Nona fled as if all the demons of the black ice were at her heels, and in truth there wasn’t much to choose between that and the reality of the situation. She sprinted through the pillar forest and broke out into the open ground in front of the abbess’s house. Here she was at her most vulnerable. Once the Noi-Guin emerged from the pillars they would have a clear shot at her. As she ran Nona reached for the strap across her chest. Kettle had given her the Grey Sister’s full field equipment. She jagged left, right, left. Cross-knives hissed past her. She knew that even as she slowed herself, hoping to evade the missiles, others among the Noi-Guin would be sprinting towards her flat out on straight lines. Her fingertips counted along the vials in the harness and searched for the coded markings. Sister Apple had had them hunt out specific vials in the most difficult of circumstances on many occasions. The rule was that you drank whatever was in the vial you picked, no matter whether you picked right or wrong. A cross-knife hammered into Nona’s shoulder and she stumbled, almost dropping the vial she’d torn free. She flipped the top and knocked back the contents, sliding to the left as more knives hit the rock around her.
Nona reached the convent buildings with at least two Noi-Guin hard on her heels, the furious tempo of their feet still muffled as if there were no circumstances under which the assassins could ever be considered noisy. Another cross-knife hit her, a razored punch into the back of her thigh.
A sharp turn along the alley between the laundry and winery building allowed Nona to pull the trick that had won her many races with her friends, kicking off the wall to make the tight corner without losing speed. She shot into the dormitory building up two flights of stairs, crashed through into the Holy dorm and leapt through the window above her study desk, shattering the shutters. She landed on the roof of the cold store across the way, rolling over the roof ridge with a scream as the cross-knife tore free from her shoulder. Two more rolls dropped her from the gutter and she hit the ground running, heading back towards the far end of the laundry. Her thigh was a white agony but she ran on with hardly a limp. Flaw-blades sliced into stone, allowing Nona to slingshot herself around a corner into the mangle room and then on through the washing gallery, down some steps and into the well room. Here laundry bags had been piled around the wall of the well, each tied by a length of rope that dangled down into the shaft. Without pause Nona jumped down the well, grabbing the ropes as she fell. The heavy sacks came with her, sliding some five or ten yards before choking together as the shaft narrowed. Nona jolted to a halt, cursing at the agony from her shoulder. A second later she let go and fell the rest of the distance.
She caught the stonework at the very bottom of the shaft with her flaw-blades and swung out over the pool into the cavern beneath the centre oak.
‘Hello?’ Spoken into the darkness. Her fingers found the hilt of the knife in her leg and she gasped despite herself. If she drew it out she would likely bleed to death. If she left it in then any venom still on the blade would continue to feed into her.
‘Nona?’ A weak voice, trembling.
‘You tell me. You’re the one who can see.’ A grin broke through Nona’s pain. She turned towards Ara’s voice.
‘Help me up.’ The rasp underlying each word spoke of a damaged lung. Broken ribs most likely.
‘You’re all wet,’ Nona said, finding Ara in the dark. She lifted her friend, trying not to put too much weight on her wounded leg. The pain now made it seem as if it hadn’t really hurt until she stopped running.
‘The novices lowered me into the pool like I told them to.’ Ara leaned against her. ‘Like you told me to tell them to. And they set up the bags …’ She straightened and gasped. ‘If someone wants to find us then a few sacks of dirty habits aren’t going to keep them out for long.’
‘No.’ Nona limped a step forward, bringing Ara with her. ‘So let’s not stay here long.’
The two nuns struggled on together, Nona wholly blind