“And you have my solemn oath,” Jack said, patting Sabine’s shoulder, “that I will only kill those what are awake, and if they ain’t awake, I swear to you that I’ll wake ’em up and then kill ’em, or kill ’em as they’re wakin’, dependin’ on the situation and what course is called for. But they will be awake, on that you have my word.”

Sabine sighed.

10

ravity is a fickle mistress,” Quoneel said. “With the right wink and the right smile, small pockets of it can be persuaded to shift to altogether new positions. Wall-Walking is not about sticking to walls or ceilings. It is simply about not falling from them.”

The girl raised her foot, placed it flat on the wall in front of her. She focused on the weight of her supporting leg.

“But this is not an easy discipline to master,” Quoneel continued, walking behind her. “Are you sure it’s the one for you?”

“I’m sure.”

“There is no need to be hasty. Did I ever tell you about Vindick Leather?”

“Who?”

“He’s a sorcerer I know of,” said Quoneel. “He worships the Faceless Ones, but was born too late to fight in the war. All he ever talks about, though, is the next war, when Nefarian Serpine leads the faithful to victory. Before his surge, he reasoned that the most common discipline of magic being practised was Elemental, and he decided the most damaging aspect of Elemental magic was fire. So he ensured that fire would never harm him.

“Apparently you can set him on fire from head to toe and it would do absolutely no damage. But there is a flaw. There is no discipline that does not have a weak point. The danger of focusing on one aspect to the exclusion of all others is that the weak point tends to grow. He had no idea when he set himself on this course, because from what I’ve heard he has never been the brightest of sorcerers.”

“What is his weak point?”

“Water.”

“That’s it? Just water?”

“He can’t be submerged in it. Apparently he has to stand whenever he takes a bath. If he is completely submerged in water even for an instant, something bad will happen.”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know,” said Quoneel. “But something bad. The point of the story is that he made a decision early on and he is now stuck with that decision. There is nothing he can do to change it now. When you were a child, what did you dream of?”

“I wanted to be an Elemental,” the girl said truthfully.

“And then?” Quoneel asked. “As your horizons broadened, and you encountered more and more branches of Adept magic?”

“An Energy-Thrower,” she said. “Or a Teleporter.”