Chapter VII: Breaching Time

Ariadna Lascari lifted her head, startled by a sudden change in the Veil's air. Bratislava was not safe, and she knew it. Either way, she cared too little for the risks. She did not dare ask herself why Danica yearned to hear the stories that others considered pointless drivel. She could not fathom a reply that would not have destroyed the illusion of having a friend. Truth mattered to others, but never to her.

Ariadna leaned on the fence separating the park from the busy street, positioning her face against the sun – twilight was too precious to miss. A soft gleam of light caressed her cheeks – bright and blurry as a firework reflection. She winced when Danica's fingers tightened around her wrist.

"We need to leave now! Now!" She shook Ariadna's hand with unexpected vigor.

"What…? Why?" Ariadna dropped the sketches and bent down to collect them, when Danica hoisted her up with her right arm.

"Leave the papers! It's too late," she said, pulling Ariadna along the fence like a helpless marionette. "That light is here for a reason! It's a sign."

"We are in Bratislava! Why would light messages surprise you?" Ariadna asked, knitting her eyebrows. "What are you afraid of?"

"In this freaking city - everything!" Danica hissed, almost tearing her arm from its socket. Ariadna stumbled, her loose hair falling over her eyes and her feet refusing to obey her commands. She would have landed on the pavement in a messy heap had Danica not pushed her towards the fence.

Ariadna screamed when a dim laser line drew blood from her cheek. Dancing rays sliced the Veil's shimmering air, and she froze on her knees, gaping at the approaching gang of angry light-benders. She heard their boots hit the pavement, discerned their bitter smell, but did not feel their energy. Radmila Chlápková led her bloodthirsty mob, pointing an accusatory finger at her. Radmila's spiteful expression sent shivers down Ariadna's spine. Out of fear and instinct, she turned to Danica for help. Danica stretched her hands towards the setting sun, grabbing fragile rays and sending them at the gang. The light veered off its straight trajectory and crashed into the wrought fence, burning the iron.

Danica cursed in Slovak and pushed Ariadna through the hole in the fence. They jumped over golden bushes and ruined flowerbeds, evading the Spy Guild's dangerous lights.

"Through the park, into the breach, to the square…" Danica whispered, her breath quickening with effort. "We will reach the railway station. You will dive out of the Veil there. We'll find a breach."

Ariadna slid her arm over Danica's back and nodded. They bolted forward, supporting each other, feeling light lick at their jackets, not daring to look back. Slowly, Ariadna's body responded to the fluctuations of the Veil, reaching out to the energy web generated by her pursuers. With blinding difficulty, she managed to slow the attackers' movements, letting their zigzagging lights dissolve in the air. Retaliation came in the form of a pang of pain in her head. She stopped, pressing her hands to her temples.

Danica grabbed her shoulder and pushed her forward, seconds before Ariadna would have hit the ground. She dragged her through rows of leafless trees and messy bushes, her shoulders heaving and her lips trembling.

"Their minds elude me. Aaah…" Ariadna rubbed her temples with numb fingers.

"They are playing with us. They don't want you dead," Danica said. "We need to find shade, where they can't harvest enough light to cut us."

They snuck out of the park through another hole in the fence, hiding behind bushes and crawling under stone benches. When they were in the street again Danica stopped, her hands trembling nervously. Behind them, Ariadna heard the light-benders curse, leaves rustling under their boots and dry branches breaking at their touches. How could Danica know the Spy Guild that well?

"You knew, Danica..." she murmured. Ariadna's light-blue eyes widened, a painful realization punching her in the gut. "Danica? You know all these people."

"Of course she knows us," Chlápková replied, slowly approaching them with a triumphant smile on her lips. She had been waiting for the girls at the corner of the street, fresh recruits by her side.

Danica did not utter a word. Instead, she jumped in front of Ariadna and spilled all her light to blind Chlápková, releasing shiny balls of glitter into the air. To Ariadna's horror, Radmila not only caught the balls, but sent them back, stunning Ariadna with a hypnotizing spectacle of brightness.

Ariadna could no longer breathe, her dazed eyes following the outlines of vivid hues and gentle tones. No one understood color and light like Danica's people. And Ariadna, a painter, stood helpless in the face of true beauty. Danica shouted, but she ignored her. She saw perfection unravel in front of her. She forgot about violence. Ariadna regained consciousness when Danica slapped her with the back of her hand.

"Run!"

A tall man grabbed Ariadna's shoulder from behind, and she hit him in the knee with her boot. Desperate to get away, she produced an energy blast that sent both her and Danica plummeting to the pavement. Then she bounced back and bolted - without thinking, without blinking and without stopping. Ariadna stumbled so Danica hung onto her arm, covering her eyes with the golden scarf. Radmila's people must have blinded her. Unyielding, Danica turned to Radmila and shouted.

"You promised!" Uncontrolled rage twisted her square face, erasing all traces of the gentle beauty Ariadna found so appealing. "You need information from her, you'll have it! Let her be!"

"The premise has changed," Radmila answered coldly, slowing her pace, assessing the limits of her prey's endurance and the Veil's thickness. Ariadna's body hurt and refused to run. She stopped and stared at Danica, whispering quietly.

"I thought you despised the Spy Guild. I…"

Danica did not answer. She turned away, opened her reddish eyes and stared at the building of the railway station in the distance. They could not make it.

Ariadna steadied herself, then a grinding sound forced her to tilt her head. Terrified, she squinted in pain.

"What, by the Ancestors' damnation, is that?" Danica whispered by her side. A dozen of light-benders appeared in the corners of the square, closing in and cutting them off from the only escape route. Danica balled her fists and lifted her chin. Beneath layers of desperation, Ariadna felt defiance and anger boiling inside her. "I am so sorry, Ari."

"I'm not going anywhere without you," Ariadna said with confidence that she did not feel. She reached out to squeeze Danica's hand, attempting to smile. "I am not just a Lascari, I am a Kolosy! They will have to go through my father first if they want to hurt either of us!" She bit her lip, desperately wishing to believe her own words. She shrieked as a light-bender injured Danica with a casual beam of light. She was prepared to step forward, but stopped, as if stunned by a braceter shot.

The change in the air felt sudden, unexpected. Ariadna registered a presence so overwhelmingly powerful that it overshadowed the energy signatures generated by the dozen of Offcasts. It could not be Radmila. It could not be any of her goons.

"I want that Byzantine scum!" Radmila's voice was cold and harsh. But Ariadna was no longer afraid, searching for the source of that unexpected power with her inquisitive mind.

"As you wish, pani Chlápková." A stout man with a long face answered. Ariadna closed her eyes, bracing for an impact that never came. All she heard was the muffled sound of bodies hitting the pavement like apples blown off a tree by strong wind.

When she opened her eyes and lifted her head, all she saw was a slender figure in a dark-red trench coat, a blindfold-visor covering his face. A graceful ghost of sterling light, he was standing on the steps of a classicist building, his hands clasped behind his back. A woman in a dark-green jacket lingered by his side, clutching a glittering metal stick in her right hand, snarling at the crowd. The woman's face was covered with a similar blindfold-visor, leaving only her pointy chin and messy black hair visible. Ariadna could barely register her fluid motions, for she had never seen anyone move with such lethal speed and incomparable stealth. The woman knocked down three light-benders, avoiding their hits with terrifying ease, and outrunning them as if she were a fleshless spirit.

The hooded man was different. He moved deliberately and gracefully, darting back and forth and not allowing a single shot to reach him. Unlike his companion, he did not deal a single lethal blow, but it was his nonchalant demeanor that sent chills snaking up Ariadna's back. Returning to her senses, Ariadna pulled Danica closer to her side. Exchanging looks filled with disbelief, they both gaped at the stranger. He danced in the square, his slim flexible frame defying the very laws of physics.

"How is it possible?" Danica muttered, watching the flawless moves and pirouettes he made in the air. "He knows exactly where they strike… How is this even possible?"

"A time-master," Ariadna whispered. She could almost distinguish his scent - a fascinating blend of sandal and mint. It clung to him like a second skin. The woman was no less terrifying. Ariadna watched her jump to the wall, twist her core and crush two light-benders below with admirable precision. Five of them almost tore her jacket apart, attacking from different angles, yet she eluded them with remarkable ease, graceful as a cat.

When Radmila drew closer, the woman landed in front of the girls, blocking braceter shots with her strange metal stick. The gaunt stranger did not fall far behind, halting an arm's length away, and ordering his companion to move with a swift gesture of his long hand. Ariadna assumed he was the one in charge. Carefully, she closed her eyes, trying to get into his mind. She could not sense anything from him, except for the overwhelming enhancement power that he radiated. It was dark and deadly. Even Leudora's enhancement felt like a clear thunderstorm compared to the wild avalanche that the stranger concealed within himself. She gaped at him, knowing that he had registered her intrusion.

"Your curiosity is misplaced," he said. His icy voice resonated within the Veil and carried a power and menace that smothered the space around them. Quickly, he turned on his heel and headed towards the railway station, his bodyguard covering the girls. The woman pushed them forward, reflecting braceter shots with her unusual weapon. Choosing to follow the stranger, Ariadna did not resist.

Carefully, she tried to discern the man's features beneath the blindfold-visor but could only see the sharp lines of his chin, his morbidly pale skin and thin lips pressed tightly together. Almost two heads taller than Ariadna herself, he wore his burgundy-colored coat over black fitting pants and black dress shoes. She could smell blood dripping from a cut on his right elbow. Despite the inconvenience, his calmness did not dwindle.

"Are you sure he is a time-master?" Danica whispered into her ear.

"I don't know."

"And the woman?"

"A gravity-switcher. Maybe a matter-shifter." Ariadna could not keep up with their pace and gasped for air.

When they reached the station, making their way to the platform, the woman followed the stranger into the bright breach. She nudged the girls forward with her stick – a reformed technological marvel of the Ancestors. Diving out of the Veil, they stopped on the stairs and passed the glass doors. The pursuers did not lag behind. Ariadna no longer understood where they were headed, dizzy from the lack of familiar air. Perhaps they could make it, perhaps they could escape unscathed. Fear extinguished hope, when she realized two more light-benders were waiting for them on the platform.

"Kick them, Ari!" Danica shouted, but Ariadna could barely summon enough energy to move. She pushed Danica to the side, trying to twist away and falling into the huge arms of one of Radmila's thugs. A strong hand grabbed her throat, choking life out of her. She bit her tongue, wincing. The stranger's measured footsteps echoed in her mind like clear drum beats. His was the only presence that mattered.

The stranger approached her captor with a confidence that seemed misplaced. A vision of lethal grace, he captivated as easily as he inflicted terror. The woman prepared to charge, lifting her weapon above the head, but the stranger stopped her with a deliberate gesture of his extended hand. It was then that Ariadna noticed a deep scar on his left wrist - a long line of twisted skin. Staring at his hand, Ariadna almost forgot that her captor was pressing a glimmer-blade to her chest and digging his nails into her throat.

"One more step and the Byzantine scum dies!" The thug spat out, threatening both Danica and the stranger.

"I would not be so certain," the stranger said, a sharp edge to his voice, but no strain. The light-bender hesitated and pressed the blade closer to Ariadna's side. The stranger spoke with terrifying calmness.

"I weigh the risks carefully. Do you?" Behind his blindfold visor his eyes must have frozen the very being of the light-bender. His hand quivered at Ariadna's throat.

"What will you do?! You are surrounded!" he shouted. "You can't fight, time freak! You can only dodge and run! Even your loyal hound won't help you."

The stranger's thin lips twitched with faint disdain. Almost on the edge of suffocating, Ariadna felt the stranger's heartbeat slow down: did her captor realize he was doomed as well as she did? Silently, the stranger nodded to his tiny companion.

She nearly felt the long metal stick touch her cheek, air swishing past her face. The weapon hit the light-bender, cracking his skull. By her side, Danica shrieked as blood flew into the air, spattering across her face. The stranger grabbed Ariadna and hurled her into the car of a half-empty train, following her immediately.

"Leave. Now," he ordered the woman, then stretched out his hand to catch Danica, but cut through thin air instead. Ariadna leaned out, seeing her friend's unconscious body lying on the platform. Danica remained there, surrounded by Radmila's agents. The small woman with a covered face and incongruous strength vanished without leaving a trace behind. The stranger stayed.

"Danica!!" Ariadna prepared to jump off the train, but the stranger seized her arm, pulling her away, his iron grip leaving a bruise on her shoulder.

"They will not kill her."

"They will hurt her!" Ariadna shouted.

"She will live. They require her help to capture you."

"Me?"

"Why else would they lure you to Bratislava?" He scrutinized her without demonstrating as much as a hint of interest or emotion. Beneath his hood, she could see the pointed tip of a long aquiline nose. Ariadna bit her lip, sulking. He noticed her reaction, but showed neither sympathy nor understanding. "You shot electricity through a dozen Offcasts, half of whom are directly connected to the Spy Guild. A bold move, I must admit. But a stupid one, nonetheless." Ariadna felt his unwavering gaze but could not see his eyes. "Next time you may not be so fortunate, Lady Lascari."

"Fine! Tell me, what you would have done in my place!" Ariadna bit her lip, drawing blood and suppressing both shame and frustration. The stranger ignored her outburst of emotion.

"I would not have put myself in your place."

She could not sense whether he was sarcastic, or simply did not care about her excuses. She could vouch for the latter. "I did not think Danica…"

"…was working for them?"

Ariadna thought he must have lifted an eyebrow beneath his hood. She nodded, feeling like a scolded child.

"Tell me, Lady Lascari, what did you expect to find in the city controlled almost entirely by the Spy Guild?"

"Why would you ask?" She frowned. The corner of his lips twitched slightly. He clasped his hands behind his back and turned away, his impossibly tall figure taking over the small space between the compartment doors and the long train window.

"Consider it… A matter of professional interest." He shifted his gaze to the green and gold landscape outside.

"I did not expect anyone to attack me. I have done nothing to them. I meant the Spy Guild no harm." The Stranger shook his head, his lips forming a tense thin line.

"It is not what you did that interests them, it is what you represent. I am certain you know your family's history well enough to understand what kind of havoc you have just wreaked."

"My friend invited me to visit her. I wanted nothing more. And now my friend is in their hands." Ariadna's voice trembled, a dark tinge of anger and regret in it. "I can't live like a prisoner anymore! I am not responsible for all the troubles my family has caused."

"Few would see it that way." His words cracked Ariadna's ears, as sharp as they sounded. His demeanor remained calm and controlled. Only the long white fingers of his clasped hands seemed more strained than before. "You can't escape your family's legacy. Nobody can."

"But I can try to escape those who blame me for it." Ariadna lowered her gaze, listening to the rumbling of the train. The stranger turned to face her.

"An unplanned escape is never a good strategy."

"But you managed to pull it off anyway!" She drew closer, trying to get a glimpse of his face.

"I know the game and I know my opponents." His presence loomed over Ariadna, a deadly and breathtaking aura surrounding him. She withdrew.

"Because your friend knows how to fight!"

"No. Because my opponents don't."

Ariadna's eyes widened. "How?"

"They are spies, not soldiers. They cannot chase down a teenager in the city they mostly control. Had they been proficient, you would have been either dead or in their hands. Or both."

"You mean… Had they been the Alka Guard…" Ariadna murmured. He nodded shortly. Ariadna wished she could read the expression of his face, but his mental shield seemed impenetrable.

"Why did you save me?" she asked.

"I did not save you. I did not let them obtain a valuable hostage and support Chlapková's plans to dominate the Spy Guild."

"Hmmm, they know that, right?" Ariadna frowned. She assumed he gave her an almost amused look.

"Their position in this matter is irrelevant."

"Hmmm." Ariadna paused. She stared at him, utterly confused. "What's your game then?"

"I have my reasons to condemn their actions."

"Then why do you cover your face if we are 'friends' and have common goals?"

"We are not friends. We have just met."

"Still…. We are not enemies." Ariadna bit her tongue. He measured her with what she imagined to be an assessing look, extracted a clean handkerchief out of an inner pocket of his trench coat and handed it to Ariadna.

"You have blood on your forehead."

"But… your elbow must be hurting. Didn't they cut you?" Ariadna pointed at the torn woven fabrics of his burgundy-colored coat.

"I've survived worse."

Ariadna did not know how to respond. She could think of nothing better than simply introducing herself. She stretched out her hand, awaiting a handshake. He did not move. His lips formed a curve that reminded Ariadna of a smirk.

"I am Ariadna." She waited for him to say his name, but he remained silent. After a moment he slightly bowed his head.

"I am aware."

Ariadna wanted to shower the stranger with questions, but he ignored her attempts, sliding his long narrow hand into the sleeve of his coat and pulling out a miniature device.

"What is it?" Her face grew pale, when he handed it to her. "A braceter?"

"Yes," he said. "But if you shoot…" There were dangerous notes in his voice, "be prepared to kill."

"Fine," she snapped, not fully understanding his words. "Wait… you are not leaving me on the train now, are you? You cannot leave!"

"You are travelling to Vienna. The Spy Guild has no authority in Austria, and you will easily return to Hungary from there. You won't spend much time outside the Veil."

He moved into an empty compartment and opened a jammed window with a slight push.

"You're not… No, you are not going to jump out, are you?" Ariadna asked, bewildered.

"Safe journey, Lady Ariadna." He hopped up and swiftly dove through the opening, disappearing into the darkness. Ariadna, still shaken, leaned out.

"Thank you!" she shouted. Nobody answered.