Marie Brennan - Doppelganger

Now, however, it was dead quiet.

In fact, Mirei saw no one at all in the halls.

Her confusion was completed when she peered around a corner to the door of Satomi’s office and found no one there. She had expected the Void Prime to be working; she usually was, at this time of night. But the customary guard of two Cousins was absent from her door.

So where in the Maiden’s name is she?

The realization smacked her, and Mirei felt extremely silly. Tonight, if she was counting the days right, was one of the nights when the Primes held court in the ruling hall. There they made announcements, heard cases, and dealt with the affairs of Starfall itself. All students were required to attend, and many witches currently at Starfall did as well.

You should have remembered that, idiot. Start thinking more clearly, or you’ll not have a snowflake’s chance in a bonfire of convincing the Primes of anything.

At least, she reflected wildly, this would save her some trouble. All the Primes would be in one place, and she’d get her formal audience.

She took a moment to quell the absurd laughter welling up inside her. It was nerves, and nothing more. She couldn’t let them interfere.

When she felt calm, she set out again, this time to the adjoining building where court was in progress.

Two Cousins stood on guard outside the hall’s door.

Mirei eyed them and wondered what to do. Present herself to them, and ask to be announced? Freeze them with a spell? No, the Primes would sense that. Void , every witch in there would sense that .

The question was, then, did she want to be announced or not?

I think not .

Applause from inside the hall gave her the cover she needed. Mirei put on a burst of speed, and before the clapping died down, both of the guards were unconscious, without any magic at all. She took a moment to lay them to one side before facing the door.

Deep breath. Straighten your uniform; you want to look good .

She had never done anything quite like this, in either of her lives. Adrenaline raced through her, making her muscles tingle. She had to consciously stop her hands from trembling, and keep them away from the hilt of Eclipse’s borrowed sword.

Let’s go .

She sang, and the doors, carved with the symbols of the Elements, swung open.

The voices inside the hall died down as she began the long walk down the aisle. Witches and students filled the benches to either side of her; heads turned to look as those in front realized something was happening. Before Mirei had passed the second rank of grave slabs, there was silence. She stepped evenly, deliberately, her heels tapping on the stone in the silence of the hall.

Whispers rose and fell in her wake as women recognized her.

The Primes, at the far end of the hall, rose from their chairs. Mirei kept her eyes on Satomi, standing dead center, outlined by the unadorned blackness of her Elemental banner. To their credit and her relief, they waited until she had reached the front before saying anything.

She stopped in front of their dais and bowed.

“What are you doing, Miryo?” Satomi asked in an icy voice.

Mirei smiled at her, trying to fight down the whirlwind of nerves and exhilaration inside her. “Wrong.”

The Void Prime’s eyes narrowed, and in them was a touch of fear. “The doppelganger, then. You have no right to wear that pendant.”

She grinned again. “Not that, either. Can’t you guess?”

Murmurs from behind her. Mirei spread her arms wide. “Miryo, And Mirage. And proof that we’ve been doing things wrong for all these centuries.”

The murmurs rose. Satomi gestured sharply, and the assembled witches and students fell silent. “What have you done ?” the Void Prime whispered, almost spitting the words out. “Combined yourself with an outsider—a Hunter ? This is an abomination!”

“No worse than you’ve done,” Mirei shot back. She tried to stay restrained, but failed; her voice grew louder. “Would you like me to start listing the actions you’ve taken? Would you like me to tell these women about Wraith?”

“We need not listen to your lies,” Arinei snapped above the rising noise.

“Lies? I am Mirage and Miryo. I know what you have done.”

She was ready to say it, to expose the Primes’ assassination of Tari before the listening witches, and damn the consequences. Before she could, though, Satomi stepped forward, green eyes glittering with hard fire. “We have done what we must, for the safety of all. There is no choice. ‘The doppelganger is anathema to us. It is destruction and oblivion, the undoing of all magic. It is the ruin of our work, and the bane of our being. It and our magic will never coexist, and its presence threatens all that our powers can do.’ So wrote Misetsu—”

“Five days before she died. Yes, you told me that before. And I believed it then, but now I know it’s wrong. Misetsu ought to have listened better when the Goddess spoke to her.” Mirei pitched her voice to cut through the air of the hall. “Destruction. Oblivion. Undoing. Void .

“ That is what we are lacking. That is why the clergy call us unbalanced. That is why we have no sons. We are crippled in our ignorance, and yet we think that ignorance is power. For centuries now, we’ve turned our faces from the rest of the power that should be ours.”

“The Void is untouchable,” Koika said. “It is nothingness. You cannot work with nothing!”

“ You can’t,” Mirei said, with a reckless grin. “I can.” She looked up and around, eyeing the ruling hall with calculated distaste. If she had to do this publicly, then she’d better exploit the theatrics of it. “I’ve never liked this place. So why don’t we go elsewhere? Let’s adjourn to Star Hall, and I’ll show you just what I can do.” She directed her smile right at Satomi, let it widen slightly. “Follow me however you can.”

Then she sang herself out.

Mirei staggered when she appeared on the center dais, breath ragged in her chest.

Goddess, I hope the Primes don’t realize how hard that is. I can’t afford to let them think I’m tired .

She waited, slowing her breathing, for the others to arrive. It would take a few minutes; they, unlike her, would have to walk. Adrenaline still flooded her body, but she was grateful for it. Without it, she might fall over.

Noise outside the hall alerted her. Mirei spared one last glance upward, into the unfathomable blackness of the hall’s crossing, imagining the stars above. I’ve come this far. Please, Goddess, don’t desert me now .

The Primes led the way. Satomi, Mirei saw, chose to enter from the branch of the hall dedicated to Fire; she wondered briefly if that meant anything. At least she wasn’t entering with Shimi. The look in the Air Prime’s eye was murderous.

As the other four raised themselves onto columns of Elemental light, just as they had during Miryo’s test, the Void Prime stalked up onto the dais and opened her mouth to speak.

Mirei sang two quick notes and twisted one hand through the air, and the witchlights in the hall went out.

She heard involuntary gasps from the Primes, lit from beneath by their shining columns. Then Koika’s voice sounded, and the lights came back up, giving her a better look at the absolute shock on the five women’s faces.

“This is what I mean,” Mirei said, hoping her own surprise wasn’t visible. She hadn’t known she was going to do that. In fact, she hadn’t known she could . It seemed the Goddess was still with her. “Void magic is the undoing of magic.”

She had hardly any warning before Shimi began to sing. Mirei had just enough time to identify the spell as an immobilizing one; then words were flying out of her mouth and her body was in motion, slightly different this time, canceling the Air Prime’s spell.