Nari crouched on the guardroom landing with both daggers drawn and counted the shimmers hanging over the court below.
Three route mouths trembled above the flagstones, and every single one of them led straight toward the upstream bypass.
’Three doors to Hajin’s back, and somebody down there wants me to shut them.’
A man in a guard officer’s sash lounged against the court’s well head, twirling a short blade like a clerk. Shards flickered lazily around his forearm, and a ring of iron control handles stood on the squat post beside him.
"Route captain of this yard," he called up, tipping his chin toward her, "and you look like the cat type who seals doors."
"Lynx, actually, and it’s rude to guess."
"Seal them, then, go on, I’ll wait right here in the middle."
’He wants me to close the circle early, so whatever he’s hiding stays open.’
Behind her, six freed workers bunched on the landing, still rubbing the marks where the muster bonds pinched their wrists.
Nari pointed her dagger at the plain steps along the wall, "Ordinary stair, down the left side, and nobody touches a shimmer."
"You’re going down there alone?" an older woman whispered, clutching a younger man’s sleeve.
"Alone’s my favorite number," Nari purred, ears flicking forward, "now scoot."
The seal in her ear crackled, and Rumi’s voice came through sharp enough to cut.
"Don’t you dare lock yourself in with somebody again."
"Too late, I’m already walking," Nari sang, hopping down the last six steps.
"I hate you so much."
"Love you too, go find something useful."
She landed on the flagstones, and the route captain vanished from the well head before her heel settled.
He stepped out of the left mouth behind her, blade already swinging for the back of her knee.
Nari twisted, caught the edge on her crossed daggers, and skidded sideways while sparks spat bright across her left sleeve. He was gone again before she could answer, and the right mouth coughed him out close against her other shoulder.
"Slow," he drawled, slicing a neat line through her cuff, "you’re thinking too hard about the doors."
"And you’re talking too much about them," she huffed, swiping at nothing.
He came from the front, then the left, then from directly above the well, each step short, fast and nasty. She gave ground every time, and every time her heel tapped a crack, she pressed a pin deep into it.
’Four pins down, three mouths showing, and he still keeps one hidden somewhere close.’
"Come on, seal it," he taunted from the far side, "you know you want to."
"Not yet, sweetheart."
His blade kissed her ribs through the leather, and she hissed as warmth trickled down beneath her vest.
The route captain grinned and backed toward the post of handles, "Last chance before I call my friends."
"Then call them."
He slapped a handle down, and a fourth mouth ripped open on the upper gallery directly over her own head. It was his return, kept for finishing blows, and he dove through the nearest mouth to reach it from above.
Nari planted both feet on sound stone and let him commit to the jump.
"No Exit!"
Four pins flashed up from the cracks, and every route mouth in the court went black at once.
The fourth mouth collapsed mid-dive and dumped him onto the flagstones, rolling, sash tangled, blade still in his fist.
"Sixty seconds," Nari announced, spinning one dagger, "and before you ask, it holds me too, so get comfy."
He looked at the dead gallery, then at the dead mouths, and for one breath his face went very still.
"Clever."
"Pretty, too."
He did not panic at all, and that made her tail bristle harder than any of his clever little jumps. He drew a second blade from his back with his hand, settling into a low stance that knew close work.
’No more doors for either of us, just feet, steel, and stone.’
"Fifty seconds," she murmured, stepping in.
He slashed high with the short blade and low with the long one, trying to split her attention between them. Nari blocked the low stroke with her left dagger and let the high one chase her into the guardroom door.
The edge bit into the doorframe, and she slammed the door shut on it with her hip.
The wood pinned his short blade flat against the frame, and his whole arm jerked short.
"Got you," she snarled, already stepping past the long blade’s point.
She slipped inside his reach, shoulder to his chest, and drove her dagger’s pommel straight into his extended sword elbow. The long blade clanged across the flagstones, and her knee swept his front leg before he could reset his weight.
He hit the stones on his back, and her dagger settled under his jaw before he blinked.
"Thirty seconds left," Nari panted, blood dripping from her ribs onto his sash, "want to spend them bleeding?"
"No," he rasped, fingers spreading flat against the ground.
She bound his wrists with his own sash while the count ran down, and the pins faded right on time.
The mouths did not reopen, but the iron handles stood on their post, waiting for the next hand.
’The seal’s gone, so anything I want broken has to break the old way.’
Nari yanked the long blade out from under his leg and jammed its narrow tip behind the first iron handle. She heaved until the pin sheared, then wrenched every handle off in turn, tossing each one straight down the well.
"That’s fort property," the route captain wheezed.
"Was," she snickered, kicking the last one in after the rest.
Footsteps pounded through the lower arch, and Rumi skidded into the court with a limping porter hooked over one shoulder. She took in the bound captain, the empty post and the spreading blood, and both her ears went flat instantly.
"You locked yourself in again!"
"And won again, which is the important part."
"You’re bleeding on the floor!" Rumi squeaked.
"Just a little bit on the floor."
Rumi dumped the porter onto the well’s rim and pressed a wadded scarf hard against Nari’s side.
"Tell her what you told me," Rumi said, jabbing a finger at the porter.
The porter swallowed, eyes darting to the bound captain before he found his voice.
"The gate’s manual key rides in a cradle with the lamp oil, third load on the hoist," he stammered, "and it already went up."
"Up where?" Nari’s tail stopped swishing behind her all at once.
"Toward Captain Brann Keld’s platform, a few minutes ago, with two guards on the rope."
Nari tapped the little seal tucked behind her ear, "Hey, you still breathing up there?"
Steel rang on the other end, then a crunch, then Hajin’s voice came through ragged and far too cheerful.
"Breathing, punching, winning, what’ve you got?"
"Route captain’s tied up, I broke his handles, no more short cuts to your bypass."
"Hell yes, that’s my girl!" he yelled, and somebody near him went down with a splash.
"And the gate’s manual key just went up the hoist toward the captain’s platform."
"Shit, okay, go get it, both of you, and nobody dies doing it."
"You owe me an arm to nap on after this," Nari purred.
"Both arms, fine, all evening, just catch that key!"
Rumi rolled her eyes so hard her whole head tilted, but her ears went pink anyway.
[ Nari | EXP gained: 6,500,000 | 12,500,000 / 37,500,000 toward Wing Five ]
Nari pushed off the well rim with one hand on the scarf and the other on her dagger.
"Race you to the hoist?"
"You’re bleeding, so I win by default," Rumi said, already running.
’Fine, she can win the race, as long as I win the key.’