Tother Hand, Chapter 6, Part 2

They made their way back to a convenient spot where they could observe the front of the capitol building entrance. As the sun began to set, the procession returned along the major street and guards opened the entrance to let them file in. The palanquin entrance on the second palanquin in the procession was slightly open, and a foot was visible up to the ankle. The rest of the leg was not visible inside the palanquin.

A dog barked and some chickens clucked insistently. 9001 conveyed the message: Why don’t we attack with the Healer speed when they are outside?

Her father shook his head in the negative. A rock shifted in the sand and a bird called once, twice. It meant: It is too risky. We cannot escape if we even succeed.

They waited there until long after dark when everyone else retreated inside a shelter. Then they waited even longer until it became bitterly cold. The lamps and lights inside stopped moving around, then eventually went out completely. An owl hooted: Go.

They crept silently toward the building wall on the side where they had spotted a ledge and window opening. 2711 unwound his turban and took off his _patu_, woollen coat. The turban was approximately 6 metres long and an additional perhaps 2 metres for the _patu_. He tied them together and wrapped the cloth at 1 metre lengths with 4 knots. 9001 grabbed one end and her father hoisted her up on his knee. Leaning against the wall with her leg and hand on one side, she lifted her other foot so her father could use both hands to throw her up an extra metre.

It took three tiring tries, but finally, the knot at the top caught on a wooden abutment on the ledge. 9001 hopped down and tested the strength of the cloth and attachment. She lifted herself up and planted both feet on the wall to climb up, using the knots for hand holds. She was able to get to the ledge and ducked inside the window. The window let into a hallway dead-end on the second floor of the building. She whistled faintly and a few seconds later her father appeared, hopping down into the hallway as silently as a cat.

They slowly edged forwards to the first corner intersection and peered both ways along the hallway. Nothing moved or made a sound. They moved toward a door, separated with dark cloth curtains. 2711 parted the curtains and looked inside stealthily. He withdrew and moved to the next doorway, covered in lightly coloured cloth curtains. Her father looked inside again, but this time he strained to see something. His back straightened suddenly and he closed the curtains quickly. He lifted his fingers to his lips: Quiet.

Someone snored inside and shifted. They waited with increased breathing rates until the room went silent again. They moved further down the hall to the other end. A set of wooden doors blocked the next room at the end. 2711 held up his hand to caution his daughter. He pulled out his new blade from inside his shift. She did likewise with her blade, seeing the light-coloured reflective metal almost glowing in the darkness in her father’s hand. She noticed that the blade nearly glowed when viewed from the corners of her eyes. Looking directly at the blade made the glowing effect go away, and it because almost invisible.

Her father used the blade to reach between the door panels and find a wooden latch inside. He lifted it very carefully, then pushed gently at the door. Nothing happened but a creaking noise and a thump came from the left side. They waited, straining to listen for any other noises. Nothing moved. It dawned on him suddenly: he pulled at the door and it moved outward with a few squeaks and scrapes.

They filed inside the entrance and faced another door inside the anteroom. A flickering light inside froze them in their tracks. A candle was still burning inside, visible at the frame edges and between the planks of wood. 9001 began to panic and motioned to leave. 2711 shook his head defiantly. He moved forwards. The interior door opened and a man stepped forward, carrying a candle in his hand. He wore a thin silk mask that hung from a curiously shaped hat brim. The silk part of the mask hung nearly to his chest and waved with every movement and breath.

The eyes were barely visible behind a gap between the brim of the hat and the silk. They glittered in the candlelight, but did not betray any surprise.

A twig snapped: Now.

9001 pushed forward into the frozen time between the light coming from the candle. She had made a miscalculation, however, because she could not see anything at first. She moved forwards swinging her legs as she had been taught from each corner of a set of squares laid out in front of her. As her eyes opened finally, she noticed the room was full of dim but steady light. Her rhythm was perfectly in tune with the motion of the light. The flame on the candle wick did not move or gutter, but stood completely still. There were no shadows or bands of light and darkness in the room.

Continuing on in this way without rushing, more like swimming through water, she pushed forwards onto the right side of her father and swept low with the blade towards targets Six and Seven. Her father seemed to be moving upward towards One from the opposite side. She noticed that the Masked One was nearly as tall as her father with a very similar build. The silk mask in front of face held still in the middle of a wave, frozen solid. A few glints of golden light bounced off of his neck. Something familiar about the jawline and corner where it met the earlobe seemed to remind her of someone.

She ducked her head, though, concentrating on the first target and relished her ability to move so carefully and effortlessly in the space between time and light. She already knew the motion the blade and her arms, legs, and body would take. The whole path was planned out in front of her. She merely needed to follow along the path without forcing any effort.

She struck deeply and horizontally with her left hand in a backward slash at the groin crease. Then she reversed the motion to slash deeply at the same target on the target’s left side. She continued her momentum to the target’s left side and slightly behind him. She noticed with some satisfaction that he appeared to be falling back.

Everything sped forward as the spell broke and she heard the candle land before she heard two loud bangs in quick succession. The man must have fallen to the floor, she reasoned, turning around.

Instead, she saw both the Masked One and her father lying on the ground on their backs, heads rolled to one side. The candle sputtered and rolled around on its side, nearly going out. She turned her gaze further down the length of his legs and her father lay foot-to-foot with the same pose. She turned her attention to the Masked One’s head and spotted a large golden choker around his neck, filled with gems. This must have been some sort of armour protecting targets One and Two, she reasoned. She lifted the silk veil and could barely discern the features. Nevertheless, she sensed a familiar déjà vu seeing the side of the cheek and crow’s feet at the corner of his eyes.

The adrenaline of the exercise caught up to her and she began to hyperventilate from exertion and opened her mouth widely to pant. Spotted lights danced in her vision and darkness closed in at the edges of her sight.

Her father said: Breathe. Clean the blade. Curse the body.

She took to more panicked sobs and fumbled her blade on the cloth of the Masked One. She breathless mouthed the words: I curse you foul Masked One. I despise you and your kind, ruling over common people as tyrants. While others move around in yurts and poor huts, you take people’s wealth and live in fancy buildings. You cover your face in fear and loathing. You hide like the cowards you are. So the Healers strike you down and Ahriman take your body to _druj_. Your _fravashi_ will take you far away from here and you will never be seen again.

She sheathed her blade in his belt and took the blade from the floor next to her father’s left hand. She placed it on the other side of her belt wrap. It was long and uncomfortable against her hip.

Her father said: Go. Someone is coming.

She heard footsteps and several people starting to shout. She ran out the door and down the hallway, fleeing out the window and nearly tumbled down the wall. She unknotted the bottom section with her father’s _patu_ and wrapped herself in it as she fled blindly into the city.