“Down!” Ivy whispered, and they all heard the clicking of approaching Tilkilit troops. “There is a column of vines there,” the girl said, nodding toward the far side of the rock, “and they are climbing up.”
“We could make to climb that little ridge,” Kinz said. She pointed to a ledge that ran upward for quite a distance. Cazia liked the look of it immediately. It wasn’t even as steep as the tunnel she’d been digging. They could practically run up it. “But we would be in sight of the bugs.”
Fire and Fury, Cazia realized she was right. “I need to see,” she said, and crept forward.
The vine column was there: two curving trunks twined around each other, both supported by other woody vines like a spider’s web. She dared lean farther out, looking down the column. It was bigger than any of the others she’d seen. The vines were so far apart that she doubted she could climb it. The bottom was hidden by fog, but it could have been impossibly tall.
There was a flash of dark red, and she rolled back out of sight. The Tilkilit were climbing, making small leaps from one vine to the next, testing them. If they’d seen her, they could have bounded up to her in moments.
Cazia cleared her mind and began a spell.
“Big sister, you can not use your fire here. You will be too exposed.”
She ignored Ivy to finish the spell. It was the Sixth Gift, the same one she’d used to make her little bridge, except this time she a stone as broad and as thick as she could. And she cast it high in the air.
The pink granite began to plummet a moment after it came into being, whooshing by them louder than the Sweeps wind as it fell. Then it struck the side of their stone and the column of vines—Cazia should have cast it farther out.
The noise was horrendous. Clashing rocks, snapping wood, and the terribly sharp drumming of the Tilkilit click language all joined together to make a terrible sound. Cazia jumped to her feet and ran to the sloping ridge Kinz had pointed out, determined to get as far as she could while the warriors below were occupied.
Ivy cried out behind her. Cazia spun and caught the girl’s wrist. The stone beneath them trembled, and Cazia couldn’t help but remember the way those three warriors had fallen to their deaths. She steadied the girl as they hurried toward the ledge. Kinz had Ivy’s other hand. Their eyes met; if they couldn’t agree on much else, they could look after the princess.
Kinz ended up getting onto the ledge first, then Ivy, with Cazia once again trailing behind. The ledge wasn’t as wide as Cazia had first thought, but she could walk on it. Not run, but walk, and quickly.
A tiny stone suddenly struck the wall beside her, and she knew immediately that it had come from below. The Tilkilit were moving up out of the fog, leaping from stone ledge to ledge. She had no way to know how many she had taken out when she had collapsed the column of vines, but it hadn’t been enough. They came in a swarm.
Fine. She began moving her hands, calling up the familiar images that would call out her fire. If the Tilkilit queen wanted to send her children to their deaths, Cazia would accommodate her.
“No!” Ivy said, grabbing at her hands and disrupting the spell.
“Fire and Fury, what are you doing?”
“They probably can not see us at this distance,” the girl said. “If you blast fire at some, the others will know just where to throw their anti-magic stones.”
Cazia’s anger evaporated. That was entirely sensible. Together, they hurried up the slope, Kinz leading the way with her stick. Another stone struck nearby, then another. She glanced back and saw Tilkilit swarming. Worse, they were getting closer. Whether it made her a target or not, she was going to have to start burning them soon.
When she turned back, she nearly stepped on Ivy’s heel. Fire and Fury, the girl might have tumbled off the ledge.
In the lead, Kinz was moving as quickly as she could, but the way ahead was not smooth. Their little path up the side of the cliff was not actually a path; it had gaps, choke points, and it was covered with treacherous loose stones. Cazia really, really wanted to run, because it was the only way to outdistance the Tilkilit, but did not have a clear stretch of solid earth to run on.
Kinz led them between a spire and the face of a cliff. Cazia crouched at the narrowest part, wondering if this was a good place to make a stand.
Not that she knew anything about picking a battleground. Tactics were for soldiers.
The Tilkilit could jump, clinging to the cliff above or below her. They could approach from different angles, and...
The other girls were already making their way under a bulge in the cliff face, and Cazia hurried after them, letting treacherous stones slide out from under her feet and tumble down the mountainside.
A strong gust of wind suddenly cleared the fog from the cliff below and they all had a clear view of the landscape around them. The forest was so far below them that it didn’t look real, as though they had uncovered a huge, ornate painting. The wind rushed straight up the rock into their faces, and Cazia endured one absurd moment when she thought it might lift them all up and float them into the Sweeps.
It was a long drop. If she slipped, her shattered body would lay wedged between the stones until one of the eagles swooped down, scraped her out, and ate her.
“Oh!” Ivy called, as though she could read Cazia’s thoughts. But no, she had simply suffered a moment of vertigo and turned to face the cliff.
“They’re coming,” Cazia said, urging her onward.
“I think I see a path,” Kinz added, taking Ivy’s hand as they picked their way across the tops of a small jumble of sharp-edged rocks.
Something struck the cliff beside them, hard. The sound was as harsh as if someone had shouted into their ears, and Cazia saw the faint white scratch the impact made on the stone beside her hand. Too late. They were close. Very close.
She was already beginning the Third Gift when she turned around. Her target was there, a reddish-black Tilkilit in a blue sash. Had she even seen a blue sash before? Absurdly, she felt a strong pang of envy. Where did it get the dye?
It stepped forward, advancing partway through the narrow gap between the cliff and the spire so it would have room to throw again, more accurately this time. It plunged its hand into the pouch at its waist, then drew back its broomstick arm to throw, but it was too late.
Bright fire rushed from the space between Cazia’s hands, shooting forward in a tightly focused bolt. Before the warrior had a chance to react, the flames struck him directly on the bare shell of his chest. He burst open like a melon struck by a mallet and tumbled down the side of the cliff.
A sudden rush of clicking and tapping began, as the other warriors called out to each other. “Hurry!” Kinz shouted, and they all struggled up the uneven ledge.
It widened suddenly, offering room enough to sit down. To the right, the ledge turned into a broad, flat space that was littered with an alarming number of bones.
To the left, the ledge turned outward, forming a little flat platform some six feet out from the cliff face. The platform was covered with a tangle of grass and trees limbs, reminding Cazia of the gigantic lidded pots she’d grown up with in the Palace of Song and Morning.
“See?” Kinz called while she dragged Ivy by the hand. “There is a gap between the peaks here. If the ledge continues all the way across, we might make to reach the other side.”
If… But she said nothing.
On an impulse, Cazia risked stepping out onto the platform and then swept the dried grass from the top of the tangle of plant matter.
Eggs. She’d revealed a clutch of three of the biggest eggs she’d ever seen. Each was pale pink with dark red speckles, and they were larger than her head. That’s was why the eagles were still harassing the Tilkilit lookout to the west; it was too near their nests. The eagles were trying to turn back an invasion of their homes.
What’s more, they were so busy harassing the first invader they saw that they didn’t realize an entire square of Tilkilit soldiers was swarmin
g in the east. There they were, creeping carefully along the ledge and clinging to the side of the cliff. They’d be here momentarily.
Cazia glanced at the eggs and her empty stomach rumbled, but the thought disgusted her. She could never have eaten one, no matter how hungry she was. The eagles talked to each other.
She turned her back and started after the other two girls. Let the Tilkilit come. She may not have been willing to eat the raptors’ young, but that didn’t mean she wanted to be their nanny, either. Destroying the nest would be an opportunity the Tilkilit couldn’t pass up, and maybe it would give Cazia, Ivy, and Kinz the chance to slip away.
Let them destroy each other. Besides, she was getting a case of the jitters, and it felt as though she had an iron ball in her stomach. She would have a wizard’s nightmares tonight, unless Kinz used the anti-magic stone on her. They had to get well away and out of danger before she went mad.
I thought you might be different from the others of your people, but no. You lie and you take and care only for yourself.
As awful as the eagles were, could she really leave their helpless children to be slaughtered by the Tilkilit? After what she’d said to Kinz?
Before she even had a chance to consider it, Cazia turned back, her mind and hands already preparing her spell. She came out to the edge of the platform and was startled to see the Tilkilit much closer than expected.
Flame blasted out from her. Fire and Fury, but it felt so good to channel this power. She pointed it at the nearest warrior and lit him like an oily wick. Then she played the flames along the cliff below and against the jagged rocks above. Fire splashed against the mountainside like a waterfall and, Great Way, it was glorious.
Then the energy she was channeling began to grow thin. It felt raw against her insides as the spell ran out of power, and Cazia immediately began another. The Tilkilit had been taken by surprise, but her advantage wouldn’t last long.
Her pink granite block appeared in front of her, falling first against the slope of the cliff, then slamming down hard against the ledge. She knew it wouldn’t block the warriors, but it would give her some cover from their anti-magic stones.
Cazia began another fire spell, this time widening the flames rather than shooting them like a jet of water. I’m a wizard, she thought, and a thrill ran through her. Wizards were monstrous villains from children’s stories--and worse--but they were powerful. I am a wizard.
The fire left her hands in a sheet, moving away from her no faster than a person could walk but still deadly and inexorable. The Tilkilit clicked and tapped in terrible panic. If she could have gotten her hands free, Cazia would have taken hold of her translation stone to hear what they had to say. She wanted them to panic. She wanted them to flee. She wanted them to put her in their histories.
Great Way, were those her thoughts or were they coming from the hollow space she was recreating inside her?
Next, she created another long stream of flame and began pouring it against the rocks above and below her. It was time to withdraw. Her spells were powerful, but there were just too many warriors and the cliff face gave them too many ways to approach her. How many more spells did she think she could cast before one of them struck her with a stone?
But she could not leave these eggs unprotected. These huge, horrible eggs. The thought of a Tilkilit spear breaking through the shell and plunging into the unfinished baby birds--
Something huge passed above her with terrible sudden speed. It came from behind, and the pressure of it knocked her onto the granite block. She cried out in fear and surprise, and lost the concentration she needed for her spell. The fire sputtered out just as a second bird passed overhead, swooping down onto the insect warriors below.
The giant eagles shrieked, their harsh voices echoing off the side of the mountain. Great Way, they were huge. If one of those creatures plucked her off the rock and tore her apart while she was trying to defend their nests, Cazia was going to feel very foolish as she died.
She turned and ran after Ivy and Kinz, who were crouching between two boulders. She hissed at them and they bolted out of their hiding spot, running along their narrow ledge. Cazia followed them around a colossal rock, and they suddenly found themselves looking up at a notch in the mountains. It was hard to be certain that their little ledge went all the way through the gap, but it looked good enough to give them hope.
They hurried as best they could, but it was not fast enough. The sun was no longer overhead, and while they could see the daylight shining brightly in the flattish lands on either side of the mountains, they themselves were in shadow.
Cazia was hungry and thirsty, but she kept silent and kept moving. They were all hungry and thirsty—of course they were—but she wasn’t going to be the one who--
“We should make to rest and eat,” Kinz said, settling onto her haunches against the mountainside. She had chosen a small wide place in the ledge, and they all crouched together and ate morsels of fish and guzzled the water Cazia summoned.
“That is better,” Ivy said. She turned to Cazia. “How are you holding up?”
There was no doubt what she meant, and Cazia had no intention of playing games. “I can feel the very early effects of the magic,” she said simply. “I feel jittery and like I have a lump in my stomach. If I were to lie down right here, I’d have terrible nightmares.”
“Should I make to touch the stone to you?” Kinz asked. It was nice to be consulted this time.
A small pebble tumbled from someplace far above them. “Not right away. I don’t want to be stuck here. Even if we dug into the side of the mountain, I wouldn’t want to be stuck here for a whole day, not after everything that just happened back there.”
“What did happen?” Ivy asked. “What were you doing?”
They heard the cry of an eagle and immediately got to their feet. Cazia was glad that she didn’t have to respond. What had she been doing? She wasn’t entirely sure herself.
In the end, she only needed to tunnel into the mountain in two places where an avalanche had broken away their ledge. They came around a large stone and she suddenly felt a wind in her face. It was slightly sour with the smell of vinegar.
The Sweeps. They were so close.
“I swear,” Ivy said, “these narrow mountain ranges barely deserve the name.”
She began talking about the mountains in the Peninsula where she spent her earliest years. The sound of Ivy’s voice was deeply reassuring, even if the wind carried away too many of her words to actually follow what she was saying. Cazia suppressed the urge to grab the girl and give her a fierce hug.
The sun was low in the west when they came out into the direct light. The Sweeps lay spread out below them, seeming much farther down than the floor of the Qorr Valley, and that awful smell was in her nose.
They were standing on a wide, flat place that sloped down toward the south at a relatively gentle slope. It would have been comfortable to camp there if it hadn’t been so exposed. Cazia moved across the top of a flattish rock so she could get as close to the edge as possible. She knew the nearly impenetrable—by physical means—fused stone shielded this part of the Northern Barrier, but she wanted to be sure.
“Too close!” Ivy called. She was waving her hands nervously. “Come back!”
Cazia did, but before they could even begin talking, two huge eagles glided through the notch in the mountains and flapped just off the edge of the cliff, hovering there. Their dark predator’s eyes were fixed on Cazia.
Chapter 13
The eagles did not attack. That wasn’t a sure thing, but Cazia had hoped they had sense enough to understand what she’d done. If only wizards could cast spells as quickly as they could raise their hands.
Kinz appeared at her shoulder, waving her pointed stick. “HAH! HAH!” she shouted.
“No!” Cazia snapped at her. She took hold of the useless stick and tried to push the point down. Great Way, the older girl was strong. Cazia didn’t have the strength to force her,
but Kinz backed down anyway. “Stay with the princess.”
The giant birds were trilling to each other, sounding almost like cooing doves. Cazia took the translation gem from her pocket.
“--wants you to take it in as a pet, I wager it.”
“I will not wager over this,” the other responded. They seemed to be talking over each other, and Cazia had a hard time telling which words came from which creature. “I will not wager over the lives in my nest. Why did it defend me?”
“Food,” was the response. “It wanted to devour you for its supper.”
“That idea is burdened. If it wanted to devour me, it could have grabbed an egg and run for its tunnel. That’s what the hairbacks do at home.”
“It is greedy. It is stupid.”
Enough. Cazia held up the little gem for them to see. The bird on the left shrieked. “It will burn us!”
Cazia turned to the one on the right. That must have been the mother. In fact, she intended to call it Mother. The other one would have to be Auntie.
She held up the gem to Mother, trying to make her body language as clear as possible. I am offering this to you.
Would birds even understand human body language? She moved forward, ignoring the warning call from Ivy, holding the gem so Mother could see it. Those birds hunted from incredibly high up, so their eyesight had to be good enough to see it.
“It wants to burn you!” Auntie shrieked. “Drop it from the ledge so we can feast on it together.”
Cazia jolted back at that, suddenly feeling very foolish. If it killed her, Ivy and Kinz would die up here, too, and the Tilkilit stones would never make it back to civilization. Fire take them all, maybe she should start a spell anyway.
“Look at that!” Mother said. “It reacts as though it understands you.”
Cazia pointed at Mother, then pointed at the gem.
“It wants you to take the gem as a gift,” Auntie said. Cazia shook her head, but the birds wouldn’t understand that gesture. She pointed at the rocks nearest Auntie’s feet.
“No,” Mother said. “It’s saying that it can understand us because of the gem.”
The Way Into Magic: Book Two of The Great Way Page 14