Theirah's Arc

Chapter 1 of 1

Theirah wore the wrong skin, and the patrol would know it in seconds. She stood in the checkpoint line beneath one of the great gates, watching guards press a scanner to each traveler's wrist. Every person in the City of a Thousand Gates carried a mark under their skin. Malantians carried nothing. Theirah could copy any face she pleased, but she could not fake a thing buried in flesh she didn't understand. She had come here to steal a council member's face and walk into the highest chamber of Wyirmwood. Now she might not walk past the front gate. A guard grabbed her wrist. The scanner beeped red. He frowned and gripped harder. "No mark," he said. "Step aside." Two more guards closed in. They pulled her from the line toward a holding alcove cut into the gate wall. Theirah kept her face calm while her mind raced. She had the forged card in her pocket, but a card could not answer for skin. "Oh, thank goodness, there you are!" A young woman pushed through the crowd. She wore a crisp navy suit and a badge on a cord. Her smile arrived before the rest of her. She was maybe eighteen, and she talked like the words might run out. "You're with my delegation," the young woman said to Theirah. She turned to the guards. "Councilor's aide. Noko Osaka. She's my new records clerk, in from the outer wards. Half of them never got marked out there, you know how the wards are." Theirah did not know Noko Osaka. But she saw the opening. She let her posture soften and her shoulders drop, the way a tired clerk stands. "I told her the office would fix it," Theirah said. "I'm sorry for the trouble." The lead guard looked at the badge. "She needs a mark to enter." "That's exactly why I'm escorting her," Noko said. She pressed her own marked wrist to the scanner. It flashed green. "Sponsored entry. She gets marked at the council office within the day. It's in the code. I checked twice." The guard hesitated. A line of impatient travelers built behind them. He waved the two others off. "One day," he said. "Council office. Then she gets marked or she's out." Noko grabbed Theirah's arm and pulled her through the gate before the man could think again. On the far side, the avenue glowed and towers climbed out of sight. "You looked so lost back there," Noko whispered, grinning. "I couldn't leave you. First day for me too. We'll figure the mark out together." Theirah walked beside her, quiet. She had wanted a way past the gate. Now she had one, tied to a bubbly girl who worked inside the very council she meant to break into. The office would want to mark her by nightfall. And Noko would be standing right there when they tried.