"It knows I'm here."
The words came out smaller than I wanted.
Elowen's arm tightened around me immediately.
Captain Voss did not dismiss it.
That frightened me more than if he had.
He looked toward the dark forest beyond the Mercy corridor, jaw set, eyes narrowing as if he could somehow see through miles of trees and snow to whatever was waiting on the Council road.
Maera noticed his expression.
"You believe her."
"Yes."
Sable shifted the injured scout's weight against her shoulder.
"You've seen the Mirror Key before?"
Voss looked back at us.
"No."
That answer did not help.
"Then why do you look like that?"
"Because I've seen what remained afterward."
Silence.
Even Maera stopped moving.
The Mercy Spear soldiers around us remained in their loose screening formation, but several of them turned slightly toward Voss.
They knew something.
Maybe not everything.
Enough.
Elowen's voice stayed calm.
"Explain."
Voss exhaled through his nose.
"The Council tested a lesser mirror device six years ago."
"On what?" Maera asked.
"A sealed archive."
Sable's expression changed.
"Just an archive?"
Voss looked at her.
"That was what the report said."
"That wasn't what happened."
"No."
The word landed heavily.
Voss folded the map board beneath one arm.
"The archive contained a bound memory lattice. Covenant-era. No living consciousness, according to the official record."
My stomach tightened anyway.
"According to?"
Voss's eyes flicked toward me.
"According to the people who wanted permission to test the device."
Maera's mouth flattened.
"Convenient."
"The mirror didn't open the archive."
Sable blinked.
"I thought that was the point."
"It was."
Voss's voice became quieter.
"It made the archive try to open itself."
Something cold slid down my spine.
Elowen felt it through the bond.
Her thumb pressed lightly into my shoulder.
Voss continued.
"The structure reflected its own unlocking sequence back into itself. Every ward, every latch, every authorization rule."
He paused.
"The archive began treating its own defenses as the obstruction."
I stared at him.
"That can happen?"
"Apparently."
Maera looked toward me.
"Which is why the stitch matters."
Voss nodded.
"Yes."
The injured scout, still pale beneath the grime on his face, muttered:
"If Rin changed even one hinge, then the reflected architecture won't be exact anymore."
Elowen's gaze sharpened.
"So the Mirror Key expects the original seal."
"Probably," Voss said.
Maera looked at me.
"And Rin is no longer carrying the original seal."
I swallowed.
"Not completely."
"No."
Her eyes remained hard.
"You changed it."
I wasn't sure why hearing that made me nervous.
Maybe because everything about the seal had always felt immutable.
Ancient.
Absolute.
Something done *to* me.
The stitch had been the first thing that belonged to my choice.
Elowen must have felt that thought.
Her bond brushed against mine.
> *Yours.*
I looked up.
She didn't say anything aloud.
She didn't need to.
Voss unfolded the map again.
"We have until dawn."
Maera immediately returned to practical matters.
"How long to the ford?"
"Three hours if we move carefully."
"Two if we don't."
"No."
Maera looked at him.
"No?"
"We arrive exhausted, we lose."
"That assumes we don't lose time anyway."
"We have corridor shelter for most of the route."
"Most?"
Voss pointed to a narrow stretch on the board.
"This section is exposed."
Sable leaned closer.
"What is that?"
"Old charcoal road."
"No Mercy markers?"
"None that survived."
Maera tapped the board.
"Ambush point."
"Yes."
"Council patrol?"
"Possible."
"Unsealers?"
Voss hesitated.
Maera's eyes narrowed.
"Possible."
"Yes."
Sable let out a long breath.
"So our choices are bad road or worse road."
Maera folded her arms.
"Progress."
"That is not what progress means."
"It is tonight."
Voss glanced toward his soldiers.
"We move in two minutes."
Immediately, the Mercy Spear began breaking its loose halt formation.
No shouted commands.
No unnecessary movement.
One soldier took the injured scout from Sable so she could reorganize her tokens.
Another produced a sealed waterskin.
A third checked the bindings around a bundle of white cloth strapped across his back.
Mercy cloth.
The material looked ordinary from a distance.
Off-white.
Heavy weave.
Nothing ceremonial.
But when the soldier adjusted it, my Restoration rune gave a faint answering hum.
I stared.
Voss noticed.
"That reacts to you?"
"A little."
"Good."
Elowen looked at him.
"Why good?"
"Because it means the cloth is still active."
Sable frowned.
"Still?"
"Most Mercy relics degrade."
Maera glanced at the bundle.
"That one?"
"Found sealed in wax."
That immediately got my attention.
"Like the Candle Vault?"
"Same archive system."
Voss stepped toward the soldier.
"Show them."
The soldier removed a folded strip.
Up close, the fabric looked even less impressive.
Thick linen.
Old.
The edges darkened by age.
Voss took one corner carefully.
"No metal threads."
"No visible rune."
He turned it.
"Nothing for Keywork to recognize."
Maera touched the fabric with two fingers.
"What does it do?"
"Absorbs resonance long enough to prevent reflection from stabilizing."
Sable blinked.
"That sounds extremely useful."
"It's temporary."
"Of course it is."
Voss nodded toward another soldier.
The man opened a leather satchel.
Inside sat an iron bowl filled with white wax pellets.
Exactly like the basin in the Candle Vault.
My eyes widened.
"Mercy wax."
Voss nodded.
"It traps residual resonance."
Maera picked up one pellet.
Voss immediately said:
"Don't crush it."
She looked at him.
"Why?"
"It activates under pressure."
Maera stared at the pellet.
Then at Voss.
"You were going to tell us that before we used it?"
"Yes."
"When?"
"Now."
Sable whispered, "I like him."
Maera returned the pellet to the bowl.
"Barely."
Voss ignored that.
"The Mirror Key housing has ventilation channels."
Sable looked at the map.
"How do you know that?"
"We intercepted a courier sketch."
"Reliable?"
"Reliable enough."
Maera looked at him.
"That means not reliable."
"Yes."
Sable groaned.
Voss tapped the bowl.
"If we reach the housing, Mercy wax goes inside."
"And the cloth?" Elowen asked.
"Over the mirrored surfaces."
"Then?"
"We isolate the artifact."
Maera's eyes narrowed.
"You said destroy."
"I said we stop it."
"That wasn't what Elowen said."
Elowen's voice was quiet.
"I said destroy."
Voss looked at her.
"Yes."
A pause.
Then he nodded.
"If we can destroy it safely, we do."
Maera's expression remained dissatisfied.
"If?"
"It's a Covenant artifact."
"So?"
"So smashing unknown Covenant machinery while Rin is resonantly linked to it may be unwise."
That ended the argument.
At least temporarily.
I shifted beneath Elowen's cloak.
"Thank you."
Maera looked at me.
"For what?"
"Not immediately hitting the thing connected to my soul."
"I said nothing."
"You were thinking it."
"Yes."
Sable rubbed her forehead.
"Three hours."
Voss nodded.
"Three hours."
She pointed toward me.
"And she rests."
Elowen answered before anyone else.
"Yes."
I sighed.
"I am right here."
Sable looked at me.
"Excellent. Rest while being right there."
"I don't know how to do that while walking."
Elowen adjusted her hold.
"You aren't walking."
I stared at her.
She stared back.
My argument died.
Maera looked toward the corridor.
"The legendary weapon has been defeated by transportation."
"I hate you."
"No, you don't."
I opened my mouth.
Paused.
"…currently undecided."
Sable laughed.
Even Voss's mouth twitched.
For five seconds—
the world almost felt normal.
Then Voss raised his hand.
"Move."
And Mercy Spear flowed into the night.
---
They did not march like Sanctum soldiers.
That was the first thing I noticed.
Sanctum formations were rigid.
Boots in measured rhythm.
Spacing exact.
A formation designed to announce discipline.
Mercy Spear moved like water.
Pairs.
Loose triangles.
People disappearing behind trees and reappearing farther ahead.
No straight lines.
No repeated step rhythm.
No obvious center.
Except us.
Even that changed constantly.
Sometimes Elowen and I were near Voss.
Sometimes Maera.
Sometimes surrounded by six soldiers.
Sometimes only two remained visible.
The rest were always there.
I could feel them more than see them.
Screening.
Watching.
Guarding.
Not trapping.
That distinction mattered.
More than I wanted to admit.
We crossed the first mile without speaking.
The snow deepened.
Branches sagged beneath white weight.
The sky had gone fully black above the canopy.
No moon.
Only a faint cloud glow.
Occasionally Voss's people touched carved Mercy marks hidden beneath bark.
The marks reacted with tiny pulses of warmth.
Directional.
Acknowledging.
Once, a soldier stopped at a hollow stump and removed a bundle wrapped in waxcloth.
Dried fruit.
Bandages.
Three ward tokens.
A narrow flask of something Sable sniffed suspiciously.
"What is this?"
"Stimulant tonic."
"For who?"
"Anyone who starts falling asleep on watch."
Sable looked at Maera.
Maera stared back.
"No."
"I didn't say anything."
"You were going to."
"I was going to suggest you drink all of it."
"No."
The soldier looked between them.
"Captain?"
Voss kept walking.
"Do not give Sable the stimulant tonic."
Sable looked offended.
"Why me?"
"Because you would drink it."
"That is unfairly accurate."
I buried my face slightly in Elowen's cloak.
Her chest moved with a quiet breath.
Amusement.
I smiled despite myself.
Then something tugged.
My smile disappeared.
It wasn't strong.
Barely more than pressure.
But it was different.
Smooth.
Cold.
A sensation like seeing myself in a mirror from the corner of my eye.
I stiffened.
Elowen noticed immediately.
"Rin?"
Everyone close enough heard the change in her tone.
Voss raised two fingers.
The formation slowed.
I closed my eyes.
Listened.
Nothing.
Then—
there.
A faint pressure touched the seal.
Not from outside.
From—
I struggled for the words.
"My own side."
Elowen's brow furrowed.
"Explain."
"It doesn't feel like something trying to get in."
Another whisper of pressure.
My stomach turned.
"It feels like the seal is…"
I swallowed.
"Looking at itself."
Voss's face hardened.
"Mirror contact."
Maera stopped.
"Already?"
"Probably preliminary sweep."
"How far?"
"We don't know."
"That answer keeps becoming less useful."
Voss ignored her.
He looked at Elowen.
"Can Rin suppress reaction?"
Elowen did not answer for me.
She looked down.
"Can you?"
I checked inward.
The instinct was to brace.
I didn't.
Not yet.
The pressure wasn't turning anything.
Just observing.
I breathed.
"Maybe if I don't answer."
Elowen nodded.
"Then don't."
Her bond settled over mine.
> *Stay dim.*
> *No plate unless needed.*
> *No stitch.*
> *Just Rin.*
I nodded.
The strange reflection touched again.
I whispered silently:
> *Rin.*
The pressure faded.
Voss watched my expression.
"Gone?"
"For now."
Maera looked toward the east.
"It's sweeping."
"Yes."
"How often?"
"We're about to learn."
Sable's face tightened.
"I hate experimental learning."
"Good."
She glared at Maera.
"No. Absolutely not. You don't get that one every time."
Maera resumed walking.
"I just did."
---
The second contact came twenty-three minutes later.
Voss measured it.
I didn't ask why.
I had learned that people like Voss and Maera stored frightening amounts of information without visibly trying.
This time the Mirror pressure lasted longer.
Five seconds.
Maybe six.
It touched the seal.
Moved across the stitched area.
Paused.
Then withdrew.
I opened my eyes.
"It noticed."
Elowen's voice stayed soft.
"What?"
"The stitch."
Maera immediately turned.
"How do you know?"
"It…"
I frowned.
How *did* I know?
"It expected something else."
Voss stepped closer.
"Expected the hinge?"
"Yes."
The answer came immediately.
Too immediately.
Because I could feel the mismatch.
Like a hand reaching for a familiar handle only to find the furniture moved.
Voss exhaled.
"Good."
Elowen looked at him.
"Maybe."
He corrected.
"Useful."
"That's better."
Maera's gaze sharpened.
"The Mirror Key has an outdated map."
"Right now."
Sable frowned.
"Can it update?"
Silence.
That was a very bad silence.
Voss answered carefully.
"Probably."
My stomach sank.
"How?"
"We don't know."
Maera muttered something unpleasant.
Elowen's hand stroked once over my hair.
"Then we don't give it enough time."
Voss nodded.
"That's the entire plan."
Sable looked around.
"That is somehow both reassuring and not reassuring."
---
The corridor ended near an old stone marker.
Half of it had sunk into frozen mud.
No Mercy symbol.
No warmth.
Voss raised his fist.
Everyone stopped.
The exposed section of route began beyond.
Charcoal road.
It deserved the name.
Even beneath snow, black fragments of burned timber showed along the edges.
Decades ago, wagons must have hauled charcoal from the hills.
Now the road was little more than a shallow scar between trees.
Too straight.
Too open.
Maera hated it immediately.
I could tell.
Her entire face became slightly more Maera.
Which was impressive.
"Sightlines."
"Bad," Voss said.
"Cover."
"Intermittent."
"Exit?"
"Three hundred yards."
"Too long."
"Yes."
Sable shifted the token pouch at her belt.
"Can we go around?"
"Adds two hours."
"No."
Maera looked at Voss.
"That was my line."
"Tonight it's mine."
A small flicker of approval crossed her face.
Elowen adjusted my blanket.
"You stay completely folded."
"I know."
"No looking."
"I wasn't going to."
Maera stared at me.
"You were."
"I might have."
"Exactly."
Voss signaled.
Four Mercy Spear soldiers crossed first.
One at a time.
No sound.
They vanished into the trees on the far side.
Two more followed.
Then Voss.
Maera.
Sable.
Elowen and me.
The injured scout stayed between another pair.
The moment we stepped onto the charcoal road—
I felt exposed.
Not visually.
Magically.
The forest's protection disappeared.
No Mercy marks.
No old shelter architecture.
Just open space.
The seal became more noticeable.
Like cold air touching skin after blankets were removed.
Elowen felt my unease.
> *With me.*
> *With you.*
We crossed.
Ten yards.
Twenty.
Thirty.
A branch snapped.
Maera stopped.
Not ours.
Voss's hand moved.
His soldiers vanished into fighting positions.
Sable pulled a token.
Elowen turned.
Lumenward remained sheathed.
But ready.
I listened.
No Mirror pressure.
No Keywork.
Then a figure stepped onto the road ahead.
Sanctum armor.
Polished.
A patrol.
Four more emerged behind him.
The patrol commander stared at Voss.
For one second—
nobody moved.
Then recognition.
"Captain."
Voss said nothing.
The man's eyes moved across the Mercy-marked soldiers.
His face changed.
"You abandoned command."
Voss's voice remained flat.
"Command abandoned itself."
The soldier's jaw tightened.
"You are ordered to surrender Lady Elowen and the relic."
My body tensed.
Elowen's hand immediately settled on my back.
Voss did not even glance toward us.
"No."
The patrol commander stared.
"You know the penalty."
"Yes."
"You know what they'll call this."
"Yes."
"Treason."
Voss's expression did not change.
"Then write it correctly."
The patrol commander's hand moved toward his sword.
Mercy Spear moved first.
Not weapons.
Positions.
Suddenly every member of the patrol had two angles on them.
No blades drawn.
No attacks.
Just certainty.
Maera rested her hand on the grip of her crescent blade.
The patrol commander looked at her.
Then at Voss.
Then at Elowen.
Finally—
at me.
His face tightened.
I expected fear.
Or disgust.
Or that horrible blank calculation people used when they looked at me and saw an artifact.
Instead—
he looked exhausted.
"Is it true?"
Elowen's expression hardened.
"What?"
"The Council sent Unsealers."
Voss answered.
"Yes."
The commander's hand left his sword.
One of his soldiers whispered:
"Captain…"
He ignored them.
"They told us the Unsealers were for containment."
Maera laughed once.
No humor.
"Containment."
The man looked at me again.
"Did they try to open her?"
Elowen's voice became ice.
"Yes."
Something inside the patrol commander broke.
Not visibly.
Barely.
A shift in posture.
A man discovering the institution behind him had stepped across a line he had spent years pretending existed.
He looked down.
Then stepped aside.
His soldiers stared.
"Sir?"
He didn't look at them.
"We saw no one."
Silence.
Voss regarded him for several seconds.
Then nodded.
"Thank you."
The commander finally looked up.
"Don't thank me."
"Why?"
"Because I don't know what I'll do when the next order comes."
Voss's face softened slightly.
"You'll decide then."
The man swallowed.
"Go."
Maera started forward.
The patrol commander added:
"Captain."
Voss stopped.
"White-gold robes are moving with the courier convoy."
Voss's expression hardened.
"How many?"
"One."
The injured scout breathed out.
Sable looked toward Voss.
"That's the higher Unsealer."
The patrol commander frowned.
"You know?"
"We suspected."
The man nodded toward the east.
"They passed an hour ago."
Voss glanced at the sky.
"They're early."
"Yes."
"How early?"
"Maybe forty minutes."
Maera swore.
Voss's head snapped toward his soldiers.
"Move."
The patrol commander stepped farther aside.
His men followed.
As we passed, he did not look at me again.
Maybe that was kindness.
Maybe shame.
I wasn't sure.
Behind us, one of his soldiers whispered:
"Sir, what do we report?"
The commander answered:
"Tracks lost in weather."
Maera muttered:
"He'll be arrested."
Voss didn't turn.
"Yes."
Sable looked back once.
"Can we help them?"
"No."
Her face tightened.
"That's awful."
"Yes."
Voss kept moving.
"But if we stop for every person deciding whether to become brave, none of us reach the ford."
That silenced everyone.
Even Sable.
---
We reached Mercy cover again twelve minutes later.
The moment the first hidden mark acknowledged us, my shoulders loosened.
Voss did not slow.
"They're ahead of schedule."
Maera matched his pace.
"Then we cut rest."
Elowen's voice sharpened.
"No."
Maera looked back.
"Rin needs what reservoir she has."
"She'll have less if the Mirror Key reaches position before us."
"She'll have nothing if we spend her getting there."
"I didn't say spend her."
"You said cut rest."
"For us."
A beat.
Elowen's expression eased slightly.
"Fine."
Sable whispered to me:
"They communicate almost entirely through threats."
I whispered back:
"I noticed."
Maera called from ahead.
"I can hear both of you."
Sable smiled.
"Good."
We moved faster.
Not running.
But close.
Mercy Spear adjusted without complaint.
The formation compressed.
Scouts ranged farther ahead.
Voss began receiving silent reports from hand signals.
Route clear.
No patrol.
Possible tracks.
Fresh wagon wheel.
Then—
halt.
One scout crouched beside a tree and pointed to the snow.
Voss knelt.
Maera beside him.
I couldn't see from Elowen's arms.
Which was terrible.
"What?"
Elowen sighed.
"Rin."
"I'm just asking."
"Wheel tracks."
Voss heard.
"Two wagons."
Sable frowned.
"Two?"
"Convoy support."
Maera pointed at something.
"Mounted escort."
"How many?"
"Hard to tell."
Voss stood.
"Minimum twelve."
Sable counted our people.
"We have twelve."
"Fourteen with us," Maera said.
Sable looked at the injured scout.
"Thirteen and a half."
He glared.
"I can fight."
"No."
Three people said it simultaneously.
He looked personally betrayed.
I almost laughed.
Then the Mirror pressure hit.
Harder.
My entire body went rigid.
The seal vibrated.
Not turning.
Scanning.
A cold image of my own structure pressed across my awareness.
My stitch.
Brace plate.
Mercy tag.
Everything.
I gasped.
Elowen stopped instantly.
> *Rin.*
I couldn't answer.
The reflection moved.
Looking.
Learning.
My stomach rolled.
It wasn't painful.
That was almost worse.
It was intimate.
Like someone rifling through the shape of my bones without touching me.
> *Rin.*
Elowen's bond tightened.
I forced a breath.
> *Here.*
> *Does it need a brace?*
I checked.
No turn.
No command.
Just observation.
> *No.*
> *Good.*
Her presence wrapped around me.
> *Then give it nothing.*
I clenched my teeth.
The Mirror pressure lingered.
Ten seconds.
Fifteen.
Then—
gone.
I sagged.
Voss's face had gone grim.
"That was longer."
"Yes."
"It's acquiring."
Maera's eyes narrowed.
"How many more sweeps before it has enough?"
"No idea."
"Guess."
Voss looked toward the east.
"One."
Elowen's head snapped toward him.
"One?"
"Maybe two."
Sable swore.
Maera stood.
"Then we're done walking."
Voss nodded.
"We run."
I expected Elowen to object.
Instead she pulled my blanket tighter.
"Hold on."
I wrapped my arms around her neck.
"You mean physically?"
"Yes."
"Oh."
Maera looked over.
"Concerned?"
"No."
"You should be."
Then the entire formation accelerated.
---
Running through snow while being carried is humiliating.
Running through snow while being carried by someone who does not seem remotely tired enough to justify putting you down is worse.
I decided not to mention this.
Mostly because my face was buried in Elowen's shoulder and my teeth were occupied with not biting my tongue every time she jumped a root.
Mercy Spear moved fast.
Faster than I expected heavily armored soldiers to move.
Voss led.
Maera disappeared forward with two scouts.
Sable somehow ran while keeping track of the injured scout and reorganizing tokens.
The forest blurred.
My job was simple.
Stay folded.
Stay dim.
Do nothing.
That should have been easy.
It wasn't.
Every part of me hated being passive while everyone else worked.
Old instinct.
Old purpose.
Weapon thinks threat means action.
Elowen's bond touched mine.
> *You're helping.*
I frowned.
> *I'm being carried.*
> *Yes.*
> *That's not helping.*
> *You're not draining your reservoir.*
A pause.
> *That is helping.*
I hated when she was correct.
> *Still embarrassing.*
> *Survive first. Complain later.*
I almost smiled.
Then trees opened ahead.
Maera stood on a ridge.
Her fist rose.
Everyone stopped.
Below us—
water.
Black beneath ice.
A shallow river cut across the forest.
Its banks narrowed at a stone crossing.
The ford.
Dawn had not arrived yet.
But the eastern sky had begun to gray.
Enough light to see the stones.
Enough darkness to hide between trees.
Voss descended first.
The entire unit spread into positions with practiced speed.
Maera crouched beside a boulder near the near bank.
Sable opened her token pouch.
The injured scout was placed behind cover with two soldiers despite his increasingly creative objections.
Elowen carried me toward a cluster of rocks overlooking the ford.
Voss joined us.
"Convoy is maybe twenty minutes out."
Maera looked over.
"Maybe?"
"Tracks say they're moving slower than the patrol estimated."
"Good."
"Maybe."
"You really enjoy that word."
"No."
Elowen lowered me carefully onto a bed of pine branches behind the stones.
My legs immediately reminded me how weak they were.
She caught my shoulder before I tipped.
I glared at the ground.
"It moved."
"The ground?"
"Yes."
Elowen stared.
"That is your defense?"
"Yes."
"Poor defense."
"I'm tired."
"I know."
She crouched.
Adjusted my hood.
Pulled the star blanket around my shoulders.
Tucked the edges beneath my arms.
Armor.
Not steel.
Warmth.
Voss knelt beside the map board.
"Positions."
He pointed.
"Maera disrupts the escort here."
A shallow bend just before the ford.
"Why there?"
"Wagon can't turn cleanly."
She nodded.
"Sable."
"Evac."
"And secondary disruption."
Sable looked satisfied.
"Better."
"Two Mercy pairs on each bank."
Soldiers nodded.
"Cut harness when wagon commits."
Elowen looked toward him.
"And you?"
Voss touched the folded Mercy cloth at his belt.
"I reach the Mirror housing."
"The white-gold Unsealer?"
Maera answered.
"Mine."
Voss immediately said:
"No."
She turned slowly.
"No?"
"You disrupt."
"I can do both."
"You cannot guarantee that."
"Neither can you."
Elowen interrupted before this became whatever Maera considered discussion.
"Maera disrupts the Unsealer if necessary."
Voss looked at her.
"She doesn't chase."
Maera said nothing.
Voss waited.
Maera stared at him.
Finally:
"Fine."
Sable whispered:
"That was terrifying."
I nodded.
Voss looked at Elowen.
"You stay with Rin."
"Yes."
"No pursuit."
"Yes."
"No attempt to reach the artifact."
Elowen's eyes narrowed.
"Unless needed."
Voss almost objected.
Then saw her expression.
"Fine."
He turned toward me.
"And Rin—"
Elowen's hand settled on my shoulder.
Not warning him.
Reminding everyone.
Voss corrected before he made a mistake.
"Rin stays dim."
I nodded.
"If the artifact sweeps?"
"You don't answer unless it begins actively turning the seal."
Elowen looked at me.
"Then?"
I swallowed.
"Ask first."
Voss nodded.
"Exactly."
Sable looked between us.
"I can't believe that's become an actual battlefield doctrine."
Maera checked the edge of her crescent blade.
"It works."
"It does."
Voss lifted the iron bowl.
"Mercy wax goes into the housing vent."
He handed half the pellets to another soldier.
"If I miss, second team finishes."
The soldier nodded.
"Mercy cloth over the outer plates."
Another nod.
"Do not look directly into reflective surfaces."
That made everyone pause.
Sable frowned.
"You waited until now?"
"It matters now."
"What happens if we do?"
"Unknown."
Sable stared at him.
Voss continued:
"Courier notes say handlers use smoked lenses."
Maera looked toward the road.
"Then treat every plate like a hostile eye."
"Yes."
I pulled my hood lower.
"Easy."
Elowen looked at me.
"You aren't looking."
"I said easy."
"You said that while trying to peek around me."
"I was checking terrain."
Maera spoke without turning.
"She was peeking."
Traitor.
Elowen moved directly into my line of sight.
Now all I could see was cloak.
I sighed.
Voss stood.
"One more thing."
Everyone looked at him.
"If the artifact becomes active before we suppress it, no one follows a voice that comes from the mirror."
The air suddenly felt colder.
Sable stared.
"What voice?"
"Any voice."
"Voss."
"I don't know."
"You keep saying that."
"Because I'm not going to invent answers."
Maera's eyes sharpened.
"Could imitate commands."
"Yes."
"Elowen?"
"Possible."
My stomach dropped.
Voss looked at me.
"Rin."
Elowen moved closer.
"If you hear me from anywhere except here—"
She took my hand.
"—you check the bond."
I nodded.
"Always?"
"Always."
"What if it sounds exactly like you?"
"Bond first."
"What if—"
"Rin."
Her hand squeezed mine.
"You know me here."
The anchor warmed.
Deep.
Steady.
Not voice.
Not sound.
Presence.
I swallowed.
"Yes."
"Good."
Maera rose.
"The same rule applies to everyone."
Sable looked toward her.
"If I hear you being nice, it's the mirror."
Maera stared.
"Yes."
Sable smiled.
"Excellent."
For some reason that helped.
A little.
---
We waited.
The hardest thing in the world.
Waiting.
No movement.
No fighting.
Nothing to distract me from my own thoughts.
The sky lightened slowly.
Black became deep blue.
Blue became gray.
The river moved beneath thin ice with a low continuous whisper.
Occasionally one sheet cracked against a stone.
No one spoke.
Mercy Spear became invisible.
Maera crouched farther downstream.
Sable hid near the planned evac path.
Voss lay behind a fallen trunk with the wax basin beside him.
Elowen remained with me.
One knee in the snow.
Lumenward across her thighs.
Her hand never fully left me.
Five minutes.
Ten.
The Mirror Key brushed me again.
I inhaled.
Elowen's eyes snapped toward mine.
I shook my head.
"No turn."
She nodded.
We waited.
The reflection withdrew.
Another five minutes.
Then—
sound.
Faint.
Regular.
Boots.
Far away.
A wheel hitting frozen ruts.
Once.
Twice.
Then again.
Every Mercy soldier seemed to stop breathing at the same time.
Maera's hand rose.
Not the attack signal.
Prepare.
Voss touched the Mercy cloth.
Sable's fingers closed around a token.
Elowen pulled me deeper beneath the cloak.
Through the smallest gap between two rocks, I saw movement between the trees on the far road.
White.
Gold.
Sanctum escort.
The first soldier appeared.
Then another.
Mounted.
Polished armor.
Far cleaner than Voss's people.
Then infantry.
Controlled spacing.
No conversation.
No wasted movement.
A second rank.
And behind them—
the wagon.
My blood went cold.
It wasn't large.
That somehow made it worse.
A heavy rectangular frame on four reinforced wheels.
Dark wood almost completely hidden beneath overlapping metal plates.
Mirrored metal.
But not normal mirrors.
They didn't reflect the forest properly.
Trees bent across them.
Snow appeared darker.
The sky seemed too deep.
Runes had been engraved across every plate in concentric patterns.
Even from this distance—
I felt them.
The seal inside me twitched.
Elowen's arm tightened.
> *Stay dim.*
> *I am.*
The wagon entered the open road leading toward the ford.
Two horses pulled it.
Their eyes were covered with dark cloth.
They couldn't see the mirrors.
My stomach turned.
Then I saw the rider beside it.
White robe.
Gold thread.
No armor.
No visible weapon.
The robe was immaculate despite the snow.
A hood hid the face.
The gold patterns weren't decorative.
They formed key geometry down the sleeves.
Every line converged at the hands.
My seal gave one hard tug.
I gasped.
Elowen shifted closer.
> *Rin.*
> *It's him.*
I didn't know how I knew.
The white-gold Unsealer.
The higher one.
The hood turned.
Not toward me.
Not yet.
Toward the ford.
Calm.
Confident.
As if the entire forest were already an open door.
The convoy slowed.
The lead escort reached the stones.
One rider crossed.
Then another.
Voss remained still.
Maera remained still.
No signal.
The Mirror wagon rolled closer.
The wheels reached the riverbank.
A horse snorted.
The first wheel dropped onto the stone approach.
Then the second.
The wagon committed.
No easy turn.
No retreat without backing the entire convoy.
A throat.
Maera's hand appeared above the rocks.
Open.
Wait.
The wagon rolled farther.
Halfway onto the crossing.
The white-gold Unsealer suddenly stopped.
Every muscle in my body locked.
Their head turned.
Slowly.
Toward the near bank.
Toward the rocks.
Toward—
me.
The mirrored plates shimmered.
My seal rattled.
Hard.
The almost-name rose from deep inside like something waking beneath black water.
Elowen's bond slammed around mine.
> *Rin.*
I clenched my fists beneath the blanket.
> *I'm here.*
The white-gold hood remained pointed directly at our hiding place.
Across the river, the Unsealer lifted one hand.
The Mirror Key answered.
A faint silver pulse moved across the wagon's plates.
My breath stopped.
The reflection touched the seal.
Not a sweep.
Not this time.
A grip.
The Unsealer spoke.
Their voice crossed the river without effort.
Calm.
Certain.
"Relic responds."
Maera's open hand closed into a fist.
**Now.**