Page 59 of The Sunlit Man

He found himself struggling to keep control. She moved in unexpected ways, kneeing him, biting at him as they rolled. He finally tried to cuff her across the face to stun her, but that direct an attack made his body freeze, and he involuntarily let her go.

Her movements a blur, she grabbed the sides of his head, then slammed his skull against the steel floor, making him see stars. Luckily his dazed state was quickly remedied by his healing, and he managed to seize her hands again, acting more by touch than sight.

Elegy was so focused on beating him senseless, she didn’t notice as he summoned Auxiliary as cuffs and a chain and snapped them into place. When Rebeke—belatedly—tried to stop her sister, the distraction gave him a chance to roll away and lock Elegy back to the wall. As Elegy started toward him again, he had Auxiliary shorten the chain, then he scrambled out of range of her grasp at last.

Then he lay on the ground, groaning, his vision swimming.

Just over eight percent Skip capacity remaining,Auxiliary whispered as his vision and head healed. A part of Nomad hated hearing the notations like that. He hated feeling like a machine with a power source. Life had felt so much more…vibrant when he’d just drawn in power and sensed a general impression of what he had left.

He sat up, his back against the wall. Rebeke knelt next to him, looking horrified. Her sister wasn’t completely locked back in place. Instead of being manacled both hand and foot to the wall, she was just locked there by her wrists, with almost two feet of slack.

She wasn’t using it, but instead crouched on her toes, like a feral beast, glaring and growling at him.

“I’m sorry,” Rebeke whispered. “I thought… She seemed to be recovering, and I thought…I…”

“Yeah,” Nomad said. “Well, next time you do something that insane, could you at least give me a heads-up so I can start running?”

You all right?Auxiliary asked. Voice flat as ever, but the way he asked it—without pretense or affectation—implied real concern.

Nomad rubbed his head. “Yeah,” he muttered. “I think.”

“Elegy,” Rebeke said, standing. “Why did youdothat?”

“You have me chained,” the Charred hissed.

“We wereunchainingyou!” Rebeke said.

“I fight,” Elegy said simply. “It’s what I do.”

“I’m your sister!” Rebeke said. “This man helped me save you from our enemies. You arehome. You don’t need to fight any longer.”

Elegy didn’t respond, so Rebeke spun on Nomad. “She’s not fully cured! Do what you did before, only more.”

“Won’t help,” he said. “Any more of that might kill her. I’ve drawn off the part that was letting the Cinder King control her; what you see now is everything left of your sister.”

Nomad moved over to his desk and cut out the sliver of sunheart in his arm, which had healed over, then wiped off the blood with a rag. He was even more frustrated than before, though. He’d locked up during the fighting—proof that the process hadn’t worked on him as it had on Elegy.

So what could he do? Was there a path forward?

Rebeke was standing by the wall, softly crying. Best to give her something to do, so he asked her to fetch Zeal, who had the controls to activate the bracers that Elegy still wore. That would freeze her and let them lock her up fully again.

As Rebeke ran off, he took a few deep breaths. Then, wanting to keep moving, he began sketching out a new set of schematics. He found that if he rapidly jumped between his problems, he worked better. A little here, a little there, always trying to make progressonsomething. In this case, he came up with some ideas to deal with the Cinder King’s forces after cresting the mountain.

“Is she really my sister?” Elegy asked from behind, interrupting him.

He glanced toward her. She’d settled into a seated position, hands bound by the chains over her head. She seemed…tired. Exhausted. He knew that feeling.

“Yes,” he said. “You had a brother too. He died rescuing you.”

“From what?”

“That voice in your head?” Nomad said, making a few more notes. “That’s the Cinder King. He took you, put that cinderheart in your chest, and burned away your previous life.”

“Why should I believe you?”

“Why shouldn’t you?”

“Maybe you want to control me.”

---