The Dream seemed unusually clear as Uda looked around the square. Almost too clear. Was it because she no longer had to think about the radiant circlet? Because she could feel the darkness around her again? Or because all those people were slowly turning toward her, lowering their brightly glowing spears in alarm and panic?

  “Stand down, you idiots! She’s not possessed!”

  Immesh had stepped out of the building behind her and positioned himself between her and his hunters.

  The men and women hesitated, yet kept their spears trained on her. They exchanged quick glances, and some shifted restlessly from foot to foot.

  “She has bewitched you, poisoned your minds!” Diga shouted as she emerged from a side street.

  It was impossible to tell what she was thinking; her expression looked carved from stone.

  “No. You failed. You and everyone who was in Lera’s unit. Do you have no idea how the tests are conducted? Were you too stupid to use the Sky Stone?” Immesh thundered, looking as though he were about to lunge at Diga.

  She stood frozen, shaking her head in confusion.

  “What are you talking about? No one tests with Sky Stones. What would that accomplish?” she hissed back, startled by the sharpness of her own tone.

  “What are you talking about, Hunter Diga? Even if Lera was too arrogant and careless to follow protocol, you should know it. Or are you too young to have ever attended one of our academies?” Immesh growled, taking a step toward her.

  The surrounding hunters seemed uncertain. They edged closer, their spears trembling.

  “You fools, what are you doing?” Immesh shrieked, spitting as he spoke.

  “Exorcist, no one here has ever been tested with a Sky Stone. What are you talking about?” Diga asked, her face now ashen.

  “No one? No one here? NO ONE?” Immesh shouted, spreading his arms in challenge.

  More confused faces stared back at him.

  “I was tested with a Sky Stone. By Exorcist Gama herself. She said it was the only way to be certain,” a hunter whispered, barely audible yet firm.

  His hair was blond, and he wore the same rank as Diga, judging by his clothes.

  “Hunt Leader Rettil.”

  Murmurs of agreement followed his voice. He trembled more than the others and slowly raised his spear again, as though it had suddenly grown heavier in his hands. Sweat beaded on his face. Diga blew a strand of hair from her eyes and looked at him narrowly.

  “That false viper has already drawn you to her side, hasn’t she? That Exorcist Gama must have failed just as badly as you, as—” she hissed, yet got no further. A spear slammed into the ground in front of her. A tall, broad-shouldered huntress with dark skin had thrown it; her eyes burned, wet with fury.

  “You dare?” Rettil shouted, shaking with rage as he swung his weapon toward Diga.

  To Uda’s surprise, most of the others followed his lead.

  “We’ve seen enough. This is not what we were meant to become. Exorcist Lera may be a talented fighter, a servant of the Light; however, her methods are abhorrent. Just like yours, Exorcist!”

  He looked at Immesh now, his posture faltering. Still, he held the exorcist’s cold gaze.

  Immesh remained silent, observing.

  Diga shook her head, furious. “You’re serious, Hunt Leader? We hold the same rank. I know you have been here long, yet you were not initially selected by Immesh personally, either. Nor were you brought in directly after your arrival. I know the truth. You and your people were taken in like beaten dogs, and now you turn not only against me and Exorcist Lera’s courage, but also against the man who gave you shelter so long ago. Let you bathe in his glory?”

  Angry shouts rang out; the air crackled. It grew brighter as most of the hunters turned toward Diga, their spears like lights in a dark night. The young woman stiffened and looked around.

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  “What…?” she stammered.

  Rettil stepped toward her, careful not to turn his back on Uda and Immesh. He tightened his grip on his spear. His jaw worked as if chewing words he had swallowed too many times before. For a moment, it seemed he might swallow them again.

  “Almost everyone here is one of the beaten dogs you’re talking about. Exorcist Immesh didn’t take us with him to fight the Panic. Did you never wonder why? Why he left us behind in particular?”

  He spat on the ground.

  “He didn’t consider us fit, not after we lost our last unit in the battle with the Deepest near Alkun. Isn’t that right? Yet that is how we survived. For so long. And we’re sick of it. I kept quiet when you took advantage of the possessed, when their cries echoed through the night. When you ordered us to take out the prisoners outside the Shield to use as bait. I kept quiet when we were refused reinforcements. I kept quiet when we were told to be grateful. And that silence stains me as much as it does you. I’m done keeping quiet. Done roaming out here and turning into worse filth than even the Nightmares around us. I believed in the Seed. I still want to. That’s the problem. I cannot pretend any longer, Exorcist. I am still amazed at your ability to gather information, so much valuable information, yet the price… I will no longer pay it.”

  “You dare? Heresy!” Diga screeched, raising her own spear.

  “STOP!” Immesh roared, the remnants of his whip flashing.

  Diga and Rettil froze.

  “Have both of you lost your damned minds? Rettil, you worm, I took you in back then because I owed Exorcist Gama. She was a good woman, better than I am. She Awakened and I did not. So do not dare to question my methods. And as you say, I get results Exorcist Gama did not. The same goes for the scum you brought with you. All of you are MY hunters now. Kindness was her mistake. Exorcist Gama entrusted you to me before she Awakened, even though there was remorse in her fading eyes. That authority did not die with her. I kept you as a Hunt Leader because they trust you, Rettil. They do not question you. I thought I had you in line. Now I will see to it that you adapt. I will make sure of it,” Immesh continued, his voice heavy with threat.

  A few of the hunters behind Rettil shifted uneasily. One lowered his spear halfway, uncertain. Rettil had gone even paler, but not less certain.

  Immesh ignored it.

  “And Diga, you maggot, you dare to defy me? To excuse Lera’s mistakes? No!”

  Uda had had enough. The situation had escalated far beyond what she had feared, and the speed of it had overwhelmed her. She could not remain silent any longer. She had to calm this somehow, because Immesh was on the verge of literally exploding. Steam was already rising from him, and she could feel the heat radiating from his body.

  “I only want to save Nia! Please! I want to try!” she shouted, dropping to her knees.

  “I don’t care what you think you’re doing! I have no idea what your customs are, your damn tests; I simply want to go north. I want to speak with Lera! And if it’s the last thing I do, I will try. I’ve had enough of all this suffering!”

  The square fell silent, and everyone stared at her. Uda did not care. She thought only of Nia. She could probably overpower all of them or simply run past them. Yet she needed to recover as well. The strain of the past days still weighed on her, and she felt her body weakening.

  “Prove it,” Rettil said, his voice low, as if trying to prevent the next blow before it fell.

  His gaze rested on her, not as on a threat, but as on a person. There was concern in it, uncertainty, something she had never seen in hunters before. Still, his posture had returned to that of a soldier. Sweat continued to run down his forehead.

  “You as well, Exorcist Immesh. Prove that you are not possessed. Show me your blood.”

  Diga let her spear dim and turned toward Uda and Immesh. She nodded, self-assured.

  “The pile of crap is right. Show us. Show whether your blood is still pure or whether it’s already gone completely.”

  Immesh extended a blade of light from his index finger and sliced open his palm. Red blood seeped out, speckled with only a few faint purple traces.

  “Nothing. Normal, isn’t it? Even after I took down a Panic. I’m neither possessed nor at risk.”

  Rettil relaxed slightly. Diga only stared at Uda.

  “Your turn,” she called, tossing her dagger toward her.

  The weapon clattered onto the ground at Uda’s feet. Hesitantly, she picked it up. The blade was warm, a sickening light flickering within it; still, she raised it with trembling hands.

  I… what if I am possessed? Would my blood already be purple? Was Immesh wrong? What if I…

  She suppressed her Fortification with all her strength and drew the blade across her palm, cold and biting.

  Crimson blood seeped from the wound, which quickly closed again.

  Not a trace of purple.

  “She’s… pure,” Rettil stammered, glancing uncertainly at Diga and Immesh, gaining more confidnce and growing horror at the same time. “What have you done? Why did you… She’s a normal Lucid, you madmen! The other one as well…?”

  “No, Hunt Leader. She is possessed. Didn’t you see her skin, that devouring red?”

  For a moment Rettil seemed withdrawn, and Uda wondered whether he was trying to remember harming her or Nia.

  Immesh seized the moment.

  “She wants to go north. Lera mistreated her, and all she wants is to save her friend, even if it won’t succeed. Give her everything she needs, then let her go. That is an order,” Immesh hissed.

  Slowly, hesitantly, the hunters stepped back after Rettil gave them a tight nod. Many of them were trembling now, forced to lean on their spears for support.

  Diga yielded as well, though reluctantly. Her face had flushed pink, her words faltering.

  “I cannot act against my superior,” she said evasively.

  Her voice sounded flat, defeated. Then her cold gaze fixed on Uda.

  “I’m watching you. I don’t believe it, even after seeing your blood. You cannot be pure. What you’ve experienced must have left marks. You’re playing us. If you try anything, I will attack you. I know you would kill me, and I don’t care. I failed to protect what mattered most to me. I will not betray my other purpose.”

  She pressed her lips together in anger, turned away without another word, and walked off.

  Immesh let his shoulders sag and slowly breathed in and out.