Two Serpents came running out the door when they neared. Haern cut down one, Senke the other. Smoke poured in the open door, and down the hallway both saw the fires rapidly spreading.
“We can’t make it,” Haern shouted. Senke knelt and pointed so they could see underneath the smoke.
“You see where the hallway turns?” he asked. “Immediately on your left is a door. It leads up to the attic, and from there we can find a way to safety.”
He wiped sweat from his brow as he looked to the fires.
“Relative safety,” he corrected.
“Let me go first,” Haern said. “I’m faster. If the door is blocked by flame, I’ll come running.”
Senke started to object, but Haern was already dashing down the hall.
The smoke gathered along the ceiling in giant rolling clouds. Each doorway he passed the fires roared, flicking the outside of their doors, looking like tongues eager to taste more of the building. His eyes stung looking at them. The hallway was unbelievably hot. He wrapped his cloak over his mouth, his mask doing little to keep out the foul air. Cough after cough racked his body. Soon he lost his vision as his eyes watered.
Haern couldn’t believe the heat. It didn’t seem to matter that he touched no fire. The floor warmed his feet. The air sucked at the moisture of his skin, and he felt like a pastry stuck in an oven. He remembered his training, clutched it with all his mind, and forced himself to keep running. Air didn’t matter. The heat didn’t matter. One foot after the other.
His outstretched hand pressed against the wall. Feeling a bit of hope, he turned and kept his hand near, occasionally brushing it with his fingertips. When he touched a door, he felt like shouting for joy. His fingers found the doorknob, and yet again he wanted to cheer. The doorknob was cool. He flung it open and dashed up the stairs, wishing he could somehow alert Senke to follow. Smoke followed him up, and wishing there was another way, he slammed the door shut behind him.
The attic was dim, but the few windows let in enough light for him to see. Most were small, but near the back he saw a giant round circle of glass that seemed most inviting. Haern could almost imagine the cool air rushing on the outside of it, and he wanted to dive in as if it were water. Piles of discarded armor, old relics of family generations long past, filled the room. Haern weaved about them, all the while wondering when Senke would arrive.
He was halfway to the window when it shattered. A slender woman flew through the shards, landing with a roll along the floor. Haern stared, vaguely recognizing her. She wore the colors of the Ash Guild, but he couldn’t place her. She looked about, still struggling to adjust to the darkness. He thought to hide from her, but then he saw her face, her mutilated eye, and knew her name.
“Veliana?” he asked, remembering standing at his father’s side as they tried to force her to overthrow her guildmaster and take control.
At the sound of her name, the woman spun, her dagger already drawn.
“You sound too young to be one of the thieves,” Veliana said. “What is your name, child?”
“Haern,” he answered. He took a step toward her, still trying to decide if she were dangerous or not. With everyone trying to flee the mansion, it seemed odd someone would actually try to break in.
Veliana looked a bit disappointed, but then she spotted him standing behind a large crate of wrapped wool. Her whole body tensed. Her mouth curled into a sneer.
“Liar,” she said. “You’re Thren’s child. You think I’d forget a single shred of that moment?”
Haern shook his head.
“Aaron is dead. Leave me be. His sins are mine no more.”
Veliana laughed.
“The world doesn’t work that way. Your father’s killed everyone I’ve ever cared for. Turn back and die in the fire, or draw your dagger and fight me.”
Haern glanced back to the stairs. Smoke had begun pouring thick through its edges and underneath. Already the heat seeped through the wood floor. Still no sign of Senke, and Haern tried not to think of what had befallen him.
“Don’t do this,” Haern whispered. The roar of flame, the screams of battle, and Veliana’s own angry shout as she lunged drowned out his words. Her dagger thrust straight for his neck. Haern batted it aside with his own, then swept his right foot around in an arc. She leapt over it, her knee ramming forward. His head snapped backward as the knee collided with his face. Blood splattered the inside of his mask.
Staggering, his head still swimming from the smoke and heat, Haern went fully defensive. Veliana’s dagger slashed and cut, and despite any openings he might have seen, he refused to try for them. He parried and spun, slowly weaving his way about the great piles of junk. The air grew murky and gray from the smoke, much of it starting to pour out the broken window.
“Leave me be!” he shouted as he crossed his daggers and blocked a vicious downward chop. His elbows shook at the impact, and momentarily distracted by the closeness of her face and the hideousness of her eye, Veliana successfully tripped him with a kick. As he fell he rolled, avoiding her downstrike. He turned and darted throughout the attic, frantically dashing for the window.
Veliana raced him back, her dagger still eager for blood. She reached the window first, but not in enough time to prepare correctly. Haern leapt, slamming his shoulder into hers. As she was pushed back, his daggers curled around her sides, slicing into flesh. Blood spilled down from her ribs, across her tunic and pants. Screaming in pain, Veliana whirled. When Haern ducked her high kick, he found a dagger waiting for him low. He twisted, but not fast enough. The dagger slashed across his shoulder, tearing open a huge gash in his shirt. Blood poured down his arm, the pain terrible, but Haern never let it slow him. His opponent had just scored her first true hit. That was when she was most vulnerable, her confidence soaring with the minor victory.
His foot whirled about him, his left arm flinging his cloak upward to hide his movements. Veliana lost her balance and fell to one knee, letting out a small cry from the harsh landing. Haern’s cloak whipped her face, and when she pushed back to see, Haern was there, his fist leading. He punched her throat with all his strength.
Gasping for air, she fell back, holding her dagger out in a meager defense. Haern cut her knuckles to weaken her grip, then slapped the dagger away. Veliana glared with her one good eye as she coughed.
“Aaron is dead,” he told her, breathing heavily as his daggers shook in his hands, one of its tips aimed straight for her throat. “Why can’t you see that?”
“You’re him,” Veliana said with a cracking voice. “You can’t hide. You’re just a coward.”
Haern shook his head sadly.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “But you’re wrong.”
He rammed the butt of his dagger against the top of her skull, knocking her out cold. As she slumped to the ground, Haern stuck his head out the window to take a look. A massive crowd gathered about, a mixture of guards, onlookers, and desperate neighbors organizing bucket brigades to ensure the mansion’s fire didn’t spread. In that chaos, he could certainly slip away.
Behind him he heard Veliana moan softly. Haern sighed. At the side of his father, he’d left her for dead. He couldn’t do so again, not while claiming to be a better person. The fire was already crawling its way up the stairs, its smoke billowing. He had five minutes, maybe ten.
Knowing her cloak and colors would doom her, Haern stripped her down to her undergarments. He searched the crates, holding his cloak over his mouth as he did. Once he found a blanket of sufficient length he dragged it over to Veliana and tied one corner to her wrists. The other half he wrapped around his arm and prayed for the best. If Veliana was lucky, she’d survive the fall, and those who found her would assume her a frantic house servant fleeing the fire after hiding in the attic. If not, well…
He almost left her for the calm, quiet death to the smoke. Almost.
“We’re even,” he whispered as he pushed her body out the window. He braced his feet against the wall and held on with all his might. The cloth pulled tight, and he let a bit of it unspool before clamping down again. He nearly went flying out with her, he so badly underestimated the pull. About halfway down she stopped, and he hoped that was close enough. He let go of the cloth, then counted to three before looking.
A couple of onlookers were gathered around her. It appeared someone had caught her. He couldn’t hear their voices from so far, but he saw them pointing to her face, and one man beside her shook his head, his face a mixture of anger and pity. Haern sighed. The wounds, blood on her wrists, and tattered clothing told them a story they expected from such a wreckage. Now for his own safety. Haern kicked out a last few shards of glass, stood on the edge of the window, and pulled himself up to the roof.
