The girl was… dead. Well and truly dead. Her glassy eyes stared at nothing, and Kaelen wasn’t able to sense any life energy coming from her.

  The Dark Lord couldn’t help but shake his head.

  He would not mourn her, of course. For a moment, he even contemplated taking back the sphere he had given her earlier as a downpayment. But that would have been beneath him.

  A single sphere was not of much value to the Dark Lord. Besides, despite her insolence, the girl had played the part that he wrote for her. She deserved that much, at least.

  The scarred man clapped his hands in mockery. “Well, that’s that. Not gonna lie, I think I’m going to miss her somewhat.” He picked up his runeblade, strained to rise to his feet and pointed at Kaelen. “Now, I know we promised you a safe passage…”

  Adder turned to Kaelen and grinned. It took the Dark Lord all his might to suppress his deep sigh of disappointment.

  Kaelen watched in silence as the Mute started concentrating magic in his hands. He didn’t bother assuming a protective stance. He saw firsthand what these two could do, and their level was so ridiculously below his that it would be embarrassing to even to defend.

  He motioned for the mage to get on with his attack. Whatever Adder meant to cast, Kaelen would never learn.

  The man’s eyes widened and he rasped what was probably supposed to be a scream. A thin stream of blood escaped from his mouth.

  When he fell, Kaelen saw a dozen thin blades sticking out of his neck – as well as a familiar face appearing behind him.

  “Jade!”

  She was breathing like she had run a mile with broken ribs. The wound in her side was still there, but no longer fatal. Flesh had sealed just enough to keep her alive.

  Kaelen stared at her in disbelief for a few long moments, and then it hit him.

  “[Cockroach Resolve],” Jade grinned with a bloody mouth, as if to answer Kaelen’s silent question. She spat out a big red glob and wiped her lips. “Lets me survive a fatal attack, though only once per month at first level. Pissin’ shame I had to squander it on these two.”

  She kicked the body and turned to the remaining traitor. “Bet ya didn’t see that comin’. I got ‘nother trick for ya.”

  “You bitch!” the man snarled and charged at her, despite his wounds.

  Jade flicked her wrist, and a bright-blue spell shot from between her fingers – another [Moon Bolt], though this one felt strange.

  The man thrust his hand forward again, and his dispel caught the glow head-on. The magic peeled away in a burst of harmless light…

  …but the steel beneath kept flying.

  Severin’s eyes widened. “You–”

  Kaelen watched without intervening, a thin, long smile appearing on his face.

  Jade had coated three of her needles with the bright coating of [Moon Bolt]. The man’s dispel could stop magic, but not physical objects.

  One needle sank into the man’s shoulder, two others buried themselves in his already damaged thigh.

  Jade used the distraction well. A low sweep kick took the man’s leg out from under him. The knee buckled with a wet crack. He howled and tried to grab hold of Jade, but the girl didn’t give him the time.

  She deftly caught one of his arms and twisted it, then grabbed the collar of his coat and drove her forehead into his nose.

  “DISPEL THAT, YA PISS-GURGLING TURNCLOAK!” she hissed.

  The man spat out half a pint of blood. The girl drove her elbow into the man’s jaw, putting all of her weight and the last of her enhanced [Strength] into it. Then another elbow, and another, and another, and…

  “St… op…” the man croaked. His face was more blood and bone than flesh.

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  Jade hesitated just long enough to see his eyes roll back. The man was already dead when she finally let go of his collar.

  The borrowed power guttered out a heartbeat later. Jade’s legs went weak, and her vision went swimming. Her new ability might have saved her from death, but she was still on the brink.

  Kaelen stepped forward at last, slowly clapping. “An amusing fight, I will grant you that.”

  “Hold on. I need to do somethin’ quick.” Jade’s hands were still shaking when she reached into her coat and fumbled out a glass vial. She pulled the cork free with her teeth and started gulping it down like cheap ale without ceremony. A bit of the bright-green liquid spilled down her chin, mixing with the blood already there. She didn’t bother wiping it.

  The deep, ragged tear at her side began to knit properly this time, flesh drawing together. The angry purple around the wound faded to pink. The girl’s breathing steadied, and the tremor in her fingers eased.

  Jade exhaled slowly, shoulders sagging as strength returned to her limbs. “Gods,” she muttered, rolling her neck. “That’s better.”

  She tossed the empty vial aside, where it shattered against the brick.

  “Worth every damn sphere,” she added, flexing her hand. “Good thing you helped, too, or I’d be proper screwed.”

  “Helped?” Kaelen raised an eyebrow. “You presume too much. I let you borrow my power the way I would loan my coin to you. It was an investment on my part, nothing more.”

  “Gee,” Jade muttered, “I feel so loved.”

  She picked up the boots she had abandoned earlier and put them on. As she dressed, she had a strange look on her face. She looked at the two dead men, whose bodies were still warm.

  Jade walked over to them and stood over their corpses longer than she needed to. She clearly wanted to say something, perhaps curse at them, but no more insults came out. It seemed that all fire had drained out of her.

  “I don’t get it. They grew up with me,” she said at last. “We ran jobs together. Took beatings together. Ate from the same godsdamn pot.”

  Kaelen crossed his arms. “And?”

  “And?” She rounded on him. “That’s it? That’s all ya got?”

  He met her stare without flinching. “I’m surprised that you’re surprised. Can’t imagine what you expected of these two low-level scoundrels.”

  Her hands curled into fists. “They are… They Good Knights.”

  “Yes. So you told me.”

  “But it means somethin’, don’t it?”

  “To you. Not to them, clearly.”

  She opened her mouth, then closed it.

  “If it makes things any better, they did not betray you specifically,” Kaelen said after a moment. “They only chose survival.”

  Jade shook her head. “By sellin’ us out?”

  “By selling you a fairy tale. You can dub novices with a fancy sword all you like, but that does not make them knights in shiny armor. It is in man’s nature to want more. By any means necessary.”

  Jade wrinkled her nose. “That’s a load of old codswallop,” was all she managed to say to that.

  , Kaelen reminded himself.

  ”Caleb,” she said quietly. “Caleb wasn’t like ‘em. No way. He was loyal to a fault. He’d never betray the gang.”

  “Who’s to say that he didn’t? Perhaps he asked too high a price for his silence. Or wanted a bigger piece of the pie for himself.”

  The girl turned quickly and had such a wild look in her eyes that Kaelen was half-convinced that she would try to slap him.

  “Ya think yer so high and mighty?” she yelled at him. “Ya don’t know nothin’! Caleb must’ve tried to stop them! It’s exactly what this idealist fool would do!”

  The idea that Jade, of all people, would call anyone an idealist fool was amusing.

  “If you say so,” Kaelen replied. He was in no mood to argue.

  The girl walked away from him, so he couldn’t see her face. She didn’t turn as she asked him, “Is this what yer gonna do, as well? Betray me as soon as it’s convenient?”

  “I have a need of you yet.”

  Jade laughed bitterly. “Thanks. Real comfortin’.” She kicked one of the corpses in frustration. “Does it work for ya?”

  “What does?”

  “Pretendin’ like yer above it all and yer shit don’t smell?” Jade wiped her face with her sleeve, smearing dirt across her cheek. She let out a long breath. “Come on. I’m tired of talkin’. Let’s get on with it.”

  Before Kaelen could answer, a sound made him stop. Behind them, somewhere deeper in the tunnels, something skittered and hissed. Many somethings.

  Kaelen’s expression sharpened. “Jade.”

  She felt it a moment later – dozens of small movements converging, tiny bodies brushing through filth. Rats poured from the shadows.

  “Aw, piss n’ shit,” Jade muttered, instinctively reaching for her needles.

  “The noise and the blood must have attracted their attention.”

  The first wave came low, aiming for their ankles. Jade kicked two aside, crushed another under her heel. Kaelen burned a narrow path with a short burst of flame, careful not to ignite the gas pockets he now knew lurked in the tunnels.

  But for every rat that died, three more slipped past. What’s worse, they were not biting at random. They were circling Jade.

  “Oi! Why me?” she snapped, hurling a handful of needles that skewered several mid-leap.

  The answer came quickly. A larger shape darted between their legs and sank its teeth into the hem of her coat. Another latched onto her bootlace. A third clamped onto her sleeve.

  Whatever they were doing, they weren’t trying to kill her.

  “Kaelen!” she barked as her balance faltered.

  He stepped forward, crushing a cluster beneath his boot, but another wave surged in from the sides. A writhing carpet of fur and teeth.

  Jade stabbed wildly, but every rat she tore off was replaced by two more. “Ya’ve gotta be kiddin’ me!” Jade shouted as the swarm began to pull.

  They dragged her across the slick floor toward a side tunnel. It was narrow, half-collapsed, perfect for creatures their size – and Jade.

  Kaelen lunged.

  The floor shifted under him as rats piled at his feet, deliberately tangling his stride. He tore them off, slowing down, but the swarm compensated instantly, replacing fallen bodies with fresh ones.

  He saw Jade’s frightened face disappear in the tunnel. “Do somethin’, ya shit!” she shouted from the dark.

  The rest of the rats disappeared just as quickly.

  Kaelen scoffed.