Battle Magic

11

FORT SAMBACHU

SNOW SERPENT PASS GYONGXE

The sunrise was just touching the river the next day when the hills in the east ended in towering cliffs. They were free of the gorge. Half a mile on they found a wide bridge that crossed the Snow Serpent River. They turned south and rode across it, off the main road. A lesser road following a deep stream took them to a short and jagged hill where Fort Sambachu was built at the feet of the Drimbakang Lho mountains. By then Briar was leading Evvy’s pony. Her eyes were fixed on the soaring peaks ahead. In the gorge the hills had obscured the mountains beyond. Here Evvy saw the immense, snowy heights that stood between Gyongxe and the Realms of the Sun.

“See those three?” Kanbab asked Evvy, pointing to the nearest mountains. “According to the worshippers of La Ni Ma, our sun goddess, those mountains are her husbands. The east one is Ganas Rigyal Po, the Snow King. The west one is Ganas Gazig Rigyal Po, the Snow Leopard King. And the one in the middle is Kangri Skad Po, the Talking Snow Mountain King.”

“What does that mean, the ‘Talking Snow Mountain King’?” Briar asked. He wasn’t sure if Evvy even heard.

Kanbab looked at Briar. “I think the worshippers feel he is the most conversational of the Sun Queen’s husbands.”

“The sun isn’t a queen in the Living Circle,” Evvy murmured.

Kanbab smiled at her. “But this is Gyongxe, the home of many faiths. Surely they told you that when you were here for the winter. Garmashing itself has more temples than even the God-King can count, it is said. People come here to build at least one temple for their faith because our realm is closest of all to the heavens, and our mountains hold them up.”

“And why do people want to be close to the gods?” Evvy wanted to know. “Back home, Shaihun does horrible things to people.”

Kanbab gave Briar a strange look.

“Shaihun is a god of the deep desert,” Briar explained. “Is that Fort Sambachu or a temple?”

“It’s the fort,” Kanbab said in confirmation. “Let those lowland creepers come against us there and see what they get!”

Briar had to admit, the fort looked promising. Its hill and its towers commanded a view of the pass, the road, and the grassy plain for a good distance. The curtain walls sloped inward and climbed the hill in steps, which would allow the archers on the highest level to shoot above the heads of those lower down. Around the outer walls an army of five hundred or more tents was camped, flying banners of crimson, turquoise, and emerald silks.

Evvy yelped and reined up, almost forcing her mount to rear. Briar instantly reached for her horse’s bridle, though he was trying to keep from pulling too hard on his own animal’s reins.

“Wait! Wait!” Captain Rana called, raising a hand. “It’s all right! They are allies, and welcome ones at that!”

Kanbab rested a hand on Evvy’s elbow. “If you’re this jumpy now, what will you do when you get to the war?” she asked. “We’re just getting ready for it. Garmashing is where you’ll find the real danger!”

Parahan rode up beside Evvy. “These — these are Kombanpur flags, but not my uncle’s or my father’s. What is going on here?” He dismounted and walked into the tent village.

“He’ll catch up with us,” Rana said. “Come on. The general’s waiting for you.”

Once inside the fort, they barely got a chance to wash up and release the cats in the rooms to be shared by Rosethorn and Evvy. Rana shooed the three travelers along the halls of the fortress to General Sayrugo’s audience chamber. There the notables were seated on one side of a long, worn table behind pots of the ever-present tea and teacups. Rosethorn, Briar, and Evvy watched as Rana marched up to an imposing bronze-skinned woman in a fire-orange tunic jacket. He presented her with the reports he had written each night on the road.

Then they saw the older man on the general’s right and forgot all about her and Rana. Evvy squeaked and threw herself around the corner of the table to hug First Dedicate Dokyi. Rosethorn and Briar were more restrained, but every bit as glad to see the older mage.

“Evumeimei, where is your dignity?” her most recent teacher asked as he patted her on the back.

“I don’t have any,” Evvy said, her voice muffled by the cloth of his habit.

Dokyi looked up at Rosethorn and Briar. “General Sayrugo has been good enough to allow me to read the reports she received from Captain Rana,” he said. “I understand you had a difficult time. Evumeimei, did you bring your cats?”

She straightened up, indignant. “Of course I did!” Then she saw his smile and realized that he was teasing. “Sorry, Honored Dedicate. You can visit them whenever you like.”

“Perhaps a little later. I should very much like to hear Monster purr again. Now.” Dokyi looked up at Rosethorn. “Captain Rana wrote that you came to warn us, but as he has told you, your warning was not needed. Weishu made secret treaties with both Inxia and Qayan, which freed his armies so he could launch an invasion here. He is a greedy fellow, is he not?”

Rosethorn smiled wryly and told Dokyi, “That is one way of looking at it, Honored Dedicate.”

“Is it true, then, that you are also determined to fight here?” the older man wanted to know.

Rosethorn nodded. “More than ever after our time at the Winter Palace,” she said. Her belly griped. Her heart cried out for Lark, but her answer had to be the one she had given Dokyi and the reason she had taken her two children and brought them back to Gyongxe. After what they had seen of Weishu and his court, she had to do all she could to stop him. The emperor of Yanjing was a monster in human skin.

“Good,” Dokyi said. “I have an errand of utmost importance. You are the best person I know of our faith who can carry it out.” He came out from behind the table and gripped Rosethorn gently by the shoulder. “Forgive me. I did not let you walk into peril on purpose. I did not know that war was inside our borders until the God-King did, and I did not let this errand wait until you were the only one who could do it for me. At first I undertook it. A week ago I set out from Garmashing. For each step I tried to take due south on this errand, there were Yanjingyi troops to drive me south and east. To here, in fact, where I would find you.” He turned to Briar. “They are bringing food for you and Evvy, if you will sit over there.” He nodded to a bench against the wall. “I must speak with Rosethorn privately. And then all of us can have a proper midday.”

“She’s tired,” Briar said flatly. “Her breathing —”

“I understand,” Dokyi replied. “She will sit, and I will have tea brought.”

Rosethorn caught Briar’s gaze with hers. When she was certain that she had it, she raised an eyebrow. It was a warning, and her boy knew it. He was not to push any further. He stared back at her, hard, and then guided Evvy to the bench Dokyi had indicated.

“He is a faithful son,” the First Dedicate said as he led the way to a side door out of the general’s meeting room. “You have been unstinting with your own love, that he is so unstinting with his love for you.”

She ducked her head and hoped he didn’t notice she was blushing. She and Briar only rarely talked about affection. Both of them had learned the hard way when they were children that many people would take any affection they offered and use it to get everything they had.

The older man brought her into a room next door that also seemed to be laid out for meetings. He sat on a bench on the nearest side of the long table and indicated that she should sit beside him. There were no windows here and only two doors. The only thing on the table was a leather pack.

Dokyi gestured, deep black fire trailing from his fingers. He and Rosethorn were instantly enclosed in a shadowy globe that almost touched the room’s ceiling. Suddenly Rosethorn, who had been cold since they left Kushi, felt warm. She drew her own power within her skin, not wanting her plant sensitivity to be entangled with the great man’s stone magic.

“Your children are not as carefree as they were when you left for Yanjing,” Dokyi said.

Rosethorn sighed. “No, Honored Dedicate. The emperor was more overwhelming than we liked. You warned us it would be so.”

“But I am sorry to have been proved right, all the same.” He hesitated, then asked, “Rosethorn, are you still heart-whole in your vows?”

“Of course, Honored Dedicate!”

“As I said, I tried to take care of this matter myself, but no matter how I tried, I could not place my feet on the road to my destination. I have not been so thwarted in my designs since I was a dedicate of only ten years.” Using great care, he opened the pack on the table and slid the leather down over the sides of the contents. He revealed a large peachwood box that contained four drawers. Letters were carved in the sides as well as the top.

Rosethorn shrank back from the waves of power that seemed to flow away from the box. “What is this?” she asked.

“This box holds the greatest treasures of our religion,” he said quietly. “Without them, the Living Circle falls apart.”

Goose bumps raced over Rosethorn’s skin.

Dokyi touched the small gold knob on the bottom-most drawer. Carefully he pulled, and the top three drawers separated from it. The drawers were not set into a single frame, but were interlocking pieces.

“Look at it,” he told Rosethorn quietly.

The contents of the bottom drawer, or open-topped box, were wrapped in silk that had not been dyed. Gingerly, using the tips of her fingers, Rosethorn separated the leaves of cloth that lay on top. Underneath them lay a cup. At Dokyi’s silent urging she picked it up, gasping as magic flowed up her arms and through her veins.

The cup was the size of her palm and made of baked reddish clay with no glaze on it. Four twisting branches of carved white aspen seemed to grow around the cup from a round, flat base. The base itself was secured to a thin granite circle. More signs she did not recognize were cut into the outside of the clay, but not the inside. It was the simplest of objects, but the power within it made her bones shiver. Somehow she managed to gently place the cup in its box and cover it again.

“Honored Dedicate?” she whispered.

“The Cup of Water,” he told her. He slid the three drawers into place on top of the cup until Rosethorn heard a faint click. Now the man touched the gold knob on the third drawer and pulled the top two off it. He motioned for Rosethorn to remove the silk cover from the drawer’s contents.

“No,” she said. She still shook from her contact with the cup.

Frowning, Dokyi motioned again.

Rosethorn reached out a trembling hand and uncovered the drawer’s contents. There lay a clear stone or crystal ball in which a flame burned, seemingly without air or fuel.

“Pick it up,” Dokyi ordered. Sensing that she was about to refuse, he ordered, “Each guardian must handle them. Pick it up!”

Rosethorn closed her eyes and wrapped her fingers around the ball. It was warm.

And then she was furiously hot, burning inside her own skin. Swiftly she put the globe back and gulped the remains of her tea. It did not put out the heat inside her. She was afraid to speak, expecting flames to come out of her mouth.

“The Blaze of Fire.” Dokyi covered the ball with silk and slid the two remaining drawers over it. He pointed to the knob on the third drawer.

Rosethorn looked at him and gasped, covering her mouth with her hands. She saw Dokyi as she had known him that winter. She also saw a towering tree, a soaring fire, a jet of water, all whipped by a gust of air. She didn’t dare argue. It occurred to her that he had been these things all along and she, a dedicate initiate of Winding Circle, had never suspected it. Embarrassed for her ignorance, she stabbed the gold knob with a finger and let Dokyi lay the third drawer bare.

It held a green jade bowl. Inside it was a motley collection of seeds, large and small, many belonging to plants that Rosethorn had never seen before. She felt the magic in each as she ran her fingers through them, but no pain. Either she was worn down, or this Earth power was friendlier to her. She raised the bowl and carefully inhaled the dry scent of the seeds, wondering how old they were. What she wouldn’t give to plant some of these!

Gently she set the bowl in its drawer and covered it with silk.

“The Seeds of the Earth.” The man covered the bowl with the last drawer and nodded to Rosethorn. She took a deep breath and touched the gold knob for the Air treasure. The wooden top of the drawer flipped up.

Under its silk covering lay a feather that was many colors and none. Every time Rosethorn’s eyes moved she saw different shades ripple across its surface. Even the feather’s shape changed as she held it in her fingers. A great wind assaulted her. Thunder rolled in the distance; lightning struck nearby. The skin all over her body rippled.

“The Feather of Air.” Dokyi’s voice was a comforting growl as Rosethorn covered the feather and replaced the lid. “Now these boxes will open only for you. These are the four sacred Treasures of the Living Circle. There are no other beauties like them. These are the embodiment of all we hold sacred. Each temple we build is touched by them, and they are in every temple. As long as we have these, our faith will not fall. As long as we labor in our charge to preserve the beauties of the world, to worship all of it in life and death, these Treasures and their blessings will be ours. Should they fall into the hands of a destroyer, however — into the hands of one such as Weishu — our temples will lose their strength. Our works and our people will become corrupt. The Treasures must be hidden outside a temple of the Living Circle.”

Rosethorn blinked wearily at him. “Why not?” she whispered. Tides dragged at the blood in her veins and in her womb. Another kind of tide, hot and molten, surged in the marrow of her bones and within her eyes. She felt its long, slow roll countless miles below her feet, under the pathetically thin skin that covered the earth’s surface. “Why not … to another Living Circle temple?”

“First Circle Temple in Garmashing is the only one of our houses built to keep the Treasures without revealing their presence,” Dokyi told her. “If I had been here, or in your Winding Circle, with these boxes for a week or more, everyone would feel their nearness in the air they breathed, the fire they warmed themselves with, the water they drank, and the earth under their feet. Every bit of magic within them would strain to find the Treasures and touch them. They would appear in dreams, water puddles, in the surfaces of metal. A week more and others would come. No, there is only one other safe place for them here in Gyongxe.”

Rosethorn covered her face with her hands. Water laden with ice coursed through her veins. Flocks of birds flew south below her as she slid from wind to wind.

She didn’t notice when Dokyi left the room and returned with a tray of tea and buns. She came a little to herself when he wrapped her hands around a warm cup. “Drink. Do you understand, girl? You will take them to the Temple of the Sealed Eye in the Drimbakang Lho, west of here. Their priests are the only ones who can hide such things so no others can sense them. They are immune to the power that great magics possess over others. Only a dedicate of exceptional will and power can carry such a burden. Only a dedicate with strong reasons to return can take the Treasures there and come back.”

Slowly Rosethorn looked at him. She could have sworn she heard Lark ask someone to fetch Comas home from the looms. “What if I didn’t have such reasons?”

“Drink.” Dokyi helped her to lift the cup to her lips. A few sips and she began to feel as if she was more herself. “You would become a priest of the Sealed Eye. As I told you, I did try to take the burden myself. Thanks to the gods, I have to suppose, I failed. You must not.”

Rosethorn emptied the cup and set it down. “What if something happens to me?” she whispered. “The emperor’s soldiers …” She turned her head. There — that was Niko’s voice. He was talking about Tris, and Lightsbridge University.

Dokyi gripped her chin and made her look him in the eyes. “You will stop hearing the sounds shortly. It is the winds that carry them to you. Or perhaps it is the life’s blood of all the plants that link roots beneath the surface of this world. The sounds will fade. Listen.” His voice made her blink. “I was right about you,” he said with great satisfaction. “They can be distracting at first. But I knew the acceptance of the Treasures would not drive you mad.”

“Surely someone from Garmashing could have …” Rosethorn began to say. Then she saw the complexity of the table’s wood grain. She sensed a grain within the grain, and patterns inside that. Gently she followed the whorls with her fingertips. She might follow them to the tree that had supplied the wood for the table, if she concentrated hard enough.

“You are not listening. One of my dedicates perished in the attempt to hold the box, and another lost his mind. No other dedicate had both the strength to go and the need to return, Rosethorn.” Dokyi spoke into her ear so that she could hear nothing else. “Only a very strong mage can survive the Treasures and the Sealed Eye temple. But you — half of you walks in the sun, and half of you walks in shadow. You will need the shadow in the Temple of the Sealed Eye.”

“What!” Rosethorn yelped. “That’s not true! I’m a plant mage! I need sunshine, I thrive on it —”

“Then how did you die and return?”

She opened her mouth, inhaled, and thought the better of whatever she had meant to say. Instead she exhaled and rubbed her temples. “It’s a long and difficult story.”

“Then I will live through the fighting, because I want to hear it. In the meantime, I am First Dedicate of the Living Circle faith, First Dedicate of all of the Living Circle temples, and your vows of obedience are vows to me. I need you to do this because if the emperor, if any evil person, seizes these Treasures, they will poison our temples first, and then the world. No more arguing!”

She bowed her head. “No, Honored Dedicate.”

“Eat something.”

“Yes, Honored Dedicate.” She picked up a bun and bit it. Red bean. She hated red bean. She ate it anyway.

As she chewed, Dokyi explained, “In a day or two General Sayrugo will send troops on a sweep of the villages between this fort and the Drimbakang Zugu. The people here in the south must be moved to safety, should imperial armies come this far. You will ride with the soldiers as far as the turnoff for the road to Sealed Eye. They will guard you.”

“Will the children and I have a guide?” Rosethorn asked. She bit another bun. This was very spicy meat. She ate it dully.

Dokyi shook his head. “No. The fewer people who know of this, the better. Briar and Evumeimei must remain behind.”

That pierced the fog in her brain. She sat straight. “Dokyi, no. They’re my charges.”

“Briar is a man as such things are judged here. Others will look after him and Evumeimei. You cannot take them with you.”

She remembered their restless nights on the way through the pass, when she had roused them both from ugly dreams. Did Dokyi even understand the weird effect the mountains were having on Evvy? Briar was watchful, but he hadn’t spent years of his life raising young mages. “You’ve forgotten what they’re like. Briar seems tough, but he worries himself sick over me. Evvy’s still a child. And the mountains are pulling at her. She should be watched carefully.”

“They will not be able to accompany you. I swear it. No, I will not prevent them,” Dokyi said in response to her glare. “The magic of the Sealed Eye itself will do so. Once you set foot on the path to their temple, your young people will lose you in plain sight. This friend of theirs, this Parahan, will keep them safe. Or they may remain here, but you must take these Treasures into hiding!”

Rosethorn bowed her head, feeling very weary. “I am really the only person who could have done this?”

“I am one of Garmashing’s defending mages,” the man replied. “I took precious time to try to do it myself and failed. I am needed in the capital now.”

“Oh. Forgive me, Honored Dedicate,” Rosethorn whispered. Her heart twisted. Briar would not understand. Sadly, Evvy would understand all too well. Evvy expected everyone to leave her sooner or later.

All you can do is deliver this thing and hurry back to her, Rosethorn told herself. Get a grip on yourself, Niva!

She looked at Dokyi.

“Look,” he said, understanding that she was ready to listen. “This pack will keep the Treasures concealed for ten days or so. Anyone who snoops will think it holds clothing. Place the Treasures inside it.” He held the leather pack open for Rosethorn. At first she hesitated to touch them, afraid of what the combined Treasures, even in their silk wraps and boxes, might do to her. When she saw Dokyi’s glare, Rosethorn glared back, wiped her fingers on a handkerchief she kept in her sleeve, and gripped the box by the sides. It felt like any other wooden container, cool and smooth. Rosethorn set the box inside the pack.

Briskly Dokyi did up the ties and buckles that secured it. Once he was finished, he placed it on the table. “Now you must take the map to the temple from my mind. This is why you require no guide. If the map is behind your eyes, no one can steal it from you.”

Rosethorn nodded. She had done spells like this twice, though she did not care for them. She closed her eyes and found the core of her power, the part that was pure magic. It surged up through her arms and into her hands more fiercely than ever before. Carefully she pressed her fingers against Dokyi’s temples.

His Earth magic answered hers. Once again she saw a landscape. She knew it for southern Gyongxe in vivid detail. The Snow Serpent River flowed over its rocks and hollows, plunging into the gorge. The fort lay just below her, with the army camped around it. Now she turned west, following the Snow Serpent River deeper into the country. There were villages on both sides and temples dedicated to gods she did not recognize. Only once did she spot a Circle temple to the north on the plain. She recognized it by the four-colored banner that flew from the bell tower.

When the Snow Serpent met the Tom Sho River, the map spell drew her south, into hills that were just lower rises of the massive Drimbakang Lho mountains. Inside the first line of peaks the magic pulled her along first one gorge, then another. At last she found the shadowed spot that was her destination, the Temple of the Sealed Eye.

She took her hands from Dokyi’s head. “I should tell Briar and Evvy something,” Rosethorn murmured. She felt dizzy and strange. “Where’s the pack?”

Dokyi gave it to her. “You must rest and have a proper meal. Soudamini wishes to meet you and thank you for saving her brother.”

Rosethorn blinked at him. “Souda-who?”

“Parahan’s twin sister is camped before our walls with troops she has brought to join us. Her name is Soudamini.”

“Oh.” There were mountains in Rosethorn’s head. She rose and swayed.

Dokyi stood and supported her by one arm. “Forgive me. The map is complex. Together with the Treasures, you have borne too much all at once.” He snapped his fingers. The dark bubble around them vanished. “I can only say in my own defense that we are all desperate. The emperor took the God-King by surprise.”

“How bad does it look?” Rosethorn asked, leaning on Dokyi as they walked out into a hallway.

“Soudamini’s warriors have shown they are worth more than their numbers. The eastern and western tribesmen and their shamans have been coming in to join our armies. I don’t think the emperor has planned for them,” Dokyi explained. “And we still await the armies of the northwest.” He led her somewhere in the fort; Rosethorn wasn’t certain where. If she closed her eyes, she saw the Endless Ocean and the unexplored lands far to the west of Emelan. She tried to keep her eyes open.

Dokyi handed her over to two female dedicates, who gently took her arms. “Let her sleep and eat. Give her a hot bath. Treat her with all honor,” the man instructed them. “And put this among her things.”

To Rosethorn’s drowsy surprise, he casually handed the pack with the Treasures to the younger of the two. “Rest,” he said, and kissed Rosethorn on the forehead. “I will see you later.”

The older dedicate led Rosethorn into a large room. All Rosethorn noticed was the bed, strewn with Evvy’s cats. Promising herself that she would never let Dokyi talk her into anything more than a fishing trip again, she tumbled onto it.

Briar and Evvy had finished their snack and were wondering what would happen next when the main door opened. Parahan came in, his arm around a much shorter person in a yak-skin coat and boots. They were chattering in the language Parahan often used for swearing. While his companion waited to see the general, Parahan came to see Briar and Evvy and filch a couple of their leftover dumplings.

“Who’s that?” Evvy demanded, feeling a little jealous. She could see that Parahan’s friend was female. She wore a long braid of black hair pinned at the back of her head, and a tiny row of rubies that followed the line of her brows somehow. She also had large golden-brown eyes, a perfect nose, and full lips. She made Evvy feel even more like a grub than she did already. “That’s my sister,” Parahan said gleefully. “That’s Souda — Soudamini! She’s the fierce one and I’m the layabout. There was gossip that the emperor might invade Gyongxe this year or next, so she came from Kombanpur to offer her services and two hundred warriors to the God-King. She heard what happened to me. So now I have my own clothes and weapons, because she prepares for everything, and we are going to fight Weishu, if the God-King will have me.” Parahan indeed had his own clothes: a red silk tunic embroidered with a multitude of birds, blue silk breeches, and proper riding boots. He asked, “Where is Rosethorn?”

“First Dedicate Dokyi took her away for a talk,” Briar said, leaning against the wall. “In that room.” He pointed to the door.

“There’s some kind of magic going on in there, but it’s behind a wall,” Evvy offered. “We can’t even get a peek.”

“Far be it from me to try to peek at mages,” Parahan said. Then he frowned. “Is she all right?”

“Dokyi’s our friend,” Evvy told him. “He wouldn’t hurt her.”

“He’s her, I don’t know, he’s the First Dedicate of First Circle Temple,” Briar explained. “That means he’s sort of the head of all the Living Circle temples in the world. And Rosethorn is a Living Circle dedicate.”

Parahan nodded. “I understand.”

“Maybe he’s telling her that she doesn’t really have to fight the emperor,” Evvy suggested. She sighed. “I would like that.”

“Prince Parahan,” General Sayrugo called.

“Excuse me,” Parahan told them. He went to the table and bowed. “Please, General, here I am only Parahan, a soldier.”

Sayrugo looked him over. “Well, only Parahan with one hundred of Soudamini’s troops to his name, the God-King sent me a message about you.”

“But the God-King doesn’t know me,” Parahan said, unnerved.

“In all my years of service to Gyongxe, I have learned never to try to guess what the God-King does and does not know,” the general replied. “The answer to your question, he says, is yes, you have a job. You may begin here in the south. Soudamini and you are to go west with two of my captains. Move as many villagers as possible into the fortresses between here and the Temple of the Serpents on the Tom Sho River.” Evvy saw that General Sayrugo was showing the road to Parahan on a map on the table. “With those same troops you may then proceed north. You have my permission to cut down every unsanctified piece of Yanjingyi worm bait that gets between you and the capital.”

“Where does that leave us?” Evvy asked Briar in a whisper.

“Wherever Rosethorn says we go,” he replied comfortably.

Evvy wasn’t comfortable. Dokyi had plans for Rosethorn. What if they didn’t include her or Briar? And now that they were indoors, with thick walls between her and danger, she was suddenly too tired to get up. She felt as if she had been pulling rocks out from under the feet of killers for months. She had been sleeping cold at night for years. She’d been hungry again, and terrified. This was a comfortable place. The mountains sang even through the walls. Why did they have to leave? Let soldiers deal with the emperor.

They slept most of that day, and bathed, and put on clean clothes. Evvy introduced the cats to Soudamini. Parahan introduced his rough-voiced twin to the people who had been his companions on the road to Gyongxe. When Souda learned that Evvy and Briar had freed him from his shackles, she insisted on pressing her forehead to their hands, which flustered both Evvy and Briar, though for different reasons. She was fascinated by the tale of their journey and their battles along the Snow Serpent River.

Serious conversation came over that night’s supper with Dokyi, the twins, and General Sayrugo. The discussion about the imperial soldiers in the Snow Serpent Pass, and plans to get villagers to safety along the Snow Serpent River, went smoothly. Then Rosethorn began to explain her plans.

“No!” Briar cried. “This is the most bleat-brained idea you’ve ever come up with! You can’t!” He glared at Dokyi. “Find someone else. Look at her! She’s worn-out! I won’t let you do it!”

“Such an ill-behaved child,” Sayrugo commented, looking at her pakoras — ball-shaped dumplings — with a suspicious eye. The Kombanpur cooks who had come with Souda and her troops had provided the meal to welcome Parahan.

“I am not a child!” Briar snapped.

Dokyi tried, unsuccessfully, to hide a smile behind his finger. “Such a bad student, then.”

“I’m not a student, either! Exactly! I’m certified in my own right, and she can’t tell me to go or stay anymore. She has trouble breathing up here!”

“Actually, I feel better,” Rosethorn said. She took a deep breath and raised her eyebrows. “Much better.” She had eaten all that was put before her and was taking seconds.

“There are benefits to the burden I passed to you,” Dokyi said, though his eyes were on Briar. “I will not tell you my age, because I am vain. I am older than I seem, however, and stronger, due to its influence. She is healthy enough for whatever trials the land may put before her, young man. And it is not your place to question a duty for which her vows have fitted her.”

“Enough,” Rosethorn said when Briar opened his mouth again. “Not one more word, understand me?”

For a long moment there was silence and tea drinking. Then Evvy said, “My cats can’t take any more travel. Between sleeping herbs and galloping along they’re not looking so good. I am a bit tired myself.” She rubbed her thumb along the table’s edge. “Might we stay here? I could help defend this fort and the cats would be all right. It’s a mountain fort. There are rocks I can use here, big ones. Maybe Rosethorn and Briar could do more thorns and bar the road to the pass.”

“That is a splendid idea,” the general said unexpectedly.

Everyone looked at her in shock. “It is?” Rosethorn asked.

Sayrugo smiled. “I am taking troops northeast along the Drimbakang Sharlog,” she explained. “Parahan and Souda will have two companies of my people as well as their own two hundred to ride along the Snow Serpent Road going west. We all have to move villagers to safety and fight any imperials that have come so far south. But Captain Rana’s company will remain in charge here to defend the pass and the local villagers. A barrier of thorns on the pass will make Rana’s work easier. There will be no more Yanjingyi soldiers to come through that way.”

Rosethorn frowned.

Briar smiled wryly. “I don’t think any trade will be going down the Snow Serpent for a while, Rosethorn, if that’s what’s wrinkling your face. It won’t matter if the pass is blocked.”

She nodded slowly. “We could do thorns, then. I’ll go with Parahan and Soudamini as far as the Tom Sho River, provided they don’t slow down too much alerting the villages and temples.”

“And I’ll go with you, since Evvy will be snug as a flea in an armpit here,” Briar said cheerfully. Soudamini choked on her curried rice.

“Briar!” Rosethorn cried. “Where are your manners?”

“In the same dung hole you left your bleating brains when you said you were going off without me!” Briar shouted back, jumping to his feet.

“Boy, you cannot go to the Temple of the Sealed Eye with her,” Dokyi said. “It will not be permitted.”

Briar stared at Dokyi in white-hot rage, wondering if he should tell the old hand waver what he could do with his permission.

Dokyi stood and put an arm like stone around Briar’s shoulders. “Let us confer outside,” he said agreeably.

I’m not even one of his precious dedicates! Briar thought, indignant. He did not argue. At the moment standing this close to the old man was like being close to Rosethorn when she was in the depths of her magic, only stronger, like stone.

Outside the room with the door closed, the First Dedicate released him. Softly he said, “I know that you have lived under terrible strain since you reached Yanjing.”

“So?” Briar demanded. He kept his own voice quiet. He didn’t want Rosethorn to hear, either.

Dokyi folded his hands in front of him. “I honor your care for her, Briar, but this is now something only she can do, and it concerns survival for many. She wanted you to come with her, but it is quite truly not possible. If you love her, you will help her, not hinder her.”

“Is there no one else?” Briar whispered.

Dokyi shook his head. “The task requires someone extraordinary. She is that person. Do not make her duty more painful.”

He walked back into the supper room, leaving Briar to think and kick the wall. When he returned to his seat, Evvy was saying, “The emperor has plenty of riches. He doesn’t need Gyongxe. The farming here isn’t very good. What can he want here?”

Dokyi shook his head, smiling. “But he isn’t the heart of the world. He hears Gyongxe is the spindle on which the world turns, but he does not understand it. He thinks if he takes Gyongxe, people will say that he is the spindle.”

“He thinks Gyongxe means wealth, and magic,” General Sayrugo explained. “He thinks that people build temples here to be close to magic. In truth they come to be closest to the sky, where the gods dwell. When our ambassador reminded him that five holy rivers, that feed hundreds of thousands, rise here, he only said that was interesting.”

“He must not be allowed to control our temples or to handle the gifts of our gods,” Dokyi said. “He will do what he has done to every other realm he has conquered. He will loot its treasures and destroy all the signs of its history. That is what the emperor does to his conquered nations.”

Evvy stared at the man, her eyes wide. Briar glared at him for frightening her and put his arm around Evvy.

They picked at their food in silence for a time before Parahan said, “Do you know, I would like Briar with us.” To Soudamini he said, “You must see what my friend here can do with a handful of seeds, Souda.”

“Truly?” she asked.

Evvy nodded. “There’s plenty of the emperor’s soldiers that won’t be buried with their ancestors because of what Briar can do.”

Souda smiled wickedly at Briar. “Impressive.”

Briar looked at her. Parahan’s twin was a couple of inches shorter than Briar and well curved. Tonight she wore her blue-black hair in complexly twined braids secured with gold pins. A wicked dimple accented her mouth. Briar was the first to admit he was a fool for a dimple.

“Ride with us and find some Yanjingyi dogs to fight,” Souda proposed. “Show me these skills of yours. A prebu is always welcome.”

Briar looked at Parahan, confused by the strange word. “A nanshur,” Parahan explained in tiyon.

“We’re going to have a splendid time deciding which language to speak,” Souda murmured.

Briar shoved his hands into his pockets to give himself a second to think. If he went with the twins, at least he could watch Rosethorn for part of her journey. He could see Evvy was worn-out. There was also her un-Evvy-ish drifting off as she stared at the vast mountains. Perhaps if she stayed here for a time, to feed her cats and rest, she would get used to the tall peaks and come back to herself again. With the pass closed off, and Gyongxe armies roaming in two directions, the fort ought to be safe for her.

He hated to think it, but maybe Dokyi had a point as well. Watching Rosethorn until she left the twins for this strange temple was probably all of the orange he was going to get. Half of the fruit was better than none. With luck, he would find her when she returned from her strange errand. He would be able to sense her as she came down from the mountains: The very grasses would tell him.

He glanced at her. She had actually cleaned her plate. Her color was better than it had been since they left the Traders.

“You need to go to bed if we’re taking the road again soon,” he said gruffly. He looked at Dokyi, Parahan, and Soudamini. “We can’t wait another day?”

“You may wait,” Dokyi said. “I leave at midnight.”

“Alone?” Souda asked, alarmed.

“Alone is best,” Dokyi said. “Souda, I am the First Dedicate of the Earth temple of First Circle Temple. Midnight and the dark are my elements. I will be fine.” He stood and went to Rosethorn. “Do not wait for more than a day. The new magic will strengthen you as you travel, and the emperor is on the move. Good fortune and the gods’ blessings to you, my daughter.” He kissed Rosethorn on the forehead and looked at Briar. “If all things go well, soon we will meet again.”

As he walked from the room, Parahan, Soudamini, and the general followed to ask their own questions. The moment the door closed behind them, Rosethorn began a scold that blistered Briar’s ears.