Ammonite

Something moved.

She looked up, blinked, tried to focus. There, behind a tree. Sweet gods. It must be seven feet tall. Goth? Cyarnac? Had she come all this way just to get eaten by something like a huge teddy bear? I know a teddy bear, silver eyes and lots of hair, zipping ripping on the plain, kitting until we’re all slain… Maybe she was imagining it. Yes, she had imagined it. No such thing as giant teddy bears. She crawled on.

A woman stepped out from nowhere.

Marghe blinked again, waited for the mirage to disappear. When it did not, Marghe reached slowly, painfully for her knife. The woman’s taar skin boots and cap, the sling and palo on her belt, were all too familiar, even if the carved disk of bone at her belt was strange and her face was one Marghe had never seen before. She would kill, the woman or herself, before being taken hostage again.

The woman stepped closer, but not within knife range.

“I am Leifin. Daughter of Jess and Bejuoen and Rolyn. Soestre to Kristen.”

“Where are you from?” Marghe’s voice was a whispery croak.

Leifin leaned forward, trying to catch what she said. “I am Leifin. There is no need for your knife.” She took another step forward. “How are you named, stranger? Who are you?”

Marghe thought about that. Who was she? She was not sure. “Where are you from?” she croaked again. The knife point glittered before her eyes.

“Where am I from?” Leifin gestured behind her. “Ollfoss. Three days’ walk away or more.”

The knife point wavered. Ollfoss. Ollfoss. Marghe fell on her face in the snow.

Chapter Nine

THE GYM’S NEON strips were too bright after the cool grays of Jeep’s winter light. Da

Kahn waited, her en gardeperfect but for a slight overextension. Da

Neon swam down her blade, twitched as Kahn effortlessly cut over and landed the buttoned tip against Da

“The derobement,” Kahn said. “I’d like you to try it with a disengage, then lunge.”

This time it was Da

“You’re bending your wrist again.” Da

The world focused down to the two blades, her own steady, waiting, Kahn’s moving closer, reflecting light like the scales of a predatory pike. Da

They parted.

“Again.”

Kahn’s mesh mask glittered like the compound eye of an insect. Metal mask, metal foil. Metal.

Da

Metal. If Company abandoned them, these foils would be useful, not as weapons but as trade. She extended her arm. The blades were steel, on these foils at least. Some of the others were composites, some energy blades, some smart blades. Kahn was a traditionalist: learn the basics first, she had said, you can always adapt a sound technique. So they used steel‑bladed foils with aluminum bell guards and brass pommels. Three different metals.

Kahn laid her foil alongside Da

All different kinds of metal: different trade values. And there were other metals available, like the chain‑link of the fence.

Kahn beat aside her blade, thrust hard. “You’re not paying attention.” She feinted and thrust again, forcing Da

“Better.” Kahn drove her back.

The fence. It was important, but she could not concentrate with Kahn’s blade flashing. The fence. Metal. If they took it down, melted it…

Kahn’s button punched into Da

Da

Da

“So when we take down the perimeter fence,” Da

“You don’t need to sell it so hard.”

Da

“I’m surprised you didn’t think of sharpening up the foils and using them as weapons.”

Da

“You’ve done a lot of thinking.”

“Yes.”

“Good. So have I. Da

It was night, and Vincio was off duty, when the call from Sara aboard Estradecame through to Da

“Ha

“It’s the same frequency, Commander.”

“Hold on.” Da

“No. But a preliminary scan shows it at the north end, maybe northwest end of Port.”

Da

“I hear and obey.”

Da

“Problems?” Sara asked from the screen.

“No. Just Dogias being herself.” She shook her head. “Hold a moment.” She punched up Lu Wai’s call. “Sergeant, we have the signal.”

“Yes, ma’am. I heard. I’m here with Letitia. I’m on it.”

“Initial direction is north, or northwest. Take Kahn.”

“Yes, ma’am.”