After dark on the third day Pei Jing let the Armored Soul rise as far as his skin. It couldn’t send a hand past his shoulder. He felt its gauntlet touch his knuckle from inside his own hand. For an instant he could see the ridge on his collarbone through his own eyes and from under the plate at the same time.
He set a little more weight on his heel. Both views stayed clear. When he lifted his foot, the second one went dark.
A scratch came through the wall of the sky. He opened his eyes. The scar had moved farther down the night, and there was a glimmer behind it. The court was putting something against the break.
Shen’s lanterns still moved down the mountain in a line. Pei Jing set his heel again. He could feel the last of the wagons through the rock.
