A/N: Here we go, chapter nineteen

Chapter Nine

Sixteenth tried to focus on all the timelines at once. Unfortunately for her, that was a skill she did not possess. Even more unfortunately, Eleventh could do it with ease. It irked her to see him watching all his timelines at the same time, making little adjustments here and there. She was sure he was showing off, taunting her. She snarled silently at him as she turned back to her own timelines. Luckily for her, she only had to watch four. But even so, she was easily distracted, and being easily distracted could be fatal to one of her Chosen. She couldn’t do anything about it though, and she only hoped Eleventh didn’t know that particular weakness. There were so many ways he could use it against her that she didn’t even want to contemplate them. She felt like she was racing to keep up with all of Eleventh’s moves, and it felt like he was simply strolling along. This, too, got on her nerves, but she was sure it was simply her mind. Even so, she felt exhausted, and she was growing very tired of this game. She didn’t want to continue with it, but by that time she really didn’t have a choice.

This Shadow person, she thought as she studied the timeline of the girl in question. It was clever to hide her identity, although the trick had been used so often that she was annoyed with Rame for not guessing something was up. Then again, he was desperate, and besides that, he didn’t have access to all the thousands of years worth of experience she did. Maybe she shouldn’t blame him too much.

This Shadow was one who skirted questions she didn’t wish to answer, and answered those questions she found relevant with care. Veylan — which was the girl’s real name — was tricky, and a very large and very real threat. The problem was that there was no way to get rid of her. With another silent snarl at Eleventh, she watched the other Timekeeper watching her. Or rather, watching her watch Veylan’s timeline. If she tried anything, he would be on her in a flash. True, she’d come out on top in a fight with him once, but that was only dumb luck. She couldn’t do it a second time. She was caught, and her Chosen were in danger, and she could do nothing about it. Yet again, she was helpless.

--

Rame entered the tent to find his companions both sprawled on the floor as they had been before. Scheneu’s eyes were open and glassy. Kishe’s were too, but they were open so wide that he could see white all the way around them. Sucking a breath in through her teeth, Shadow knelt beside her. She took something out of her pocket, looked it over and nodded.

“This is the best I can do,” she said softly, grimacing ruefully at it. “It will cure one of them. We have more back at the village, and I can give the other a cure there. But we will have to hurry. Your friend—“ She motioned to Kishe—“Is in the last stages of the poison. She has maybe five more hours before the poison takes complete hold on her body. Her systems will shut down completely then. We haven’t got much time. When did your other friend drink the drugged water?” Putting aside the question of how exactly Shadow knew they had drugged water in the first place, Rame did some quick calculating. He could only speculate on when Kishe had drunk the water, but he knew Scheneu had had some just as dawn was breaking. So not too long ago.

“three hours, I think,” He replied finally.

“that will give us more time to get back to the village then,” Shadow replied, administering the cure with quick, sure movements of her hands. Somehow, she was gentle with Kishe even as she worked with speed and precision. Rame turned away to find their belongings, only to remember they’d been stolen. Frowning, he turned back to be confronted by the container of drugged water. Here was something he could do. Picking it up, he left the tent in search of the stream. When he found it, he dumped the water out and washed the container, just in case any of the drug had clung to the inside. Then he began back to the camp. The walk to the stream and back again had taken perhaps fifteen minutes total. By the time he returned, Shadow was done giving Kishe the cure, and she was sitting on her knees waiting for him. When he arrived, they packed up the tents and prepared to leave.

Shadow was perhaps two feet taller than Rame, and she had a stronger build. She carried Scheneu. Rame took Kishe and Shadow took the tent along with Scheneu. Together, they made their way back toward the village. It was about seven miles from where they had made camp the night before. By the time they reached it, the sun was high in the sky, Shadow was anxious that they were running out of time, and Rame was exhausted. They stumbled into the village — or rather, Shadow hurried and Rame stumbled along behind — and were greeted by the witch.

Rame had not realized that it was the same village that was their original target, and so when he saw the witch he was momentarily confused. Getting his bearings, he nodded to the headwoman. She took Kishe from him, and they entered her house. Kishe and Scheneu were laid on the beds, and more of the cure was given to Shadow.

“Your friend has maybe three hours left,” Shadow said. Rame didn’t know why it mattered. After all, Shadow had the cure, so Scheneu was as good as safe.

But Eleventh had other plans. Shadow was preparing the cure, but a knock at the door interrupted her. She got up to answer it and was back in a few moments with another in tow. He was a boy, two years older than Shadow, six inches taller. He scowled at Rame as he entered the room and bent down to whisper to shadow. She nodded quickly and turned to Rame and the headwoman.

“I have to go,” She said, ignoring Rame’s dismayed and quickly muffled protest. “There’s a problem I have to deal with. I will be back.” She nodded to the headwoman and was gone, leaving Rame to blink after her.

The headwoman looked over. “She’ll be back,” She assured a thunderstruck Rame. “and she’ll be back in time. Shadow slips away at the oddest of times, but she always returns if she’s needed. Your friend will be fine, don’t worry.” She paused, examining his weary visage carefully. “Come. You need sleep, and I daresay you need a decent meal as well. Don’t worry about your friend,” She added again, catching Rame’s worried glance at Scheneu. “she will be fine.” Her voice had a little more of an edge to it now, a commanding, reassuring note that Rame was hard-pressed to ignore. He turned to her finally, waiting for instructions. She took his wrist and guided him into the kitchen to eat.

--

-Eleventh! I hope Negative First cuts your power flow!- Sixteenth shrieked. Eleventh, sitting a mere ten feet away from her, winced ever so slightly. -You’re going to kill her!-

-that was my intention,- Was Eleventh’s calm response. Sixteenth’s temper flared white-hot. She jumped to her feet and stalked over, temper barely under control. She was so tired of this game. She was tired of being so on edge, tired of her Chosen always getting into trouble, tired of Eleventh and the games he played, tired of it all! She wanted to drop out right then, and she was enraged that she could not. Unfortunately for Eleventh, the closest outlet for her rage was him. -That’s the whole point of this little game, is it not?-

-don’t talk all nice and calm with me!- Sixteenth roared, eyes narrowed. -You’re going to kill her, and you expect me to just stand around and watch it happen?-

-No,- Eleventh said, still calm. -But I don’t expect your efforts to amount to anything. It would be better for you if you didn’t even try. After all, this game really has no purpose, does it?-

Sixteenth screamed some things at Eleventh she probably should not have said. Twentieth, who was in the room at the time, flinched. Sixteenth barely refrained from punching someone. She backed up so she wouldn’t be tempted to kick Eleventh, who was still on the floor. Whirling about, she yelled over her shoulder, -Don’t try and talk me into quitting just so you can win! Don’t you see? My Chosen are special, and I’m not giving them up just so you can feel good about yourself! I detest you!-

-It pains me to know you hate me so,- Replied Eleventh, voice dripping with sarcasm.

The resultant slamming of the hall door shook the room as Sixteenth stormed out in a towering temper. It was becoming more and more common to see her in such a state of late, and so no one really took note.

--

Twentieth Timekeeper knew that a lot of people didn’t bother about where he was or what he was doing most of the time. It didn’t bother him much, since he was rarely engaged in anything remotely dangerous or sneaky, and this time it worked to his advantage.

He had witnessed the entire fight between Sixteenth and Eleventh, and he had seen something in Eleventh that suggested he was planning something nasty. It wasn’t just because he hated the other Timekeeper that Twentieth decided to help Sixteenth, though that was part of his motivation. Eleventh had often taken it upon himself to remind Twentieth that he had no power, that he was more-or-less useless and that he would be more useful if he was living with Twenty-First and Twenty-Second Timekeepers. These taunts hurt immensely; Twenty-First and Twenty-Second, the worthless creations of Fifth Timekeeper, had no ties to the Timekeepers and held none of their power. They held even less power than the mortals and they had barely kept themselves alive through the years. To be told he was no better than they greatly stung Twentieth.

And besides that, he didn’t want Sixteenth to fail. True, the other Timekeeper payed less attention to him than she did to some of the others, but she was seldom short with him, unless he was doing something wrong. She never bullied, and the only person he’d seen her get so angry with of late was Eleventh.

Twentieth kept his eyes on the higher-level Timekeeper while he worked, knowing something bad was going to happen. There was a look on Eleventh’s face and a tenseness in his posture that screamed I’m doing something against the rules. He was casting furtive glances at Sixteenth’s Chosen, and paying special attention to the groups of his own Chosen who were closely interacting with Sixteenth’s. If Eleventh started something, Twentieth knew he would be very little help. But he was quick on his feet and could perhaps get to Sixteenth before anything truly bad happened.

This was the role Twentieth often played in Timekeeper games – messenger Timekeeper. It often bothered him that he could not play in the games himself, but this time, he was glad that he was never challenged. He would hate to be in Sixteenth’s position right now.

--

There were no other options. He needed those three pesky chosen out of his way, and the girl Veylan was the only one who could help. He hated Veylan, but he thought she could do much more than she had already accomplished with her life so far. But the girl tried hard not to break her word. She had told that stupid witch she would be back, so she would be back. The only way to keep that from happening was to get her out of the way—permanently. He suppressed a grin as a vision of Sixteenth’s enraged face popped into his head. This would definitely make her angry. That was pretty much what he wanted—that was what this whole war was about for him. He looked over Veylan's timeline, considering. Then he grinned. Yes, that would do fine. Carefully, he implanted a thought into the mind of the boy walking right by Ayame. Unlike her, he was a real assassin—not just a tagalong. ‘Shadow is a traitor.’ The boy looked over at Ayame, eyes narrowing, hand reaching for a knife. Eleventh’s work was done.

--

Shadow kept one eye trained on the boy next to her, and the other eye scanning the forest around them. Her nerves were on edge: The boy had been brief in describing the problem, and she didn’t like the way he was looking at her now. She caught a movement of his wrist, and she snapped both eyes to him. He was reaching for a knife. ‘Oh, First!’ She thought. They had found her out. It had taken them long enough, for sure, but now that her cover was blown they would stop at nothing to kill her. She couldn’t return to the village—not during the day, at least. And the fairy’s friend only had perhaps two hours to go.

Shadow almost didn’t see the knife move. Almost. But she managed to duck, just in time, whipping out her own weapon. “What is this?” She asked, pretending not to know.

The boy didn’t answer verbally. He raised one hand and made a quick sign to the trees. It was the sign for ‘traitor.’ Oh no. there must have been more of the group hidden in the trees…Things were going to turn nasty very fast.

And so Shadow did the only thing she could have sensibly done under the circumstances. She turned—deflecting a wild stroke of her opponent’s knife with her own as she did—and fled. When she was out of their sight—although not out of their hearing, she could hear them chasing her—she leaped into the trees. Crouching low in the branches, she heard them rustling quietly. She could almost hear them talking. The assassins passed right under her and went barreling on.

She needed to get back to the village, quickly. She needed to evacuate the citizens for the night, because she knew what was coming next. This particular group of assassins wasn’t just after her now, but the fairy and the other two humans as well. It had been their original job – get rid of the Tradarrean tresspassers. That was what they would try to do, and if they could take down the traitor too, well, that was a happy bonus. She guessed they would try to burn the village and catch the small group as they fled. So Shadow dropped back to the ground and sprinted for the village, not even bothering to keep her steps quiet.

--

“Myrne! Myrne!” Rame looked up at the loud, frightened exclamation from outside. Seconds later, Shadow sprinted in and dashed straight to the headwoman. There were some twigs and leaves stuck to her clothes, and her hair was a mess; She distractedly brushed herself down as she talked. “Myrne, you need—I mean—“ She had totally lost her composure. Rame hadn’t known her long, but it seemed somehow uncharacteristic of her. “You need to leave, all of you—“

the headwoman—Myrne?—Remained calm. “Why?”

“the assassin group I was sent to infiltrate, they found out I was a traitor. I told you already that they want them—“ She gestured to Rame, Kishe and Scheneu—“Dead. They know that, for now, the group is immobilized—I think they will come here to try and capture them.”

What was going on here? And why did these assassins want him and his friends dead? And who was shadow working for, anyway? One moment, it looked as if she might be working with the assassins. The next, it looked as if she might be working for Myrne. Either way, they’d have to be getting out of this village pretty soon, no matter who Shadow was really working for.

--

It took them nearly an hour to convince all the citizens to leave the village, and by that time Shadow was nearly frantic. She kept all her emotions carefully on the inside though. The fairy and the thief—Rame and Kishe, her mind whispered, she should call them by their proper names—had all ready seen her lose her composure once. She needed to keep it together now. She could let all her emotions out later, when no one was looking.

But the peasant’s time was running out, and they didn’t have time to give her the cure in the village. After the cure had been given to the thief—Kishe, her mind said, more insistent now—she could not be touched for another hour afterwards. The drug the assassins had put in the water strengthened the immune system to the point where air and, in the last stages, even blood were categorized as dangerous. The body would stop allowing oxygen into the lungs and stop pumping blood throughout the body. Systems would shut down as more and more substances were classified as hazardous. The cure destroyed the immune system completely—thereby destroying the drug itself—and then helped to build the immune system back up. The ingredients in the cure helped speed up the process a lot—and at that moment, Shadow was very grateful for that. Kishe could move on her own now, and she could help evacuate the village. Shadow was still very worried about Scheneu though. Time was running out. And it was running out much, much too fast. Would there be enough time to evacuate the village and give Scheneu the cure?

--

Fifteen minutes after the last villagers had fled, a group of assassins poured into a deserted village. The houses and roads were eerily quiet. In the silence, even the assassins’ footsteps seemed oddly loud. Every breath seemed like a beacon calling all the jailers and executioners and all those the assassins had wronged. Each footstep was like another beat of the executioner’s drum. Hands holding torches and matches tightened. Neck, shoulder and arm muscles tensed. Bodies grew rigid as the group of assassins crept through the deserted town.

They finished their task as quickly as they could. Within ten minutes, the village was in flames. The smoke covered the assassins’ hasty retreat. Even so, Shadow saw them go. Her smile was cold as she watched them slowly speed up until they were pelting through the trees. ‘Buildings are just blocks of wood and stone.’ One of the assassins had told her that once. She didn’t believe it.

“Curse them,” She murmured so that only Myrne heard her. They wanted the thief, the noble and the peasant? They would have to go through her to get them. No First-forsaken person like them would ever take a life Myrne had helped to save.

--

-Fourteenth?- the tentative call was accompanied by a quiet knock on the door of Fourteenth's rooms. Sixteenth waited quietly for a response, torn and not sure whether she wanted one to come at all. She knew Fourteenth would think the "accident" was her fault as well, and she didn't want to have to explain. Or not explain. Or watch him and know he probably wouldn't trust her again for a long time afterward.

-Yes?- the call came back finally, and Sixteenth let out a breath.

-Can I come in?-

-Yes.- Was it just her, or was there a little resentment in Fourteenth's voice?

Sixteenth pushed open the door and walked quietly inside. Fourteenth was eyeing her cauciously from his bed, where he had been since Eleventh had struck him with the bucket. Ninth, who was often in charge of Timekeepers who had, for one reason or another, fallen ill, had said she wouldn't let him leave until she was sure he was alright.

-Hi, Sixteenth,- Fourteenth said, watching her sit down.

Sixteenth nodded a greeting, feeling extremely awkward. -Fourteenth … Are you … Um … Better now?- Idiot, she chided herself. That was the dumbest question you've ever asked. She was sure she was going red.

-Yes,- Fourteenth said, with a glint of amusement in his eyes. -But Ninth doesn't think so.-

-Ninth is always overcaucious.- Ask him, she told herself sternly. You need to know. -Did Fifth ask you what happened?-

Fourteenth nodded.

-Did he say he wanted to talk to me?- Sixteenth didn't want to know the answer – but now that she'd asked the question, she braced herself for it.

-Yes.-

-When?-

-He said he'd come get you when he wanted you,- Fourteenth replied. Sixteenth hoped, stupidly, that Fifth would forget.

-It wasn't my fault,- she blurted before she could stop herself. She didn't look at Fourteenth, but she could imagine the "Yeah, sure" look on his face.

-If it wasn't you, then who was it?-

she knew she couldn't say. Eleventh had her in a corner here – if she told, he'd fabricate some other damning evidence against her. She couldn't tell anyone that he had done it, because it wouldn't do any good in the end.

She slumped a little, unhappy with the tone in her friend's voice – the tone that said "Come on, I dare you to tell me who really did it."

-I mean … It wasn't … I didn't mean that to happen,- Sixteenth said, stumbling, faltering, trying to come up with something soundd to say. -I swear I didn't mean it to go wrong like that …-

Fourteenth shrugged. -It didn't kill anybody,- he said, trying to sound easygoing and calm.

Sixteenth tried a nod. Then, feeling awkward and put out and unhappy, she stood. -Thanks for telling me about Fifth, Fourteenth,- she said contritely as she turned to leave.

-Sure,- responded her friend. -If you get the chance, make sure to tell Ninth that I'm not going to die in the near future.- Sixteenth tried to laugh, but wasn't too sure it sounded normal.

-Alright.-

she exited Fourteenth's rooms, feeling not much better than she had before. On top of the fact that her friend thought this had been her fault, she feared the impending meeting with Fifth. And there was still the game with Eleventh to worry about … She wondered, fleetingly, whether running away was an option. But she recalled her words from earlier -Neither of us would last a second out there.-

No. As much as she wished it were, running away was definitely not an option.