Constructs nodded to her, moving to give her space. She had to maneuver around the shamblers, who had no spark of recognition in their dull eyes. Smells drifted up her nostrils as she wove through the camp: wet animal fur, smoke, boiled vegetables and rot. The grass had been trampled flat by her troops and it was slick beneath her feet. Nisong found herself creeping forward without meaning to, keeping her footfalls soft and silent.

The moving shambler ducked behind a tent. A middle-aged man with a head wound. She didn’t think she would have recognized him – she’d created so many – but it still disconcerted her that she didn’t. “Stop!” she called out.

Several other contracts halted in what they were doing. She gritted her teeth and waved them off, hurrying around the corner of the tent. The flap stirred gently in a breeze, but the construct she’d followed hadn’t stopped. It strode quickly away, its back turned to her.

It wasn’t one of hers.

The realization sent a thrill of anger through her. This was her domain, and this girl-Emperor thought to try and infiltrate it?

She beckoned to a nearby war construct – a hulking bear-like beast. “Pin that shambler down.”

It lifted its head from its meal of fish and charged the shambler. Ah, she should have asked a different war construct. The shambler ran and the bear pursued, knocking down two tents in the process. A few remaining constructs from Maila shouted as they darted out of the way. The shamblers stayed put, tangled in the cloth.

Nisong stalked forward, throwing aside the tent cloth to find the bear and shambler tangled beneath. She didn’t bother asking it any questions; she plunged her hand inside the body. There were more shards here than in her shamblers, confirming her suspicions. She pulled them free, holding them up to the light of a nearby fire.

The carvings were elegant, the commands smoothly written. She might have admired the craftsmanship if the circumstances had been different. But these shards were not without malice. Lin had given the shambler instructions – instructions to turn Nisong’s constructs against her. She found an engraving tool in the shambler’s pocket.

The anger turned very quickly to panic. How many of these infiltrators had the Emperor set upon her camp and when had they arrived? She’d thought Lin reluctant to use bone shard magic, but apparently desperation could force the girl’s hand. Nisong cast the shards to the ground, grinding them beneath her heel. Every moment that she wasted now could be a moment where more of her constructs were turned against her.

She could go through the shamblers, line them up, examine their shards. It would take time – too much time. Time in which Lin could use them to attack, or to gather more defenses.

“We attack now,” she said to the bear construct. “Line up all the war constructs.”