Page 34 of The Only Way Out Is Up

“I don’t recommend it.”

“No?”

“You might live. Then the Twisted would get you.”

Ky raises her head, and for some reason she looks excited. “There really are Twisted down there?”

I blink. “Of course. Everyone knows that.”

“Some people on Hod say that they’re just myths to scare children.”

“They’re not myths.” I wonder if I should show her my scars. “Star and I hunt them for the bounty and their sigils.”

“You hunt them.” She rolls over and gives a cackle. “That’s perfect.”

“Perfect for what? Is this about the job you wanted me for?”

“Yeah. Have you ever heard of the Ascent?”

There’s a brief pause while I go out to get us something to eat at a corner stall. Ky produces some bits from her pack, and I pay an exorbitant amount for two jugs of water and two wraps full of unidentifiable meat and fried mash, then return to our room. I half expect her to turn up her nose at Malkuth food, but of the two of us I might be the pickier one, poking through the bits of gristle. At least when Somi cooks you can tell what things are. In the end, hunger wins out.

“Yes,” I say between bites. “I know about the Ascent. There’s flyers all over the Heap. Big tournament for fighting runics on Hod.”

“The biggest,” Ky says. “Held every five years.”

“And the entry fee is a hundred stripes. I don’t know why they bother sending word down to us.”

“Part of the rules,” Ky says with her mouth full. “Supposed to be open to all, regardless of station.”

“Why?” Open to Heapers who can pay a hundred stripes is pretty much the same as open to flying pigs. Maybe Uncle Claw could afford it, but he’d never waste the money. “What’s so special about it?”

“The Ascent isn’t just another tournament,” she says eagerly. “It comes from Above.”

I’m getting a little tired of asking her to define her terms. “Above, meaning…”

She raises her eyebrows. “Meaning Above. Like… above the cap and the sun-lights. Past Hod. Above.”

“The surface, you mean.”

“Kind of. It’s more complicated than that, I think.” She sighs. “Only the heads of the Council families and an elite squad of Arbiters are allowed up there. Father always said he’d bring me one day. They meet with people, representatives of… of Above, and negotiate for things. I think? Everyone’s very secretive about it.”

“Okay,” I say, not feeling particularly enlightened. “And the tournament?”

“Apparently they have tournaments Above, too. The Ascent starts here, with us, but it keeps going up and up and up. A judge from Above comes down to oversee it. It’s the only time one of them visits Hod.”

Somi’s the one who likes books and stories of the surface. He’d happily kill for five minutes to talk to a visitor from Above, but it doesn’t hold much appeal to me. “What does that have to do with us?”

“Have you ever put Star in a runic fight?”

I hesitate, unsure how to explain. “Not… exactly.”

“But he has fought Twisted,” she says, half to herself. “It can’t be that different.”

“You want us to fight in this tournament? That’s the job?”

“It would fix everything,” Ky says eagerly. “The Council can’t move against me during the tournament; everyone will be watching. Most of the competitors will be sponsored by one family or another. If I sponsor you, and you do well, the prestige will buttress my position. I can find allies, push the vultures back.”

“That’s fine for you—”