Chapter Seven — The Canyon of Knives
The basin below was a shallow bowl of stone and packed sand, a camp tucked out of the wind. Canvas smudged the horizon, fires crouched low, and men in mirrored scarves moved like they'd rehearsed how not to cast shadows.
The Whisper Compass in Amon's palm trembled so hard it buzzed. The jitter-needle pointed straight into the camp.
Amon (quiet): "There."
Bolt (rolling his neck): "How loud do we say hello?"
Eryn (feeling the pendant warm): "Loud enough."
They slid down the lee side of the dune. Razan stood at the camp's heart—bone-white scarf, mirrored mask turned their way as if it had always known where to look.
Razan (pleasant): "You made good time. Shame about the clock."
His glove flexed.
[Sandcraft — Shattershot Barrage]
Hard-packed sand hardened midair into a spray of sandglass arrows, hissing toward the trio.
[Living Barriers — Adaptive Bloom]
Bolt's ring pulsed. Panels blossomed around them—tink tink tink—catching the first wave.
A second arrow, hidden in the shadow of the first volley, whispered for their spines—
A rear panel peeled off the Bloom and snapped into place behind them just in time.
Bolt (grinning): "Cute."
Razan tapped his haft twice. The underlings surged, not to overwhelm but to split the formation. Two peeled off with a shockproof case tucked between them.
[Living Barriers — Partition Shield]
Bolt dropped three individual shields—one cocoon for each of them—locking the formation.
[Glasscraft — Fractured Legion]
Amon split into glass clones, sprinting to meet the rush.
[Glasscraft — Twin Scimitars]
Curved blades bloomed in his hands. He stepped through his shield as it parted like a door and met steel with ringing glass.
Eryn went still.
[Eclipsera — "Slow Down."]
His micro-domain pulsed outward. The front rank stuttered, boots dragging as if the ground had learned molasses.
[Static Ricochet]
Eryn pinged short lightning pips into Bolt's shields; the panels bent the arcs, reflecting them into slowed targets. Men spasmed, weapons dropping like truths.
Bolt: "Hate to love it, but—love it."
Amon pressed the advantage.
[Glasscraft — Ember Spikes]
Red-orange spikes sailed clean through a cluster, dropping three underlings.
[Glasscraft — Solar Flare Mirror]
A mirrored wall bloomed, blinding the field in a white scream of light. Bolt vaulted high—
[Living Barriers — Impact Shell]
He enclosed himself midair, slammed down like a meteor. The shockwave knocked a ring of men flat.
One clone lunged and got speared from behind—
[Glasscraft — Shrapnel Burst]
—erupting into razors that scythed two more enemies unconscious.
Eryn and the last clone cleaned the remnant with a veil snare and a crisp elbow.
The field cleared—except for Razan and the two runners dragging the case toward a side ravine.
Amon: "Go."
Eryn snapped his hand down—
[Eclipsera — "Hold."]
The ground gripped the case like fingers; the carriers hit sand.
Razan's mask turned slightly—as if smiling.
The desert answered.
A shadow rolled under the ravine; the sand serpent punched up, swallowing the two carriers and half their curses in one wet grind. It turned, scales screeching against stone, and arrowed for the hottest thing in the basin.
All eyes found Amon.
Razan (to Amon): "Tick, tock."
[Sandcraft — Dune Surge]
A wall of sand reared and roared forward.
[Living Barriers — Frontline Bloom]
Bolt stepped in, panels snapping into a broad shield—
[Nullthreading — Form Interdict]
Razan's quick, wicked seal killed the barrier mid-cast; the surge swept Bolt away, grinding him across glass. As he slid, he flung two motes behind—
[Living Barriers — Guardian Seeds]
—popping into tight personal shields for Amon and Eryn as the tail of the wave broke.
Bolt (shouting, Doppler): "Not… done!"
Amon didn't flinch.
[Glasscraft — Sun-Tempered Aegis]
A heat-hardened shield locked to his arm.
[Glasscraft — Mirror Gate]
Three standing mirrors bloomed, catching sun at kill angles.
Amon (to Eryn): "Lattice him."
[Static Ricochet] into the mirror array. Lightning split, ricocheted—
[Observation Veil — Grain-Read]
Razan's body loosened, sliding through attack lanes as if the air warned him first.
Razan (amused): "Predictable."
Amon blurred in on [Glass Step] tiles; Razan answered with a lateral sand-current shove. The Aegis took it; Amon cut low—a clean red line opened on Razan's calf before he vaulted out, bleeding and still smiling under glass.
Eryn feinted left with a false seal—
[Veilweaving — Veil Feint]
—then snapped right with a real bolt and dropped a micro-domain.
[Eclipsera — "Stumble."]
Razan's foot caught—only for his hands to spike a counter-sigil.
[Nullthreading — Countermand Sigil]
The command bit back; Eryn's head rang white, dropping him to a knee.
Razan (soft, delighted): "There you are."
He closed in, sand lifting around his ankles like loyal hounds—
WHAM.
A wall stood up between Razan and his prize.
[Living Barriers — Folding Bastion]
Bolt rode the crest back in, boots carving scars in glass. Three Anchor Pylons shot into the ground, filaments tethering the Bastion to physics.
Bolt (offering Eryn a hand): "Rule two: don't let him close."
Eryn (grim): "Working on it."
Razan slashed another Form Interdict; the Bastion held—tethered and stubborn.
The serpent's head erupted into the bowl, jaws tearing a slab the size of a wagon. Heat. Motion. Rage.
Bolt (eyes up): "Company."
[Corridor Logic]
The Bastion split into channels, catching the serpent's hammering skull and flinging its force sideways into Cindral tents. Canvas and men went end-over-end.
Amon took the beat to escalate—just a hair.
[Flame of Yataari — Ascending Blaze (Burst)]
He cracked the gourd's stopper a finger-width. A ribbon of living fire slid along his scimitar's edge from orange toward white.
[Amon — Solar Mark]
A thin hunting filament whipped out and branded Razan's forearm; the mark smoldered, corroding focus.
Amon (hoarse): "Two."
Heat bit Amon's skin. He shut the gourd before the flame could learn his name.
Razan hissed, pressed by pain and pressure. He lunged for the case.
Eryn's fingers steadied, blood in his mouth a metronome. He halved his domain—made it thin and mean.
[Eclipsera — "Miss."]
Not a stop. An angle law. Razan's grab drifted a finger-width. Amon's Aegis caught the follow-up; [Ram's Horn] clamps from Bolt locked across Razan's biceps.
Bolt: "Wriggle now."
The serpent reared for Amon—the hottest thread in the weave.
Amon killed the beacon, snapped a final [Solar Flare Mirror]; white light speared the beast's pupils. It recoiled with a hiss like sand poured through bone and tunneled away, furious.
Razan twisted, seal flashing—
[Nullthreading — Cut Seal]
Eryn sheared the trick mid-gesture. The clamps held. Amon's blade kissed Razan's throat without quite breaking skin.
Amon (even): "Case."
Razan (breathing hard, cheerful anyway): "You're out of time."
The case teetered at a crack's edge—then slid and stopped. Eryn's domain "Hold" still clutched it like a promise.
Bolt hauled Razan sideways, planted him face-first in the sand, and tied the clamps into the Anchor Pylons for rude good measure.
Amon popped the case.
The Heart of the Twin Oases pulsed once—cool aquamarine—like a sigh.
The valley went very quiet. Then:
A distant thrum rolled over the sky. The Ra'teluun dome pulsed, just once, and every bird for miles shut up.
Bolt (checking the sun): "One hour."
Amon (already turning): "Run."
They ran.
On the canyon lip, a figure in obsidian plates lowered a veil-scope, the staff in his other hand crowned with black crystal.
Obsidian Lieutenant (mild): "The seed survives."
Shadowed Voice (from nowhere, pleased): "Then water it."
The lieutenant watched three figures become distance, then nothing. In the scope's glass, two starless eyes flared and faded.
He smiled without teeth.
End Chapter.