Then she yanked the window up and threw herself through.
The Cousin, to her credit, was on her feet almost instantly, but she was looking too high; Mirage rolled across the floor and surged upward, grabbing the woman’s sword hand. She kicked the Cousin’s feet out from under her and twisted the captive arm around as she did so. Her opponent fell to her knees without too much of a thump, and then Mirage cracked her over the head with the pommel of her own sword. The Cousin went limp.
One step down, lots to go.
Mirage lowered the body to the floor and tossed the sword under the bed, where it wouldn’t be found immediately if someone wanted to use it.
Next door, someone began to sing.
At least they were feeding her. Miryo had wondered if they would, when night fell and no food came. But a Cousin had finally appeared, bearing a tray with bread and a bowl of soup. No fork, knife, or spoon.
As if I could threaten anyone with them.
The Cousin watched her as she ate. She had not drawn her short sword, but one hand rested on the pommel. Miryo did her best to ignore her guard, but it made eating difficult.
Finally she broke the silence. “What’s your name?”
A suspicious look from her guard.
Miryo held up her hands. “I’m just wondering.”
The Cousin considered that for far too long. Finally she opened her mouth to let out one word. “Tsue.”
“Tsue. Thank you.” Miryo sopped a piece of bread in her soup and ate it. “Tsue, how many Cousins died in the ambush?”
The woman’s eyes hardened.
“I had hoped none,” Miryo said quietly. “I don’t have anything against you. You’re just doing your job, and I’m just doing what I think is right. But I take it that someone did die.”
At last she got a grudging nod. “Two.”
“Their names?”
“Yun and Gau.” Tsue’s jaw tensed. “One at the stream. The other in the chase.”
Meaning that Mirage had killed her. “I’m sorry. I can promise you that Mirage—my doppelganger—didn’t deliberately target her. She doesn’t kill unless she has to.”
No response to that. Miryo finished her meal in silence and waited for Tsue to remove the bowl and tray.
The Cousin, however, stayed motionless. Finally, after an excruciating pause, she reached into her belt pouch and removed a small flask. “You must drink this. By the order of the Primes. I almost put it in your food, but…”
She didn’t finish the sentence, but Miryo could guess, and she was grateful for Tsue’s honor. “What is it?”
“A sleeping drug.”
Not a poison, then, although Miryo hadn’t thought it would be. “It’s not necessary.”
“The Primes have ordered it.”
“Tsue, what am I going to do? Overpower you all single-handedly? As if I could. You could take me down in your sleep. And as for my magic…” She snorted. “I might as well kill myself on the spot and save the trouble.”
Tsue didn’t look forgiving.
“All right. What if I gave you my sworn word I will not attempt to cast any spells?”
The Cousin shook her head. “The Primes have ordered it.”
What a good little drone you are. Miryo sighed and closed her eyes. She could see the path all too welclass="underline" she would be drugged and taken to Starfall, tied to her saddle. They’d revive her enough to eat, but she’d be dosed again before she could get too lucid. Once they got that potion inside her; her odds of escape went to nil.
Unless, of course, Mirage came after her. Ever since the confrontation with Satomi, Miryo had half hoped her doppelganger would stay away. It wasn’t likely, though. Which meant mat Mirage would probably be captured as well.
Fine. Then you do something about it. Now.
She had offered to give her sworn word, but she hadn’t actually done it.
Miryo opened her eyes and gave Tsue the most sincere look she could manage. “May I have just a moment, before I drink it? I’d like to pray.”
The Cousin gave her a long, searching look, and finally nodded. She took a step back—just one—and waited.
Void it. I was hoping she’d leave the room.
Miryo, robbed of the privacy she’d hoped for, turned and went to the window. Outside she could see the moonlit ground, but not the moon itself; that was on the other side of the house. She looked through the panes of the glass at the sky, envisioned the stars there, and closed her eyes.
Here goes nothing.
Miryo began to sing.
She kept it as quiet as she could; her hands, clasped near her mouth, helped muffle the sound. She got a good distance into the spell before Tsue realized something was happening.
“What are you doing?” the Cousin snapped, stepping forward.
The game was up. Miryo spun to face Tsue, singing full-voice now; as the Cousin lunged at her she dodged. It was a ridiculous chase, trying to keep out of Tsue’s hands while fighting to control the power. No, not to control it; that was beyond her. She just had to direct it, to make certain that someone else—Tsue—took the brunt of its force.
The power built to a crescendo, and Miryo realized she had no idea what it was going to do.
Through the roaring in her head, she saw the door fly inward hard enough to rebound off the wall. And there, so suddenly and unexpectedly Miryo almost didn’t believe her eyes, was Mirage.
One instant her doppelganger was in the doorway; the next, she twisted and threw herself violently to the floor. And even as she did so, the energy of Miryo’s spell broke its bounds and shot outward in an expanding ring of razor-edged fire.
Tsue had only begun to scream when it hit her.
The world swam around Miryo. Blackness threatened at the edges of her vision. She took deep gulps of air, reaching out for something to steady herself; there was nothing nearby, and then suddenly Mirage had an arm around her, holding her up.
“Warrior’s teeth,” her doppelganger swore, looking around the room.
Miryo’s vision was clearing. All around, at chest-height, there was a band of destruction. Her spell had ripped into the walls, and through them; the ragged edges were dancing with rapidly spreading fire.
She forced herself to look to her left.
Tsue’s body had suffered the same fate as the walls. The spell had caught her squarely, and had ripped her upper body apart.
“This place is going to be covered in fire and Cousins in about half a second,” Mirage said.
Miryo complied numbly as her doppelganger dragged her toward the door. They made it to the hallway, and stopped there.
Two Cousins in the room to one side had been coming to investigate the noise. They had gotten no farther than the doorway; the spell had caught them there. As far as Miryo could see in either direction, the energy had torn through the doors and walls. She wondered how far the destruction stretched.
“Not this way,” Mirage muttered, eyeing the growing flames. She pivoted and dragged Miryo into the other neighboring room.
For a moment Miryo thought the body on the floor in there was also her doing. But this woman, she saw, was intact, and still alive.
“Can you climb?” Mirage asked.
Miryo swallowed the urge to laugh hysterically. “Yes.”
“Out the window and onto the roof. If you go to the eastern end, there’s a drainpipe that will take you down to the southern wing. From there you can climb the tree down to the ground.”
“What about you?”
Mirage nodded at the unconscious Cousin. “I’ve got to take care of her.”
As she went to the window, Miryo saw what her doppelganger meant; Mirage had pulled a thin rope out of somewhere in her clothing and was knotting a harness out of it She glanced up and scowled at Miryo, standing there. Only then did Miryo realize Mirage was wearing her uniform, but without the mask. Her pale skin looked even whiter against the black. Almost as pale as Miryo herself felt.