“Yeah,” I said. “Me too.”
From inside our windowless room, it was hard to tell how much time passed, but I thought Hypatia arrived remarkably quickly. She was young and beautiful—smooth skin, straight white teeth—but what really impressed me was how much work she surely was for her slaves. Her dark brown hair was sculpted into elaborate curls around her face, and she wore a great deal of jewelry, all polished and glittering. Her fingernails shone wetly in the lamplight, each filed into a perfect oval, and I wondered if her toenails were perfectly kept, too. I even glanced down, but her robes brushed the ground and kept me from seeing her feet.
“The priestesses told me their side of the situation,” Hypatia said, with a nod toward the door and a raised eyebrow that said, They’re listening—watch your tongue. “Why don’t you give me your version. Either of you.”
“The priestesses believe we’re soul-stone sellers,” I said. “They also believe we have a cache of it outside the city. They’ve promised to pardon us if we turn it over, but I don’t trust them. I trust you, but only if you take us out of here, somewhere that we can talk to you alone.”
“That’s an interesting request.” Hypatia tapped one of her painted fingernails against the table. “But easily arranged.” She opened the door and gestured for us to follow.
There were priestesses in the hallway, of course. One of them rushed up, protesting, but Hypatia shrugged her off. “I am a Weaver,” she said. “Surely you don’t think they’re going to simply walk away from me. Step aside.” And after a moment or two, the priestesses did. We went down a corridor, through a room, and out to a balcony.
I’d half expected it to be midnight, but it was only late afternoon. The sun was low and cast shadows that offered no real relief from the heat. A palanquin hovered by the balcony railing. “That’s mine,” Hypatia said. “Climb in.”
Did she expect me to clamber over the balcony railing? How high up were we, anyway? I scrambled up, then through the curtained door and into the palanquin. Alibek followed me. I turned to watch Hypatia. Carried by her djinn, she glided smoothly through the air, landed without a sound inside the palanquin, and reclined calmly against one of the pillows. I felt the djinni lift up the palanquin.
I had never traveled this way. I had watched the djinn-borne wagon arrive when we’d helped Sophos’s slaves to break out, and I had imagined what it would be like to travel with a sorceress, but it was both more terrifying and less terrifying than I’d imagined. Less terrifying because it flew so smoothly that with the curtains shut, I could barely tell we were moving. More terrifying because when I drew back a curtain and looked out for a moment, I saw how very far we were above the ground.
I closed the curtain again and forced myself to lean back against a pillow, trying to calm myself. I felt like I was inside a jewelry box. Everything was silk or velvet or embroidered or cushioned. My bolster was dark pink silk with tiny glass beads sewn on it to make a picture of a tree. I wondered if the inside of Zivar’s palanquin looked like this. It probably matched her housekeeper Nurzhan’s taste more than her own—I couldn’t imagine Zivar spending a lot of time decorating her palanquin. I looked over at Hypatia again. What if this was an imposter?
“Right,” I said, my voice a little shaky. “Before we go anywhere, I need to know for sure that you are who you say you are.”
Hypatia shrugged. “Sophronia sent me a message about you,” she said. “It said you had a proposal for me. I assume you took advantage of the greed of the Order’s priestesses to demand to speak to me?”
“I heard you were well placed. I thought they might believe me when I said you were the only one I’d trust.”
“Clever,” Hypatia said. “Yes. They believed you. We can talk freely here, so speak your piece.”
“I am here on behalf of the Alashi,” I said. “We want an alliance with the Younger Sisters.” I watched Hypatia carefully. She raised her eyebrows, but otherwise her face gave nothing away. “We can offer you soul-stone—lots of soul-stone. In return, we’d like you to move against the Sisterhood of Weavers.”
“An insurrection can’t be launched overnight,” Hypatia said.
“No.”
“And the Weavers are already moving against you. I assume this is why you are so eager to see us move against them.”
“Yes.”
“How much soul-stone can you give us, and how soon?”
“We have a companion with a large supply. Unfortunately, the priestesses already know it’s out there.”
“Hmmm. And after that?”
“We can give you more. If you want an ongoing supply, you’ll have to distract the Sisterhood of Weavers soon enough to draw off their invasion of the steppe.” Her lips twitched slightly and I found myself suddenly defensive. “We’re hardly going to be able to find karenite for you if we’re fighting off the army.”
“Yes, yes, of course. In the meantime, you mentioned a companion…”
I hesitated, and Hypatia gave me a gracious smile that made my hair stand on end. “An alliance is based on trust,” she said. “Right now you need to trust me. I will not take you, or your companion, back to the priestesses at the temple.”
I glanced at Alibek, then nodded. It was a little late to worry whether we could trust the Younger Sisters. This was the point of the mission. This was why we’d come.
“Janiya is waiting for us outside the city,” I said. “Alibek, you visited her last…”
Hypatia had the djinni take her palanquin over the Daphnia wall, then followed the Chirchik River as Alibek directed her to Janiya’s hiding place. The palanquin settled gently onto the ground, and Alibek climbed out. I followed, thinking they must have caught her—I could see our horses grazing, but I didn’t see Janiya anywhere.
“It’s all right,” Alibek said. “We think you’ll want to talk with this one.”
There was a rustle, and Janiya’s head popped up above the bank. She’d hidden in a small cave when she saw the palanquin approaching. She reached back in and took out the bag of karenite. “We’ll be wanting this, I assume?” She whistled for the horses, then looked at Hypatia’s palanquin. “The horses can’t ride in that thing.”
“My servants will be along to take the horses in hand. They’ll be well cared for. All three of you need to come with me now. Once we deliver the soul-stone to the priestesses who covet it, I’m taking you to speak with some of my associates.”
Janiya looked at me, and at Alibek, and must have felt satisfied with what she saw in our faces, because she climbed in. We all settled ourselves again. Janiya handed me the bag of karenite, and I gave it to Hypatia. Hypatia looked inside, and for the first time since I’d laid eyes on her, her carefully sculpted mask slipped off. I saw shock that we could offer so much, so casually, along with raw desire for the power the karenite offered. I felt a flush of pity for the twenty-three djinni that would be enslaved with the stones in that bag. Still, at least I’d refused to bring the pile Janiya had brought out at first.
“The priestesses will not expect this much,” Hypatia said after a moment. She moved one of her cushions aside and took out a silver box set with black stones. She put six of the karenite pieces into her own box, then closed it with a snap and hid it again. “This will be enough to satisfy them,” she said, and drew the bag shut again.
When we arrived at the temple, she handed over the bag as quickly as she could and told her djinni to take us away again. I was relieved to leave the temple, and it wasn’t until I realized we’d passed over the wall of the city that I asked her where we were going. I’d thought we would go to her house, but surely we’d passed it by now.
“I need to discuss your proposal with some of my sisters,” she said.
“Where?” I asked again.
“Another city. We’ll be there by morning.”
“By morning?” I swallowed hard. “It’s going to be night soon, don’t we…stop somewhere?”
“The aerika need no daylight,” Hypati
a said. “We’ll sleep in the palanquin.”
Hypatia’s palanquin had not only the plush lining of a jewelry box, but also the endless tiny compartments. Out of one came a wicker basket with a hinged lid, and out of the basket came supper for all of us. She laid out sliced roast lamb, soft rounds of bread, a sauce of sour yogurt with mint and cumin, crisp slices of radish, and glistening plums. There was even a carafe with some sort of sweet wine, and a plate for each of us. I folded my bread around the lamb and yogurt sauce and tried not to fret about where she might be taking us. How far could a palanquin travel in one night?
The sky grew dark and Hypatia lit a lamp as we finished our dinner. Then she summoned a djinn and had it whisk the dishes away. It brought them back clean and dry a few minutes later and she stacked them neatly in the wicker basket. Then the curtains drew back and a gentle breeze began to waft through the palanquin. It was pleasant. Hypatia stretched out on the carpeted floor of the palanquin, arranged her curls on the silk pillow, blew out the lamp, and closed her eyes.
When her breathing was slow and even, Janiya whispered, “Alibek, Tamar. No—don’t say anything, I know we need to assume we’re still being heard. I wanted to tell you I think you’ve done an excellent job. I heard about your arrest and was afraid I’d never see you again. I don’t know how you convinced them to let Hypatia take you away, but good work.”
“We don’t know we can trust Hypatia…” I said.
“We can’t ever know how the mission will turn out until it’s over. Sometimes not even then. You’ve been very resourceful. I have high hopes.”
I closed my eyes, feeling a bit lighter. I fell asleep and dreamed.
Visiting the borderland felt like slipping on a pair of well-worn boots. Even with my fear of Kyros lurking, coming to the borderland made me feel expansive and in control. I could go anywhere, find anyone—well, probably not anyone, but nearly anyone. I really ought to start by visiting Zhanna.
First, though, I checked for Lauria. I looked for the thread that bound us, and saw it shining bright. She was here. She was in the borderland!
But finding her was not so simple. The thread didn’t budge. I tried to follow it but it led on and on, wending its way across an endless dark steppe. I was getting nowhere, though the landscape obligingly shifted to a city, then to rolling hills. I still didn’t reach Lauria.
Where was she? Why couldn’t I get to her?
I closed my eyes and imagined her standing before me. “Draw near, sister,” I whispered. I felt her closeness like the beating of my own heart, but when I opened my eyes—nothing.
She was close. I knew she was close, so why couldn’t I find her?
I started to walk again, following the silver thread, then imagined myself a bird and flew, to travel faster, but again…on and on, and no Lauria.
I threw myself to the ground, becoming Tamar again, fighting my own frustration. Anger was my enemy. If I got too frustrated, I would find myself back in my own head. I unclenched my fists and took a deep breath. I would find her. I was a shaman. I would find Lauria.
I closed my eyes again and willed her close to me. This time, when I thought she was near, I didn’t open my eyes. I reached out my hands, told myself firmly that I would find her, clasped her hands, and drew her to me.
It worked. I felt a surge of elation as I stared into Lauria’s startled eyes. “Lauria,” I said. “I’d almost given up looking for you. And then Janiya said…” I broke off, not wanting to waste time on that. She knew she’d spoken with Janiya. “Where are you? Are you safe?”
Lauria told me she was in Penelopeia and had gotten away from Kyros. Then she wanted to know if I was safe, and I lied and said I was. I told her Zivar was on her way, but had left me behind. I said I had been traveling with Janiya and Alibek, then broke off when I realized I couldn’t tell her why. My throat ached. I wanted to rip through the fabric of the borderland and fight my way to her in the flesh. “I want to see you again,” I whispered.
“You will,” she said. Someone was pulling her away from me—she was waking up.
“Swear to me!” I said. I knew it was an absurd demand, but Lauria pressed her palm to mine, and swore.
When I woke, for a moment I couldn’t remember where I was. I could see silk draping over my head like a tent. The rug I lay on was softer than the ground but harder than a real bed. I couldn’t actually feel movement until I remembered where I was. I sat up and looked around. The sun filtered in through the sheer curtains, and the air felt cooler than I expected. Janiya and Alibek still slept. Hypatia was awake. “Tea?” she said.
She had a kettle of hot tea, and poured me a cup. I saw no stove. “Where did the tea come from?” I asked.
“I sent one of the aerika for it.”
“Back to your house?”
“No, that’s far enough away that the tea would have gotten cold.” She sipped from her cup. “I sent the aeriko down to the ground with instructions to build a fire and boil the water, then put out the fire and bring the water up here.”
I wondered if anyone had seen the kettle sailing through the air. Where were we? I wanted to look out, but couldn’t bring myself to pull the curtain back.
“Go ahead and look,” Hypatia said. “You won’t fall. If you did somehow fall out, or if you jumped out on purpose, I’d send an aeriko to catch you.”
That was only a little bit reassuring, but—goaded—I pulled the curtain open and looked out.
For a moment, nothing I saw made sense. There was a wide green expanse that looked like cloth unrolled on a floor. Tiny houses were scattered here and there like bones from a dice game. There was a silver line where the green cloth had been cut with scissors. Then my eyes began to piece together what lay below: rolling green fields, houses and farms, a river. Something was moving, and with a lurch I realized it was a bird flying below us.
I pulled my head back and rested it against the pillow for a moment, closing my eyes. I heard Hypatia chuckle dryly. “Look forward instead of down, and you’ll see where we’re going,” she said.
I took a deep breath and looked out again. With the light behind me, I could see a long way. A white-topped mountain rose in the distance. Closer than that, I could see a city spreading across the plain, arrow-thin towers glinting in the morning sun. Casseia had one tower like that—built impossibly high by the labor of the djinni. This city had thirty or more. I pulled my head back inside. “That’s Penelopeia,” I said.
“You’ve visited before?”
“No.” I wished she’d told me where we were going when I asked her last night. I could have told Lauria I was on my way to her. But I was sort of a prisoner, and the last thing I wanted was for Lauria to try to rescue me. “I’m right, aren’t I? Only the City of Weavers would build so many towers like that.”
“Yes,” Hypatia said. She handed me a cup of tea.
Hypatia was unusually steady in her nature, for a sorceress. I had seen her neither frantic nor melancholic. I sipped my tea and studied her over the rim of my cup. She sipped hers and studied me. I bristled under her level gaze. Sophos had looked at me that way. So had Boradai. I distrusted that look, even if the eldress of the Alashi had looked at me that way, too.
“How did you come to the Alashi, Tamar?” Hypatia asked.
I considered telling her I’d been born Alashi, but I wanted her to trust me and telling a lie just because I resented her seemed like a bad idea. Runaway slaves could be returned to their masters, but if Hypatia wanted to turn on me, she had many easier options than taking me back to a dead man. Besides, she had called them Alashi, not bandits. She was trying to be courteous.
“I was a slave until I was fourteen,” I said. “Then I ran away. Crossed the desert, and joined the Alashi.” I straightened a little and rested my teacup against my crossed ankles. “How did you become a Weaver?”
“Apprenticeship,” she said. “I was fourteen. A long time ago.”
I felt the palanquin shift slightly—we were slowing, t
hen sinking. My ears ached, then felt clogged like I had a bad cold. I peeked out and quickly pulled my head back inside. It looked like we were going to skewer ourselves on one of the towers. I swallowed hard and let the curtain fall shut. I heard a popping noise, and my ears cleared.
“Almost there,” Hypatia said.
We came to rest with a gentle bump that woke both Alibek and Janiya. Hypatia stepped out and gestured for us to follow.
We were on an interior balcony. The floor was white marble. Another sorceress stood nearby, and I hung back and watched as she and Hypatia clasped hands and kissed cheeks. A slave waited in the shadows of the doorway, and I edged away from the palanquin, trying to see her face. At a gesture from her mistress, she fetched a small trunk from the back of the palanquin. Hypatia hesitated and looked back at me. “I’m going to discuss matters with Rhea alone, first,” she said. “Her servants will make you comfortable. We’ll send for you in a bit. Have some breakfast.”
I nodded. The sun was already hot. “Where are we?” Janiya asked.
“Penelopeia,” I said.
Janiya’s jaw tightened, and I saw her glance around, but there wasn’t anywhere to flee even if we wanted to. Alibek arched an eyebrow at me. No doubt he was thinking of Lauria. I shrugged and followed the slave.
“Is the sorceress’s name Rhea?” I asked the slave. I wished I had wine to slip to her.
“Yes,” the slave said.
“What’s your name?”
She shot me a what the hell is it to you look and said, “Parvaneh.”
“Does Rhea have any children?”
“No.”
“Is she married?”
“No.”
So it was possible her servants had the upper hand, like Zivar’s. Parvaneh passed the trunk to a young man, then straightened her back and lowered her eyes, putting on a proper demeanor like a cloak. “Would you care to refresh yourselves before breakfast?”
“Yes, thank you,” I said. She wasn’t as skittish as most slaves of sorceresses…of course, we were on foreign ground here. Maybe she was a freeborn servant and not a slave at all. She showed us directly to a privy, then to a small bath house where we could wash our faces and hands with cool water and scented soap. Then we followed her through a garden to a room of polished wood and indigo linen. A large fan of woven rushes and huge feathers hung on the wall. Parvaneh took it down, held it up, and waited. The fan leapt lightly from her hand, hovered a moment, then began to fan us. A djinn, no doubt. The breeze gave only a little relief from the heat.
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