Doppelganger (29 page)
must
continue on to other things. But one of my sisters of the Water Ray lives on
Rage was still plain in the female Hunter's posture, but she bowed jerkily. "We will do so. Katsu. Good-bye." They picked up their unconscious companion and left.
Miryo waited until they were out of the courtyard, and then ran down the stairs to the waiting Cousins. "Put it in the attic room," she said, not looking at the body on the floor. "I'll deal with it shortly."
Mirage awoke to pain. She immediately pushed it to the back of her mind. The last thing she had seen was Ice's vengeful face, so this was no time for weakness. She had to be alert.
At least no one had blindfolded her. Not that there was much to see. The floorboards in front of her nose were dusty, but disturbed by footprints. The musty smell of the air suggested an attic. And the quality of the light suggested that it was afternoon, so either she was still in Angrim, or she'd been kept unconscious for more than a day. The former seemed more likely.
She shut her eyes again, partly to calm her headache, and partly to concentrate on sound. She could hear no one in the room with her. Of course, given Ice's words, a witch might be watching her magically. But she'd have to take that chance.
Rolling over brought more pain, of course, but that was to be expected. The room was tiny, with a sharply sloped ceiling, and empty save for a door. Nothing for her to
work
with.
Mirage twisted her hands behind her, testing the ropes binding them.
If a Thornblood tied these, they're even more worthless as Hunters than I thought
. The ropes, while not loose, were definitely workable. With an ease born of long, painful practice, Mirage dislocated both of her thumbs and set about wiggling out of her bonds.
in moments she was free, but as she reset her thumbs and examined the rope around her ankles, footsteps sounded on the stairs outside the door. With one last, quick glance around, Mirage twined the rope loosely around her wrists and lay back down, more or less in the position she had been in when she awoke.
The only difference was that now she could see the door.
The visitor was not Ice, nor any other Thornblood. Red hair, clothing good but practical; probably a Cousin. Mirage suppressed a shudder.
Am I better off, or not? Which would be worse
—
Cousins, or Ice
?
No time to dwell on it. The woman was bending down to examine Mirage; she'd see the loose rope in a second.
Mirage slapped her hands hard against the floor and threw her weight onto them, kicking upward with her still-bound feet. She was lucky. The Cousin was unprepared and her aim was good; her heels struck the woman's head and sent her careening backward into the wall. She fell to the floor and Mirage was on her in an instant, clipping her hard behind the ear. She wouldn't be waking up any time soon.
Mirage searched her clothing and swore.
Unarmed. What kind of Cousin goes around unarmed? Unless she's a witch, but I can't believe it of her. No pendant, and she doesn't move like a witch. She's combat-trained, I'd bet on it. I'm just lucky she thought I was still unconscious
.
Swiftly now, she untied her feet. There had been a definite thump when the Cousin hit the wall, and another when she fell; someone might come to investigate. The room's one window was much too small for Mirage to fit through, and looked out onto an unhelpful brick wall. She'd have to find another path of escape.
So she tied the unconscious Cousin with the ropes that had bound her and slipped out the door. It opened onto a very short hallway with two more doors off it. They looked like more attic rooms, so she headed for the stairs at the other end.
The floor below was much more habitable, with a staircase to the next floor down at the other end of the hallway. But before Mirage could decide whether to investigate the rooms along the hall, go out the window, or head downstairs, one of the doors opened and another red-haired woman stepped out.
Void it
. Mirage charged her. But this one was more ready than the first; she whipped a knife out as Mirage approached.
The woman's speed was no match for Mirage's. As the woman thrust with the knife, Mirage dodged to the inside. One hand seized control of the knife, while the other slammed into her collarbone.
This second Cousin collapsed with a cry of pain. Mirage kicked her in the head and put her out, too, but now her nerves were humming; with that noise, more Cousins would be arriving within seconds. No time to tie up this one, and no point. Mirage scooped up the knife and ran.
The house did not contain a religious shrine, but it did have a room for working spells, which was much the same. Miryo went there immediately after ordering the Cousins to take care of the doppelganger.
She knelt in the center of the room. Triskeles done in Elemental colors encircled her; she spared them a brief glance before ignoring them entirely. Her mind focused on a single thing.
Maiden. Bride. Mother. Crone. Warrior. Be with me.
Miryo took a moment to calm her breathing and her heart. Both were racing, after the scene with the Hunters. The knowledge of what she was facing didn't help her any, either.
Forgive me. I should have helped that man. He was seriously injured, and needed healing. But I had not prepared myself properly, and so I could not—would not—help him. I was too weak.
Please, Lady of Five Faces, help me not be weak now. My doppelganger is upstairs. I must
—
no, I
will
kill it. It hurt that man, nearly killed him; it has probably done the same to others. I, however, wish to help those in need, wherever, they may be. I know now that I can serve you best as a witch of the Air. And this is the first step in that service
.
I go now to execute my doppelganger. Be at my side, Goddess, as I wield the knife.
Mirage spared a quick glance out the hallway window as she turned the corner. As she had hoped, she was about to reach the ground floor. A straight run for the front door seemed her best option. Hopefully the house's remaining defenses would not mobilize in time to stop her. And hopefully she wouldn't run into anything worse than surprised Cousins.
But luck, which had been with her so far, now deserted her. She reached the bottom of the stairs, turned a corner, and found herself face-to-face with another red-haired woman.
The triskele pendant that hung around her neck drew Mirage's eyes like a magnet.
"Warrior," she whispered. "You're the witch who had me taken."
Miryo stood frozen, numb, barely able to feel the dagger in her fingers. She had thought she was prepared for the shock of seeing her doppelganger. She was wrong.
Her doppelganger's flame-colored hair was cut close to her head, but the hue was like hers. Its body was hard muscle, but the proportions were the same. And the face she saw was her own. Not similar:
identical
. Battered though her doppelganger was, its face was hers. Miryo's skin crawled as she stood in the hallway, staring at herself.
Its eyes—gray, like her own—widened in shock. It was even less prepared for this than Miryo herself.
"Who
are
you?" it whispered, body tensed and wary. Miryo realized for the first time that it, too, had a knife in its hands. "My—my sister?"
"No," Miryo said, responding automatically. She couldn't make herself move. "Not sisters. You and I—we're the same person."
One pale eyebrow rose in a manner that was eerily familiar.
"You're my doppelganger. My double. Made when I was five days old. Only you were supposed to be killed then—doppelgangers are always killed—but you survived. Somehow. But I have to kill you now." She closed her mouth with a snap to keep herself from babbling more.
It brought the knife up defensively. Miryo eyed the blade and swallowed; it looked
very
competent. And it had nearly killed a Hunter. How was she supposed to stand against it?
"So you murder babies," the doppelganger said coldly.
"It's not murder!" Miryo protested. "It's done before the child is presented to the Goddess. So there's no soul when one body is killed."
"I've been in starlight since then, more than once. Do you want to bet that I still have no soul?"
That hit
far
too close to home, even after Miryo's resolution to put the question behind her. "It doesn't matter. I
have
to kill you. As long as you're alive, I can't control my magic. So either I kill you now, or I cause a lot of destruction and probably hurt or kill other people before I die, myself." The word "kill" stabbed her every time she said it.
"And I'm supposed to believe you."
"You don't want a demonstration, believe me." Miryo clamped down on the trembling part of herself and matched her doppelganger, glare for glare.
"So why don't
I
kill
you
? That should solve the problem, shouldn't it?"
Miryo's heart thudded painfully. She didn't have a prayer of matching it in a fight, and now she'd admitted her magic was not stable. And she had a sick suspicion that neither
The courage of her convictions held her up. "That's not the way it goes. You're a doppelganger. A copy. Not a real person. You were never meant to live."
It stared at her as though she were babbling nonsense. The expression, its familiarity, unnerved her, but she refused to show it; any hint of weakness and this thing would exploit it. Miryo kept her jaw firm and did not look away.
The doppelganger straightened suddenly. "All right," it said, and tossed its knife casually to the floor in front of Miryo. Then it spread its arms wide. "Do it."
Miryo stared at it in complete shock. "What?"
"Kill me," it said grimly. "Stab me in the heart. If you truly believe what you're saying, then it should mean no more to you then tearing up a sheet of paper. Do it. Stab me in the heart."
Miryo stepped forward, over its discarded blade. Taking a deep breath, she raised her own knife, lining its tip up with her double's chest. It could undoubtedly strike the weapon from her hand, but it made no move to do so.
Her doppelganger gave her a twisted smile. "Think of me, whenever you cast a spell."
Path