Sea of Strangers

by Erica Cameron

  “Ahta warned us, didn’t ey?” Rai says, collapsing next to me. “The impossible size of the animal ey’d been tracking. Ey said things were strange up here.”

  “This is more than strange.” This is terrifying.

  An hour later, Chio shows no signs of getting better. At least it’s warmer here; some heat source inside the mountain must be raising the temperature of the stone. Whatever it is, the bone-deep chill and aching numbness in my body begins to ease. It’s a warm oasis in a desert of ice and rock, and one that’s somehow protected from the worst of the winds. The air is still impossibly cold, and the vicious birds are still circling overhead, but the wind here isn’t trying to wipe us off the peak and down the rocky cliff.

  It doesn’t make sense; there’s nothing here. No sign of life or energy aside from the warmth and the stillness. I want to be grateful for the change, but I can’t be without some sign of how this cocoon of safety exists, so I ease closer to Miari and ask, “Can you tell why it’s warm here?”

  “This isn’t heat from a source like molten rock.” She looks down at the mountain, hands pressed flat to the stone. “But it doesn’t feel unsafe.”

  “You don’t sound sure,” Tessen says, his eyes on Chio.

  “I’m not.” Miari lies down on the stone, flat on her back like she’s trying to soak up as much of the stone’s heat as possible.

  I do the same, turning my head so I can watch Zonna work on Chio. The stone’s warmth slowly seeps into my body, but I’m still so cold I can’t even properly feel fear. But there is something—a buzz coming from somewhere. I’m so tired I can’t tell if I’m hearing it or feeling it, but it reminds me of… “It might be desosa?”

  “Maybe. It’s stronger here, but…” Tessen shakes his head and collapses next to me on the stone. “I don’t know. I can’t…”

  Miari waves her hand. “If it’s desosa, I won’t feel it even if it’s right under my feet.”

  “I’m not sure I can feel anything right now,” Tessen mutters. “I’m not convinced we’re on solid ground yet. I can’t feel my fingers.” He raises his hands in front of his face. “Why can’t I feel my fingers?”

  “Because you’re cold.” I order Rai and Nairo to start a fire, and then I force myself to my feet, moving toward Tyrroh. “What do we do, Nyshin-ma?”

  Tyrroh looks up at the birds and down at the inexplicably comfortable stone. Whatever we’re looking for isn’t here, but we can’t do anything until Chio either recovers or…

  “Make camp,” Tyrroh orders wearily. “We’re not going any farther tonight.”

  Chapter

  Eleven

  It takes Chio a full day to heal. I don’t want to think about what might’ve happened if the birds had struck one of us instead of an andofume.

  That night, we keep the birds at bay, but in the morning, Tsua and Etaro yank several down to the stone; the impact breaks the birds’ necks. We don’t dare eat the meat if their venom is deadly enough to hurt Chio, but Tessen and Tyrroh wanted to see the animals. They wanted to figure out how the tiny things did so much damage.

  The answer is hidden at the base of their fourth toe, a small sac of venom. It’s unbelievable that a liquid produced by these small birds in this remote area of Ryogo is somehow strong enough to take out an immortal. It doesn’t kill them, but Chio looks shaky for hours after he wakes up. I make sure we extract all of it that we can from the birds. It might save our lives, especially if we can’t come up with a better weapon before we face Varan. Before I need to shove him out of the way to get to wherever he’s keeping my brother.

  The question about the birds turns out to be far easier to answer than the one about the protected oasis we’re in. Even once Tessen has a chance to rest, he can’t tell for certain what’s protecting and warming this section of the ridge.

  “I don’t think we’ll know for sure until we find whatever’s at the end of the trail,” Tessen says before we leave the site the morning after Chio is healed.

  “Great. One more thing we don’t know that might kill us,” Rai mutters as we hike the ridge of the mountain, walking single-file along the thin trail and headed east. “That’s exactly what we need when we’re headed toward another thing we don’t understand that could also probably kill us.”

  “It could, but I don’t think it will.” But Tessen doesn’t seem sure. When I meet his eyes, a question in mine, he explains. “Anything this powerful is going to be dangerous, but it doesn’t feel like an enemy, or even like a teegra. I doubt it’ll attack or ambush us.”

  “Until we start messing with it,” Rai says. “Which is exactly what we’re going to do.”

  “We won’t know until we get there, so save your breath,” I order. It’s enough for now that Tessen doesn’t think it’s malicious.

  That hope is all we’ve got to hold on to, because the journey is only the smallest bit easier than the last two days of climbing. Whatever warmed the rock where we’d landed is still here, keeping the worst of the chill away, and the day of forced rest gave me the energy to bring my wards back up. They keep away the birds still circling overhead, and they block the wind that picked back up yesterday afternoon.

  For two hours in the middle of the day, a thick, white cloud descends, enshrouding the mountaintop and making it impossible to see more than a foot ahead. Only Tessen keeps us on course. Only Tsua and Etaro keep us from dying when someone misplaces their hands or feet and begins to fall.

  It’s not much easier when the cloud finally burns away. The path is dangerously narrow at points. For almost a mile, it’s nothing more than a ridge too sharp to balance on. Hands wrapped in strips of cloth to protect our skin, we hang off the side of the mountain, sidling along the edge.

  “I can’t imagine Varan doing this alone,” Chio says when we find a place to stop and eat. He looks exhausted, his hand bringing small bites of food to his mouth seemingly on reflex alone as his gaze moves slowly along the horizon. There’s nothing but mountains, snow, and sky for miles in any direction. Even the birds are gone; they must’ve given up on us at some point when we were lost in the cloud.

  “He wouldn’t have come the way we did, would he? Not from Uraita.” Tsua shakes her head. “Although, I doubt coming from the east would’ve made this journey any easier. Especially alone, his skill with rock notwithstanding. I don’t know how he did it. Or how chasing the Kaisubeh led him here. He hated those old stories when we were young, said—what was it?”

  “That it’d be senseless to pray to a being you don’t even believe is capable of listening, and that the old gods, if they ever existed, must have been destroyed by the Kaisubeh.” Chio pops one more piece of dried fruit into his mouth and then shakes his head, almost rueful. “He wasn’t willing to believe in a god he didn’t also believe he could one day become.”

  Osshi raises his head and looks between them both, but whatever thoughts darken his eyes stay inside his head. In fact, he’s been nearly silent since we started this trip into the supposedly impassable mountains. I’d thought it was energy conservation; now I wonder. After all, there’s a chance we’re heading to a place that will either prove or disprove some of his deepest held beliefs about his Kaisubeh.

  I know what it’s like to lose a cornerstone of your world. How do I approach him about it now, though? No words could’ve prepared me for the moment I faced each of Varan’s lies, especially not the loss of Ryogo. The promise of that paradise after death was part of what made me fight for each honor I earned in Itagami. I wanted a position on the kaigo council, yes, but that only lasts for years. A decade or two at most. Earning honors in Ryogo was supposed to be forever.

  So even though I understand the fear behind Osshi’s eyes, and why it looks like anger sometimes, I don’t say anything to him about it. Yorri would know how if he were here, but I don’t have a clue where to start, and all of us have other things to focus on now.

  The faint warmth coming from the mountain keeps the peaks ice-free, making hiking them
easier. Everyone is worn down, none of us adapted to the cold or the thin, empty air. We are used to pushing through exhaustion, though, so we make miles of progress every day, pushing until it’s clear Osshi can’t go another step, and the rest of us are considering sleeping with our eyes open.

  It isn’t until three days after we started hiking the ridge that I feel more than distant flares in the desosa. I feel eddies in the air, like something is disrupting the flow. The closer we get, the stronger those eddies become and the more there are.

  And then the ridge gets wider, wide enough that we can easily walk three abreast, and the stone smooths. It’s as even and worn as the streets of Itagami, like thousands of feet over thousands of days have eliminated the edges. Or like an ishiji mage created this path.

  “This is strange, right?” Sanii asks. “No remote mountain should have a path like this.”

  “No.” Tessen points east of us, toward the horizon. “That is strange.”

  I don’t see it right away. Or I do, but my brain refuses to believe my eyes.

  There’s green in the distance. It’s hardly anything, a thin line peeking above gray stone, but it’s the first sign of growing life we’ve seen since we first stepped into snow.

  “That doesn’t make sense. Anything growing here…” Osshi shakes his head. “We’re too high, and it’s too rocky here.”

  “Which is a good sign, isn’t it?” My heart beats harder than I can explain away as exertion, hope pushing the rate higher. We didn’t know what we were looking for or what to expect, but the impossible might be a good sign that we’ve found it.

  But found what? The waves and flares in the desosa are even clearer now, and it’s obvious that the power we’re headed toward is not stable. At all. There’s no pattern to the eruptions. The cycle isn’t even as oddly rhythmic as waves. This seems more like a wounded animal randomly lashing out.

  Tsua stiffens, her body leaning in toward the energy. “Chio, vanafitia, can you feel it?”

  “Yes.” He places his hand on her shoulder, his eyes locked on the line of green. “What the bellows did my brother find?”

  “Answers, I think,” she replies breathlessly. “To questions only he was foolish enough to ask.”

  “Should we keep going?” I glance at Tessen and Tyrroh, our two riuku. But only for a second. It’s hard to keep my eyes away from that tantalizing line of green on the horizon. It’s a rare color on Itagami, especially in this vibrant a shade, but now that color may be where I’ll find what I need to help me save Yorri. I’ve never loved a color more.

  “I don’t sense danger,” Tessen says, and Tyrroh nods agreement. “Nothing malicious.”

  “It’s like walking into a tunnel of cobwebs.” Rai shivers, looking at me with wide eyes. “Is this what the desosa feels like to you all the time? Why don’t you spend every day itching?”

  “This is different. This feels more like how a storm feels.” I tilt my head, almost a shrug. Then I take a long breath, trying to force my heartbeat to slow. “Almost. Storms are more constant.”

  “Keep moving.” Tyrroh rubs his hands together and then breathes warm air on his fingers. “We didn’t come this far just to stare at the end.”

  “Then lead on, Nyshin-ten.” I nudge Tessen’s shoulder with mine, nodding toward the green. “We’ve got work to do.”

  After a long, deep breath, Tessen starts walking. I stay a pace behind him, wards up. We move slowly, all of us watchful and wary. It feels like the days my squad hunted Denhitran raiders through the Shiaran mountains, when we knew any moment could turn into a fight. At least then, we knew the capabilities of our enemy.

  The path is cracked in places, time and nature leaving gaps we have to jump, but it’s easy compared to the first two days of this journey. A mile, two, and then we’re finally closing in on the line of green Tessen spotted. Large leaves growing from thick branches block our view of anything beyond the spot where the path dips with the shape of the mountain.

  Cautiously, we make our way through the trees, down the path as it winds and twists. The farther we descend, the warmer it gets. Never actually warm, but eventually it’s enough to help my tense, freezing muscles relax. I don’t know if the odd balminess is why trees can grow here, or if the trees are what traps the warmer air. Whatever the cause, plants and trees have overgrown the trail in places, shrouding it in wildly thick greenery. Sometimes we must break through the brush, but we always find the road again.

  “I’ve never seen trees this tall,” Osshi says. “I thought maybe the green might be low bushes, but this… This shouldn’t be here.”

  “There also shouldn’t be a road in the middle of Nentoado.” Chio pushes his hood back and looks up at the trees. “I think we should stop expecting anything.”

  He’s right, but I don’t know how to follow his advice. I can’t keep myself from believing that every step we take is bringing us closer to answers—about Varan, about immortality, and about winning this seemingly impossible war.

  As we reach flat land, apparently a long valley, and continue walking along the path, the unexpected keeps appearing. Interspersed between patches of lush, green plantlife are areas of rot and decay. Some sections have simply dried up, everything shriveled and brown, but others…

  Some of the patches remind me of the day I found the body of a clansman. He’d drowned in a flash flood, had been left floating in water for days, and then baked in the sun. Parts of the valley remind me of him, all stench and wet and rot.

  The sight is a disconcerting shock, and the scent nearly makes me gag. Breathing through my mouth only makes it worse. “If the Kaisubeh live here, they must not have a sense of smell.”

  “They don’t live here.” Tsua sounds as dazed as she looks. “I don’t think they live anywhere—not the way we think of the word. But that doesn’t mean their hands haven’t been on this place. I can feel— Blood and rot. What did Varan do here?”

  Chio simply shakes his head, his eyes unnaturally wide. It’s Tessen who says, “I don’t know what this is, but we’re almost at its center. Another hundred yards. Maybe less.”

  Far less. In a way, I think we’re already there.

  Power is everywhere. The ground practically vibrates with it. The air is tangible in a way I’ve never felt before, like it’s full of tiny pieces of fluff and grains of sand. I swear I can hear the trees growing, and the scents—stone and trees and the tangs of cold and electricity—are noticeably strong. It’s nearly overwhelming, and it must be so much worse for Tessen.

  The ground begins to rise again, a gentle slope that brings us away from loose ground and back to rock. With each foot we rise, the trees get farther apart until, finally, we break free of them entirely. Ahead is a rocky clearing. The surface is cracked, almost splintered like the stone was dropped, and there’s a shifting white light bleeding through.

  “The light’s moving in time with the desosa’s waves.” Tessen seems mesmerized, his gaze following the light. “I’ve never seen anything like this. What is this place?”

  “This is Kaisuama. It has to be.” I take one more step into the clearing, avoiding the glowing cracks. “But what do we do now?”

  Stretching her arm out, Tsua shifts her hand like she’s testing something in the air. “If we’re right about how Varan made this susuji powerful enough to alter us permanently, all we should need to do is rebrew it and infuse it with power from this source, but…”

  “This is more energy than we expected,” Chio finishes. “And it’s less stable.”

  “Would Varan have used it if it was like this?” If he could sense the fluctuations in this desosa, and if he didn’t have imminent danger forcing him into action, it’s hard to imagine him—or anyone else—seeing this as an acceptable risk.

  “I don’t think it was like this.” Tessen crouches down, hand pressed to the cracked stone, and his voice is shaking as much as his hand. “Something’s wrong here. Broken. This isn’t what it’s supposed to feel like.”
<
br />   Crouching next to him, I put my hand between his shoulders. “How do you know?”

  “Because it hurts. It’s too loud and too bright and too much.” He shudders, swallows, and looks up at me. “Something went wrong. It’s like there was a river of desosa here once, but Varan dropped a boulder in it, and the energy has been battering against it ever since, trying to find the path it was meant to take.”

  “But we— We need to know how—” I bite my tongue, forcing myself to breathe before I speak again. “So what do we do?”

  “Maybe we should test it on something we know first?” Etaro suggests uncertainly.

  Rai looks skeptical. “Like what?”

  “I don’t know,” Etaro admits. Just as Sanii says, “What about a wardstone?”

  Most of the squad looks at Sanii, but Sanii is looking at me. “You’ve already proven you can handle drawing in power from a lightning storm, and we know you have more than enough skill to create a wardstone.” Ey pauses, and then adds, “Plus, if doing this does enhance magic that much, it wouldn’t hurt to have a bunch of overcharged wardstones.”

  Those would definitely come in handy. Especially when we eventually face the bobasu. “But this isn’t a lightning storm. This is… I don’t know how to approach this kind of power.”

  “Maybe that’s where the road and the valley came from.” Tessen looks back the way we came. “Maybe Varan realized the same thing and tested himself by reshaping the mountain. It was a skill he knew, and he could start small. Work his way up.”

  “It makes sense. Varan may have chased the impossible, but he wasn’t reckless. Not with his life.” Chio looks down at the broken, glowing stone of the clearing and then up at the trees. “That kind of testing would explain why he was so burned out when he came out of the mountains.”