She smiled. “But it makes a difference who does the killing.”

Valyn ignored the conversation, gesturing instead to the spot where Tan had disappeared. “We’ve got some real bastards back on the Islands, but that guy . . .” He shook his head, turning to Kaden. “I’ve just got to say it one more time: riding a bird sure has its risks, but it seems ten times safer than that thing.”

“That thing,” Kaden said again, trying to force some confidence into his voice, “is what I trained for.” If he couldn’t use the kenta, then all his years with the Shin had been for nothing. His father had used the gates; all the Malkeenian emperors used the gates. If he failed here, well, maybe he wasn’t cut from the right cloth. “I have few enough advantages as it is,” he added. “I can’t afford to go tossing them away.”

Worry creased Valyn’s brow, but after a moment he nodded, then turned to Talal.

“What’s happening on the ledge?”

“Night,” the leach replied. “Wind.”

Valyn crossed to the window, glanced out, then turned back, scanning the room.

“All right, we’re not going to be here long—one night for everyone to rest up. The monks leave in the morning. We’re gone right after them, hopefully before dawn. In the meantime, let’s do what we can to button the place up.”

The sniper glanced skeptically at the gaping windows, at the hole in the roof. “Unlikely,” she said.

“I don’t love it either,” Valyn said. “But it’s the best defensive position we’ve got and we do need rest, all of us. I want crossed cord on each window, and while we’re at it, a belled horizon line straight across the outside face of the building. . . .”

“That’s you, Annick,” Gwenna said. “I’m not climbing around on the wall of this wreck.”

“How’s the cord supposed to protect us?” Kaden asked.

“It doesn’t,” Valyn replied. “Not really. But if someone climbing trips the bells, we’ll know they’re here, and the cord on the window will slow them down.”

Kaden crossed to the window and leaned out. He couldn’t see much in the darkness, but the wall of the orphanage dropped away forty feet or so to the broad ledge below. The masonry was crumbling, leaving gaps between the stones, but it hardly looked like something a human being could climb.