Doppelganger (37 page)

"I believed when I chose you—and still believe now—that your impartiality isn't endangered," Jaguar continued. "You knew nothing of Tarinakana's involvement. Her tracking of your movements was almost certainly just a continuing interest in your career, and without further evidence, there's no reason to believe it relates to her assassination."

In a moment of spontaneous, unspoken accord, neither Mirage nor Eclipse said anything. They had further evidence, sitting just a short ride away in Elensk. But despite the loyalty Mirage owed to Jaguar, and despite the trust she had in him, she was not ready—not yet—to tell him about Miryo.

"Do you know why Tari-nakana wanted me here?" she asked.

Jaguar looked her in the eye and shrugged. "For the obvious reasons. You were—and are—ideally suited to being a Hunter. You were a good Dancer, but your talents wouldn't have been fully used there. She saw that, and for whatever reason took a personal interest in seeing you where you belonged."

And if that's the whole story, I'm a Thornblood.

"One other thing," Mirage said, and again she was not sure why she spoke. "We met Viper on the way in. He said he'd been expecting me. Why? Does he know about this commission?"

She didn't imagine it; Jaguar's eyes widened fractionally. "You
haven't
heard, then."

Mirage relaxed her hands again. "No."
What was I supposed to have heard
?

Jaguar didn't answer; he just stood and beckoned for the two of them to follow him.

They left his office through another door, this one opening on a staircase leading upward. It took them to the dovecote, and the balcony around it, which overlooked the salle's outside yard, the archery range, and the mounted combat field.

The practice yard was crowded. At the far end a young man was going through a spear pattern with methodical slowness; the weapon's length had earned him breathing space, but the rest of the yard was packed. A small clump of students, marked as fifteen-year-olds by the stitching on the backs of their jackets, were reviewing knife patterns together. A solitary twelve-year-old was falling, over and over again, plainly trying to learn to do it right. And on the side closest to them, the newest crop of trainees were sparring.

Jaguar directed their attention to the pair on the left edge. "Tell me what you see."

Mirage looked down. The padding they wore masked them thoroughly. She thought they might be girls, but young as they were she couldn't be at all sure. They still moved with the hesitancy of trainees who had not ad-justed to the fact that they were supposed to hit people, but she could see they were beginning to get over it.

"They're not half bad," she said after a moment. "Still a little reluctant to hit each other, but they've learned to keep their guard up, and I can see some of the others haven't. The taller one will be a good kick-fighter if she works at it."

Jaguar nodded, and glanced at Eclipse.

"They move like Mirage," Eclipse said.

Mirage stared at him.

"They've got her reflexes, her agility. They may not be used to hitting each other, but they already understand fighting in a way none of the others do. They're naturals. Like Mirage."

Mirage's eyes were pulled inexorably back to the padded, androgynous figures below.
Like me. Warrior's soul. Are they
—

"The shorter one has reddish-brown hair," Jaguar said. "The taller has brown hair, but only because she dyes it. There's another at Windblade, and one at Thornblood."

Doppelgangers. Goddess.

His eyes flicked to Mirage. "You know something about this."

It was a statement, not a question. And it put Mirage in a horrible position. It was one thing to not tell Jaguar about things he was unaware of; it was another thing entirely to lie directly to him. And yet she could not begin to fathom the trouble that could result if she told him what was going on.

Neither of them moved for a long moment Then, at last, Mirage dragged her eyes away from the doppelgangers in the yard below and faced the Grandmaster squarely.

"I do," she admitted in a low voice. "But for the sake of… many things, I cannot tell you right now. Not until I clear up another matter."

"You owe me certain loyalties," Jaguar said. His voice was unexpressive; she could not tell if he was angry or merely reminding her.

"I know," Mirage said, and tried to put strength into her voice. "But this other matter takes precedence. I swear by the Warrior's soul, I owe you an explanation, and you'll have one. But not now."

"And what if you don't survive this commission?"

Mirage quirked an eyebrow at him sardonically. "Wraith isn't going to take me down. But just in case the witches do, I'll arrange for you to get an explanation anyway. Will that do?"

He searched her eyes for a moment, then nodded. "It will. For now."

Night was deepening, and Miryo was contemplating trying to sleep, when she heard a faint noise behind her.

She turned around just in time to see the window swing inward. Reflexively, not even thinking about it, something in her reached for an annihilating rash of power, to obliterate the intruder—

She choked it off, barely, as Mirage appeared in the window and climbed into the room. Miryo stood, trying to calm her breathing, wondering if Mirage noticed, as her doppelganger came forward. Eclipse followed her in, and shut the window behind himself.

One look at Mirage's face was enough to tell her that her attempts to calm herself might be wasted.
They weren't supposed to be back until tomorrow. What happened
?

"There are more of them," Mirage said curtly.

"More of them?" Miryo repeated, not catching on.

"Doppelgangers. At least four. Two at Silverfire, one at Windblade, one at Thornblood. Nobody's guessed what they are, at least not as far as I know, but Jaguar at least knows there's
something
strange about them. He asked me. I didn't tell him." Mirage's eyes held a cold stoniness.

Miryo could sympathize with. Her own eyes would probably look the same, once she got over the shock.

"Crone's teeth—where did they come from? Tari-nakana didn't have any children." Miryo's breath caught, probably because her throat had closed off. "But Ashin has a daughter."

Mirage's eyes flicked to meet hers. "Would you recognize the girl if you saw her?"

"I don't know. I've never seen her. But if she looks like Ashin, probably."

Her double turned to face Eclipse, who was still standing by the window. "What's the schedule like for first-years?"

"Forest riding, every morning. And it's not evaluation time."

"Perfect." Mirage turned back to Miryo. "Get your stuff and meet us on the west side of town. We'll ride to Silverfire tonight and check the two of them tomorrow."

The innkeeper would no doubt wonder why his spoiled, prissy guest was departing well after sunset, but that had suddenly been demoted in priority. Miryo nodded. "I'll be there in less than an hour."

The ride was crazy. Miryo wondered whether being a Hunter was always like this—skulking about, climbing through windows, and leaving town in the dead of night. And whether being an Air witch was anything like it. If so, her life was going to be very hard on the nerves.

They circled around Silverfire, giving the compound a wide berth, and approached the wood from the back. When they neared it, they left Eclipse with the horses. Mirage led Miryo forward on foot, creeping through the black murk of the trees. Miryo stumbled along in her wake, trying not to make too much noise, but it was hard; the ground was tricky and uneven. She had wandered around at night before, but generally either in Starfall's well-kept grounds or on its roof. Here, in forest as near to trackless as made no difference, she had more trouble. She kept misjudging where exactly the ground was, and staggered as a result.

The twentieth or thirtieth time she did this, Mirage paused. Miryo cringed, imagining what her double must think of her. She hated being incompetent.

"Walk toe-heel," Mirage advised, and continued on.

Miryo tried this and found it peculiar but helpful. The motion tired her legs, as they were unused to it, but walking toe-heel allowed her to find the ground with her foot before committing her weight to it. She still cracked twigs and rustled in the leaf mold, but she didn't sound quite as much like a drunken donkey, which made her feel a good deal better. It gave her hope that she might, with practice, learn to do this well.

Some time later Mirage paused again. "Wait here," she murmured, and then she was gone, swallowed up by the blackness. Miryo strained her ears, trying to track her by sound, but heard nothing more than the occasional rustle that might have been a squirrel.

Then Mirage was back. "Follow me."

They went on only another ten steps before stopping again. "Can you climb trees?" Mirage asked.

Well-kept garden trees in Starfall, yes. But it couldn't be harder than Starfall's roofs. "I'll manage."

They scrambled up into the branches. It wasn't as difficult as Miryo had feared. In fact, the tree seemed to have bees discreetly pruned to make climbing easier. Her suspicion was confirmed when Mirage led her onto a small platform nestled among the branches.