Noxia Shade's Arc

Chapter 2 of 15

The axeman led Noxia through a low passage that opened into a wide hall lit by soft blue glow. A single door stood at the far end. She kept her grip on the notebook and counted her steps. Then another set of boots struck the floor from the opposite side, matched to her own pace. Someone else was closing on the same door, and they were not empty-handed. The mirrored walls of the glass dome threw blue light across them both. The other operative reached the airlock at the same breath she did. He held up a scrap of cloth stained dark, and named a kill she had never been given. The axeman stopped. He looked from the cloth to her notebook, then stepped between them. "Inside," he said. "He will decide which of you walks back out." Noxia slid one boot loose against the cold floor. The door hissed open. She had not lost the gate yet, but she no longer held it alone. Outside the airlock, a tall fountain pulsed blue waves over a wide stone basin. The rival had staked his claim there. His coat hung on the rim. His blade rested across the lip. He meant to be seen. Noxia studied the cloth in his hand and matched her breath to his. She stepped into the airlock first. He followed. The seal closed behind them with a soft thud. She set the bare foot down on the warm tile and let the air still around it. The rival's knees buckled before he cleared three paces. He hit the floor with the cloth folded under his cheek. The axeman watched, then bent and lifted the stained scrap from his slack hand. He weighed it. He passed it to Noxia. "Bring this in with the notebook," he said. "He will want to know whose kill it was, and why this one tried to wear it." Noxia laced her boot. The second gate stood open, and she walked through it alone. She carried the cloth in one hand and the notebook in the other. The stain smelled of rust and something sharper, like fluid from a cracked drum. A kill she had not made. A kill someone wanted hung on her name. The inner door waited. She had passed the second gate, but the proof in her hand was now her problem to answer for.