Gleam - Chapter 61 (Patreon)

“What?” Chance exclaimed. “Send me back right now!”

“That would be a good way to kill you,” Yamish said. He pointed a long finger at the Old City’s golem. “Bind with the boy. He would likely prefer you do it quickly.”

The craggy humanoid lurched forward and extended a hand. Rubble rained down from it and fingers grew more defined in the rock until the hand reaching out toward Chance was nearly as detailed as his own. Repressing his impatience, Chance took the Old City’s hand in his own.

A spike of Essence surged into his palm and shot to his Gate like a bullet. He drew in a sharp breath and staggered, but the Old City didn’t release its grip on his hand. The feeling passed a few seconds later, leaving Chance with a powerful throbbing ache in the center of his chest.

The golem melted back into the ground, falling to rubble before it could sink fully beneath Gleam’s surface.

“Now?” Chance asked desperately.

“There are still a few minutes before your adversary will arrive,” Yamish said. “Do you truly think you can rush into fighting a trained Shikari with no preparation whatsoever?”

“What preparation do I possibly have time for? I need to warn Bella!”

“You have time for information,” Yamish said. “Do you not think I might know some of their capabilities, given that I know they are approaching?”

“I – uh, doesn’t that go against some rule about helping me or something? Because it isn’t fair?”

Yamish snorted. “Fair? I believe my fragment already told you of fairness. It does not exist beyond what we create ourselves. Your opponent is a Rank Three cultivator. His name is Alliet, and he follows the path of Heat. Though he hides it well, his right leg is still injured from a job he took several weeks ago. Target it. If that fails, his family lives in the Rose district. He has a three-year old daughter named Malty, and a Rank One cultivator spouse named Ashkon.”

Chance opened his mouth, then let it snap shut. “Did you just tell me about his family? What use is that?”

Yamish cocked his head to the side. “Threaten to kill them. Actually kill them. Do what you will. I am simply providing you information. Now, think. What else may you need? You have one minute to safely deliberate.”

Chance pursed his lips, immediately dismissing Yamish’s suggestions. He wasn’t going to go around threatening children or people that weren’t involved in the fight. That was wrong on more levels than one.

“What weapons does he use?”

“Short sword.”

“Do you happen to know how he’s going to enter the house?”

“Likely through the girl’s window,” Yamish said, stretching his fingers out. “There is also a possibility he attempts to burn down the house after throwing it into a Ward.”

“Okay. And I don’t suppose you could just take care of him for me?”

Yamish smirked. “No. If I were to take direct action here, it would draw some of the other, more overzealous cultivators to intervene. Handle this on your own, or you are not worthy of being my apprentice.”

“Okay,” Chance said, smoothing his damaged shirt out. “Right. Send me back. I’ve got a plan.”

The world vanished, and Chance was in his room once again. The surprise only lasted for a moment before he scrambled out of his room, nearly smashing through his door in the process. He slammed his fist on Bella’s door.

“Bella! Let me in?”

“Chance?” Bella asked from the other side. “Give me a second.”

“No time! Let me in now!”

“Sheesh, I’m coming,” Bella called. Her feet scuffed across the ground and the door cracked open. “What’s going on? I was in the middle–”

Chance shoved her to the side and dashed inside the room. “Assassin!”

“I – what?”

He rushed over to the window and his bracelet snapped out into its urumi form. Chance drew on his Essence, filling the air around him with golden mist. It churned throughout his body, infusing every part of him that it could. He drew it into himself, then crouched and made himself as small as possible in the corner of the room.

“No time to explain,” Chance said, his eyes narrow as he watched the window. “Don’t stand in the middle of the room. Move to the side.”

Bella gaped at him, then took a baffled step to the side. The movement saved her life. A thick pillar of flame melted clean through the window in an instant, jetting into the room like a laser cutter. Chance staggered back, his eyebrows singed, as the Essence screamed past his face.

The beam of fire sputtered out and a scarred hand reached over the edge of the windowsill. A thin man pulled himself up, a smoking pipe clenched between his teeth. His eyes fell on Bella, who had fallen to her backside to avoid the spell.

“Sorry, kid,” he said, snapping his fingers. A spark of fire bloomed above them. “Just doing my job.”

Chance’s urumi whistled through the air. Alliet’s hand thumped to the floor. He glanced down at his stump, shock blocking the pain as his mind rushed to catch up with what had happened. He reacted with impressive speed, spinning toward Chance and bringing a flame to bear in his other hand.

Chance was faster. The hilt of his urumi crashed down on the man’s head with a loud thunk. He staggered back, cursing. Chance swung the blade again, harder this time. It connected in the same location and Alliet’s eyes rolled back up into his head as he crumpled to the ground.

Cursing to himself, Chance dropped to the ground beside him. He tore a strip from the man’s shirt and bound it as quickly as he could. It wasn’t much, but it wasn’t exactly easy to stop the flow of a missing limb. Bella scrambled over to join Chance and pressed a hand to the man’s wrist. Ice crept over it, sealing the wound shut.

“Thanks,” Chance breathed. He pushed himself to his feet. “We need to get out of here. Right now.”

“Here? The city?”

“Yes. Wren warned me when he dropped you off, and I got another message from… someone else,” Chance said, somewhat unconvincingly. “You’re wanted by the Shikari for some reason, and the rest of us are too.”

Bella’s eyes widened. Chance expected a few questions, but he got nothing of the sort. Instead, Bella darted over to her bed and pulled out a backpack and a robe. She threw the robe over herself, covering her face, and slung the bag over her shoulders.

“You have a go-bag?”

“Never know when you need to run,” Bella said grimly. “Just wasn’t expecting to have to do it so quickly. Are you sure you’re in danger too?”

“Yes.”

They both spun as Yamish floated through the smoking hole in the side of the building. He glanced down at the unconscious man, then clicked his tongue.

“Sloppy. He’ll know you survived. It would have been wiser to burn the house down and pretend you all died.”

“Pass,” Chance said.

“Then you’ll have even less time for the next part,” Yamish said. “Leave Gleam. You will not survive if you remain, unless you hide within the Old City for many months. The Shikari will not be actively hunting you yet.”

“What about Yeo?” Chance asked, letting his urumi snap back around his wrist in its bracelet form. “He’s in danger too, isn’t he?”

“Another has already claimed him,” Yamish said.

Chance’s eyes narrowed. “What does that mean?”

“He will have guidance,” Yamish replied. “Which will be more than you have, if you fail to escape this city before the Shikari apprehend you.”

The door slammed open behind them. Pete charged into the room and dashed between Chance and Yamish, raising his hammer. “Get back, kids! Run!”

Yamish snapped his fingers and a band of gold energy wrapped around Pete’s waist. He was yanked back out the door and down the stairs before he could say another word.

“The old man is not hurt,” Yamish said before Chance could say anything. “Begin the second part of your task. I will give no further aid until you escape the city.”

Then Yamish was gone. Bella and Chance stared at the space where he had been floating instants before.

“Who is that, Chance?” Bella asked carefully. “Because he’s very powerful. I couldn’t even feel his cultivation level.”

“My teacher,” Chance said hesitantly. “And also my stalker and possible predator. Not entirely sure. He’s kind of helping, though. You would have been dead if he didn’t warn me.”

Bella swallowed and gave him a curt nod. “Yeah. Thanks for that, Chance. And you as well, great cultivator. If he says we need to get out of Gleam, then we should go now. The city is huge.”

Chance nodded. “What about Pete? We need to tell him what’s going on.”

Right on que, the old man charged up the stairwell and skidded into the room, breathing heavily. His eyes darted around. “Where’d the cultivator go?”

“He’s not an enemy,” Chance said. “But we’re in trouble, Pete. The Shikari seem to think we did something that we didn’t. They sent an assassin.”

Pete’s hands tightened around the shaft of his hammer. “After children?”

“Don’t ask me, but we don’t have time to explain anything else. I’m sure the Shikari will put something out soon enough, and we can’t be around when that happens,” Chance said.

Pete gave him a curt nod. “Move. I’ll cover your tracks. I won’t see another one of my teams die. I don’t know what you kids have gotten yourselves caught up in again, but be careful. Whatever that cultivator was, he’s not to be trifled with. He’s a Lord rank at the minimum. Possibly higher. I couldn’t sense the limits of his power.”

“We’ll be as safe as we can,” Chance promised. He poked his head out of the still-smoking hole where the window had been. “Maybe we should leave this way? Someone might be watching the front door.”

Bella nodded. “Good idea. Do you have a panic bag? If not, we’ll need to put one together before we leave the city. You won’t survive long without supplies outside of Gleam.”

“I’ve got some in my room. We can stop by a shop somewhere on the way out,” Chance said. He dashed back to his room and grabbed the box of his winnings from the tournament. He stuffed it full of sets of clothes from his closet, then sprinted back to rejoin Bella and Pete.

“Gibson will be here shortly to investigate what happened.” Pete’s lips pressed thin. “You need to be gone before he arrives. If anyone has access to orders of the local Shikari, it would be him. He might even know about the order. Be careful, kids. Get to one of the local villages near Gleam first. It’s your only real chance of safety outside the city’s walls.”

“We’ll be back,” Bella promised. “Just after this is all cleared up.”

She leaped out the hole in the window, sliding down the side of the house and dropping to the alley outside it.

“Thank you,” Chance said. “This is the first place I’ve been able to call home in a while. Bella is right. We’ll be back, I promise. Take care of yourself.”

He jumped after her and landed on the ground with a thud. Bella helped him up and they slipped out into the streets, walking swiftly but with purpose to avoid any suspicion. Pete watched them from the Whiteheart house, then turned back and strode away to cover as many of their tracks as he could.