The Shogun backed up a step, exerting every bit of pressure he could to keep me down.
It wasn’t enough. I unspun one of my spirals, reinforcing my Ki-strength until I could stand up and look Takiru in the eye.
“I’m not your indenture,” I growled. “Not anymore. The stupid kid you guys could walk all over is gone, so I’d think twice before trying to kick me around like he’s still here.”
The Shogun studied me like a gunslinger at a high noon showdown ready to draw iron.
“What are you doing on Sarca?” I asked them. “Did you follow us from Van Diemann?”
The corner of the Shogun’s mouth quirked. “He doesn’t know.”
His fingers folded into his hand, and memories of shuffled playing cards appearing from nowhere and Sword Warden heads rolling in the dusty Ghost Town streets ran through my mind.
“I know if you reach for your playing cards, you’re dead,” I told him, grabbing his bright yellow life point with Dead Man’s Hand.
The Bailiff crowed. “Looky who’s gone and grown up on us!”
To prove it, I reached out with a second Dead Man’s Hand and raked through the Bailiff’s throat, where his life point sat. It was right there—I could see it—but when the fingers of Miasma closed around it, that flickering gray flame disappeared. It was like trying to grab a handful of smoke.
“Still a mite too big for your britches, ain’t you, Smart Boy?” he said. “I’ve learned a fancy trick or two myself since we parted ways. In fact, you can tell your little Selken gal I’ve got a right nice surprise lined up for her.”
That angry black snake inside me went ballistic. Death Metal flared across my arms, and I launched myself at the Bailiff’s brush-toothed grin. He chuckled and hopped out of my way, without so much as taking his real hands out of his pockets. I poured the rest of that spiral into Ki-speed, but it wasn’t fast enough to catch up to the Bailiff with the Shogun’s pressure still trying to flatten me.
Off to our left, playing cards shuffled. An invisible blade sliced through Dead Man’s Hand, breaking its grip on the Shogun’s life point.
Coins jingled, and a new life point popped up on Dead Reckoning, marked with Sentenced to Death. I felt the six-armed dancer stop in her tracks.
“I didn’t bring him here,” she swore. “He followed the spy. I swear it wasn’t me, Takiru.”
From the corner of my eye, I saw the Shogun raise his card deck toward her.
“Please!” She threw her hands up and backed away.
I spun, swinging a shield at the back of Takiru’s head.
It felt like my brain exploded.
When I could see again, I was on the ground and everything was tinted red. Fresh blood was cooling in my nose and ears. I choked on some more running down the back of my throat and struggled to sit up.
Fugi’s body was still there, but the Bailiff and the Shogun were gone.
“They ran.” The six-armed woman stepped in front of me, crosshairs glowing over her face. “All of you would’ve ended up dead if I hadn’t stopped you with that Ice Pick Blast.”
Every word was like a tent stake hammering into my temples. I put my head in my hands to keep my skull from cracking open.
“You’re working with them,” I said. “With the Jianjiao. Is Valthorpe one of your spies?”
“That dupe?” She put her lowest set of hands on her perfect hips. “Get out of this city and don’t come back. If I see you again, I’ll have to kill you.”
“Why didn’t you let the Shogun do it?”
“I’m a Mental affinity. I heard you and your friend’s thoughts in the marketplace.”
Even with my brain liquefied, I could still think straight enough to be embarrassed for me and Warcry.
“I’ve been a dancer longer than you’ve been alive, meat roach,” she said. “It wasn’t anything I haven’t heard before. I was talking about my daughter. You recognized her—you saved her from running into traffic, and your friend almost died saving her pet. Tonight, knowing her saved your life. Tomorrow, it will get you killed. I can’t risk an enemy who knows about my daughter falling into the wrong hands.”
I scowled. “Hang on, I would never—”
“I know.” She let out a long breath that lowered her bare shoulders a few inches. “This isn’t the business for nice boys, meat roach. Get out before you get dead.”
I glanced over at Fugi’s corpse. “I don’t think you have to worry about any nice guys here.”
“You were going after Takiru to protect me,” she said. “Mental affinity, remember? I heard you.”
“That’s not why I went after Fugi,” I said. “I killed him to make a point.”
A soft, cool hand cupped my chin and lifted my face up so that I had to look at her. The crosshairs faded to a background feature, dull and lifeless, and her dark brown eyes seemed to take up my entire field of vision. It felt like I was swimming in a calm, cool pond on a hot afternoon. The pain in my head melted away.
Abruptly, the sensation cut off and the headache came stabbing back. I winced.
“There’s still more boy than devil in there.” Her soft touch left my face. “For now.”
She straightened up, then gestured at my chest.
“Use your new necklace tonight,” she said. “It will help the aftereffects.”
I got to my feet. I had to grab the wall to keep from faceplanting, but when the vertigo and gutter spikes to the brain stopped, I was still upright.
The six-armed dancer headed for the front of the hall, the coins in her skirt jingling.
“Are you going to get in trouble for this?” I asked her.
Her confident, graceful stride stuttered, but she kept moving forward.
“Worry about yourself, nice boy. That’s who everyone else in this business is out for.”
Crucible Casket
I DRAGGED MYSELF BACK to the saloon and ran into Sushi and
