Mei chased Blue Mask across rooftops, between chimney stacks, over narrow alleyways, but, as with Sioned, her lack of familiarity kept her quarry just out of reach. Instead, they were getting farther and farther away from Sanford, and she was getting more and more tired with each jump and dash.
Which was probably Blue Mask’s plan.
Guilty, Mei came to a stop. She really shouldn’t have let Blue Mask lead her out this far because, while Dwayne was more than capable of defending himself, she’d promised Huan that she’d guard Sanford in his place. She had to go back. Her need to absolve her brother wasn’t worth allowing Gray Mask to circle back and attack Sanford. She’d catch Blue Mask another day.
As she turned east, Mei reloaded her rifle. When she got back, she’d set up on the rooftop again and-
“Giving up?” Somehow, despite having been wirs ahead of her, Blue Mask was now standing in her way, three black-handled knives at the ready. “I thought you never gave up.”
Mei cocked her rifle. “Move.”
“Stay here with me.” Blue Mask spread his arms wide. “Take a load off. We’ll be done soon.”
The cadence sounded like- No, she wasn’t doing this now. Mei took aim. “Move.”
Blue Mask laughed. “My shoulder, really?”
He’d traced her aim.
“Oh, my side,” said Blue Mask when she shifted it. “I’m so scared.”
Mei grit her teeth. “Move.”
“No.”
This felt odd. While it made sense for Mei not to kill Blue Mask, it didn’t make sense Blue Mask not to kill her. Mei was his enemy, and yet he’d already wasted two changes to use his mysterious magic to sink a knife in her back. At any rate, it was clear he wanted her away from Sanford.
Mei shifted her aim from Blue Mask’s side to his head. “Move.”
The thief reeled. “No, no, no, no, you said she wouldn’t. She wouldn’t.” Those strange gold eyes met Mei’s. “You wouldn’t.”
She wouldn’t, so before she pulled the trigger, Mei relaxed her grip and dropped her shoulder. Her goal had been to miss by half a wir and then force her way through, but Blue Mask was gone before her bullet left her rifle.
“You buxing fool.” Blue Mask dodged Mei’s attack and danced up to the rooftop’s peak. After tucking a red-handled knife into his belt, he brandished his remaining knives. “He was so sure you wouldn’t.”
Then he threw two knives at Mei and charged after them. Mei dropped her rifle, slapped away the knives with her dagger, ducked into his guard, caught his wrist, and used his momentum to pull him through her. The added momentum propelled Blue Mask all the way to the roof’s edge, which forced Mei to scramble after him and grabbed his arm before he fell off the roof.
“Get off me!” Blue Mask elbowed her in the face and rolled away from her. “Why did you do that? Do you know?”
“Know what?” Mei backed away from the roof’s edge. “I don’t want you dead.”
Blue Mask bristled. “Then why. Did. You. Shoot?”
Two more knives, both black-handled, arced Mei’s way. She ducked under them, parried Blue Mask’s knife thrust with one hand, caught his punch with the other and twisted it to try and force him to his knees, but Blue Mask roared and shoved her away. Only luck allowed Mei to keep her footing when another two thrown knives came her way.
After slapping them away, Mei watched them tumble down into the alley. Including the knife he’d used to knock the sleep bomb out of her hands, Blue Mask had now thrown seven knives at her and hadn’t retrieved a single one of them. While his clothes were more than baggy enough to hide that many knives, she’d now grabbed him twice and had failed to feel any metal hiding in his sleeves.
Producing infinite knives. Magic. Appearing wherever he he wanted. Magic. Passing through a single pane of glass. Also magic. Assuming the third belonged with the first and second meant that Blue Mask was the thief Dwayne was chasing.
And he had Huan’s build.
Crap.
“Why did you shoot?” The thief stalked towards her. “Do you know or don’t you?”
Because he was still between her and Sanford, Mei didn’t have very many options. Running or fighting, both would either tire her out or force Blue Mask to do something desperate to keep her from getting away. And of course, neither option dealt with the lean figure standing to Mei’s left.
“Li Mei,” they bowed, “the Empire has questions for you.”
Mei stared at them. Their words had been Imperial Tuquese, a dialect that all Tuquese children were taught to understand, but never to speak, and hearing it now was almost as surprising as what the speaker was wearing: a black mask covered in gold stripes that resembled a certain large feline beast from the jungles of the Empire’s southern reaches.
“Go away,” Blue Mask snarled in commoner’s Tuquese. “We’re busy.”
Mei’s astonishment switched targets.
“Irrelevant.” The other masked figure drew a long double bladed sword. “Black Tiger has come to see this through.”
“Black Tiger?” Blue Mask looked down at his hands. “No, I’m… There’s no Black Tiger!”
“Li Mei, I recommend you that you comply.” When Black Tiger pointed their sword at Mei, the characters for strength and determination glinting in the city lights. “Otherwise, we will have to use force.”
“We?”
Unlike Blue Mask, Mei had already noticed the wide shouldered man in speckled gray furs, whose short bow was already aimed at her, its string pulled taut. Bows like that were favored by hunters because they could be fired quickly. By the time Mei had taken ten steps, she’d have taken five arrows.
There was good news though. Whoever Black Tiger and their archer were, they probably didn’t have Blue Mask’s magic. All she needed was a distraction.
Black Tiger gestured with the tip of their sword. “Li Mei, your reply?”
“Back off.” Blue Mask drew the red-handled knife. “She’s mine!”
“Whoever you are, we have no quarrel with you. You may go.”
“I said,” Blue Mask threw his knife, “back off!”
That was her chance. In the time it took Black Tiger to slap Blue Mask’s knife out of the air, Mei had thrown her own blade at the archer. When he shot it out of the air, she dove, grabbed her rifle, and rolled right off the roof.
“Li Mei! Li Mei, come back!”
“Don’t buxing ignore me, imposter!”
Mei had seen someone manage to use kicks and quick grabs to descend from great heights quickly. It was not a trick she knew. Instead, brute strength allowed her to kick herself between the alley walls, and sheer luck dropped her into a pile of trash, leaving her with scrapes, bruises, and an unbroken rifle. Not wishing to jinx her fate, she got up and fled into the street.
Her brother had picked an awful night for a date.
Admaeus Speaks 