Litany of Winter

The cart reached Rafael at speed, its wheels squealing across the boards.

His marked hand flashed green against the wooden side. The cart snapped left instead of driving into him, missed his hip by inches, and rolled toward the far wall.

Neumann caught the handle before it struck. ”Again.”

Severin leaned against the long table near the wall, arms folded. His left leg felt normal this morning, or as normal as anything had felt since Gravewatch. Neumann had watched him cross the room anyway.

Rafael stepped back onto the chalk line.

”You could at least tell me what you want me to do this time.”

”I want you to stop sending it wherever the hell it feels like going.”

”I sent it left.”

”You got it away from you. That’s not the same thing.”

Madeleine stood beside Severin with Anna’s flask tucked through her belt and her right glove removed. Her mark remained dark.

Severin glanced at Rafael. ”He’s right. Useful trick, assuming whoever wants you dead is nice enough to stand on your left.”

Rafael turned his good eye toward him. ”You’re one to talk. You nearly fell into a gate yesterday.”

”Nearly. I’m still allowed an opinion.”

Neumann dragged the cart back to the chalk line. A strip of red cloth was tied around one handle, and two iron weights sat in the wooden bed.

He pointed to a chalk square farther across the floor. ”Put it there.”

Rafael looked from the cart to the square. ”One touch?”

”One. Miss the square, you try again.”

Rafael set his feet, and Neumann shoved.

The weighted cart rolled toward him faster this time. Rafael waited until it reached him, then put his marked right hand against the side.

Green lit across the back of his hand.

The cart veered sharply, but not as violently as before. It crossed in front of Rafael and rolled diagonally toward the chalk square.

One wheel crossed the line while the other stopped outside it.

Severin smiled. ”Fucking terrible.”

Rafael kept looking at the cart. ”Come on. Half of it’s still in.”

”Yeah. So’s half a corpse.”

Madeleine gave Severin a strange look. ”We’re supposed to be encouraging him.”

Neumann brought the cart back. ”Again.”

On the next attempt, Rafael turned the cart with less violence, and it entered the square almost straight before rolling another foot.

He frowned at the extra foot.

Neumann gave him no praise. ”Why did it stop?”

”I reduced the movement.”

”How?”

Rafael stared at him for a moment. ”I don’t know. Yet.”

”Fine. We’ll find out.”

He added another iron weight to the cart.

Rafael watched him. ”Why does it look like you’re enjoying this?”

Neumann glanced at him. ”Me? Never. I’m learning.”

Another shove sent the cart toward Rafael, and he waited a beat too long.

The cart was nearly on Rafael before his hand came up, and Severin pushed away from the table.

Rafael caught the side at the last moment. Green flashed as the cart veered hard into the leg of a bench. Wood cracked, and Rafael stared at the damage.

Neumann turned toward him. ”Why did you wait?”

”I didn’t.”

”I’m pretty sure you did.”

Rafael turned his head toward him. ”No. I knew exactly where it was.”

”You knew where you thought it was. That’s different.”

Rafael opened his mouth, then stopped.

Severin was already a few steps from the table when he caught himself.

Rafael’s good eye shifted to him. ”I had it, you know.”

”Oh no, no. I just wanted a better view.”

Rafael started to answer, then put his left hand against the table instead. The movement was slight, but Neumann caught it immediately.

”How bad is it?” Neumann asked.

Rafael shook his head once. ”Just a little dizzy.”

”Any nausea?”

”Some. Not much.”

Neumann pulled the cart away from him. ”Sit down.”

”Why? I can keep going.”

”I’m sure you can. Sit.”

Rafael stayed upright another moment, still gripping the table, then sat.

Severin waited until he was down before smiling. ”You don’t look too good.”

Rafael gave him a slow look. ”Piss off, Hale.”

”Now that’s better.”

Neumann turned toward Madeleine. ”You’re up.”

The blue-glass lamp sat on a stool near the wall. Neumann opened its shutter and pushed the cart back across the room.

Madeleine stepped closer to the lamp. ”What do you want?”

”Keep the light on the red cloth while the cart moves.”

She looked at the strip tied around the handle. ”Is that all?”

”For now. Your pact’s a little harder to figure out.”

Neumann pushed the cart. Madeleine focused on the mark across her right hand, and green lit beneath her skin.

The patch of blue light on the floor stretched after the moving cart, lagging at first.

Madeleine adjusted, and the blue light slid over the wheel and along the side panel until it settled on the red cloth near the handle.

Neumann pulled it back. ”Again.”

The second time she found it faster, and by the third the light followed nearly the whole way.

Across the boards, the blue patch moved without the lamp itself turning.

”Now that’s unsettling,” Severin said.

Madeleine smiled. ”You sounded more impressed yesterday.”

”That’s because yesterday you made light move around a wall. Now you’re chasing furniture with it.”

”I appreciate your wonder. Try to contain it.”

Neumann stopped the cart near the middle of the room. ”Make it harder for Hale to see.”

Severin unfolded his arms. ”Why me?”

”Because Montoro got dizzy and probably thinks the floor’s moving.”

From the table, Rafael raised one hand without looking up. ”That’s true.”

Madeleine studied the cart with the lamp’s shutter still open, then focused. Green returned across her marked hand.

The blue illumination shifted away from the cart, leaving its front in shadow while the floor around it remained lit.

Then the edge nearest the wall became harder to follow.

The wooden side blurred against the darker boards behind it, and Severin struggled to keep its outline in focus.

Severin stepped sideways, and the flaw became obvious. The left wheel still cast a clean shadow.

”I can see the wheel.”

Madeleine adjusted until the shadow thinned. Severin moved again, and the handle caught the light incorrectly.

”There.”

She frowned. ”Stop moving.”

”This is going to be really useful in a fight.”

”I’m trying.”

Neumann moved the lamp. Madeleine swore softly, and the cart snapped back into view.

”You’re tied to the light you have,” Neumann said. ”Move the source, and you have to adjust.”

Madeleine repositioned herself and focused again. The distortion returned faster, blurring the cart against the wall.

Something shifted beside it, and Severin straightened.

For a moment, another dark shape hovered just to the right of the real cart. The details were poor, but the outline suggested a second one where nothing stood.

Rafael looked up from the table while Madeleine held the shape.

Severin walked sideways, and the false cart stretched badly. One wheel became too long, and the upper edge bent toward the floor. He laughed. ”That one’s broken.”

Madeleine let the mark fade, and the false cart disappeared.

”For a first attempt, I thought it was rather good.”

”It was,” Rafael said.

Madeleine looked toward him. He was still pale.

Severin nodded toward the wall. ”Would’ve fooled me for half a second.”

Madeleine smiled, then rubbed at the bridge of her nose.

Neumann noticed. ”Pain?”

”A little. Sight’s fine.”

Neumann untied the red cloth from the cart and held it up. ”What color?”

Madeleine looked at it, and her smile faded as she waited.

”Madeleine?”

”Blue.”

In Neumann’s hand, the cloth was unmistakably red.

Madeleine stared harder. ”Wait.” She blinked and looked again. ”Still blue.”

Neumann dropped it onto the table. ”We’re done for now.”

”I can still see just fine.”

”That’s good. I didn’t say you couldn’t.”

Madeleine touched the Eternal Ring beneath her shirt. Severin remembered her barefoot in the corridor before Gravewatch, telling him the burning sun she had seen in her sleep was the Eternal. Then she pulled the glove back over her mark.

”The Eternal divided the light from the darkness long before any of us learned to bend it,” she said quietly.

Severin glanced at her. ”What does that have to do with anything?”

Madeleine smiled again. ”It comforts me to know it’s all right to be bad at it.”

Neumann pointed at Severin. ”Your turn. Get the result using as little as you can.”

A kettle sat near the brazier.

Severin stared at the kettle, then at Neumann. ”I swear, if it’s another gate, I’m leaving.”

”No gate this time.”

Neumann poured hot water into a tin cup and set it on the table. Steam rose from the surface.

”Make it drinkable.”

Severin kept staring at him. ”I nearly froze my damn leg yesterday, and now you want tea?”

”It’s water. Do it.”

Severin put his right hand around the cup, and heat pressed into his palm.

He focused on the mark beneath the bandage until green light showed through the cloth, then pulled.

Heat began leaving the metal beneath his fingers. When the steam thinned, Severin stopped.

Neumann tested the water with one finger, then took a cautious drink. ”That’ll do.”

Severin grinned. ”Easy.”

”Is it now? Draw your sword.”

His hand moved to the hilt, and the blade came free cleanly. ℯℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

Neumann nodded and poured another cup.

Severin pulled the heat out faster this time, stopping when the metal no longer bit at his palm.

Neumann drank. ”Still too hot.”

Severin looked offended. ”I’m sure you can drink it.”

”Not good enough.”

He put the cup back, and Severin focused again to remove a little more heat.

”How about now?”

Neumann tested it. ”Better. Now draw your sword again.”

Severin reached for his sword, but his fingers closed around the hilt a fraction late. The delay was small, though he felt it.

He drew, and the blade cleared the scabbard without trouble, but Neumann had seen the hesitation.

”One more,” Neumann said.

Severin looked at him. ”Thought you were worried yesterday.”

”I am. That’s why we stop after this one.”

The third cup was hotter, and Severin worked more carefully this time.

He stopped earlier, waited, then drew out a little more heat in stages. The green beneath his bandage stayed steady.

When he judged the water ready, he released the cup.

Neumann tested it. ”Good. Now let me see that sword again.”

Severin smiled and reached for the sword. His fingers responded cleanly, but when he planted his left foot, his knee took his weight a fraction late.

He stopped, and Neumann watched him.

”What’s wrong?”

”My leg.”

Rafael lifted his head, and Madeleine went still beside the lamp as Severin shifted his weight back before the knee could give any further.

”It’s starting.”

Neumann nodded once. ”And you noticed before you went down.”

The cup sat between them. Yesterday, he had kept going until Neumann caught him.

He still wanted another try, just to see if stopping sooner would keep his leg from slowing.

Rafael spoke first. ”I want another attempt.”

By then, he had let go of the table.

Madeleine said, ”So do I.”

Neumann looked at Severin.

He shrugged. ”Yeah. Me too.”

”No.”

They all started protesting at once, and Neumann raised his voice over them.

”No. Montoro’s still judging distance badly, LeBlanc’s colors are off, and Hale’s leg is starting to lag. That’s enough for today.”

Rafael stood carefully. ”It was getting better.”

”Just because you were sitting down.”

Madeleine rubbed at her sighted eye. ”The colors are coming back.”

”Good. Keep resting.”

Severin flexed his right hand, then tested his weight on the left leg again. Better already.

”Mine’s easing too,” Rafael said.

Neumann looked around at the three of them. ”That’s why we stop now, before we find out what happens when it doesn’t pass.”

A knock sounded at the training-hall door, and one of the junior clerks stepped inside with a folded paper in hand.

He looked first at Neumann, then at the three black coats. ”Warden Neumann?”

Neumann held out his hand, and the clerk crossed the room to give him the note.

The note took him two reads before he folded it along the crease.

”We’re done for today.”

Severin glanced toward the note. ”What happened?”

”Nothing. Don’t worry about it.”

”You know that makes me worry more, right?”

Neumann ignored him. ”I need all three of you ready by second bell. Wear clean coats.”

Rafael frowned. ”What for?”

Neumann glanced between them. ”Master Fischer wants to see the three of you.”