The streets of Imperial City were empty this time of night, the shops closed and the people asleep. I’d been to the city a few times in my youth, back when I’d been studying at the Navigators’ Academy. Imperial City was a day’s trip away from the Academy by boat or by oxcart, and a popular place for students to get away and let loose. The streets were different then than they were now, but I could still find my way easily enough. And all I had to do was follow the sound of Lin’s footsteps against the tile rooftops – a faint click click click above the dripping of rain down the gutters. The stones of the street were slippery, but I risked a glance up and could barely make out the shadow of the construct against the sky.

We still had a chance to catch it.

Lin was freshly crowned; I wondered who had subverted a spy construct and sent it to Imperial so quickly. If the constructs could be called now to other causes and other masters, that left a veritable army of them across the Empire, waiting to fall into the wrong hands.

The thought chilled me far more than the rain against my cheeks.

A grunt came from above as Lin launched herself at the construct and missed, landing hard on a rooftop and nearly tumbling down the eaves.

“You have to get closer!” I called to her. “Or try… throwing something at it.”

“Throw what?” she shouted back.

I bit back a retort – that perhaps she should have thought of this before chasing the construct. I was running out of breath anyway. I careened down the main street of Imperial, flashes of a past life flowing past me. A drinking hall I’d been to once, where I’d sat in the corner alone, nursing a mug of wine. A shop with beautiful, elaborate maps, which I’d coveted but could not afford. The spot on a corner where a few fellow students had accosted me, accusing the half-Poyer boy of following them. I’d talked my way out of that. Eventually.

I never thought I’d come back to Imperial. Not to stay.

A loose oyster shell lay in the gutter in front of me. I scooped it up as I ran, feeling its heft. We were nearing the docks. I could smell the ocean, feel the breeze off the water, hear the waves against the shore. My feet kicked beneath me, moving faster than I’d thought possible, my breath quick in my throat. But wind and wings were faster still.

Another grunt from above as Lin launched herself at the construct. It veered as her fingers grasped at its tail and then pulled away, leaving her with only feathers and a fall to the rooftop.

The docks appeared ahead, the ocean beyond. Only one chance at this.