The rusted iron hatch creaked, complaining under Pipit’s small fingers. A gust of stale, warm air blew into Reksa’s face, carrying the scent of ancient soot and burnt grease."This is it," Pipit whispered, pointing her shrouded lantern into the dark, vertical square. "The old flue. It runs straight up to the bell mechanism. The cell block is just off the main shaft on the fifth level."Reksa peered into the gloom. The chute was barely wide enough for his shoulders. "Are you sure this hasn't been used?""Not for twenty years," Pipit said. "But the chimney draft is still active. That means the air is moving. If you get stuck, don't scream. The sound will carry straight to the guardroom.""Comforting," Reksa muttered. He adjusted the lead-lined cloak, tucking the loose fabric tightly around his waist. "If Nyai wakes up, tell her—""I’ll tell her you were an idiot," Pipit interrupted, her owl-like eyes glittering in the dim light. "Now go. Before the midnight patrol sweeps the outer sewer

"Let go of me!" Reksa roared.He kicked backward with his free boot. His heel slammed into something cold, dense, and metallic.Metal shrieked against stone."Target identified," the mechanical voice droned from the dark flue behind him. "Shard signature confirmed. Initiating suppression protocol.""He's draining your light!" Sarnika shrieked in his head. "Kick it, you idiot! The wrist joint! Strike the wrist joint!""I can't turn around!" Reksa hissed, his fingers clawing at the soot-covered floor of the conduit. "Wiratma, help!""The stone," Wiratma said, his voice echoing with sudden authority. "Do not push it. Pull it. Shatter the conduit ceiling behind you!""If I do that, we get buried alive!" Reksa yelled."Better buried than captured!" Sarnika countered. "Do it!"Reksa gritted his teeth. He pressed his bare palm against the floor, ignoring the stinging pain as the magical mortar sparked against his skin. He didn't picture still water. He pictured a collapsing mountain."Drop!"

Reksa coughed, tasting copper and soot. "Bagas...""He’s gone, Reksa," Sarnika’s voice was a cold whip. "If you stay, you join him."He pushed himself up. His palms were shredded, bleeding golden light onto the cracked stone of the fourth floor. The ceiling above him was a jagged, smoking crater."We have to go back up," Reksa wheezed."Are you insane?" Sarnika screamed. "Look around you!"The corridor was filling with gray smoke. Below, the furnace was still roaring, sending heat rising through the floorboards."I can’t just leave him," Reksa said, his voice cracking."He chose this," Wiratma said, his tone heavy. "He broke your chains. He gave you a path. Run, Reksa!"Footsteps echoed from the western stairwell. Heavy, rhythmic, and fast."Hey! You!" a voice boomed through the haze.A sentry wearing the black-and-silver plate of the Rakta Guard stepped into the corridor. He raised a glowing blue lantern, his eyes widening as the light caught Reksa’s silver hair."Intruder!" the sent

The wooden back door of the dye shop splintered as Reksa crashed through, coughing up a mouthful of gray soot and blood."He's back!" Pipit cried, dropping her lantern. "Nyai, he's back!""Shut the door!" Reksa gasped, collapsing onto the damp stone floor. "Bolt it! Now!""You're bleeding," Pipit whispered, her hands shaking as she slid the heavy iron bar into place. "Your hair... it's completely white.""The price of the passage," Reksa wheezed, clutching his chest. "I had to... I had to see him.""You went into the tower," a cold, razor-sharp voice cut through the dark.Nyai Kemuning stepped out from behind a row of hanging, indigo-dyed fabrics. She didn't carry her spectacles. In her hands was a pair of heavy, rusted iron shears, and her eyes were wide, flashing with a dangerous, silver-blue luminescence."Nyai, I—""Silence!" she hissed. The pressure radiating from her tiny, frail frame was suddenly heavy enough to press Reksa back against the door. "I gave you one instruction. On

Reksa hit the dirt, gasping for air. His lungs burned.Beside him, the shattered remains of the giant soldier hissed, turning into a heap of frozen black slag. The cold radiating from the pile was so intense it put out the creeping flames on the wooden wall."Reksa!" Pipit scrambled toward him, her owl-like eyes wide with terror. "What did you do? What was that?""I don't know," Reksa wheezed, clutching his left arm. It was dead weight. The black frost had climbed past his elbow, locking his skin in a vice of solid ice. "We have to go."*We have to go now,* Wiratma urged in his head, his voice trembling. *The feedback from that strike... it was like a beacon. Every Sweeper within three leagues knows we are here.**And the Weaver's puppet is already moving,* Sarnika added, her usual venom replaced by genuine panic. *I can hear his thoughts. He is not far. He is stepping through the ash.*"Where?" Reksa muttered aloud, pushing himself up with his one good hand."What?" Pipit stared at h