“Message for Diamond and Ruby.”

A messenger arrived sprinting towards them, his face still showing shock. He was holding a missive from a flying Hivere, and had stopped dead in his track, like everyone else, to witness the coast during the sun miracle of Ja but was professional enough to have recollected himself and finish his mission now that the impossible moment had passed.

The titles he had used to address the two women left little doubt about who had sent the missive.

Trinne took the letter, as she still watched the violet stain in the sky. It didn’t seem like the Emperor was finished yet.

The redhead read the letter from the corner of her eye, then swore. She first addressed the messenger. “Tell the men to vacate the tent. Everyone, out! And the tent will need to be closed. I want the inside out of sight.”

“Yes Duchess.” The man left immediately. The Archbishop gave them a curious look, but kept his focus on the Emperor.

“We are summoned immediately to the harbour, its trade part, district of the Voids. Hyn is asking for a door there.” Trinne explained quickly to the Legio, as she started walking towards the tent.

“There is no box to…” Nay countered, following her closely.

“It is on the harbour, according to Hyn.”

“We never tested if…” The Legio let the end of her sentence hang. Would the accursed box hide her magic, or would it only work if it was put at the location where the miracle began?

Trinne thought about it before answering. “Well, it was an order…and it should be all right, I discussed that eventuality with Defin.”

Nay wasn’t in a hurry to create a door today.

When they entered the tent, the last of the soldiers were scurrying off.

Before she started her psalm, Nay waited for just a moment. She could feel the Rreico of her friend.

“Can you recharge the enchantments on me?” Finally asked Trinne.

Nay obeyed first but then was too curious to hold her tongue.

“I have never seen you with an enchanted object before. What’s more, an enchantment on a robe? When did you get that?”

“My new God-Touched friend has apparently been recruited amongst the writtingers.”

“Sylvia?”

“Mmh.”

The Duchess of Gite had this very specific Rreico of cogs and flowers.

The Legio knew she hadn’t got the time to ask in more detail what was happening in her friend’s mind. “District of the Voids, yes?”

“You know where that is?” Trinne asked, suddenly worried.

Nay gave her a mocking smirk. “Please, I learned to swim not far from there.” And she started singing.

“In the penumbra of the unknown,

I abandon,

To reach what I never could,

I escape what should.”

The crystal and glass door appeared in the centre of the tent, immediately showing its other side, where Hyn stood …and thirty or so bystanders.

“What the…” Nay began.

“…Seems like that secret of yours is not to be kept anymore.” The young redhead took her hand.

“Biach.” The cloudy-eyed young woman swore.

Not only was she feeling woozy because of the miracle, but now she had to suffer through the stares of the soldiers, of a few citizens, of Hyn and three priests accompanying her, and the creeping touch of the disgusting box. Not helping things was the bright light hurting her head. That last point was what was bothering her most, because such brightness was anything but normal.

First the Rreico, then her eyes rising up, made her understand why. The Emperor had quite obviously not been satisfied with just one world-shattering miracle, and a new giant fireball was forming in the sky. This time, the Carradin flotilla did not try to attack the violet spot over their heads, but they raised an enormous wall of water in front of their ships.

“Nay, Trinne. With me.” The Imperatrix commanded, ignoring the group of people witnessing the impossible door of the Legio’s miracle bursting into a million intangible glass pieces. She was wearing men’s clothes, similar to Nay’s armour, except she was only equipped with one single dagger around her belt.

The two young women followed the most beautiful woman in the Empire of Ja at a speed more closely related to a gallop than a walk. They reached the end of the wharf, and Nay noticed that one of the great fishing houses not far from where they stood had lost its roof because of the Carradin gunships.

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The three women were alone at the edge of the wharf, the highest waves licking their feet as they crashed on the wooden pier. The soldiers and priests were not far away, clearly there to protect them, but the ex-Imperatrix had to have ordered them to stand down so they could speak privately.

But before they commenced their talk, they observed the globe of miraculous heat crash onto the risen wall of water. The blast was incredible, and Nay felt the shock shake the wooden planks under her feet. The waves came even stronger now, and she knew they were going to leave her drenched, but the dams and levees had known worse during the summer.

“Nay, come closer.” The Legio obeyed her godmother, but kept a hand on Lake. “Are we far enough from the box here? Yes?” Hyn was looking worried, and a wave crashed on the pier behind her, the water bursting on the wood, over their feet.

“I had a long think last night, and I arrived at an interesting conclusion.”

Despite the unreadable Rreico, Nay could feel that Hyn was not entirely honest.

“Yes, godmother?”

“Why did the Carradins cancel their attack, ten years ago. Redrick? No, the war stopping comes from something else. It is a theory, nothing more, but it doesn’t cost anything to try. You know that Carradins use another type of runic magic than ours, we use runes, and they use tattoos. Yes? And one of the most famous ones they can use is one that lets them perceive an individual’s power. What if…”

Trinne came closer. “What if they had abandoned their attack because they had felt Nay arrive in the city? Her power would have scared them off?”

“Exactly.” Nay did not like the expression on the Imperatrix’ face, but she could not say why. The most beautiful woman in the Empire of Ja continued: “And, amazingly, they come back after Nay left the city.”

“But Nay is here, now.” Trinne countered. Despite her tone, Nay felt that Trinne already knew where the Imperatrix was going with this, and was only humouring her.

“You know very well that Nay is containing her power now. But she could just stop. Angels are only pulled by the expressed part of her power. As long as she does not use her phantom miracle, they should not be brought here.”

“What’s this about, Hyn?” Trinne interrupted her, her politeness foregone.

“What do you mean?”

“If Nay releases her…aura, the Carradins will perceive it, that is certain. But you are aware of this, you’ve been aware of this for way longer than yesterday evening, and your spies have already told you that such an event will not make the Carradins flee anymore. Not this time. The King of Mindor is desperate, his clans are more separated than ever, and consequently, so is his power.”

The Imperatrix gave a sad smile. “You…you are correct, as usual. Not surprising that my son took you as advisor despite your young age…and that you are one of my Jewels. Nonetheless, even if it doesn’t make the Carradin flee, it could lower the morale of their mages, or make some clans hesitate, delay the initial attack.”

In the sky, the violet spot went back to the Plateau. The Emperor had apparently abandoned the idea of attacking the Carradin flotilla again.

“Why is he not continuing?” Nay asked. The miracle was exhausting, and following all the depth of the conversation was difficult for her.

“He’s holding on to his power for later. My son…is taking too many risks. He is the Emperor, he should not put his life in danger like that. If it was me taking the risks, it would be a much lesser issue.” The Imperatrix answered. “In any case…Nay? Could you relax your…aura?”

The Legio grimaced. She stared at Hyn for a moment.

“Is there a problem, Nay?” The last Leïn asked.

Trinne stood next to her friend, putting a hand on her shoulder. “Nay?”

“I…no.” It was since Makaka that she hadn’t let her Rreico loose, and holding it had become as natural as breathing, but even then, she had no doubt that she could release the infinite tower of dark power contained inside her.

She closed her eyes, perceiving the Rreico of the two women beside her, then her gaze went inwards.

Dark.

She grimaced.

It was like relaxing a muscle.

For a fraction of a second, Nay felt engulfed by the night, but strangely, it was not as disgusting as the first time she had sensed her internal Rreico. In the night, she saw stars…then the sensation was gone, and she only saw the dark horror, the bloody remnants of the War.

“It’s done.” She announced, opening her eyes.

The Imperatrix nodded.

“Oh.” Trinne said.

Nay looked at her with a raised eyebrow. “What?”

“No, just…weird. It’s nothing, I can’t feel anything anymore.”

A few minutes passed, but nothing appeared changed. To tell the truth, the flotilla went out of their field of view, because it went to the north, beyond the city walls.

“Seems like it only edged them to attack faster. What a bunch of idiots, they probably think it’s a ruse.” The Imperatrix declared, as uncharacteristically, she scratched the top of her head.

“Hey!” A shout emerged from behind them, and Nay turned to face a strange scene. One of the guards had pushed a woman and her child to the ground, two normal Gite citizens that had been there since they had arrived on the pier. The woman on the ground was shouting at him, as well as checking if her son was unharmed, until the guard edged closer with his hand ready to unsheathe his sword. The Legio had no idea why his colleagues were just watching this happen, and even if two of the priest were starting to intervene, the Legio herself started to take a step to help them. Then she paused. It was too weird.

The distraction, the fatigue due to the miracle of the Door, as well as the perfect control of the Imperatrix on her rhythm of life, made the Legio spot her intent only at the very last second.

She could only turn and unsheathe Lake, it was already too late.

Here?

In front of everyone?

By her own hand?

It was absurd.

Imperatrix Hyn had unsheathed her dagger and, despite Trinne’s quick reaction as she was taking a step back, the Leïn had been faster.

The blade the size of a hand entered the Duchess’ belly, then in the same heartbeat, it ripped out to plunge inside the redhead’s neck.

Nay grabbed Trinne to pull her back, but it was way too late.

A terrifying trembling overtook her, a warm and cold inhuman feeling, but then…

Before she screamed, she understood.

She understood as she looked at her friend.

Who was smiling.

“Aouch.” The Duchess of Gite announced, spotting no injuries anywhere. “You hit hard for a century-old carcass.”

It was the first time since Nay had met Hyn, the Imperatrix of the Empire of Ja, that she saw the most beautiful of women with such a disgraceful expression of surprise. But the Legio was too focused on her friend to care. She gazed at the hole on her dress, and the sheer clothing underneath, perfectly undamaged.

Hyn was shocked, looking at her dagger…that lacked a blade. As if the metal had melted. But as fast as it had gone, her decorum came back.

“Ah.” Understanding appeared on the ex-Imperatrix’ face. “So I guess that under your robe you are wearing a nightgown, illegally enchanted by Sylvia and Hottori, a quite obvious gift destined to my goddaughter, as it is not your size at all?”

Trinne stepped forwards. “The hazards of a too competent intelligence service. I am only interested in my hani’s protection, right? Unfortunately, it was a robe destined for me, even though it is not my style, vulgar, and with loose parts everywhere. Interesting misdirection, yes?”

The Imperatrix laughed once.

Then Trinne, with no more spoken word, crashed her fist on the ex-Imperatrix’ chin, who lost consciousness on impact, and plummeted on the pier.