As she walked, the screaming stopped. The figures stilled. Ghrasia turned. Saw Ahkio. He held out his hand to her.

“Kai,” Ghrasia said, running over to him. She was covered in blood. Her hair was plastered to her forehead.

More Oras and militia joined them, pulling away from the bodies of their comrades and the assassins.

“How many?” Ahkio asked.

“We’ve counted six,” Ghrasia said.

“Including the one Caisa killed?”

“Seven,” Ghrasia said. “Our strategy for flushing them out worked. A little too well, perhaps.”

“How many of us dead? What was the cost, Ghrasia?”

“It’s too soon to know,” Ghrasia said, “but… fifty, maybe more? Most of the Raona militia and many of my own. And Oras…”

Ahkio stared at Caisa’s forgotten sword, lying on the stones between them.

“What are we going to become, Ghrasia?” he asked.

She gazed out at the square. “Dead, likely,” she said. “Or very different.”

Chapter 48

48

“We have one shot at this,” Zezili said, “so don’t fuck it up.” Looking at the filthy, scar-faced girl next to her, Zezili suspected all the girl ever did was fuck up.

“I’m going down there,” Lilia said.

“I’d like you to burn up that army as much as anyone,” Zezili said, “but they’ve got omajistas down there and gifted ranks. You see those flags?” She pointed to a collection of red flags painted in blue Dhai characters. “Those are rallying flags for different troops. You talk like a temple Dhai, so start thinking like one. What do those symbols mean?”

“Para, Sina, Tira, Oma…” Lilia said. “There are hundreds of those flags. All those people can’t be gifted.”

“Why do you think they’re winning?” Zezili said. She pulled off her helm. It was embossed with the Eye of Rhea. So were her sword and the collar of her tunic. Looking like one of Monshara’s people here wouldn’t go well. “There are some clothes in that tower,” Zezili said. “Not armor, but red skirts and things, a lot like what your militia wears. We’ll wait for dark and head down there. If they ask who we’re looking for, we just say we’re running a message to the Kai from Monshara. You understand?”

Lilia gazed down at the army. “You think the Kai is down there?”

“I don’t give a toss for the Kai,” Zezili said. “We’re after the mirror. It took them a decade to build it. If we destroy it, it’ll take a decade more to replace it.”

“They won’t need it,” Lilia said. “Oma will be in the sky soon.”

Zezili grunted. “Bunch of fucking fatalists, you Dhai. Suck up your petty mewling and do something with all that talent before you burn out.” She marched away from the girl, back to the tower.