“You did good,” Ana told Messy as they were leaving to find some lunch. “Not much paint on you.”

  “What about Sadie?” Messy said with exaggerated petulance. “Did she do good?”

  “I mean, yeah? She did all right? Are you upset about something, Mess?”

  Messy sighed. “No, I’m just being jealous and childish. When you said that you needed someone for the demonstration, I hoped that you’d use me.”

  “Why? All I did was…”

  Messy grinned at her.

  Throw her around, Ana finished to herself. She snorted softly and pulled Messy into a side hug. “You need to cool down a bit. But it’s nice to be wanted, I guess. What are we eating?”

  Many of the food stalls were back in the square, but they were strictly limited in how much they were allowed to sell to any given person. They ended up eating some kind of spicy chicken pie with lots of herbs. The vendor apologetically told them that they were only allowed one per person. That wasn’t a problem, though; one of those things could have fed Ana for the whole day, so they only bought one and split it.

  They sat down on the plinth and ate in the shade of the Waystone. “What did you think about the class?” Ana asked. “Is there anything I should change for the afternoon?”

  Messy took a bite of her pie and chewed thoughtfully. “I honestly don’t know,” she said after swallowing. “I enjoyed it, but it was obvious that most of the others were uncomfortable. I don’t know what you could do differently and still teach what you need to. Tone down the emphasis on killing, maybe, and focus on the actions, instead of why we’re training?”

  “I dunno,” Ana said, looking at the two dozen or so people who currently shared the square with them besides the vendors. A few were in the militia. “I wish I could, but accepting the possibility of killing someone is the most important thing anyone can take with them from one of these classes. Everyone has the skills and abilities to kill one of the crazies easily. Compared to a demon they’re fragile. From our group, Dilmik and Denikla especially could just mow them down at range, long before they become a threat. But I think that they’ll hesitate when it comes to it, like most of the militia. And that’s going to get people killed.”

  “Yeah, no, I get that. But maybe focus on that? How what we learn could help us save our own lives and those of our friends? You, ah… You’re very much about how this kills a person this easily and this fast. Honestly, I think you’re scaring them, and that tone, or whatever, makes them more nervous about using what they’ve learned.”

  “Not you?”

  Messy shrugged. “I accepted long ago that I might have to hurt someone to protect myself or someone I loved. The places I lived and the jobs I worked after I left home weren’t exactly safe.” She knocked on the hilt of her sword, which she’d worn to the class. “I had the Skill to use this before I came here. Only drew it in anger a few times, never hurt anyone, but I’ve learned to be ready and willing when I had to.”

  “All right. But it’s different once you actually stab someone, okay? Don’t hesitate. Don’t freeze. Stick ‘em, cut them, whatever. Get your weapon free, do it again if you have time, and then either knock ‘em down or get out of there. Once someone is close enough for you to put your sword in them, they’ll be on you faster than you can imagine, and they can do a lot of damage before they bleed out.”

  “Class is over, sweetie,” Messy said gently, then blushed when Ana raised her eyebrows. “Was the ‘sweetie’ too much?”

  “No. I think I liked it. Just, no one’s called me that before, or said that I’m sweet. Not honestly, like that. They’ve told me I have sweet…” Ana waved her hand dismissively. “You get it.”

  Messy covered her mouth as she giggled. “Sorry. But they weren’t wrong, you know?”

  “I’m going to assume that you’re being cute.” Ana rolled her eyes, but couldn’t help smiling. “I’m being serious, though. Don’t hesitate, and don’t get careless. I hate the idea of you getting hurt.”

  “See?” Messy said, taking another bite of her pie and knocking their shoulders together. “Sweet.”

  The afternoon passed much like the morning. Difficult people had to be handled. Lots of Ana’s students were horrified. Almost everyone hesitated to strike or stab their friends, even with a paintbrush. But she tried Messy’s suggestion and focused more on talking about the protecting than the killing, and the mood was noticeably better than during the earlier classes. The students were still overall noticeably disturbed, but there was a determination on their faces that had been absent during the morning.

  It was a huge relief when the last group left in the evening. There was a mental exhaustion that came with ten hours of instruction that Ana just wasn’t used to, but she didn’t have time to conk out. What she did have time for was a short visit to the bathhouse, then dinner with Messy at Petra’s, before heading out.

  Tellak had generously offered to teach her magic in the evenings, and there was no way that Ana was going to miss that. According to Tellak, the crazies had not been able to hurt her when she had her so-called “buffs” active, which was some kind of magic that, among other things, made her skin tougher. While Ana doubted that she could learn to do the same in just a few days or weeks, she was damn well going to try.

  “Come by after?” Messy asked as they parted at the Waystone.

  “Yeah. Promise.”

  “Don’t worry about me being asleep, all right? Just wake me up and I’ll let you in.”

  “I said that I’m coming,” Ana said, pulling her in for a hug. “Now shoo. I’ve got magic to learn.”

  “All right.” Messy turned to leave then snapped back around. “Oh, I know! Here.” She pressed her palm against the Waystone. “Come on. Deni told me that Kaira had her touch the Waystone for luck when she started teaching her.”

  “That doesn’t make sense. Doesn’t this thing absorb mana?” Ana asked as she strode up to the obelisk. “That’s the opposite of helpful. And right now it’s not even doing that job properly.”

  “Yeah, maybe, but… just do it, all right? Humor me.”

  “Fine. For you.” Ana shrugged and raised her hand. “So once I put my hand on it, what do I do?”

  “Just ask the Wayfarer to guide you in your practice. That’s all.”

  “All right.” Ana had already prayed once. If it’d make Messy happy…

  She placed her hand flat on the glossy black surface. She felt awkward, not sure what to say. Especially when she knew for a fact that the goddess was probably listening. Finally she decided to just wing it.

  “Wayfarer, please guide me—”

  Ana’s fingers pressed on nothing, her arm extending into empty air. She looked at her hand, barely visible in the light of the weakly luminescent ground, then looked around. In every direction but down the world ended in an infinite void. Not a shape, not the pinprick light of a single star. Just utterly black emptiness.

  “Gods, girl, you had me worried for a moment there! I thought you’d refuse just to be difficult.”

  The Wayfarer stood behind Ana, wearing the same dirty clothes as the first time the goddess had pulled her into what she’d called ‘a space between moments.’ Ana turned to face her. She looked relieved, and more than a little irate.

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  “What am I doing here?”

  “What you’re doing here, young lady, is listening!” The Wayfarer approached to within a few steps. “I told you last time that you can pray at the temple or the Waystone if you wanted to talk to me, and I’d hoped that you would have used that resource once everything started going to shit, but I guess you’ll take that prejudice against religion to the grave if you’re allowed. Well, guess what: I won’t let you! There are things you and everyone around you need to know. I’d have preferred not to have to continuously nudge one of my faithful until she got you to do what I needed, but here we are.”

  “What do you mean, ‘nudge—?’”

  The Wayfarer snapped her fingers with a sound that echoed in the surrounding void, eating Ana’s words.

  “I said: ‘Listen!’” When Ana shut her mouth tight, the goddess took a step back and sighed. “Sorry,” she said, holding up her hands. “That was excessive. But things are rapidly going out of control, and I don’t want to see this splinter you’re on collapse, so please, listen! I can only use so much subjective time before the others get pissy.”

  “All right.” Ana found her voice again, and she decided then and there to be nothing but polite as long as the Wayfarer had her in her grasp. For a moment after the goddess snapped her fingers Ana had been literally unable to speak, and it had been terrifying. “Tell me what I need to know.”

  “Thank you. So, first, as you may have noticed, someone is stealing a shit-ton of people from your world and turning them into feral, disease-ridden monsters. I’m not supposed to be telling you about that, but you already know. Besides, the other divinity involved in this is cheating their damned ass off, hiding them from me, and I’m sick of it. I can’t tell you how they’re doing it; I can’t tell you if these poor bastards can be saved once they’re turned. I can’t even tell you what’s wrong with the Waystone. But if you don’t stop them you will die, and the splinter you’re on will collapse and destabilize other, nearby splinters. Ones that are supposed to be safe and stable. None of that is acceptable, and you, all of you, need to stop it.”

  Ana stared at the goddess, not sure what to say. “What the fuck?” was neither helpful nor sufficient.

  “I don't know how much you can see,” Ana finally said, “but we're surrounded. Most of the fighters in the splinter are already out there, trying to stop this. The hell do you expect the rest of us to do about it?”

  “Break out, then succeed or die trying.” The Wayfarer’s tone was deadly serious, her face grim. “I can’t see everything. Mostly I know what’s going on around my faithful. But if anyone goes into or out of a Delve, I’ll know. Your expedition, or most of them, went into a large Delve and never came out. I still feel some few of them praying to me, asking for help, and I’m doing what I can to give them hope. Beyond that I don't know what’s become of them. Don't rely on them to relieve you! And the longer you wait, the more people these bastards will snatch and infect, and the worse your problem will get.”

  The sound of blood rushing through Ana’s ears all but drowned out the goddess’ words after she said that the expedition hadn’t come out. Ana wasn’t sure how many people had been in the expedition. Around forty? She knew that they’d had trouble, as evidenced by all the crazies now ringing the settlement, but hearing that they’d gone into a Delve and not come out? That was… hard. Painful. She liked Kaira, Tor, and Omda. Falk, no matter that he was basically the head cop of the splinter, gave the impression that he was competent and well-meaning. Most of the others she’d only met in passing, in the training yard or the bathhouse, but there had been a sense of community among the combat Classers. Most of them had been more than polite when they found out that she “dabbled” in Delving; they’d been welcoming. Sure, there were assholes among them, like any group, but overall they were good people.

  And now they were, what? Dead, some or most of them, the rest of them trapped and praying for help? In a splinter that was supposed to be relatively safe, where deaths were so rare that even artisans and clerks could go out and fight monsters under supervision?

  No. Ana couldn’t accept that. She needed those people. But what could she do about it?

  “Why are you telling me this?” she said. Her throat felt thick, almost like it was cramping, and she had to fight through it. “I’m one person. I’ve got some level of trust and clout, yeah, but no one’s going to listen to me if I say that we have to leave the safety of the walls. What am I supposed to tell them? That I received a vision from a goddess? Why not go straight to Captain Pirta, or one of your priests?”

  “Because you’re special,” the Wayfarer said with a wry smile. “And I’m not trying to patronize you when I say that. It’s the truth. There are rules that I cannot ignore, no matter how much I want to, but which don’t apply to you. For one, I can only speak directly to any soul born into this world under very specific circumstances, and that applies strictly to all of us. But you weren’t born into this world, were you? Anyone else in your splinter I can only nudge. I can send them impressions, and that only when they pray to me. And everyone else that's summoned is hidden from me. I can’t touch them at all. But you? When you and Nic were summoned, someone fucked up, in more ways than one. Whatever hides the other victims from me didn't work. I can speak to you directly, like we are right now. Now, I know that doesn’t help you, so here’s what I can do for you: I can make my desire clear to my high priest, and to anyone else that prays to me for guidance, that they should support you in anything you say. That I have chosen you as a champion, of sorts. That should hopefully get you the clout you need.”

  “And if I refuse?” Ana asked, but she knew that she was just being petulant. She hated the idea of not having a choice, of being forced into a role. Being pressured by circumstance into taking the role of instructor had been bad enough. It was necessary, she knew that, but it took up most of her day and put the eyes of everyone in the militia on her. But being pressed into service as some sort of savior, that was… she hated it. Especially since she already had an idea of what she’d have to do, and it would make her the center of attention of the entire outpost.

  The Wayfarer saw right through her. “You won’t. We both know that. Because if you do, if you stay behind your palisade and wait for an attack to come to you, you will die. Either when the ‘crazies,’ as you call them, break through and flood into the outpost, or when the whole splinter collapses, throwing you into the void.”

  As Ana stewed at the unfairness of it all, knowing that the Wayfarer was right, the goddess came even closer. Close enough to put her hand on Ana’s shoulder. “For what it’s worth, Ana, I’ll tell you again: I’m sorry. There’s half a dozen people in that settlement who would love to be in your position, and if I could, I would have chosen one of them. But I can’t. Neither of us have a real choice right now. I can try to force you to do my bidding, or I can abandon this splinter and everyone on it, allowing its collapse to do incalculable harm. You can either carry out my wishes, or you can die, knowing that you’ve made the choice to doom yourself and everyone around you when you could have fought to save everyone. For each of us there’s only one right answer.”

  “Yeah.” Ana sighed. “You said some of the expedition are still alive? Can you guide us to them?”

  “I should be able to guide my faithful to the general area at least, yes.”

  Ana chewed her lip, then looked the goddess in the eyes. They should have been full of stars, lightning, or heavenly fire. They weren’t. They were brown, and warm. “I’m going to need that priest, what’s his name, Mamtass? I’m going to need his full, enthusiastic, and unwavering support, all right? Because I’m going to have to turn this place upside down. People are going to hate me. They’re going to want to kill me, and they are going to die because of me. I need him one hundred percent behind me before I go to Pirta. Can you make sure that I have him?”

  “Not tonight. Tomorrow, perhaps.”

  “Fine. I have a goddamn magic class to go to, anyway.”

  “Good luck,” the goddess said, giving her a smile that held equal parts relief and excitement. “And thank you.”

  “Blow me.”

  The goddess laughed.

  “Oh, one more thing. Your friend Rayni has been praying for you all, and you in particular. I thought you might like to know.”

  “And that’s all,” Messy said with a smile, her amber eyes bright in the failing light.

  Ana stumbled back from the Waystone, taking a deep breath, and Messy’s smile turned to concern. “Are you all right?” she said, putting a steadying hand on Ana’s back.

  “Fuck no,” Ana whispered. Too much had happened the last few days for her to possibly be all right. “Let’s just say that I got more than I expected.”

  “Really? Did you feel her? Did you actually get an answer?”

  “You could say that, yeah.” Ana straightened and turned to her… platonic girlfriend? “Listen, Messy, when you get home tonight, I want you to pray. Pray for guidance, or direction, or whatever else you usually pray for. Okay?”

  “Uh, okay. Sure. Where’s this coming from?”

  “I’ll tell you tomorrow, okay? I’ll tell you all about it tomorrow. Promise. And I’ll come around tonight, once Tellak’s done with me.”

  “I’ll look forward to it,” Messy said, still clearly confused about Ana’s sudden enthusiasm for religion.

  “Me too,” Ana said, then pulled Messy into a hug. “And thanks. For this. For convincing me. You did good, Mess. You did good.”

  “No problem? But you’re really going to have to explain this, Ana, all right? You’re worrying me a little.”

  “I’m worrying myself,” Ana said. She felt a minor breakdown approaching. Things were spiraling out of control, and she needed to find a way to get a handle on them. But first she had some magic to learn, because she didn’t want to get scratched by some poor, zombified bastard and infected with voodoo crystal sleeping sickness. “I’ll explain tomorrow. I promise.”

  By then Messy should have received another “nudge” from her goddess. She’d better have, because when Ana told her that she’d had not one, but two direct conversations with that same goddess, she didn’t want Messy to think that she was insane.

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