It loomed, and was made completely of blackwood, with its pointed face ringed in straw. The thing’s movements were jerky and inhuman, but that didn’t fool Yenni. In the hands of a skilled puppeteer, rune puppets made for deadly assassins. Designed to mimic fearsome and powerful spirits, rune puppets were historically employed during wars between the Islands to mask the identity of a killer and thus sow political unrest.

However, as the puppet stared at her through yellow-painted eyes, its jangly arms clacking, Yenni knew it was not meant to mask her attacker, but confirm them. If it’s war you want, it’s war you’ll get, it seemed to say.

The rune puppet slowly approached, holding aloft a wicked short sword and clacking with each twitching step. Every inch of it was covered in white runes: wards against all the elements plus speed, strength, runes for animation, and many others. Yenni backed up, keeping her spear pointed forward. The puppet couldn’t use offensive runes like fire or lightning without damaging itself, since an inanimate creation wasn’t protected by what the Creshens called the Law of Self-Preservation. That, at least, she had to her advantage.

But there was a reason rune puppets made lethal assassins. They burned runes at less than half the speed of a person, and eyeing the speed runes on the thing, Yenni knew she could never outrun it. And though normally she would have the advantage with her spear against a sword, she couldn’t very well stab a creature made of wood. Nevertheless, if she wanted to save Weysh, she would have to find a way to destroy it.

Or destroy its puppeteer.

“Where are you?” she yelled in Gunzu, knowing he hid somewhere in the shadows of the trees.

The puppet’s speed runes glowed, and it rushed her.

It struck, its joints clacking as it thrust and Yenni just barely brought her spear up to catch it. The sword pinged against her spear, and made her arms tremble, but she slipped back into tortoise stance and flared her strength runes as she parried, swinging the sword down to the ground. Then she pulled on speed and darted back before the puppet could respond in kind.

She dragged ach’e, feeling it buzz within her and tickle her fingers. “Source as twine to bind my foe!” she shouted. The puppet went rigid and fell to the ground. Yenni dashed to it, thrust the backs of her palms right at its face, and blasted it with fire.