I blinked, then waited a moment for everything to come back into focus. My body ached, and it felt like I might have broken a few ribs or an arm, but I could deal with that. I took a moment to just breathe deeply and catalog my status and my surroundings.

I must have only blacked out for a few seconds. At least, that was the impression I got from my surroundings. Everyone was where I’d last sensed them, and even the dust was still kicked up pretty much in the same way. There was also a more insubstantial aspect, my sense of the qi around me, that showed that it hadn’t moved much.

Slowly, I levered myself upright, dislodging a rock from my side. It looked like I’d been pretty lucky, since I was farther from the center of this explosion. Or demolition. Around me, more of my guards were stirring, but they all looked at least as injured as me. Some obviously had trouble standing up, and one didn’t move at all, though I could tell her chest still rose and fell. Those who could drew closer around me, and most of them gripped their weapons tightly. We were on what amounted to a half-covered alcove on the side of the mountain fortress, with only a bit of rock between us and the chasm. There was a way out, though it might need a bit of climbing. Rocks, worked stone and timber were spread on the ground. But most importantly, I could hear people coming towards us through the rubble.

A normal explosion wouldn’t do this much damage, would it?

After a moment of hesitation, I decided to stay put for now, and took my new radio from my storage ring. I was pretty sure the Zarian didn’t know much about them. Plus, even if they’d somehow gotten their hands on some, they shouldn’t be able to crack the code we used to encrypt our transmissions. Carefully, I folded out the antenna, then turned the dial.

Suddenly, I felt an overpowering force ripping at my hands, pulling the radio from my grip before I could react. I flinched back on instinct, watching as what looked like a long, flexible spear made of some kind of quartz flew away from me. The radio was ripped free and dashed against one of the large boulders beside what remained of the building. It was shattered so badly I probably couldn’t even recover it with a proper workshop.

I took a step back, drawing a knife from my storage ring. My heart pounded in my ears, and I made an effort to keep my breath deep and even. I couldn’t afford to lose my cool right now. This is bad. A trap, most likely. I gritted my teeth. Another betrayal?

I could sense a few presences drawing closer. They were veiled well, so I couldn’t make out more than the vague sense of someone there. The half-fallen wall blocked my view, but I could hear their footsteps. Four people, maybe five? A quick glance around showed that my guards were patching themselves up, but I only had a few that were even close to full strength, without those Aston had taken with him and the more heavily injured.

“I have to admit, I was hoping they’d be dead,” someone said from my left.

I whirled around in time to see another group stepping down from a half-crumbled wall, the veil of darkness qi around them retreating a little. Two were soldiers in the uniform of Terbekteri, at least in the sixth stage. Between them strolled Hajake, looking like he was going for a walk in his estate’s gardens, not a hair out of place. Another figure followed him, with a cloak and deep hood over their head.

“I’m not sure if this is a good idea,” they said. I gritted my teeth as I recognized the voice. He might be covering his appearance, but that was definitely Jian.

“You bastards,” I hissed, more to myself than to them.

“Don’t be so timid,” Hajake answered. “I wanted her to see my face before she died, to recognize who destroyed her.”

I had to agree with Jian there, Hajake was being stupid. But can I use that? I took another look around, at the guards around me, none higher than the early sixth stage. There was no way we could beat whoever they likely brought along.

“I knew you were a schemer, Hajake,” I called to them. “I didn’t think you were a gutless traitor. How are you going to deal with the fallout from this betrayal? Is your pride really thin enough that you’ll risk everything just for a perceived slight?”

Hajake, Jian and their escorts jumped down and strode forward. He didn’t seem like my words bothered him.

“You’re petty, Inaris,” he said. “What’s going on is about more than you and me. You just had to go and insult me, so I needed to remove you from the equation.” He smirked. “It turns out the Zarian were much better prepared than we gave them credit for, and have scrambled a counter-offensive that is unfortunately beating us back from this fortress. Such a shame you fell to one of their measures.”

I clenched my fists, feeling hot anger rise inside me, trying to boil over. “You cowardly, traitorous piece of filth,” I spit.

But I resisted the urge to attack him, or to identify Jian. He probably just didn’t want to be seen with Hajake by the remnants of our forces, but if I managed to get out of here, there was no use tipping him off that I recognized him.

Hajake just laughed. “Now,” he said.

The next moment, hell broke down on us once more. Suddenly, the space around me was filled with qi heavy enough it seemed to press in on me, moving around quicker than I could track. My guards dissolved into a mess of screams, cracks and squelching sounds. Something dropped on me with the weight of a house, and I barely recognized the sensation of my defensive talisman drawing qi to protect me.

When my vision cleared, I was lying on the ground, the cracked and smoking remnant of an amulet almost burned through my robe, but otherwise no worse off than before. But I could feel what happened in my qi senses. My guards were scattered around me, all of them destroyed by overwhelming force. He must have had a few seventh stagers hidden and waiting, I realized.

Before I could form any further thoughts, let alone move, my vision was captured by the man stepping on my arm and leaning over me. Hajake kicked the talisman off and smiled, a sparkle in his eyes. “Goodnight, Sister.”

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Then he thrust down with his spear. Pain erupted from my chest, and I screamed until I’d used all of my air. Blackness closed in on me quickly.

----------------------------------------

The first thing I noticed was the smell. It invaded my brain through my nostrils, telling me that I was around death and destruction before I’d even really woken up. The second thing was the pain. It seemed to nest in every part of my body, but the biggest hotspot was my chest, with a throbbing, sharp pain that tried to bring me back to the world insistently.

‘Wake up.’

I blinked, consciousness returning completely. The voice was inside my head. It seemed like it came from inside my head, even. The connection to my father. It had opened again, and I could feel Rijoko’s presence like a gathered storm overhead, his attention on me.

‘Be careful, daughter. You are in danger.’

I pushed myself upright slightly, ignoring the pain with a new sense of urgency. I was still lying where I’d fallen, with a spear that looked of Zarian make beside me, its head bloody. I couldn’t sense anyone else around me. Turning my head, I noticed the remains of my guards lying scattered and broken around me. A few other soldiers’ corpses were around, too, a little farther out.

I paused as my gaze fell on Lirta Ven. One of my most trusted guards, sometimes Aston’s second. Now, her dead eyes stared at me, her face twisted in pain, sitting atop a broken neck. The sight rekindled the anger burning in me, and gave me the energy to push myself upward.

I closed my eyes for a moment and concentrated on what my qi senses were telling me about my body. I wore an ankle bracelet that was enchanted to heal any injuries I sustained, even if I fell unconscious. It had already drained a lot of qi, and might be why I was even capable of sitting up right now. Hajake had stabbed me right in the heart.

I’d tried to reinforce my body with shapeshifting a little, but it didn’t seem to have worked too well. I’d definitely put in more effort in the future, after I got out of this. Still, at least my body had survived for some minutes without my heart pumping blood through my body, and it wasn’t just the natural increase in toughness from qi absorbed into the body by cultivation. Now, the damage wasn’t anything close to healed, but I didn’t think I would die if things didn’t get worse.

When I opened my eyes and glanced around, that prospect seemed more likely. There was an airship coming in towards the fortress in the sky. And judging by the construction and colors, clearly a Zarian one.

I froze. Panic tried to rise in me, but I crushed it ruthlessly. Still, I knew there was no way I’d get away from here in time, especially in my condition. I’m so screwed.

Or was I? I took a deep breath and started moving on my hands and knees, ignoring the stabs of pain they sent into me. The soldiers were scattered only a few meters away, beneath and among fallen pieces of stone and rock. I looked over all of them quickly, then altered course to a woman of about my stature.

Once I reached her, I summoned a knife from my storage ring and started cutting off my robe. It was torn and covered in blood, and trying to remove it hurt like hell. I paused to try and adjust my pain sensitivity downward, then continued. Once I had my robe, pants and shoes off, I started stripping the soldier’s uniform jacket and pants.

From the looks of it, she’d been killed by something crushing part of her head in, but the uniform was in relatively good condition. I got a bit of water from a flask to wash the worst of the blood off myself, then had to psyche myself up before I started putting the clothing on. My body didn’t like the movements necessary for it, especially the pants, but I forced myself to finish. It helped that the urgency and danger of the situation sharpened my mind and helped me focus past the pain. My undershirt was a bloody mess, and I left the jacket open, but it should be enough.

When I was done, I put the rags of my old clothes into my storage ring, then quickly looked through the soldier’s and put her body in as well. She’d hopefully get a proper burial eventually. Not like I could thank her for borrowing her clothes any other way.

I shook my head, trying to focus again. I couldn’t afford to dally, and there were still things that needed doing.

Rijoko’s presence had retreated at some point, though I suspected he might still be watching me. I couldn’t take the time to poke into the connection now, but there’d be no help from that side. I’d lost the radio, and the Zarian would probably track any communication I tried to send from my qi communication talisman, so that was out, as well. I took a few shallow breaths to focus, then started pulling on my qi. It took all of my focus to weave a bit of light and darkness qi into shape, then let it flutter off, barely perceptible even to my senses. It would take the message a while to reach Tenira, if it even would, but that couldn’t be helped.

Damn, I hope Tenira is okay. I hope that bastard doesn’t go after my friends.

I shook the thought off, knowing that I couldn’t afford to dwell on it. I needed to focus on my immediate situation. Besides, nothing indicated that the traitors would risk trying to go after my friends after they’d succeeded in eliminating me.

I looked at my storage ring, considering. Even if the Zarian didn’t manage to get into it, having such an expensive piece of equipment would make me stand out too much.

I frowned. It should be a reasonable assumption that the other parts of our attack succeeded, so I doubted the Zarian could or would even try to hold this base. After a moment of hesitation, I pulled out a piece of paper and a pen from my storage ring and scrawled a quick note in English. Just a few words, writing was hard enough like this.

Then I gripped the talisman on my ankle. I grimaced, hesitated for a moment more, then removed it. Immediately, it felt like I’d dropped another few kilos on me. But it was too distinctive. So I gritted my teeth and put the device into my storage ring, then ripped that one off. I turned around, trying to keep my breath even, and moved my arm. I was still close to the chasm, and with a cultivator’s body, I managed to throw the ring into it, despite my injuries.

With that done, I laid back down in the spot the soldier had vacated, and closed my eyes. I tried to ignore the pain and focus on what I needed to do.

It went surprisingly smoothly. Perhaps the situation let my force of will come to the forefront better, or the unconscious urge to take action and defend myself helped in getting it done. Unlike normal techniques, my shapeshifting ability was something innate that didn’t need perfect focus and concentration, just my mind and willpower. In a matter of seconds, I’d dyed my hair black and darkened my skin a bit. I left the eyes, since I didn’t have a mirror and didn’t want to mess things up. But I carefully straightened the skin around them a little to make the area look different, then broadened my nose and changed the shape of my chin. I touched my face to feel the changes, then continued, shifting the cheekbones to widen it a bit. Then I looked down at my clothes and changed my body, adding a bit more fat to my hips and shrinking my chest a little. I left my height the same, since I’d need to walk without difficulty, but I remembered to change the pattern of my fingertips and ears.

By now, I could clearly feel people approaching. I laid back down and resisted the temptation to look around. Instead, I finally let the pain I’d been ignoring have my attention.

The sight of Zarian soldiers walking over the fortress made me consider if I was really making the right choice. They didn’t usually kill captives, but that didn’t mean it never happened. Maybe I should just let them capture princess Inaris? They’d guard me far better, but surely, I’m worth more as a hostage than an Imperial martyr.

Then I reminded myself that Jideia wanted me dead. If the Dominion captured me publicly, it was all too likely that he would get his way.

Whatever reserves of strength I’d managed to tap into were rapidly fading as I stopped moving. I closed my eyes and let blackness take me just before the Zarian soldiers arrived.