Zachary tracked Maxius the Younger through the city and out into the harbor. It was there that Maxius boarded a ship that his family owned. Zachary carefully monitored the ship for several days but could not approach, with help from the oculomancers to wake him up if the ship sailed away as he slept.

The talk on the streets was that some kid at the University flew around in a flying machine, but the thing iced up and broke apart in the sky. The fools should have added an anti-icing system, though Zachary probably imagined that such a system would be low priority for a bunch of kids playing with wooden sticks and cloth. It was widely known that Quinn had been arrested and was being held in the Hightown Constabulary. Zachary knew he should not be so surprised at the oculomancers' capacity to slander people and make them vanish. Though Maxius had been in contact with the boy, and Zachary hoped that the Heritor would make a move to rescue Quinn.

His hopes were realized that night. An agent left the ship and began wandering through the city. Zachary was able to keep an eye on him, though it was difficult to get close. He stalked over rooftops in the darkness. Without the eyes of an oculomancer, he could not see into the shadows, however the light of the Sister World was enough to allow Zachary to track the man. Strangely enough, the man appeared to be wandering about at random.

The man donated some coins to a homeless man, pet a cat, fed a vegetable to a horse, waved to a prostitute, and countless other seemingly meaningless little adventures. Zachary found a chance to sneak closer without being seen. The man did something very strange. He took out a piece of paper. Zachary could barely make out a long list of numbered lines on the paper, though they were too difficult for Zachary to read. The man rolled a dice, slid his finger along the page to one of the lines, then started off on one of his random behaviors.

Finally, the man approached the harbor gateway into the city and stood in line to speak to the oculomancers. Zachary was easily able to arrange a secret observation of the man as he was interviewed.

"Do you intend to commit a crime in the city?" The oculomancer asked.

"No," the man said.

"Do you intend to free Quinn, brother of Seth the Flying Man, from his prison in Hightown?"

"No."

"Do you intend to take any action that is against the interest of the oculomancers, the witches, or the Elder Saint?"

"No."

"Your papers check out," the oculomancer said. "You may enter the city."

Zachary began tracking the gambler again as he worked his way up the bridges of white chasm. He always seemed to have some random task to do. And they were truly random. Until the man reached a tree in a park. He climbed the tree, grabbed a bag that was hidden in the branches, and then pulled a new stack of papers out of the bag. Then he found a brazier, burning in the park, and tossed his old papers and dice into the fire. Then, he continued on, doing random things, until he arrived at the Hightown Constabulary.

"I have just acquired a royal decree by King Edwin, signed and sealed by the King himself. It grants me the authority to select one prisoner of my choice and grant them the King's Mercy."

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

The constable looked over the seal and then said "everything is in order, go on inside."

A while later the gambler left the building with Quinn at his side.

This was it. This was how to lie to oculomancers. This was what he had been searching for, knowledge that evaded him for years. Oculomancers could see when a person was lying, but if the person themselves didn't know what they were going to do next, because it was completely random, and they had a carefully designed schedule of random possible tasks, the master of such a gambler could calculate out a very high probability of having some specific task done, without the oculomancers knowing about it.

Zachary watched Quinn and the gambler head towards the cliffs beyond Hightown, the Eastern Face. They were likely going to take some old smuggler's cave through the city to avoid the oculomancers. The cave networks in the city were expensive and it would be unsurprising if many of them were not even charted, let alone actively guarded.

Zachary turned and found a dark shadow behind him. He didn't hear anything, didn't see anything, didn't even sense anything with his intuition. He was absolutely certain he was not being tracked. It seems the hunter had been followed by an even better hunter.

"Sir Zachary," a feminine voice said. Monotonous. Emotionless.

Mother summer, Zachary thought.

She walked out into the moonlight where he could see her better. She had pitch black witch clothes complete with a pointy hat. Her hair was long, and he knew it was blood red in color. Her eyes seemed to shine purple in the darkness, as did the teal fractures on her face.

"Sir Zachary this possibility was known to my father," The Elder Saint said. "That dice and randomized lists of instructions could be used to evade detection by the oculomancers. Now that you know the secret, you are dangerous."

His first thought was, if you knew this was possible, then why not just ask people if they are carrying dice when crossing checkpoints? But then he immediately realized that would be stupid. It would be giving people clues about an easy way to lie to oculomancers.

His next thought was: The Elder Saint thinks I'm dangerous. Shit.

The Elder Saint said nothing else for a little while as it sank in.

"So, what are you going to do to me?" Zachary asked. He assumed it would not be good.

"I release you from all oaths of service, as is my right, as defined in the Heritor Precepts. I will now make you an offer which would be a great dishonor to refuse. Heritor Zachary, scion of Varelion, I wish you to become my personal Knight."

"I accept," Zachary said instantly. He assumed that being her personal Knight reduced the probability that should would rip him to pieces in the very near future. At least, he hoped. "What oaths do you with me to speak?" He asked.

"Nothing so barbaric as that," said the Elder Saint. "I will now give you something, and it will be physically impossible for you to talk about it. It will enter into your body and will remain there for your entire life. Nobody alive knows that this technology is even possible. Only me and my father knew, and I killed my father. Not even Fiona is trusted to know about this."

Two long, silvery daggers appeared, one in each hand. They grew, and grew, and then started twisting and forming towards Zachary. They were not daggers, he realized, but globs of shiny silver goo.

"Do not be alarmed. Hold still," the Elder Saint commanded.

One of the silvery blobs rushed towards his head, the other towards his heart. They seemed to seep straight through his clothes and into his skin. They penetrated his skin with a cold, metallic feeling. They went into his body. Then they were gone. He didn't feel any different after that.

"Can you hear me?" the Elder Saint asked, except... her lips didn't move.

"Yes," Zachary said, "How..."

Do not speak. Think. I can hear your thoughts, the Elder Saint said.

I understand, he thought.

Good. Sir Zachary, you will be my blade in the darkness below. You will come to understand shortly, however know that my father contemplated this possibility and prepared the weapon that is now in your body for this exact scenario. I must return to the Spires to continue my focus. I must subjugate the etherborne.

"Yes, Elder Saint." Zachary said aloud.

I give you my permission to address me by the name my father gave me, Annatiki. One more thing, you are now an oculomancer. Do not be alarmed when you start to experiment with your eyes.