Published at 21st of February 2026 8:32 pm

Chapter 47 Infiltration

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Of all the things Mirian thought shed learn this cycle, spycraft wasnt on the list, and Valen sure wasnt the one she thought would teach her. Valen, in Mirians experience, was never particularly verbose, but she seemed to revel in two things: knowing things that other people didnt, and being able to lord that over Mirian.

I still cant believe you didnt do a proper stakeout before I suggested it, Valen said. Youre really alone up here?

I told you I cant talk about it, Mirian said, exaggerating the annoyance in her voice for dramatic effect.

Over the past few days that shed been working with Valen, Mirian had discovered another truth of spycraft: it was boring as hell. Shed had to spend hours paying attention to foot traffic, waiting for the exact minute someone entered or emerged from the door. She and Valen had done several shifts in the evening, which Mirian still couldnt believe Valen was willingly doing. Then, for some of the time, theyd both be sitting on the same bench watching the door out of the corner of their eye while Valen would see a passing ox pulling a cart from the train and say something like, oh, it kind of looks like you!

Agony. But they had discovered that there were at least three spies using the apartment, and Mirian had recognized two of them. One was the rooftop guy she kept stealing from at the start of each cycle, and another the one shed been tracking over the past few cycles. The third one used his illusion spell a lot, but Mirian was pretty sure it was the guy who kept visiting Bainrose.

Youre sure they dont have another cell? Valen said.

I havent seen any evidence of it, Mirian replied. She had to admit, it was certainly a possibility. But wouldnt she have seen at least some sign of it before now? They didnt need a second spy cell because they had the guards essentially working for them.

Did they teach you standard Akanan operations? Why am I asking, of course they didnt. The usual procedure of the Republic Intelligence Division is to deploy a minimum of two cells. One does the mission, and the other watches them do it. It doesnt either this is an unusual operation, or youre missing the second group. Or, its not even officially government sanctioned. Are you sure its sanctioned, and not, say, the Syndicates?

Mirian sighed. Im sure, and no, I cant tell you how I know.

The evening that they planned to actually break into the spys building, Mirian was ambushed by someone she didnt expect: Lily.

Her roommate came in just as Mirian was preparing to leave for their break-in, and said, Mirian, we need to talk.

Can it wait? Ive got this really important study session I need to get to.

Wait until when? Mirian, I hardly see you anymore. We dont talk. What what happened? Did I do something wrong?

Mirians heart broke. Im sorry. It seemed impossible to explain. How did she tell her that theyd already had those conversations, over and over again until shed grown sick of them? How did she say shed heard every story from class, heard about every letter from home, and heard every joke Lily had told during Solen ten times? It had been annoying at first, and then aggravating. When they talked, she was just going through the motions. Despite her efforts to put on a pleasant mask, Lily, who knew her best, had no-doubt seen through to the emotionless affect behind it. It wasnt fair to Lily. Her friend still felt, and thought, and dreamed and livedeach iteration. Only, this version of her was damned to die in a few days. Nothing could stop that. You didnt do anything wrong, she finally said, seeing the pain that was in Lilys eyes. I just I cant explain it. Youve always been and will always be my friend. So dont worry. Im justIm going to be busy. For a long time. It has to be me; theres no one else. I know it doesnt make sense. Maybe someday it will. Im sorry.

Lily said, What Mirian, but what is it? Why?

Mirian thought about telling her in a few days, itll be the apocalypse again. Thats my life now. It had been her life for nearly a year now, she realized. What did that mean? Was she older now? Should she have celebrated her 23rd birthday? She just said, Im sorry, again, and maybe Lily heard that raw pain turning into tears. She turned and left.

When she met Valen in one of the east alleys, she helpfully said, Well someone had a bad evening.

Mirian felt her sadness boil away to fury. Dont start. Im not in the mood.

Valen sighed. Youre never in the mood. Always wound up tighter than a crossbow string, and about as resilient.

Mirian thought about the time shed slammed the other girl into the alley wall, and how good it had felt. Instead, she said, You have no idea. And you should be thankful you never will. Lets stay focused. That last part was more to herself; she hated to see Lily hurting. Their friendship meant everything to her.

Valen rolled her eyes.

The plan was relatively simple. The spies liked to go out at night. That meant late evening was the time to break in. The cold nights meant people would be keeping indoors, where it was warm.

Already, knowing where they started was going to be helpful in future loops. Mirian had lost track of their movements for the most part, but now she could start to figure out all the different places they were targeting and why they were important. Maybe shed find some part of the underground she hadnt mapped, or a secret way into Bainrose. But actually getting to see the inside of their base? She was intensely curious as to what they would find.

Valen had volunteered to do the lockpicking. She had with her a set of brass picks (shed already owned them, go figure) and had been honing the skill for years. Mirian would be the lookout, until they were inside. Then shed be on divination duty, looking for any traps. Valen had assured her there would definitely be traps.

Even though Mirian logically knew this was a fairly consequence-free break-in for her, she was still nervous. The primitive part of her brain didnt seem to care that no one who might catch them would be alive by the 4th of Duala. Valen was surprisingly calm about it, even though she had no such foreknowledge. Then again, while Valen had said shed never actually broken into any buildings before, Mirian was pretty sure she was full of it. She was just way too comfortable hunched over the lock, feeling for the tumblers with her pick. Her hands didnt even have the slightest tremble.

Got it, Valen whispered. She pressed down on the latch, then slowly opened the door just a crack. She listened cautiously, then continued to slowly open the door.

Mirian looked down the street again to see if it was still deserted. Then she opened up her spellbook and started casting. She went through several divination spells, but none of them detected any major glyph formations, just the usual ones used in construction. Clear, she said, and stepped into the entryway.

It was a small anteroom, with three pegs to hang cloaks and a wooden floor instead of the usual stone tile. The room was compact, and lightless, but there was another door at the end of it, and it looked a lot sturdier. She cast another divination spell to search for common trigger glyphs on the handle or latch, and found nothing.

There didnt appear to be a lock on the inner door, so she turned the handle

and her heart skipped a beat as the floor dropped out from under her. Then she was screaming in pain, her body crumpled among a bunch of wooden stakes.

Mirian! Valen called out, panicked.

She might have said something else, too, but all Mirian could think about was the pain. The stakes werent sharp, but shed slammed down on them from six feet up and everything hurt. She was nauseous, and she was sure something was broken. Maybe several somethings. Fr a moment, she blacked out, then the pain snapped her awake again. Two of the stakes were still digging into her back.

She groaned, and was able to roll over so that she fell face-down into the stone floor between the stakes. These psychotic fucking Akanans. They couldnt just design a trap to imprison someone, they had to make it hurt, too, didnt they?

Other thoughts tried to make their way to the front of her mind, but they kept getting battered down by how much it hurt. She looked up and couldnt see Valen. Shed probably run off. It was the smart thing to do. There was no way she could haul Mirian up on her own, especially given that her left arm seemed to be broken. Another wave of nausea swept over her.

When she looked up again, she saw the first spy, the one she kept taking the satchel from each cycle.

You, he said in Eskanar, apparently recognizing her as well.

A chill ran through Mirian. Trapped as she was, already inside the spys building, they could do anything to her. Captain Mandez had kept her starved and shivering, and that was in an official guard house. The terrible possibilities of what they might do to her in the days remaining ran through her mind. She couldnt let it happen. She didnt want to live with whatever they were going to do.

You Akanan scum, she said. Ive already killed one of you. Youll just have to join him. Then she reached for her wand.

The minor lightning wand wouldnt have done much to the spy, but he didnt know that. When he saw the wand come out, he did what she wanted. He reacted by drawing his own wand, and this was a proper lightning wand, one that could kill.

Briefly, she felt another burst of pain, and then nothing.

***

Mirian woke, and felt terrible relief to be staring up at the dorm ceiling, the tiny hole faintly glinting. It was beautiful to be free of the pain, terrible because of a thought she kept having. Ever since shed watched the true end of the world, past the invasion of Torrviol, shed wondered: did the timeline persist after she died? Or did it cease when her consciousness did? She hoped it didnt. Shed just left a hell of a mess back there if it did.

As she went about fixing the usual things and readying herself for another day at the beginning, she thought about what had happened. It was bullshit is what it was. Shed checked for magical traps over and over and thered beenand then she figured out the problem. Shed checked for magical traps. Theyd gone and made a trap with a purely mechanical mechanism. Of course. It was a town of arcanists and magic; everyone would be on the lookout for that.

Then shed seen that damned spy looking down at her, not even a hint of remorse on his face. The anger bubbled about in her as she waited in the alley for him to jump across the roof again. This time, when she pulled with lift object on his bag, that anger found its way into the intensity of the spell. She put in far more mana than she usually did, and yanked hard.

To her horror, the spy didnt just pinwheel his arms and regain his balance like usualno, his back foot slipped. For a moment, he seemed to hang in the air between the two buildings, then he came plummeting down, landing next to Mirian with a CRUNCH of bone that made her heart skip.

Oh shit, she thought. This loop ought to be different.

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