It was late afternoon when they reached the far shore. The Poalos drove the raft toward a slope of loose scree and, after they’d transferred the packs, dragged it onto the rocks.
There were trees to the east, but here there were only rockfalls from above and marshy grasslands. They had no trees to sleep in tonight, and the cry of that little boq as the lion dragged it away was foremost in Cazia’s mind. Behind them, the cliffs seemed to block off half of Kal-Maddum.
Fire and Fury, but it was a strange thing. The rock of the cliff looked like it had been melted until it was as smooth as a grape. There was nothing to grab hold of--not the slightest fingerhold--anywhere she could see. Cazia stepped back and looked up the cliffside. The textureless face stretched so high, she couldn’t see where it ended.
Kinz approached the rock wall and hammered at it with the edge of a sharp rock she’d picked up from the scree at the water’s edge. There was no damage to the wall, but the stone in her hand had faint white fracture lines at the tip.
Cazia’s stomach felt heavy. Whatever she had expected, it wasn’t this.
Ivy stood with her bow at the ready, arrow nocked. Alga stood close beside his sister, hatchet in hand. All were watching her.
“It’s time,” Cazia said. “Lets pile our supplies beside me.”
Cazia set her own pack on the loose stones at the base of the cliff, then Ivy put hers beside it. When Kinz tried to set the Poalo pack beside them, Cazia waved her back.
“Ivy,” she said. “I suspect that our so-called servants are about to turn against us. If they want to run away, that’s fine. They can take their stuff and go. But if they attack us or try to take our packs, you’ll have to put an arrow into one.”
The little princess didn’t like that. “They are older, faster, and stronger than we are. Sensible tactics suggest that if we expect an attack, we should strike first.”
Out of the corner of her eye, Cazia saw the Poalos tense. After days of pretending, they finally gave themselves away: they understood Peradaini.
“No,” Cazia said. “I don’t want to fight them. I just don’t want them to panic and run away with our supplies. If they want to go, let them.” Cazia imagined Alga’s shocked expression when the arrow went in, and her stomach did a flip-flop. “Let’s try deterrence first.”
“I would prefer that. I have never shot a person before, and I would not like one of these two to be... Never mind. I will not hesitate.”
The princess’s pale little face was determined. Cazia didn’t doubt for a minute that she would do what was necessary. “Little sister, I’m more impressed with you every day. When I was your age, I never did anything I was supposed to.”
“I have spent my whole life in the instruction of my family, especially Uncle Nezzeriskos. He taught me that being an Ergoll princess within the Indregai Alliance comes with many privileges, but many responsibilities, too. I do not want to shame his memory.”
“I understand,” Cazia said. “Remind me to give you a hug later.” She tossed her spear to the ground and unlaced her pack. No one reacted when she took out her quiver of darts. It felt good to strap them to her hip, like saying her name aloud. She also noted, with a bit of worry, that she had to tighten the belt an extra notch to make it fit.
The Poalos only looked confused. Fine. They didn’t recognize the darts. There would be no mistaking what came next.
She turned to the cliff face behind her. No ladder of stone blocks would get them over this wall; she would never be able to build something stable enough to reach the top. No matter. She planned to make a stair, not a ladder.
The first symbol appeared in her thoughts and her hands began the appropriate counter movements. Magic flowed through her, and moments later, a section of the strange featureless stone collapsed into rubble.
Both of the Poalos howled in shock and terror. Cazia couldn’t believe it--they actually howled like dogs. Kinz backed away three steps, dropping to her knees. Alga joined her, and they began jabbering at each other. Cazia touched the jewel in her pocket.
“...for this?” Kinz said. “We travel all this way with one of the Cursed?”
Her brother leaned close to her. “By Inzu, we must destroy her.”
“No!” Kinz grabbed his sleeve without looking away from Cazia. “We will not. Not ever. I don’t care if she is Cursed; we will not murder the young girl in the wilderness. Worse, it would have to be two young girls, because the Princess would be the witness. Could you do it?”
Alga didn’t answer immediately. “No,” he said finally. “I do not like these devils very much, but I do not want to kill them. But what if they are both Cursed?”
Kinz and Cazia stared at each other. There was something in the Poalo girl’s expression that Cazia liked.
Alga leaned close to his sister again. “We must take our things and go south. Mahz should know the truth.”
Kinz shook her head. “Mahz said—”
“Mahz wanted us to discover where they were really going! She didn’t believe they were serious and she never expected us to enter the Qorr Valley.”
Kinz was still watching Cazia closely. “Mahz also asked us to watch over them.”
“But—”
“You should go, Alga. Tell Mahz where we have gone. She will arrange the marriage you want. I will fulfill Mahz’s other command: I will watch over them as best I can. Remind her, when you see her, that I have paid part of her debt. Perhaps she will be make to give you the extra head when you remake our people.”
“Kinz, you must have gone wind-mad. You can not mean to scale these mountains, let alone enter Qorr, with one of the Cursed!”
In the slanting light, Kinz’s eyes seemed to sparkle. “I do. In fact, I hope to convince her to teach me one or two of those curses.”
“Actually,” Cazia interrupted in Peradaini, “spells are really difficult to learn.”
The Poalos gasped and stared at her, wide-eyed.
“Besides, you have to be born with the knack for it,” Cazia lied. “And even then, some people can’t manage.”
Kinz stood tall and stepped forward. “How can you tell if I have this knack?”
Her Peradaini was heavily accented but clear. Cazia suppressed an urge to say Nyoo! Nyoo! at her. “Your Peradaini is not too bad.”
“Thank you,” Kinz said frankly. “We must learn it if we are to trade in the passes. Also, your soldiers collect smaller tribute if we object in your language. And yes, this means we deceived you, just as you deceived us. You never told us you could speak Henjzhu.”
“I can’t--Fire and Fury, I’m not even sure I can say Henchoo...Henzu, er, I don’t mean to be disrespectful--but my magic can translate your words. Not all of—”
Alga stepped close to his sister. “Kinz, we must make to go.” His Peradaini was not bad, either.
“Hey!” Cazia’s voice echoed off the wall behind her. “Don’t interrupt me!” Somehow, it was easy to be angry at him. “And don’t call me Cursed. Herders have called me one rude name after another and I don’t like it.”
“To be honest,” Ivy put in, “my people refer to scholars as ‘Hosts’ or ‘The Possessed,’ but I think that is silly superstition.”
“So,” Cazia said, “Mahz didn’t believe me when I said I was going to the Qorr Valley?”
Kinz shook her head. “No one did.”
“I did,” Ivy said.
“And Hent did,” Cazia added. “It doesn’t matter. What did she promise you? Okshim?”
“Our name,” Alga said. “She was going to give us enough okshim to start the Poalo clan again and let us leave with anyone who wanted to join us.”
Cazia sighed. Her anger toward dwindled into a sour regret. So many people had died; she couldn’t blame him for doing what he had to do to start over. Not really.
“Answer me this,” Kinz said. “Why are you really making to go into the Qorr Valley?”
“For exactly the reason she said,” Ivy answered. “She thinks we are be
ing attacked. I have thought about it all during our trip, and I have convinced myself she is right.”
“So, you two girls will make to go alone into the most dangerous part of the world--more dangerous, I’m told, than the shores of Espileth.”
“Yes,” Ivy said.
“I will go with you,” Kinz said immediately. She turned to Alga and cut him off before he could argue. “Inzu will watch over me, or she won’t. I do not want to hear you complain any more. Take the raft and go to Mahz. You are strong enough to catch up to her before she reaches Piskatook. Make to charm those two skinny girls you have your eye on. Become the Poalo; I do not care. I do not want to see you for the while.”
“Kinzchu, how can you make to say these things to me?”
“Little brother, you have been spoiled your whole life, until the Ozzhuacks took you in as the laborer. Since then, you have made to do nothing but whine, plot revenge, and wink at younger girls. I love you, Algachu, but I do not want to be around you.” She picked up their pack and offered it to him. “Take the raft. Make to the south. I will find you again, if I can.”
Alga’s face flushed red but he didn’t respond. He touched the hatchet in his belt and the pouch that held the twine for his snare, then stepped back without taking the pack. He glanced at Ivy and Cazia. Clearly, there was something he wanted to say, but his sister’s speech had undone him.
He sighed and hurried to the shoreline. He gave one last venomous look at Cazia, then a longer one to his sister. After that, he dragged the raft into the water and poled away.
“Will he be all right?” Ivy’s hands, still clutching her little bow and arrow, were tucked close under her chin. “All alone?”
Cazia picked up her spear. “I don’t really need this. If—”
Kinz waved their concerns away. “I am the one who needs the spear. Poalos spend their entire lives in the Sweeps. It does not frighten us the way it does you southlanders.”
Ivy didn’t seem mollified. “My uncle said that no one should ever travel alone in the Sweeps. Lions and alligaunts—”
“Princess, if you are going to make worry, save it for yourself. Although I do not know what uligunts are.”
“It won’t matter,” Cazia said. She turned back to the cliff. “Are we crazy for doing all of this?”
“Yes,” Kinz said, “although I am not sure how we are going to cross the mountains. Will you simply tunnel through?”
“Not without knowing what’s on the other side,” Cazia said. “I would feel pretty stupid if I killed us all by tunneling into the bottom of a lake. Besides, it’s hard to keep good air in a tunnel like that. Miners do it but I don’t know how. So I figured we’d carve a stair.”
Kinz gave Cazia the same look that Tyr Gerrit had given to Ivy when he saw her through the mirror. She wanted magic of her own. Of course she did.
The plain truth was that Cazia could be executed for being an unguarded scholar among outsiders, even if she had never revealed herself to them. It went against everything Doctor Twofin had taught her. But then, Doctor Twofin had lied to her every day. He’d told her magic was dangerous, that she shouldn’t cast spells over and over because it would hollow her out. She’d tested the limits he’d set for her and discovered that they were a sham.
“Like this,” Cazia said. She cast the Eleventh Gift again, collapsing another part of the cliff. The broken stones rolled out, falling onto the scree around her feet. It made an indentation in the cliff large enough for the three of them to curl up together.
Cazia climbed into it, kicking out more rock, then cast the spell again, this time breaking stone high on the eastern part of the tiny cave. It collapsed and fell around Cazia’s legs.
That hurt a bit. She would have preferred it if the stones were perfectly round but they weren’t. The rocks had jagged edges that scraped the parts of her legs her hiking skirt didn’t cover.
No matter. She cast the spell again, then again, taking care that part of her tunnel was open to the Sweeps wind. As the stones rolled down onto her, she swept some of them over the edge of the cliff to the grasslands below.
She heard Ivy’s voice below. “Help me up! Help me up!” Cazia glanced back and saw the princess crawling toward her. Kinz came up close behind. The little princess’s expression was bright and excited. “Do that again!”
Cazia laughed and did it again. The magic came to her just a bit more easily each time. It felt good just the way it felt good to create the stack of blocks outside the walls of Samsit.
Kinz tied their packs together and dragged them behind, her other hand holding the iron spear. Ivy unstrung her bow and tied a cloth over her quiver. Cazia glanced at the girl. “Princess, is everyone ‘highborn or necessary’?”
Ivy’s cheeks turned red. “Do not tease me! No one liked that woman and you know it. Besides, I was just trying to take control—do not worry! I learned my lesson.”
Cazia laughed and the princess laughed with her. There was nothing funny about it, but they were together and Cazia’s plan was working. They were really doing it.
When the ramp had reached the height of forty feet, Cazia told the other two to climb up close to her. Then she cast the Sixth Gift behind them, cutting off the tunnel with a large stone granite block.
“No retreat, eh?” Kinz said.
“No unwelcome visitors,” Cazia answered. She pointed out to the grasslands where a pride of grass lions sat watching them.
“How long can you keep this up?” Ivy asked.
Answering that question was a capital offense. Cazia felt a sudden flush of shame and grief. How could she laugh with Ivy when so much had happened? King Lar Italga would have granted clemency for the crime she was committing, and she suddenly missed him—and Col and Pagesh—acutely.
Night was falling. They would have to stop to eat and sleep soon, and Cazia would be the one carving a safe space for them.
How long could she keep this up? Cazia knew what she’d been taught, but she didn’t know the truth. “As long as I have to,” she answered.
Chapter 21
The first time a giant eagle flew by them, the princess and the herder drew their little knives--useless against such huge creatures, obviously, but all the monster did was flap alongside the cliff wall to get a good look at them, then it flapped into the darkness, screeching.
After that, Cazia angled her tunnel deeper into the mountain. Instead of leaving one whole side open to clean, fresh air, she left only a narrow slot that barely allowed starlight in. Always, she dug upward and toward the east.
Eventually, Ivy asked to stop, so they did. Cazia broke a hole high in the tunnel for ventilation, then carved out a hollow, flat space large enough for them to sit up or lie down in. She turned a pair of roundish rocks into lightstones--a Fourteenth Festival spell that had been her first lesson in infusing magic into a solid object--and that was the end of the day. The most difficult part was pushing all the loose rock down the tunnel or out the hole in the side.
And she felt fine. Maybe a little tired and jittery, but she certainly hadn’t gone hollow like Doctor Whitestalk. What had Doctor Twofin been doing with all those years of warnings? She couldn’t imagine.
She woke in the middle of the night from terrible nightmares about falling endlessly through a narrow shaft, slowly starving to death, slowly dwindling to nothing. Kinz and Ivy slept soundly beside her; the wind swirled dust inside their chamber. Cazia sat in the dim light and wiped sweat from her face.
When she’d created the stone ladder into Samsit, she had cast the Sixth Gift...eighty times? Maybe more, maybe less. When she and Ivy had finally made camp in the pass the next morning, her dreams had been awful.
These were worse. She hadn’t thought to count the number of times she’d cast the Eleventh Gift, but it might have been a hundred and fifty times. Probably not more than that. Sweat made her skin prickle, and her stomach felt leaden.
After a short while, she laughed at herself. Was this the terrible consequen
ce that had frightened Doctor Twofin? A scary dream? She lay back down, still feeling a bit odd, and shut her eyes until she fell back to sleep.
In the morning, they started upward again. Cazia’s troubled sleep left her stomach feeling like a bundle of wet rags, but she soon forgot that. The spell came more easily each time she cast it, and she began to lose herself in the gestures and mental images. The magic seemed to be flowing through her, spell after spell, and as her trance-like state deepened, she began to understand it better. Little variations in her hand movements had always created minor variations in the effects of the Gifts, but as she kept going through the morning, those effects became clearer to her, allowing her better control over the size and shape of their tunnel.
Were these the supposed special insights that hollowed scholars had? It couldn’t be so. For one thing, the changes she could make to the spells were so trivial, they barely qualified as insights. For another, she certainly hadn’t gone hollow.
However, her stomach continued to feel like lead, and along with her increased mastery, loneliness began to build within her. A longing for her lost home and lost friends tugged at her thoughts and made her insides flutter. Colchua, I am so sorry.
The Gifts eased that pain, strangely enough. The focus and energy required to make each spell work--to go into it in the very real way that was helping her learn control--allowed her respite from the sorrow growing in her heart. In the time between spells, when she had to clear stones away and crawl on her hands and knees up the ramp, her emotions seemed to rush at her, ever so slightly stronger each time.
It was late in the day when the others asked her to pause for a meal. Cazia did so, reluctantly. She pushed a handful of stones through the gap in the wall, letting them fall all the way down the cliff. They were high up, but she couldn’t be sure how much farther they had to go.
Kinz passed a wrapped package to Ivy, who passed it to Cazia. “We will have to make to be careful with our provisions. I do not...Cazia, what is wrong?”
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