was dead, or at least well and truly dying. Pevan pushed a Gateway up to the brow, far enough from Rel to be safe. Even as the Gate swirled open beside her, she was springing to her feet. She dropped through the Gate in the same motion.
The wind was the first thing that hit her, with Rel’s glare a moment behind it. He spun on the spot as she emerged, eyes wide with Clearsight. The Separatist’s remains had already been claimed and scattered by the wind, glittering where the Warding melted them.
She started to walk towards Rel. "You made short work of that."
He wiped sweat from his forehead, stretching awkwardly to keep his arm away from his field of vision. “Of course. My ninth, one-on-one.”
“You’re not supposed to be keeping score.” As she approached, Pevan tried to judge how the fight had gone. She couldn’t see so much as a scratch on her brother.
He shrugged. “Did you have any luck in town?”
“No. They were waiting for us. Arrested us before we could get anywhere.”
“Atla? Chag?” He didn’t flinch or hesitate at Chag’s name. In action, it seemed, Gifted were Gifted.
“Dunno about Atla.” She took a deep breath and swallowed. “I had to leave Chag at Horvin’s mercy, though I think he’d blinked.”
Rel’s face darkened. “You Gated them away? Far enough?”
“We’ll have to hope so. I didn’t get a lot of time to come up with anything. They’re at our campsite from last night.” She offered him a wry smile. “Looks like it’s just us to rescue Taslin.”
“Thoughts?”
It was her turn to shrug. “Might as well Gate straight to the Warding Hall. If they’re waiting for us again, at least we’ll be closer to where we want to go.”
“How’s your fatigue?” He put the question bluntly, but not condescendingly. She’d long since taught him that lesson.
Still, she closed her eyes and tried to explore the inside of her own skull. Things maybe felt a little heavier than ideal, but nothing serious. “I’m fine. You?”
“I’ve got hours to play with. Let’s get moving.”
She nodded, then turned to study the town. The Warding Hall stood out in virtue of a high-peaked shingle roof, clearly the tallest building in the valley besides one distant barn. From this angle, she could just about make out one corner of the small town square. Were there people moving down there?
All she needed to do was point, and Rel turned his Gifted perception to the question. After a moment with his neck craning and a hand held high above his head to shield his eyes from the sun, he whispered, “Clear.”
Pevan reached out for the visible patch of the square and her mind bounced back, hard enough to hurt. It was as if she’d tried to Gate directly to the dais in the Warding Hall, right next to the Stable Rods. She frowned and tried again, more gently, probing. Something was definitely Warding the square.
To Rel, she hissed, “We’re expected.”
“How- The Warder.”
“Yeah.”
He squinted. “I don’t see him. Take us to the bottom of the hill?”
“How do you feel about rooftops?”
That drew a toothy grin from him. “House opposite the Hall looks promising.”
“We should have thought of it sooner. Anyone on the rooftops at all?”
“Not that I can see. Hold on.” His voice turned distant as he finished. When she turned to look at him, his eyes were downcast, pointing far past the Realm at their feet. Exploring the future. A sharp gust of wind, dry and dusty, blasted the ridge, and Pevan stepped closer to Rel, trying to offer him a little more shelter. He probably didn’t need it, though his eyes were watering noticeably. After a long moment, he said, “It’s safe, as far as I can tell.”
She tried to reach the rooftop, tentatively again. The Gate met resistance, probably more than it should even that close to a Warding Hall, but she shoved it through with a grunt. Rel jumped so quickly that she almost panicked, thinking he’d been pulled through somehow. Nothing to do but follow him, though.
The roof didn’t quite match the slope of the hillside where she’d made the Gate, so she emerged at a slight angle relative to its pitch, but with Rel’s help – how had he found his balance so quickly? – she got to stable footing, one hand on the peak of the roof. She held the Gate open for a few seconds in case of another ambush, but none came. Rel shot her another grin as she let the Gate go.
His grin slipped a bit as he turned to look down into the street below. “So how do we get down?”
“We’ll jump. Carefully.” It was her turn to grin. The street was empty of people. Where were the rest of Ilbertin’s Gifted? If Chag had been lucky, they didn’t have Horvin to deal with, but that still left four Gifted, plus the Sheriff and his men. And whoever lived in the house they were standing on. Their landing hadn’t exactly been quiet.
His tone grim, Rel said, “Archers.”
He was staring at the Warding Hall door again. Pevan felt her stomach tighten. There was no reason to put archers in place unless they had orders to shoot on sight. Nothing else would give a Clearseer pause. The archers wouldn’t be Gifted, and probably wouldn’t be guards either, just hunters from the town. And if ordinary civvies were prepared to kill them, there would be no negotiating.
Though her skin was tingling and her voice sounded distant in her ears, she clenched her teeth and said, “Which way do the doors open?”
“Inwards.” He didn’t look at her, but his eyes narrowed slightly. “I can get it open for you.”
“Where are the archers?”
“First pillar. Stay up here until I’m in.” He turned to look down into the street again, let himself begin to slide down the roof.
Not willing to let him give all the orders unchallenged, she snipped, “Good luck.”
At that, he did scowl at her, but he didn’t rise to the bait. Instead, he dropped into the street. Pevan held her breath, straining her ears for sounds of a struggle, but after a moment Rel appeared again, sprinting towards the Warding Hall.
Pevan crawled right to the peak of the roof’s rough gable and pressed herself flat, her arms held against the wall below. Hopefully that would give her some purchase if Chaiya struck again, and it would probably provide a decent view of the inside of the Hall.
Rel ran straight at the door. He wouldn’t try to barge in, so how was he going to get the door open? She didn’t try to guess. There wasn’t time. She fixed her stare on him, put all thoughts out of her mind. The angle of Rel’s run changed, twisting slightly sideways, and she could see what he was going to do.
He jumped and hit the door feet first, pushing off as it resisted. Momentum carried him past the opening, dropping him against the wall as the doors swung open, catch smashed. Pevan thought she could make out one arrow emerging from the gloom, but only one. She stabbed outwards with her mind, trying to feel where the archers were stood. The doors might not stay open long. She needed to give Rel every advantage she could.
It worked. Her Gate snapped open under the front foot of one, uniting that patch of paved floor with the grit street by Rel. He reached back, barely needing to look, and grabbed the emerging ankle. There was some motion too complex for her eyes to track at this range, and the two men changed places.
She closed the Gate, opened another to move the archer to the next valley, out of harm’s way. How long did she need to leave before it was safe to get to the Hall? How long did she dare leave Rel alone? Where was Atla? Would Chag be okay?
The roof shook with a heavy footstep, just enough warning that Pevan was able to roll out of the way of the kick aimed at her head. No way to control the roll. She caught a glimpse of Chaiya as she turned over. Then she was sliding, tumbling sideways off the roof. She managed to get a Gateway open beneath herself – why hadn’t Chaiya thought to get there first? – and found herself flopping out onto grass.
No, bad move. This was where she’d just put the archer. Back to the town, to the spot by the Warding Hall door where she’d taken
the archer from. She needed to get to her feet, but her Gateway was the only place Chaiya couldn’t put a Gate of her own.
Pevan grabbed the edges of her Gateway and started to push herself up against them, but Chaiya charged out of the wall of the Warding Hall. Her knee took Pevan in the ribs, and both of them went back down flat on the grit. Pevan gasped as the ground scraped her chin.
Tears came to her eyes, but she couldn’t take a pause. Chaiya was already scrambling clear, half-way up from hands and knees to standing. Pevan let her Gate go, rolled onto her back, and vaulted upright. Another trick to thank Rel for.
Before she could decide whether to Gate away herself or target Chaiya, the other woman was on her feet. She spun to face Pevan, eyes narrow, lips pulled back in a feral snarl. “Where’s Horvin? What did you do with him?”
Ah. Well, he was a handsome lad. Pevan wasn’t about to let the psychological advantage go to waste. “I left him at Chag’s tender mercies.” No need to mention just how feeble Chag could be.
Chaiya lunged forwards, actually roaring. Pevan sidestepped, released the Gate she’d been spinning under her own feet. It snapped into place just as Chaiya reached that spot. The girl toppled, arms flailing, but Pevan had held the Gate short and there was nothing Chaiya could do. Her face smacked into the rim of the opening.
That stunned her long enough that Pevan could push her through and close the Gate altogether. Hopefully between the head injury and the rage, Chaiya would be out of