Marie Brennan - Doppelganger

The woman didn’t stand a chance. As she rode under the tree, Mirage dropped. The horse reared at the unexpected weight on its hindquarters. As she and the Cousin fell, she made sure the other woman ended up on the bottom. Her head slammed into a rock. Mirage didn’t even have to knock her out.

She took a moment to scan the muddy field they’d just left. Some distance away, she could just see a Cousin rising unsteadily to her feet, cradling a broken arm.

There was no one else moving.

Mirage turned and jogged deeper into the trees to find Eclipse.

“I’m going with you.”

“ Void you are.”

Eclipse grabbed Mirage’s arm as she took hold of Mist’s bridle. “You, alone, against how many Cousins? You’re good, Sen, but not that good.”

She gave him a quick grin, even though it was the last expression her face wanted to assume. “I’ll be quiet.”

“You’ll be dead . And that’s what they want.”

Mirage shook her head. “Miryo’s the only one who can kill me, remember? Ashin confirmed it. And according to Miryo, they can’t magically force her to kill me if she doesn’t want to. A spell like that has to have something to work with.”

“So then they lock you in a cell until her magic kills you both. Great alternative.”

Mirage wrenched her arm free of his grip with a violent twist. “What do you want me to do? Let her rot in their hands? Run away? Warrior damn my soul black if I do. I left her there on the field because I didn’t have any other choice, but now I do. I can sneak up to them, and try to get her loose.”

“Let me go with you, then.”

“No.” Mirage shook her head emphatically. “Two people are more noticeable than one.”

“And two people can kill more other people than one can.”

“I hope to kill as few people as possible. Besides, Kerestel,” and she took care to soften her tone, “I need you to do something else.”

“Ah. Here comes the thinly disguised excuse to keep me away.”

“It’s not an excuse. I need you to go back to Silverfire.”

He stared at her. “What? Why?”

“The other doppelgangers. Jaguar needs to know about them, and about me. The Primes will learn they exist eventually—if they don’t already know—and they will find them. That can’t be allowed to happen. If Miryo and I go down in this, those girls have got to be around to keep trying for an answer.”

She could tell by his face that he did not like hearing her talk about dying. “That can wait, can’t it?”

“No. Please, Kerestel, do this for me. I’ve got to know that they’ll be protected.”

He dropped his head, then kicked a rock suddenly. “I don’t like it. Letting you ride off alone is a shitty idea.”

Mirage reached out and lifted his chin so she could look at him directly. In his eyes she saw worry, even fear. For a brief moment it warmed the cold place inside her, to remember that he was her friend, and would ride with her into the middle of a nest of Cousins and Primes if she would only let him.

“I’ve got to do this, Kerestel,” she whispered. “I left Miryo there. I owe a debt to her. To her, and to the Goddess.”

He hugged her suddenly, fingers digging into the muscles of her back. “Don’t get yourself killed just because you expect to. You’re better than them, Sen. Find a way through and come back alive.”

Mirage blinked back unexpected tears and nodded. “I’ll do what I can.”

Satomi was many days’ ride away, but the image of her in the mirror was very nearly as intimidating as the Void Prime in person.

“We regret that you forced us to this,” Satomi said.

Miryo shrugged, meeting the woman’s pale green eyes without fear. She was done with playing the role of obedient underling. Satomi knew that she had pitched her lot in with Mirage and Ashin. It didn’t much matter what she said now. “If you say so. I followed the only course I saw that did not dishonor my commitment to the Goddess.”

Satomi’s expression was hard and cold, unmoved by Miryo’s words. “If you were truly devoted to her, you would heed the words of her chosen one, Misetsu. Instead, you took a different path, turning your back on us and placing everything the Goddess has given us in danger.”

“The Goddess gives you doppelgangers, and you kill them.”

“She separates them so that we may be refined for her gift. She divides that which might hinder us.”

“So you think.” Miryo shrugged again, carelessly. “I think you’re wrong. But that’s kind of obvious.”

The Void Prime was less than pleased with her unruffled attitude. Miryo wondered if she could tell it was all a facade. In truth, her heart was beating triple time; her hands would be trembling if she didn’t have them clasped in her lap. It was taking every ounce of control she had to keep her voice even, to meet the eyes of the projection without flinching or looking away.

“For the sake of what you once were,” Satomi said, “and in remembrance of the promise you once showed, I tell you that I do not relish what we must do.”

I just bet , Miryo thought cynically.

As if she had heard that thought, the Void Prime’s eyes hardened. “You will tell us everything you know about the heretics Tari subverted before her death. It will go easier for you if you tell us willingly, but whether you do or not, we will get that information.”

“And then what? You’ll kill Mirage? You can’t. I’m the only one who can do it, and I refuse.”

Satomi shook her head. “No. We cannot permit you to live; you will spread the poison that Tari began. And so we will kill you both.” She arched her thin eyebrows at Miryo. “Did the heretics not tell you that? You are the only one who can kill your doppelganger, and it is the only one who can kill you—but that assumes you wish to leave the other one alive. All we need do is kill you both at once, and our problem is eliminated.”

What little self-assurance Miryo had vanished with a sickening lurch. For the thousandth time since she woke up, she remembered her fall from her horse: pitching forward, putting her arms out to catch herself, one hand skidding in the mud, and the ugly, hot crunch in her neck.

Then blackness. And waking up to find herself surrounded by Cousins.

What had been abstract theory up until then had become very real. She could not die, save by Mirage’s hand. Or so she had thought.

“Kill us both?” she repeated, her voice a strangled whisper.

Satomi nodded grimly. “You are an abomination: one soul in two bodies. If you will not cooperate with us, we will kill both bodies. I will regret losing a witch of your potential talent, but you have turned your face to the darkness.”

The Void Prime had to be lying. Or did she? Miryo swallowed against the sick feeling in her gut and met Satomi’s pale green eyes squarely. She was damned if she’d let the woman know how afraid she was. “What you see as darkness, I see as light. I would not trade that for your way; I would not ‘return’ to your side even if you let me.”

“As you wish.” Satomi’s voice was as cold and sharp as a knife of ice. “You will be dealt with accordingly.”

“We continued to search, but found no tracks beyond that second wood,” the Cousin said. She stood at attention, arms stiff at her sides; her shame at her failure was written in the formality of her posture.

Satomi nodded. “And how many did you lose?”

“Two, Aken. One at the river, when her horse fell, and another when she was knocked off her horse and trampled.”

Twelve against three, and two Cousins had died. And only one capture to show for it. Satomi could not bring herself to rebuke the woman, though; two of the three had been Hunters, and one of them had the advantages that came with being a doppelganger. That did not excuse the Cousins’ failure, but it did much to explain it.