“You could have just been my lackey, Kublai, but now you have to die.” Batbayar shrugged, then nodded to the emissary at his side. “Pity. He would’ve been useful.”

The heat from the emissary’s arrival started to fade, but the wind picked up and teased flecks of ash loose from the little people-shaped mounds peppered over the barren stone. Only four people remained in Karakhorum’s upper district: Erhi, Batbayar, the emissary, and me.

Erhi coughed in my arms, tugging at my shirt. “Kublai, we… have to…”

“Run?” I said.

She nodded. “I’ve seen what the emissaries are capable of.”

“As long as they’re capable of dying, I—”

“They aren’t,” she said. “They aren’t human. They don’t eat. They don’t sleep. They don’t laugh or cry or cower. You can’t talk them out of an order. They’re… monsters.”

The ground had cooled, so I set Erhi down. “Run.”

She pulled my hand, but I didn’t move. “Kublai, I know you think you’re invincible, but the emissaries are actually invincible—”

I pulled my hand free. “Erhi. The emissary in your vision was after you. It’s better if you’re as far from here as possible.”

“It’s better for you too if you’re just as far away.”

“They’ll just pursue us.”

“They’ll pursue me if I run too.”

I smiled at her. “Not if I’m in the way.”

Batbayar whistled. “If you’re done having your last words with your concubine, we’d like to get on with disposing of you and taking Karakhorum.”

Erhi looked at me.

“Run,” I said. “Trust me.”

She hesitated, then turned and ran.

“She’s abandoning you already?” Batbayar said. “That’s a shame. It’s tragic to die alone.”

“Good thing you brought a friend to die with you, then.”

“We aren’t ‘friends’,” Batbayar said. “This is a master-servant relationship. He’s the servant.”

The emissary turned his featureless head slowly, as if to glare at Batbayar.

That’s strange, I thought.

“You’d make a great servant too, Kublai,” Batbayar continued.

I stepped forward. “Unfortunately, ‘servant’ is never going to be my occupation.”

“You could even fill a seat on the Council of Lords, as my lackey.”

“With a gut like that, it looks like you fill enough seats all on your own.”

A sound, like a rusted knife grinding on bone, seemed to echo through the upper district. My eyes darted to the emissary. His shoulders bobbed up and down. The emissary was… laughing?

Batbayar scowled. “Shut up. I’ll give you ten seconds to reconsider. Ten!”

I had ten seconds to come up with something. Ten seconds to figure out how to kill a man who couldn’t be killed.

“Nine!”

He couldn’t be killed – assuming he was indeed an emissary as Erhi knew them. Emissaries didn’t laugh, and yet, he just did.

“Eight!”

That’s why he was trying so hard to win me over, I realized. Batbayar wouldn’t try if there was no risk of me getting out of this.

“Seven!”

Emissary or not, the black flame creeping over his body would still melt any blade before it could harm him. Nothing had withstood the emissary’s arrival, except…

“Six!”

Erhi, Batbayar, and me. Three people who’d been soaked in the energy of the Spirit Realm. Even my clothes hadn’t been burned. If traces of the Spirit Realm had protected me, more of it might be able to damage him.

“Five!”

I slipped my hand into my satchel and drew the map. Karakhorum’s upper district wasn’t on the map, but I figured it’d be just above the courthouse.

“Four—”

“Three, two, one,” I said. “I’ve come to a decision.”

“Well?” Batbayar said.

I drew my blade with my free hand.

Batbayar sighed and shook his head.

I dropped my sword. It clanged as it hit the ground.

Batbayar grinned. “Oh. You had me there. Welcome to the Council of—”

I stuck my finger on the map, just above the courthouse. Blue light stripped away the smoke. My bones felt harder and chest swelled with heat as I breathed deeply. The hairs on my arm stood up, pulsing with a blue sheen.

Batbayar’s gaze locked onto me as soon as I landed. “I thought you’d ran away.”

“I’m not going anywhere.” I clenched my fists. The energy of the Spirit Realm clung to my skin like water, and I could feel it dripping off. I’d landed a few feet from where I’d used the map, and the distance between the emissary and me was too great. By the time I’d be able to reach Batbayar from here, the energy of the Spirit Realm would be lost.

Batbayar glanced at the emissary. “Well? Are you just going to stand there? Take care of him!”

The emissary’s body shook, as if it was tearing itself apart. One side of his head, his chest, and his thigh all swelled like sores. Six spheres of black fire, ranging from the size of an apple to the size of man’s head, broke free and floated behind the emissary in an evenly-spaced ring.

He glanced at Batbayar.

“Fine, fine.” Batbayar took a few steps back. “I’ll keep a safe distance, but I swear if you don’t deal with him—”

The emissary darted for me, the black spheres seeming to propel him forward. He was fast, but not faster than me pressing my finger on the map.

I landed harder this time, my muscles throbbing with energy. The emissary spun to my new location and dashed, the air around him shimmering from the heat.

I could play this game. Eventually, I’d have enough spiritual energy to strike back. I let him get closer this time, slipping my finger onto the map at the last possible moment. I felt the breeze his swiping claw made as I entered the Spirit Realm.

One of the spheres came at me as I landed, but I dove to the left. The sphere sunk into the stone and evaporated, leaving a smooth, round hole. I stood unharmed, but covered in ash. The sphere moved too quickly to have been aimed at me when I landed. He knows where I’m going to appear, I realized, and those spheres are faster than him. He still had five of those left.

A sphere shot at me, but I pressed the map in time. This time, the hairs on my arm burned as I entered the Spirit Realm.

When I landed, the emissary’s hand grazed my chest, my shirt flaking like paper in an inferno. I jumped back just in time. The wound stung when I touched it, and my hand was wet with blood and ash. At least the heat cauterized the wound, for the most part. Even with the energy of the Spirit Realm lingering on me, his attacks were fatal.

But there was a simple solution: I just needed to not get hit.

He didn’t give me time to recover. When I blinked, he’d covered half the distance. My bloody finger left a stain on the map when I touched it. Energy surged through me, like an earthquake rumbling through my gut. My bones felt as if they were made of iron, and sharp blue lines flashed along my veins—

I felt something wrap around my ankle. I glanced back. A hand coated in black fire raging like a rabid dog just let off the leash. The fire expanded, as if it was consuming the blue light.

I kicked, but the emissary’s grip was firm. I raised my other foot and kicked the hand by the wrist. Crack.

I landed, and remnants of the fire smoldered along my flesh. The hand-shaped burn throbbed, but I could still stand, if lopsidedly. A sphere spun up, poising to launch, when the sound of footsteps caught both of our attention.

Erhi? I thought. No. Erhi’s footsteps were lighter. I squinted at the figure. Long black hair thrashed in the wind. Khulan.

She slowed to a halt as she approached the destroyed upper district. “I always thought you were a man of half-measures, Batbayar, but this rescue effort is… impressive.”

Batbayar stepped forward, glaring at Khulan. “What rescue?”

The emissary shot a sphere at her. Khulan froze, but I didn’t. I broke into a sprint, cringing as my burnt ankle struck the stone. The sphere was too close to Khulan to let that slow me down. I felt the stone crack under my steps, the map open and waving like a loose sail as I ran. I reached out. Almost. I gave one final pushed.

My fingertips grazed the sphere and sent it spinning past Khulan’s cheek before it crashed behind us. My hand shook. Smoke drifted from the charred flesh of my fingertips. I clenched my jaw and took deep breaths through my teeth.

I glanced at Khulan. “That was a strange… rescue attempt.”

Khulan put a hand on her cheek.

“We couldn’t just let you be used as a pawn against the Council, Khulan.” Batbayar walked toward us. “Especially not when you have his ear.”

“And now you’ve given me something to fill that ear with,” she said.

“That’s if you’re still living to tell.” Batbayar nodded at the emissary.

“It’s bold of you to assume that he isn’t listening now,” she said. “And by bold, I of course mean foolish.”

Batbayar’s eyes widened, darting at the sky.

“Is he?” I whispered to her.

“No,” she whispered back. “And that isn’t an emissary.”

“I figured. How do I kill him?”

“Batbayar? Roasting, preferably.”

I nodded at the false emissary. “Nice of Batbayar to bring his own fire, in that case.”

“Is your hand okay?”

The pain was getting worse as I lost spiritual energy. I made a fist and smirked. “I’ll be fine.”

Batbayar tilted his head upward, scanning the sky. The emissary did the same. I couldn’t let the emissary take the initiative – he’d go for Khulan if I didn’t keep him busy. While they were distracted, I dashed for the emissary. My burnt ankle threw off my gait, but spiritual energy coursed through my muscles, like stoking a hearth with every bound.

The emissary’s head snapped to attention, but I was already too close. A sphere launched from over his shoulder. I jumped to avoid it, sending me six feet into the air. The emissary tilted his head up, his three remaining spheres sputtering into motion.

I pressed the map. This was the most I’d used it in such a short span of time. Little cracks trailed along my veins, leaking blue light. My chest went tight, and it became harder to breath. My bones felt like logs on a fire, about to crack open.

I reappeared, gulping in the air – directly above the emissary, his hand arcing toward me. I grabbed his wrist with my right hand and gripped the map tightly with my left. He tried to raise his other hand, but my elbow was already going for his jaw. I felt something solid give and break. The black fire parted from where I’d struck him.

The emissary stumbled back and put a hand over the hole I’d made. Black fire crept over the flesh, sealing the wound. A loud crack set the emissary’s jaw right.

“Stop screwing around, O—” Batbayar shouted, cutting himself off. “Just deal with him.”

I grinned. “He would… if he could.”

“Cocky shit,” Batbayar grumbled.

“Oh please,” Khulan said. “You’re just as cocky as Kublai. You just can’t back it up.”

“I’ll back it up alright,” Batbayar said. “I would come over there and show you, but you’d just scamper away like the spoiled—”

Khulan dropped down and sat cross-legged on the stone. She gave Batbayar a flat look.

“Well, I would come over there, but…” Batbayar glanced at me. “There’re, uh, obstacles. But as soon as Kublai’s a little pile of ashes, you better be ready, I swear before the Eternal Blue—”

“Shut up!”

The emissary’s voice reverberated through the stone. I felt it in my feet before I heard it. It sounded like the whistle of boiling sap spilling out of a log. He craned his head back and seemed to glare at Batbayar.

Batbayar put his hands up. “Fine, fine. If you’d get on with killing him, I—”

A sphere shot out at Batbayar and landed next to him.

Batbayar put a finger on his lips. “I’ll be quiet.”

The emissary’s fire flickered and seemed to dull, like a candle in the wind. He was thinner than when he’d first appeared, I noticed. His speed, however, was still the same. By the time I blinked, he’d closed the distance between him and me. I jumped to the left as he struck, but one of his two remaining spheres shot at me. I put my foot down hard, crushing the stone under my heel and halting my motion. I’d avoided the sphere, but the emissary wasn’t done.

As soon as the first crashed, the last spun over him, poising to launch – but after a moment, it settled back down and was absorbed by his shoulder. He must have hesitated. I wouldn’t.

I reached down and grabbed a fist-sized rock. “My turn.”

The emissary shifted as soon as I took aim. His black fire whooshed when he moved right to left to right to straight for me, trying to throw me off. It didn’t. An ordinary rock wouldn’t do any damage, but one that’d been to the Spirit Realm…

I slipped my finger onto the map. I’d only have a few seconds to orient myself when I landed. The emissary, however, would do the aiming for me. He knew where I’d appear, and he wouldn’t waste that information. He’d absorbed his last sphere. The only other means of attack he had was up close.

In other words, I couldn’t miss.

I raised my arm, blue light condensing around the rock in my palm. It felt as if I had a hot coal caged in my fingers. A vapor, more like mist than smoke, clung to my flesh, tearing my skin like a shirt that was too tight. I only had one shot. As the blue light became thinner and the Spirit Realm spat me out, I threw.

Bang. The sound split the smoke lingering in the air. The loose stone scattered over the upper district shuddered. It was like a clap of thunder had just shot from my palm.

The emissary stood in front of me, a hole the size of a fist in his chest. He stumbled back, but I had to assume he could heal. I dashed forward, leading with my fist. The emissary put up a weak guard against my first strike, but I broke through it, shattering his arm.

Mist surrounded me, blue light zapping from my skin. I huffed. My whole body felt heavy. I fell to one knee, dropping the map at my feet.

The emissary lay on the ground, struggling to get back up. Black fire reached over the hole in his chest. Even if he could get back up from that, it’d take him a while – and I’d recover first.

Khulan ran over. She’d picked up my blade. I thought she was running to me, but she brushed past, leaping over foundations of destroyed homes as if she’d been planning her route from the time she’d arrived.

Batbayar put his hands up. “Now, Lady Khulan, we can discuss this. A woman of your pedigree wouldn’t want to resort to such base means of resolving—”

She swung, cleaving through his neck. Batbayar slumped over. She wiped my blade on his gown, kicked him in the gut for good measure, then turned and jogged over to me.

“I assume this is yours.” Khulan handed me my sword.

I got back on my feet. “I thought you preferred to have him roasted?”

“If we put that man on a fire, he’d explode. The man wasn’t just shaped like a wine barrel. He probably had just as much wine in him.”

“And you wouldn’t want an explosion in your new ally’s city, would you?”

“Is that what we are now, allies?”

I nodded at Batbayar’s body. “The enemy of my enemy…”

“…is still waiting to hear what’s in it for her.”

I glanced at the emissary. His flames started to recede around the edges, revealing toes, fingers and thin gray hair. “Protection, firstly.”

“I don’t need protection.”

I held up the hand I’d used to deflect the sphere. “Forgive me if I don’t believe you.”

She sighed. “I could just hire someone for protection.”

“To protect you from what’s left of the Council? Oktai? Probably. To protect you from me? Probably not.”

“So if I don’t join you…”

“You’re still on the Council of Lords, and you still hold cities on the continent. If you’re not my ally, you’re my enemy.”

She glanced at the emissary and pursed her lips. “If I’m your ally that makes me his enemy.”

“Are you his ally?”

She guffawed. “He doesn’t need allies. Not anymore.”

“Then why does he listen to you?”

“He wasn’t always that way.” She looked down. “I knew him before he—”

Stones shifted. Instinctively, I grabbed the map. The emissary got to his feet. The last flecks of black fire drifted from him, revealing his face.

“Oktai?!” Khulan said.

Heat burst from him, pushing Khulan and me back. Black fire emerged from his chest, covering his body. I shielded my eyes and pulled Khulan behind me.

When I opened my eyes again, Oktai was gone.

“Before you run after him…” Khulan reached for my arm, but it was still hot from the Spirit Realm. “I need to tell you about Oktai.”