CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

Jin rose with the dawn.

She awoke feeling refreshed and grateful the night hadn't been invaded by dreams. There was a part of her that was disappointed at not having another chance to receive Gara's guidance. However, there hadn't been a dream about the Queen Founder that didn't also include the fiend. Always out of sight, stalking, emanating evil and malice like a fume, the creature that followed Jin in those dreams terrified her like nothing else she could remember.

As Jin performed her morning calisthenics and washed herself afterward, she reflected on the meaning of her visions of Gara. The identity of the monster was always on her mind, and Jin worried she already knew exactly who the fiend was meant to represent.

"It hates you," Gara had said. "It wants to destroy you."

Jin knew of one who had more reason to hate her than any other.

Regret wasn't a sin for an assassin. It could teach, and Jin intended to learn from her mistakes. She realized now that her mistake had been allowing her personal desires to countermand what she'd known to be her duty. When the Palace of Towers called her to heel, Jin disregarded the order. She put herself before her family, and because of that, many innocent people were paying the price.

Jin regretted ever leaving home.

The lesson was learned. Duty before anything else. Jin was ashamed to have need of learning it a second time.

Jin left her washroom. She wore leggings and a silk wrap around her chest and used spellcraft to dry her hair as she entered her main chamber. It took her by surprise to find she wasn't alone in her rooms.

"Your Highness," Cana and Gillwyn said in unison. They dipped into curtsies. The girls were getting better at it, likely due to giving one at the drop of a hat since leaving Marwin.

"It is early," Jin said.

"We couldn't sleep," Cana said meekly. "We're sorry. When he gave us rooms, the steward also gave us the key to yours."

Jin nodded in understanding. "The rumor that I've taken you on as handmaidens has spread beyond my ability to control it. You have my apologies."

Gillwyn dismissed the apology with a flippant gesture. "I've been called worse."

"She really has," Cana agreed, earning herself a sharp look.

Jin took stock of the two. Cana kept her eyes on the floor in front of her, but Gillwyn was rather less circumspect. The older of the two had her eyes on Jin's midsection, and they grew wider with every passing moment.

It didn't take Jin long to realize what stole Gillwyn's attention. The scars down her abdomen were deep and rather unsightly.

"Scale lion," Jin said.

Gillwyn blinked. "Hmm? What?"

"The scars," Jin clarified. "I was mauled by one a year ago."

"Oh." Gillwyn blushed. "I didn't notice them."

Jin raised an eyebrow.

"Look," Gillwyn said, a touch petulant. "We didn't have girls like you in Moorhaven. Winds, we didn't have boys with abdominals like those in Moorhaven either. I thought people only had six."

Jin cracked a smile. "Generally, yes."

Gillwyn's face turned grim. "Teach me your secrets."

"It's no secret," Jin chuckled. "Just dedication. Why? Have you ambitions for becoming a warrior, Gillwyn?"

"Considering all what's out there?" Gillwyn asked. "I think I'd rather be able to do the things you do than not, know what I mean?"

"All too well," Jin said. "Any member of the Highest Court may petition the master-of-arms for training, and my mother doesn't turn away those serious about it."

"The queen?" Cana asked. "But, Gillwyn's not part of the Highest Court."

"As of last evening, you both are," Jin said. "As I said, there's no stopping everyone from believing you to be my handmaidens. If you wish it, the position does come with certain benefits."

"Like learning swordplay from Queen Maebh blustering Algara?" Gillwyn asked, incredulous. "If that's the case, I'll give your hair its hundred strokes right now if you want."

Cana disapproved of Gillwyn's choice of words, but it amused Jin enough that she'd let it slide. She liked these two. "Not right now," Jin said. "Truthfully, I wanted to wake sooner. I mean to go into the city."

Gillwyn gave a curt nod. "Demon business?"

"Yes."

"Great. How can we help?"

Jin held up a palm. "It would be best if you remain in the palace where it's safe."

"Hey, we're not useless," Gillwyn protested. "Don't forget, we killed a skindancer between us."

Pausing to reconsider, Jin mulled the proposition over. A were could be useful to her. Gillwyn's sharp nose could warn of nearby fiends, and she was more than likely much stronger than she appeared. As for Cana, she had some spellcraft ability according to Jin's ethersight. At least, her ether was tethered, though it was difficult to say how strong an arcanist she was.

"Very well," Jin agreed. "However, I will allow it only under the following conditions."

Gillwyn beamed. "Lay 'em on me."

"I don't intend for you to fight my battles for me. If we meet danger, you're to withdraw at once. This will be reconnaissance before I call in the rest of the royal assassins. Lastly-" Jin made her expression hard. "-you must follow any orders I give without question or hesitation, even if you disagree with them. That includes if I say you must turn back and go no further."

"I can agree to that," Gillwyn said. "Same as when I went with my pa on his trips into the Senwood. You're the one with the experience."

Jin was impressed. Oftentimes, a prospective fighter's greatest hurdle was realizing the extent of what they didn't know. It wasn't going to be a problem for Gillwyn. She was willing to accept her limitations, the first step towards surpassing them.

Mother will like her, Jin decided. She'll make a blademaster out of her before long.

"I'll go, too," Cana said. "I don't know what use I can be, but I'll do whatever you ask me to."

"It's appreciated," Jin said. She started for her chamber door, meaning to grab a dressing coat from the antechamber armoire. "There are a handful of errands to see to before leaving," she explained once Gillwyn and Cana followed. "First, I must go to the tower armory. My previous armor is long past due for replacement, I could use a new sword, and you both can select a weapon if you need."

Gillwyn smirked. "Tooth and nail ought suit me fine, but I'm handy with a bow. Cana, too."

"Not a soul in Moorhaven who doesn't know at least a little archery," Cana said.

"Excellent." Jin selected a jacket from her armoire to cover herself as she made her way to the armory for her preferred outfit. "I'll also need to make a brief stop at the house alchemists."

"For this oren stuff they said you were short on?" Cana asked.

It shouldn't have surprised Jin they'd learned of what oren was. Someone must've told them about it while she was comatose in New Sandharbor. "Yes. I cannot afford weakness. Once we're equipped, we need only collect my sister before we leave."

Cana and Gillwyn exchanged wary looks, which made Jin wonder what they'd come to think of Maya during Jin's episode.

Jin reached for the door handle and pulled it open. She was greeted by the sight of Maya preparing to barge in unannounced. Maya let out a startled squeak— highly irregular— and Jin furrowed her brow in bemusement.

"Sister? I was about to come to find you."

Maya masked her embarrassment by affecting indignation. "I said I'd come find you when I got back, didn't I?"

"Yes, I was counting on it. Are you willing to accompany me to Eastrun?"

Maya blinked. "Eastrun? Why?"

"Come," Jin said, leaving her rooms and starting off into the palace corridors. "I will fill you in along the way."

Maya seemed a bit put out by how she needed to scurry to keep pace. She cast a brief look over her shoulder at Gillwyn and Cana following in their wake, then peered at Jin. "You alright?"

"Quite so. How went your return to New Sandharbor?"

"Uneventful," Maya replied. "I brought the delegation home, including the Dothraun and his retinue."

"Devara?" Jin asked.

"No sign of her," Jin said. "I talked to Heron, but she said I shouldn't bother looking. She's got Devi on something, and she should be coming back home soon. She might already be here."

"Did Heron say what she had Devara doing?"

Maya shook her head.

Jin furrowed her brow in concern. There weren't many reasons for an assassin to remain in Shan Alee, and at least one Devara excelled at. Covert elimination was their cousin's specialty.

"We're not assassinating Enfri," Maya said, perhaps reading Jin's thoughts in her expression. "Too much risk and too little chance of success. Father won't even hear out any plans we propose."

"Enfri is not the primary threat," Jin said. "Killing her would not stop the Jade Empire from taking control of the Arcane Knights. It might even help it along."

Maya frowned. "I'd think you'd want to get payback for her turning on you."

Jin felt a twinge deep within her. Ruthlessly, she crushed it down. "It would do Althandor no good. As it stands, many of the mighty may prove as unwilling as Zanda to fight for the demons. Assassinating Enfri would galvanize them against us. Master Deveaux would have more chance to earn their cooperation than he already does."

"That's not what I said." Maya put a hand to Jin's arm to stop her in place. "She betrayed you. I can't believe you wouldn't want to get her back."

"No," Jin said, her tone calm and even. "As I said, it would be counterproductive."

"Don't give me that," Maya growled. "Jin..."

She swallowed, and lowered her tone. "I understand what you meant. Hard as it may be for you to accept, I will not..." Jin hesitated as the twinge of heartache made a resurgence. She fought it back once again.  "After what I did to her, I cannot hold what she's done to me as worse."

Maya narrowed her eyes. "Don't tell me you're holding out hopes for her. Like Josy."

"I can understand why she's done this," Jin said. "That is a far cry from forgiving it. Even if I believed she could be swayed from her course, as a royal assassin, I cannot allow myself to be weakened by her again. I will not fail the king a second time."

"Not quite the answer I was looking for," Maya said. She removed her hand from Jin's arm. "But, I'll take it."

Jin gave her a nod and continued down the corridor. "Though, I do still feel responsible."

"Sister, stop that."

"Were it not for my betrayal of her, this might not have happened."

"Maybe not," Maya allowed, "but there's no saying for certain what might've been. With or without you, Garret would've had her over a barrel. If it came to a fight outside Sandharbor, Shan Alee would've paid dearly for it. It would've been a cost they might never have recovered from."

Jin gave her a sidelong look. "What are you saying?"

The scowl Maya wore spoke to how much she disliked giving voice to this thought. "Maybe you're not the only one who can understand her. Not saying I like how she went about it, the way she seemed to enjoy twisting the knife on you, but I can understand why an empress would do what she did."

"What do you mean?" Jin asked.

"The crown makes one faceless," Maya said. "She's responsible for the lives of a lot of people. That always has to be her first priority, even over her personal feelings. If she believed the only way to save them in the short term was to damn us all in the long term, well... At least the Aleesh will live long enough to be damned."

Jin frowned and looked ahead. "I disagree. Better to die on your feet than live on your knees."

"That's the kind of choice someone like you can make," Maya said. "You can't make that choice for others, and Enfri was forced to. If the roles were reversed-- if I was queen-- I can't say I wouldn't join Althandor to the old masters to save our people, even if I had to throw Shan Alee on the railroad tracks to do it. That's the sort of decision a sovereign has to make. What Enfri did to us pissed me off like nothing else, but after having some time to think about it, I can't hate her for it." The next thing Maya said was mumbled under her breath and might not have been intended to be heard. "I hate her for what she did to you."

"You don't need to," Jin said. "It's over between us, and I would prefer to put Enfri behind me."

Maya nodded, and there seemed to be a touch of sadness in it. "As you say."

"Your Highness?"

Jin stopped and turned to look behind her. Cana had gone still, eyes on the floor in front of her and clutching at the collar of her dress.

"Yes?" Jin asked.

"You and the empress," Cana said haltingly, "you were... I mean, you and she..."

"We were betrothed," Jin said. "I was in love with her. Unfortunately, it has clearly come to an end."

"I didn't know," Cana whispered. "I'm sorry."

"You needn't be," Jin said to reassure her. "If I failed to mention, the fault lies with me."

"That's not what I meant," Cana said, meeting Jin's eye. She took Gillwyn's hand and squeezed it. "I'm sorry you have to go through this. It must be hard."

Jin blinked, taken by surprise. "No, I'm... It is my duty, Cana."

"It's alright, Your Highness," Cana said. "It's not wrong to say when you're hurt."

Maya hummed appreciatively as Jin stood speechless. "I like this one. Where'd you pick these two up again?"

"From blustering elves," Gillwyn said.

"Elves?" Maya exclaimed. "I thought they were extinct. What in the name of the king were you doing with elves?"

Jin steadied herself and motioned for everyone to continue. The morning was already later than she wished to leave by. "Family reunion. I will explain along with everything else."

"Winds, you'd better. You know, I didn't come for an outing. I did tell you I'd find you when I got back, didn't I?"

"You've mentioned," Jin said. "Twice. I need you to come along, because I'll need your help."

Maya frowned. "Doesn't sound like you. You're normally the type to barrel off on her own."

"I've learned to have faith in those I know I can count on."

"Fair enough," Maya said. "So, why Eastrun?"

Jin motioned for Gillwyn and Cana to walk a little closer before placing a privacy ward over the group. She explained to Maya in detail about Algol's suspected fiend factory, and when the question came up of how she knew about it, Jin gave vague answers. She'd promised Hana not to reveal her identity, and saying the information came through Starra's contacts with the Cabal satisfied Maya's curiosity.

Once arrived at the armory, Jin retrieved a suit of studded leather already prepared for her measurements; every assassin had a number of spares kept in storage. After picking out a sword to her liking and her new armor receiving a few adjustments to get the fit just right, she and Maya assisted the village girls with getting outfitted.

Gillwyn preferred to go without any sort of armor as there was no time for her to acclimate to it for her shifting. She surprised the princesses by selecting a heavy powered longbow. Many grown men would have trouble drawing the clockwork weapon, but Gillwyn handled it with ease. When Maya voiced surprise at her strength, Gillwyn merely quipped that it must've been the bear in her.

Jin gave special attention to Cana's kit of armor. She was more worried for her, because Cana seemed fragile in comparison to Gillwyn. The feyling girl acquiesced to Jin's fretting and allowed herself to be fitted for a full set of royal guardsman's plate and mail. She found moving around difficult at first, but a well-made suit of armor felt like a second skin before long. Cana picked out a bow— a smaller one made from yew wood and intended to be fired from horseback— and took a few practice shots in the adjoining target range until both Jin and Maya were satisfied that she was as proficient as any armsman.

Once everyone was armed and armored to their preference, Gillwyn appraised her companion with a mischievous gleam in her eye. "No one from home would recognize you. I think this is the first time no one can tell you're a girl from a league off."

Even concealed by her closed helm, Cana's blush was obvious. "Come off it."

"Your ma will faint when she hears about this."

"Gill, I said come off it!"

"I love what it does for me," Gillwyn said with a smirk. She startled and went wide-eyed. "For you! I love what it does for you."

Walking ahead a few paces, Maya gave Jin a look and rolled her eyes. "Should've known. You lady lovers tend to flock."

Jin snorted. "And here you are. Maybe you should stop fighting it and join us."

"Bite your tongue! Who would I even?"

Jin shrugged. There was probably no response that would avoid a squabble if she continued down this path. Still, she'd always thought it would be nice to have something more in common with Maya.

The house alchemists kept a large and fully stocked laboratory in the central tower. This was where the oren was produced. A toxic mineral was unique to remote veins deep within the iron mines of Nadia and was the primary reagent for the creation of oren. The mineral was an iron-based sulfide, including quantities of arsenic, mercury, and trace amounts of uranium. By itself, it could be deadly with just skin contact. Just being in the same room as unprotected mineral could cause cancer or the illness known to the goodfolk as iron fever. The mineral's rarity made it easier to control, and its toxicity provided an easy explanation for why House Algara controlled all samples of it.

Once combined with various other reagents and invested with ether, the mineral's nature changed. It became an alchemical spell capable of elevating a warrior's performance to superhuman levels and granting a near-complete immunity to imprint-altering spellcraft. It also came with dependency and lethal withdrawal symptoms should an assassin find themselves without a steady supply.

While Gillwyn and Cana waited outside the door, Jin followed her sister inside. Maya went to a vestibule separating the entryway from the laboratory further within. A clerk read a pocket novel at the front desk and set his book aside when the princesses entered. He was a mousy gentleman with an oiled mustache and a monocle over his right eye. The clerk pressed his narrow-brimmed hat to his head and rose to his feet.

"Your Highnesses," he said with a bow. "Shall I prepare oren for you both?"

"Three vials for myself," Maya said. "My sister needs a full satchel."

The clerk bowed and bent to retrieve two satchels from underneath his desk, as well as the necessary requisition forms. He checked to make sure one of the satchels was full, then pulled three from the other. "We've worried, Princess Jin," he said, chatting amiably as he worked. "By our records, the supply you left with half a year ago shouldn't have lasted more than a month."

"I made due," Jin said.

"I'd be negligent if I didn't remind you of how stretching out doses isn't recommended."

Jin heard it often enough that it was tempting to get snappy in response, but the clerk was only performing his duties with diligence. She would never fault him for that. "Understood. However, clinical recommendation is not always feasible in the field."

"So your cousin told me, just now," the clerk chuckled. "At length."

"Josy?" Maya asked. She handed Jin the full satchel and placed the loose three vials inside her own.

"Ah, no. The crown prince..." The clerk blushed and bowed in apology. "Forgive me, Highness."

Maya waved the apology away. "Still getting used to being next in line myself. Think nothing of it. Are you saying Dashar talked about this? At length?"

The clerk nodded and was relieved his slip hadn't given offense. "A veritable chatterbox, if you'll excuse me saying so, Highness."

Maya and Jin exchanged looks.

"Have you been in the palace long?" Jin asked.

"Not especially," the clerk said. "A little over three years."

Maya saw where Jin was going with this. "And have you been the one to provide Dashar with oren often?"

"Not often," the clerk said, looking nervous again upon being interrogated. "Three or four times."

"Recently?" Jin asked.

"Yes, not but a few minutes ago. Funny, though, he never spoke to me until this morning. I assumed he was just the sort who needs to be more familiar before exchanging a word."

Jin's eyes hardened. "Was he wearing his cowl?"

The clerk shook his head.

Jin turned to look at Maya and saw that her sister came to the same conclusion she did.

"The doppler," Maya said.

"Kai," Jin agreed. "Eastrun can wait. Father must be warned."

The clerk stood back up and wrung his hands. "I hope I haven't done anything untoward."

Jin turned to look at him and forced a smile. "No. In fact, you are to be commended. We'd not have learned of the intruder until too late."

"Intruder?" the clerk exclaimed. He dropped back into his seat and looked ready to pass out. "B-but, I assure Your Highnesses, only Prince Dashar's been through for oren since His Grace's delegation returned. I have records!"

"That was a shifter," Maya said. "A doppler named Kai impersonated our cousin. You said this imposter spoke to you? Did he say anything we could use to track him?"

"N-nothing much," the clerk said, looking equal parts horrified and incredulous. "He requisitioned a large amount of oren. Two full satchels. I wasn't about to tell him no."

"A calculated risk," Jin surmised. "Mimicking Dashar included his dependency on oren. Kai must be securing his supply before he pursues his goals further, and his new face provided him with the means to get it. He may no longer be in the palace."

"Should still be in the city," Maya said. "Unless he can teleport, but he wouldn't have been able to leave from the palace." She looked to the clerk. "How long ago? How long exactly?"

"Maybe... twenty minutes?"

Jin considered the route to leave the central tower. "It takes half an hour to reach Evermist Station from here."

Maya turned to storm out of the room. "Not the way we'll go. Come, Sister. We'll get there before him."

That statement worried Jin but not half as much as a thrall shifter loose in the city. She followed Maya at a run out of the lab. Gillwyn and Cana startled as princesses burst into the corridor without slowing, then ran after them.

"What's going on?" Gillwyn asked.

"Stay close," Jin commanded.

"This way," Maya shouted and took a left turn through the halls towards a large, stained glass window.

"You cannot be serious!" Jin shouted.

Maya didn't respond and neither did she slow down. She fell into a sprint and leapt at the window while covering her face with her arms.

Jin gaped as her sister shattered the glass and plummeted out of sight. Gritting her teeth, she moved her feet faster and took a running leap out of the window to dive after Maya.

Engulfed immediately by mist, Jin couldn't see further than the end of her nose. Her ears were filled with the howl of wind rushing past her head, and her skin prickled with the sudden chill of stepping outside into the frigid, high-altitude air. Nearly a league above the earth, Jin had nothing beneath her but open sky and sudden stop far, far below.

Which only distressed her further, because she became aware of two voices above her screaming their fool heads off.

Jin turned in mid-air to look up. She couldn't see them through the thick mist, but she could hear Gillwyn and Cana as they plunged after a pair of idiot princesses into the void.

"Maya!" Jin shouted.

An impact rocked Jin's head, knocking her dizzy.

"Finally," Maya scolded, holding Jin around the waist. Gravity essence radiated off of her, propelling them through the air on Maya's lost magic. "I couldn't find you in this mist until you made some noise."

"The girls!"

"Winds and storms, I know!"

A spell echo pulsed from Maya to envelop Jin. She felt suddenly lighter, as if she weighed no more than a feather. Maya pivoted and slowed their descent until they flew even beside Gillwyn and Cana.

"Take my hands," Jin called to them.

Gillwyn's eyes were wide and terrified, but she obeyed. She held tight to Jin's wrist and grabbed Cana to pull her into this plummeting cluster of lunatics. Maya's spell echo wrapped around the pair of them, and all together, she guided their fall.

No, she accelerated it. Jin's hair whipped behind her head as they dove at extreme velocity, and she could hardly keep her eyes open against the wind battering her face. They kept going faster until, once Jin began bracing for an inevitable impact against the city streets, the flight slowed dramatically. Maya pulled up and released her hold on the others.

The gravity essence faded quickly but gradually enough that Jin managed to orient herself to the wooden platform that appeared out of the mists just beneath her. Jin heard the blare of a train's whistle, saw wrought iron fencing surrounding the platform, and could smell the thick fumes of coal smoke. The reason for the mist's thickness became clear as Jin recognized an overhead view of Evermist Station.

The central hub of the rail lines and the gateway between the Palace of Towers and the rest of the city, Evermist Station was heavily trafficked by Althandi citizens, goodfolk and noble alike. Dozens of elevated rail lines spiraled out from the station and outward to the four boroughs, sloping down to the lower levels or rising to the higher. Six or more trains sat ready at their respective platforms while people queued to board and passengers disembarked. Many of the faces down below snapped their heads to look up once the arcanists among them felt the strong echoes of unfamiliar essences right above them.

Jin would've preferred not to cause a scene, but she supposed Maya had always been adept at making a dramatic entrance.

She touched down and let out a hefty sigh of relief. Jin offered the gawking crowds a small nod of apology as they backed away from the odd spectacle of young women dropping out of the morning sky. Beside her, Gillwyn and Cana came to their landings with a bit more stumble and shook like leaves as they clung to one another. Cana needed to turn her helmet to face the correct direction, and Gillwyn's hair had been transformed into a tangled, wind-blown mess. Jin doubted her own fared much better.

"What were you thinking?" Jin demanded of them.

"You said to stay close," Gillwyn protested as she tried to comb her hair flat with her fingers. "Figured you knew something we didn't."

Jin pursed her lips. "Well, you were not wrong. Not entirely, but I was not confidant Maya's flight spell could accommodate more than one."

Gillwyn went white as a sheet, and Jin could only assume Cana did the same inside her plate helm.

Maya clucked her tongue. She drifted down from overhead and set her feet daintily on the platform beside Jin. "I wouldn't have suggested the swift method had I not been confidant." She regarded the village girls and looked almost impressed. "Honestly, though, I didn't expect four. Takes a special kind to leap out a spire."

"That's one way to put it," Gillwyn muttered.

Jin walked up to her. "As you say, but I won't turn away your assistance now. Maya, you need to head for the palace gates. Make certain we arrived before the doppler."

Maya's lip curled, and she turned her back. "I don't need to be told, twerp." She gestured towards Cana. "You, come with me. You're too conspicuous, dressed as a royal guard. Let the other two comb the station." Before she and Cana ran off, Maya shouted to Jin. "I gave a sending before I caught you. Zanda will be on her way once she warns Father. Keep an eye out for her, and don't let Kai escape."

Jin nodded and returned her attention to Gillwyn. "You've met my cousin. The doppler will carry a nearly identical scent. Can you smell him?"

Gillwyn looked around the station, avoiding the staring eyes of the crowd. "Not with all these people here. The scents get muddled, especially with all that coal smoke stinking up the place. I'll need to be closer."

"Then let us start looking. Maya will give a signal if Kai attempts to leave the palace behind us."

They pushed their way through the crowd of passengers. The citizens stepped quickly to make way, and Jin heard frequent mutterings of black hounds. That the king's royal assassins and his family were one in the same wasn't a state secret, but it wasn't exactly advertised. Only a few minor nobleman among the crowd gave bows and murmured "Your Highness" as Jin led Gillwyn across the train platform. The goodfolk gaped with slack jaws and did their utmost to avoid Jin's beast-like gaze entirely.

Gillwyn unslung the powered bow from her back and knocked an arrow as she walked. "Everyone looks afraid of you."

"We've a reputation," Jin replied. "Traitors do not meet kind fates, and we've purged many traitors."

"I'll just choose to believe they all deserved it."

"As do I."

Jin hoped they'd reached the platform before Kai. Even if the clerk's estimate of how long ago Kai left the laboratory was accurate, there was no guarantee the doppler meant to leave the palace immediately. It was only assumed to be his most likely course of action. Furthermore, the shifter might've possessed other means of escape. It was possible he'd already reached the platform and took a train elsewhere into the city. If that was the case, Jin didn't know of any means at her disposal to track him.

The train on the platform had nearly completed boarding. Jin peered through the windows as she passed and saw nervous faces staring back at her. Several actually flinched once they caught sight of her slit pupils and dimly glowing irises. Jin was used to such reactions from the goodfolk of the Spired City. To them, royal assassins were as an urban legend, spoken of in the same breath as imps and gremlins. Popular legend painted Cathis' black hounds as ruthless and indiscriminate, and it wasn't wholly undeserved.

To preserve the kingdom, nearly any cost could be excused. Collateral damage was often assumed inevitable.

Jin felt her hands begin to shake. They remembered being coated in innocent blood, because just witnessing the wrong thing could become grounds for elimination.

I always acted in accordance with duty, Jin thought to reassure herself. As a body's immune system must destroy infected cells, so too must a royal assassin.

She glanced at the people shrinking away from her and wondered how many of them would become infected in the weeks ahead. However many it would prove, her duty could not waver. And still, Jin's hands shook.

Rise, Daughter. It comes for you.

She felt a sense of something behind her, its fangs drawing closer to her flesh.

Gillwyn gripped Jin's arm. "Are you alright. You went a little funny for a second there."

Jin shook the sensation away. "I am well. Anything yet?"

Gillwyn glanced around and let go of Jin. Her fingers traced along her bowstring. "Not that I can tell. Something, though. Something weird. Doesn't smell like a person at all, and not like an animal, either."

"Fiend?"

"Couldn't say, but I don't think so. Almost like... blood. Wrong-smelling blood."

Jin frowned and looked ahead towards the train engine. The engineer blasted the whistle to signal imminent departure, and the train lurched as the steam engine began pulling it along the tracks. Jin looked to her side and up at the windows of the nearest passenger car. A shadow moved through her vision aboard the train, a hooded figure wearing the robes of a clergyman.

Moving before thought, Jin hopped onto the train between two cars. Gillwyn let out a surprised shout before jumping up after her.

"What are we doing? We can't leave the station yet, can we?"

Jin gestured for quiet and drew her sword. As the train picked up speed on the tracks, she pushed open the door into the car and was greeted by startled exclamations from the passengers within. "Hold!"

At the other end of the car, the hooded figure paused before leaving through the opposite end. Slowly, his head turned towards Jin.

Underneath his hood, the man had pale skin and long, unkempt hair. His wide mouth twisted into a snarl, and his tilted and narrow eyes opened to look at her. His red eyes, dimly glowing in the train car interior, had slit pupils.

"Winds take me," Gillwyn gasped.

"Everyone down!" Jin roared, and she loosed a blast of spellfire over the heads of the passengers.

Goodfolk screamed and covered their heads. They dove between the car's seats as flames streamed overhead. Ahead, Kai pulled steel and manifested a fire ward to protect himself from Jin's magic. He dove through the spellfire, sweeping it aside with twin swords, and charged up the center of the train car, straight at Jin.

An arrow shot towards him from over Jin's shoulder. Kai's blades struck out and splintered Gillwyn's arrow before it could reach him. He crouched low as he ran, assuming Dashar's preferred second stance. Jin took second stance as well and rushed forward to engage.

Second stance limited the disadvantage of fighting in confined spaces. The sword was held forward in one hand at waist-height, ready to stab or deflect an incoming blow. The off-hand was kept ready at the side to initiate or defend against a grapple. It was a brawler's stance, perfect for a strong fighter who wasn't afraid of brutality. Kai carried two blades, which put Jin at a disadvantage, but if she could maneuver inside his reach, his options would be severely limited without a free hand.

They met at the center of the car. Nearby goodfolk cried out as steel clashed. Jin kept her blade low as Kai struck at her thighs and ankles. He kept his body close to the ground, coming at her from a low angle and forcing an awkward defense. Jin denied him that and sprung up onto the backs of nearby chairs. Her feet pushed off the seats and sent her into a cartwheel over Kai's head. She came down behind him and manifested a barrier ward where she'd been.

Kai spun and slashed towards her, but Jin was ready for the counter. With her free hand braced on a seat back and her lead foot against her manifested barrier, she held herself aloft over the ground and kicked out. Her foot struck against Kai's chest, and she held him pinned against her ward.

"Gillwyn!"

Clockworks whined as Gillwyn shot another arrow. In the same moment, Jin dropped the ward. Unable to move his blades into defensive position in time, the arrow sped on target to take him through the back.

Jin dropped to the floor when her foothold on the barrier ward vanished. She landed on one knee and immediately sprung forward to continue her assault. She halted as a sword drove point first into the floorboards in her path.

Kai's robe flared as he spun to face Jin. He'd dropped the sword from his left hand, and it now held an arrow caught in mid-flight. Almost casual, he snapped it in his grip.

Jin growled. The doppler who wore Dashar's face possessed all his skill, all Dashar's experience, and even his memories. Her cousin was the only student of Queen Maebh to surpass her. By mimicking him, Kai had become as perfect a warrior as Dashar Algara.

There were constants in the world. The pull of the ground, the changing of the seasons, and the arrival of the dawn. Dashar was such a constant. When he fought, he won.

"Rise."

Without hesitation, Jin attacked.

Kai received Jin's sword on his and locked their guards. Pivoting on the inside foot, he spun Jin around him to use her as cover against further arrows. His teeth were bared, and his red eyes glared into Jin's.

"Welcome home, Cousin," he said, his voice raw and grating.

Jin had no reply for the likes of him.

She pushed away from him and manifested a spell overhead. Her blast of force burst through the roof of the train car. Wind howled through the new opening as Jin arced her blade to intercept Kai's sword stabbing towards her. She concentrated at holding him at bay for a few moments more as she reached out with her sorcery to seize upon the sword Kai abandoned a few seconds earlier. Jin pulled with her magic, sending the sword spinning towards Kai's unguarded back.

He anticipated the move and plucked the sword out of the air, but Jin only wanted his attention taken from her for one moment. She reached forward and manifested gravity essence over Kai's body. The doppler scrambled, but he no longer had an empty hand to grab something with before he was flung upwards through the hole in the roof.

Jin jumped up, grabbed the edge of the opening, and hauled herself over the edge. Her gravity spell wasn't strong enough to last more than a second, so she wasn't surprised to see Kai coming back down onto the train a car behind her. Jin ran and vaulted over the short span between cars.

"Our uncle always dismissed you as inconsequential," Kai shouted over the wind. "A tool to use, but never a threat. Once I became my brother, I knew... I knew Uncle underestimated you. The house always has."

Jin readied her sword and assumed first stance. Now that she had more space and no need to worry of goodfolk coming within reach of her sword, she could proceed without restraint. First stance was balanced, which was preferable while standing on top of a speeding passenger train.

"Do not think I will make the same mistake as Vintus," Kai said. "You will die here, Cousin."

Jin had no words to give him in return.

Only steel.