whom she was. If they really knew who I am then they would have a fit. 

As soon as she stepped inside two younger woman fell in beside her without a word and flanked her as she walked down the hallway, bare of even the most basic furnishings save for a huge desk at the far end and many heavy doors shut tight.

A middle aged man sat behind the desk and looked up as they approached. He grimaced and didn’t try to hide it but held out his hand anyway. She slipped a metal plaque into it which he glanced at before almost throwing it back to her.

“Take her up.” He hesitated, “Any reason why you visit Venar so often?”

Sareti just turned and strode to the closest door without checking the guards were there, in what she hoped was a good enough impression of a noblewoman.

A few moments later she was standing in front of another door. The guard put a hand on her arm to stop her opening it and opened it herself stepping in and out before letting her past. She entered an office that was a stark contrast to the hallway outside. Bare stone walls and cold floors had been replaced with dark stained wood, a tall bookcase and another large desk. Where the rest of the building had been barely furnished the room was full of clutter, stacks of papers, old chairs and even a few lamps although there was no need with large windows letting in the morning sunlight. 

“Venar,” she said bowing her head.

“Sareti Ven,” he said stiffly and waved his arm at the guards by her side. A moment later the heavy door clicked shut. “What brings you here today,” he said. He sank back into his chair and began fidgeting with a pure black quill, not seeming to notice that he was bending it.

Sareti pulled a chair from the side of the room that might hold her weight and sat down opposite him, resting her hands on the table. “You know why I am here,” she said forcing him to look her in the eyes.”

He sighed and placed the quill in its holder, folding his hands as if to stop them from moving. “Of course, you want another lead. Sareti, these leads are difficult to find, if anyone traces them back to me, well I might meet the same fate as if…” he gestured to her, “as if I can wrangle fire.”

“Don’t talk about that,” she snapped and he flinched, his chair creaking. She gritted her teeth, if anyone overheard her asking about the weapon they might find someone following them, if someone heard that she could wrangle fire then she would have half an army and a dozen water wranglers holding her death warrant. “Do you have anything new?” She said forcing her voice level.

“New?” He laughed, sounding forced, “Nothing new, what happened with the last lead I helped you find?”

“Do you know if anyone else is looking for the weapon?”

“Of course there is,” he said frowning, “Almost every powerful noble has people searching for the thing, in the estuary and around the city.”

“Not like that,” Sareti said, “Do you know if anyone is also doing what I am doing, breaking in to steal the information.”

“I… I don’t know, Sareti I have helped you a lot and you haven’t even told me what the thing you are searching for really is other than it is important.”

She pursed her lips pushing down the guilt. He didn’t know it but if she found it what she did with it would help people here too, well some of them at least. “I am the one risking my skin out there, just last night I was almost caught by the guards, and you know what will happen if I am caught.” He paled. Of course he was sure that if she was caught someone would trace her nightly activities back to him. 

“I don’t know anything about somebody like you,” he said sighing again, “I have had reports come through of such happening but unless they are with you they must be very good at what they do.”

“That’s just it,” she said, “I reached the room I wanted to find last night and instead found that it had been ransacked already, and he was still there. He taunted me with them before he left. I was too busy trying to escape the guards to follow him.”

“I think this is more about your pride than the lost papers,” Venar said a slight smile that reminder her of him before he had come to the west. But of course he could not have been what she had thought he was if he had decided to come here.

“Yes and no,” she said biting back a retort, she needed Venar’s help, or it made things easier for her, “But what if I find that everywhere I go now, he has already been, what if the information I have already found was left by him.”

“That is unlikely,” Venar said, “But not impossible, you need to accept that you will have to break into the King’s palace at some point. Even though I know nothing of his research into the weapon, if there is anywhere that holds information about it this side of the estuary, it is that place.”

It was Sareti’s time to sigh. Not yet, she thought, I am sure there is something I am missing before I try that. In truth she didn’t want to break into his palace, it was almost certain she would not escape. 

“There is something else,” Venar said and she looked up, “If you want to outsmart this man, follow him, find a way to steal his information. The easiest way to find what you want to know is to find where he keeps his information…”

“Perfect,” Sareti breathed standing up, the chair almost tumbling backwards on its wobbly legs, “Thank you.” 

Venar almost smiled but instead shook his head, “Sareti, don’t get yourself caught, he is likely working for another noble and is probably very dangerous.”

“I won’t give them your name if I have to cut my tongue off,” she assured him but he shook his head.

“Look after yourself.” He pulled another pile of papers across his desk and began to study it as if she were only another of his chairs. Sareti shook her head in wonder before stepping out of the room to be flanked with guards again. It was surely the first time he had worried about her and not his own skin. 

A while later she was pushing open a set of heavy gates and walking through her slightly overgrown garden up to a wide house of swooping rooflines and polished columns. Being secretive meant not employing servants and since she only ate in the main house there was little cleaning to do anyway. So long as nobody comes for a look, she thought with a grimace. Even so she walked with a spring in her step. 

It isn’t about my pride, this man really will have a wealth of information stored somewhere, she thought, or at least the noble he worked for would. She couldn’t imagine a noble sneaking about another nobles castle.

She hung her short cloak on a peg, realising her hand was white with ash. I don’t need your help, she thought, or your traps. Now for her to set her own trap. She tramped down the stairs to the stone basement, kicking off her slippers as she went relishing the freedom of her skin against the cold stone. She sometimes wished for a day when she could wear what she liked without seeming out of place. It was also a practical reason as well, wrangling fire needed your skin to work and it only made it difficult with heavy clothes on.

She pushed open the door to the basement and entered the long rough room. She wasn’t sure if it had been to store valuables, even vials as it did now but it was useful, even if she could not use the vials already being a wrangler. 

The blue light from the spirit water vials and the red light from the spirit fire vials seemed to merge and almost swirl through the room. The single vial at the end, the only one that was ceramic and did not glow, was the most valuable but equally useless to her. If she could use it, she could have a larger office, for it was an earth vial, just like the weapon she searched for was. That was almost all she knew of it and its uses. 

The only earth vials she had ever seen were like this, still with dirt stains from where they had been dug up on one of the estuary islands. Of course that was because there was no earth wranglers, at least there had not since the city had split and therefor no new vials. The one she held now, as long as her forearm and as thick as her fist had belonged to her father, had been found by him. He had joked about using it to help unearth an ancient building he had been studying but that was a wasteful use for it, they were more valuable than most houses. She set it down carefully and and the memories rested with it.

Sitting at her desk, she pulled out her smallest stack of papers. Those on top were her own copies, put together of all the locations of the earth vials that various nobles had found. She set them to one side and sifted through the rest of the stack, the individual reports. She picked out two and then another at random and stood. If she were to lure in her bait then she must make it worth it for him. 

He could have been in the house before, she thought, he would know that she was not really what she said she was. True her name was the same but she was on the wrong side of the estuary.

Sareti sat with the papers and a mug of hot wine from a small cask that was propped on top of one of the surfaces. She finished it and dropped the papers to the table and stood up, fetching her cloak and slippers which still lay on the steps and left the house. I hope you are watching, she thought wryly as she ducked into the unkept hedge at the bottom of her garden grunting at the thorns catching her curly hair and loosing a black strand to fall across her face. 

She didn’t have to wait long for she saw movement as a cloaked figure rounded the corner of her house and pushed open the door, frowning at it for a second. Of course she thought, I have never left it open before. He was gone for a while but eventually reappeared and disappeared around the house. Got you! She grinned and untangled her hair before almost running around the side of the garden just in time to see him step out into the street. 

She followed him into the city. She frowned as he ducked into one of the poorer streets where a layer of filth covered the pavers and people watched behind half opened doors. Surely he worked for a noble and there was surely no nobles in this part of the city. 

Although the man occasioned a few look, many stared at her with angry eyes and doors were shut at the sight of her. She gritted her teeth, if they gave her away…

The man almost rounded the city from narrow streets to the docks and them back up through the gardens of the mansions before… Sareti stepped out into an open area in front of a huge building, a castle. She groaned as the man was let though the gates by the guards. A trap indeed, this was Mehrn Castle, the one from the note. 

I have to follow his note after all, she thought grimly turning around, no wonder she had found nothing here. If this man had any sense he would not follow the lazy habits of those he stole from.

 Chapter 3 - Tayella

Tayella hurried along the dark street. She was late, and she was never late. She pulled her cloak around her, the tight clothing underneath did little to keep out the cold. She resisted the spirit water surging beneath the surface of her skin, there was a time and a place for that, and it was not in an open street where anyone could see.

Finally she reached the building at the end of the street, only one street away from the estuaries edge. Thankfully the moon was not out so the crossing should be easier.

She pushed open a door after knocking twice and made sure to make her arrival obvious. The last time she had forgotten, she had found herself bruised and tied up until they had realised who she was. It had been sore way to find out that her security was tight. 

The hallway was pitch black but memory carried her along it, right and then through another door. The room was huge but mostly empty. In the middle were three simple chairs where a middle aged woman sat, richly dressed, pale skin and hair showing from beneath a wide cowl. She couldn’t remember this woman coming from the west but she certainly wasn’t eastern. 

The other person in the room was a man, around twenty who wore tight clothing like her and a mottled cloak over his shoulders. His dark face and brown hair mostly hidden by a deep cowl. His glowing hand illuminated the room, a deep red that pulsed just under the dark skin.

“Tay! Finally, It has been a while, are you sure you don’t have  the cold daggers?” She chuckled pulling on a different cloak, like his which would blend in better. 

“Cold daggers? I haven’t heard that one in a while, reminds me of the time when you wouldn’t…”

He cut her off with a wave of his hand, sending shadows swinging around the room.

“Finally,” the woman on the chair echoed, standing up, a band of cloth covered her eyes but it didn’t seem to affect her like it did with almost everyone. A westerner then. The attitude was most definitely a western noble. She ground her teeth but didn’t react. She would not be baited by a noble. 

Instead she said, “It isn’t often we have the likes of you with us.”

The woman raised her eyebrows and stepped closer. She seemed to loom slightly even though Tayella was a good half-head taller than her. “I didn’t think your sort minded unless you got your moneys worth. 

She opened her mouth but Hase cut her off, pulling the woman away from her.

“Hase…” Tay started but he had already put his face level with the woman. 

“Shut up,” he hissed, “You will not speak like that, or at all, it is not just your life at risk here.” The woman pursed her lips so she could give him credit for that.

She let Hase take the lead. It was safer that way, more difficult for people to work out who owned her illegal business venture. Both the west and all of the eastern factions knew about the crossings of the estuary, the west couldn’t do much about it although they tried their hardest to disrupt it and the east would never openly accept it but every faction leader and their associates  liked the service when they needed it for themselves. 

Hase slipped a brace around the woman’s hands stopping her from reaching for any weapons that she might be hiding and led the way out of the room through the same door. Again they walked in darkness until a door opened out onto a narrow canal street.

The boat was slim and long, with Hase at the front and the woman behind. 

Quietly they all slipped into the low seats and Tay slid her hands into the water. The familiar sensation of spirit water flowed up her arms and over her skin. Then they began to move without the need of a pole or oars, just her hand in the water. 

She didn’t really know how she did it but it did work because they slid past island after island and past some of the last sentry towers without hitch. But that was the easy bit. Unfortunately the mist wasn’t low tonight so if the moon appeared then they would be seen quite a bit away. 

They picked up speed and soon the wind flapped her clothing. She pulled her hand out of the water as soon as the glow from the Betrayer’s walk became multiple lights and they continued moving. Their passenger sat silently in the centre of the boat gripping the side. 

They passed out of the city and into the islands that protected the city from the biggest waves and hid the sight of the western wall. A dark structure loomed out of the islands far to the right but she kept her eyes from it. The Otess stronghold always made her shiver however many times she saw it.

“Hase,” she said, “Now!”

Hase, barely visible in front of her suddenly glowed and there was a hiss as he leaned over the side and steam rose around them. She made them go faster, now completely unable to see and relying on her memory. Then the mist faded.

The wall loomed out of the darkness, a tall formidable boundary between the water and West seshi. She wondered what would happen if she could not get back. It was a silly thought, she would not last long. Maybe Sareti would tell her about it when she returned. Most likely horrible stories about their cruel ways. Completely different from the East. Sometimes the stories she heard from people about the west made her question if the west was actually full of people and not just Otess.

The wall got bigger and bigger until it was all they could see looking forward. The boat slowed, without Tay to propel it along and came to a stop less than a pace away from the wall. Waves now rocked the boat where before it had not, a slight benefit. Thankfully their cargo knew enough to keep silent. 

It was huge, and almost unclimbable, almost, for she was about to do it. Hase passed the end of a long rope to her and grasped her arm in for a long moment. She grasped his back with a smile. As she unclasped her cloak letting it fall.

She looked up one last time but everything was still and so she let her cloak fall from her shoulders and pushed herself out of the boat and into the water. To begin with the water was cold but then she felt the familiar rushing sensation of the power. She could almost feel the current that would take her out into the ocean. 

She let herself lie on her back and gathered her thoughts. Concentrating hard she willed the coating of water than she could feel like a garment over her skin join with the water beneath her and she began to rise out of the water. Up and up she went, the sound of water swirling beneath her a gentle gurgle. She only got to around five paces up before she lost the sensation of power. And she wobbled looping the end of the rope around her arm. 

She swayed towards the wall and latched onto it, searching with her hands for the familiar stone. There it was. She grabbed onto it and slipped her feet into the cracks. She let out a quiet sigh when she let the water holding her up go. 

Up Tayella climbed, slowly and methodical. The tips of her fingers glowed slightly lighting the narrow gaps but she almost didn’t need that. Had it always been this long? She put her hand on the last stone and peeked over. She could barely see the outlines of the guards standing stock still. 

These were night guards, who stood straight in their painted black armour until a low drum beat was heard then they would move along one position, around ten paces. The problem was that the beat was completely irregular and unpredictable. Although it must be repeated to cover the whole wall. Maybe if she could find out what the pattern was she would have a much easier time.

They were formidable, facing out into the estuary but their real defence was how quiet they were and how well they could hear because their hoods covered their eyes obviously to  try and make them listen. Every few however had no hood.

She was impressed every time, this was the reason why the East had never gained ground on the West. Figuring out their pattern could result in the East completely taking the wall. It might even be more effective than Sareti’s mythical weapon. She shook her head and set about attaching a small pulley to the wall and then wrapping the rope around it. 

The rope after a few seconds went taught but thankfully didn’t creak like some did. She had learned to avoid those ropes the hard way. He pointed to the guards who suddenly moved and then to her and down. She shook her head. If she was getting people to do this she had to at least make sure it was still working as it used to do. She pulled herself over the edge and slipped through the gap between guards in her soft boots. She unwrapped another rope around her waist as the drum beat sounded again and let it drop over this side of the wall. She then tied it around the stone at this side and slipped back across. She waited patiently and a few minutes later Hase peeked over the top.

Hase shook his head but tied the end of the rope around his waist and let himself back down. His weight was enough that it would pull the woman up and sure enough another few moments passed and she was pulling the woman over the edge and set her down. She then removed the winch and threw it as far away from the wall as she could, the rope disappearing after it. 

Now this was the dangerous part. She lifted the woman onto her back, bracing herself with water when the guards moved again, she crossed the parapet. She removed the woman’s blindfold although that would do little good and passed her the slack of the rope. The woman disappeared. She waited until the rope was slack and was about to let it fall when a distant thud sounded and then another and another. She strained her eyes, crouching down. There was just enough light to see dark shapes clearly human moving between the guards. Otess! The thought curdled her blood and she bit back a yelp. Then something emerged from the wall where she had been about to cross to, another dark shape. 

It began to move towards her. How can it see me? She thought then she noticed the glow in her hands around the end of the rope. She could feel the sensible part of her screaming nooooo but before she knew it she was sliding down the smooth rope. Her feet touched the ground.

Not so difficult. What now? Of course that was the easy bit. She looked around. Long and low warehouses loomed in front of her in the darkness but further up the slight slope lights began to show. The end of the rope tugged and she looked up. A dark shape was sliding down it. She pulled out a long dagger from her hair and let the blond hair spill out. A cloak lay on the ground and a blindfold. She picked up the dark cloak and swung it around her shoulders and ran.

Her heart pounded in her chest as she darted down a street and crouched in a dark doorway. All was silent. Then something moved further down the street, passing her in the opposite side of the street’s shadows. 

Shouts erupted from the wall and a bell sounded in the distance. Is this my chance? She glanced up the bare street. Far in the distance a reddish glow lit the street but here was just darkness. I can see it another time, she thought and reluctantly turned.

Tayella padded down the street and crouched at the corner, the rope a bare fifteen paces, swaying in the moonlight. Above dark shapes clashed so wildly she couldn’t tell what was happening.

Tayella darted across the street and pressed her back against the cold wall and waited for the sound of a guard noticing. Stop stalling! She thought and turned to the rope but it had moved.

“Missing something?” A voice hissed from the shadows. Somebody stood there, the rope held away with hand. She struck out without realising, a short dagger clutched in her fist.

She cried out as the figures arm cut down, the dagger clattering to the ground. Tayella yanked her arm back with a grunt of pain. She drew a second just as the figure caught itself in the moonlight. Sareti yelped and jumped back the knife falling from her hands. 

The figure bore a skin of dark strips and followed her every lurch backwards with a smooth movement. Tayella turned and… something caught her foot and she slammed into the pavers. 

“Help!” She cried trying to turn but an iron hold lifted her from the ground and slammed her back down. Screaming she tore herself from its weakening grasp and lurched away from it. 

She froze. A second figure slammed the Otess into the wall with a glowing forearm. 

Tayella grabbed the rope and without a backwards glance and swung herself onto the parapet. She scrambled across it, tripping over armoured corpses and threw herself from the wall.

Thankfully, instinct made spirit water coat her body. When she hit the water she plunged down with barely any resistance and suddenly the coolness hit her. In this deep part of the estuary it didn’t really get warm unlike the shallows around the islands. 

She surfaced, spluttering and shivering although not from the cold. She looked around but nothing seemed to move. Then she caught a glimpse of a boat, slowly making its way towards her, a lone oar pushing it along. She waited until Hase picked her up, panting.

He didn’t speak but helped her up and wrapped her in a cloak. She stuck her hand in the water and they went gliding away from the wall. They didn’t speak even though she was dying to, for speaking here was incredibly dangerous. In the past she had almost been caught by a patrol boat full or mercenaries and another time found herself in the middle of a raid. This was different. 

They passed back through the islands without fault. She wasn’t sure they even needed the misty steam to cover them, with things calming down between the two sides over the winter there was less of a need to watch, but soon they would be heightening watches.

A few minutes later she passed the first houses and then they were back in the narrow street again and climbing out of the boat. Hase didn’t speak until they were back inside the empty room again and he was taking off his cloak. He turned to face her.

“Tay, tell me what happened up there, There were boats further along the wall, and even very close, I managed to keep hidden but what were they?” He thankfully didn’t look angry, just worried. 

“The Otess,” she breathed trying to stop shaking, “The Otess were crossing the wall, maybe ten, but maybe less. I had to escape them, and so I went down the rope.”

“The Otess,” he spat, “Inhuman monsters, did they try to kill you?”

“Yes,” she said slumping in one of the chairs, not bothering to take off her wet clothing, it was supposed to dry quickly anyway, “but a water wrangler helped, at least as far as I can tell and I got away.”

“A westerner helped you?” Hase shook his head, “You must be imagining things, but I am glad you are safe.”

Of course you are, she thought, if I had died, then who would pay you. Hase stepped closer to her and crouched down on his heels as if he had read her thoughts. “Tayella, I do care…” he stopped and patted her on the shoulder then froze. 

“A blindfold?” He shook his head and turned away.

Tay tried to open her mouth but the words didn’t form.

“You stepped onto the West, didn’t you?” 

“I did,” Tay sighed heavily, “But I had no choice.”

He nodded and stood up letting himself out of the door without a backwards glance. Is he angry after all? She thought then shook her head, sometimes he was as alien as the westerners. Still he was by far the best wrangler to work with. She had not even seen another wrangler in more than a few months.

I always end up working with Hase, don’t I, she thought with a frown. Of course it just makes the most sense, he was the newest, even if he had been there a few months.

Hase sometimes sat outside to wait, or at least he used to but the street was empty, the lights illuminating only shiny water and dull cobbles. She felt a twinge of disappointment course through her but she ignored it. Quietly she trudged home. There was a boat there for her but for some reason she felt the need to experience the pressing darkness.

A while later she pushed through another door, this one twice the height and bowed her head to the dozen guards. She didn’t bother to put dry boots on and just discarded the wet ones on the floor.

Half a dozen flights of steps and a long corridor later and she was sitting on the windowsill of Torin’s office. Shifting the glowing vial to a chair, careful not to drop it. How can he just leave these things lying about?

“Didn’t go well did it?” He said not looking up from the papers on his desk. 

“Not exactly.”

“Let’s hear it then.” He looked up and met her eyes. Staring into them made her tired. It was worrying that he was always up at this time in the night, it was probably not far from morning. She would suggest that she help but… No she already did enough and besides she was terrible at the things he had to do.

“It went okay to begin with but I was held up on the other side of the wall with an Otess.”

“An Otess?” Torin coughed and looked up at her again, “you mean to say that you were in a fight with an Otess on the other side of the wall?”

“But why would the Otess be swarming over the wall like that, I though they were just assassins, I have only ever seen one before, in the distance for a moment.”

His eyes widened slightly as if he had just thought of something.

“What is it?” Tay asked, stopping pacing for a second to meet his eyes.

“The Otess… Its just that they have been more active recently, the tensions here are rising, no leaders have died yet but if they do, I fear that the East will turn on itself.”

“That won’t happen,” Tayella said frowning, “Not while they are still fighting the West.”

“That’s just it,” Torin said, “Kai said that they have been drawing in their mercenaries as if they are expecting it.”

“Otess and Politics don’t mix, they are killers. If you are suggesting the Otess…”

Torin waved his hand, “Maybe, maybe not, it is just something that I have noticed. She could now see dark circles under his eyes. She wondered how much he had been sleeping recently, not a lot by the sight of him, slim cut coat crinkled.

“What if they are after Sareti, she might be in danger. If anyone has figured out that she is infiltrating…”

Torin suddenly slammed the papers on the table with a growl. “Sareti. It always comes back to her. I am going to bed, we can talk about this tomorrow.” 

“Torin…” It was too late, he had already left the room. Mentioning his sister always affected him badly but Kai hadn’t been back from work in at least a week, that must be what he is worrying about. If I don’t mention her, everyone here will forget about her, she thought with a sigh but then was that such a bad thing?

Something caught her eye on the desk. Everything was the same handwriting. It shouldn’t have been strange but as she looked closer she realised that everything that had previously been on papers in Sareti’s hand was now in his own. She stood up straight, it was none of her business. Why do I even try and defend Sareti, I don’t like her. 

She turned towards the door but curiosity turned her back  to the desk and the next minute she was busy sifting through the papers. Sure enough he had gone to the trouble of rewriting everything although she couldn’t tell if he had changed anything. She moved to the shelves and it was the same there. What are you doing Torin? She thought, erasing her influence will not change who she is.

Then she found a paper that hadn’t been changed, tucked into the bookshelf along with a file of more papers. Sure enough it was Sareti’s handwriting. She looked closer and gasped. Where had he gotten these? The sheet was a map, roughly drawn and detailed clues of the whereabouts of various earth vials that had been found in the estuary islands and what had been done with them. Why would Torin be looking at these sheets? He had said many times that the weapon was a myth, why had he suddenly changed his mind?

 Chapter 4 - Sareti

Underneath her drapes of black cloth Sareti tucked in thin daggers for throwing. She was not the most proficient with accuracy but she was walking into a trap and carrying a spear would just be silly. Same with those long bladed knives that some of the nobles wore, the blades awkward to use. 

Another more ornate knife held her hair up. She turned away from the reflective pane of glass and stepped out of the washroom as she wrapped a thin rope around her waist. She glanced around but nothing had moved. If she had not watched the man steal into the mansion and leave again she would never have guessed that he had been there. 

The papers on the table still lay there where she had left them. As she crossed the wooden floor. Whoever he worked for, he was good at leaving no trace, just a shame he was bad at loosing someone following him. Unless he meant to lead me there, she thought, he had left a note telling her to go there. 

Slipping out the door and around the house where deep shadows hid even her hands from her, she pushed her way through a hole in the fence and into the wide street. 

Here it was lit by the occasional suspended vial, encased in thick glass and a web of metal that ensured it was not stolen although the light was muted now for a warm mist had rolled in off the ocean. 

The street was empty, and only hedges lined the pavers with an occasional gate. She followed the street along the hill until the buildings no longer had gardens and were built tall rather than wide. Here the mist shrank back and people moved about. She ducked into the shadow of the last hedge just in time for a band of soldiers marching past. It seemed that with nothing happening in the estuary they were being used in the city. 

She almost laughed at their armour for it looked silly. Instead of metal scales wooden ones were used, she supposed so that it would float and not sink in the estuary but on land it still looked stupid. They passed without even glancing her way, spears held upright as if their presence was weapon enough. She climbed the side of one of the buildings, easily slipping her fingers into the cracks and pulling herself up onto the curved roof fifteen paces or so above the ground.

The roofs were slippery with water as she quietly crossed one and then another, sometimes leaping down a small drop or scrambling up as the heights of the buildings changed, gradually though they got taller. She did not even have to think about where she was going for she had come this way before when she had first searched the castle. I hope I find something useful, she thought crouching on the edge of the last building in the row.

Down below in the space between her building and the castle wall was full of people and was flooded with light from many torches held by guards in different colours, not city guards but nobles’ guards. A party, she thought, of course it was not uncommon. It was a good thing actually, likely the upper levels of the towering building behind the wall would be mostly deserted, with every servant busy seeing to the guests. 

The castle itself stood out from the others. Instead of curving rooftops and wide eaves it was all hard lines and tiny slit windows. A remnant of a time before even the ancient city had been there, all the castles supposedly were. 

She took a deep breath and stepped off the edge. She plummeted towards the pavers, folds of black cloth flapping. She pushed her spirit fire to her bare feet and they glowed brighter than any torch. The guards and nobles below her didn’t even have a chance to look up before she hit the ground.

For a moment she felt the stone beneath her bare feet crack and shatter and then she shot into the air, spinning around and around. Desperately trying to rich herself she slammed into the wall, grabbing on with her fingers. 

Down below people were screaming and running away from the place where she had hit, a five pace wide circle of shattered pavers. She grimaced and pulled herself up, hoping that nobody had seen where she had landed and pulled herself over the edge of the wall. 

Guards shouted but she had already jumped off the other side, landing on more pavers before sprinting towards the castle. The castle was likely the most defendable fortress in Seshi excluding the Otess stronghold of course, that was something else. With no windows on the outside big enough to even fit a hand through and the only entrance heavily guarded and checked she began to climb the wall. 

For a long time she climbed, her hands and feet numbing until she could barely feel them. She didn’t look down for it would only make her dizzy. Then she felt the edge of the roof. She swung out and pulled herself up lying back with a sigh of relief. 

Something cracked above her and she pushed herself to her hands and knees. A shape disappeared over the edge of the roof. Her heart beat faster, the figure had been slim. An Otess? She thought but shook her head, surely not.

She crawled up the straight roof to the ridge and peeked over. There was nothing. I must have been seeing things, she thought, a bird perhaps. The thought didn’t do anything to calm her heartbeat. Down below was a central courtyard where the grass and decorative trees stood proudly in the torch light. The Mehrn Castle  held the richest nobleman aside from the king, Falsin Mehrn. His wife, Erisa Mehrn, she had never seen but was apparently adept at politics, enough that most nobles believed she was the reason the Mehrns were so rich. 

So far there were no guests down there, not that it would be possible to see them in the darkness anyway.

Sareti tied a rope around a chimney column and then around her waist before sliding down the roof and let herself slip over the edge. She hung there for several moments heart beating furiously.

The windows on this side were indeed much bigger and many of them shone with light. Aware that she could be seen from any of them once she descended, she let herself down slowly until she was level with the first window which was dark. Of the six stories of the castle she doubted that even half of the levels were used.

She swung in and grabbed ahold of the window ledge which was easily wide enough to stand on. She peered inside but it was obviously disused for as she let her fist glow brightly it only showed dusty furniture. 

She let her wait rest on the rope once again and pushed herself back off the wall as hard as she could, swinging out and then back. When her feet connected with the window the frame clattered inwards and she let the rope slip through her hands. She landed in a heap onto of a pile of broken glass and wood.

They were inside and Sareti pulled the window shut. She shivered with relief, she hoped she could find an easier way out, she didn’t fancy doing that again. She tied the rope around what was left of the window and let the remaining spirit fire in her accumulate in her fist. She raised her hand, lighting the room with a pulsing glow.

The room was full of furniture, some stacked others in heaps of crumbled chair legs and old leatherbark. She wondered if Venar had found all of his chairs here. A thick layer of dust lay over everything, undisturbed. 

She opened the creaking door which lead into an equally abandoned corridor that ran away into the darkness. It too was so dusty that she could see her bare footprints as if they were in mud. 

Sareti pulled out a crude map from her pocket, and checked her notes on where the stairs were. With only two sets on the upper floors they were found at the corners, where the hallways carried on down the other side of the building. 

The stairs were cut stone like everything else and curved down from one corner of the hallway into another. The corridor here was stacked with furniture that she thought more recent, a few sets of footprints broke the dust yet not much else. Something resembling a rat disappeared into the darkness as soon as she approached the  next flight of steps. If it was a trap she was walking into it was a well hidden one.

Sareti could feel her heart beating faster and she dimmed the light in her hand slightly. Two levels down was carpeted and lit with candles in glass casings. On reaching the one below she stopped. The hallway held servants in livery, some carrying folded sheets and others dusting the walls. She waited, crouching on the stairs as they ever so slowly turned the corner and disappeared from view. Why is there no guards? She thought, surely Falsin was not so complacent that he would not place guards beyond the lowest floors.

Footsteps, light and much higher in stairs came to her ears and she froze. If it was part of the trap then why had they not just hidden guards in the rooms. She shivered and avoided looking at the doors she passed, looking for one with carved birds on it. 

She found it quickly from memory and tried the handle. It turned but the door didn’t budge. She sighed and pushed the last bit of spirit fire into the lock. A crack echoed through the hallway and it swung open. I will have to find a fire to replenish my spirit fire soon! The room was dark so she grabbed a case and candle.

She stepped through, and gasped. A man lay on a bed of bloodied papers, which had since dried, knife knife hilt protruding from his chest. Blank eyes stared upwards from a middle-aged face, skin pale where it was not covered in bloody handprints. She pushed the door shut behind her quickly and stepped closer, had someone fallen for a trap that was hers? She suddenly realised that she had not looked around but there was nobody there. Nothing other than a thin layer of dust. He had been dead a while, she thought.

On closer inspection she reeled back, the smell eating at her throat. The man was Falsin Mehrn. Shivering she straightened and began shuffling through papers. After discarding those she searched for a hidden compartment yet so far as she could tell there was none. If there was anything to find she was sure that she was looking in the wrong place. 

I have to try and find him, she thought with a grimace, if she could follow him through the castle she might get an inkling of where he stored his information. 

She stopped searching and looked at the door, she could hear the sounds of distant voices. Not enough time! With no desire to let it become as close as the previous time and almost completely empty of spirit fire she looked into the hall. Guards pounded towards her on the way she had come, this time they had not removed their boots on the carpet.

A trap, she thought, surely they had not found the broken window. Maybe they had seen her climbing the wall. She ran down the hallway. Up ahead she could also hear the sounds of guards coming down the stairs. She tried to stop but tripped on the carpet and found herself falling down the stone steps.

Her limbs screamed in pain as she fell and she used the last of the spirit fire to harden her skin just until she collapsed in a heap at the bottom. Groaning she she jumped to her feet face to face with a startled guards, short spears already levelled. 

Sareti reached for spirit fire but found nothing. Instead she ran down the stairs. So far as she could guess they were on the second story now. There was surely to be lots of people here but they were closing down on her and quickly. 

A dreading sensation ate at her stomach as she ran down the hallway, lungs clawing for air. The stone walls were panelled wood and vial lamps occasionally replaced candles. A group of guards turned the corner ahead cutting off her only exit.

All time for secrecy was over and she dashed into the last room pursued by two sets of guards. She slammed the door shut behind her shaking. A fire burned in the hearth a large one despite the heat of the room. She stumbled towards it. She had not noticed it but her clothes were smoking and her skin was burning, pain blinding her vision. 

She stumbled and hit the ground without even feeling it. She tried to pull herself to her feet but the door slammed open and guards piled in, surrounding her with razor sharp spear points. As one they thrust them forwards. 

“I can tell you things about the giant vial,” she coughed shrinking away from the spear points. 

“STOP!” A woman’s voice cut through her and the spears retracted. A blurry face stood over her. Then there was a hiss and the burning stopped. Sareti collapsed in a steamy heap sighing with relief. 

She lay there for a few moments relishing the lack of pain. 

“Out!” The woman said and the door shut a moment later. Sareti gritted her teeth and pushed herself to her knees and looked up. 

A well dressed woman stood over her watching her with a thoughtful expression. Sareti pushed herself to her feet but still didn’t come close to the woman’s height.

“Nice to meet you,” she said, raising an eyebrow. “I thought that you would never get as far as you did, I have other things to do.”

“You!” Sareti said almost laughing hysterically, “You are who the man works for.”

“If you mean Han, I wouldn’t say he works for me,” she said sitting down on the edge of the comfy seat behind her. For the first time Sareti took in the room. Gilded furniture lined the room and wide windows larger than she had ever seen stood in one wall showing a view of tended garden, lit by torches.

“Then who are you?” Sareti said. Her hand was already under a fold of cloth, forefinger and thump pressed around the tip of the blade. 

“I called myself Erisa Mehrn,” she said her mouth twisting in distaste, “Most that think they know me call me that, but since Falsin is dead I might as well change it.”

“You know!” Sareti said eyes widening, “he is lying there in his office.”

She stared right back at her as if waiting. 

Sareti backed away a step and found herself against a wooden table. “You killed him?” She whispered. Of course in the East things like that were not uncommon but here!

“I did,” she said arranging the hem of the silky dress. 

Erisa was everything she could have expected from a noble woman in the west, she held herself like one but a noblewoman would never kill someone like that, much less her own husband. This woman was someone else, maybe like her. A dangerous woman. She drew the blade in a smooth motion and it streaked towards the woman’s shoulder where it glanced off and landed on the floor with a thud. Blue light shone through the woman’s thin shirt where the knife had struck and there was no blood where the material was sliced.

“You’re a water wrangler!” Sareti hissed, “You are not a noblewoman.” Of course, the steam. She looked down at her tattered garments for the first time and her eyes widened. What was left of them stuck to her skin, showing red flesh beneath burned and still bleeding slightly. 

“You should know better,” the woman said standing up all sense of nobility gone. She gave Sareti a cold stare, “You could burn yourself to ashes if you are not careful with your fire wrangling. Now tell me what you know about this vial.”

This woman was definitely not a noble, or even from the west, they called fire wrangling something to do with fire demons. 

Sareti gritted her teeth as the pain began to return, “This Han,” she said, “Is he here, he told me to come here.”

She looked surprised for a moment turning back to her. She now held a long dagger. “Where did you meet Han, and why did he tell you to come here?”

Sareti frowned, “Because he stole from me, but…”

“Han does not work for me,” she said cutting her off as if her question was irrelevant, “What he seeks is too dangerous for anyone else to get their hands ahold of.” She looked Sareti up and down, “I don’t know who you are or what you want but I cannot let you get away with the information you have.” She looked sad as she deftly swung the long bladed knife. 

Sareti tried to jump to the side but stumbled over torn strips of her garments. She crouched, breath ragged. “You can’t kill me,” she said  pushing herself to her refusing to let this woman kill her while she cowered.

“Can’t I?” Erisa was now only two paces away, knife upraised. 

Sareti leaned against the table. “I can help your friend, he can’t have half of the information I have on the vial.”

“It is a lie,” the woman said cocking her head, “We searched your stolen house and found nothing, you don’t even appear to live there.”

Sareti croaked a laugh, “You didn’t look very hard, you might want to tell this Han that you killed the only person with more information on the vials than he.”

“That’s unlikely,” Erisa said, “he has been searching for a long time.”

Sareti pulled the longer dagger from her hair. The woman was now close enough to strike and she could do nothing about it. Sareti burst out laughing although it sounded more like choking. If the woman had wanted to kill her she would have already. Then something clicked into place, the woman on the street, who had watched her run from the Otess.

“You know I have something that you don’t have,” Sareti said, “I overheard something…” The look of shock on her face was so clear that for their first time in the conversation she knew she had hit a point. 

“I will tell you what I heard,” she said, “if I live to leave this stupid place.”

“The castle?” 

“No the city, let me return to the east, when I am finished here and I will tell you then.” She wondered if she had pushed it too far but the woman’s knife point dropped and she placed it on the table. 

“Han, you can come out,” she said, “You were right, she is not easy to force information out.”

A cupboard at the side of the room opened and a dark skinned man stumbled out grinning at her and brushing dust from his dark clothes. 

Erisa turned back to her, “I have a party to host, I will let Han take it from here.” With that she stepped out of the door.

“She didn’t kill him did she,” Sareti said collapsing into a chair but still grasping the dagger.

“No.”

Chapter 4 - Sareti

Sareti hissed as Han pressed a damp cloth against one of her burns. “If you had gone any further…” he said, “I don’t know if there would be anything left.

“Shut up,” she said through gritted teeth, “It is your fault that I am here anyway.”

“You fell for my trap,” he said a hint of humour slipping into his voice. He sat back on his heels and shook his head, “There is little more I can do for your burns, are you sure that your back isn’t bad.”

“Its fine,” Sareti said letting her muscles relax and instantly regretting it as pain coursed through her again. “Did you find those papers interesting?” She said through gasps for air, “The ones on the table.”

He narrowed his eyes but a smile played across his dark lips. “Of course, I underestimated you.” He pulled a chair opposite her, “And you knew it.”

Sareti allowed herself a small smile. She looked around the room again. More wealth adorned the room than she had seen displayed before yet to her eyes she found nothing of interest. “You are also looking for the vial?” She said, “Is it so important to you that you think you will easily dissuade me from it.”

Han barked a laugh, “I cannot let you find it, I would hate to think what would happen to this place and the people here if you got your hands on it.”

“Really?” Sareti said wrapping her hair up and securing it with a throwing knife. It didn’t work very well for strands still hung down her face. “I didn’t take you for the noble type, not like your friend.”

He tensed for a moment before shrugging and putting his leg over his knee, “I don’t think we are here to talk about that, what must we do for the information you apparently hold, if you are not useful I could just… kill you.”

He threatens like a westerner, she thought, as if he could even do it. Yet he was still dangerous, treating Erisa Merhn like an equal. She, at least, was a powerful noble. “Why do you want this information,” she said, can’t have him finding it and wrecking havoc on my home. 

“I could send gold,” he said, “Silks, a ship even, name your price.”

Sareti laughed but didn’t feel the humour, “You are not good at haggling, you would not last a day where I am from,” she said.

“Of course not,” he replied, “But I don’t need to be,” he suddenly was playing with a knife. “Name your price.”

“You see,” Sareti said, “You have nothing that I am interested in, and I have something that you must value quite substantially. Besides if I find it, think of how rich I could be just welding it.” She thought that it sounded what a power-hungry noble would say but he didn’t even look up.

“Of course,” he said, mouth twitching again, “You could not use it, as a fire wrangler. I could hand you over to the city guard, I don’t think that they would treat you as nicely as I have.”

It was sareti’s time to purse her lips. “You will not,” she said, “You are not that sort of person. I don’t think there are all that many that would do that to someone."

“You would be surprised, but you’re right, I would not.”

“There is no stash of information here is there,” she said, “It was just a big trap.”

“There is not,” he said standing up a hint of disappointment flitting across his face, “You may go.” 

Sareti sat up in shock and groaned her burns aching furiously. “Go! You will just let me go?”

“Of course,” he said, “As you made clear, I am not that sort of person.”

Sareti stood slowly. She sidestepped towards the fire but he didn’t make a move to stop her, not even when she thrust her hand in. Relief once again coursed through her and the burns faded to a distant throb. Heat couldn’t affect her so much. The fire barely gave off any heat now. She managed to walk properly towards the door. She turned back, “I don’t believe that you would let me go like this,” she said, “I will probably find a dozen guards ready to skewer me on the other side of this door.”

He shook his head, “If it makes you feel any safe, know that you may have a very difficult time passing as a noble now, and I would suggest you find somewhere else to live.”

Sareti bit back an angry retort, it was lucky she was leaving the place alive, let alone unharmed if she didn’t count the burns covering her. “Why do you seek the vial?”

Han watched her thoughtfully for a moment then pulled a rock the size of her fist from a pocket, he held it out towards her. “Because I made it,” he said almost looking regretful, “I made it.” 

Sareti frowned, of course it was impossible… She reached out for the rock and jumped back as his hand glowed green for a moment and the rock shattered and crumbled until sand poured between Han’s fingers. 

Sareti backed to the door wide eyed, finding the handle. She lurched it open and jumped through the opening. Sure enough guards stood here but none of them moved as she ran through them and alone the hallway towards the stairs.

Earth wrangler! Of course he must have used a trick, there has been nobody able to wrangle earth for more than a hundred years. Not that she knew of at least. She skidded to a stop at the foot of the stairs and looked up. No sounds reached her ears so she began climbing as fast as she could, pain shooting up her side and through her legs. She ignored it. Her mind raced, Otess meddling in politics and Earth wranglers, things were changing too quickly for her to keep up with. Her frown deepened, of course this vial was at least old enough that it preceded the splitting of the city which made it impossible for this Han to have made it.

She reached the top of the stairs and realised she was on the top floor. She had surprisingly not met a single other guard. So far Han had kept to his word. Of course finding the remaining information here would be far more difficult and she would have to retrieve her information from the mansion somehow without anyone knowing, it was surely to have been watched. Maybe it always had been. 

She found the room that she had come in through and sighed with relief at the loops of spare rope on the floor in thin coils. Made of thin strands of leatherbark, it was the strongest she had found. She wondered if anything would be possible without the valuable tree that was about the only thing that was farmed on the island. Everything else came from surrounding islands with little more than grass and trees on them, too windswept to build much on. 

Sareti wrapped the rope around her waist and tested her weight on it. So far it seemed that it still held on the chimney stack. She peered out of the window to the brightly lit garden below. People moved around in groups in many different colours. She wondered if they would even see her this high up.

She stepped onto the sill and leaned back trusting the rope. Falling from this high would not end well, even full enough with spirit fire that she couldn’t help glowing slightly through her ripped and burned clothing, she wouldn’t survive more than three or four floors.

She pushed off with her legs and swung out. Hand over hand she pulled herself up the short distance until she was wriggling onto the tiles. She collected the slack rope and walked up the roof until she was balanced on the edge. The night was dark, the clouds filtering the moonlight, the roof around her barely visible. 

Something cracked above her. She looked up and froze. 

The barest of a silhouette perched on top of the chimney tower two paces above her. She dropped the rope, dagger in hand immediately. Her heart racing she backed away balancing along the ridge. She glanced over the edge. Far below tiny specks of light marked the closest street, if she jumped now the rope would be cut before she could land. The voice of her father sounded muffled in her memories, You cannot outrun an Otess. She had replied, of course not, but he had just nodded and watched her sadly. 

Fight then, she thought, I will not die as he did. The Otess jumped and the shape landed on the ridge effortlessly. Sareti dived towards it, in the hope of surprising it and hissed as a fresh jolt of pain tore up her side as something hard slammed into her.

She was tumbling down the roof tiles, before stopping almost half way down, with her knife wedged between two rough tiles. Panting she drew herself up and threw the knife. If clattered onto the roof, deflecting off the hard wrapping. It waited as she stood, ignoring the cuts on her feet.

She let her fist glow as she jumped back onto the ridge and the Otess was gone… A blow took her in the stomach. She crumpled, gasping for breath. Where had it come from!? 

She turned and kicked out catching something almost as rough as the tiles. An explosion slammed her against the ridge with her ears ringing. 

As she struggled to her feet she felt a small sense of satisfaction at the sight of the Otess pullings itself to its feet, wrappings around its chest ripped. The feeling was short lived, it moved quicker and not slower to her surprise covering the distance in barely a moment.

She palmed two knives and drove her first knife forwards, then letting her knife hand fall down at the last second. The Otess lurched to the side, its block missing her arm by a hands-width. Sareti drove her other knife through the bark as the Otess stumbled down the roof. As she did so it grabbed her arm and twisted sending her sprawling with her feet hanging over open air. 

The Otess staggered towards her, suddenly the moonlight lighting it up clearly. Blood seeped from the wound in its stomach but it made no sound as it approached. Sareti once again scrabbled at the roof tiles but only managed to push herself to her feet when the Otess grabbed her head and slammed it against the clay, feeling it break beneath her. 

She cried out in pain and fumbled for another knife, her last one. She drove it upwards. Suddenly the Otess reared back and slammed against the roof. Another shape leaped over her. 

A spear stabbed down at the Otess which quivered on the roof tiles. Even as it did so it yanked the spear from the hands of the newcomer and slammed it back, sending the figure sprawling dangerously close to the roof. Get away! Her mind screamed at her and she grabbed the rope, and looked over the edge. She might just have enough time to get low enough… She glanced back at. The Otess which was back on its feet. Sareti growled in frustration and whipped it out, the rope twisting around its feet.

The other figure darted forwards and it fell off the edge, the rope went taught and then slack. Picking up the spear the figure approached. Sareti backed away warily.

There was something familiar about the way it walked.

  “Its me,” a low voice said. 

“Han!” “Lets get away from the edge,” he said grabbing her arm and helping her all the way up the roof and to the ridge again. 

“Did you follow me?” She said collapsing with her back against the chimney stack. He pulled his cloak down. His face was clearly visible glowing slightly green. She had no energy to be confused. When she looked down her hands didn’t glow at all. The bone deep weariness had pushed it out.

“I did,” he said, “lucky for you that I did.”

“You knew this would happen?” 

“No, I just wanted to make sure that you would not try anything else.”

Sareti squeezed her eyes shut pushing down the gratitude that seemed to be coursing through her. This was the last thing she needed, owing her life to someone. He does fight well, she thought, and I don’t think he would hurt me. He surely is in danger from what he did, killing the Otess like that. Killing an Otess? 

“Oh no,” she said, “What have we done?”

“What I want to know is why it was following you, Otess don’t go to great lengths to kill random people.”

“I saw something,” she sighed, “Quite by accident.” 

He didn’t laugh as he expected her to, instead he just nodded thoughtfully. “Will you tell me what?”

“The Otess,” she started, “are not what people think they are.” She had thought much on what she had seen and had come to realise that she believed the people. “Their greatest weapon is assassinations. With killing they can pit people against each other. The people I saw talked of it at length.”

“That sounds hard to believe,” he said but leaned closer, “Why should I believe you?”

“Because they were killed by an Otess,” when the meeting happened, “The bodies may still be there, I could be the only one…”

“Not the only one,” Han said standing up and helping her up, “Erisa will want to talk I think, if you will?”

Sareti sighed, maybe this was how she could repay his help. Still the way the had fought… “Han?”

“Yes?”

“I would work with you, to find this vial, if it means that my city is not destroyed. And,” she continued after a little hesitation, “I need someone to watch my back when I break into the king’s palace.”

He studied her for a long time before nodding. “It could  work.”

“I love your optimism.”

“You learn to hone it as a craft over your first century of life.”

Sareti raised an eyebrow but chose not to comment.

Chapter 5 - Tayella

Tayella could hear Torin and Kai arguing in the room across the hall as she sat in her customary place on the edge of the window sill. Outside she could see that the street was quiet although numerous long and narrow boats were slowly being poled up and down it, bearing cargoes covered in canvas. 

While the East’s trade was a lot less than that of the West, and more difficult with all the factions, it still happened on a huge scale. 

The clouds had disappeared overnight and the sun was shining brightly through the windows and across the elaborately furnished room. In the daylight the memories of the Otess seemed silly, but even then she felt at the bruises around her neck and shivered.

She spun a small knife in her hand before she realised it. How many times have I put my hair up today? She thought, wrapping her hair up and securing it with the knife. In one of Sareti’s letters she had mentioned that it was worn by the nobles in the west as well which made her want to pull it out but she couldn’t bring herself to stop doing it. 

Tayella stood up with a sigh, unable to listen any longer and went over to the side of the room where she had found the papers. They were not where she had left them but had been hastily stuffed between a pair of books on the shelf down.  

She laid them out on the floor out of the line of sight from the door and sat on her heels. Sareti had told her what she was looking for when she had gone, or rather had told Torin while she had been in the room, the woman had never liked her for some reason.

The papers were mostly just descriptions of different places where ceramic vials had been found. Another larger sheet that had been folded several times was a rough map of the estuary. Sareti had drawn on the locations which were spread all through the estuary islands, of which there were hundreds although nothing was marked on the Otess island of course. If there were such a weapon that place would ensure that it was never found. She wondered why they searched for it when it might never be found or might never exist, it was hard to believe that there had been a huge vial created just to hide it. And surely it wasn’t worth abandoning a faction over.

I have to agree with Torin here, she thought, but for a different reason. Sareti leaving had definitely taken a toll on the faction and on Torin for that matter. To put it lightly it was falling apart and the two largest on either side were looming over like political mountains waiting for a slip. To end the war, it was worth it but was it worth destroying the whole of the west? No I don’t think so, all those people… She packed the papers away, “This is nothing to do with me, I have to just focus on what I can do,” she said out loud. But she could not push it from her mind. It looked like Torin had seen the same thing in it as Sareti had although she was sure he would never admit to that.

The door banged open and she hastily stood up and pretended to be inspecting a book. Torin stormed in and looked around for her. His face softened when he saw her but there was still a blaze of anger in those eyes and she was sure if he could fire wrangle like his sister the floor would be charred under his feet by now. 

“It is not like you to be looking at books. What have you been doing?” His eyes dropped to where she had not quite managed to fully put the papers away. A look of fear passed over him but he quickly pretended to be surprised. “You found Sareti’s papers.” It wasn’t a question.

“Ah yes,” Tay surpressed a grimace “I hope you aren’t thinking of doing anything stupid…” she let the ‘like Sareti part’ for him to guess, he was angry enough already without her stoking the fire.

“Oh, of course not, I was just curious why she would leave at the expense of me and the faction. Would you leave what your parents left you?” 

“They didn’t leave me anything,” Tayella said coldly, “And I have never heard you use the word curious before, what is going on? So don’t act I know why Sareti did what she did.”

Torin inhaled slowly as he turned around and sat down at his desk. She could see the bitterness in his eyes every time, but she hated to think what might happen when she returned if she didn’t constantly remind him. Sareti was, in her opinion a fool but then again maybe she just didn’t understand the reasons for what she did.

When she had left, Tay had expected Torin to take up the role as faction leader with enthusiasm that he had always talked of but he had hated it instantly and she could see why. Instead of actually being given leadership he had to look after her responsibilities while she had fun. 

Tay returned to her seat on the windowsill, letting the sun warm her face, she too took a deep breath. It was unlike Torin to mention her parents, it shouldn’t sting like it did. “What were you arguing about? Kai has barely been here for a day and you are already arguing.”

Torin didn’t look up, just continued staring at the polished wooden desk covered in papers. “You know, she did this. If I didn’t have to spend my entire life running a faction I would have time to meet him more than once a month, yet now I can’t even go to another faction area without worrying for my life.”

“You can’t blame your relationship problems on Sareti,” Tay said, “You just need to think what is more important to you and work around it.”

“You know, Tay, you are always full of good advice, I should officially make you my head advisor.”

Tay stood up with shock, “Oh no, that is not a good idea I am terrible at giving advice and besides I already have a lot to do.”

Torin nodded, “Most important to me,” he mumbled to himself. Suddenly he stood up and with one arm brushed everything off the desk and onto the floor. He looked up to meet her shocked expression.

“Torin what are you doing?”

“You are right, what is most important to me? I think you can guess what that is. I have had enough of this, the advisors can find another faction leader.”

Tay was so shocked it took a couple of seconds before she could find words. “Torin you know how it works here, if you give power away you will never get it back.” She leaned over the desk and held onto his arm for fear that he might just disappear.

“Tay, you know what I am thinking, you always do, you can see what this does to me. It has taken away everything I used to enjoy. When I was young I wished to have what Sareti had but I realise that it was never for me.” 

He looked around and then went and grabbed Sareti’s papers before disappearing out of the door. It was the first time he had mentioned her name since she had left. She shook her head, this was bad. What will happen if he leaves? Nothing good, no she could not let him, however he felt, people relied on him, she relied on him.

Who could she tell? Nobody. Even the advisors, she was sure half of them worked for someone else. She could just leave. She had enough to worry about. But then where would her business move to. Torin had let her have a permanent operations base in his faction, and she could not go back to what it had been before.

Sareti, she thought, it always comes back to her. She spoke aloud, “I think it is time she returns.”

She wondered if she could get a note to Sareti before it was too late, it sometimes took weeks for notes to reach the other side of the estuary, let alone find Sareti. 

It was too late to stop Torin, she wished she could bring herself to tell Torin that he was wrong, that he should not give it up to regain his old life. How could she get a note to Sareti?

I told myself I would not get involved in politics, she thought, yet here I am. She sighed and rested her head on her hands, she needed help, somebody that she could talk to, help her find Torin. She had to try and convince him to rethink his decision. 

A few hours later Tayella appeared at the bottom of a set of steps leading up to a first floor front door. The street faced onto a busy trade canal, split down the middle and crossed by many arching bridges of worn wood. Even now with the sun not far from setting it was packed with wide barges. 

She banged on the door with her fist and waited, stepping down a few steps. Thankfully the days were getting longer and warmer. And despite forgetting her cloak in her haste to leave, the loose shirt and wide hat was more than enough, if a little ridiculous.

The door opened to show Hase in long flowing robe with a sash around his waist. For once his neck was bare showing an inking of a writhing snake. She had never seen it before but he usually wore high necked shirts. She wondered if it was a reminder of the continent he had come from.

“What do you want?” He demanded palming a knife. starting to shut the door again. He stopped and bent down to look at her face under the wide hat she was wearing. “Tayella? What are you doing here? Wait, come inside.” He looked around quickly and beckoned her inside.

The door opened into a small room with coat hangers. She got rid of her silly hat on one of the pegs and followed him into a small living room. Stacks of books were carefully placed either side of the windows, most of them with various weapons sitting on top.

A fireplace crackled softly to one side and cushions were arranged on the floor, a book lying open.

“I… I didn’t know you had this many books?” She said looking around. A bed stood in one corner and a weapons rack in the other. Those were the only two tidy bits of furniture. 

“Yeah, it is probably not what you expected is it?”

“No,” Tay admitted, “I thought that…”

“You thought that I was not the sort to spend a lot of time reading.” He crouched down and closed the book with a knife as a bookmark.

“There is few places that you can buy books here?” She said, “You have almost as many as Torin, or at least that Sareti has, where…”

“Ships,” Hase said a sad look flitting across his face, “they are reluctant to part with them but most ships from the continent carry them. But that is not why you are here, I didn’t even know that you knew where I lived?”

“I didn’t,” Tay admitted, “But I didn’t know who else to come to.”

“And you came to me?” Hase sounded surprised, “I thought that you…”

“Torin has given up,” she blurted out, then carried on a little more slowly, “I saw it coming but chose to ignore it, Sareti said she would only be four to five months at most and its coming up to six. I thought she would be back by now but she is not, so this faction has no leader and you know as well as I do what happens to factions that lose their leader.” She breathed a sigh of relief as the last words left her tongue. It felt as if she had been holding her breath since setting out to find him.

Hase stared at her frowning, “they get crushed, but why has he left?”

Hase pushed a cushion towards her and then sat down on another. She sat, crossing her legs. She found her knife in her hands again, spinning it in her palm but Hase didn’t so much as glance at it.

“It has crushed him,” she said, “On the inside, but…” she grimaced, “But he has to hold on, too many people rely on him, I do as well.”

“I’m sorry,” Hase said reaching over and taking her hand, “But I don’t know how I can help, when someone choses to leave,” he took a deep breath, “when I chose to leave, I never looked back.”

Tayella bit her lip. “I know, but Sareti…”

Hase lay back and let out a deep breath, “So you are asking me to go with you and get Sareti? It sounds like a terrible plan.” He smiled, “But I am in.”

“Just like that?” She said not letting go of his hand, “You would do that for me?”

“Yes, I owe you something at least, and it is the right thing to do.”

“There is something else,” she said, “Sareti is not on one of the islands, she is in the West.”

Hase froze in standing up and then sat down again. “I will come,” he said after a long silence. “But it is the most dangerous place we could go, why even you would be thrown in prison for being who you are without the tattoos of a water guard, I…” he trailed off. “If Sareti has lasted this long, then I can too.”

Tayella relaxed and lay back on the cushions. “I like your house, it is very comfortable,” she said opening the closest book. The writing was in a script that she could not distinguish. She wondered if it was because it was old or a different language. Or maybe both.

“I like your disguise,” Hase said standing up with a laugh, “Would you like some food or…?” 

Tayella nodded, it had been hours since she had eaten and finding out where Hase lived had taken her almost all of the afternoon. 

“Hase,” she said when he returned with wide plate of cold food, “That inking, tell me about it. I don’t know much about you.” It was true, she knew hardly anything about his previous life, she had never cared to ask. She cursed herself for being so untactful, there must be a reason he had left, why he never talked of it.

He stared at her for a few moments and ran his finger along it almost subconsciously before speaking, “When children grow up, in the jungle…” At her lack of comprehension he elaborated, “In deep forest, we chose an inking of something dangerous, to remind ourselves of the danger of the forest.” He grinned for a second although it turned into a sad frown, “I thought that it was more to show others how dangerous I could be.”

“Were you dangerous?” She asked, “Could you fight well then?”

“No, I was not dangerous, at least not until I could wrangle, I should have thought of the tattoos of the throats of my parents and thought danger but…” he trailed off and snapped his mouth closed. “I will get changed.”

She didn’t press him and she focused on her food.

A while later Tayella found herself sneaking along the side of a building at the west side of the city where a lot of the mercenary barracks could be found. Not those of her own faction, but of the Amamati, the largest and most influential faction of the west, or so Torin had said. Despite each mercenary actually working on their own in a way, they usually kept together because of their job, not socialising much past their close knit group. 

The building they were looking for was just across the water from them, accessible by a narrow arched bridge made of weathered timbers.

“This is a bad idea,” Hase whispered from her left. 

“I know,” she admitted but it was better than the alternative. Of course she couldn’t just run away. There were people that relied on them, how many people would lose jobs and lives over the death of a faction. She hated even to think of it.

Going over the bridge was not a good idea, with the sentry at its far side and along the edge of the canal. They were more of an alarm for the other mercenaries rather than actual defences or Tay and Hase would be able to cross easily. 

“Lets go.” Hase slowly shuffled across the narrow street and slipped over the edge of the canal until he disappeared from view, Tay followed a few moments later after checking that they hadn’t been spotted. She found him waiting under the bridge, clinging on with only his hands. 

“Maybe i’ll actually be able to use spirit fire tonight,” he said pulling his gloves on tighter, covering a small ring of light that had been shining from his cuffs. 

“Not likely, with so many mercenaries around I don’t doubt that there will be more than a few fire wranglers hiding among their ranks.” 

“I thought that those like us always became higher paid body guards or trained killers? I haven’t heard of any becoming normal mercenaries.”

“Still I wouldn’t risk it, I know that there is at least a few and if there is a few then there could be more, I won’t wrangle either.”

“As you say so,” Hase said. For someone who usually led crossings over the estuary he listened surprisingly well.

“My arms are getting tired, let’s go,” she replied. She could almost see his grin at being the first to mention it. Maybe she  had spoke too soon.

She swung out over the water, grasping ahold of the rough timbers under the bridge. She longed to use the water beneath her to help but refrained with a lot of effort. She swung slowly up and then down the other side, with Hase close behind. By the other side her arms were straining. 

Tayella grabbed ahold of the rock ledge and came out from underneath the bridge, pulling herself up until she could see over the edge. In-between two sentries she was able to quietly make her way onto the narrow street and cross it so her back was against the wall. The sentries were too busy watching the top of the bridge and the opposite street to see them.

Hase appeared at her side a few moments later. She grabbed his arm in fear when one of guards looked their way but instead just waved to the other sentry. 

“Which way now?” He said prying her hand of his arm.

They skirted the outside of a long building and then took a side alley between two double story buildings. Once they were the other side of the building there were no guards. At least no guards that were looking for intruders so they walked right by without a comment. Their clothing was plain and practical, nobody would look twice.

On this side of the building there was a large open space with another canal running through it from the next street and the space was filled with low stone benches and fire pits. Around them sat groups of a dozen or less talking in low voices. It almost seemed normal other than the volume of weapons that were in the area, from small spears to narrow swords and belts of daggers. 

“You’re staring too much,” she hissed at Hase as they walked through the middle of them, “Mercenaries keep to themselves.”

“I wouldn’t like to cause any trouble here, I don’t think that the guards were needed on the canal edge, I have a feeling these people don’t need any other protection.”

“I agree but let's just find Torin, this place unsettles me.” She had an idea where he would be, she suspected that him and Kai still met in the same place which she had gone with him to meet Kai several years ago.

Once they were out of the main open area and had passed yet another building with little ornamentation other than a few windows and an open doorway the buildings ended and the estuary started. The closest islands were visible enough that she could see the individual leaves on the trees. She found Torin in his usual meeting place.

“I just cannot do it, I don’t care what you think it will do to…” Torin’s outline turned and froze as they approached.

“Tay? What are you doing here, and who is this?”

“This is Hase,” she said in a flat tone, it wasn’t going to be easy convincing him, “Hase this is my… Friend, Torin.” Hase flinched at her hesitation.

The figure behind Torin stood up and stepped up to her, embracing her briefly and ducking his head to Hase. “Tayella, it is nice to see you, it has been quite a while.” His voice was tight as if her were surprising anger. From the way he glanced at Torin she doubted that it was directed at her.

“Kai, you too.” She looked up at him, marvelling at his height not for the first time, and she thought herself tall.

“Tay, what are you doing here? I was going to come and speak to you next.” Torin’s voice was cold.

“Oh, you were? Well you can explain now, why you are doing what you are doing.”

Torin sat back down. Only Kai sat as well. It was hard to tell what any of them were thinking with it being so dark. Hase nudged her in the arm. She changed her tone consciously, she needed him to help her not get angry at her.

“Torin, I need you to come back…” He stood up and opened his mouth. She put a hand on his shoulder. “Wait, I need you to stay just so long as it takes us to get your sister back.”

“You are going to go into the West again, even after last time?” 

“Sareti is in the West?” Kai said with surprise, “Torin, you never said that.”

Torin shot a look at Hase that she was sure was not a smile and opened his mouth.

“I see that you have found someone…” He cut off. “Two days, you have two days. But don’t expect anything else.”

He stood and stalked off into the darkness, the lap of water from the end of the canal covering his footsteps.

“Tayella, it is not a good idea,” Kai said also standing, “I think that in the place his head is right now, you would be better leaving the faction leaderless, I fear that he will make it worse than it already is.”

“I don’t have a choice,” Tay replied quietly, “And I have to trust him, he seemed to understand, right?”

“I suppose so.” Kai looked about to say something else but he nodded to her and left too.

She realised she standing, gripping Hase’s shoulder tightly and let go.

“What now?” Hase said rubbing his shoulder, “The west?”

Tayella nodded.

Chapter 6 - Sareti

Han sat opposite Sareti on a chair that reminded her of Venar’s office. It had once been elegant but the feet were muddy from the dirt floor and it creaked every time he breathed. 

A fire blazed in a corner, smoke rising out through a hole in the roof. It hissed as drops of rain landed on the timbers. 

“Are you going to tell me how you survived that?” Sareti said after a long silence, “I saw the Otess stab you.”

“No,” Han said, cracking a smile, “When explained it is only less impressive.”

“It wasn’t that impressive," she said dropping the cloth in her hands to the floor, “there is more holes in this fabric than the roof.” She wiped a drip running down her face irritably.  

“I will do without,” Han said seeming unworried, “I will stick with what I know. It has always worked before.”

“You do realise that we are breaking into the king’s palace, not some castle that the nobles inside can’t even guard it properly. Even with those plans,” she gestured to a makeshift table spread with a rough map of the palace, “Even with those it will not be easy.”

“It was you that tripped in that room,” he said, “besides I remember when the palace was build by a rich merchant a long time ago, I…” Sareti bundled up the cloth ignoring him. He still assumed that she believed he was over a hundred and thirty years old. She thought that she had seen people that looked that age before but he was surely no older than her with smooth skin and a grace of movement that spoke more of a mountain lion than a retired horse, not that she had seen one. “Han, until you can prove to me you are that old then you can stop trying to convince me.”

She kept her back to the fire, eyes on her as she threw the cloth onto the flames, no point leaving clues for Otess to find. She shook her trying to shake the feeling of eyes watching her. Surely now that Erisa knew about it, the Otess wouldn’t worry about killing her now.

“Sareti,” Han said, “If we are going to get into the castle, you must trust me. I don’t know how you got this far in the east without trusting at least someone.” He paused and leaned forwards, “Tell me, what allies do you have in the East?”

“What do you know about leading?” Sareti snapped back, “and that is exactly why I don’t trust anyone, I got far enough.”

“You are a leader aren’t you,” he said ignoring her tone although the irritating smile  had slipped from his lips.

Sareti cursed under her breath but nodded. He might not be as old as he says he is but he gets under my skin as if he had a century of practice. 

“Say you are as old as you say you are,” she said forcing her voice to be level, “Were there other… people like you.”

“No.” He said face tightening, “I have never met one. I don’t think there could be one.”

“Then the vials are older than that?” 

He nodded reluctantly, “I don’t know how they are made. The factory is well guarded, guarded beyond anything you have ever seen before.”

“There is a factory?” 

“Of course, I assumed you knew, most nobles know so far as I am aware.”

“Could you take me there?” Sareti said. Surely there was something to be learned there that could help them get into the castle. “I wouldn’t mind seeing it.”

“Of course,” he said, irritating smile back.

A time later she sat on a rock overlooking the city to her left and high cliffs to her right. The misty rain had crept through her clothes and she had given up trying to dry her face. Han stood beside her frozen as he had been for a long time.

“Not much of a factory,” she said returning her gaze to what lay directly below them. Just where the harbour wall ended barely fifty paces from a cliff’s edge stood a round building or what was left of it. Rubble filled the centre where the roof had been and some of the wreckage still smoked as water wranglers, bare chested men and woman covered in inkings sifted through it.

“I…” Han said, “I think I will tell Erisa about this.”

“How did it happen?” Sareti said. Despite Han’s shock, she felt nothing. If the building had exploded as she assumed it had, vials were brittle and incredibly dangerous, then it had served a severe blow to the western army.”

“Somebody attacked it,” Han said, “I think it was deliberately destroyed, and surely they would have found somebody alive, no, I think the Otess did it.”

Sareti felt a chill that did not come from her soaked shirt and coat, “There is something bigger happening isn’t there?”

“Yes,” Han said, “But we have a castle to break into tonight, I think we had better let her handle this.”

Sareti shrugged but couldn’t help feeling uneasy as they scrambled down the rocky outcrop at the edge of the main city. Whatever the Otess were doing here could happen more easily in the East, there powerful people, leaders fought each other on a weekly basis. She wondered what would happen if they were properly provoked.

Sareti squeezed through the small hole at the base of the outer palace wall as quietly as she could. For a moment the rock above her seemed to press down and she felt her muscles tensing but then she was crouching on the other side. “You could have got rid of the sand as well,” she said with a small laugh. It sounded hollow.

“Just be glad that we were not noticed.”

Sareti couldn’t help watching him as they ran at a low crouch towards the well lit archway, flanked by a dozen guards on each side. The palace itself spread around the door. In many aspects it was a strange building for for the bottom three stories it looked like a nobles castle with tiny windows set into a smooth wall and only one entrance yet above that large windows shone with light under a swooping roof.

They were nearly at the palace wall now just as a pair of guards marched quietly across the grass away from the others. She admitted that Han wasn’t noisy at all, in fact she had a hard time hearing where he was in front of her until she bumped into him. 

She waited patiently in the darkness until there was two thuds and she followed the sound. A green glow lit the limp men just enough that she could see the scaled armour and helmet.

Slipping the armour off the guards they donned it over their black clothing, the scaled skirt hanging down low enough that she was sure the other guards wouldn’t notice that they were not wearing the thick trousers underneath.

Approaching the other guards again. She allowed her feet to thud against the grass as if she were heavier and also to let the guards know they were coming. They reached the other guards, who stood watching the grounds silently when two others left and took their path. Sareti and Han joined the group. 

Then Han darted for the door and it swung open. Sareti barrelled in after him before the guards around her had a chance to raise their spears. She slammed the door shut behind her finding herself in the middle of another cluster of guards. She pushed through it but most of them tripped as slabs cracked under their feet. She kicked her boots off and knocked the remaining guards from their feet before running.

Alarm bells rang as Sareti ran along a corridor with Han close behind. The guards’ uniforms are too bulky for this, she thought, the plates clanking together, but they had on multiple occasions confused the guards.

“This is not working,” hissed Han. Spears were thrown from behind but clattered short, it was not easy throwing them in such tight confines.

“Fine.” Sareti said, trying not to sound like she was gasping for breath. It should have been Han lagging behind with healing from that stab wound but he moved as he usually did, he hadn’t even let her see the wound. She pulled off her gloves and slammed her hands down on the carpet. Her own feet were ripped out from under her and they with a crash a second later they both landed on the floor which was shredded exposing wooding flooring underneath. 

The wooden panelled walls on either side had not survived at all and the room on either side were open. Smoke filled the hallway as the carpet caught alight. She tried to stamp it out but Han dragged her away. “That was… more powerful than I have ever seen.”

“I helped weaken the walls,” Han smirked at her, “Don’t take all the credit.”

The next room through was an empty office. Han didn’t bother looking around, instead leapt over the few bits of furniture there and landed at the window. He busted them open with the heel of his hand and the whole case fell outwards letting in a gust of warm wind. According to his hastily drawn map the upper portion of the palace was inaccessible from the inside, or by any means. Han had explained that what was above was a mystery to him.

He disappeared out of the window in a few moments and Sareti followed. It was not a huge drop down because they had only managed to get three floors up before they had run out of stairs.

The stones were cold but large and the gaps between them hadn’t been refilled in years, thankfully. Someone lacking wrangling would have to be crazy to try and climb up here without some kind of structure. Han was already half way up towards the next window which was diagonally up, visible as a dark patch on the rough wall. It didn’t help that the overhanging roof stopped the moonlight from catching the wall. 

Sareti checked her knives about her body and slipped out of the window. So far it had been difficult but she thought that she was surely missing something.

She caught up with him slowly until they reached the window at the same time. Sareti’s arms burned with holding her weight but Han appeared to be leisurely waiting. She wondered if it was anything to do with wrangling earth for spirit and fire wranglers had wildly different abilities why not earth wranglers too. Elegantly curved bars as thick as her arm prevented them from even the slimmest person from slipping through.

“Can you get us through this? I don't think I can” He asked patiently moving to the side of the window. She still was not sure what he had done before being a fire guard but it certainly had not been anything normal. Can’t get through? She thought surely he could shatter some rocks as she had seen him do before.

“Let me try.” She shuffled along, keeping a firm grip on the sill with one hand and grabbing onto the bars with the other. She tested her reserves of Spirit fire. Surprisingly she hadn’t used much despite their very risky entrance into the palace grounds. 

Sareti wrapped her fingers around the bars in the centre and poured the spirit fire onto them. Instead of an explosion, the bars began to glow until a circle two hands wide surrounded her fists. She could feel the metal growing hot but it didn’t hurt. 

She drew her hand back after a few minutes leaving the bars glowing hot. When she pulled them they bent slightly. It took time because they were interlocked and woven together but after a few sessions of heating them up a gap wide enough for them to slip through was formed. She was first through and let Han join her in the narrow space behind the bars. “You have had a lot of practice breaking into places?” He said inspecting the dark shape that was the window.

“Enough,” she grunted, “I had to learn.”

“You did all this just to find the vial?” Han asked pulling out a funny shaped tool and wedging it into the edge of the window, “You know Erisa and I could do with some help…”

“No!” Sareti said trying to position herself so that her legs were not jammed beneath her. “I will find this and then return to…” She cut off, “You know I can tell that you are not  used to this, someone could hear us talking.

Han chuckled and levered the bar inwards. Suddenly the hinges popped off and it tipped inwards. He grabbed it before it could fall and let it down slowly, jumping in after it. 

Sareti followed glad to be out of the small space. She drew two knives and scanned the pitch black room before letting her arms glow brightly enough that she could see the dust swirl around Han as he shuffled through papers. 

“Next,” She whispered to Han but he was already darting for the door. There was unlikely to be anything here.

The door was unlocked so they opened it carefully revealing a dimly lit hallway of polished dark blue stone. It was lit by blue vials set into the wall making the stone flanking them seem to shift almost like water. 

Dark patches between looked like hallways leading off yet there was no movement or sound. Sareti stepped out into the hallway as carefully as if it were going to collapse under her feet. Nothing of the sort happened. 

Han stepped past her and admired the wall for a moment before taking a step down the hallway to the right. Sareti felt a shift of feet, “Han!” 

Guards in gold armour, each individual round piece of metal gleaming suddenly lined the hallway appearing from what she had taken as hallways. Han stood frozen and Sareti backed towards the door. With helmets shaped like birds, beaks curving down and joining to the armour at the neck. Each one carried a belt of small knives and a narrow sword at their waist. She raised her eyebrows. These guards were the real thing. 

Han moved first darting towards the first pair and the silence was shattered. He darted at the nearest one just five paces away who jumped forward. But Han wasn’t after the guard. He smashed his fist into the glowing vial in the wall was blown backwards into the opposite wall. Sareti watched wide eyed as he moved forwards, spear stabbing this way and that, mostly glancing off armour, blood dribbling down his chin. Knives clattered against the wall and struck Han but they didn’t seem to affect him. 

Sareti stepped out into the hallway and almost immediately some of the knives began towards her but she let the glow spread out all over her body and the knives glanced off as soon as they touched her skin.

She began to run and the attacks on her became more personal and the guards changed to long daggers instead. She parried a few strikes with her own dagger, letting spirit fire flow into the metal hilt and blade until it glowed red hot. The guards screamed when her knife found a gap in their armour. After a dagger plunged into her left arm she stopped wincing at the smell of burning flesh. 

She dropped the dagger in her left hand and shouldered the guard trying to stab her. Her clothing ripped and shredded itself as he flew back and slid along the floor. Sareti flipped and landed on her feet. “Jump!” She said and Han jumped just as an explosion knocked half the guards from their feet clattering to the floor. Something blasted her sideways and she groaned as her head hit the wall. 

Dozens of cuts bled from her arm some studded with glass. Darting through a gap in the fighting she suddenly found herself alone. 

Han held back half a dozen guards. She glanced back at him and groaned. I can leave him, she thought but her legs carried her back towards the fighting, still clutching a dagger in her right hand.

“Just go!” He said almost with reluctance. She stopped and turned running down the hallway. She kicked open a few doors but just as the first they were unused or empty. Two had beds in but they too were mostly bare.

The last door stood open and she approached it warily. 

The room was brightly lit warm despite the bare stone walls and open windows lining the wall. She wondered what would have happened if they had come out at one of those. Bookcases with brightly coloured book spines took up a large portion of the wall that was not open windows. Yet the man at a desk of white marble was what froze her in place.

He sat with her back to her white cloak pooling on the floor behind him. She darted for him letting her dagger grow even hotter until she was sure that the metal might bend. The man spun and grabbed her arm at the last moment and she found herself slammed against the floor, breath knocked out of her.

She gasped and jumped to her feet. He now faced her and she noticed something strange, lines covered his pale face, faint but seemed to remind her of something. She slammed her foot onto the polished floor tiles and the heavy desk scraped along the floor but who she knew was the king just jumped and suddenly she was on her back again.

“Surprise!” He said, his cool expression not changing as he stepped over her. There was no weapons that she could see on his white clothing.

“Die,” she hissed kicking her foot out and slamming against his chest. With surprise she shot backwards and slammed against the far wall, the spirit fire in her gone. Surely I could never have used that much! She thought. As she dragged herself to her feet she noticed for the first time that below wide trousers of white barefoot poked through. She narrowed her eyes. Spirit wrangler! She thought her mouth gaping open, and a fire wrangler of all. 

“I don’t think you came to kill me,” he said calmly, looking down at her.

She shook her head, forcing herself to stand straight without the bookcase to hold onto, “It was a chance I couldn’t miss.”

“There was no chance,” he said, “you take me as a fool.”

“You are!” Sareti almost shouted, “You are a fire wrangler and yet you kill your own people if they show any sign of it.”

“I am not a fire wrangler,” he said his face suddenly contorted, “That is what the East calls it, filthy cowards, no you don’t know what I am at all.”

He must have noticed his slip because he stepped forwards, face once again calm. “You have been waiting for me?” She said. She had seen a few emotions flit through his face and surprise and been absent.

“I knew you would come, surely you know that you were indiscreet in your stealing.”

“I made it here,” Sareti said stepping forwards too although her feet seemed to stick to the floor, she wondered if it were from blood.

“And you won’t make it much further,” Kaman said with a cold laugh, “Even if there was a chance you left here alive, you wouldn’t reach the vial anyway.”

“Whatever anyone can protect it with, I will find a way,” she said tightening her hand on the dagger.

“It is not I that protect it,” he said with another cold laugh. “I could not even reach it, maybe even with an army.” He self consciously touched his face, tracing a line and then Sareti’s mouth dropped open again.

“You are an Otess!” She said, “An OTESS!”

He grunted and shook his head, “I was.” 

“It is in the Otess stronghold?” Sareti said, heart sinking lower, “The Otess stronghold.”

He looked at her in shock. “Of course if the whole city knew then it would make no difference but I have an agreement.” She had a feeling that the words were not for her as his pale skin began to glow on his forearms and exposed neck. She shrank back glancing at the windows. As high up as they were there was little chance she could make it without fire wrangling.

Suddenly the door burst open and two bodies fell through it. They wore shining armour that was now well bloodied. Han stood in the doorway looking proud of himself. 

“A fairer fight now?” He said stepping inside and sizing up the king who just shook his head in shock. Sareti gasped realising he had at least three knives protruding from his torso but he moved as if they were nothing. 

Kaman looked at Han in shock and then he jumped through the window disappearing leaving the room empty.

“What was that?” Han said turning to her. The latter half of his sentence was cut off as she heard a creak from behind her. She turned just in time to see several of the bookcases swing outwards and guards pouring out. The same kind as in the hallway. For a second she wondered if there were any wranglers among them but then they might have figured out that the king himself was what the west demonised. 

“Lets get out of here!” Han said grabbing her arm and running towards the window as more guards entered through the door. 

“But we can’t go anywhere!” Han just grabbed her arm and dragged her towards the window and then out of it. “Make sure you’re on the bottom,” Sareti hissed in his ear as they tried to right themselves, suddenly realising what he was doing.

“Trying!”

They hit the ground and there was a huge explosion of light and soil and they went flying back into the air, Sareti losing hold of Han. Thankfully she didn’t land too hard and she was up in a few seconds. She shivered, how she hated it when someone else was in control of her life like that, even someone like Han. 

She dashed towards him, who now only glowed faintly and pulled him to his feet. He groaned brushing the dirt off his clothes. By the looks of it they were still in the Palace grounds with the wall around it only twenty paces away. They began running towards it even as guards began entering the grounds, long spears lowered.

Han dived to the ground where the hole was and pushed his way through the hole as spears thudded into the ground from above. Sareti felt herself dragged through roughly as Han grabbed her from the other side. Then they were running across open grass, shouts raising behind them.

The palace was positioned at the top of the hill at the edge of the city where a tall forest began and suddenly they were among tall pines. Here shafts of moonlight barely lit the treacherous roots. 

“Did you find anything out?” Han panted, leaping over a fallen branch. 

“Nothing,” she said, almost tripping over a root hidden by the darkness, “He tried to kill me and then ran when you were there, why was that.”

Han grunted in frustration and Sareti felt guilt rising. She pushed it down. The Otess’s Stronghold! Of course in a way it made sense, those islands were some of the only unexplored ones and for good reason. 

her feet pounded through the forest, on a more solid patch of ground , no longer caring what noise she was making. It was damp and mild yet she felt a chill, the chill of no spirit fire warming her insides. 

Then suddenly she was tripping in the dark again. “I don’t think a fight against the king was a good idea,” she called to Han as he ran. “He doesn’t seem to be taking it very well at all.” Sounds of pursuit were closing in fast, faster than should be possible in this sort of environment.

“And you say we can’t get out of here yet? I thought you had a contact that could get us across the water to the East.”

“What are they chanting?” She shouted to Han as they leapt over a small stream that cut its way around the tree roots. 

“Something evil, about you of course. I don’t know why you thought wrangling fire in front of the king was ever a good idea, we now know what will happen to you when they catch us.”

“There is no getting away from them,” Han shouted back to her, “The ground is getting boggier, soon we will be in the marshlands, sooner or later they will catch us.” As he said that she felt a glow coming from behind them and she glanced back. Their pursuers were crossing the stream in a tide but above them rose glowing blue figures with elaborate face tattoos, held up by streams of water. 

She tried to run faster as they shot towards them but her boots were beginning to sink further and further into the mud, her steps becoming more and more clumsy. The guards didn’t even have torches, instead going by the filtered moon light and the glow of the half naked water wranglers.

“HAN!” She called but the sound in front of her had been drowned out by the clamour behind. She stumbled on blindly trying to gauge his position.

“Sareti!” A faint voice called. She opened her mouth and tripped. She desperately grabbed at the wet moss and pushed herself to her knees when something heavy crushed her to the ground.

Chapter 7 - Tayella

Tay crouched in the narrow boat, hand in the water again, willing her muscles to relax. Hase was finding it more difficult to conceal his agitation as he fidgeted with his dagger.

But it was not that they were crossing the estuary in early morning sunshine, they were going to the West. She fingered the clothing she had on. The only thing in her apartment that resembled western clothing from Sareti’s notes. Hase wore simple  loose trousers of fine thread and a tight fitting coat that didn’t quite fitting. 

“Hase,” she began but refrained from reassuring him, there was nothing to reassure him of. “We get on there and find Sareti and bring her back.”

“What if she doesn’t come, or we can’t find her, not even to speak about getting over those walls in broad daylight?”

“We have to try our best,” Tay muttered to herself, she spoked with a louder voice, just enough to carry to his ears, “I thought on how we get in, most people who try to cross without our help do so by intercepting a trading ship and boarding, hiding inside. We aren’t going over the wall, we are going through the harbour.”

“They will surely watch whom comes off of the boat,” Hase said frowning, “Surely they do.”

Tayella nodded but didn’t elaborate. She was sure that if they got that far then they could find a way in, it was difficult planning ahead when you knew little about the place you were going to.

“That.” Hase turned his head and his mouth dropped. He turned his head and looked at her.

“It is not just any ship, it is one with Water wranglers on board, it has no sail!”

“We have no choice, there is no way we will get anywhere close to the wall without being seen and we have to get in somehow.”

“It is your plan,” Hase said and shifted his weight so that he could sheath his dagger. She gritted her teeth. She didn’t want to drag him into it, but it was too late now, she was not going to go back now.  “I am glad that you agree,” she said rolling her eyes.

“Its just,” he began, “It is just dangerous being in a place that looks at you like you are some kind of monster, worse than an Otess.”

Tayella sighed, “So long as we keep hidden, we will not have to face that problem. Sareti has managed it for months.”

“Of course,” Hase said, “but Sareti is…” he didn’t say rash but she knew what he meant.

They were now in the middle of the estuary, hopefully only a distant speck to either side and so she turned the boat outwards. Towards the ship that was slowly approaching the harbour, the waves not even rocking it slightly. She had no idea how she could get her way onto the ship, let alone get into the city but they had to try.

She leaned over the side and shoved her arm deeper into the cool water and let herself feel the power of its slow movement. They shot forwards sending Hase tumbling off of his seat and onto the floor.

“Careful.”

“Right, do your thing now.”

“Hase rolled his eyes and shoved his faintly glowing hand into the water at the front of the narrow boat. A few seconds later steam enveloped them. She let a layer of water cover her skin and the steam stopped stinging. No longer able to see where they were going she kept them in the same direction, that would hopefully meet the ship in its path. 

“Are you sure about this?” Hase called over the sound of steaming water.

“No, just make sure you maintain it, it will cover our way onto the ship.”

“When did you think to tell me about your crazy plan.” 

“There is no plan, I just came up with it.”

He didn’t get a reply to that, instead gave a nervous chuckle. She felt her own stomach clench with fear. What they were doing was getting more and more dangerous, maybe she should have just let the faction go. Torin wasn’t interested in it anymore, and she hoped that he wouldn’t make it worse than it already was. She thought that if Sareti didn’t return there was nothing else she could do, the problem was too big for her to solve. “We are close,” Hase called. We will hit in ten.

She braced herself, and pulled her hand from the water. For a second the steam stopped and all she seen was the timbers of  the small boat splinter and she was thrown forward simultaneously as it shattered. She grabbed ahold of Hase as she travelled forward and they slammed against the side of the boat, enveloped in steam. Water swirled around them and they moved slowly upwards until she grabbed ahold of the railing and they both pulled themselves over. 

“It worked,” he said, still grinning as the mist cleared. They were on an empty part of a lower deck, with another above them. What looked like small rooms led off the wide walkway. All of them empty.

“Sort of,” she said as the ship creaked and tipped to the side even more and water began pouring in. Hase groaned, “You must have…” She opened one of the doors and stepped inside. She had to grab ahold of the doorframe to stop herself from slipping back and she could hear Hase curse loudly behind her.

She found two sets of uniforms hanging on pegs inside the cabin, knee length trousers and plain white shirts with black lines down the sleeves. She threw one to Hase and began changing, clinging onto the doorframe. 

“Why this?” He said, “The bloody ship is sinking!”

“Just do it,” she growled slipping off her tangled dress, with her back against the tiled wall and pulling on the shirt and trousers. She let the door swing out and she slid down the deck and grabbed ahold of the railing. It creaked under both of tier weight. The boat now was tilting heavily to one side. She moved as quickly as she could along the lower deck until it opened out. 

Half naked water wranglers with strange patterns inked onto their face were desperately trying to hold the ship from tilting although they were failing miserably with columns of swirling water pushing the side of the ship. Even as she watched one of the columns smashed through the side of the boat and the wrangler collapsed, water seeping from them. She froze with shock. Hase pushed her on and she had no chance to see if he had risen. Other crew in uniforms like themselves were hauling a cover off a smaller boat that was hanging over the side. 

Hase beckoned to her and they joined the team in freeing it and it dropped into the water below. The ship had no cargo that she could see, everything must be down below but for it to be a ship without a sail it had to be important. 

Suddenly the ship keeled to the side, deck boards splintering and people were jumping free. Already six small boats were in the water and people were rowing away from the collapsing boat. Hase grabbed her arm as they slipped down the deck and landed on the railing. It proceeded to shatter under their weight and they splashed into the water. 

Behind them the boat creaked and groaned, towering over them. Then she was moving away from it grasping Hase by the arm. 

A few seconds later they were bobbing around among others who were shouting and screaming, trying to get into the single remaining boat that was already full. Luckily the water wasn’t very cold and she could see in the distance more smaller boats coming out to meet them. 

She turned with ease and watched as the boat slowly disappeared from view, plank by plank. Then as it dissapeared beneath she felt herself being dragged towards it and resisted barely able to hide the glow. Glows sprung up around them and people stopped being pulled towards where the boat had been.

They kept their heads down slightly so as not to attract attention from the others and miraculously nobody noticed when they were picked up by another smaller boat. 

Warm drinks were handed out with dry clothes and not long after they were entering the Western harbour full of ships of all shapes and sizes bustling with life. Hase had lost the tension in his muscles and was slumped against her panting.

“My spirit fire,” he hissed, “Its all gone, sucked away by that water in moments.”

“Probably for the best,” she said putting an arm around him as they bumped against a wooden walkway sticking out into the enclosed bay. This could be tricky, she thought, both her and Hase had eastern tattoos on their wrists, although covered now, they might check for them.

“What do we do if they check our wrists?” Hase whispered in her ear. 

“I don’t know, we might have to make a break for it.”

“Thats a stupid idea.”

She turned to him, stepping back slightly and looking him in the eyes, “Do you have a better idea?”

“In fact I do.

She raised her eyebrows as he pointed to the boats docked near them, particularly a huge vessel also with no mast that looked like it was under construction.

“We can hide there until the place quietens down a bit and we can find a way through whatever checks they have, if there is any.”

She nodded reluctantly and as they hung back slightly they darted off to the side, clambering onto a small boat that was tied to the large one with canvas across the centre.

“Easy,” Hase said grinning as he slipped under the tarp. Tay crawled under it too. Underneath there was just some tools and lengths of wood. One of the seats was obviously being repaired or built, she could not tell. 

“That was a lucky coincidence,” Tay said begrudgingly sitting down on the half finished bench. 

“I have had experience,” he said leaning forwards, “I got here by hiding on many different ships.”

“It doesn’t seem so hard,” Tay said listening intently, it appeared nobody had noticed.

“When I came from the continent where people like us are always on the run, a bit like here.” He grimaced, smile sliding away. “I learned a few things about hiding on boats although each port that I hid on a ship to get to was worse than the rest. It took me seven tries to get on a ship going anywhere further afield and there were eight of us.”

“What happened to the other seven?” Tay said, I really should have asked about his past.

Any sign of humour disappeared from his eyes, “They didn’t make it, I barely did and even so, it was difficult. We were at sea for months. I originally intended to reach the place where the ship was headed, further east but I was almost caught so many times that I had no wish to travel further.”

“I am sorry for opening the wound,” Tay said reaching out and holding his arm, “I never knew, what would they have done if you had been found?” She felt the boat move slightly and then an inked face looked underneath the canvas. She felt her heart drop. 

A western water wrangler, the last person she wanted to see.   She almost groaned and braced herself letting the spirit water surge up just beneath the surface, maybe they could talk themselves out, surely if she wrangled here it would be much more hard to get into the city. She noticed that the bald man was wearing a full set of clothes. How strange.

“Sorry for what?” He said in a light voice. He glanced between them and grinned.

“We…” Tay trailed off when the man started laughing. He thinks we were… she reddened as Hase crouched, hand on his dagger. The man gestured for them to move and they followed, Tayella tapping Hase’s hand. He dropped it from his knife.

“Yes, yes, we don’t want that,” the wrangler said eyeing the dagger and beckoning again. She kept her eyes on the wrangler as they came out from under the cover. He gestured to a ladder. She glanced around and noticed that two more water wranglers, or water guards stood on the wooden walkway. She stared up the ladder with a sigh.

As she climbed she realised it was one of the largest ships in the harbour and had no sails although it was taller and sat higher out of the water than almost all of the other ships. She wondered what it was for, the western army no doubt. 

I could have picked a smaller ship, she thought, not the biggest and newest one. She stepped onto the main deck which had no railing although the side was knee high. A dozen or so more guards waited, standing in a wide circle around a woman who stood facing her. 

Tay glanced around quickly noting all of the features of the ship. A higher deck was positioned to her right and the main deck was full of construction tools and timber. Overhead towered a structure that must be for moving materials although it was motionless for now. She pushed the remaining spirit water deep down so as not to glow even a little bit. 

“Look what I found,” chuckled the wrangler, now standing at the woman’s side. He looked rather shabby even with his well cut clothes next to her colourful dress. Tay noted that she wore a sword at her belt.

“Avalt…” The woman said stepping closer then stopping, eyes widening momentarily. The guards began to step forward but she waved them away. 

Tay frowned there was something in that voice that tugged at her memory.

“Why are you here?” The woman said stepping close enough that Tayella could make out her pale features and braided hair. She cursed. The woman was none other than the one that they had helped cross the estuary the night before.

She looked Tay right in the eyes and then her eyes swept to Hase. He defiantly held her gaze although widened slightly as if realising the same as her. Of course with the dress and braided hair she looked like a faction leader rather than a haughty noble, or maybe a queen, if there was such in the west.

“Come,” she said finally as Tayella didn’t open her mouth. Here she thought she was going to get away and the woman knew who they were. Maybe I can make a deal with her, Tay thought as she followed the woman towards the back, stern of the ship. As they neared, Tayella could see that underneath the higher deck were windows. And doors, just like the ship she had sunk. She almost laughed, she had sunk a western ship. Any other time it would have been a victory but it no longer felt like it.

The woman led them through one, long almost white braids  swinging behind her and the wrangler that had found them shut it behind them. Chairs were set around the wooden room with a simple but large table was in the centre.

The wrangler turned to face them, “What are you doing here?” Hase clenched his fists but Tayella laid a hand on his arm. “We are here to find a friend."

“Friend you say?” Said the man but the woman waved him away and sat down at the table, gesturing for them to do the same. 

If Tayella had not recognised the woman’s face she would not have believed it was the same woman, the same arrogant westerner.

“You act different,” Tayella said without realising she was speaking aloud.

The woman smiled slightly, “Of course, there is more to a disguise than just clothing, I assume you thought me an arrogant westerner.”

The man, now standing against the wall snorted. He spoke to the woman as if they were not there anymore, “Did Han put you up to that?”

She ignored him and watched them carefully, face impassive once again. “I am Erisa Ven although you can call me Erisa, I don’t think western formalities really apply to you.”

Tayella forced herself to keep that stare. The blue eyes were like staring into the depths of an ocean, a stormy ocean. She was afraid that if she looked away… 

“We helped you,” Hase said, “Can we go now.” Tayella suppressed a groan and used the opportunity to tear her gaze away from the woman’s.

“Did I not pay you?” The woman said coldly, then her expression softened, “I think that I might help you with your… friend.”

“You can?” Tayella said. What could this woman do about Sareti. She felt a chill within her, if this woman knew about Sareti then. 

“I did meet a woman recently,” Erisa said, “she was a fire wrangler, of which I saw for myself since she broke into my castle to steel some papers. She was quite interesting to talk to once she took off her veil.” 

“Sareti isn’t a thief,” Hase said, “she would not…” Tayella kicked his foot to silence him. 

“Not a regular thief,” Erisa agreed, “A more dangerous sort, she has caused quite a stir here.”

So this woman wasn’t just a rich westerner, she lived in a castle, maybe the word, ‘Queen’ fitted her better than she had originally thought. And she has met Sareti. 

Tay and Hase exchanged a look. It could only be Sareti, she was always slipping about in her special sneaking garments, but stealing? 

“She did cause a stir,” Avalt said gruffly, “she got herself caught.”

Tayella sucked in a breath but before she could speak Erisa did.

“Two people were hunted and captured a few nights ago after somebody set fire to the king’s palace and apparently killed at least a dozen elite palace guards, although I find that a little bit of a stretch. Which means they managed to get to the King’s quarters.”

“Is she dead?” Hase said leaning over the table, all thoughts of caution gone from him.

Erisa shook her head, “Not that I can tell, I think the King means to make it public. She is held in the palace grounds, there is almost no way to get in and out without being caught.”

“Why are you helping us?” Tay said, “And why should we believe you?” You could just be feeding us information to get ourselves trapped.

“Because we can help,” the wrangler said pulling a chair over and taking a seat beside the Erisa. Tay frowned. 

“And more importantly,” Erisa said, “You can help us.” Suddenly Tay realised why the wrangler wasn’t in regular uniform. The glances and the way he didn’t use the western formalities either. They were too familiar, friends perhaps? This man did not work for the woman, or if he did he was not far below her. 

“Help you with what?” Hase asked. This was all very confusing, why would a very rich westerner help them when fire wranglers were treated and thought of as monsters and un-inked water wranglers not much better. There was no point hoping that the woman did not know that they were wranglers, she must have worked out that they had to be wranglers in their line of work.

“Let us lay it out.” Erisa said, “Your friend is being held in the wrangler prison in the palace grounds. While you might manage to get in the grounds without a lot of planning you may never get near the prison. We can help you get so far but in return we wish that you bring us Sareti.”

“Why do you want her?” Hase asked.

“Because she holds information that is very important to us, or to Han at least. When he decides to find his way back here again that is.”

“Okay,” Tay said pursing her lips. “But again why are you not dragging us by our wrists to the prison too? We might be dangerous to you.”

“We are dragging you to prison,” Erisa said, a satisfied smile. “You wanted a way in, that is the best way, maybe the only way unless you are another Sareti. You will travel in a cage, as if you were going, and Avalt will travel with you on the outside, when you near you will break out from a cage that has not been properly shut. From then on you are on your own.”

“What?!” Hase exclaimed, “How do you expect us to go along with that?”

“Because you have no choice,” Erisa said standing looking smug. “I will leave you with Avalt to discuss what happens, he will be accompanying you to make sure that you actually bring Sareti to me.”

She turned and elegantly swept out of the door letting it close with a soft thud behind her.

“What is the reason that you are not properly taking us to the prison? A real answer would help. We can’t do this if we can’t trust you,” Hase said leaning back, looking calm although his knuckles were white under the table.

“We are all wranglers, and I can say this because as easterners even if you repeat any of this, to most here you are both the worst form of criminals, but you might be surprised that not everyone is like that. We have saved fire and water wranglers from Sareti’s soon-to-be future as much as we can without being noticed. Not everyone here believes that they are what the King says that they are.”

“You’re too good at lying,” Hase said gaze following the man as he took Erisa’s seat, “Much too good.”

The man didn’t comment. 

I hope he is not, Tayella thought as the man pulled a map out and laid it on the top.

Chapter 8 - Sareti and Tayella

The party of guards and Wranglers half dragged Sareti between them as they moved through the forest until her whole body ached although that was partly because of her failed attempts to escape. 

Just as she thought her body was going to give up she was set down on a hand pulled cart and tied down. Above glowing water wranglers. Looked down on her with cold eyes that made her shiver.

She began to shiver from the constant dousing of water and by the time she saw the first warm light she was shaking. As they neared what she guessed was the edge of the city she heard cheering and shouting getting louder at each lurch. She closed her eyes and prayed that Han had made it. The guards had left people behind to search but none of the water wranglers.

The cheering turned to jeers and at one point she felt something hit her in the stomach that felt like a rock. Lights above her showed that she was now being brought through the city. A few seconds later there was a few screams and the noise stopped. Then they passed through the same gates as she had only a day before. She felt the last shred of hope drown when the gates clanged shut behind her. Vaguely she could hear the water wrangler arguing with another guard but whatever the result she could not tell.

Through an archway she went, and then into a building. She was set down and a cloth covered her face as her bonds were taken off. She tried to strike at whoever had done it but found nothing. A heavy door swung shut and she could hear the bolts locking it, eight of them. She expected to sit up to see the king but the room was empty. She was unsure if she could even call it a room for two of the walls were predominantly made up of metal bars thicker than her arms. The wind wasn’t cold but it was damp and she shivered even more.

She could see out to the estuary from here, and almost thought she could see lights on the other side. She wondered what Torin was doing, if he was holding together the faction. I should be finding a way to escape, she thought but couldn’t bring herself to move.

Sareti sat in the only corner away from the bars and hunched up shivering. After a while the shivering stopped but she didn’t know if it was a good thing or not. When the sun began to rise over the estuary she could see the distant East, the islands but most of all she felt a little warmth return. 

It wasn’t long after that that the king showed up with his guards. The guards stationed themselves among those already watching her through the bars and waited as the king walked through the door. And shut it behind him. She heard the bolts shut. 

“Not scared are you after what happened last time?” She said trying to stop her teeth from chattering as she spoke. “Running off like that."

“Your friend won’t be rescuing you this time,” he said, stepping into full view. They can’t have Han too! She thought. He wore almost the same garb as he had the day before all white.

“What do you want?” She eventually asked as the king turned to stare out to the sea that was visible for the first time in days. Mists out here at this time of year were frequently cloaking the island. 

“I would kill you publicly, like a demon deservers,” he said as if he were speaking of making a speech, “The people grow restless but then again so do I.” He turned cold eyes on her, “You are to be bait.”

“For what?” she said. 

He grinned suddenly an odd look, “For an Otess.”

“You are an Otess!”

The grin vanished and he grabbed her by the neck but let go face calm again, “I am not an Otess, I may once have thought that I was but I am something more.”

Sareti shivered but no longer from the cold. It was perfect in a horrible way, sitting here, trapped, she would never be able to fight back. She felt the fear set in, and the inevitable feeling of her death drawing near.

“Wait,” Sareti called desperately as he moved to leave, “I can…”. The door slammed shut and Sareti fell back sliding to the floor. Tears pooled in her eyes and she lay back. “I should have told Han,” she said her voice breaking, “The information should not die with me.” 

~

Tay crouched in the narrow boat, hand in the water again, willing her muscles to relax. Hase was finding it more difficult to conceal his agitation as he fidgeted with his dagger.

But it was not that they were crossing the estuary in early morning sunshine, they were going to the West. She fingered the clothing she had on. The only thing in her apartment that resembled western clothing from Sareti’s notes. Hase wore simple  loose trousers of fine thread and a tight fitting coat that didn’t quite fitting. 

“Hase,” she began but refrained from reassuring him, there was nothing to reassure him of. “We get on there and find Sareti and bring her back.”

“What if she doesn’t come, or we can’t find her, not even to speak about getting over those walls in broad daylight?”

“We have to try our best,” Tay muttered to herself, she spoked with a louder voice, just enough to carry to his ears, “I thought on how we get in, most people who try to cross without our help do so by intercepting a trading ship and boarding, hiding inside. We aren’t going over the wall, we are going through the harbour.”

“They will surely watch whom comes off of the boat,” Hase said frowning, “Surely they do.”

Tayella nodded but didn’t elaborate. She was sure that if they got that far then they could find a way in, it was difficult planning ahead when you knew little about the place you were going to.

“That.” Hase turned his head and his mouth dropped. He turned his head and looked at her.

“It is not just any ship, it is one with Water wranglers on board, it has no sail!”

“We have no choice, there is no way we will get anywhere close to the wall without being seen and we have to get in somehow.”

“It is your plan,” Hase said and shifted his weight so that he could sheath his dagger. She gritted her teeth. She didn’t want to drag him into it, but it was too late now, she was not going to go back now.  “I am glad that you agree,” she said rolling her eyes.

“Its just,” he began, “It is just dangerous being in a place that looks at you like you are some kind of monster, worse than an Otess.”

Tayella sighed, “So long as we keep hidden, we will not have to face that problem. Sareti has managed it for months.”

“Of course,” Hase said, “but Sareti is…” he didn’t say rash but she knew what he meant.

They were now in the middle of the estuary, hopefully only a distant speck to either side and so she turned the boat outwards. Towards the ship that was slowly approaching the harbour, the waves not even rocking it slightly. She had no idea how she could get her way onto the ship, let alone get into the city but they had to try.

She leaned over the side and shoved her arm deeper into the cool water and let herself feel the power of its slow movement. They shot forwards sending Hase tumbling off of his seat and onto the floor.

“Careful.”

“Right, do your thing now.”

“Hase rolled his eyes and shoved his faintly glowing hand into the water at the front of the narrow boat. A few seconds later steam enveloped them. She let a layer of water cover her skin and the steam stopped stinging. No longer able to see where they were going she kept them in the same direction, that would hopefully meet the ship in its path. 

“Are you sure about this?” Hase called over the sound of steaming water.

“No, just make sure you maintain it, it will cover our way onto the ship.”

“When did you think to tell me about your crazy plan.” 

“There is no plan, I just came up with it.”

He didn’t get a reply to that, instead gave a nervous chuckle. She felt her own stomach clench with fear. What they were doing was getting more and more dangerous, maybe she should have just let the faction go. Torin wasn’t interested in it anymore, and she hoped that he wouldn’t make it worse than it already was. She thought that if Sareti didn’t return there was nothing else she could do, the problem was too big for her to solve. “We are close,” Hase called. We will hit in ten.

She braced herself, and pulled her hand from the water. For a second the steam stopped and all she seen was the timbers of  the small boat splinter and she was thrown forward simultaneously as it shattered. She grabbed ahold of Hase as she travelled forward and they slammed against the side of the boat, enveloped in steam. Water swirled around them and they moved slowly upwards until she grabbed ahold of the railing and they both pulled themselves over. 

“It worked,” he said, still grinning as the mist cleared. They were on an empty part of a lower deck, with another above them. What looked like small rooms led off the wide walkway. All of them empty.

“Sort of,” she said as the ship creaked and tipped to the side even more and water began pouring in. Hase groaned, “You must have…” She opened one of the doors and stepped inside. She had to grab ahold of the doorframe to stop herself from slipping back and she could hear Hase curse loudly behind her.

She found two sets of uniforms hanging on pegs inside the cabin, knee length trousers and plain white shirts with black lines down the sleeves. She threw one to Hase and began changing, clinging onto the doorframe. 

“Why this?” He said, “The bloody ship is sinking!”

“Just do it,” she growled slipping off her tangled dress, with her back against the tiled wall and pulling on the shirt and trousers. She let the door swing out and she slid down the deck and grabbed ahold of the railing. It creaked under both of tier weight. The boat now was tilting heavily to one side. She moved as quickly as she could along the lower deck until it opened out. 

Half naked water wranglers with strange patterns inked onto their face were desperately trying to hold the ship from tilting although they were failing miserably with columns of swirling water pushing the side of the ship. Even as she watched one of the columns smashed through the side of the boat and the wrangler collapsed, water seeping from them. She froze with shock. Hase pushed her on and she had no chance to see if he had risen. Other crew in uniforms like themselves were hauling a cover off a smaller boat that was hanging over the side. 

Hase beckoned to her and they joined the team in freeing it and it dropped into the water below. The ship had no cargo that she could see, everything must be down below but for it to be a ship without a sail it had to be important. 

Suddenly the ship keeled to the side, deck boards splintering and people were jumping free. Already six small boats were in the water and people were rowing away from the collapsing boat. Hase grabbed her arm as they slipped down the deck and landed on the railing. It proceeded to shatter under their weight and they splashed into the water. 

Behind them the boat creaked and groaned, towering over them. Then she was moving away from it grasping Hase by the arm. 

A few seconds later they were bobbing around among others who were shouting and screaming, trying to get into the single remaining boat that was already full. Luckily the water wasn’t very cold and she could see in the distance more smaller boats coming out to meet them. 

She turned with ease and watched as the boat slowly disappeared from view, plank by plank. Then as it dissapeared beneath she felt herself being dragged towards it and resisted barely able to hide the glow. Glows sprung up around them and people stopped being pulled towards where the boat had been.

They kept their heads down slightly so as not to attract attention from the others and miraculously nobody noticed when they were picked up by another smaller boat. 

Warm drinks were handed out with dry clothes and not long after they were entering the Western harbour full of ships of all shapes and sizes bustling with life. Hase had lost the tension in his muscles and was slumped against her panting.

“My spirit fire,” he hissed, “Its all gone, sucked away by that water in moments.”

“Probably for the best,” she said putting an arm around him as they bumped against a wooden walkway sticking out into the enclosed bay. This could be tricky, she thought, both her and Hase had eastern tattoos on their wrists, although covered now, they might check for them.

“What do we do if they check our wrists?” Hase whispered in her ear. 

“I don’t know, we might have to make a break for it.”

“Thats a stupid idea.”

She turned to him, stepping back slightly and looking him in the eyes, “Do you have a better idea?”

“In fact I do.

She raised her eyebrows as he pointed to the boats docked near them, particularly a huge vessel also with no mast that looked like it was under construction.

“We can hide there until the place quietens down a bit and we can find a way through whatever checks they have, if there is any.”

She nodded reluctantly and as they hung back slightly they darted off to the side, clambering onto a small boat that was tied to the large one with canvas across the centre.

“Easy,” Hase said grinning as he slipped under the tarp. Tay crawled under it too. Underneath there was just some tools and lengths of wood. One of the seats was obviously being repaired or built, she could not tell. 

“That was a lucky coincidence,” Tay said begrudgingly sitting down on the half finished bench. 

“I have had experience,” he said leaning forwards, “I got here by hiding on many different ships.”

“It doesn’t seem so hard,” Tay said listening intently, it appeared nobody had noticed.

“When I came from the continent where people like us are always on the run, a bit like here.” He grimaced, smile sliding away. “I learned a few things about hiding on boats although each port that I hid on a ship to get to was worse than the rest. It took me seven tries to get on a ship going anywhere further afield and there were eight of us.”

“What happened to the other seven?” Tay said, I really should have asked about his past.

Any sign of humour disappeared from his eyes, “They didn’t make it, I barely did and even so, it was difficult. We were at sea for months. I originally intended to reach the place where the ship was headed, further east but I was almost caught so many times that I had no wish to travel further.”

“I am sorry for opening the wound,” Tay said reaching out and holding his arm, “I never knew, what would they have done if you had been found?” She felt the boat move slightly and then an inked face looked underneath the canvas. She felt her heart drop. 

A western water wrangler, the last person she wanted to see.   She almost groaned and braced herself letting the spirit water surge up just beneath the surface, maybe they could talk themselves out, surely if she wrangled here it would be much more hard to get into the city. She noticed that the bald man was wearing a full set of clothes. How strange.

“Sorry for what?” He said in a light voice. He glanced between them and grinned.

“We…” Tay trailed off when the man started laughing. He thinks we were… she reddened as Hase crouched, hand on his dagger. The man gestured for them to move and they followed, Tayella tapping Hase’s hand. He dropped it from his knife.

“Yes, yes, we don’t want that,” the wrangler said eyeing the dagger and beckoning again. She kept her eyes on the wrangler as they came out from under the cover. He gestured to a ladder. She glanced around and noticed that two more water wranglers, or water guards stood on the wooden walkway. She stared up the ladder with a sigh.

As she climbed she realised it was one of the largest ships in the harbour and had no sails although it was taller and sat higher out of the water than almost all of the other ships. She wondered what it was for, the western army no doubt. 

I could have picked a smaller ship, she thought, not the biggest and newest one. She stepped onto the main deck which had no railing although the side was knee high. A dozen or so more guards waited, standing in a wide circle around a woman who stood facing her. 

Tay glanced around quickly noting all of the features of the ship. A higher deck was positioned to her right and the main deck was full of construction tools and timber. Overhead towered a structure that must be for moving materials although it was motionless for now. She pushed the remaining spirit water deep down so as not to glow even a little bit. 

“Look what I found,” chuckled the wrangler, now standing at the woman’s side. He looked rather shabby even with his well cut clothes next to her colourful dress. Tay noted that she wore a sword at her belt.

“Avalt…” The woman said stepping closer then stopping, eyes widening momentarily. The guards began to step forward but she waved them away. 

Tay frowned there was something in that voice that tugged at her memory.

“Why are you here?” The woman said stepping close enough that Tayella could make out her pale features and braided hair. She cursed. The woman was none other than the one that they had helped cross the estuary the night before.

She looked Tay right in the eyes and then her eyes swept to Hase. He defiantly held her gaze although widened slightly as if realising the same as her. Of course with the dress and braided hair she looked like a faction leader rather than a haughty noble, or maybe a queen, if there was such in the west.

“Come,” she said finally as Tayella didn’t open her mouth. Here she thought she was going to get away and the woman knew who they were. Maybe I can make a deal with her, Tay thought as she followed the woman towards the back, stern of the ship. As they neared, Tayella could see that underneath the higher deck were windows. And doors, just like the ship she had sunk. She almost laughed, she had sunk a western ship. Any other time it would have been a victory but it no longer felt like it.

The woman led them through one, long almost white braids  swinging behind her and the wrangler that had found them shut it behind them. Chairs were set around the wooden room with a simple but large table was in the centre.

The wrangler turned to face them, “What are you doing here?” Hase clenched his fists but Tayella laid a hand on his arm. “We are here to find a friend."

“Friend you say?” Said the man but the woman waved him away and sat down at the table, gesturing for them to do the same. 

If Tayella had not recognised the woman’s face she would not have believed it was the same woman, the same arrogant westerner.

“You act different,” Tayella said without realising she was speaking aloud.

The woman smiled slightly, “Of course, there is more to a disguise than just clothing, I assume you thought me an arrogant westerner.”

The man, now standing against the wall snorted. He spoke to the woman as if they were not there anymore, “Did Han put you up to that?”

She ignored him and watched them carefully, face impassive once again. “I am Erisa Ven although you can call me Erisa, I don’t think western formalities really apply to you.”

Tayella forced herself to keep that stare. The blue eyes were like staring into the depths of an ocean, a stormy ocean. She was afraid that if she looked away… 

“We helped you,” Hase said, “Can we go now.” Tayella suppressed a groan and used the opportunity to tear her gaze away from the woman’s.

“Did I not pay you?” The woman said coldly, then her expression softened, “I think that I might help you with your… friend.”

“You can?” Tayella said. What could this woman do about Sareti. She felt a chill within her, if this woman knew about Sareti then. 

“I did meet a woman recently,” Erisa said, “she was a fire wrangler, of which I saw for myself since she broke into my castle to steel some papers. She was quite interesting to talk to once she took off her veil.” 

“Sareti isn’t a thief,” Hase said, “she would not…” Tayella kicked his foot to silence him. 

“Not a regular thief,” Erisa agreed, “A more dangerous sort, she has caused quite a stir here.”

So this woman wasn’t just a rich westerner, she lived in a castle, maybe the word, ‘Queen’ fitted her better than she had originally thought. And she has met Sareti. 

Tay and Hase exchanged a look. It could only be Sareti, she was always slipping about in her special sneaking garments, but stealing? 

“She did cause a stir,” Avalt said gruffly, “she got herself caught.”

Tayella sucked in a breath but before she could speak Erisa did.

“Two people were hunted and captured a few nights ago after somebody set fire to the king’s palace and apparently killed at least a dozen elite palace guards, although I find that a little bit of a stretch. Which means they managed to get to the King’s quarters.”

“Is she dead?” Hase said leaning over the table, all thoughts of caution gone from him.

Erisa shook her head, “Not that I can tell, I think the King means to make it public. She is held in the palace grounds, there is almost no way to get in and out without being caught.”

“Why are you helping us?” Tay said, “And why should we believe you?” You could just be feeding us information to get ourselves trapped.

“Because we can help,” the wrangler said pulling a chair over and taking a seat beside the Erisa. Tay frowned. 

“And more importantly,” Erisa said, “You can help us.” Suddenly Tay realised why the wrangler wasn’t in regular uniform. The glances and the way he didn’t use the western formalities either. They were too familiar, friends perhaps? This man did not work for the woman, or if he did he was not far below her. 

“Help you with what?” Hase asked. This was all very confusing, why would a very rich westerner help them when fire wranglers were treated and thought of as monsters and un-inked water wranglers not much better. There was no point hoping that the woman did not know that they were wranglers, she must have worked out that they had to be wranglers in their line of work.

“Let us lay it out.” Erisa said, “Your friend is being held in the wrangler prison in the palace grounds. While you might manage to get in the grounds without a lot of planning you may never get near the prison. We can help you get so far but in return we wish that you bring us Sareti.”

“Why do you want her?” Hase asked.

“Because she holds information that is very important to us, or to Han at least. When he decides to find his way back here again that is.”

“Okay,” Tay said pursing her lips. “But again why are you not dragging us by our wrists to the prison too? We might be dangerous to you.”

“We are dragging you to prison,” Erisa said, a satisfied smile. “You wanted a way in, that is the best way, maybe the only way unless you are another Sareti. You will travel in a cage, as if you were going, and Avalt will travel with you on the outside, when you near you will break out from a cage that has not been properly shut. From then on you are on your own.”

“What?!” Hase exclaimed, “How do you expect us to go along with that?”

“Because you have no choice,” Erisa said standing looking smug. “I will leave you with Avalt to discuss what happens, he will be accompanying you to make sure that you actually bring Sareti to me.”

She turned and elegantly swept out of the door letting it close with a soft thud behind her.

“What is the reason that you are not properly taking us to the prison? A real answer would help. We can’t do this if we can’t trust you,” Hase said leaning back, looking calm although his knuckles were white under the table.

“We are all wranglers, and I can say this because as easterners even if you repeat any of this, to most here you are both the worst form of criminals, but you might be surprised that not everyone is like that. We have saved fire and water wranglers from Sareti’s soon-to-be future as much as we can without being noticed. Not everyone here believes that they are what the King says that they are.”

“You’re too good at lying,” Hase said gaze following the man as he took Erisa’s seat, “Much too good.”

The man didn’t comment. 

I hope he is not, Tayella thought as the man pulled a map out and laid it on the top.

Chapter 9 - Sareti and Tayella

Sareti shivered in her cell as the darkness crept in. The night was clear again and her clothes had mostly dried in the day but her skin was so numb that she couldn’t feel it. She once again lay in the only corner, watching the dark palace grounds around her. Every time a guard moved she felt her insides tense. But she knew she wouldn’t hear the Otess coming until it was too late.

The guards outside even seemed to be on edge. She assumed they knew about the Otess because every now and again they would exchange quick glances and almost all of them had turned to face outwards instead of watching her. At least she knew that she wasn’t the worst thing to the westerners, the Otess were more feared.

She now understood the feeling. Her parents had spent the last year of their life on edge, constantly fearing for their life. Now she knew what it felt like. She considered trying to provoke the guards into killing her before the Otess came but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. They likely wouldn’t even take their eyes off the darkness, she knew that she wouldn’t in their position, not with an Otess out there.

“They won’t hurt you if you don’t get in their way,” she called out. A couple gave nervous glances at each other but otherwise ignored her.

What I want to know, she thought closing her eyes, is why the king knows that the Otess would come for her and why he wanted to trap one. 

Something moved out in the darkness, where the moon shone on the grass and she shuddered. The guards raised their weapons but for moments nothing happened. Then there was a low crack and one of the guards collapsed forwards, thudding to the ground. By the time they fell there was nobody there. The guards didn’t shift at all apart from subtly filling the gap, leaving the corpse lying there. Sareti stared with wide eyes, pressing her back as far into the corner as she could.

“Do we call for backup?” One of them hissed to another, voice trembling slightly. 

“You heard our orders, we don’t leave our positions.” 

The other guard nodded but even Sareti could see his hands gripping his spear tighter and tighter. 

A while later after the guards had relaxed a bit and the dark had fully descended, a few clouds occasionally blocking out the moon, another guard dropped dead in front of the bars to her cage. Again there was no sign of the attacker and no sign of any blood or knife. 

She could hear her own breathing now, ragged although she wasn’t sure if… Another crack. She suddenly hoped that the king was as good as he was confident, she would rather face him than an Otess. Maybe he could… Another crack sounded and the guards began to stab at the darkness blindly some of them visibly shaking.

~

“Tay, why are we doing this?” In the dim light that filtered through  the cloth that had been thrown over the cage she could see his fist tightened around the hilt of a long dagger. 

I don’t know! She wanted to say but just reached out and took hold of his hand. He seemed to relax slightly but she could feel the tension in him.

The cloth was moved and they plunged into darkness. That seemed to calm Hase a little and he stilled. She forced herself to calm her own breathing. She was glad she didn’t have a problem of small spaces, for although it wasn’t unreasonably small, where they were going it might well have been.

It was quiet outside apart from the soft thuds of a boots on a paved street along with the occasional low voice. Then they began to move. Despite what she had seen of the streets, the cage rattled and shook and the cart under them creaked with the weight. She wondered if they were getting pulled by horses. Another time seeing horses would be quite a sight but even that didn’t quench the burning fear deep inside her.

“Tay?” Hase whispered. She felt his hand brush her shoulder and then find her hand. He gripped it tightly. She felt scars through his rough palm and wondered where he had gotten them from, surely he had not acquired that many from just working with her.

“Hase…” she began forcing her voice level, “I barely know you but I wish that I had made more effort before. But maybe that is better, with what we are going into.”

“Tay,” Hase said, voice surprisingly just as level as hers, “I lost every one of my friends and then lost my new friends. I never regretted it. Their faces haunt my sleep but it would be unjust  to wish I had never met them.”

Tayella bit her lip. “I want to get to know you better, if we get the chance.”

“We will,” he assured although his voice wavered. She wondered how many times he had made that assurance and felt a chill go through her.

They sat in silence for a time that she couldn’t quantify but she felt more at ease than she had since she had first sighted the ship they were to board. The lull in the waves before a storm. Her first time in the west and she was already in a cage voluntarily heading towards an execution or whatever they did to unwanted wranglers here.

Sounds of voices got louder and the cover was torn off making the cart creak even more. Jeering people waved fists at them from the sides of a well lit street. She gritted her teeth and ignored them studying the buildings around them. Three or four stories high, they were similar to the East although the windows were larger and the stonework more ornate. 

The cart was pulled by horses as she had thought, four black beast with harnesses and studded belts that bare chested guards sat atop. The cart trundled past the people painfully slowly and rocks occasionally clattered through the bars of the cage.

She stared at the people as she passed, forcing herself to ignore those at the front. It was too easy to assume they were all like that but when she looked harder, she could spot more than a few who just watched them quietly, from the entrances to narrower streets, the expressions sometimes pitiful. 

To her surprise a lot of those with bare chests, men and woman, concealed anger in their inked faces. She didn’t see any of them jeer. A few met her gaze and looked away. She sat back and met gaze with Han. Still she didn’t dare talk, the crowd felt like they were poised on the edge of flooding the street and swarming over the cage like wild dogs.

She at least could see where they were going. Built on a low hill, West Seshi sloped slightly upwards giving her a good view down to the harbour and the moonlit water. But above the houses just got bigger, the gaps between wider. 

Slowly the crowds thinned and soon there were only an occasional figure watching from a tall gate or doorways in houses, with large gardens. Moving figures within the gardens showed that they were at least more wary of their property than those in the main street. Though gaps she caught sight of what could only be castles, towering above the buildings around them.

Then they were crossing an open expanse of shadowed grass that ran up to a large wall. A very large wall. She wondered how Sareti had got even past it. Focus Tay, she told herself as the cart slowed and guards that she hadn’t noticed walking either side fanned out. The huge gates in the wall swung open just enough to let the cart through. 

Just as they started moving again, something moved at the edge of her vision, scaling the wall! No, she thought, I will not let my mind play tricks on me now. The dread was swelling up inside her like the spirit water did, from now on there was no going back, every hour, every day they spent here increased the chance of being caught. She glanced at the lock subconsciously, hanging there slightly open. She breathed a small sigh of relief. Not a much better thought. 

They passed beneath the wall there was the palace. It was a little underwhelming at first sight until she realised how large it with the windows only dark spots crossing its length and with its rectangular symmetrical silhouette it grew more and more imposing. 

The grounds in between the wall and the palace were mostly open with only a few groups of plain buildings on it, including what she assumed was the guard’s barracks and stables with guards  surrounding and then behind that, to the left of the palace was a much smaller building, with colluded walls that glinted in the moonlight, metal columns! She didn’t like to wonder how much something like that might cost. Metal wasn’t exactly cheap. A single row of guards completely surrounded it. Yet there was something off, dark lumps lay prone in the grass. But from the notice they were given by the guards around them they may as well have been bundles of cloth.

There was no sound as they approached the building, in fact the guards didn’t even shift their gaze, instead they stood motionless, staring outwards. She shivered even thought the nights were starting to warm. The cart stopped and she could hear the sounds of low voices. 

“What are you doing?! We were told to accept no more prisoners tonight.” The man’s voice was tight and his voice wavered slightly. What is wrong with him? She thought, he isn’t the one going into the prison.

“Why not? The prison has never been full, in fact has it not been empty for the past few days.”

“One prisoner only, Kings orders, from him directly. I am just doing my duty.” The word ‘duty’ sounded as if he was reconsidering his choice of job.

The voices lowered and she could no longer hear what they were saying save for a few distant murmurs. Hase grabbed her arm.

“What?” She said but he clamped his hand over her mouth and pointed. She froze and her eyes widened. To the right of them, something dark moved along the ground. It took her a few moments to realise that it was in fact a human. And then she saw what it was wrapped in and she gripped Han’s arm. If she had not known better she would have thought that it were naked with the clear shape of an Otess. Even so she soon lost sight of it.

She pushed herself up to crouch instead of sit and strained her eyes. Something moved near what must have been the front of their procession. Then there were two thuds, then Silence. Most of the guard that had been around them as they travelled through the city had not passed through the gates, she now wished they were there. 

The guards around the building didn’t move. Surely they must have seen something. She opened her mouth to call but Han hissed in her ear.

“No, no, don’t, we don’t want to draw any attention to ourselves. The guards talking at the front are likely dead and without a sound, what is to say that we don’t get killed quicker?”

“But why now? Why here? And I liked that Water wrangler, he was the first nice Westerner that I met.”

“I don’t know, they could be after someone in the prison, or the king himself.”

“You heard the guard earlier, only one prisoner…”

“Sareti!” Han whispered meeting her gaze. Even in the darkness she could see the tension in his crouch.

“Han, I am sorry that I brought you, we should have stayed behind, you can go, if you can escape.”

“No, Tay if you are staying, then I will. Even if it means that we have to fight a…”

“Yes,” she said, “We must.” She pulled him into an awkward embrace. For a moment the fear loosened inside her and something else replaced it. He brushed his hand across her cheek and then pulled away turning towards the lock.

The smile slipped as the door to the cage swung open silently  and Hase landed quietly on the grass. A moment later soft grass squished under her feet. She couldn’t remember the last time she had seen so much grass… The Otess! Her mind almost growled and she gritted her teeth.

She followed Hase around the edge of the wagons and sure enough at the front of the horses which were surprisingly still, were two dark shapes that resembled bodies. She shuddered and looked away. From there they had a clearer view of the actual prison.  Had they just given the Otess a way of getting in unseen? The thought was almost as bad as the thought of leaving Sareti to face it on her own.

The building was low with a flat roof and with bars surrounding it as the outer wall. Around this was a layer of guards. And dead bodies, of which there were at least a dozen.

“Why don’t they move?” Hase breathed as they crouched beside the bodies. “They should have done something about the cart, surely the west don’t train their guards to be so stupid.”

“What if they are watching for something specific?” Tayella said, “Like an…” She dared not mention the name.

“I don’t know, they said something about the king’s orders, as if they were expecting this, I mean they wouldn’t have this many guards around the prison, look at those bars.”

“The guards are facing out the way,” she said, “As if they expect the attack from the outside and not from inside.”

Hase was silent for a few moments before speaking again, “How could someone expect an Otess? What has Sareti done that he might expect that?”

“Lets get Sareti first, how do we get in?”

“Through that door there,” Hase pointed to a shadowed part on the side closest to the palace where a couple more shapes on the grounds lay prone.

“If there is an Otess in there, how can we get past them. Do you think it is possible to break someone out from the outside?”

“We have to try, I don’t think going in after the Otess is ever a good idea, you see what it did to all those guards, and they didn’t even see it coming.”

Thankfully the guards were now spread out quite thin and all of them were facing outwards, so they were able to slip through relatively easily, crouching behind the cart and horses. Too easily, if the King had been expecting the Otess then wouldn’t they increase the protection?

They slipped around the side of the building but the cells inside were pitch black. They couldn’t afford to expose their location either by calling into them so they moved around, listening for breathing. They were nearing the end of the first side when a scream broke out right beside them. Tay felt Hase tackle her to the ground beside the wall and they lay there, hearts beating listening for any sound of the guards but none of them even turned around. 

Carefully she poked her head above the edge of the sill that held the bars and peered in. Still she could not see anything but she could definitely hear the ragged breathing of someone. Was it Sareti? It had to be.

“Its her I think,” She whispered in Hase’s ear, “but are we too late?”

“I can try and break the stone that the bars are in but… It might take a while.”

“Hurry then,” Tayella said stringing her eyes to see inside.”

“Right.” Hase pulled off gloves revealing glowing hands. He pressed them against the stone at the bottom. As it seeped through cracks it cast a low glow into the cell. There in the corner sat the hunched form of a woman. She could not tell if it was Sareti or not for they were hunched up against the wall and their hair was messy and face dirty with what could be mud or blood. As the cell lit up a little she could see the woman’s eyes. They did not blink, instead were wide open, and terrified. 

“Tay, I don’t think she knows that it is you.”

“Oh right.” She moved herself so her face could be seen in the glow and whispered as loudly as she dared.

“Sareti, it is me, Tayella.”

For a long moment, Sareti didn’t move but then a little fear left her eyes.

“Tayella? Why are you here?”

“To rescue you.”

“You need to run, now!”

Tay had no heart to tell her in her current state that they were there because her faction was on the brink of collapse. “No, time to explain, we will get you out of here, tell me what is going on.”

She visibly trembled and it seemed to take a few moments for her to speak, when she did, Tay could feel the terror in her voice as it cut off every few moments with a gasp of air.

“An Otess. Is coming to kill me. The King planned it, he wants to capture one, I am the bait. You need to take what I tell you back to the east and share it with whoever will listen, it is too important to be lost, more important than me.

Tay glanced at Hase who’s hands were now glowing much fainter and only a quarter of the large cut stone glowed. He pushed it but it didn’t move, still he continued. 

“Tayella! The weapon is hidden in the Otess stronghold, the king knows. Either way the East is in danger, tell anyone who will listen that, maybe somebody will listen…” She trailed off and then spoke again, “A woman also, if you do not get far, there is a woman…” her voice broke and she began to cough.

“I can tell somebody,” she said, maybe even Erisa? Although what will she say when we bring her news that Avalt is dead… “But first…” Something creaked inside the room and it had not come from Sareti’s side.

“Go!” Sareti said struggling to a crouch, “Both of you go!” 

Tay could feel tears flowing freely now, she had never liked Sareti much but she couldn’t watch anyone die in front of her”“Sareti we will get you out of here.”

“No, you need to go. If the Otess…”

The door banged open and a slim figure entered the room, wrapped in strips of black leather bark. She dropped down beside Hase, heart pounding. Sareti’s breathing inside the room was so ragged that she still hear it. Then she heard Sareti scream a word, “Erisa!” Tayella felt a chill. What did… It doesn’t matter now! 

“You need to go,” Hase whispered, whatever she means, it is important.

“I can’t leave you or Sareti here,” she chocked back a sob and wiped her eyes.

Hase leaned closer and put his lips against hers in a quick kiss and pushed her away.

“I promise I will see you again.”

Numbly, Tay dragged herself out of view of the building and pulled herself to her feet to ran. She passed the guards but they didn’t move. It tore her heart to leave so she numbed her mind and let the tears fall as she fought her way out of the gate, not even noticing the slashes of fire through her flesh as she broke away and moved into the darkness. She muttered a single name under her breath as she ran.

Chapter 10 - Hase and Sareti

Hase crouched by the bars and listened intently. The glow in the stone had faded so much so that the cell was just darkness to him. He felt a small sense of relief that he was on the outside and not the inside. I am crazy, he thought, Trying to break into a cell with an Otess on the inside. 

For a few moments he held his breath, sure that Sareti had been killed for he could no longer hear her ragged breathing. Then came a raspy voice that could only belong to the Otess.

“I see that you have tried to escape,” he said, “Kaman was always clumsy.” The last bit sounded more of a murmur than directed at Sareti.

“Why do you want me?” Sareti’s voice was faint and she gasped before each word. Hase gritted his teeth. Twice before had he heard the same sounds, both from dying men that he had left behind. I will not leave her behind this time. 

He felt a pang of fear for Tay, alone in the unfamiliar city but  pushed her out of his mind. He almost laughed at his promise that he would see her again, while watching an Otess, in the middle of west Seshi, in none other than the King’s palace. Oh and don’t forget that you are trying to break into his prison.

“Sometimes people dig too deep into ground that doesn’t belong to them.”

Sareti hissed weakly as if gritting her teeth with pain, “Nobody paid you to do this, the Otess are hypocrites, surviving on lies that they expect everyone to believe, well I am not the only one that knows how far you are.”

“I wouldn’t say fake?” The Otess sounded… surprised although Hase was unsure if the surprise was for her statement or her venomous tone. 

“It doesn’t matter,” the Otess chuckled, a sound that was like rocks grating off each other, “You were so secretive that you forgot to…” 

Hase ducked down. What was he to do? I stayed just to convince Tayella to go without me, I need to go too. Could he face Tayella if he came back empty handed. The answer was easy. It might even be easier not to return at all.

He squeezed his eyes shut but in the darkness all he saw were the sight of friends lying on the deck of ships, or face down in the sea, arrows, knives, spears, water, drowning their life away. How long could he run from the danger. Not long enough.

Hase opened his eyes and found his hands glow faintly, illuminating the stone work underneath the bars. From the outside the mortar had crumbled slightly. It was as if the spirit fire had made his decision for him, he could only try. He pressed his palms against the cold rocks and let the remaining spirit fire slowly through the cracks. There was no sound to confirm that it worked but suddenly the rock was loose and he was able to shuffle it out quietly. 

He quickened, unsure how long the Otess would continue to torment Sareti before he killed her. The though sickened him, threatening to drag up yet more memories. Those stay away! Not now. He began scrambling at the widening hole around the bottom of two of the thick bars. Now that the big stones were out, it was widening quickly. He then pulled out the stones under both of them, leaving the ends exposed.

He stopped and took a ragged breath, I should run, this was his last chance to save his life. Only if he never faced it, it would forever follow him. He felt a deep hatred kindle for the Otess. He had seen it in many people, Sareti’s own parents had died to them. He wondered if she had felt like this. 

Gritting his teeth he grabbed ahold of the bottom of the bars and pulled. They didn’t move to begin with but as he shoved them around a bit, they slipped down in his hands, thudding to the rock below, the tipped, having slipped from stone sockets above before thudding to the ground on the inside of the cell. Cracked echoed around and he could hear shouts from the guards. With no other choice but to stumble in after them, pulling off his cloak and letting his exposed hands glow with the last of the spirit fire, the fine thread of the cloak began burning and he dropped it, the flickering flames illuminating the room.

The Otess stood there, head turned to him watching as he approached it. Sareti in the corner of his eye, pulled herself to her feet and closed in on the Otess too despite shaking from either fear or the cold, he couldn’t tell, she almost reached it before an arm whipped back and she was knocked off her feet. The Otess then leapt forwards slamming his fist into Hase before he even had a chance to move and he was sent tumbling backwards. He grunted loudly but as if he had been forgotten about the Otess moved towards Sareti who now stumbled backwards.

  Hase climbed to his feet and darted for the Otess, grappling it around the neck but he was flung off easily. He slammed back onto the hard floor and groaned as pain flared along his side like a hot knife. Idiot, Idiot, Idiot! His mind chanted but he ignored it.

Sareti was once again backed into the corner and the Otess moved in. For a moment the Otess seemed to glow slightly green but then it was gone. Hase glanced around. If he went in again, the Otess would just do the same thing, what could he do?

He dragged himself to his feet and lumbered over to the gap in the bars. Sareti’s strangled cry stopped him. He turned.

“If you kill her, I will get away,” He shouted into the cell, “And I know about where the weapon is.”

The Otess spun around, Sareti dropping from his hands into a heap. She still moved thankfully but with difficulty. She opened and closer her mouth, clawing at her throat wildly.

“You will never outrun the Otess.”

Hase swallowed hard, it was right but someone might be able to. He opened his mouth. “THE OTESS ARE HIDING A GIANT VIAL OF SPIRIT EARTH IN THEIR STRONGHOLD. GUARDS? DO YOU HEAR THAT?” If something of that made it to somebody rich here then it would spread. 

The Otess sprang towards him but Hase was already running  across the grounds of the Cell. His feet pounded on the soft grass and he sprinted towards approaching line of guards. Thankfully they had started moving, long spears lowered. He almost reached them when a hand grabbed the back of his collar and pulled him backwards, slamming him into the ground which thankfully, this time was soft. It wasn’t much comfort as an arm yanked his head back and another bent his arm. He screamed in pain. 

“GUARDS!” A voice called out of nowhere.

The Otess loosened its grip and something knocked it off.  More and more surrounded them, also pinning Hase to the ground. But the pain was less and he panted with relief. It didn’t last long, the Otess might as well have killed him. He lay there for a while, listening to the sounds of guards shouting and then it quieted down. 

“He is a guard!” A soft voice said, “We best get him out of here, take him to the infirmary in the barracks.” The voice sounded distant and Hase felt his eyes closing as hands lifted him into the air. At least they didn’t instantly kill me, he thought drowsily. Slowly he drifted out of consciousness and into dreams plagued by figures wrapped in strips of leatherbark.

~

Sareti crouched at the last cell and let her burning bit of cloth show a little light into it. It was empty. She was shaking so much that she could barely hold it so she dropped it and stamped it out. Han was nowhere to be found. She wanted to believe that Han was alive and had been the one to break her out of the cell but his voice was off and, no it wasn’t. 

Shakily she stood and began running. Injured guards were being lifted off the grass on stretchers and more were being wrapped in cloth. She grabbed one end of a stretcher and trudged slowly after them. It didn’t take long to leave the grounds and the guards didn’t bother to check who she was, they moved numbly much like her. She passed her side of the stretcher to another guard before she slipped off into the darkness. 

The streets were all familiar but every one felt darker and empty, even as a slight grey tinted the horizon, it didn’t lift her mood. At least the shaking had stopped yet now it was replaced with numbness, holding the fear back. 

Eventually she found herself at the pier and picked a small boat that was lying in the shallows. At this time of the night nobody asked what she was doing. She lifted herself into it and began paddling slowly out of the harbour. For some reason nobody stopped her, maybe it was because they didn’t care who left but a while later she was in the estuary. She had so many questions. Tayella had been there, but the person that had saved her from the Otess was not her, it was a man. He must have been the fire wrangler that had made the stone glow red to begin with. So she had been rescued by a strange fire wrangler and Tayella, whom she had never got along with. 

Her thoughts returned to Han. She would go back for him, wherever he was, if he was even still alive. Maybe killing half of the King’s elite guards was quite an unforgivable move. She felt cowardly for leaving him. Her thoughts moved to the Otess. The king had caught it, she was sure of that for it had got so far and then the guards had descended on it. She should have known that some of them were wranglers disguised as normal guard. And then what had happened to Tayella’s partner. She shook her head, there was little chance that he had survived, let alone survive the guards after they realised he didn’t bear the western branding. She owed him her life

She paddled weakly until her arms were numb but didn’t stop. Because if she did then she thought she would never start again.

PART 2

Chapter 11 - Sareti

Sareti dragged herself from the boat in a side alley where she knew Tay had always hidden one. It was early morning and the mist that hung low over the water was burning away as the sun climbed the sky. The only sound was the lapping of the water on the canal edge. 

She stepped inside an opening, the heavy door left ajar and stumbled blindly down the hallway. An opening to her right opened out into a mostly empty storeroom, a few chairs and clothes lit by light from a single candle lantern. How long since I last visited this place? She thought, How long since I have been home. Six months at least. 

And what had she achieved? Nothing save for finding that what she sought was hidden in an impenetrable fortress protected by un-killable assassins. Not unkillable, her mind seemed to say but she pushed it down, she hadn’t found a body and she probably had a dozen Otess searching for her at the minute. She shuddered at the thought and collapsed into a chair until the shaking subsided. 

She instead changed into trousers and a top that were slightly too big for her, taken from the opposite chair. And threw on the discarded cloak, at least now she could traverse the streets without drawing attention.

“They aren’t your clothes.” A familiar voice said from the darkness of the edge of the room. Of course, she should have known, somebody would have to have lit the candle. Tayella stepped forwards into the light stood there watching her. Her tear streaked face was as hard and cold as Sareti had ever seen it, it almost looked unnatural with her palely smooth features. She had not bothered to change from what looked like a western uniform, bloody and ripped.

“Who’s are they?” Sareti said finding nothing to say.

“Hase’s.”

She continued dressing, pulling the cloak around her shoulders and marvelling at the warmth that began to seep back into her. Sareti finally made herself meet Tayella’s gaze.

“Do you have anything to say?” Her voice alone made Sareti shrink back. What are you doing? Her mind seemed to say, stand up to her!

“Thank you for your help in rescuing me, I owe you my life.” 

“You owe Hase,” Tayella spat, tears starting to roll down her face again, “Not me.”

“Hase?” Suddenly the man’s voice clicked. Of course, Hase had been with Tayella. Her heart sank, “Tayella, I didn’t know it was hase, he drew the Otess out and if the Otess didn’t get him, the guards would have.”

Sareti stepped forwards as if to comfort her but Tayella stepped back. 

“Tayella, I am sorry.” She could feel the tears rolling down her face again.

Tayella bit her lip, face softening a little and sat. “He chose to come,” she eventually said, “But it was me who let him.” 

“Why did you come?” Sareti said and winced when Tayella’s gaze hardened again. She forced herself to continue anyway, I will not let myself be blamed. “I know you wouldn’t have done that just because you were worried about me, I don’t think you would have cared.”

It was Tayella’s turn to hesitate, “Its bad Sareti. Torin is gone and so is your faction.”

“Dead?”

“Sareti, how long did you expect him to lead your faction while you played your games on the other side of the water, I don’t know where he is and neither does Kai.”

“Spirit help us, what are we going to do about it, we have to get it back, if we can only…”

“I don’t care,” Tay interrupted, “It doesn’t change anything, the fact is that you didn’t return in time. Leading the faction has been slowly killing your brother and two days ago, he left, giving us a day to find you and bring you back. So it is your fault more than his.”

Sareti held back her surge of shame, for she was sure it would overwhelm her. “I’m sorry Tay.”

“If you ever see your brother again, apologies to him.”

She suddenly wished she had never gone. Here she was, with Hase dead, Han likely about to meet a similar future, Torin gone and a faction on the brink of collapse. If Tay was right then she was about to be a fugitive in the east much like in the west, nobody liked an old faction leader hanging about after they were overthrown, they posed too much of a threat.

“For once,” Tayella said kicking back her chair so hard that it fell over backwards spilling clothes on the floor, “For once you only have yourself to worry about, maybe you will do a good job of that.”She turned and walked from the light.

“Tayella!” Sareti said after her standing up on shaky legs, “I want to help.”

Tay stepped back into the light. “Help me with what?” 

Sareti let took a shaky breath, and spoke. “There is something worse than all of this.” Tayella opened her mouth narrowing her eyes but she continued before she could burst, “The Otess have more influence in the west than they thought, than most there know.”

“I told the woman called Erisa, but what does that have to do with us.”

“The East is a lot less held together than the West,” Sareti said ignoring the flash of anger in the other woman’s eyes, “Maybe not by fair means but the factions in the west may fall apart as quickly as you can name them.”

“That you call this the West and not home is telling.” She hesitated, “What can we do?”

“I don’t know,” Sareti said, she had not thought of anything other than telling Tayella.

Tay grabbed her collar and pressed her face up close, making Sareti look up at the taller woman. 

“Come up with something or I am leaving you here, you can do nothing for me now.”

Sareti made herself look Tayella in the eyes and spoke, “I have papers on the other factions and on the recent events, I assume that he kept them up to date, if we could…”

Tay let go of her collar and let Sareti slump down, “We can start with that, it might not be easy though get some rest first, you probably need it.

“We can’t waste time,” Sareti said, “Every moment we wait is another that allows others to find the house.”

Tay begrudgingly grabbed her hand and pulled her to her feet. She planted a plain knife in her hand and pointed towards the exit.

Sareti followed Tay as she marched from the room with as straight a back as she could. They stopped by a bucked of water to wash the dirt from their faces and Tayella chased from the western outfit, pulling a cloak hood over her head a she stepped into the misty daylight.

Since she had stepped inside the building the mist had mostly burned away yet the street was still wet. A boat sat in the water, tied to two iron hoops, but Tayella ignored it and briskly walked down the edge of the street instead.

She hurried to keep up. She noticed that Tayella walked differently now, she had always ambled, as if slightly lost. Now she strode with purpose, no, anger. 

They moved in silence, tracing the largely empty streets, nearing the centre of her faction. She pushed all thoughts out of her mind as she heard many voices. If she could do one more thing then she could at least help Tayella. Even if she herself had given up. I haven’t given up! 

They rounded the last street corner and stopped. In front of them was the buildings that had served as her home and office before she had left and more recently Torin’s. Now the wide street around it was swamped with roughly armoured men and woman hefting spears and long bladed knives. Mercenaries.

As she watched the nondescript door was blasted off by fire wrangler, identified with a hood that covered its face completely. It was a stark difference from the west where water wranglers were bare to the waist. For a moment she wondered how they guessed which building it had been in and then she saw the burst open doors all the way down the street. A few people were running away along the water’s edge but the mercenaries didn’t even give them a glance.

“We have a little time,” Tayella whispered, without looking at her, “They obviously haven’t found your office yet, is there another way in?”

“We can take the back entrance.” She showed Tayella to a narrow side street with a heavy door not unlike the one to Tayella’s warehouse.

“Quickly!” Urged Tay as she kicked open the door. Vines that often crept up from the canals and onto the stonework had mostly covered it for it was barely used. It was dark inside and she had no spirit fire so she just followed Tay in silence. She knew the way well anyway. Suddenly there was a bang and daylight shone down what now showed as a damp stone tunnel. She ran after Tay who, on the other side was already half way up the grand staircase. 

As she climbed, she looked back and just caught sight of the fire mercenaries burst through the inner door and exclaim. 

“WE HAVE IT!” They called excitedly. She stopped and looked back. There is bound to still be people in here…

“Sareti, we can’t go back for them, if they get the lists of our mercenaries and close workers then more people will die, come on!” Sareti turned and continued climbing even as she heard a scream that was cut off with a gurgle that seemed to echo around her head. Why had she not thought of that? There was an answer but she was not willing to voice it or even think it.

She was now on the landing and a moment later in her office, what had been her office. Not much had changed, save for the desk now close to the window and some cushions stacked on the windowsill. The fire place was cold and a chill had settled over the room. Papers scattered on the floor as if someone had left quickly. She wondered what he had taken with him. If she could search through everything then she might have an idea of what he would do next.

“They are already gone,” Tayella called from the other side of the room, bringing her back to stare at the desk.

“What are?”

“Your papers on the weapon.” 

Sareti froze, there doesn’t appear a need to find out what he is trying to do next although it is a strange way he is going.

She began collecting up papers. She could hear footsteps coming up the stairs, there really wasn’t enough time for this. 

“Tayella, we need to destroy anything that’s left.” Why do I need to ask her?

“Do it,” Tayella said. Her skin had begun to glow blue and water rapidly covered her beneath her clothes.

She pulled papers from drawers and placed it in a stack. Throwing the stack in the fireplace she set it alight with the candle. 

“Good.” Tayella said, glancing around. As she spoke the door slammed open and mercenaries poured into the room, weapons out. Their weapons were mismatched and looked like they could have been replaced, their armour cracked and in desperate need of repair. 

A woman in brilliantly clean blue loose trousers and jacket with golden embroidery pushed through the cloud, her hands glowing as Tay’s now were, hood completely covering her face.

“The window!” Tay called running and leaping through the window. To anyone else it might not have broken because it was sturdily made but Tay glowed and when she hit the window she didn’t even cry out as she smashed it to splinters and disappeared. 

Sareti began to run, but a blast of air hit her legs and she was sent sprawling on the floor. As she tried to rise to her feet she was slammed down again. When she tried to move hands pinned her down. She tried to push spirit fire from her hands but the hands didn’t move. She began to shake, thoughts of the cell in the King’s palace coming back to her. 

She was roughly rolled over and she was face to face with the water wrangler. Or face to hood.

“The old Leader is back!” The woman exclaimed excitedly, in a lower tone, “A bonus will surely come my way for this!”

Sareti forced herself to stop shaking, the woman was a fire wrangler like her not an Otess there. She desperately tried to recall what she should to do but the image of the Otess standing over her kept overpowering her other thoughts.  

“Someone!” The wrangler called turning her head slightly. 

She fought the urge to tense and relaxed her whole body. In that instant she felt the iron grip on her hands weaken. She yanked her right hand from the water wrangler’s grasp, opening her eyes at the same time. 

The wrangler’s face was a mix of shock and horror as she tried to grab Sareti’s hand again. Sareti’s knife tore a scream from the woman and she toppled sideways. Don’t assume a wrangler doesn’t have other tricks, she thought resisting the urge to retch. She had only meant to wound but…

Turning away and stepping back towards the window she    launched herself from the window. She had looked out of the window many times and knew that the canal took up more than half of the space. 

She hit the water and the cold soaked into her. A moment later she surfaced and a hand reached down and grabbed her. It was Tayella who was leaning out of a rocking boat. 

After she had tumbled into it and lay on the bottom in a pool of canal water they shot off at an unnatural speed, the rocking subsiding as Tayella began to glow. She wondered if the woman had the intention of killing her, at least whoever had sent her would have. She told herself that she was too important to die like that, not with what she knew. When have I ever had to explain myself, she thought equally as horrified.

“What happened up there?” Tayella asked in a level voice as the boat slowed and Sareti struggled to sit up.”

“That I need to practice without spirit fire.”

Tayella’s lips twitched but she fixed Sareti with a stare that made her look down.

“I did my best to slow down the pursuit.”

“Ah.” Tayella raised her eyebrows but didn’t comment further. 

The boat slowed to a stop outside a nondescript building. She looked around but didn’t recognise the narrower street at all, in fact it looked like the entire street was made up of warehouses. She thought it would likely put them in the southern parts of the city  although they could not be used at the moment for there were no guards. Tayella held open a small door and let her in to a lit building. Small lanterns lit the long hallway which had doors leading off it every twenty paces or so. 

Tayella didn’t bother to try the door handle but instead slammed her shoulder up against it, something cracked and the door swung open. Inside, the storeroom was relatively small and lit by holes in the ceiling, shining through small cracks. The other light came from Tayella’s glowing fist showing sheet covered furniture.

“A safe room! Is it yours?” Sareti said, admiring the quality of everything in the room, including a rack of dusty weapons hung on the wall. 

“Not mine. I just took care to find other’s, has come in useful before.”

“Smart.”

“I thought so too.” Tayella pulled two comfy chairs out from underneath another sheet and placed them opposite each other. “Sit.”

Sareti was too tired to complain and collapsed into the chair, letting her eyes close. She opened them immediately at the sound of Tayella moving something heavy between them. She was dragging a polished table and once it was there she spread out a few papers that she produced from her wet clothes. 

“What is this?” Sareti leaned over the table to get a better look. It appeared to be a list of names, nothing more.

“Our faction is gone, 0r at least it will be, I think that we may find it difficult to move around in the open. Those that I employed will be at risk from the enemy if they are found to have an attachment to either of us.”

“They are not the enemy…” This was exactly the thinking that would be their downfall.

Tayella leaned forwards, “They are now, we are on the run.”

Sareti laughed darkly, here she was hiding even more in the East than she had in the west. If the west is not just as bad as this, I would go back, she thought. At least I would be able to find Han. She bit her lip, she had left him at the mercy of the King. He can take care of himself, besides he probably got free and was just glad that I was out of the way, she thought, at least now that Erisa had her information.

“I have a duty to those that worked with me, and I intend to find them and give them a way to still work for us, if we want to get the faction back, then having a group of spirit wranglers will really be useful to us.”

“Getting them back is a good idea,” Sareti said, “but the faction is gone.”

“At least you have enough sense to believe that without me convincing you,” Tayella muttered and cleared away the maps.

Sareti leaned forwards, once again pushing back the tiredness. “The most important thing we can do is find out if the Otess are doing, here, what they are doing in the west.”

“Get some rest,” Tayella sighed and leaned back in her chair closing her eyes. Sareti knelt down by the fireplace and began making a fire. Whatever they did next she would be easier about it if she had some spirit fire to dry herself off.

Chapter 12 - Hase

Hase slipped into a plain robe that dropped from his shoulders to his knees. That in itself was not uncomfortable but next went on the heavy armour of round plates of metal. Although each of the plates were thin, all together he thought they might weigh half again his weight. Why do I go along with this, he thought, soon someone will discover that I am in fact not a westerner training to be a guard. At least the other soldiers had not bothered that his accent was slightly different, still with the sound of those from the continent.

The armour was better than what the soldiers who fought in the estuary who had to walk around half naked with wooden armour. Sometimes practicality wasn’t worth the humility. 

“I can’t believe a new recruit like you was even allowed in the palace grounds, I mean how long have you been a guard for? Not even a year, you struggle to get the armour on still. I asked the commander about it and she just told me to get busy.”

Hase grimaced and forced his breathing to slow. The speaker was of course his new acquaintance, Sanoa. Short and solidly built from working on her parents farm on one of the smaller islands off Seshi and almost as pale as Tayella. Tayella. The thought jarred his mind and it took a few moments to realise that the woman was just in her under robe.

Apparently in the west nudity was not a thing that was thought about for here they were standing in a long barracks hallway, changing without any sort of privacy. Still, he kept his eyes on the wall, giving Sanoa the privacy he thought she should have. The first time this had happened he had backed away until he had realised that it was in fact normal.

“Hase! Why do you always act so embarrassed, look at me for spirit’s sake it’s only an under robe, surely you have seen such before.”

Hase felt his face go hot but forced himself to turn and meet her eyes. He kept his gaze high, focusing on those dark eyes and pale skin. “I am not used to it,” he finally said.

She continued with a grin that made him wonder if she did this deliberately to throw him off guard, “On the training ground, I have seen nobody match you, at least not with a spear but in here you act so vulnerable.” Hase forced an awkward laugh and helped Sanoa don her single piece armour which went over the head and was strapped at the waist. 

She bundled up her straight brown hair and secured it with a slim knife stuck through it, not letting him slip his arms free until she was done. She then grabbed her weapons belt and looped it over her shoulder.

“Let’s go, if you are ready,” Hase said, noticing that they were attracting a little attention if only a few hidden grins. If he didn’t have to worry about being discovered he surely would have an easier time of it.

If only he could get away from the training barracks and he could escape. I could go any time, he thought, it wouldn’t be hard, they have no reason to suspect me nor am I finding much out about 

Sanoa nodded brushing his bare arm with a hand. He followed her out into the sunshine not bothering to hide his sigh. I wonder what it is like on these other islands. 

The now familiar sight of the grassy area between the king’s palace and the forest greeted him. Every time the sight of the palace made him shiver. In a way he was thankful that the Otess had badly torn his uniform, otherwise they might have discovered that a uniform like that that belonged on a boat and not in the palace grounds. It all seemed too easy, he should be in a cell, or dead, instead here he was training to be a guard.

“Hase!” 

He jumped and realised he had been partially blocking the door to the barracks. He stepped out of the way and followed Sanoa to the edge of the forest. Here a path just wide enough for two snaked into the forest and disappeared. Though the trees he could hear distant sounds of voices. 

The path itself was well thought out, and curved unnaturally so that someone who didn’t know it was there would end up slowing down in the soft ground and the city guards could move quickly. 

He checked his armour was secure and then began running. The start of each day since he had woken up in the infirmary had gone like this. It was here that he was glad for Sanoa and although she asked too many questions about him, it was a long way through the forest and as he had found out the first time, being alone with his thoughts was difficult if he wasn’t tripping off the path.

“So what is bothering you today?” Sanoa said, nudging his arm as they thudded in and out of the tall pines, her playful mood had become more serious and now she acted like any other recruit, “Is it still your father? Has his illness got worse?”

“No, he is slightly better,” Hase said grimacing. The memory of his father was not a good one but sometimes excuses were hard to come by. It wasn’t a complete lie, his father had been ill, ill of the mind, but that was over five years ago. 

“Sanoa, tell me of your family, I forgot where you said they come from again?” 

Her face lit up, whether because she had an opportunity to talk or because he was actually instigating a conversation for once. I must try more. It was also nice to see someone smile, it reminded him of his childhood friends, the innocent smile. When he saw those faces in his mind they didn’t wear smiles but disgusted frowns as he was let out of a cage to flee into the forest. He had been given a head start but that was normal and then they had come hunting for him, with bows and spears. A long time since I saw a proper bow.

“You, know most people think that Seshi Island is the only island in this part of the ocean, at least that is big enough to take notice of, but my family is from the next closest island, called Anishi. Have you heard of that?”

“Not before you first mentioned it.” He knew that there were other islands but they were almost never mentioned in the years he had lived in the east, possibly it was because the west controlled them. “What are people from Anishi like?” Hase said glancing at her. 

“They work a farm there,” she said after a moments silence and a few glances at him as if she were trying to work out what his question really meant. “There is more grassland there than on the whole of Seshi but it is so windy and stormy that the houses are protected by walls and hills.

“I see."

They continued running through the forest but Hase’s mind wandered away from the conversation and to thinking about how to get out. Not from the training yards but from the West entirely. He could be of use to the others here if he stayed, an insider in the western side of seshi could mean a huge advantage to the others. If only he could get word to them, if they still lived.

Don’t think like that, they have to still be alive. Surely by now Sareti and Tayella were back with Sareti’s faction and they would be safe. They must think him dead and just as well for it was much more dangerous here now. 

Not concentrating on where he was going, he accidentally strayed from the hard ground and tripped on a concealed root, sending him sprawling onto the soft but thankfully dry ground. Sanoa pulled him to his feet. Again her face was close enough that he could hear here breathing. He stepped back rubbing his knee. You won’t be going anywhere if you injure yourself from not looking where you are going!

“Hase! Pay attention, you will never make it to being a full guard if you keep letting your mind wander. It looks bad on me as well if you aren’t doing good.”

“Sanoa,” Hase said as he started running again, this time keeping his eyes firmly on the faint signs of the path, “There can be more to your life than being in the city guard. Have you ever visited the East?”

It must have been the wrong thing to say for Sanoa gave him a horrified look, “Of course not, that’s a stupid question, there is nothing there but rampant mercenaries and Otess to try and kill you.”

Hase laughed coldly, “There is rampant nobles here, and Otess too.”

“Have you been?” She considered him with narrowed eyes.

He shook his head quickly, “Just heard stories from those that have, sounds interesting, not so different from here.” Very different, they are definitely not so insular. Or were they?

They were quiet for a while as they ran. She wasn’t much younger than him, maybe twenty but had the innocence of a child. How could she think like that if she had really seen much? He had been her, ten years ago, without realising why. It wasn’t until his wrangling had been discovered that he had been cast out like a monster. What would she do if she knew?

“Come on!”

“Coming.” He caught up. How like home the west really was, at least they only hated fire wranglers and not all wranglers. He stopped himself, his home was the east now. Where he had come from could hardly be called a home. I have to get out of here. 

For the rest of the run he was silent, letting the steady thuds of their feet calm him before they reappeared onto the wide stretch of open grass. It was the first day that he had felt too warm as the sun beat down on them. He splashed water on his face quickly and hurried over to the growing groups of trainee guards. He found his assigned group of ten, all with dark red cloth covering their wrists and stood in line with Sanoa at his side. 

Gradually he heard the harsh voices of the commanders working their way down the groups. Commanders were only a couple of rungs below the King in terms of the army yet since there had been little fighting out with the city walls they had been assigned to training.

“Group BLUE to the forests, YELLOW to the harbour…” Han stopped listening. He was glad he wasn’t in the forests today because of the heat. The groups jogged off in different directions and then a stocky woman not unlike Sanoa with soft features but much darker skin stepped up to the reds and gave them all individually a hard stare before opening her mouth.

“REDS you are assigned to the city, you have an important task today, do not let us down. The king has requested that each of you experience this once because it will likely happen when you are proper guards.”

Han bowed his head with the others but stayed silent.

“I wonder what it is,” Sanoa said quietly when the woman had moved on, “Hopefully something exciting, three days of weapons training is tough on the body.”

Whatever it was it couldn’t be good. Otherwise the commander wouldn’t have been so stern looking. But maybe it would be useful to him. I need to be gone, he realised, it is too dangerous to continue like this. Sometimes the elite guards would do checks on the recruits to ensure they were not able to wrangler either fire or water. If they discovered you were a water wrangler then it would instantly put you above normal guards and soldiers to the water guard but being a fire wrangler he would become a monster to everyone else, the worst type of criminal. Sanoa would not even think it a shame if I were killed for being that. 

The group started moving following a group of guards into the city. They were not trainers, they were proper guards. They didn’t speak at all. That spelled trouble. 

They soon entered the streets, the gardens shrinking the further they marched down the hill until they disappeared altogether and they were filtering through hand carts and merchants selling goods. In daylight the city seemed normal but when he looked close he could see the wary glances that they were given and the way that people shrank back from them. By night he knew it would become almost a different place.

Of course the city can’t really know what happened only a few days prior, something that would likely change Seshi as a whole forever. 

Instead of continuing towards the harbour as they usually did, the guards at the front took a narrower street of the main one and then an even smaller one. Soon the sunlight and heat disappeared and they were marching through dirty streets that looked like they never saw the light of day. For once he was glad of his heavy boots, clumsy or not.

The east had its fair share of dirty streets where the houses were small and falling down, some not even made of stone and instead of wood and dirt, but here it was worse. The smell was so bad that he had to resist covering his nose and mouth. Shapes   lay in allies under ragged cloths that looked all to like a person. 

Small faces watched them from half closed doors, from behind piles of rotting wood.  The houses were tall and thin, some leaning out onto the street, those that had not collapsed already. More than once they had to climb over the remains of a taller building where new shelters had sprung up. 

Then Hase was drawn by shouts. As they rounded the curve in the street, he saw fire and could feel its heat. It seemed to try and draw him closer but he resisted, he couldn’t slip here, not with more than a dozen guards.

In the ruins of what would have been tall house blazed a fire. Desperately people flung rotting wooden buckets of water at it but it barely did anything. Among the rubble were charred bodies, too many of them. He felt his heart sink, that fire is no ordinary fire. Hase’s attention was dragged from the fire to a woman on her knees. 

“He isn’t one of them! I had him under control, he was doing no harm.” Her voice echoed in the narrow street. As he came closer he could see the tears streaming down her face. Then he saw whom she was speaking to and Hase froze, as the rest kept moving forward without him before stopping closer. Four water guards stood in front of the woman, bare chested and looking past her, grim faces. Water wranglers, that confirmed his suspicions. Get out of here, he thought but there was no way to get away without being noticed and then they might suspect. They looked relieved at the arrival of the normal guard and a couple of woman dragged the  crying woman away, out of sight. The leading guard turned to face them all, marked by a band of red around his collar.

“You must watch this, why nobody should ever harbour a monster in their home. They have no place among us except to kill and destroy.”

One of the water guard glanced at the guard who had spoken with contempt but instead of speaking turned back, bare chest and arms now glowing enough to  make his dark skin look slightly blue.

Hase watched in horror as the water wranglers jumped over the rouble and entered the raging flames. Steam rose from them and they disappeared. Then the flames began to die down and within minutes the fire was gone, just steaming charred pieces of timber lying around, some still smouldering.

The guards around him stepped back, seemingly horrified. Hase made himself lean closer. There lay a boy. Hands chained in thick manacles to a large block of stone. His skin was dirty and his clothes merely charred rags yet there were no signs of burns on his skin at all.

Cheering rose around him, coming from some of the onlookers and the guards, a few dirty faces stared wide eyed from the shadow of doorways. The water wranglers’ faces however were impassive as ever and shook off the praise from the other guards with glares. 

Instead they broke the manacles and lifted the boy onto a stretcher. His eyes were open but he didn’t resist as they tied his arms and legs down. Despite glowing strength they were gentle but Hase seethed with fury but gritted his teeth. I should do something, he thought but nothing came to his mind.

The two guards who held the mother were almost struggling to hold her but he found no sympathy for her, only for the boy. Manacling a child to the floor because of who they are. For there he saw himself, maybe a little older when his father had discovered what he could do. How long had he been locked up in that cage before they had sent him into the forest. I guess I should be grateful I was given the twenty minutes head start. It shouldn’t have made a difference, every wrangler in Ichu, his city had died like that. Except me. He should have felt pride at that but watching the boy get taken away just curdled his blood.

He tried to move his gaze but it was locked onto the boy’s grimy face until it disappeared around the corner.

He realised that Sanoa had been shaking his shoulder as the group of guards were starting to move. “Hase!” 

“Oh right sorry.”

“You need to cleanse yourself, I saw that, the demon staring at you like that, it is not good.”

He rounded on her but pushed down his anger and sighed instead but inside he still seethed. How much does it take for someone like her to feel empathy for a boy dragged away to be…

Hase turned away and strode after the other guards. He thought that he might have been able to bring Sanoa around but maybe she was too far gone. Whatever they teaches here or wherever she came from it was almost identical to Ichu. 

He wondered how often did this sort of thing happen. He had known that it was very dangerous to be a fire wrangler in the west but he had not thought about children before. 

He asked as much when he returned to the barracks later in the day after weapons practice. It was infuriating that sword fighting was so different to knife fighting, it was like being a beginner all over again. A good spear was much more easily, or a bow, yet they were almost never found here, something about there not being the right type of wood.

“Once every two weeks or so,” said the  grim faced commander, “But more often they are older and get away from us repeatedly. Children are easier, but we catch a fire wrangler twice a month. 

“I see, thank you.” He wandered after the others on their way to the building where food was served, a low and open sided building that was draughty and cold in the winter months, or so Sanoa had said. Twice a month was a lot. How can I let this happen?

No. I have to get out of here, I can convince Erisa to help me leave, I will meet the same future if I stay. He wondered if Erisa would not just cage him, she might be angry that Avalt had died in the palace grounds. 

It was a quiet evening meal, having not spoken to Sanoa since. He ignored her completely at the tables, even the mysterious smiles he gave her until she sat beside him. 

“Hase, I know that today must have been difficult, please talk about it.”

“I can’t.” He said truthfully glancing at her. She must have taken it as sorrow for she slipped her arm around his shoulders. He glanced around the others sitting talking quietly among themselves. They would all grow up to be city guards or water guards. What puzzled him most was the sorrow in the water wrangler’s eyes as they lifted the boy onto the stretcher, did being a water wrangler make them see. Could I find help among them? Avalt surely knew about me and he didn’t seem to care.

It was a very dark night and even as Hase lay on his bunk. There was no moonlight filtering through the open shutters, a perfect escape. There was also no wind, just the sound of quiet breathing from the many others in the room. As he turned his head he could see a slight glow from a small fire outside the open doorway, that gave the room a faint light and which would be warming the two guards on watch. 

Sanoa. I could make her believe me. She would probably try and kill him if she knew, no, it was time to go. On a more windy night it would be easier to sneak out but he was glad for the silence, it let him collect his thoughts. He pulled a slip of paper from his trouser pocket and slipped it under a pillow. Maybe Sanoa would understand and if Erisa didn’t help he could return before anyone noticed him gone. I won’t return, he thought, not after today.

When he was sure that everyone had to be asleep he sat up and grabbed ahold of an old wooden beam, letting his arms take his weight. It reminded him of the thick forests at home where he had climbed as a child through tress ten times higher than anything that grew on this island. 

He swung himself out off of the top of the bunk and let his feet dangle in midair. He quietly moved along it until he reached the door, which thankfully was close. The difficult part now was getting past the guards without them seeing him. His plan was about as reckless as they had used to be, the ones that had got him in trouble.

He stood in the doorway for a long moment watching the flames dance and crackle. It filled him with a sense of longing. He had not held more than a tiny flame of spirit fire for days and it felt cold inside without it, damp even. He could hear the whispers of the two either side of the door. Hase took a deep breath and jumped forwards, landing right in the fire. 

He soaked up the fire in one and they were plunged into darkness. The fire had been bigger than he had expected and his bare arms were still glowing even as he tried to hide it. He cursed but there was nothing for it. He darted off into the darkness. A relatively low wall ran around the barracks, with a platform on the inside. He jumped and his bare feet slammed back into the soil. 

He felt the familiar feeling of being thrown, the shock travelling up his legs and the air was rushing through his hair. He landed with a roll, ignoring the urge to do it again and instead sprinted out into the open grass. At least he wasn’t glowing now. He bolted for the forest as the alarm bells rose behind him. Erisa better help me, I cannot return now.

The thick pines were invisible except for the glow that now came from his fists. Like this they looked more like shadowy pillars of an ancient temple rather than something that was alive. Nothing moved in the forest, there was nothing to hear save for his footsteps, light as they were, on the forest floor. It was a roundabout way to get to the city but the least traceable and probably the easiest. I wish I had noticed the direction of the paths better.

I hate this place, He thought as he ran. The feeling of dread had followed him around the whole day since that boy. How could everybody here be like that. How could they just watch. True, they had done the same at home, even he had. He tried to shut off the slew of images in his head but it was too late. Memories of people tied to stakes over fires. They didn’t burn to begin with, just glowed more and more until you couldn’t look at them. When the glow had subsided they had burned just like anyone else. He had not done anything, but then he had been just a child then too. It had seemed right, fitting even for something deemed so evil, until he, himself had found the evil in him. 

Horns sounded in the distance, a few. It, unsurprisingly wasn’t uncommon that a trainee would abandon the camp and try to flee, but they were usually caught within an hour, a spear in their back. Only, he knew they would have a harder time with him.

Chapter 13 - Hase

Hase moved through the city as silently as his boots could carry him. Boots like these, were sturdy but far from silent even in the grime of the narrower streets. Here nobody would look twice but they would in more wealthy parts of the city and besides he didn’t want to know what the mud was made of.

The darkness pressed in on him as the buildings did to either side, he could feel them watching him, the people. An occasional thud of footfalls and a glimpse of movement was the only signs however. 

There had been parts of Ichu, where he had grown up but he had avoided those places his family would have turned their noses up at the grime and foul smell.

As he followed the narrow street the smell got worse Something was off about the darkness up ahead, walls don’t gleam like that, nothing gleams here. He stopped suddenly, crouching down. Weapons do!

“Over there!” Called a deep voice and Hase almost groaned, just after losing the guards searching for him he had found more trouble, The voice came again accompanied by the faint squelch of boots in the mud, “He stopped over there.”

In the silence it was a shock to hear somebody so close.  I have become careless. Foolish to think that the rich are the only dangers in a city like this. Torches flared to life less than ten paces down the street, illuminating a dozen or more dark and pale faces. Spears were held wavering, despite gleaming slightly the blades were dirty and rust was beginning to show. Rapidly the lights moved closer and he could see it reflecting off wet mud in front of them. 

He thought about turning and running the other direction, it would have been the easiest way to escape but these kind made up for their lack of skill with their numbers and if there were a dozen in front there would be a dozen behind, so he remained crouched as they approached, making himself as small of a target as possible. What do I do?

Hase had never trained as a warrior aside from his own practice with the spear remembered from childhood and Tayella’s training with knives, and the spirit fire of course. 

Spirit fire makes me lazy, he thought, I should be better than this, Tayella or Sareti even would know what to do. If there was a way out without violence it would be welcome. He almost laughed out loud for it was a stupid thought. 

If I can break into a prison built for wranglers, then I can get out of here. Grimacing he straightened and as he did so let his skin glow slightly, enough that a stray knife should be deflected should he not see it coming. Those approaching stopped and a couple dropped their spears running before Hase even opened his mouth, if only every one of them had done that. 

“Its one of the fire monsters!” Shrieked a woman’s voice from behind Hase. Then the panic began. He did not turn when he heard shouts from behind. So he had been right. No doors or windows to either side looked passable, them all boarded up or filled with armed men and woman.

“Attack!” Somebody said but only a few moved forwards hesitantly. The man at the front of those he was facing stepped forwards. 

“You,” he began more calmly than Hase expected, “You dare to plague our street. I thought that we were done of your kind for a few days at least.”

Hase frowned and then almost gasped. He recognised the man from the day, he had been watching from the shadows when the boy had been taken. 

“I do not plague your street,” Hase replied, “I am merely passing through it, let me past and you will not hear from me again.”

“Ha,” Snorted the man. The calmness faded fast from his face revealing a horrible snarl that twisted his cheeks, “Your kind took my son from me, stealing his soul from his body.”  

Hase froze in the process of smiling reassuringly. The words returned something that had been buried deep in his mind. His mother speaking to him, the words hitting him like blows as his own tears sizzling to steam as his hand was pressed into a roaring fire place. You’re a monster! A disgrace, a nothing, I never had a son.

The man faltered at the look that must have crossed Hase’s face but Instead of stopping, he raised his spear and yelled into the night. 

“KILL IT!”

I tried, he thought letting the spirit fire fill him lighting the street brighter than daylight.

The crowd roared, there must have been more than Hase had expected. His eyes narrowed. The man’s face kept changing back and forth between the twisted one and that of his fathers. Hase dropped his cloak, and stamped his foot, boot ripping free. He roared back at the crowd and landing back down with an explosion that whipped mud from around his feet and the remains of his other boot, so much so that the torches were snuffed out but the street still glowed, glowed from him. 

Still they came though, the same snarl on their mud covered faces yet Hase ignored them and began running, every step sending him higher into the air until his paces felt five paces bigger than they should have been, the last one he put his feet together and landed in front of the man who had challenged him. 

The man jumped as if expecting a rippling explosion but none came, Hase bent his knees. Then he punched the man in the chest, fist glowing so bright he had to close his eyes. Even hase was flung backwards at the shockwave although managed to stay on his feet, his now bare feet sliding through the grime. The man’s eyes went wide as the sound of his ribs breaking cracked even as he slammed into the wall behind him. The building above him creaked and groaned. He didn’t rise from his slump. 

Hase looked down at his still glowing fist wide eyed before letting it fade to near normal. His breath came raggedly and when he looked around the crowd was gone. I am no better than they say! The thought was enough to make him stagger forwards towards the end of the street. I wish to help and instead kill. He retrieved his cloak, sparing a long glance for the broken corpse at the side of the street. Deserved. The thought felt hollow however, it never had before. I should have been able to avoid that. 

He pulled his now muddy cloak around him as he strode out of the mud and onto the next cobbled street. Hase kept under the eaves of the buildings as to avoid the light that spilled from the occasional vial of light topping a tall post. Bare feet and covered in dried mud, he must look like a monster indeed. He pressed that thought out of his mind along with the image of the broken body. I could help, not hurt, if only people would understand, he was prepared to kill me.

He now knew his way around the main parts of West Seshi well, which wasn’t difficult for everything connected to the main street that curved up the hill, eventually making its way to the Palace at the top. 

Despite the risk of someone seeing him he kept out of the unpaved parts, it wasn’t worth running into another group of people. Hase just ducked into a doorway as guards ran down the street past him and waited patiently until they were gone. Close, hurry up!

He continued on, the streets now giving way to long windowless buildings. It should have been harder to move unseen but there was a high tension in the damp air, the sickly smell of fear around every corner. Sareti is right, if its not the Otess then there is something seriously wrong.

He met only one other group of guards before he reached the street that ran along the top of the beach with wide barges pulled up on the sand.

He finally stepped out onto the open sided street where a warm breeze ruffled his hair, now on its way to becoming shoulder length, he couldn’t remember when he had found someone to cut it last.

He stepped onto the sand, for despite being used to going barefooted it felt nice after the mud and grime. He avoided the barges and the beginning of the floating walkway for guards and torches stood watching, instead he chose an open part where a few jagged rocks jutted out of the sand and crouched behind it to pull his cloak and shirt off and stash it in the rocks. Pushing down his remaining spirit fire he stepped into the water.

He shivered as the water passed his chest and lapped at his neck. He ducked his head under and rubbed the mud from him before coming up for a breath and then as quietly as he could he began to swim. 

The ship that he was aiming for was still one of the largest in the harbour and was easy to pick out with the many lights surrounding it with the temporary winches and structures set up on board making it look almost twice the size. The ship looks finished! Why does it still have that above it.

I hope that she is actually there, he thought, if not he would have to try steal a boat. The cold was now quickly seeping into him but he still refrained from letting the spirit fire out or it would be gone in a few seconds sucked away. 

Slowly the large ship got closer and came into full view as he rounder the hulls of other large and small ships, some of a strange shape that came from the north where it was colder and where most meat came from.

He reached the boat. It was still attached to the floating walkway but there was no way up and the boat that he had made it onto the previous time was also gone, instead just high sides stretched up. He slid his hands along it but the hull was almost smooth and would be impossible to climb. The structure then, he thought but something splashed quietly into the water beside him and he turned quickly. 

There hung a thin rope with a loop floating in the water the rest disappearing into the darkness above him. He stared at it for a few moments and then up again, there was nobody to be seen. 

What do I have to lose? Not much. He manoeuvred himself in the water and put one bare foot on the rope, grabbing onto it and then yanking it. He was quickly lifted out of the water and almost lost his grip as he moved up. It must be attached to the overhead structure!

The deck was eerily empty almost the same since he had seen it last yet there were covered mounds and planks of wood where the deck was not quite finished. He let go of the rope and it was gone, raised above him out of sight. He looked around. Not much had changed apart from the large winch that was high above him and an overturned rowing boat was tied to the deck to his right, painted black and with a pair of oars by its side. 

I wonder what is below the deck, the boat is surely big enough to hold a good deal of cargo. It was even longer than the one that had crossed the stormy ocean on which he had come on, sleeker also. A blue glow came from one of the windows to his left and so he moved towards it, half expecting a guard to jump out of nowhere and tackle him to the ground but none came. 

The door was unlocked and he pulled it open, readying his spirit fire. The room was furnished as a bedroom and a woman sat on the bed. It took him a few moments to realise that the woman in a simple night gown was the same Erisa from before with her well fitted dresses.

She looked up coldly as he entered, a brief flash of something crossing her eyes and he stopped in the doorway. She spoke quieter this time and her voice had lost the warmth of their last greeting. Was this really a good idea?

“Erisa ven,” Hase said bowing his head but not letting himself step back.

“You have returned.” He tensed, even if she held no weapon it was possible that she could wrangle. His suspicions were confirmed when she brushed her long blond hair back with a slightly blue hand. 

A slight smile formed on her lips as she spoked again. “You are dripping on my carpet, please dry yourself.” The last words cracked her voice and she laughed, face softening. Hase let out a breath that he had not realised he had been holding. “And please, do not ven me, unless it is necessary.”

Hase glanced at the carpet under his thankfully clean feet. He let a glow envelop him and steam rose off him until he was almost dry.

“Better, now sit down.” 

Hase looked around for a chair but there was only one and it was draped with what looked like Erisa’s clothes, a mixture of embroidered dresses and wide trousers. Instead he sat down on the soft rug, leaning back against a closed chest and sighing with relief. He was glad she had not seen him as a threat, now that he knew she could wrangle he might not have got away so well.

His thoughts were broken with a soft thud in front of him. He looked up startled. Erisa now sat in front of him, legs folded beneath her, light blue cloth pooling around her in ripples.

“You seem very at home here, seeing as we don’t know each other very well,” she supplied raising an eyebrow, “I mean I knew that fire wranglers often forget that wearing clothes is polite but…

“I would apologise,” Hase cut in, now wide awake, “but I had trouble on the way here and had no time.”

She waved her hand absently, smile slipping slightly, “Staying awake while we talk will be enough,” she leaned forwards slightly nodding as if to prompt him to talk.

“I am here,” Hase began, “to ask for help getting back to the west. I found myself among trainee guards when I woke up.” 

“A wonder you did wake,” she said, “Few have survived an Otess attack…” For an instant her face was dark thunderclouds and then the smile had returned if a little more fragile than before.

“I am sorry about Avalt.”

She just nodded to that, “Your friend did come back to me days ago,” Erisa said, face solemn, “She glared at me with more hate than I have ever seen someone give, but still I lent her a boat to return in. Expensive, those, since people don’t seem to know the meaning of ‘borrowing.’

“So she is alive.” Hase said exhaling again. He felt like a small weight had been lifted off his shoulders. 

“Yes very much alive, I feared that she would never forgive me despite me having nothing to do with what the Otess did. It is nice to know that you are actually still alive. She was not so sure that you would make it.” 

“She probably thinks I am dead, but I need your help to return…”

“Hase, I don’t know how you figured that I would help you, you’re right, I will but I can’t get you home, won’t even.”

Hase frowned. “You helped Tay, why can’t you help me, I know that we didn’t bring Sareti to speak with you, but if you saw Tayella, she must have brought the message from Sareti.” 

Erisa looked out of the window past Hase’s head thoughtfully before speaking. “I appreciate what you did all the same. Still I cannot help you go home.” 

“Fine,” Hase said standing up. 

She shook her head also standing up. She stepped closer and Hase flinched as she reached up and brushed his still damp hair from his face.

“Are you going to stop me from leaving?”

Hase turned to leave but she placed a hand on his bare shoulder. He spun around, a red glow filling the room when the feeling of fire being sucked from him came. Suddenly he slammed into the floor, fall cushioned with the soft carpet. He braced himself for another hit but when he rolled over and looked up Erisa stood there obviously trying to suppress a laugh.

“You cannot beat me, not here, and besides you had better pick yourself up. There is someone else you have to meet.”

Hase scrambled to his feet, red in the face as a dark skinned man stepped into the room. He pulled down the cowl of his mottled grey cloak, much like the one that Hase had left on the beach revealing short black hair and equally dark skin. His gaze swung over to Hase and he cracked a smile. He winked at Hase who shifted uneasily, preparing himself. There was something very unpredictable about him that he could not place. He watched Erisa’s cool expression at his entrance.

“It seems a little quick to find another partner so quick.” Erisa scowled at him but otherwise didn’t comment. Hase opened his mouth to introduce himself but the man cut in first. 

“He is a fire wrangler too,” his grin now spread to his eyes, “Your taste seems to have changed profoundly, its taken, how long? A century?” Hase tensed. But a ‘century?’ He stepped back almost tripping over the chest.

“Hanan!” Erisa stood up and removed her clothes from the single chair in the room, “Stop messing with his mind. Hase, this is Hanan but he insists that we call him Han, if you ignore his barbs then you may come to like him.”

“I’m sorry,” Hase said, “But I don’t intend to stay.” He began to move towards the door.

“Hase!” Hanan’s deep voice called from the chair as Hase stepped up to the still half open door. He glanced over his shoulder. Hanan’s grin was gone, replaced with a more sincere look that was almost identical to the one that Erisa wore. “Do you know Sareti?”

Hase froze, hand on the door. It won’t hurt to stay a few moments more.

He sighed and turned meeting their stares. Erisa was sitting on the edge of the bed and she gestured for him to sit beside her. Once he was sunk into the soft mattress Hanan spoke again, leaning forwards and meeting his gaze. 

“So you do know her. Did she make it out? Is she alive? This Tayella didn’t seem to think that either of you would.” He let his cloak fall back onto the chair behind him, exposing bare forearms that were covered in tattoos of intricate patterns. At first Hase thought that it was his inkings that he was looking at, nothing like he had seen before, but then a green glow began to radiate from his skin, making the shapes and lines stand out. When the glow  suddenly subsided Hase realised that he was gaping and snapped his mouth closed. 

“Han!” Erisa said, “You’re getting careless.”

“Ah sorry,” he said grimacing.

“What is that?” Hase said. Red was normal, at least in the east, Blue was about as common as swords, even here but green? An earth vial?

“That is spirit earth,” Erisa said solemnly from his right, “There is already water spirits and fire spirits, which is what you know but there is also more, that which you don’t know. It is only natural that there is more.”

“A vial?”

“No,” both Han and Erisa said as one, Erisa continuing, “Han is an earth wrangler, so far as we know the only one.”

“But that is impossible,” Hase said, “Everyone knows that there hasn’t been an earth wrangler since long before the city split…” he trailed off eyes widening.

“You are right,” Han said, “But also wrong, I am from that time.”

Erisa spoke after, “You see, Han and I are both a lot older than we look…”

“Centuries,” Han agreed. Erisa continued.

“We are what gives people the ability to wrangler spirits. To put it simply, without us there would be no wranglers, well there are a few others like us…”

“You’re a host!” Hase said eyes widening, “Like the immortal ones that are told about by bards, it’s true that wrangling comes from you?” Like the ones that they worship on the continent?” Hase said disbelievingly. 

“We can die,” Erisa said, “and if we do, everyone that has gained wrangling powers from being around us, and those that gained their powers from them and so on will cease to have power. The cycle will begin anew. You might call me the Queen of the water wranglers, and Hanan the King of the earth wranglers, despite there being no earth wranglers.”

“Right,” Han said suddenly looking a lot less happy with the direction of the conversation.

Erisa grimaced and changed the subject.

“The weapon,” Hase breathed, “The one that Sareti was searching for. I am guessing that you also were the person that was helping her with her quest?”

Hanan nodded, “That weapon, it is less of a weapon and more of a store…”

Erisa cut in, “The vial is why there is no other earth wranglers, somehow the spirit of the earth is trapped inside of it, and nobody around him has gained powers.”

“You want me to help you?” Hase said now stepping towards the door again.

“Yes,” Erisa said once again locking her gaze on him,

“No,” Hase said resting his hand on the doorhandles, “I believe you but I want nothing to do with your weapon I just want to return to those that I care about.” 

“Let me show you something first,” Erisa said when Han moved to stop him.” 

Hase sighed but by the looks that they both gave him he had no choice unless he wanted to find himself facing two wranglers, one earth. Who knew what he could do.

Outside there was now people on deck. They were not the guards he had seen from before but water wranglers, all bared to the waist. They were carrying what looked like a child. A hood was pulled off and Hase gasped. The boy was the very same form earlier in the day. He knew he should move forwards. I have to help. I should have known Erisa was no better! He stood frozen to the spot however.

A woman stepped forwards from the shadows, and picked they boy up, climbing into the boat which was lowered out of sight. Within seconds the deck was empty again, the wranglers disappearing over the side.

“One of my side projects,” came Erisa’s soft voice from behind him. “Sometimes it is impossible to save them, even with the help of some of the water guard.”

“You… you save them?” The question hung in the air.

“I do, well I do what I can with those that I manage to rescue.”

For a second Hase just stood there. 

“And they help you?”

“Hase, not everyone here is like you Easterners say, and trust me I have been there, one of many things that the Otess have pushed; the gap between east and west.”

“I see,” he said faintly, “You don’t understand how much this means to me, I wanted to do something about it myself but…”

“Will you stay, you could help.” 

Hase nodded after a long moments hesitation. I need to return, he thought but then the look on the boy’s face as he had been stretchered away by the water guard held him where he stood. Eventually he turned to speak, “You wouldn’t have let me go would you?”

Erisa shook her head sadly, “You knew too much already, and if people knew that I had helped a fire wrangler, I would find myself in a much more difficult place. If my holding you, I could save other wranglers I would have.”

Hase stared at her wondering if he could trust her. He felt that he already did, though he shouldn’t, she was clearly more dangerous than he had first thought. That boy. How many others? I could help her.

Chapter 14 - Tayella

Tayella crouched in the dark watching the sleeping form of Sareti. She tossed and turned, every now and then her arms grabbing at something she couldn’t see, tight black curls whipping this way and that. 

Get used to it! She thought but it took considerable effort to drag her eyes away from the woman without feeling guilt, Sareti  so torn with fear that she couldn’t properly sleep wasn’t half of what she had given up for her to be there, and all for what? For the faction to fall anyway. Curse you Torin, she thought rolling over on her pallet, If you had only stayed a while longer. 

She gritted her teeth when she thought of those that now depended on her, if it was instead Sareti who led their small group then maybe she would be able to find him if only to knock some sense into him. I really thought that she would wrestle with me for control, a few harsh words and here I am telling her what to do!

She wasn’t sure how much sleep she had achieved when a gentle hand shook her awake. Middle aged Ferna stood over her, a soft expression wiped away so fast that she thought she might have imagined that. 

True, the sharp expression was more at home on her pale hard angled face yet when she thought Tayella wasn’t looking she acted the mother of the group.

Tayella gave her a tight smile and sat up, forcing down a yawn. It was still light outside judging by the gaps in the warehouse roof. She looked around. A young man, barely more than a boy sat on an upturned crate,  facing an older man, the only chair held Ferna examining what looked like Sareti’s ‘sneaking’ garment. Tayella was glad that Sareti was still asleep, and not tossing at least, she despised the motherly woman prying into her things more than was reasonable. The first safe house was surely been the nicest, this is barely more than an empty warehouse!

It felt strange with so many spirit wranglers in one room. She guessed that this almost never happened here. Maybe in the west among water wranglers but here were five wranglers, fire and water in one building. She watched as she pulled on a short dark grey cloak over her tight clothing. The fire wrangler, Esu, the older of the two had bare feet and wore a loose garment pair of trousers and no shirt, showing a torso that spoke of heavy work, she thought that he could have worked as a sack or timber hauler but she knew little more than that.

The younger boy, Luia wore well fitted trousers and a black coat over a grey shirt. It showed a spilt in the room, Fire wranglers, Sareti and Esu both barely covering themselves, like the water guard in the west, she thought sniffing and the water wranglers, well they at least didn’t have such opinions about clothing.

She had seen Sareti after a fight when she had been wearing thick winter clothes, returning with her clothes in shreds, hanging off her slender frame. Tayella realised she was staring at the sleeping woman at the moment, dressed only in a thin night shift. She blushed, glad of the dim light inside.

Suddenly there was a bang and she turned just to see the fire wrangler tumble over backwards upsetting the crate, Luia glowing enough that it was difficult to look at him grinned at her just in time as he was thrown from his own crate with a blast of air.

Ferna stepped forwards as if to stop them but Tay lay a hand on her shoulder. “We leave here today anyway, it is good to let them practice. I doubt they have ever been in a room with so many other wranglers. She shrugged and sat down on the chair again, hastily replacing Sareti’s garment where she had found it.

Gradually the fire wrangler gave ground on Luia with a slight smile then suddenly grabbed both of the boy’s arms each. The glow brightened in Luia for a moment and then it left him and he sighed dropping his arms. They laughed just as Ferna said, “Enough,” stepping forwards. “There is nothing to be gained of you killing each other.”

“I wouldn’t let myself go that far,” Luia said and side stepped ferna to pick up the crate, “Not until he is a match for me.”

Tay resisted the laugh, although young, he was not wrong, he was almost as skilled as her in wrangling and one his duels with Esu more than half of the time. She wondered if it was his limitless energy. 

Tay nodded thoughtfully. “You must stop training only by duelling, you will need to work together, I know you have probably never fought together, and I don’t mean like you used to, we need to work together.”

The others nodded too fast and Tay wasn’t convinced. For now the money she had left kept them there but she would have to come up with another form of payment when that ran out, which unfortunately would be very soon. 

She turned to where Sareti now sat up. Thankfully the distant look on her eyes was absent, the last few days it had made Tayella have to repeat almost everything she had said. I should tell her I don’t blame her for leaving Hase behind. She shook her head, when the woman apologised for leaving them in this mess she would.

“All of you against me,” she said, grinning for the first time in days. “I need woken up.”

“Sareti are you sure about this? Was Esu’s noise not loud enough?” Ferna said, casting a worried look at Luia. Luia however had other plans and hurled a crate at Sareti who slammed her foot on the ground. A shockwave erupted around her and sped across the floor, throwing all of the others off of their feet, including Tayella. The crate she had been sitting on smashed against the wall. She shivered, glad that all of them had spirit fire or water in them or they might have met the same fate as the crate. 

Tay watched patiently as Sareti easily evaded blows from the others, including Ferna who seemed more to be trying to detain her as to fight her. It was a good way to get them to fight together, but all four of them were detained quickly. Tayella straightened as the others lay groaning by the wall. Sareti raised her hand in victory, falling to her knees, the glow in her fading to a fraction of what it had been. 

“Was that what it felt like when you fought the King,” Luia said, appearing unfazed by his meeting with the wall, “Did he groan like Esu does. 

Sareti winced but nodded, “He ran away, escaped from my grasp but he must know that one day I will com back for him.”

Tayella cut in before the lie could go too far. She realised the necessity, at least for Sareti’s sake, there was some things she hadn’t mentioned and even with Tayella’s vigorous shaking she had not found it.

“Lesson over, pack up and we are out of here before sundown.” She bent down and began to pull the blankets from the broken pallet, “If somebody doesn’t come and investigate soon then something is wrong with this city.”

They packed up their things and Sareti and Esu dressed, if only barely more. Within a short period of time, what little they had was tucked into slim packs on their backs.

They moved from the warehouse with quick checks down the narrow streets that were common between warehouses. Tayella led the way to the roof by easily finding holds in the rough stone work and hoisting herself over the edge of the slanting roof. As she did so the last rays of sunlight seemed to slip away and she could barely see the others following her up the roof. Almost all of the warehouses around were empty for they were on the edge of the faction boundary between the CH35 and the CH36 and many people didn’t think it safe to keep anything where a fight could break out at any time. 

Signs of such fights could be seen if you looked for them with a couple of long warehouse buildings with only charred remains of their roof, some of the walls collapsing slowly outwards into the narrow canals. Scorch marks marred the walls of buildings that were still standing. 

Tayella followed behind the others as they ran along the roof, occasionally jumping to the next one without any difficulty, narrow streets made up the bulk of this part of the city, many without a canal through them. Finding those she had employed hadn’t been so difficult, she had known the area in which they had lived but for three of them, she had been too late and had found bodies, but with no blood or at least no signs of blade fighting. The Otess had been thorough. She gritted her teeth in anger, these people died because of me, she thought, I got them mixed up in this.

Sareti slowed to run beside her. “Tayella, what do we do once we have found the last of your associates, what then. We can’t keep running forever…”

Tay shook her head. “Sareti, we are not going to stop the Otess, we could barely fight one of them if it comes to that, we need to lie low and figure out a way to minimise the damage they cause.” 

Sareti sniffed and Tayella glanced at her in surprise, almost slipping when she landed on the next roof a bare pace between the two buildings. The first time she has objected to something I have said, I wonder if that’s a good or bad thing.

Tay opened her mouth to argue further but stopped herself, she didn’t have to argue, Sareti had in a way given up and sense of leadership. “We must wait, and besides being hidden will give us a chance to plan our way to fight back, if the west is suffering like you say it is and it has a unified army at its back and it cannot fight openly against them.

Sareti stayed silent for a moment before muttering, “Not as united as you might think, against us maybe but almost none of them know that they are pitted against one another.”

Tayella pursed her lips and resisted the urge to argue over the point, in truth she had nothing to say that was useful. I have to be right, she thought, or else I will never live it down. 

They ran in silence for a while before shouting and screaming came to their ears. Lights flared up in the distance and she could smell smoke. They caught up with the others who were looking over at the next street, wider this time, where a larger trade route crossed into the warehouse district.

The night was lit by warehouses on fire, two that looked to be more modern and made from wood had collapsed and mercenaries were pouring through the gap, jumping over the narrow canals. From the other direction came the sound of warning horns and bells. Surprisingly she could see that what she had thought initially were just mercenaries were regular people, wielding knives and staves.

“What is happening?” Sareti asked. 

It was Ferna who replied, “They are chanting, ‘revenge,’ so I would guess that the CH35  have assassinated someone important, that would be my guess anyway.” 

“A good guess,” Sareti said crouching on the ridge, and in a lower voice, “Its just the beginning.”

The others shifted uneasily and looked to Tayella.

“What about your associate?” Sareti said, looking at Tay. 

Tay shook her head and pointed to one of the houses that was already burning. “The Otess always seem to be one step ahead, it was a far chance that we would get here in time anyway, like the last time it would likely be a trap.” Ferna sniffed and put an arm around Luia who shook her off with a little less confidence than he usually showed. Too late, she told her self. The three that she had worked with that were not with them had been found dead even three days after her return. How had the Otess known?

“Tayella,” Ferna said, “you never told us what came after this, what is next for us? We cannot just carry on as we have.”

“Everyone here has been through hardships caused your wrangling, whether you were cast out because of it, sought after greedily because of it or used because of it.” Her voice broke slightly as she thought of Hase, wishing she had known more about him.

“I wouldn’t make you experience any more, but here we have a chance to do some good, we can’t let the Otess snatch a city just waiting for them…”

“And how could we do that?” Luia said.

“Listen,” Sareti hissed perched against a chimney stack. Tayella eyed her, of all of them she had thought Sareti might be the hardest to convince.

“Whatever we do will likely be destroyed by the Otess, they are more actively pushing themselves into the politics. I don’t know what their aim is, but the factions are already pitted against each other like a shelf of vials ready to fall.”

“And the West?” Said Luia.

“The west will descend on us if they think that the East is crumbling. So either way, the only thing that we can do is to stop the east from falling to the Otess. I, Sareti suspects that the Otess plan to do something similar to the west.”

Sareti stood, “I am sure.”

“We must find out what they are doing, killing people most likely to drive the tensions higher. It will be dangerous, and you may go now that we are the only ones left, I am sure that you would be able to survive a while on your own.” 

The night fell quiet, the sounds of fighting now further in the distance. “The Otess are the Seshi plague,” she said quietly from where she stood, “They will not go away so long as a single one of them remains, fighting in secret will not do that.”

“For now,” Tayella said reigning in her anger, “We must find out what they are doing.”

“I’m in,” Luia said voice wavering slightly, glaring at Ferna in the darkness when she tried to pat his shoulder. Ferna opened her mouth but glanced at the others but finally nodded.

“Count me in too,” Esu said in his deep voice, “Ill not stop if I have but a stick in my hands to fight with.” Definitely a timber hauler. 

Sareti gave her a slight nod and she sighed, unsure if it was in relief or disappointment. I can’t have her giving us away, it will get us all killed.

“As I said we need to practice as a group if we are to take out the Otess. But hopefully all together we can prove a match for them, I don’t know when so many wranglers have worked together before.”

“To kill them?” Esu said voice devoid of emotion.

“We must,” Tayella said, “However we manage it.”

“She is right,” Sareti said, “They will not stop until they die, and others will come even when they do. But wranglers fighting together will give them something to think about, as we did before the city split. A friend told me of that.”

Tayella wondered who the friend had been, there was little known of the time before the splitting, even though it had split little over a hundred years ago it had begun years before.

They just had to figure out where the next hit would be. Despite herself she could feel the excitement growing rapidly. 

“We start tonight,” she said words growing surer, “it might indeed be our first and last attempt to stop an Otess attack but if Hase, could take one on his own, even die trying, we have a chance.” She dropped her eyes to the ridge of the roof and blinked away silent tears.

I guess you get what you want, Sareti, she thought. But in the open? Once everyone knew about them they would either want them gone or want them at their head. “If we can stop those fighting to stop,” she said, “then it is a start.”

The others agreed in low tones, Tay let herself a small smile as she jumped from the roof and landed in the water below. The exhilaration of being caught by the water was like none other. She burst from it a moment later, glowing in the dark that it lit up half of the street. She shot out of the water and onto the narrow street. The other water wranglers followed, and Sareti and Luia landed beside her, avoiding the water for their own reasons. She braced herself at the small explosions. She glanced back once before running in the direction that the fighting had gone.

Chapter 15 - Sareti

Sareti lit the street around her as she ran. Lucky for her, she had found the burning remains of a warehouse roof to fill herself with fire spirit until she felt more alive than she had in days. It kept her going even when she knew that she should be starting to tire from the running. 

The signs of the battle were moving further north and it looked like those from the faction that she had seen were pushing back into the the next one. This was now CH34 territory although not very deep within it, the warehouses were all empty.

The part of the city was unfamiliar to her, the boundaries of factions were never in the same place and being away for even a few months showed how quickly they could change. The path of the mercenaries and regular people who had taken up arms were clear, rubble and fires everywhere, before she had left it might have been deep within either territory, there was no telling the extent of the changes. 

It was unclear if there were many wranglers involved, for the Amamati must have been pushed back quite quickly without much fighting. Tayella slowed ahead of her, climbing to the top of a pile of rubble. Sareti joined her a bound later. 

“Always a quiet entrance,” Tay said a hint of a smile on her lips. She looked around and badly hid a grimace. Did she just think that I was Esu? The exhilaration faded slightly and she stepped down, she could see well enough on the street level anyway. Sounds of battle were much clearer here, she thought she could pick out many shouts. 

Ahead the street were larger, big enough that there was a split down the centre of the canal for traffic in both directions, a defendable place, she thought but didn’t speak up. Tayella had a lot to learn as a leader and she wouldn’t help the woman if she wouldn’t take her help. Smoke, glowing red was billowing from what could only be a house on the other side, several charred structures that could have been bridges already half collapsed into the canal. 

As she approached slowly, she could see that on one side stood lines of mercenaries with big wooden shields, rimmed with steel. They stood in an even line. They deflected the stray knives and throwing spears that were thrown in their direction. The story on their own side was different, people threw themselves over the gap, landing on the narrow divider in the middle trying to get to the mercenaries on the other side but as she watched she could see that it was useless for every second time there was splashes  and somebody was dragged out of the water. For now they aren’t fighting back, why is that?

The mercenaries on this side were laying down a temporary bridge of thick wooden planks but it was already charred and blackened even as they were trying to cross it. They moved with a frenzied anger and some had forgotten helmets. Somebody had been assassinated alright and it had not just been a powerful ally of the leader, no this was bigger.

“It is worse than I thought,” Tayella said. 

“Bad?” Esu said from behind Sareti, “If the Amamati were any less disciplined then they would be fighting back and I doubt it would go well for the CH34.” Sareti nodded to herself, maybe she could give advice through Esu, he made an effort to ignore what ever went between her and Tayella.

“This sides wranglers are not fighting,” Ferna said stepping up beside Sareti and pointing to hooded figures watching in the alleyway, at least they have sense.”

“The Amamati leader must still live.” Tayella said seeming to ignore the others, “We still have a chance.”

“To do what?” Sareti said turning to face her. Tayella waved a hand as if to dismiss her but Sareti carried on anyway, “Those are Amamati on the other side. Do we really want to help save their leader, if we can even get close to Arlin Mariz, the most powerful woman in the whole of East Seshi.” 

Tayella’s mouth opened but she closed it and nodded before speaking, “I fear that if we do not help her then the Otess are one step closer to being the most powerful people here. And I would rather kneel at her feet than the Otess’.”

“Do you even know where the Armamati leader is?” Sareti said, still frowning at the commotion ahead.

“Of course not,” she said, turning to glance at Sareti, “I was hoping that you could help me with that. 

Sareti shook her head, “I might know where to look, let me go, at least then you will have help in stopping this from escalating.”

Tayella considered her for a long moment before nodding, “At least take someone with you,” she said, “Luia, you go with her, there is likely nothing to worry about, they probably will wait a while before assassinating another.”

A murmur of agreement came from the other wranglers all except Luia and Ferna, Ferna with an eyebrow raised as if she was regretting agreeing to this and Luia with an excited look that he kept trying to hide. 

That would be gone soon enough she knew, she began shaking at the thought of it but managed to reign in her thoughts as they began to spiral out of control. I hope that Tayella is right, she thought, she would have to send Luia back if it got messy. 

Tayella had a hard look on her face and she nodded to them as if to explain what they were about to do or maybe encouragement and then took off. Sareti stared blankly before running after her, she had no idea what idiocy Tayella was about to do, she knew she couldn’t speak on being a leader now, at least not to Tayella yet it might help her if she explained things a little more clearly before they started. It might save on of their lives in the worst case.

They neared the shouting mass and suddenly there were people all around them. Sareti let her whole body glow, and people’s shouts cut off as they shrank back as if she were an Otess. They are no better than westerners, she thought grimly following Tayella.

Around them the fighting paused, people half way to the makeshift bridges which were now making some headway across the canals. They paused to stare as Tay moved past, the pale skin that was showing, although it was not a lot, her hands and face glowing blue. As she ran a silvery glisten coated her skin.

Sareti grinned as Luia had a moment before. I might convince her yet, she told herself. Some of the mercenaries on the opposite street raised their spears slightly but none of the moved more than that, instead the wide street bristled like one of those spikefish that could be found at the more expensive street vendors. 

Tayella reached the first bridge meeting the mercenaries. Glowing as she was they stepped back warily as she passed, hands tightening on weapons. She crossed the bridge casting off her cloak. Then kept going. She stepped out over the water and was caught with a swirly column of water raising her up.

The light from the torches became insignificant to her glowing skin. Those on the far bank shifted uneasily but didn’t lower their weapons. Wranglers were not uncommon but those that moved in the open had always died quickly. 

Died by Otess hands, she thought eyes widening. Of course! Tayella started speaking but Sareti lost what was said as something whistled past her head. She ducked and rolled between two mercenaries with spears. No you don’t! She swung her foot around, back still on the ground and tripped the first who went tumbling to the hard paving stones. A spear snagged the man in the chest from a  woman in ragged clothing, with no time to thank the woman she tried to rise but a boot snagged her loose clothing and a spear was thrust downwards. Bashing it away with the blade of her dagger the point hit the ground just as the mercenary fell to her knees, blood seeping from her mouth. 

Sareti jumped to her feet biting back the urge to vomit and looked up. 

“Sareti, what do we do?” Luia stood beside her, dagger still held out. He glanced at it and shrugged wiping it clean on the dead mercenaries coat. He froze, “That’s strange,” he said fingering the  coloured cloth as if it were in a shop, “These colours, are not from any faction that I have seen before.”

Sareti frowned but pulled him to his feet, “Luia, we are attracting attention, let’s get out of here. There are plenty of people who want me dead now, they must have come because of that.” At least it wasn’t an Otess. The thought didn’t comfort her in the slightest. 

She grabbed ahold of a startled Luia and stamped her bare feet on the ground. They shot into the air, Luia gasping for breath, his face pale and leaving behind an even more startled group of mercenaries. “A little warning would be better,” he groaned, doubling over when they crashed onto a sloped roof. Tiles cracked underneath her feet and she almost slipped off it. 

“An enemy won’t give you a warning, just to make it fair, get used to it.”

Luia grimaced, She reminded herself that he was five years younger than her. He was more than capable of handling himself. “You should teach me about sneaking around,” he said brightly grabbing onto the ridge of the roof and pulling himself up to stand on it.

“Tayella wouldn’t approve,” Sareti said.

“Tayella isn’t my boss anymore,” he said, “and besides, it will help me stay alive."

Sareti grimaced and stepped up onto the ridge with him. The night was dark enough that they should be hidden. An Otess will find you anyway. 

“Just copy what I do,” she said, “And when I tell you to go, you go back to Tayella.”

“What are we doing then?” He said. 

“Looking for a messenger,” Sure enough she could see a slight figure run down the wide street, flickering torch in hand. “There,” she said reaching to grab ahold of Luia again. He stepped back.

“I can jump well enough without you.”

Sareti began running along the roof tiles on bare feet, Luia’s boots thudding softly behind her. The rough edges dug into her skin in a familiar fashion, when was the last time she had run East Seshi roofs?

She leaped from the edge of the roof to the next one, without the need for any spirit fire help and he landed quietly behind her. I probably don’t have much to teach you, she thought as they crossed the faction in silence, spirits, Tayella probably put him up to asking me!

There were a few occasions where she had to lift Luia over a large gap in the streets but he didn’t complain. Still with the extra weight she almost went through a few roofs by accident, feet crunching through tiles.

“You aren’t too bad at this,” she said, “a little practice and you could be infiltrating a western castle.”

“Is it true that you fought the King?”

Sareti shivered at the thought. The way that he had removed her spirit fire somehow. Since then she had tried repeatedly to do it. She was glad that the west had no fire wranglers, hopefully she wouldn’t have to fight many of them.

“I didn’t win,” she said, “I did escape but I got caught, if not for Tayella and… Hase, I would not be here.” And the secret of the Otess would have died with me. She should have told Han when she had had the chance.

“That is still impressive,” Luia said crouching beside her.

“Shhhh.” She pointed to the street below. The girl stopped for a few seconds before carrying on. Luia began to straighten and follow but Sareti grabbed his arm. A few second later another figure appeared from the shadow of the building, looking both ways before. Running down the street.

“They relay their messengers!” 

“Of course, I did too, some of the time.” She grimaced at the reminder of her faction and focused on the street below.

Their new quarry led them to crouch on a roof watching a nondescript warehouse, a large one at that. No windows broke the smooth stone wall and all of the buildings around it looked empty. Possibly to house mercenaries or watchers or both. No use against Otess. The man disappeared into the shadow below. Two more shapes moved in after him, almost invisible against the dark stone wall. She drew in a quick breath. Otess! Two! 

“He is gone,” Luia said. 

“We have our building though,” she whispered back, peering around the chimney stack that hid them from view, her heart beat faster than it had while running. “Those buildings over there have people watching from the buildings,” she said, “We don’t want to bring them down on us before we even get in.” 

“But how do we get in without being seen?” Luia asked. “The walls look thick.” Sareti nodded. He was right finding a way in would be hard and it would not be enough to try and protect the building on the outside, for all they knew the… 

“One more thing,” she said calming her nerves, “I think there are Otess in there, Tayella was right. You should leave now, there isn’t much we can do, it might take me a long time to get close enough.

“No!” He grabbed ahold of her arm tightly, “I am staying, I can get you there quicker.” His voice held a serious note now.

“How?”

“The canals, under water.”

Sareti pursed her lips, “Fine, if it means we stop a full scale faction battle.”

“If we can get to the canal unseen, I can get us almost to the door.”

“Let’s go.”

The grip on her arm relaxed and Sareti swung down over the side of the roof. They were still a street away from the large warehouse so she only glanced at the surrounding buildings. Hopefully there weren’t any watchers here. 

Her feet found a stone ledge which she thought was a windowsill and swung down. Something launched itself off the roof above her and her breath caught. She followed the shape of Luia downwards before he was engulfed by the black water in the narrow canal below without so much as a splash. I guess that is a useful skill. She landed on the paving stones a few moments later beside a crouching Luia. She stared at him for a long moment. He wore a garment akin to hers with loose folds of black fabric that broke up his shape. 

“Ferna made it, I asked her.”

“Good,” she replied, I must make sure I hide my things better.

“Lets go,” she said, “From now on, don’t talk at all, be as quiet as you can and only follow my path once I have passed it. If I get taken by guards or something, return to the others. You cannot do this on your own. Neither can I,” she added.

“Right,” he replied in a flat voice. She frowned at him but just let out a breath.

Sareti kept in the shadows as she moved, pulling the spirit fire inside of herself, pushing it down as far as it would go.

After crossing a narrow street, one without even a small canal through it she was in the shadow of a building that surely had guards watching from. Still in the almost complete darkness, moving slowly she should not be seen. She reached the end of the building without fault and a slight scuff of a soft boot behind her notified her of Luia’s following. 

Across a wide canal stood the large warehouse. But that open area was moonlit and it didn’t look like there were any clouds in the sky. No bridge even crossed the wide gap. Water, She thought, I always end up in the water.

The wide canal was connected to their smaller canal. She got down on her stomach and moved slowly into the moonlight just enough to slip into the water. As soon as she was half submerged the spirit fire within her tried to get free, too sure up but she kept it down with an iron grip, there was no use loosing it all like that.

She ducked her whole body underwater letting go of the edge of the street holding onto Luia’s arm. The urge to go up for air was even stronger than the spirit fire and panic began to build inside her. She calmed herself and let the water wash over her trying not to think about how clean the water might be. Then she surfaced and she was lifted onto cold stone. The panic subsided with a shudder but she kept the spirit fire down even now, if someone saw them here…

The were still in the moonlight so she moved across into the shadow of the warehouse. To her right was a small doorway. She stood up and moments later they were standing facing each other by the door. She grinned at him in the darkness but it was impossible to see what he felt. 

She pressed her hand up to the lock but the door swung open silently without her needing to break it. A slight glow came from inside from a blue vial held behind sturdy bars. The glow was illuminated off the bodies that littered the floor. Not all of the weapons had fully been drawn and daggers were half out of sheaths, as well as the occasional sword. The Otess were already here. 

She let her feet glow slightly as she walked illuminating enough only to see where she was stepping, although she tried to avoid the sights of bruised necks she couldn’t quell the queasiness in her.  Though the Otess’s only weapon was their own limbs the results always seemed worse, it was unfair that they could fight better without a blade.

She picked her way through the men and woman’s bodies as quickly as she could and up the steps ahead. 

The stairs led straight up past a guard room. A quick glance inside showed the same thing. Just up from that was a man lying face down with regular clothes on, clutching a piece of paper. On it were what she thought was code words. Luia came up behind her looking sick to the bones. At least this fazes him, it will get worse.

Hallways led off in three directions all of them dark, for a warehouse it was odd, she was definitely standing what must be the Amamati leader’s hideout. Slight sounds of voices came from two but to the right there was nothing. She followed that one, Otess didn’t leave people to tell stories, apart from me. 

Doorways lined the hallway opening into large rooms that were filled with weapons and food. Most were empty. Every now and again they came across a dead body. It was one thing to fight an Otess that had ambushed her, it was another following two by choice.

They climbed a few more steps and the distant sounds of fighting, screams and shouts as well as the thuds of feet on a hard surface. Maybe we aren’t too late!

The hallway widened and the noises became much louder then through an archway she could see a huge room. A large warehouse room had been converted into something that could have fit in the King’s palace in the west. Lit with both red and blue vials inset into the wall, the floor polished marble was smeared with blood and bodies. The sounds of the fighting from the middle of the room echoed through the vaulted ceiling.

A dark shape, clearly defined as one of the otess with the wrappings of their kind. Moved in a blur through the knot of fighting. Another shape moved to the left.

Wranglers fought in the room as well, faces veiled still as bangs and flashes added to the din.

Sareti put her head to Luia’s ear before speaking, standing just under the arch, “We need to find the leader first. But stay with me.” He nodded assent and she moved into the room on silent feet. She drew a long dagger from underneath a fold in the cloth. 

The guards had to be very good to have noticed an Otess, it wasn’t often that an Otess was seen by others before they made their kill, much less challenged. But as she watched guard after guard dropped as the figure slid in and out of limbs and steel. Her mouth went dry and she kept moving, ignoring her quickening heartbeat.

Guttural cries threatened to knock Sareti from her feet but she pushed closer, refusing to see the bodies as she stepped over them. By now they were a mere twenty paces off. She grabbed ahold of Luia without thought and slammed her foot against the tiled floor, they shot over the fighting guards to land facing a second line of guards only a dozen strong.

A woman stood from an ornate chair watching them full lips pressed tightly together. With very dark skin and dark, almost black hair that was tied up loosely, supporting a circlet of gold she could only be Arlin Marez. A simple dulled plate of metal covered the front of a richly patterned coat and wide trousers. 

Two guards rushed forwards but a curt word halted them, “Stop!” She calmly looked them up and down her eyes passing over Luia at Sareti’s side quickly to linger on her glowing skin. “Sareti.” The voice was still curt but not cold.

“Arlin,” a little confused, how does she know who I am?

“Why have you come here, I don’t believe that you came with the Otess.”

“I have not come to die,” Sareti said. “I have come to help.”

“Right.” She waved to her guards and they parted letting them through, “Why?”

Time was running out from the absence of screams behind her for a few moments. Sareti gritted her teeth. “Arlin, we need you out of here, it’s difficult to explain here but I don’t want war with the Amamati and CH34.”

“They deserve it,” she said, “attacking us with no reason.” Then she sighed, “We can talk if you want, if we survive, but we don’t have much time.”

“Even if I do get out,” she said stepping forwards, “I will be pursued, you cannot protect me from the Otess forever, not if I need to lead.”

“I will handle that when we get out of here, I guess there is no hidden way out?” Sareti said, feeling surer of herself every minute despite the count down of screams that marked every lost moment. 

“Blocked,” she said simply a grimace appearing and disappearing quicker than Sareti could blink.

She ran over to the wall and pressed her hand against it. A little more than half of her spirit fire remained, maybe not enough but she had to try. If only I had Hase here. She saw another Otess emerge into the room from the corner of her eye. Escape where they don’t expect.

Luia stepped up beside her and pressed his hands against the wall beside hers. She let the spirit fire burst up and out through her hands. It flowed through the wall where the stones met one another, like a glowing latticework. Steam and the smell of charred mortar rose as small cracks appeared in the wall.

She glanced back at Arlin. She stood holding a huge glass vial that pulsed with a bright light. It was the larges she had ever seen. How had she obtained that? As she watched, the woman slammed it down on the floor. For a moment she braced herself but the explosion didn’t come, instead the glow ran up the woman’s bare arm and behind her dress and soon she was glowing as the vial had. 

“Quick,” Sareti called, “Help us!" The latticework was expanding but very slowly now, the problem was that the wall was very thick. Arlin slammed her hands into the wall and shot backwards. Sareti groaned. She was unpracticed. It was expected, vials were the most expensive object one could own and were never used for practice. In fact they were probably never used other than by the army.

Arlin jumped to her feet and ran at the wall. This time she shouldered it, where the latticework of light and steam came from and Sareti heard a great groan as the wall shuddered and dust billowed from the cracks. Again and again Arlin hit the wall, gradually her strength depleting until with one last crack the wall heaved outwards. A gaping hole into the night. Above beams groaned and wood cracked. Without a moments hesitation she nodded to Luia and towards Arlin.

“Get her out of here,” She said, “Quickly!”

Luia jumped to his feet and grabbed Arlin and then they were gone. Sareti turned to the rest of the room. All of the guards were dead, save for three veiled wranglers, all the ones of them remaining, fighting with water-covered fists. The two Otess grabbed one even as she ran towards them tearing off the hood, the woman’s neck bending in a sickening crunch. So strong!

She bit down the urge to flee and the panic inside her. Images flashed before her face as she reached them, images that she could not keep down. She stopped just before she reached them. 

We only managed to fight back when the Otess were surprised or angered, first Han and then Hase and the King.

“The Otess are not real,” she said, a faceless glance from one of them was enough. She continued, stringing off things she could think of. Maybe emotion was the key, provoke emotion in them and they would crack. The Otess now must have noticed that Arlin had escaped but the guards had joined the fighting and they were trying to stop the merciless shapes from following. They were dropped one by one.

“The Otess are tyrants. The Otess are liars.” It wasn’t working, they ignored her. 

“I KILLED AN OTESS.” The sound once again echoed off the walls. The Otess froze, one had begun to move towards her but stopped. The other stared for a moment before a dagger slammed through its chest and its whole body cracked as a blue glowing punch took it in the side.

She met the other half way to the gap in the wall and slammed the knife into its back as it stumbled. They both hit the ground among the dust and bits of stone. The Otess moved once and then lay still. Sareti began shaking and rolled away from the corpse as images coursed through her head of dark forms in a barred cell. Slowly it subsided and she pushed herself to a sitting position

Two sets of eyes watched her from holes in wranglers’ hoods. An Otess lay by their feet, two spears and a knife in its chest, its body just as distorted as others.

“You did it,” one of them said, voice deep. They pulled off a bloodied blue and white hood and Sareti was surprised to see a middle aged man with only minor bruises on his face. His hair was black, flecked with grey framing a pale face along with a grey beard, also cut short. 

“You did!” The other one was a woman. Her face was worried though. Sareti started. The woman was almost the image of Arlin’s herself. It could only be a sister, “but where is she?” 

“Safe,” Sareti said panting, “I hope. You may come with me to see her.”

The man shrugged but the woman nodded. She could not be very much older than Sareti but she bore the same wisdom in them as her sister. 

Sareti straightened. Her own clothes were not even bloodied at all, although in black it would be hard to see it anyway. Still she felt exhausted, the reserve of spirit fire almost gone. She glanced at the bodies and grimaced. 

“We must take those with us,” she said nodding to the bodies. “It is important.” Two Otess, dead with bodies to show for it. If it were anything like the west the bodies would disappear quicker than the guards outside would swarm the place. 

She had to force herself to tie themselves onto the makeshift litter as the others bent over bodies on the floor. 

The others didn’t speak at all as they solemnly stepped over their fellow guards and wranglers, carrying a litter of two bodies, covered in leatherbark wrappings. She looked regretfully back at the bodies, if she had been there earlier maybe she could have averted that.

Chapter 16 - Tayella and Sareti

Tayella picked through the rubble of a warehouse beside the wide canal. Bits of crates and pottery crunched under her soft boots, making it almost impossible to move quietly.

The fire wranglers that had caused most of the damage were long gone along with most people with any sense. Morning light was  now streaming through huge gaps in walls highlighting the extent of the damage.

Despite the canal being a main thoroughfare of goods and wares to the docks to the south of the city, it too was silent. Being the boundary of two factions, it made a good place to transport goods unhindered by checks and tariffs. Now the only sign of life were Ferna and Esu, both sitting dejectedly on the central divider in the canal, eyes wearily watching the canal.

She had created quite a stir in the crowd in the dark, and had even got them to leave in peace yet she didn’t feel satisfied, it was too much like what Sareti had suggested her do. Moving in the open like that, stupid idea, will only get me killed. She grimaced at the thought. Sareti must have succeeded for there had been no more fighting yet she had sent Luia with the woman. Hoping that she would teach him to be able to take care of himself, he will end up dead because of her. No! Because of me. 

Tayella kicked an almost whole pottery jar smashing it with her sodden boot. I am the leader now, it is on me.

“Tay!” It was Esu. He beckoned to her, now standing up and looking over the other side of the canal, weariness gone. Tayella ran back over the rubble of a wall and stepped up to the edge of the canal.

There, trudging out of the retreating shadows was Sareti  followed by a small procession. Behind Sareti stumbled the shorter fifteen year old Luia with a man and woman she didn’t recognise but had white veils that hung at their necks covered in blood. Spirit wranglers. A woman pushed into view and caught up with Sareti. 

“Who is on the stretchers?” Ferna said, her fatigue seeming to fade as well when she saw Luia. The stretchers were the makeshift kind and had been draped in bloody cloaks without much care. 

As the procession began to cross the makeshift bridge the woman with Sareti stopped just shy of five paces to study her cooly. Tayella stepped closer and forced herself to nod her head. This must be Arlin Mariz. Wearing colourfully patterned trousers that contrasted her tight but matching coat she looked the part.

Her face held little emotion as she bowed her head and spoke, “I hear that you are the leader of this group of mercenaries.” A smile played across her dark face that made Tayella’s hand tighten beneath her short cloak. She shot a glance at Sareti who just shrugged and helped the others set down the stretchers. No doubt deceased guards. So there had been another fight. The satisfaction of being right was worrying.

“Yes,” she said, “I am the leader, Tayella, and I assume that you are Arlin Mariz, leader of the Amamati faction.”

“Of course,” Arlin said her face relaxing slightly although Tayella wasn’t sure what was relaxing at the scene behind her, “I must thank you, if not for your foresight I would be dead and the Amamati would likely be destroying the CH24 right now, they can be a little excitable.”

Tayella opened her mouth but thought better and moved aside, “I have set up a safe house in the closest warehouse that’s still whole, Ferna will take you there.”

She nodded appreciatively and swept past. 

“You might want to see this,” Sareti said, “Gesturing to the stretchers now being lifted again, it might cause some problems.”

  “Who?”

“What more like,” Sareti said lifting the corner of the bloody cloak to expose a foot wrapped in straps of leather bark. Tayella hissed and stumbled backwards before stopping herself. Dead Otess? Two?

“What happened?”

Sareti chuckled but it sounded more of a croak, “Two Otess. Killed a lot of guards and wranglers, those three are the only survivors.”

Only three survivors? That was worse than she had thought. She wondered how many people had died to save the woman and gritted her teeth, many more would die if she had not been saved.

Sareti straightened with visible effort and met her eyes. She appeared to be shivering although the light breeze stirring the ashes was warm. “We can talk in this safe house, it is a dangerous thing for us to talk about it out here.”

A few moments later they were standing in the centre of an open warehouse empty save for a few dusty crates turned on edge and a makeshift hearth.

“We have failed,” Sareti said almost doubling over coughing. “What do you mean?” Tayella said helping her into a sitting position again on a crate. The woman needed sleep but her information might help. Suddenly she turned away from the shaking woman. She had seen what Sareti had been like in the cell facing what she had thought was a brutal death and she had sent her into another fight with them. 

“We saved Arlin but everyone else in the building was dead,” Sareti continued when her coughing fit subsided, “I think we mistook the Otess. They don’t even need to kill the leaders if they can sow fear into the mix. We seen two Otess, yet there were others; the bodies on the streets.” 

“It is a victory,” Tayella said firming her face and turning back, “I have never heard of a body of an Otess, nor of one being killed.”

“It is a death wish to keep them,” Sareti said, “We have the Otess now specifically searching for all of us.”

“Then we need to find a way to dispose of them.” In a way that might help their cause.

“Do we not count for anything?” Arlin stepped forwards from the deeper parts of the warehouse, “You did save us, and we can help.”

“Help?” Tayella frowned, “You will have enough trying to keep your faction out of the canals.”

“I have already arranged for that to be done, but by what Sareti tells me, I might be safer here, and I could help as well.” 

Tayella bit her tongue to stop from rejecting the woman’s offer. Surely she wouldn’t be stupid enough to let her pride hurt their cause.

“I would be glad of your help,” she said instead. Arlin nodded as if she had expected it all along. She was neither tall, nor as cold  as Erisa had been but she felt if she was ordered by this woman, her legs would itch to do as she said. 

Her companions standing just in the shadows, a greying man and a woman that closely resembled her with dark complexion and a sharp face, relaxed and retreated. 

“Don’t think that you retain much sway here, we did not rescue you to take my place.” I am beginning to speak like Sareti used to, she thought. “I don’t want anything to do with your politics.”

“I wouldn’t dare,” Arlin said eyes widening in mock fear, “But you have just sunk yourself deep into my politics, killing two Otess, If I may give you some advice…” 

Tayella nodded, folding her hands in front of her to stop her clenching them.

“Nobody gets anywhere by letting their political advantages get covered in silt, no, you must play your move.”

“And what move is that?” Sareti said, sitting straighter on her crate.

“The Otess corpses of course,” Arlin said, face barely concealing excitement, “Everyone thinks they are mysterious assassins that plague their peace for the rich and powerful.”

“I see,” Tayella said also failing to hide her sudden anticipation. I am beginning to wonder if she came to me because she just wanted to see how this would play out rather than for protection. Maybe she would be able to use them. She turned to Sareti, “How did you kill two?”

“Emotion,” Sareti said, “It broke their concentration when I made them angry. I also had the help of the others.” She gestured to the man and woman now helping the others hide the bodies, “They are both wranglers too.” That woman has to be Arlin’s sister, I wonder if she lost any other family. For what the woman had been through she didn’t seem to be affected much.

“I suppose that makes sense, but from the look of you, it still wasn’t easy?” It wasn’t really a question, of course it wasn’t. 

Sareti shook her head before standing up, “I’m finding somewhere to sleep even if I have to on the street.” Tayella watched her go thoughtfully, as much as she resisted the feeling, she couldn’t  really hate Sareti. She formed the picture of Hase in her mind unconsciously and grimaced, maybe I can.

“Was it really just emotion?” Tay asked Arlin when Sareti was gone.

“I don’t know.” For the first time there was a crack in the impassive face, “I wasn’t there. As soon as we broke through the wall and could escape, Luia, I believe dragged me out of there and we met up again not long after I had assure my advisors that were still alive that I had survived. I don’t know why Sareti stayed, she could have followed but I think she knew that they wouldn’t give up. Has she experience with them?”

“Yes, more experience than most, I would say.”

“What are you to do now?” Arlin said.

“About the corpses?”

“No, if the Otess are after other faction leaders too then it will be impossible to even help a few of them.”

“I don’t think we can get the factions together to believe or fight with us, but the normal people will. To focus on a single goal might work.”

“To destroy their stronghold?” Arlin said arching an eyebrow.

Tay barked a short laugh, “You sound like Sareti. The Otess have power only through lies and murder, we can get people to fight back.”

“An ambitious goal,” Arlin said, “I think it could work, especially how it seems that you have quelled the fighting here, but there is a problem.”

“And what is that?”

“You will transfer the focus of the Otess onto you instead of the leaders, possibly me as well, are you ready for that?”

Tay grimaced, “I plan to do it tonight. ”

“Good.” Arlin hid a grin.

Tayella nodded with satisfaction and moved towards the doorway. As she neared it Arlin spoke again. 

“Tayella, don’t discount Sareti’s ideas too quickly, she deserves to be considered.”

Tayella pulled the door shut behind her, satisfaction gone.

~

Sareti sat propped up against a crate and rubbed her eyes. The only windows in the large building were barely wide enough to fit her hand through yet there was only darkness on the other side. 

Light came from a red vial light hung from the roof, courtesy of Arlin. That woman has too much money, she thought but couldn’t work up enough energy to really care, at least it would not be blown out like a candle.

Her and the others sat around a dusty carpet which provided some comfort from the hard packed floor. 

The others were talking but she had not been listening very closely, her eyes threatening to close even after the drink that Ferna had made her. Sleep should have left her feeling better. She did in a way, yet at even the frequent mention of the Otess she felt nothing. Fear was better than this, she thought forcing herself to sit straighter and listen to what was being said.

“Where do we show the Otess?” Arlin said. She had recovered from her near death ordeal without fault and now argued with Tayella as much as she herself did. That in itself should feel better, but just… nothing. 

“If you put them in my faction then the Otess will make an example of us, we need somewhere neutral.”

Tayella agreed flatly. At the start of their talk she had been quick to disagree with Arlin but she had lost her eagerness to even argue.

“The Otess already know where they were killed just one which Otess were sent to your safe house. If we put them anywhere else it will just involve more factions. We want people to feel hope, not fear.” That was Rosan, Arlin’s sister whom surprisingly disagreed with Arlin as much as she did with Tayella.

“What about somewhere that is not of any faction.” Luia stepped in the door with a pack of food. She felt her stomach rumble but ignored it. Food could come later, right now she didn’t need a distraction.”

“Great idea.” It was Arlin’s turn to be sarcastic.

“Where do you suggest?” Tayella said shooting Arlin a sharp look. If anything the woman only looked amused. She is tough, she would have to be. “Almost anywhere is associated with at least one faction.” 

“A boat.” Ferna said nodding in appreciation to Luia, “They cannot link a boat with anybody.” 

“What and drag them around the city for all to see?” Arlin said.

Sareti sighed and everyone looked at her, the room falling silent. Tay opened her mouth but snapped it shut. “The harbour,” she said, “A boat floating in the harbour with dead Otess on them.” If we wait any longer they will find us here and they will be parading around the city with us tied to boats.

The others for the first time in the last half hour remained silent for a long moment before  nodding. Sareti looked over at the stretcher in the corner and shivered despite the warmth in the room.

“Fine,” Tayella said when everyone looked to her, “It is dark already so we leave in twenty minutes. I’ll take Sareti, she knows the canals the best.” 

Sareti started but nodded when they glanced at her. Tayella had never asked for her help before. Everyone stood save for her and Luia stood who was running his finger along the hilt of an ornate dagger. “Found it on the street,” he said, not looking up, “I was surprised that the fight brought in rich people as well.” 

“The rich and powerful are not immune to anger and the need for revenge, in fact they seem to need it more.” 

“Then they shouldn’t involve us in it, we die to save them, because they made a mistake double crossing another faction, or because they chose to.”

“Would you rather we had a king whom controlled every faction so that you could not move to a different faction if you wanted to, if you were forced to work for them.”

“I guess not, it's just not fair that we have to set watches incase an assassin was sent after us.”

“I met someone,” Sareti said snatching a hunk of bread from Luia, “He told me of when the city was whole, where there was some kind of ruler but where there was little fighting. We need to sh0w everyone that we can have that again.”

“Do you really believe the Otess are not just assassins?”

Sareti pursed her lips, “Even if they are not, we cannot have peace with them still here.”

“Is Tayella wrong then?” Luia’s gaze was now firmly fixed on her’s, showing more maturity than should have been in those eyes.

“She is, what is happening in the west will happen here, the west isn’t our enemy, thinking that they are only helps the Otess.”

“I see.” He nodded thoughtfully and sheathed the dagger, “You should teach me how to fight like you,” he said shooting a quick glance in Ferna’s direction.

Sareti opened her mouth to object and closed it, she nodded. Satisfied, he stood up and disappeared out of the door. What have I agreed to, she thought but couldn’t help the slight warmth that had replaced the nothing. 

Sareti stepped outside. The moon was once again shining enough to cast broken shadows between scorched walls and piles of rubble. She sat down at the canal edge, where there was a clear view all the way to the estuary in one direction and far into the darkness in the other. 

“That was a good idea,” Tayella said from behind her, “The harbour I mean.” 

“I… am sorry that I so often shoot down your ideas, they are good, sometimes.” Tayella sat down beside her, face pale in the moonlight and blonde hair clasped with a thin dagger on her head.

Sareti stared at the glossy water eyes wide for a few moments before she found words, “I understand,” she eventually said, “I once did the same.”

“Thanks.” She sounded weary, yet there was a tightness to her voice that was always there when she spoke to her.

“Tayella,” Sareti said, “We will find revenge, I did not kill Hase, but neither did you, you cannot let yourself pass blame on, even in your mind. Trust me I suffered for years when my parents died and I blamed other factions until I realised that it was the Otess that had actually done it.”

Tayella was silent for a long moment and when she spoke her voice was cold again, “We will make the west pay.”

Sareti shook her head gritting her teeth, “No, we will make the Otess pay, the west didn’t kill him.”

Tayella stood, “We need to go, the longer we wait the more chance there is an Otess will find us.”

“Tayella, we must destroy the Otess, as long as they exist people will die for their power grabs.” She stood but Tayella was already walking towards a boat tied onto the canal side twenty paces ahead. I have to make her see soon.  

The water wrangler stood at the back of the boat which did not rock as it should, instead a thin column of water swirled around her arm connecting her to the now disturbed canal water. A black covering concealed two distinct lumps in the middle so Sareti stepped in at the front and crouched down.

Sareti watched Tayella as they began to move before turning to face the forwards as they picked up speed. Trying to recall her memory of the network of canals she put her hand out to the right and then left and so on, weaving their way through narrow and wide streets. 

Her memory must have served her correctly for they barely passed a person and when they did it was an occasional guard standing in front of a warehouse door, watching them silently through a dull helmet. Nor, more importantly did she catch any sight of an Otess.

The canal gradually got wider and wider until they could have fit ten of their boats through at the same time before it suddenly opened out into a large moonlit bay, the warehouses falling away, the canal cutting through a sandy beach and into open water.

A break water almost completely cut off the bay from the open ocean but the water still vibrated the hull even if it couldn’t rock it. Most boats that she could see pulled up on the beach were much wider or had two hulls joined to make a larger boat. 

Tayella dropped down into the boat. Suddenly Sareti was thrown back into the boat as they shot forwards.

At last they slowed and she finally pulled herself up to see where they were. They were still at least twenty paces away from the end of the main floating walkway where boats small and large rocked, some that were taller than a building. 

The dark shapes of guards stood every ten paces on the walkway, watching them now that they were slowly moving past. Tayella at least wasn’t stupid enough to have them go so fast past unwanted eyes. Then they were far enough away that in the dark that the guards were all hidden from sight. 

“Wait here.” Tayella’s voice was barely audible above the lap of the water against the side of the boat. Sareti nodded but Tay was already dropping her unusually long cloak to the boat, leaving only the tight garment that in the darkness was not far from the clear shape of an Otess. 

  Tayella slipped into the water and was gone without a splash. As soon as she left the boat began to rock wildly. Sareti grabbed the sides before she was thrown off of it. She didn’t know why it was necessary to find another boat to use, sure, narrow boats were not usually found in the bay but... A boat moved at the end of the wooden walkway picking up speed and leaving the walkway behind. None of the guards even moved.

A few moments later the boat drew up beside her own and she felt her boat getting pulled in beside it. It was a lot larger, wider and didn’t seem to need the need to use any stabilisers but most of all it had a wide flat deck. At each corner there were pole and oar holders where they could manoeuvre it through the canals but they dragged uselessly in the water now. 

As soon as her boat pressed up against them, Tayella jumped down with ease and pulled back the cloth. They quietly lifted both of the bodies up and onto the deck, placing them in the centre of the boat side by side. Even the sight of them made her muscles seize and she was barely able to place the torches and their stands around them. She still winced however when Tay stabbed the spear into the chest of one and a knife into the other. It was necessary, the more effect they had the better, or at least Arlin had said so. For a leader Arlin isn’t that bad. She was almost glad that she had no such ties like that, especially in a time like this.

“Ready for the torches,” Tayella said quietly, when everything was there. Sareti took a deep breath and cupped her hands around each of the torches. Light sprung to life around them as each of them were lit. She then let herself down into the other boat with Tay.  They had made it this far, the rest should be easy. 

Shouts of guards carried from the walkway and the sound of running boots broke the quite night. Demanding who they were but they were too far away to fully make out and they were already moving. Tayella moved their own boat behind the other one as they pushed it towards the shore fast, the wood creaking alarmingly. Sareti held on tightly as her stomach lurched. Alarm bells began to ring along the walkway and torches were being lit on the beach. 

“Not fast enough,” Tayella murmured, “Sareti, we need more attention.” 

Sareti shrugged and leaned over the side of the boat and slapped the water. There was a mix of a hiss and an explosion that almost sent their boat spinning but a sound as loud as a clap of thunder boomed. Surely that is enough to wake enough people. They were nearing the beach proper, where the walkway met it  and where many of the canals culminated. Mercenaries stood along the side, the only people that looked calm. Others jostled through the crowd shouting although Sareti could not make out what.

“No going back now,” Tayella whispered.

“There is never going back.”

They were now close enough to see the people standing under the torchlight clearly. The boat slowed and stopped and Sareti almost tumbled forwards. The larger boat kept going, heading straight for the people, not slowing. There was cries of anger and of fear as they shrank back.

“We need to go,” Tayella said looking around, “The guards will be after us.” Even as she said that. Several watercraft sped from the walkway without oars carrying only a dim blue glow. It seemed that there were some wranglers here after all. 

“We must leave the boat,” Tayella said as they sped towards a canal opening. Nothing stopped their way but they could easily get cut off. Sareti was a little saddened that she could not watch the reaction of the crowd as they shot down a narrow street. She knew it was too fast for it cut off sharply in front of them. 

“Tay!” Sareti said, voice high. “We need to get off of here.”

“Now!” Tay leaped from the boat, a column of water rising to meet her and landed on the side of the canal smoothly. Sareti jumped and sprawled a few paces down from her wincing as rough cobbles dug into her side. Jumping from a boat that was moving that fast was not as easy as it seemed.

Tayella pulled Sareti deeper into the shadows as another boat shot past them, but slightly slower. A crash sounded up ahead. Splintering wood. Sareti waved to Tay to follow, she could remember these streets as well. She stopped dead at the first turn. A man stood there, torch in his hand clearly illuminating both of them. 

“You!” Hissed the man and Sareti’s body went cold.
“Torin?” He stepped closer, hand on a long dagger at his belt.
“You,” he almost spat again, “You bring them down on us, I never expected it to be my own sister that...” He trailed off, and it was Torin who’s eyes widened. He looked over Sareti’s shoulder. 

“Torin!” Tayella said but Torin turned and disappeared into the shadows. Sareti made as if to run after him but Tayella grabbed him. “Not now, we don’t know who he might be working for. Did you see those colours, they are definitely the colours of a faction, that unusual one, it must be new.” 

Sareti nodded slowly, her heart thundering in her chest and took ahold of Tayella by the waist. With a stamp of her bare feet they landed on a warehouse roof, explosion echoing around them, tiles sliding down the side. They jumped rooftop to rooftop. It took longer this way, especially with Tayella to carry and she felt her reserves running low quickly but there was no more sound of pursuit.

Chapter 17 - Hase

Hase sat on the upper deck, legs dangling off the side through the railing. His hair was plastered to his head and drips ran down his face but he let himself enjoy the feeling. He had managed to sleep through the whole day, finally able to sleep without the thought of being awoken to guards ready to take him for execution.

He watched as an empty boat was winched up over the side and set down where it had been laid the night before. Soon after, the people who worked, exclusively bare chested men and woman with the occasional sash across their chest in blue, disappeared into the night and all was still again.

“They are the only ones I can trust with matters like this,” Erisa said from his side. “They alone understand that fire wranglers are not what they are said to be, as dangerous as they are if they try to hide it.” That was true in a way, when he had first discovered his own abilities he had accidentally set a large patch of the ground on fire but that hadn’t been the worst part. For the days and weeks after dread had weighed him down as if he were carrying a pack laden with rocks.

The tall woman was wearing a deep blue dress under a black coat although it was barely distinguishable with the lack of moonlight.

“What would happen if one of them were to expose your operations?” Hase said. He tore his eyes away from the Erisa’s face, and glanced back towards the misty lights that showed the city. Several of the lights were much brighter than others. Vial lights, he thought.

“Not anything good,” she replied, “The wranglers are a tight bunch and this lot is tighter still, but there is nothing that could link me to it other than their word for it and I could have them assigned to patrol work if I wanted.”

That of course was the way, however much a water guard did, they were too important to be put in a cell for any length of time, other punishments were often used although Erisa had refused to specify. 

“You said that there is a host for every spirit, does that mean that…” He trailed off as she cut in.

“I have a suspicion that the Fire Spirit’s host is somewhere high in the monarchy here, a dangerous place to be such. Possibly many of them are fire wranglers if they are close enough to the host, I suspect that is the reason for the constant shift of power.”

“The king has more power than he has any right to be, treating wranglers like that. Han says that there was a time when Wranglers were treated with respect, not with the fear or contempt that they are now.”

“You were around at the split in the city?” He tried to hide the awe in his voice. Han cannot really be that old! But then again it is impossible for him to be an earth wrangler as well.

“Not quite,” she said laughing. The brightness of it startled him, how long since he had heard one of those. From Sanoa, he thought, it was ignorance that had allowed her to, but Erisa is by no means ignorant. 

“I was born soon after the city split,” Erisa continued, “I remember the old city sinking into the estuary, now there is very little left of it. The last water spirit host died during that time, from what Han could tell me, memories fade over such a long time, there were many water spirit hosts, most of whom died before they knew what they were.” 

“I still can’t believe that I am talking to the host of the Water spirit,” Hase said, and old enough to be my mother’s mother and yet looks twenty five at most.

She turned to face him, meeting his gaze with her deep blue eyes that were clear even in the darkness. “Hase…” She trailed off, her stern look fading to a slight smile. “What was Ichu like?”

Hase started, “How do you know?”

She raised her eyebrows, “Although many have not been far from Seshi, I have. A very different place in many ways.”

Hase narrowed his eyes, “We had no water wranglers, they were not heard of, was that because…”

“I don’t know,” she said, “There is possibly many hosts spread out, or perhaps it spreads quicker, but you’re right there were none like me.” She slipped away with almost no sound and he resisted the urge to follow, she was probably busy with something that didn’t concern him. Instead he stood up for the boards were starting to cut into his legs.

He leaned over the stern, he was sure that was what it was called, and looked down to the water beneath. It was just a glassy surface of black with little more than a ripple on it. 

“Not thinking of escaping are you?” Came a low voice from behind him. Hase started so much that he almost fell over the edge. He swung around to see Hanan standing there, barely visible in his dark coat and trousers.

“Don’t be so tense,” He said, “Relax a bit, the boat is watched by loyal guards and you should not find anybody here that will harm you.”

“An Otess?” Hase asked. 

“Come now, we must talk about the weapon. And the movement that Sareti has started. What movement?

Han stepped down the wide staircase that led to a lower deck. Hase made sure not to lean against the railing this time, for last time he had ended up in a heap at the bottom, they should have something to tell you that not all of the railings were finished.

A few moments later they both stepped into the room that Hase now knew as Erisa’s office. The first time he had seen the office, it had been almost empty, now it was full of narrow chests secured with straps to the floor although he was certain that the boat would likely not even rock in the largest of swells. Would have been useful when I crossed the ocean, he thought. 

Erisa herself sat at the large desk-table which had been cleared of papers since his last visit and now a large map sat in the centre.

She looked up. In the light he could see that her hair was not up in a neat bundle as it usually was, instead pale strands of it hung across her face. “You know, for however much I hated living in the city, having a large room to put these blasted papers was useful, several rooms if I had needed it.”

Hase pulled out a high backed chair at the opposite side and sat down. “Why did you not like living there?”

“Not enough water, and too easy for the King to find me,” she said sitting up in her chair and leaning over the map, “Here water is all around me and should I need to defend myself I will be at an advantage.”

“The castle was a silly place,” Han sniffed, “Too many walls and not enough escape routes.” 

“What would the king do to you anyway, if he knew?” He leaned forwards. The map depicted, roughly as it was drawn hurriedly in thick strokes of charcoal. Whoever had made the map had been in a hurry and it was no wonder for the map showed the Otess islands, almost dead in the centre of the estuary. A treacherous place to even go near, many had never returned save for empty boats floating out into the estuary. Still the map showed most of the surrounding smaller islands but almost nothing of the large one. How much did it take to make this? He thought. 

“They don’t treat water wranglers who are unwilling to abide by their laws about wrangling,” Erisa said, “you could be tortured until you have no choice but to do as they say and join their water guard. It isn’t just bad for fire wranglers, but they won’t kill a water wrangler they can use.”

“He gets the point,” Hanan said placing a pile round stones on the table and taking a chair. They were not of any precious type but, the types that were dug out of canals that got silted up. Some were blueish black and others light greys and whites.

“Here we have where the river widens out,” Erisa said, as if speaking to herself, “The Otess stronghold lies right in the centre of where the old city would have been.” She glanced to Han who nodded absently. “To get in we would have to bypass that huge outer wall.”

“There is a stronghold inside,” Han said and Erisa nodded but he continued anyway, most likely for Hase’s sake. “When the city sank the highest point held the policing guild and around the hill a miniature city was build, we suspect that the policing guild eventually became the Otess when the city began fighting among itself, then they build their wall and nothing has been seen of the inside since.”

“The wall is huge,” Hase said, “how many Otess could it hold?”

“We can only guess,” Erisa said patiently laying both hands flat on the table, “But getting past that first wall will probably the…”

“Wait,” Hase said eyes widening, “We are going inside the Otess stronghold? Inside?”

“Of course,” Erisa said, “That is the only way, unless you have a better idea of how to convince the Otess to just give us the earth vial.”

“I don’t have a better idea,” Hase said slowly, “But I thought…”

“That we would just leave the vial there?” Han said snorting, “The Otess are dangerous enough as it is, if they have found it already, then the whole of Seshi is in danger.”

Hase sat back, after hearing Sareti tell him and Tay of the vial in the stronghold he had assumed the quest to find it over, there was no chance anyone in their right mind would try and bring the Otess down on them deliberately let alone find their way into where they came from!

“Its not just that,” Erisa said shooting a glance at Han, “We need to hit the Otess hard, where it hurts and since they are almost impossible to find…”

Hase laughed almost hysterically. Not only try and get inside the stronghold but to try and destroy the Otess as a whole. “This is the only way to stop them, isn’t it?” Hase said shaking his head.

“Yes, have you not seen the fires in the city, even here it is falling apart.” The brighter lights, he thought, not vials, fires! She continued, “I have been planning and gaining influence here, and now I have a large portion of the water guard on my side, ready. Others will follow when the city falls apart.”

“Why am I here?” Hase said eventually, “Surely there isn’t much I can do?”

“There is always something a fire wrangler can do,” Han said.

Erisa leaned closer face all sharp angles, “I need you to convince your friends to help, they seem to have been making quite a stir in the east.”

“Doing what? They don’t even know I am alive! I can’t tell them what to do…”

“You said you would help,” Han cut in, “And I think that only you can do it.”

“You have met Sareti,” Hase said quickly, “You could tell her, I barely know her.”

“That is the problem,” Erisa said, “Tayella is the one that leads their not-so-little rebellion agains the Otess and maybe the factions. I contacted Sareti and apparently Tayella doesn’t trust her, Tayella is intent on focusing on holding a crumbling building together.”

“I guess I could help,” Hase said forehead creasing, “I could try.”

“We need better than ‘try,’ Erisa said firmly, many from the west will fight, but we cannot take the Otess alone. We need whatever Tayella has created to fight alongside us.”

“It will be spectacular,” Han said, “West and East fighting on the same side.” 

It will be impossible, Hase thought.

“There is something else,” Erisa said grimacing, “If we are to work with the East and with fire wranglers, we cannot have the west thinking as it is.”

Hase slumped even further in his chair, go and show the west that I am not a monster. A few days ago I was almost killed by a small group of muggers.

“I need you to help Han get some things as well. Sareti said in her message that there is a secret room in the basement of her mansion. While I would do it myself, if I get captured or killed it could be catastrophic for everybody that resists the rule of the Otess. If I die then everyone with water wrangling abilities would lose their own abilities.”

“It took long enough to find you,” Han said grimacing, “And long enough before there were enough water wranglers to fight the Otess.”

“So I am expendable then?” Hase met Erisa’s gaze, when she opened her mouth he added, “It makes sense.”

“I want you demonstrating your power to people. With things falling apart it is a time where some start to question what is really the truth.”

“Relax,” Erisa said absently moving stone markers around on the map, most of them on what was marked as the estuary.

Hase opened his mouth again, but closed it again.

Han stood up, “Come on, Hase, we should leave her to figure this part out on her own, she was always better than me at this.” He let out a sigh as soon as the door was shut behind him. They crossed the almost empty deck and climbed down a rope ladder than hung over the bow allowing them onto the walkway, creaking under their combined weight. The guards let them by without a word and they climbed the beach. 

Suddenly as if it had been hidden behind a curtain of mist sounds of fighting came from the city. Fires raged in several of the beachside warehouses with the Water guard desperately trying to stop it from consuming the whole street. 

As with such an event usually people would crowd around to gasp and watch yet there were none. Those that he could see were ducking in and out of the shadows of buildings glancing behind them. 

“Its much worse than even yesterday,” Han said in a low voice, we should get in and get out, we don’t want to get caught up in the fighting.

They moved toward the closest street, a wider one and stopped. Further up came the clash of steel and screams. A dozen guards, lit by overhead vial lights were being slowly pushed back towards them as a tide of people fought them. 

The next street was almost the same but torchlight had replaced a vial light that had been smashed leaving a gaping hole in the roof beside it where rain water ran in. At least it's not burning, he thought grimly. 

The third street was empty so far as they could tell so they moved up it, keeping well into the shadows. Signs of fighting however were evident when they passed dark shapes sprawled on the ground in pools of a dark liquid. 

“Otess!” Han said, grabbing him and pulling him into a doorway. Hase followed his arm and sure enough something moved on the roof before disappearing. The longer he looked the more that moved.

“Are you sure we cannot wait with this,” Hase said clenching his fists with a fistful of his black cloak, I…”

“Just be quick,” Han said abruptly, “Come on!”

Moving out into the street again they proceeded up through the city, avoiding the fighting as much as they could, even when they had to retrace their steps.

Hase at one point suggested the roof but Han just shook his head mouthing, ‘Otess’ before continuing past a cluster of bodies. Sometime the fighting seemed to be going in favour of the guards and people with makeshift pole-arms and long daggers were cut down right and left. 

“This isn’t right,” Hase eventually said when they had not seen a cluster of fighting for several moments. “A whole street burns and nobody is there to put it out, true it is a poor street but…”

“In times like these,” Han said without turning, “Those already suffering suffer more. There is nothing we can do, what we are trying to achieve is more important.”

“I still can’t watch,” Hase grunted sourly, “In the East mercenaries wouldn’t cut down regular people.”

“You haven’t been to the east for weeks,” Han said, “Don’t be so sure.”

“You have seen it?”

Han moved up the now garden sided street without a sound save for the swishing of his cloak. Hase changed the subject with a sigh, “What even is it? The vial I mean, it must be more than regular vials.”

“It is more,” Hanan said, “the best I can tell is that the earth spirit itself is trapped inside. Of course whatever happens when its found it will hopefully be released, but Erisa is sure that breaking it could destroy the whole Otess stronghold although I doubt it.” He turned towards a house that stood back from the street, windows dark and garden unkept. Whoever owned it had not been here for a while. It was a surprise that nobody had broken in. 

“We are going in there?” Hase said softly. 

“Yes, Erisa wanted some more information and vials as well.  I’m sure Sareti left some in here. I think she stole them when she got bored, instead of biding her time and keeping herself hidden.”

“You knew her well?”

“A bit, I helped her get the palace.”

“You knew she was captured?” Hase spluttered, “And we had to come across the estuary to rescue her, how could you leave her behind?”

Han just grunted. Hase shook his head in disbelief, would the man leave him behind if he was caught here? They walked up the path that led to the front door and Hanan pushed it open. Surprisingly it was not locked.

Inside the large hallway opened to either side, to the left was a room with a large table in it, an area behind that was similar to his memories in his childhood where they made food that were rare in the east save for food vendor buildings. To his right was partially a library and partially a living room. Stairs led upwards and downwards. Hanan took them down without so much as a glance around. 

Better to be careful, he thought peering around the corners and up the stairs before following the other man. As soon as the darkness prevented him from seeing a green light illuminated the stairway from Han’s curled fist.

The stairway opened out into a large cellar cut into the stone. Wide shelves lined the sides of the room stacked with the occasional  dusty barrel, the remains of others, rotted were merely piles in the corners.

“Now where is it.” Hase jumped at the whisper from Hanan whom he hadn’t notice, move to his right. He was inspecting another shelf and tried to move it. Nothing happened and Hanan cursed. “Shut the door, this might make a loud noise.”

Hase pushed the thick wooden door shut, blocking sight of the stairs. Something cracked and the wall behind the shelf shattered, bits of stone crashing down. A shower of dust settled in his hair and he warily looked up. 

  A gaping hole had appeared, revealing what looked like a second cellar behind the shelf a purple glow came from inside. Hanan pulled the remains of the shelf out of the way and disappeared inside. He could have just looked for the fake shelf, Hase thought before jumping in after him.

There was no need for more light in the crude long room, a purplish light came from several vials on a single shelf that ran along one rough wall, the cellar here no more than a roughly hewn tunnel. How much money had just been abandoned here. Not money but the vials were worth a mansion as they were. A desk  and chair were the only other furniture and a rolled blanket had been tucked underneath. It was piled with papers, some of them scattered on the floor. He tore his eyes away from the wealth in vials and watched as Hanan stacked the papers and stuffed them into a pocket in his cloak. He nodded and made as if to go.

“What about the vials?” Hase said, “Surely we are not leaving them?” Hanan had picked up one that was not glowing, made of clay and not glass but had ignored the rest. An earth vial, he thought. He hadn’t noticed it, those are worth at least two mansions alone!

“What can we do with them?” Hanan said looking over his shoulder from the opening, “It would be difficult to get them all out without eventually attracting unwanted attention, they are funny shaped and glow.”

“Still,” Hase muttered. Useless to him as well yet right there was many times more wealth than he might ever own, not that wealth mattered anymore. He picked up two, a red one and then a blue one on a second thought, small and only as wide as his fist. He pulled off his cloak and wrapped them in it. If it was needed, he could always break one as a distraction and get away. 

Hanan didn’t mention it as they climbed the stairs. Han stopped in front of him and he peered around. A woman in scaled armour dropping down to her knees. Swung a sword that was deflected with Han’s knife. The man gave a surprised yell as the floor tiles beneath him cracked and he tripped. 

Hase almost dropped the vials when he lunged with his own knife. But the sword knocked it from his hands. The guard was now on her feet again. Hase reached for his second dagger but before he could move, the roof above the guard glowed green and then shattered white marble chunks arch stones crashed down almost completely burying the woman. The stones that fell around them shattered into dust before it hit.

“Lets GO!” Hanan was already out of the door disappearing into the night. Hase sprinted after him, dodging other stone. The building creaked above him and more cracks shot through the walls and ceiling.

Hanan didn’t take the gate but instead ran for the wall. It shattered before him and earth moved beneath his feet, crumbling and pouring over the crack. By the time Hase ran through it it was smooth, patches of grass and earth. He heaved a sigh of relief when they slowed a few streets down, sounds of guards gone. 

“They must have been watching the building,” Hanan said doubling over, still panting as they began walking down the street, “They probably had more in the building searching and maybe in the garden, lucky we got out when we did.” Several dozen guards were marching up the street towards them and they were now among the buildings.

“Lucky…” Hase’s echo faded as boots came thudding behind them as well. He glanced back to see another group of guards almost run down the hill perusing what looked like a few straggling guards and regular people. Even as he stood there watching one fell and was trampled quickly.

“The roof,” Han said, grabbing ahold of the first windowsill and launched himself up. Under his hands rocks shattered providing large hand holds. Hase followed him up trying to keep the dust from his eyes. Otess on the roofs, he told himself, lots of Otess! 

By the time he pulled himself over the edge and onto the tiles his heart was drumming in his chest and only partly from the exertion. There was a crash of steel below and he glanced back over. 

What met his eyes stunned him. Guards clashed with guards, those shoving spears forwards, smashing into those further downstream who appeared confused. Spears took unarmored chests like meat skewers.

“We need to get out of here,” Han said grabbing his arm in an attempt to haul him further up the roof, “Quickly!”

“Those are trainee guards!” Hase said, “They don’t even have armour on and the other guards are killing them.” It wasn’t even an exaggeration. The trainee guards now fought back but without the scaled armour they fell quickly to the onslaught of spears. 

“Get out of here,” Han barked, “I told you what it was like.”

“But why?”

“Nobles, rich, powerful people, now come on!”

Hase felt himself tense then he recognised several of the trampled bodies, none that he had known by name but… Sanoa! He searched the bodies and then the fighting…

“I know her!” He said as Han firmly began pulling him along the roof.

“Leave her,” Han said, “She wouldn’t do the same for you.”

“That’s what makes us on the right side,” Han said pushing the bundle of vials into Han’s free hand and leaped from the roof, lurching as Han’s grip was torn away. 

Hase landed in the street with a bang that echoed around the street. For a moment the fighting ceased and then looking around in the near darkness the clamour rose again.

“Sanoa!” he said running towards the fighting. He jumped and landed right in the middle of the full guards almost squishing one. Another bank larger than the last blasted the guards’ feet from under them. And they scattered but quickly they were on their feet again. 

Hase pushed through, throwing punches with one hand and stabbing with the other. He could feel blood trickle down his fist as he caught the scaled armour again and again. Then he was among unarmored men and woman, some barely eighteen. 

“Come on!” He shouted bashing away one’s feeble attempt to spear him, “Is this how you fight when you train?”

They just stared at him and then began trying to kill him as well the other guards, shouting, “Fire demon!” 

Hase groaned as the spears stabbed at him faster than he could deflect, one catching him just above the hip…

“Wait!” A familiar voice said, and a figure was suddenly in front of him. Sanoa stood there and he felt as if he didn’t know her. The mischievous innocence was gone from her face and eyes, instead hard emotion.

“Hase.” She said flatly, “I didn’t expect to see you again short of an execution event.”