Shatterglass

He and Majnuna were in the wings of the stage when one of the arurimi came for them. The arurimi outside Lagisthion had found a service entrance to the hall s underbelly. It was hidden by a clump of brush thirty metres away.

Dema cursed. He had forgotten the service entrances. didnt want to ruin the beauty of the building with anything as sordid as taking out the rubbish,he panted as he and his arurimi raced outside. never do anything simple if they can think of a complicated way around it.

Quickly they found the path into the greenery and followed it to a circle of open ground. An open door yawned at its centre. On top of the steps leading down lay the body of a yaskedasu.

Dema clenched his fists. They were too late, again.

He looked around. They had been quiet since coming outside. There was a chance that the killer was still nearby.

An application of heartbeat powder over the dead woman told him shed been dead less than an hour. He didnt waste time with the vision spell, but immediately gulped a mouthful of stepsfind and sprayed it over the yaskedasu. In the gloom of the night it drifted to one side of her, and shimmered in the form of footsteps on the ground.

None of the arurimi said anything. They followed. They tracked the Ghost through the back ways of Heskalifos, through alleys and service entrances hidden with brush and trees, until the trail of the kille r turned downhill. They followed him right up to the white marble columns and stones of a building so thoroughly protected by cleansing magics that all trace of him was lost. Dema s curses brought the priests out to discover who was making so unholy a racket.

Seeing them, Dema literally ground his teeth. The killer had vanished into the bowels of the Heskalifos temple of the All-Seeing. He had carried his pollution into the temple s foundations, where the guardian spells erased all trace of him. Once more hed managed to be a Ghost in fact, vanishing from a trail so plainly marked Dema could have followed it blindfolded.

Take too much on yourself,a priestess informed Dema. She had found him on the temple steps, waiting as his people searched outside the grounds in case the Ghost had not vanished into the service tunnels. You think that magic is not a force of nature but something dead, a tool to be used,she continued, standing beside him. She was robed and draped as a high-ranking priestess. She had the age for it, with laugh lines and the lines drawn by long watches framing her eyes. Her nose was a straight edge with delicate nostrils, her thin-lipped mouth painted the same red that decorated her robes.

is not dead,protested Dema, watching for his arurimi. it is a tool, a device we can use to set the balance of justice right.

The priestess shook her head. is a living force that obeys its own time and its own laws. We must accept that and learn to live with it, for our own serenitys sake. Magic leaves us no choice.

Dema shook his head stubbornly. He hated not having a choice.

The priestess rested a hand on his shoulder. Dema looked at her, wary. So far his contacts with this particular priesthood were less than encouraging.

heart is in Tharios, Demakos Nomasdina,she told him.

Dema flinched. He hadnt mentioned his name, not wanting to be punished for tracking the polluted steps of a killer.

Are a true and noble servant to our city,the priestess continued. you have laid hands upon this Ghost, return here. I shall see to it that you are made clean by rite and magic, so that you may do your work unhindered. I trust that your clan takes pride in so devoted a citizen. She drew the circle of the All-Seeing on Demas - forehead, bowed and retreated into the temple. Dema stared after her, mouth agape.

There was reverence in Majnunas deep, thick voice. The aruritn had come up while Dema was speaking with the priestess. ve been blessed by Aethra Papufos!

Gooseflesh crawled up Demis spine. The high priestess of the All-Seeing almost never appeared in public. Her prayers guarded Tharios; she was considered to be the voice of the All-Seeing on earth.

She had set her hand on him in full view of a handful of priests and arurimi. She had called him a citizen. And she had virtually told him that he would be able to find killers unhindered by considerations of pollution - once he caught the Ghost.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

The worst part, Tris thought as she groped her way down Imperial Alley, was how confusing it all was. She felt as if she walked through an opal when she tried the magics of Winds Path, an opal alive with glittering bits of colour that threatened to overwhelm her sight. None of them served to make any kind of a picture for her, not even so much as last night s glimpse of a gauze butterfly wing. Worse, they made her half-blind in Khapik, not precisely a good thing to be. Tonight she had Chime and Little Bear with her, and her breezes to warn her, but her head was spinning. Floods of dizziness came and went.

Tris told her companions. ll just have to try again tomorrow.

Chime rubbed her head against Triss cheek. The girl sighed and closed her eyes, willing the magic away. At last she put her spectacles back on and returned to Ferouze s. She doubted that she could sleep, thanks to the tides in her blood and bones, but at least she could read further. Maybe there was a way to sort all these firefly bits until they showed her something real.

About to climb from the first storey of Ferouzes to the second, she saw that Chime scratched at Keth s open door. Tris looked into his room. Her student lay awake on his bed, watching the ceiling shadows by the light of one candle. He pulled the sheet up to his bare chest when she came in and smiled ruefully. Yes, they had to send me back because I was exhausted. Please dont say I told you so,he begged.

Tris sat on a chair, Chime at her feet, Little Bear dropping with a groan in the doorway. s the furthest thing from my mind, she assured him, watching threads of colour in the breeze that flowed between the window and the door. The threads all came to hover around Keth, lighting on his eyes, his jaws, his chest, making him sparkle in Triss sight.