Mira Threadwell's Arc

Chapter 10 of 13

Mira returned to the trial grounds with the diagram folded against her chest. The marshal stood behind a tall altar of bright crystal, calling names over the crowd. A birch watchtower rose beside the ring, its frosted walls posted with match cards and ownership claims. Mira pushed toward the front as her name carried across the ice. Before she could answer, the tall fighter stepped to a runed archway near the altar. He pressed her stolen diagrams to the glowing stones. The runes flared and burned his mark into the parchment. A clerk pinned the sealed page to the watchtower wall, under his name, for every eye to read. The marshal lifted his hand. "Design registered. Match called." Mira shouted that the work was hers. She pulled the saved diagram from her cloak and held it high. The marshal barely glanced at it. "Unsealed paper. No standing." He waved her off the ice. Mira stepped back from the ring, the refined diagram still warm in her hand. The thief had her name on the wall. But she had the better stitch, and she had an ally she had never met. She turned from the altar and walked toward the storehouse. The match was lost. The work was not.