Time slowed. It’s been two weeks since she drew ether, and at first, she was afraid that she forgot how to do it. Her anxiety was unfounded. Without a hitch, she reached for the tiny sun and filled her limbs with crackling red-and-golden power. Somehow, days of holding off the temptation to use it made her better at controlling the flow. She pulled in slightly more than before; there was a feeling of discomfort, but she could handle it.

She was already halfway mounted, when an arrow hissed, missing her by a hair and hitting Shadow’s hind leg.

The drake roared, then started ahead. Nua barely had the time to fall properly and roll over. Another arrow broke on the sandstone. If the marksman was aiming from the shelf up there, she could just as well be a painted wooden target. He did not account for her enhanced reflexes and that was why she was still alive.

She bolted towards a tall rock. Another arrow flew by and this time, it seemed to reach her. She did not feel it, though, and when she finally took cover, she noticed it dangling from a loose fold of her shawl.

Anki was shouting something. She blocked him out. She could not run away; Shadow was Utu knows where. Instead, she gave out the loudest shriek she could. Would Hessa hear her?

Then, she started climbing.

Several rocky peaks surrounded the sandstone plateau where she had been camping. They were sculpted by the wind, full of cracks and crevices. One of them was currently occupied by the assassin, and she needed to get out of his sight. Acting more on instinct than with deliberation, she chose the one peak that made shooting her impossible. She was aiming for the side hidden from the killer’s view, while heading towards a niche resembling a misshapen mouth with rocks for teeth, perfect as a cover.

Her fingers grasped the stone. On this side, it was a challenging climb. Step by step, she found footing and pulled herself up. Ether crackled in her muscles, drawing another path she could fit into the climbing Matrix.

“He climbed down and he’s running here,” Anki yelled. “Go faster!”

She gritted her teeth. Right now, she was exposed like a bug on the wall. She closed her eyes for a fraction of a moment and in her memory, she ran through all the climbing she did with ether.

And the ether listened.

This additional variation, performed in a new, unfamiliar area and with the boots on, was somehow enough to trigger the formation of a pattern. Silver-blue threads coalesced in her mind, locking into an infinite dance of every possible climbing form. Now going up was effortless like walking and she crawled up, swift and nimble, as if she was a desert lizard.

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She laid on the cold, damp sandstone, torn between mortal fear and elation. Sun did not reach there yet. Her heart was pounding. She knew it wasn’t over yet.

“Anki? Anki!”

The spirit appeared beside her.

“I would congratulate you, but he’s still there.”

“Climbing?”

Anki vanished, then reappeared.

“Running up!”

“Oh gods oh gods oh gods.” Nua pulled out her knife, then stood back up, leaning against the wall. “Show me.”

The king disappeared again, then a window opened in the air. The girl could clearly see the killer, a tall man wrapped in a dark cloak that, blown apart by the wind, revealed olive green garments. He was holding a long pointed dagger, and he was really running up the wall as if it was horizontal. She could clearly see murky violet traces of ether that accompanied his movement. Even with the reinforcement, she could not match his speed in a fight.

But she knew where he was. And when he was just about to reach her, she leaned over the rock and stabbed. She aimed for the one chance she had to kill him – his eye. Like the hares that Hessa had shot.

She missed.

Blade an inch from his pupil, the assassin tilted his head. The knife cut the tip of his ear, prompting an angry grunt. Then, he grabbed her wrist, pushed her into the niche, and struck her with the dagger.

Nua barely avoided the hit. She pulled yet more ether; it burned her, but it did not matter. There was a sound of metal ringing on the stone, and a few gravels fell off the toothlike rock formation, rolling down the peak.

She could not keep up and continue fighting like this. One way or another, it would be over in a few breaths.

“Goodbye, Anki,” She formed a half-verbalized thought.

Then, the unbelievable happened.

The assassin yelled in pain and surprise. Then, he let her go, touching his shoulder. There was an arrow sticking out under his shoulder blade, and it had a very familiar looking fletching.

“Hey! Desert dog!” Hessa shouted. “Come over here, bashmu dung!”

She shot again, and this time, the killer reacted, moving out of the arrow’s way.

“I have plenty of these!” The huntress continued. “Ghoul fornicator!”

Despite the arrow in his back, the assassin descended in one sleek move. Nua didn’t even think; she followed without hesitation. Her new Technique came alight as she climbed down.

“Are you out of your mind?!”

“He isn’t really glowing, correct? I can see his ether, and she does not, right?”

“This is not the point!”

“She doesn’t know what he is! He’s going to kill her!”

“He’s going to kill you both at this rate and then I will die, too!” Anki’s voice was shaken. Just a moment ago, he almost died for the second time, Nua thought. And he could not fight on his own. He was defenseless and not used to it.

But there was no dilemma here, not really. Nua’s mind was clear, as if sped up with power. Her usual fear and hesitation took a backseat in the face of threat. The assassin could easily dispatch Hessa, then go back and finish his job. By staying back, Nua wasn’t protecting anyone – not herself, and not any of her mentors. She could not run, and so she had to fight.

Together, maybe, they had a sliver of a chance.