unravel such secrets lay beyond her thread-work. Instead she saw the wire as if it were its own thread, gleaming with mystery, woven around the lives of anonymous Grey Sisters and leading back towards the darkness beneath the ice. The details of its discovery and the distant wonder of its forging were shrouded in an unsettling mist …
‘Nona?’ Ara’s voice, tinged with exasperation. ‘Corner bridge!’
Nona started. She blinked away her thread-sight and returned guiltily to her work. ‘Coming. Sorry.’
‘Four hundred counts left,’ Sister Apple called. Someone in the next window-tunnel let out an oath. A moment’s distraction could see you cut.
Ara set four wires, two crossing diagonally from opposite corners, one slicing off a corner where a hand might reach, another horizontal at a height level with her eyes. She retreated two feet between each placement and dusted the metal with soot to hide its gleam. A staggered placement minimized the chances of detection and meant that the victim might fall onto a second and third wire with greater force, leaving yet more, potentially both ahead and behind, to catch others.
Once Ara had crawled back out Nona went in to begin setting her own wires. The first wedge she set was a rectangular block rather like those employed by mountaineers, though far smaller.
‘One hundred!’ Sister Apple called.
Nona found it hard to believe so little time remained. She could hear Leeni cursing in the next tunnel. She called on her serenity and bade her fingers work faster, setting wedge and hook, stretching wires between them.
‘Out!’ Sister Apple had no tolerance for any who tried to finish off their work after the allotted time.
Nona retreated from her fourth wire.
‘At home my little sister is learning how to arrange flowers,’ Ara said as Nona brushed off her knees.
‘Wires, flowers, it’s all good.’ Nona had to force the levity into her reply. She’d seen what wire-work did to people. It wasn’t pretty.
Sister Apple inspected and dismantled Sharlot’s work at the door first.
‘Passable. You should set the low ones forward though.’ After completing her inspections she turned to view the novices. ‘Join me in the corridor, if you would.’
Sister Apple led the way and the novices clustered around her in the tunnel outside.
‘Every Sister of Discretion is expected to know how to traverse any wire-work she has laid, leaving it intact. It’s often a necessity to pass through at speed in order to encourage others to pursue with a suitable lack of caution.’
Nona felt a sinking sensation in the pit of her stomach. She tried to recall the pattern Ara had employed. Two crossing, one horizontal, one chord. Was it the left-to-right diagonal closest to the exit?
‘Sometimes.’ The Poisoner lifted her hand towards the class chamber. ‘In the dark.’ Shadow rose in a black tide, boiling around the doorway, reaching the roof.
‘Who should I pick to show us how speedy they are?’ Sister Apple turned her head until her gaze rested on Nona and Ara. ‘Perhaps two novices who were late?’
‘But, Mistress Shade. Nona won’t be able to see in there!’ Ara looked worried on Nona’s behalf though she herself had only a touch of marjal blood and shadow-work was her only talent; both late-developing and weak.
‘It’s not compulsory,’ Sister Apple said. ‘Unless you want the Grey.’
‘But Nona—’
‘Will not fulfil all the requirements of the Grey if she can’t complete this task. You may enter first, Ara, and after a count of twenty Nona may enter. Your classmates and I will then climb the stairs at a modest pace. If you are not waiting for us at the top, and if Nona is not there within a count of twenty of our arrival, you or she or both of you will have failed and need no longer attend my classes.’
Ara shook her head. ‘Nona—’
‘Go!’ A barked command, all Poisoner and no Apple. ‘One!’
Nona stepped forward and shoved Ara into the darkness. ‘Don’t be in my way when I get to the window.’
‘Two!’
Nona heard footsteps as Ara hurried to the central shaft.
‘Three!’
She allowed herself to be shocked. Even a small error could lead to a wound that might see Ara bleed to death. The loss of a finger, or an ear, or some other important bit of a face was also a distinct possibility. When moving at speed it was a dangerous game to play, even if you could see the wires. This wasn’t a simple poisoning with retchweed or similar. Being late for class had never carried a potentially fatal punishment before.