The defenders were getting the best of it, but there were simply so many attackers, Karris didn't see how they could possibly hold out for long. And why had King Garadul brought his cavalry here now? Directly against the wall, their maneuverability was negated and they made easy targets for the blue drafters at the top of the wall, who would pop up from behind the crenellations, fire off a few daggers of blue, and then duck back down.

All Karris had to do was muscle her way through the crowd-not hard when you were mounted-steal a musket, stay alive long enough to get close to King Garadul, and blow his head off. In the heat and fury and blood and confusion and cacophony of battle, it was quite possible no one would even realize the killing shot had come from behind him.

Karris heard a yell behind her, somehow different from the rest of the screams. She turned her head, still leaning low over her galloping horse. A dozen Mirrormen, coming after her on their gigantic chargers. Her heart convulsed.

So the subtle approach isn't going to work.

She picked at the eye caps again. The skin at the corner of her eye was tearing, but she wasn't any closer to pulling the damned things off. If she could draft, she would have a chance. She pushed down the sudden flood of red fury with effort.

Eighty paces out, she saw a line of musketeers reloading. She scanned the crowd for anyone bearing a flintlock-a matchlock wouldn't work for this. Then, slowing her horse to get the timing right, she swept in just as one of the officers finished reloading and hefted the musket up to his shoulder. She snatched it right out of his hands.

Commander Ironfist had often chided her for her trick riding, for practicing things they both knew had no use beyond impressing the Blackguard's new recruits. A vision of the big man's head shaking in amused surrender went through her head as she jammed the musket into the saddle sleeve. She was wearing this damn dress that left her half naked and half totally restricted. She wasn't really going to-Karris kicked her feet free of the stirrups, turned her wrist behind her back to get a firm grip on the cantle, tucked the reins between horse and pommel, and dismounted as the horse continued at a canter. She hit the ground and instantly leapt, twisting, feeling the sleeves of her dress rip. She'd always practiced this with a better cantle, but she'd also practiced on taller horses, and she almost flung herself over the side of the saddle on her way back up. It took a half a moment, but she settled into the saddle, backward. She drew the musket, leveled it, trying to absorb as much of shock of the horse's cantering in her knees as she could, trying to time how long it would take between trigger pull and musket fire. She aimed at the lead Mirrorman forty paces behind her and pulled the trigger.

She'd aimed perfectly, timed everything right, but the musket didn't fire. She cocked the flintlock again, checked the mechanism. No flint. It had fallen out, probably during her impressive trick riding. Bollocks!

Karris threw the musket away, reversed her hands, turned her head over her shoulder to make sure she'd be leaping off flat ground, and dismounted. The reverse dismount and remount was actually much harder than the original trick, but she did it perfectly, both feet hitting the ground, pushing off in tandem just as the pull of the horse's forward motion catapulted her into the air. Except as she was pulled up and forward, half of her horse's head was torn off by a musket ball and its body dove for the earth. If she'd still been holding the reins, she'd have been flung to earth too. Instead, she became a human cannonball. The force of her jump and the horse's sudden dive had her twisting like a cat. She was flying, upside down and backward.

Time only for one thought: Roll when you hit.

But when she hit, there was no time for anything at all. Whatever it was, there were multiple levels, and it was mercifully soft-which didn't stop it from whipping her head and limbs in different directions. When she finally hit ground, she couldn't move for a few long seconds.

Someone was cursing. She saw feet. She was lying on top of a man, and he was struggling to get out from under her. She must have crashed into the backs of half a dozen soldiers-and taken them all out with her. One man had his leg twisted at a nasty angle. Another turned to look at her, his nose fountaining blood, cursing.

A huge explosion took away whatever he was saying. Perhaps sixty paces away. Everything seemed to freeze for a moment on the battlefield, then things began moving too fast to take them all in at once.

Karris jumped to her feet-and almost collapsed. She was so lightheaded that it took all of her concentration not to fall. She checked herself quickly. There were stinging abrasions on her arms and legs, dress in pathetic shape, but no serious wounds. She touched her eyes. The eye caps were unbroken, of course. And And smudged with blood so they were harder to see through. Just perfect. smudged with blood so they were harder to see through. Just perfect.

Now that she was in the midst of the battle, the world narrowed. There were images like little paintings, but no whole. Karris saw a drafter up on the Mother's Gate-Izem Blue? What was he doing here? He stood, skin fully blue, both arms extended, shooting blue daggers in rapid succession-an absolutely stunning display to work so fast, keeping his will focused, shooting from both hands. He was like a dozen musketeers-three dozen, despite the hazy quality of the morning's misty sunlight. Everywhere he turned, men went down. He turned toward the Mirrormen, and Karris saw those blue blades shearing off in every direction from the mirror armor, chewing through everyone around the Mirrormen, but sometimes catching a chink or hitting the mirror armor flat enough that a knife punched through.

A body stood in front of Karris, headless, its neck spraying blood in time with the last beats of its heart.

The sound of muskets firing and the roar of blood in her ears melded together, a pulse, life and death twined together.

The Mirrormen surged toward a hole in the wall, perhaps seven paces across. So that was where the explosion had been.

A red drafter-one of King Garadul's Free-had gone mad. He was cackling, throwing pyre jelly on everyone around him. The men splattered with the stuff were shouting in fear. Someone was begging him to stop.

A man was falling off the shattered edge of the wall, slipping, screaming.

Off to one side atop the wall, the sun gleamed off a man's copper hair. Karris's eyes locked on him. Gavin! He leaned close to another man, issued an order. Corvan Danavis. So the man really was a general. And he was here? Gavin clapped the man on the shoulder, and they parted.

Karris turned, remembering the pursuing Mirrormen, perhaps too late.

The leader was twenty paces back, horse surging through the lines, shouting at men to move aside, sword drawn. He was alone, his men cut off behind him by a sudden sideways surge in the line, but he was too close. Karris was unarmed and still wobbly on her feet.

Ten paces away, her pursuer seemed to jump in his saddle. Karris could see the whole front of his body, so he hadn't been shot from the wall, but nonetheless, he tumbled out of his saddle.

Someone had killed the man from behind. What the hell? Karris looked behind the man.

Kip.

Kip? The young man was riding at a full gallop behind the Mirrormen, following the path they'd pushed open through the ranks of soldiers. But he didn't have a musket. The young man was riding at a full gallop behind the Mirrormen, following the path they'd pushed open through the ranks of soldiers. But he didn't have a musket.

Instead, he was carrying a big green ball, larger than his own head. His skin was green, and he had a wild look in his eyes-and he looked like he was going to tumble out of the saddle at any moment.

Not seeming to care that he was guiding his horse directly into other horses, Kip drew the green globe backward like he was throwing a ball-classic tyro misperception, they always thought that because a ball had mass, you had to muscle it. Kip's arm came forward, and then with an audible pop he shot the green globe out at the Mirrormen.

It caught one in the side of his mirrored helmet. The mirror armor sheared luxin easily, but it still had to deal with the momentum of what was hitting it. A breastplate might withstand a bullet, but the man inside was still going to have some broken ribs. Here, the man's head snapped to the side, blasting him out of the saddle, and the green globe ricocheted off, hitting another Mirrorman's shoulder and not quite dismounting him, then caromed into a third Mirrorman's horse, catching the animal on the side of its head and knocking it off its feet.

The force of the shot blew Kip out of his own saddle, almost halting all of his forward motion. His horse shied, trying not to collide with the others at the last second, but they had been startled by riders falling and a giant green ball flying past their heads, and one dodged directly into its new path. Animal collided with animal at great speed, crunching a Mirrorman's leg that was trapped between them.

Both horses went down, but Karris was more concerned about Kip. She lost sight of him when he fell. Soldiers were still a river, pressing past the Mirrormen, not knowing or caring much what this fight was about. They just wanted to get out of the shadow of these deadly walls and into the city.

Karris snatched a sword off the ground and ducked through the crowd. Three riders had wheeled around and were pushing toward a spot farther back. She couldn't get there in time.

One was drawing his musket from the saddle sheath to kill her when his head exploded in a burst of yellow light and pink mist. Karris was sure this time the shot hadn't come from the wall. It had to have come from the opposite direction-from the hill? And what the hell could have done that? An explosive musket ball?

She was still too far away. She saw two Mirrormen pulling muskets out, aiming down.

Twin green spears-pillars, almost, they were so thick-erupted from the ground where the riders were pointing and impaled them. The first one was hit square in the chest. Green light fractured out in a spray as the mirrored breastplate held for a moment, and then burst-and still the green spear shot up, lifting the Mirrorman up into the air. The other man was no more lucky. That spear hit the top of his breastplate, again shearing some luxin away into a flash of green light. Then the spear rode up, catching him under the chin and going into his head, ripping his helmet off his ruined head like a child popping the head off a dandelion.

Each was lifted several paces into the air before the green luxin spears cracked and dropped them to the ground and dissolved to nothing.

Kip jumped to his feet, looking a lot less dead than he deserved.

Karris arrived a moment later. He gave her a curious look, and she said, "Kip, it's me. Do you recognize me? It's Karris." Despite that astounding display of power, Kip was a new drafter, and the mental and emotional effects of the colors were always greatest when you first started. The wildness of green could make a drafter dangerous.

He lifted a hand quickly and she flinched. "Kip, it's me, Karris," she said, all too aware that there was still a battle going on, though the amount of musket fire from the top of the wall had dwindled to almost nothing.

"Hold still," he said, staring intently at her face. He brought up a single finger and moved it as if to poke her in the eye. She could feel the heat radiating from it. What? Kip was a sub-red, too?

There was a hiss as he touched the eye cap, and he must have hit the fuse point because the eye cap dissolved. Then he did the other.

And like that, Karris could draft again.

Oh, hell yes.

"What do you say?" Kip asked.

What was he talking about? "Thank you?" Karris asked.

"I say we go kill us a king," Kip said, grinning recklessly. When they were in the grip of their color, greens didn't tend to be real big on common sense.

Karris looked and saw that Rask Garadul was just getting to the gap they'd blown in the wall. Half of his men were already through. It was the perfect time to attack-well, other than the fact that Karris and Kip were on the side of the wall with King Garadul's entire army.

Drafting some red off the pools of gore around them, Karris felt the comforting wash of red rage. She felt strong. "Let's go kill us a king," she said.

Chapter 84

I'm not important enough for this, Liv thought as Lord Omnichrome came back to the top of the hill where she was tied up. From her vantage point, she could see a familiar form taking a big red stallion from a groom, then mounting. Kip. If he turned around, he couldn't help but see her.

For a moment, Liv wasn't sure if she wanted him to see her or not. She had no doubt what he would do if he did. He'd come charging up the hill, and to hell with the odds. That was Kip. That was who he was and who he always had been. Not always smart, but always ferociously loyal.

She ducked her head. There was only death here for Kip. And sure enough, he turned for one second as he sat unsteadily atop the big horse. Then he kicked his heels in and almost tumbled out of the saddle as the animal surged forward.

Liv almost grinned at the sight, but the looming figure of Lord Omnichrome wiped away any thought of amusement. As he came close, she realized he wasn't as big as he seemed from a distance. His white robes and the white cape hanging off great blue horns rising from his shoulders made him seem bigger than a mortal man, but he wasn't even as tall as Gavin Guile. But he glowed. It was like yellow luxin filled his veins instead of blood. His hair had been sculpted into a spiky crown with yellow luxin, so it dazzled, as if he'd been crowned by the sun itself, and his eyes beneath were a constant riot of colors. And he was staring at her.

I'm not important enough for this, she thought again. Her cheek was throbbing, still dribbling blood. The powder wagon's explosion had knocked her unconscious, and shrapnel had cut her in a dozen places. She didn't know how they'd found her among all the bodies. She didn't know why they would want her.

"How did you come to be here, Aliviana Danavis?"

"I walked, mostly," she said. Danavis, so that was it. They knew her father was commanding the enemy army. And she'd stupidly delivered herself into their hands. Well done, Liv.

Lord Omnichrome's retainers surrounded them: broken-haloed drafters of every type, soldiers, messengers, and a few high-ranking officers from King Garadul's camp who looked decidedly uneasy around all the drafters, much less Lord Omnichrome. Lord Omnichrome picked up a strange musket as long as he was tall. He lifted it, fitted its leg into a slot on the barrel, propped it up in front of himself, and aimed down the hill toward the fighting.

"Dead center on that green door," he said.

"Third house from the left?" a spotter asked.

Liv didn't know much about muskets, but she knew you couldn't make a shot that accurate at three hundred paces. Not that you'd want someone shooting in your direction, but past one hundred paces aiming was more a general hope. Nonetheless, Lord Omnichrome took a deep breath, sighted down the barrel through the mists, fired.

The musket roared.

"Three hands high, one hand left," the spotter said.

Lord Omnichrome handed the musket to an attendant, who began reloading it. He turned to Liv. "I want you to join me, Liv. I saw you, last night, listening. You understood. I could tell you did."

Orholam, she thought he'd looked at her, but then she'd dismissed it as her imagination. There had been thousands listening last night. And how did he recognize her?

"You love your father, don't you, Liv?"

"More than anything," she said. How did he know her name, much less her nickname?

"And how old is he?"

"Maybe forty?" she said.

"Old, then. For a drafter. If he weren't a drafter, he could live another forty years. But as a drafter loyal to the Chromeria, he's an old dog already, isn't he? Most men don't make it to forty. Your father must be very disciplined, very strong."

"Stronger than you know," Liv said. She felt a surge of emotion. Who was this bastard, talking about her father? She wouldn't let anyone speak badly of him. He was a great man. Even if he had made mistakes.

The attendant handed the long musket back to Lord Omnichrome. He raised it, stabilized its significant weight on its leg, and said, "Blue drafter, just right of the gatehouse."

Liv watched, horrified, as Lord Omnichrome waited. The blue drafter was ducked behind a crenellation, popping up to throw death down on the men below and ducking down again. He popped up, Lord Omnichrome said, "Heart." The musket roared.

A burst of light and blood and the drafter disappeared from view.

"Shoulder, your left," the attendant said. "One hand left and three thumbs high."

Lord Omnichrome handed the musket back to the man with a polite thank-you. "When the time comes, will you tell them?" he asked Liv.

"Tell them? Tell them about my father?" Liv hesitated. "I'll do what I need to do."

"What you need to do. Interesting how they make it that, isn't it? What if you couldn't make it back to the Chromeria in time? Would you kill your father yourself, with your own hand? What if he asked you to stop? What if he begged you?"

"My father isn't such a coward."

"You're dodging the question." Lord Omnichrome's eyes were swirling orange. Liv had never liked oranges much. Always unnerved her. When she didn't speak for a long moment, he said, "I understand perfectly. When I started my own Chromeria, I followed them blindly at first, too. Despite what I am. One of my students broke the halo and I murdered her with my own hands. She wasn't the first to die for the drafters' ignorance nor the last, but she was the beginning of the end. When I killed her, I knew what I did was wrong. I couldn't shake it."

"Drafters go mad. Like you. They turn on their friends. They kill those they love."

"Oh, absolutely. Sometimes. Some people can't handle power. Some men seem decent until you give them a slave, and soon they're a tyrant, beating and raping the slave in their charge. Power is a test, Liv. All power is a test. We don't call it breaking the halo. We call it breaking the egg. You never know what kind of bird is going to be hatched. And some are born deformed and must be put down. That is tragedy, but not murder. Do you think your father could handle a little extra power? The great Corvan Danavis? An immensely talented drafter who's nevertheless had the discipline to make it to forty?"

"It's not that simple," Liv said.

"What if it is? What if the Chromeria has perpetuated this monstrosity because this is how they keep themselves in power? By scaring the satrapies, saying that only they can train the drafters born among them-for a price, always for a price-and only they can restrain the drafters who go mad, which is all of them. By doing that, they make themselves forever useful, forever powerful, and by divvying out drafters to the satrapies, they make themselves the center of everything. Tell me, Liv, when you judge the Chromeria by its fruit, do you find it a place of love and peace and light-as one might expect from Orholam's holy city?"

"No," Liv admitted. She didn't even know why she was defending it, except out of stubbornness. The Chromeria was everything she hated, and it defiled all it touched. Including her. She owed debts there, and she couldn't lie to herself so much that she would believe her flight to Tyrea and to follow Kip wasn't partly a flight from her debt to Aglaia Crassos and Ruthgar.

"The truth is, Liv, you know I'm right. You're just afraid to admit you've been on the wrong side. I understand. We all do. There are good men and women who fight against us, good people! But they're deluded, deceived. It hurts to leave a lie, but it hurts more to live one. Look at what I'm doing. I'm freeing a city that's ours, by rights. Garriston has been passed around like a whore to be abused by every nation in turn. It's not right. It has to end, and since no one else will end it, we will. Does not this land deserve freedom? Should these people pay because two brothers-neither of whom was born here or cared a whit for this land-fought here? For how long should they pay?"

"They shouldn't," Liv said.

"Because it isn't just."

He took the long musket from the attendant again. "Red drafter, top of the gatehouse. Head."

Liv watched. The battle in front of the Mother's Gate was hard to see clearly through all the smoke and flashes of magic. But she saw King Garadul's cavalry reaching the gate, loading their muskets and firing at the men at the top of the wall, but seeming to wait for something, frustrated it hadn't happened yet. Lord Omnichrome's musket roared, and an instant later there was a small bright flash at the top of the gate tower. Liv was glad she hadn't seen all of it.

"Dead center, Lord Omnichrome," the attendant announced. "Excellent shot!"

"Begone! Leave us." The top of the hill cleared quickly of everyone save the musket attendant, whom Lord Omnichrome gestured to stay. Lord Omnichrome turned toward Liv. He wasn't smiling. "I don't like killing drafters. I hate it," he said. "What I do here is what must be done. I want you to join me, Aliviana."

"Why? Why me? I'm barely a bichrome, not that powerful, no influence."

He snorted. "Are you ready for the answer to that question? You want to be an adult, Aliviana? You want hard truths? Because that's the only kind I've known for the past sixteen years."

"I'm ready," she said.

"I want you because you're a drafter and every drafter is precious to me. And because you're Tyrean, and this country will take a lot of reassuring after we win, and I'm not Tyrean. And because you're Corvan Danavis's daughter."