Chapter 424: The Wrong Relief

They spent forty minutes in a quiet corner of Yard Three on Saturday morning, resting between short sets. Verrick had permitted light work for the beasts; Brand had warned the boys not to turn it into another bout.

It wasn’t a solution. Neither of them expected one.

Lucian worked on not landing where anyone would expect him to. He worked on short recoveries after Stormstep, then tried an ordinary step without following it with a burst. Sometimes he let Kite move first. Half the time it looked clumsy. Twice he stopped and swore at himself.

Jin worked on keeping Glitch and Flicker close enough to help each other. Not all at once, just near. He’d send Flicker out, then make himself wait. He’d bring Glitch half a step forward, then back.

It felt slow and awkward, like learning to type with different fingers.

At the end, they sat on the rail and drank water. When Lucian went to see to Kite, Jin took out his phone and opened the Engine’s combination record.

[Temporary Combination — Imitation Draconic Heart]

[Components: Draconic Dread + Draconic Will]

[Physical combat output: +100%]

[Warning: escalating internal strain. Prolonged use may cause fatal physical collapse.]

He’d used it in the real world at Highmarch, on a smaller, younger, already-hurt Glitch. He remembered waking in hospital and being taken to see the beast who could barely move.

The later record had explained a substantial part of Jin’s collapse: the bloodline-development event associated with Draconic Will had drawn on his blood. Lives could now cover Engine charges.

They couldn’t have spared Glitch the wounds or the strain of forcing his body past its limits. That was what mattered tomorrow.

He’d used it once more since, on the avatar in the higher chamber, for a few seconds. The avatar had come out of it stumbling, at half condition, barely able to make it down the ramp.

He looked toward Glitch, who was accepting a drink from the handler. The stronger body mattered, but Jin couldn’t turn that into permission to ignore the warning. If he used the combination, it would need a specific purpose and an immediate end. He could still surrender.

And don’t decide he can manage more just because he’s willing.

He closed the panel.

"What was that?" Lucian asked.

"Something from Highmarch." Jin put the phone away. "I needed to remember what it cost."

Lucian didn’t push. He looked out at the empty yard instead.

"Tomorrow," he said.

"Tomorrow."

"It’s strange. A few weeks ago it was a notice on a board." Lucian turned the water bottle in his hands. "Now it’s two fights. Two people."

That night, Jin did a short, gentle session with the partly used stone, then stopped well before he wanted to. He went down to the stall.

Glitch was asleep, the bruised side down this time. Flicker was on the rope perch with her head under her wing.

He sat on the feed crate and didn’t say anything, and after a while Glitch’s tail moved once across the straw, as if he knew Jin was there and saw no reason to wake up about it.

The medic cleared Jin at half past eight.

She pressed his forearm, watched him lift the practice spear, and made him balance on each leg before turning and crouching.

"Tender," she said. "Fit, provided you tell us if that changes." She signed the card. "You’ll know about it afterward."

Verrick had already checked both beasts. Glitch’s card said fit to compete, with a note about the bruised flank. Flicker’s advised rest after the bout. Jin folded them together and put them away.

His family were in the accessible row by the north gate. Arthur sat at the end of a backed bench, his braced leg stretched into the clear space beside it. Elena kept a hand on Elsa’s jacket while Elsa leaned over the rail and waved with both arms.

Jin waved back, suddenly very glad he had asked about the seating. Then he went to the waiting bay before anyone could call him over.

The duel ground was the same forty-by-thirty-metre rectangle as Wednesday, but the cover had moved. Two blocks stood eight metres apart across its southern half. The eastern block was eight metres inside the boundary. A short timber wall ran south from a point three metres below it, leaving a gap wide enough for Glitch.

Jin studied that arrangement while Ashdown inspected his practice fitting. There was shelter there, but it would be easy to get caught between the wall and the edge.

"The same attack restrictions," she told them. "Elemental shots at beasts or clear ground, with a safe background. Never at a tamer. Ember Lance stays off. Stop immediately when called."

Torin Maddox acknowledged her, then nodded to Jin. Up close, he was shorter than Jin had expected, and his sword looked very small beside the spear. Jin had watched enough footage to find that less comforting than he wanted.

The Ironcrest Monitor waited beside Maddox with its belly low over the sand. The Windcut Kestrel perched on his shoulder until the whistle, then went straight up toward Flicker.

She broke off her first circle to meet it. The kestrel gained on her along the straight approach, but her turn carried her underneath before it could check her flight. It climbed, came round and tried again.

Neither settled into a comfortable position. Jin kept Glitch near the western block while he watched for the monitor’s advance.

It didn’t come.

On the kestrel’s third approach, Flicker turned under it again. This time it broke off and climbed away toward the northern half, leaving her clear air.

Good. Now we can move.

"Glitch. Forward."

The drake advanced between the blocks. Jin followed, intending to use his flank for cover while Flicker came around the monitor’s side.

The kestrel dropped before she reached that angle.

It crossed Jin’s view a metre ahead of his face, then curved back as he tried to follow its movement. He flinched and checked his step. Flicker called sharply from above.

The monitor met Glitch at an angle, bracing against his shoulder before swinging its long body across the route back. Glitch pushed into the turn, trying to regain contact with its head.

Maddox passed behind his beast and came directly at Jin.

Jin got the spear across the first cut. The second attack came beneath it, a compact thrust that struck the padding over his ribs hard enough to force his breath out.

He backed away. The kestrel crossed his view again, and the sword was already following him.

Too far. I let him get too far.

"Glitch, back. Round the block."

The drake tried to turn, but the monitor checked his shoulder. Jin couldn’t wait for him. He gave ground toward the southern wall, keeping the spear between himself and Maddox while Flicker followed the kestrel down.

She made it climb away from her approach. Jin used the brief clear view to step around the wall’s end, putting timber between himself and the next thrust.

Glitch arrived by the longer route around the western block. The monitor stayed near the middle instead of pursuing him into the shelter.

Maddox stopped outside the spear’s reach. He had taken the useful ground without needing to chase Jin any farther.

Jin breathed carefully through the ache in his ribs. Flicker landed on the wall, and Glitch crowded close enough to bump his elbow.

"I’m here," Jin told him. "Stay with me."

The kestrel hadn’t fled. It had made room for him to commit Glitch, then attacked the space he left behind. He’d watched them change roles on the recordings and still welcomed it when they did it to him.