Mist’s eyes glittered; their shine in the darkness looked halfway insane. “No-on to the Castle.”

“You landed us here. For once plan for someone other than yourself.”

“I can’t believe a Rhydanne has the gall to say that!”

“Only half-”

She interrupted, “If we retreat we give Gio the advantage.”

“As if we have the advantage now!” I glared at her. “Wrenn’s illegal vendetta against Gio is bad enough without you joining in. He’ll duel with Gio’s followers all together or one at a time. Now you are trying hatred on for size.”

“You’re right,” she said softly.

“Eszai are supposed to work together; let’s earn our immortality. Damn it, Mist, god will show up, coffee mug in hand, before you bother cooperating. Go back to Awndyn, where I’ll bring you San’s directions as I should have done in the first place.”

Hours passed and Wrenn did not return. I watched over the Archer, straining to see by the insipid moonlight. Mist said little but glowered more and more until sometime in the early hours she burst out, “I should have gone instead!”

“Serein is a poor rider but nominally the best Swordsman,” I said shortly.

“Well, where has he got to? Has he been captured?”

“I hope not. Lightning’s condition is deteriorating, thankfully slowly because he’s strong. It’s imperative we get him out of this wilderness.”

Mist stomped around the clearing, cracking twigs underfoot and kicking dry leaves onto the hearth. I hissed, “Keep quiet! And keep listening; Gio might return. You islanders don’t realize how far your noise carries.”

Lightning woke up but only stayed conscious, unmoving, for a few minutes. I tried everything except scolopendium but I couldn’t bring him back.

I sighed. “Gio’s wrecked his chances of regaining the Circle, that’s for sure. He could have-one of my predecessors was displaced then rejoined it.”

Ata shook her head. “There was such a fast turnover of Messengers that they had a good attitude; they saw it as a temporary prize and a few more years of life. I remember one man, three or four Messengers back, who when he lost his Challenge joined the Imperial Fyrd. We saw him grow old. But most people who leave the Circle are too broken to try again.”

If I was displaced from the Castle as a Messenger, I would try to convince San to make me a new place in the Circle-an Eszai for reconnaissance. Somebody might one day be able to outpace me, but they would never manage a bird’s-eye view. It is theoretically possible for someone to hold two titles in the Circle but it has never happened because it’s so difficult to keep hold of even one title. Anyway, seeing as every Eszai has to be beaten on his own terms, I would change the requirements of my Challenge to favor my strengths no matter who I’m up against.

All I really fear is the advent of another hybrid like me who has taught himself to fly and appears out of the blue with a Challenge. As far as I know I am unique and I’m careful not to have any children. In mortal living memory, relations between the countries of Darkling and Awia have become appalling; Rhydanne and Awians are active enemies, at least in the Carniss area. I only know of one marriage between them, when Jay “Dara,” a fyrd captain from Rachiswater and man of rare tastes, climbed to Scree to find himself a wife.

Jay was my best soldier and after Pasquin’s Tower Battle nearly thirty years ago, when the governor of Lowespass was killed, I placed Jay and his wife Genya as governors in Lowespass fortress. I knew that I could check on them there, and especially on any of their off-spring that might have both a sprinter’s speed and long wings. But unfortunately for Jay running Lowespass fortress is a hazardous job, and twenty-one years later he died childless when Insects ambushed him by the Wall.

Gradually the sky paled; the darkness shrank away into the long shadows of the trees across the whole forest. The dawn chorus broke out; roosting birds roused and called from the branches above us. Mist listened to them with extreme suspicion as she chewed the last of the pan forte.

She paused, hearing the clop of hooves and the heavy whirring of ironbound coach wheels from the direction of the road. Between the trees a light glowed, faded. The din ceased. Wrenn’s voice called, “Comet? Hey!”

I raised my voice: “Hey, Serein! Over here!”

“Good morning. I’m sorry I took ages. It was a long way and there were rebels everywhere.” The young man’s voice swung toward us, obscured by the sound of hacking as he cut his way through dewy briars. He emerged from a thicket, grinned and pointed his rapier at the road. “But they’ve all passed by now.”

I motioned for Wrenn to help me lift the Archer. He said, “I feel as if I shouldn’t touch Lightning.”

“I understand. You heard tales of his exploits in history when you were a boy, right? Well, you take his legs and I’ll lift his arms.”

We struggled to carry Lightning out of the forest, over the uneven ground. He seemed even bigger limp and lifeless, and was a dead weight, although his bones were hollow. Wrenn climbed into the coach, reached down to grasp him under the arms and pull him up.

“It’s not as elegant a carriage as he might have wished,” Mist remarked dryly, but with obvious relief.

I laid Lightning on his side, on the floor because the seats were occupied by our sea chests. The wound in his back started bleeding again, dark and clotted blood. Mist stanched its sluggish flow with the last of the cloth. “What am I supposed to do?” she snapped. “I don’t have the faintest idea how to care for casualties. Jant, come with us to Awndyn. Tris is three thousand kilometers away, and at the moment your report is hardly San’s vital priority!”

“But I have to help San muster fyrd against Gio.”

Wrenn said, “You can’t stop Gio; you’re just a messenger…Shit, I’m sorry, Jant.”

I said, “Don’t you dare go after Gio! Sit up there with the driver.” Wrenn hopped onto the bench with the nervous obedience of a captain receiving direct orders. I took the opportunity to whisper, “I’ll accompany you to Awndyn and we won’t stop en route. But when I leave you, don’t trust Mist. She doesn’t fancy you, Wrenn; it’s all bluff. Ignore her seductive words and low-cut tops if you know what’s best. Without Lightning, you and I have little protection from her schemes. And-I never thought I’d say this, but-beware of Zascai. Too many are Gio’s devotees.”

“Jant, this is overcautious.”

“No. Do as I say. When I return with San’s orders I want to find you alive.” I climbed into the coach and thumped the ceiling. The driver cracked his reins, and we gathered speed down the straight road. The forest formed a block on both sides, a palisade of trees. The Remige Road was so silent that I found it hard to believe our desperate fight had actually occurred.

We reached the manor house after five hours and I ransacked it for medicines. I explained everything to Swallow Awndyn, who made sure that the Archer was given a clean bed. The manor’s resident sawbones was a sensible man, but seemed to be completely out of his depth.

I wrote a letter for Swallow’s courier to deliver posthaste to the Doctor at Hacilith University: “For the hand of Ella Rayne only. Follow the bearer to Awndyn manor where Lightning lies in a serious condition from rapier wounds. A single thrust pierced his wing twice and made a puncture lesion in his back near the kidneys which pours blood at the slightest provocation. Rapid pulse and dyspnea; the rapier blade was dirty. C.J.S.”

I caught a few hours of sleep but it was late on Monday evening, a full twenty-four hours after we were ambushed, when I felt able to leave Lightning and set out for the Castle.