Chapter Fifteen

- Part II -

SIX MONTHS LATER

Ven leapt from one rooftop to the next, her slippered feet barely making a noise as her feet touched clay shingles. The moons Morion and Aurion were full and bright, casting the skyline of Transel in a mixture of grey and blue light. The third, Axion, was nothing but a faint red sliver near the horizon. It would be weeks before it cycled around to give the world its bloodlit hue again. The next rooftop rose to a sharp spire, and Ven had to force herself into a different landing angle at the last moment to grab the iron spike at its top to keep herself from an uncontrollable slide into a precipitous fall.

Pulling herself back upright, she jerked her head towards the dark shape that rushed past the outer edge of her vision. It was already gone, but she could hear the faintest click as it touched down on the next roof over. She knew better than to try and see it. There wouldn’t be anything there.

Her instincts screamed at her to move, and she trusted them as she leapt off the spire and into open air over the street a hundred feet below. No sooner had she done so than something whistled faintly behind her, and she turned to see a jet of perfectly cut shingle pieces shoot from the place she’d just stood. As the air rushed past her, she pulled two knives from sheaths across her chest, their Names shining to life as she shot them towards the rapidly approaching wall on the other side of the street. Both buried themselves to the hilt into the wooden crossbeam between two sections of plaster just in time for her to grab them and stop her fall. With a strong jerk, she threw her body up and past the two daggers so that she landed gently on each handle with her feet. Sensing another pending attack, she balanced on one of the handles and commanded the other knife to pull free and rebury itself several feet in front of her. Doing this in quick succession, she was able to run up the side of the wall, using the two blade handles as a traveling staircase until she reached the building’s flat-topped roof. Once there, she commanded the weapons into her hands and braced for what was about to happen.

Ven had just enough time to turn before the dark shape was upon her. It whirled, a lightning fast cut barely missing her throat, and a second whistling less than an inch from her midsection as she danced out of the way. Commanding the knives in her hands into action, she sent them flying into the shadowy mass as she dove back and pulled her sword from the sheath on her back.

The two daggers whirled around the shape, cutting and thrusting, but meeting with nothing but steel or air as the form strode towards her, its curved sword bared and gleaming in the moonlight. It raised a hand, and Ven jumped out of the way as a searing jet of orange-red flame scorched the air where she’d just stood. As she regained her feet, she felt the faint tearing in her mind that always came when a Name was lost. Both daggers she’d been commanding clattered to the rooftop in glowing molten lumps, causing the plaster to sizzle faintly and shoot small plumes of smoke into the air between them.

“I liked those two, you know.” She said, pulling another knife from her thigh into her free hand and absent-mindedly toying with it. “I hope you plan on replacing them”.

The dark shape said nothing, its approach unperturbed. Then, in a blink, it was upon her. Ven barely had time to get her sword up before its blade cleaved downwards, threatening to split her in half. The blow was hard enough to rattle her teeth, and she was afraid that it was going to crush the rooftop beneath the two of them and send them tumbling down into the building interior below. Had she not been using magic of her own to resist it, it probably would have launched them all the way to the basement.

Ven pivoted, letting her opponent’s blade slide off her own before snapping her wrist around to cut at the shape’s shoulder. At the same time, she threw the knife in her free hand past the shape, commanding it to spin back and bury itself in the shape’s back. Her sword glanced off the shape’s weapon as it countered. Then, in what seemed to be an almost preternatural prediction, it used this parry to shift its body out of the way at the last possible moment so that her knife rocketed past its shoulder and straight for her heart.

Having no other choice, Ven spoke a Word of Power as she threw her hand out in front of herself. A wave of euphoria shot up her arm and rushed through her body in a torrent, nearly sweeping her consciousness away with it as the barrier she conjured stopped the knife with a solid thunk. She then rode the wave of pleasure further, hurling a wave of concussive energy from her fingertips that sent the barrier rocketing forward into the dark shape in front of her. It slammed into it, and for a brief moment, it looked as though the magic was going to carry it off its feet and send it flying off the roof.

To Ven’s horror, no such thing happened. What happened instead took less than a second. The shape caught the barrier with one hand, as though it were catching a paper kite, morphed its shape in its hands, and hurled it back as a giant ball of concussive energy. The ball caught Ven square in the chest, and knocked the breath from her lungs as it sent her tumbling end over end until she flew off the edge of the rooftop in a disoriented jumble of limbs.

The street below rushed up to meet her as she tried to regain her senses. Acting purely on instinct, she threw a hand out, willing something out in front of her to try and deaden her impact. She succeeded in converting the ground in front of her into sand just in time to bellyflop into it with enough force to crack a couple ribs. White stars of pain exploded in front of her eyes, and she groaned loudly as she rolled over onto her back and stared blearily up at the sky. A dark shape landed next to her, and the flat of a familiar crimson blade tapped her on the cheek.

“You’re dead, kid.” Master Eujin said nonchalantly as he offered her a hand.

Ven scowled up at him.

“Swive off.” She said, ignoring his hand and forcing herself to her feet.

“Ah ah, language.” Eujin said, sheathing Scarlet Whisper.

“Oh, how rude of me.” Ven said, brushing herself off. “Please Swive off, Master.”

Master Eujin gave her a wry look, but changed the topic as she set about retrieving and sheathing her sword.

“You’re getting better with your knives. Using them to run up the side of the wall like that was a nice touch. But you’re still relying too much on your Nomenmancy in fights and neglecting your other skills. That little stunt with the barrier was far too predictable. And you barely even swung your sword this time.” He said.

“Why is it bad to focus on doing what I’m good at?” Ven asked, wincing at the fresh stab of pain in her side.

“You are supposed to be good at everything, kid. Everyone in this business who isn’t either doesn’t get work, or doesn’t live long enough to get paid if they do. We’ve been over this.”

Ven caught the dagger she commanded down from the rooftop and slid it back into its thigh sheath.

“But I am good at everything.” She said.

Master Eujin cocked an eyebrow at her.

“You so sure about that?” He asked.

Ven locked eyes with him until he finally snorted.

“Alright then. If you’re so certain, then I think it’s time for you to find out just how capable you actually are.” He said, turning to leave.

“Wait, what do you mean?” Ven asked, following after him.

“I mean, I think it’s time for you to take your first job, if you’re really so confident in your skills. No better way to find out if you’re good enough to make it than to throw you in and see just how well you handle it without my help.” He said.

Ven’s eyes widened.

“Oh gods, you’re actually serious.”

Eujin said nothing, but the look on his face told her enough.

“I said I was good. I didn’t say I was ready!” She said, feeling a small wave of panic.

“Too late for that, kid. Maybe next time you’ll think before you speak.” He said, giving her a wink that made her want to punch him in the face. Without another word, he leapt up onto the side of building next to them, and in a few short leaps disappeared onto the rooftop.

Ven stared up at where he disappeared, then cursed under her breath. She’d never even gotten to follow him on his own missions before, and now she was suddenly going to be doing one without his help? She leapt up onto the wall, scrambling and leaping up the same route he’d just taken.

Things were about to get really, really interesting. And not necessarily in a good way.