“It is!” she said, barking a laugh. “Oh, this all makes so much sense. That’s why you were able to beat me earlier. Not because you’re any better. I mean, I’ll grant you must have been amazing in your prime—but now, you’re old as shit! You just have a massive amount of strength because of the Rail. Like that Maxia said, you’re … enhanced!”

“I’d have beaten you without it,” the Hawk said, her gait much easier now as they clambered up the trail.

Anji sniggered. “Still,” she said, “the Hawk, using drugs. Nine save us all. When did you start up? How much longer do you think you have until you turn into…” Her smile faltered. “One of those things?”

As though Anji hadn’t said anything at all, the Hawk shoved her forward and barked a command for her to move. They plodded on for half a minute.

“Can I get a hit?”

“Not a chance.”

“Come on, you’re taking me to be tortured,” Anji said. She stopped and turned to face the Hawk. “It’s not like I’ve got enough time to transform. You could at least give me—”

“I’m giving you nothing, now walk.”

Anji shuffled forward. “Just a little hit, we both know it would help—”

The Hawk’s hand shot to her belt and the sword attached to it. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“I just want a taste,” Anji said. “I saw how much you had in there. It’s more than enough to get us both over this mountain.”

The Hawk flipped up her mask. “Stop. Rail is not a toy. We are not at a party and I am not your bed friend to be experimenting with. I use it as medicine, and I won’t be doling out doses which cost more Rhoda than most make in a year. The withdrawal would make you talk even more than you already do, which would kill me faster than any mountain could.”

Anji darted a hand toward the Hawk’s pocket. The Hawk dodged away, slapping at Anji’s wrist.

“You really want to do this here?” she said, hand hovering above her sword’s hilt. “In the snow, a sheer drop to one side?”

Anji spat through chapped lips and made for the pocket of the Hawk’s leathers once more. “Just a tiny bit,” was all she said. The woman cuffed her on the ear like she was disciplining a dog.

“No more of that—”

“I don’t see why you can’t—”

“Fool girl, you’ll get us both—killed!”

Anji felt a hard shove, then the snowy ground at her back.

“You old fucking hag—”

“Stop!”

The Hawk’s voice rang across the pass, the word echoing as she marched toward Anji. “I’ve had enough of your pathetic—”