I wobbled to my feet and we moved off. Painfully slowly at first but building up speed as we leapt from roof to roof and I found myself relying more and more on my grapple-mace as my legs began to slow down. I think it just shows how fogged my brain was at the time that I didn't see the problem I was creating. Luckily for my state of mind I was oblivious to my impending (near) doom so I followed the others as we hopped across the city using our preferred aerial paths. Before long we alighted on the very edge of the district hanging like gargoyles from the tiled roof of a counting house that protruded slightly across the canal border of the tiny pseudo-island... and that's when things really went wrong for me.

  As the other three looked around, scouting paths and exits I instead looked down... down... down at the pavement so very far below me and the scuttling soldiers that covered it. Now I remembered Hermiosa saying there would be pyre-guards but seeing them was something else entirely. As I watched from our perch I saw rank after rank of warriors stride down the dark streets below me lit only by their burning braziers held high. In the flickering half light the black ticksteel armour they wore made them seem like a horde of hellish insects, a tide of giant ants looking for prey.

  As I stared, a rich blossom of terror wound its way around my heart again and began to slow my limbs and choke my lungs. It filled me as the others moved on, it flowered as they climbed the nearby wall and it blossomed as they stopped and turned to me.

  I found my limbs were suddenly made of ice and my lungs from lead. Looking up at my friends I tried to bite down the terror that was smothering me and look resolute and brave. Rolling my shoulders meaningfully (Which unlike in the action books I’d read didn't make me feel any less tired) I staggered forwards, lumbered to the edge of the rooftop and leapt into the air with all the grace of an elephant pushed off a cliff.

  As I flailed and fell I levelled my mace at the rapidly vanishing rooftop, pulled the shining steel trigger and... *pfffff* that muted hiss as the empty pressure tank sighed out its last dregs of gas would never leave me and even now after all these long eons I can still remember pulling the trigger again and again as I fell faster and further down into the dark.

  *Wham*

  I slammed into the ground... luckily in retrospect (but which I definitely didn't appreciate at the time) a huge pile of refuse had built up in the alley which broke my fall (as opposed to my bones). Even with the soft landing however I still had the breath knocked out of me and to be perfectly honest with you I think I was suffering from shock. I remember completely fixating on my mace and why it hadn't fired, even as I heard the other three cursing and gasping above me I just glared at my grapnel and tried to pry out the gas cylinder (which I had designed to be impossible until all pressure was bled off, I was really out of it) even as I heard the others clambering more towards me I just kept stared at the gasket housing of the tank and wonder how to swap it out.

  “Bright Bright!” again in retrospect and it’s maybe not the best thing to think buuuut... Blood sounds really cute when she is worried. “Are you ok?”

  “Can you get up?” whispered Skull. “Do we need to come down?”

  I continued to try to fumble a change of tank into my grapple mace whilst poking at the casing and checking the action on the pressure regulator. I didn't even look up as armoured feet pounded past the alley; just kept staring at my malfunctioning construction.

  “The pressure tanks are gone,” I said firmly. “It needs to be changed.”

  “What... now?” Blood asked, obviously baffled. “But the...”

  “It needs to be changed.”

  “Oh I’ve seen this before,” said Ara. “Right... I know how to snap her out of it...”

  “How?” Queried Skull

  “Just gimme that brick.”

  I heard a faint whistling sound and then a heavy tile slammed into the back of my head. The bloom of pain was chased by a surge of burning blood that coursed through my entire body and blew the strange cold webbing in my mind away. I bolted upright, landed on my wavering feet and swung my mace wildly back and forth through the empty air. After a second my heart stopped racing quite so fast and I looked up at the three masks protruding over the roofline two dozen metres above me. Blood waved at me companionably then gestured to her right.

  “Bright, we're coming down for you, stay there and try to keep quiet.”

  “What... What happened... Ara threw a rock at me!”

  “Bright, the pyre-guard is in the next street.” Skull whispered in the flat monotone of someone holding back their emotions only with significant effort.

  I went very very quiet as I'm sure you would expect as behind my mask my eyes bulged with terror.

  “One minute...” Blood said her voice was reassuring and strong. “Just stay put.”

  With that my three friends vanished. For a moment I heard light feet skimming across porcelain tiles and then nothing at all.

  I didn't know what to do so rather than panic pointlessly I sat back down and fished the backup pressure tank out of my tabard. Slotting it into the web of gas pipes and pressure regulators that ran along the handle of my mace took only a moment but the new pressure tank wouldn’t work until the system had vented so I opened up a rubberised valve and was rewarded with a faint hissing and a musty smell like dust in an old library.

  I wasn't a master of the machine or anything, I had in fact often lamented being forced to learn so much about them, but in that alley on that night it was curiously comforting to focus on something as small and controllable as properly seating a pressure tank and ensuring even system bleed.

  It was certainly better than focusing on my surroundings. Not only was it a fetid reeking garbage pile I was in but I could hear the footsteps thundering past my alley. I desperately tried not to focus on the marching pyre-guard in their clanking powered plate armour the distant baying gryshk, or the smell of smoke from pre-lit sacrificial braziers which pooled in the alley (and thankfully somewhat overwhelmed the more organic odours around me).

  It was as I was thinking this that I heard a much closer sound, a sound like... well like a very stealthy footfall accidentally knocking a discarded bottle aside.

  Looking up at the mouth of the alleyway I felt my heart stop... People use that expression in many plays and books but I truly believe I felt mine really stop beating for at least three (what should have been) beats. In the mouth of the alley was an initiate. I couldn’t make out which one in the shadows but I could see the angelic white death's head mask they wore and the fighting blades affixed to their limbs, smaller reflections of the ones that Nightsbane wore.

  The figure stood stock still in the mouth of the alley. I looked at them, they presumably looked at me. Neither of us moved a muscle then... without warning, the initiate... turned their back on me and walked away.

  Seriously.

  They didn't say anything or make any gestures or leave a note or anything they just looked at me then walked away. If what had happened later hadn't happened later I would probably have ended up thinking that I imagined the whole thing.

  As it was I was still sitting staring bug eyed at the mouth of the alleyway when from the blackness behind me three figures appeared at a dead run.

  Blood took one look at me, waved a hand in front of my face and (when I didn't react) lifted me bodily and shot away across the cobbles again. As Blood climbed a wall (with the aid of a few of Ara’s ropes, even Blood is slowed down by holding a whole girl in her arms) I found myself gradually coming back to my senses. After a minute or so Blood was able to put me back on my feet again as we huddled for a moment under a flowering trellis, I finished my maces repairs and the others argued. Then off we went, the four of us leaping the districts encircling the canal and vanishing into the night leaving the pyre-guards and that strange silent initiates far behind us.

  We ran and ran for hours. If it wasn't for my short ride in Bloods arms I’d have fallen behind in moments. As it was I was able to keep up for a while but.... we ran for hours, literally hours, and I was still a pampered noble woman.

  Skull was leading us on our flight and she had us double back, triple back, triple forwards and even steal cloaks and bed sheets from clothes lines to throw over our outfits. She led us from stop to stop across the city in our unceasing flight until panting and half dead with exertion we managed to pull ourselves up the wall to our last stop, a tiny restaurant we had spotted earlier and had been circling for the better part of an hour.

  Now having checked all approaches Skull was finally sure it was deserted and we barged in, Blood cutting the lock out of the door and all four of us falling with glee on the cold food we found inside. The “food” was mostly ingredients halfway through preparation ready to be finished tomorrow but we didn't care.

  Scattering a handful of gold across the table that would have bought the entire shop twice over, Skull turned to the rest of us and belched[142] genteelly before adjusting her mask.

  “Do you think we lost them?”

  “I don't know...” I gasped. “But nobody could have followed us, NOBODY! We changed disguise like eight times, split up whilst crossing that artisan district, doubled back so many times my head started spinning. There is no way anyone could have followed us through all of that.”

  “But we still don't know how they found us the first time.” Said Skull, the only one of us not out of breath or at least the only one not showing it.

  “They must have had guards following us, that's all, just really good ones we couldn't see or hear or....” Blood trailed off and shrugged.

  “I'm afraid it’s not that simple.” Said a slightly tinny voice directly behind us, given how tired we were, our subsequent lack of proper etiquette can probably be justified. Ara swore loudly and colourfully, Blood jumped and drew her rapiers and Skull obviously not prepared to deal with this... excrement anymore blindly hurled a knife over my shoulder towards the sound.

  Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

  I turned slowly exhausted and scared but found nothing. Well nothing but a dozen pots hanging from rails and a half emptied chill-cupboard[143] with a knife stuck in the door. After a moment I realised it was up to me to take the initiative.

  “Why hello again mystery voice.” I said as calmly as I could. After a moment I heard what sounded like distant rustling but somehow... nearby? Look it’s very hard to explain, what I thought I heard was a far away sound but somehow I was hearing it up close.

  “The Inquisitor is still tracking you. The pyre-guard is trying to lock you down again.”

  We looked at one another for a second exhaustion and annoyance written across our forms. Blood just half turned to the window and cocked her head at the large raven sitting there which nodded once.

  I sighed deeply at that before turning to the others “Ok we give up, how is he doing it?”

  “He's tracking the fire mages magical signature, it’s a trick that 5th ranks and above can do using magical resonance. She used so much magic near him that he can follow her to the ends of the world if he needs to; it’s impossible for her to escape now.” The voice faded away for a second as it spoke then returned sharply like the speaker had been forced to turn their head mid sentence.

  That got our attention, you better believe. The Arch-Doge was more than smart enough to make sure that the fact that Inquisitors could track mages' magic never made its way into the public consciousness. In fact even us nobles are never taught that it’s possible instead were just fed a load of claptrap about Koth guiding his faithful or some such.

  I turned to Blood and saw the tiny girl tremble slightly for a second before she stilled.

  “Is there a way to stop him?” asked Skull loudly in the air. “Can we... block her magic or something?”

  “I don't know,” replied the voice, it sounded fainter and more desperate now. “The others are moving; he's closing in, you need to....” then suddenly we heard a sound like an opening door and then dead silence. After a moment we realised no more would be forthcoming.

  “Well the magical mystery voice has spoken.” I murmured to the others.

  “I... still don't trust her, whoever she is,” said Skull slowly. “And she said she wasn't sure this would work... I wonder...”

  “Stay focused Skull, where were you going with that sentence?” Ara asked.

  Skull shrugged and looked like she would be blushing under her mask. “Right... Uh... I don't think we should just trust this strange person who is able to talk out of thin air...Buuut at this point I find it hard to believe she is trying to lead us into a trap... if you’re sure that the Inquisition is on the way here?”

  Blood looked at the raven who nodded again. “Yeah they are.”

  “In that case it would be easier for the Inquisition just not to warn us, especially not to warn us that they can track our magic... I think she’s probably on our side but I still don't know why or how she's talking to us.”

  Blood looked at us all silently for a second then sighed, “you guys need to find somewhere safe to hideout, an embassy or something I'm sure Skull and Ara known a few boltholes around the city so Bright just follow them ok? I....” she paused and laughed quietly and bitterly. “I’m going for a walk, it may be a while.”

  “What do you mean by that?” Asked Ara slowly and pointedly causing Blood to sigh again.

  “What do you think Ara? There’s no way I'm getting out of this and I'm not dragging you down with me. I figure if he's tracking me I’ll give him something to track, lead him miles away from you into the depths of the city, find a nice quiet dark place to wait in and see just how good a fighter this Inquisitor really is.”

  Ara looked at Blood for a long second as I felt my blood turning cold and the sides of my vision turning black, I’ve never fainted but I honestly think I was only a few seconds away from doing so then. “And you won’t walk away from that. Your good Blood, I mean Abyss for a girl your age you're crazy good but they are trained adults. They are much better and they have backup... you’d die.”

  Blood just shrugged and turned away. “Yeah... but everyone goes sometimes right? Better this way than the other I say.”

  Aras hand shot out so fast that I could barely see it and she wrapped her fingers around Bloods shoulder hauling her back and turning her so that the two women were standing eye to eye socket, “no... no no NO that's not going to happen I’ve never sacrificed a single member of any gang I’ve ever been in to understand? Never! You never abandon your friends, you never turn your back on them, you never leave a woman behind,” her tone suddenly softened and she stroked Blood's mask lightly “You aren’t alone, you don't have to do this yourself and we won’t let you remember what Bright told me? Back at the Crawlers warehouse... I won’t let one of my friends die.”

  Next to me Skull coughed quietly, “quite right,” she said her voice was nothing like normal; no longer smooth and cultured but raw and quiet. “It would be terribly rude... we simply cannot allow it.”

  I didn't speak... not at the time, I just shuffled forwards and balled up two handfuls of Bloods blouse in my hands then pressed my mask into her shoulder and sobbed and sobbed until I could force a handful of words out between my trembling teeth.

  “I... couldn’t... live... without... you.”

  Blood started trembling as well and reaching up pulled me to her even more tightly, after a second Aras huge grey arms flung around us as well and then after a muffled and quite obviously fake sigh Skull joined in as well.

  For a good minute we just stood there hugging and crying... look we may be badass warrior thieves and it may be annoyingly stereotypical but we are still just ordinary girls at the end of the day despite all the fighting and the magic. If you had just been hunted across the length of a city by a psychopathic mass murderer with the backing of his own private army, gone without food or sleep for hours of heavy exertion (the looted pastry doesn't count) and had one of your friends offer to sacrifice herself to save you you’d also agree that a crying session is just a necessity.

  After a few more ragged minutes the four of us parted and turning our backs fished under our masks to wipe away any clinging tears. Even with our composure returning I admit I still clung to Blood like a child to her mother, I had a handful of her shirt gripped between two fingers and I only let her go when we started moving again and even then I stayed close behind her. I know that sounds needy but she's my best friend ok? And with what she had offered to do... I wanted to reassure myself that she was still there.

  The other two gave us an odd look[144] before we began to plan again. Skull spread a small map out on the crumb littered table before us and pointed.

  “Ok ladies here's the situation, we’re being hunted by a veteran Inquisitor who can track Blood's every move no matter how far she goes, this means that we cannot run and we cannot hide so we have only one option.”

  “Fight.” Ara said grimly.

  Skull nodded and slipped back into her General persona, “correct,” she said with a sharp nod (she was totally getting into it[145]), “we are outnumbered and to be honest out classed therefore we need to be smart about this and so I recommend we ambush him... here.” Skull finger stabbed down on the map spearing a single small symbol.

  I leant forwards over the table and stared at the pictogram she was pointing at. I had never seen a symbol like it on any map of Prasus and remember I was a noble and given a noble’s education so I really didn't know what in the Abyss it was. It looked like a picture of a large flower winding around itself forming a sort of coin shape with the flower head in the centre and layers of stem looping around it in circles. I thought it looked very pretty.

  “What in the world is that supposed to be?” Asked Blood her voice husky from crying.

  “That my dear friend’s is a church.” Skull said triumphantly, as you might imagine this news did not thrill us.

  “Seriously that's your plan we just traipse into a cathedral and.... What? Claim we’re a group of nuns that just got back from a very aggressive fancy dress party?” Blood managed to sound scornful and superior even with a raw voice.

  Ara for her part sounded more amused than annoyed but there was definitely an annoyed edge. “That's absolutely the worst idea you’ve ever had Skull.”

  “I really don't think it’s the best idea,” I said, trying to soften the blow. “I just mean I think that might get us into more trouble.”

  Skull sighed, “do you really think I’m that stupid?” she asked, then looking at us for a second she shook her head. “Don't answer that... anyway you didn't listen properly I said it was a church, but not one to Koth, it’s a church of the Green mother.”

  “Who’s that?” I asked baffled, I glanced across at the other who just shrugged then at Skull who preened slightly.

  “You may not have heard of her,” she said magnanimously. “But my family owns some of the oldest and least censored records in all of Prasus and I was of course allowed access during my school days. The Green mother is the precursor to Koth; she was the original goddess worshiped in early Prasus before the Arch-Doge rose to power as her High-Priest. After assuming total control of the church he changed its doctrine to that of Koth the Machine father and now essentially denies that the goddess ever existed. Most churches were repurposed for Koth but those that couldn't were abandoned and cordoned off.”

  “And this one couldn't be?” I asked.

  “Right it’s a church with a massive internal garden and most of the walls made from living trees. It’s impossible to disguise it as machinery so they just abandoned it to the elements and closed off the area to civilians. All in all plenty of cover far from enemy reinforcement and it has the obvious morale factor.”

  I wasn't going to give her the satisfaction of answering her lead so I just nodded. “Of course it does.” With the kind of poker face that only someone wearing a mask can have.

  After a second of me and Skull staring at each she sighed. “I mean it’s the church of the god worshiped before the Arch-Dodge made up his own clockwork abomination.” Skull sounded distinctly put upon.

  I felt a little shiver of fear run through me. Now none of us were what you can call true believers (or even untrue believers, we are full and total nonbelievers) but I wasn't used to anyone actually saying they didn't believe in Koth. The worship of the Church of the Divine Mechanisms was such an intrinsic part of Prasus that even with my own lack of faith (justifiable I feel because of the whole heretic mage execution thing) it still felt weird for someone to openly criticize him.

  Blood obviously felt no such thing and just nodded, “yeah that's a really good idea Skull....” looking around at us she took a deep breath and threw her shoulders back. “I guess we’re doing this then.

  “Yup.” Aras bubbly jovial voice brought a smile to my lips; she sounded as unperturbed as if we’d been planning on going shopping rather than fighting for our lives against a magic nullifying psychopath with his own private battalion.

  “They can only track Blood,” added Skull. “That means we can bait them in by presenting her as the only target then spring our ambush. Ladies we have terrain and strategy on our side, we can plan and prepare the Inquisitor, who can only react to our movements, cannot. We have a chance here, a chance to do some real good, a chance to strike a blow against the Arch-Doge but most importantly we have a chance to survive.”

  I was half expecting her to start waving a flag or to go on a diatribe about the nature of truth or beauty or patriotism, Skull can seem cold at times but she's a really sweet girl when you get through her shell[146].

  Nodding and obviously deciding to underline the point, Blood drew her rapiers with a sound like a steel cutting silk, the two silver blades shimmering in the flickering candlelight. Her vulnerable side was gone and in its place was the laughing, dancing, burning hellion again.

  Ara wasn't so ostentatious with her preparations she merely tugged at her jerkin of ropes and nodded at Skull.

  I favoured her with my sweetest smile (which I then immediately remembered that she couldn't see) and brandished my mace in a way that I hoped made me seem strong and determined.

  Skull straightened up and nodded at us imperiously. As far as three teenage noblewomen and one ex-smuggler stood in the ruins of a partially looted restaurant, we looked distinctly battle hardened and determined. Together with my four friends and our magic I felt like I could take on the whole world and win... this effect was only slightly ruined by the sound of a door creaking open.

  “Is someone there?” Called a soft young voice from the back of the restaurant.

  One of the others (certainly not me in any way) swore under her breath and then as the distant door opened slightly wider grabbed Blood and Ara by their shoulders and dragged them out of the restaurant.

  “Uh... sorry about the food.” I called over my shoulder as we toppled out of the door, Skull scurried out after me and slammed it closed then all looking slightly shifty and very embarrassed we wandering into the night. Skull clutched her map and muttered whilst the rest of us tried desperately to keep on our aching legs.

  And so on a dark night in the season of frost a group of teenage thieves half collapsed with exhaustion poorly armed and barely trained decided to attempt to kill one of the most dangerous warriors in the whole world who was heavily armed, had significant backup and knew they were coming using a plan that they assembled in five seconds, a scratched up old map and a few stolen bread rolls. It was impulsive, idiotic and stupid and it is truly a miracle that any of us survived.

  [142] I DID NOT! DON'T LISTEN TO HER LIES!

  [143] More than half emptied but we did pay for it.

  [144] We just thought they were adorable.

  [145] I WAS NOT.

  [146] I wish they wouldn’t say such shamelessly embarrassing things... Unfortunately Bright made me promise not to edit them out.