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Rosethorn struggled to stand.
Jimut shook his head. “I don’t mind taking care of him,” he said, and flicked his fingers at the door in a beckoning gesture. A girl who wore the undyed robe of a novice in the eastern Circle temples came in and bowed very low to Rosethorn. She placed her hands on the shoulder ties of Rosethorn’s armor, checked that Rosethorn did not object, and began to undo them. “Gods all bless me,” Jimut continued as he worked on Briar, “how many of my friends have you and Briar cared for all this time? You saved my prince’s life, too. I think you have earned some rest, and you can’t even stand up, any of you. What you did out there today — I have never seen anything like that, ever. None of us have.” He laid the armor on the floor of Briar’s side of the room so the sweaty parts could dry.
A Gyongxin man staggered through the door carrying Luvo. “Where — where will you go, old one?” he panted.
“He stays with me,” Evvy said.
Jimut put another of the small tables that littered the room by Evvy’s side of the bed. “What took you so long?” he asked the newcomer.
“The stone god weighs more than he looks,” retorted the man. “And there are many steps from the horse level to this one. All of them are clogged with people who wanted to see him.”
“It is perfectly understandable,” Luvo said. “They have not seen the heart of a mountain before. I only wish that they would have waited until I had made certain that Evumeimei is well.”
“I’m tired,” Evvy said. She set her bowl on the floor, just as Briar had done, and fumbled at the ties of her armor. Her fingers were strangely clumsy. She gave up and lay on the mattress with her head close to Luvo. “Did we catch the emperor?” she asked him.
“Soudamini and the Garmashing soldiers are chasing him,” he said. It was the last thing she heard him say.
When Briar awoke, the shutters were open. He stumbled over to look outside. If he judged correctly, it was well past noon. Rosethorn and Evvy still slept. Luvo was nowhere in sight.
He stood for a long time, eyeing the view. Their room was on the southern side of the temple, with half of Garmashing spread out below. The city he remembered had been hammered. Everywhere he saw blackened pits where bombs and fires had destroyed homes, temples, and public buildings. Holes had been blown in roads and parks. The air smelled of burning and death. People labored to drag war’s debris into piles, except for the dead people and animals. There the scavengers were having a feast. The vultures were so bold they didn’t even flinch away from the humans.
Briar turned away from the sight. He’d found a lot to admire in Gyongxe, but sky burial still unnerved him.
A look at his hands showed him that he was utterly filthy. He opened the door and peered out.
A novice sat there reading a scroll. “Sir?” he asked. “How may I assist?”
Soon Briar was soaking in a huge tub full of hot water. He got out only when he started to sleep and slipped under the surface. Back to bed for me, he thought, once he stopped choking. He was drying off when Parahan arrived.
The man wasted no time in stripping off his clothes. “Bliss,” he announced as he settled into the bath. He looked exhausted. “Souda and Sayrugo are back,” he told Briar. “They chased the imperial army as far as they dared, but the enemy got away. We’ll see if they return.”
“You think they will?” Briar asked. He put on the narrow breeches and long tunic that someone had left for him.
“The emperor isn’t nearly beaten enough. He’ll get more troops and mages and he’ll come back. We’ll be waiting, too. Actually, I don’t think the emperor was with this army. He might be in the north or northwest — those troops haven’t arrived, which has the God-King worried. Weishu knows he has to take Garmashing, though, to hold Gyongxe. I’m not sure he can.”
“Why not?”
“The shamans were always going to be a problem, even more than the tribes themselves,” Parahan explained. “Half of battle magic is knowing what the other side will use. Weishu’s famous mages don’t know how to fight shamans, because the shamans don’t work alone. The mages cannot direct their power at one person. Shaman magic is based on the combination of five or six different people with different strengths and skills. They practice weaving those things together all their lives. And if any of the court mages have ventured out to learn the shaman music and dances, I, for one, will be much surprised. Do you scrub feet?”
“No,” Briar replied, thinking over what the prince had said. “Do your mages in Kombanpur study the shaman dances?”
“No,” Parahan told him comfortably, “but we have never been stupid enough to attack Gyongxe. There are easier places to attack on our side of the Drimbakang Lho.”
Several novices entered in a rush to open the taps on another big tub. Steaming water rushed into it as the novices placed soap and scrubbing sponges on one of the benches within reach. Briar was about to leave and Parahan was sinking into his bathwater when Rosethorn, Evvy, and Souda came in, all dressed in bathing robes.
“Do any of you ladies scrub feet?” Parahan asked as Rosethorn stripped off her robe and stepped down into the water.
“Scrub your own feet, you lazy oaf,” she advised him.
Evvy stood there, trembling. Parahan covered his eyes and Briar looked away. It was Souda who said, “It’s safe, lads.” She and Evvy were tucked into the rising water. The novices closed the taps when the water reached a couple of inches from the rim of the tub.
Briar silently cursed himself for missing a glimpse of Souda, but he knew he wouldn’t have felt right. Bathing wasn’t for ogling women; it was for getting clean. It worried him that Evvy was so clearly frightened of being bare when she had taken baths in groups all of her life. She had sunk down in the shared tub until her chin rested on the top of the water.
“So can the shamans drive the emperor out of Gyongxe?” Briar asked, returning to his conversation with Parahan.
Their friend shook his head. “If the three of you were to stay, perhaps we could come up with something that would kill Weishu,” he said. “That would force Yanjing out. It’s his ambition that brings him here, and greed. Without him, his generals would retreat to fight over the rest of the empire. His sons would fight, too. That would keep all of them busy.”
“I hate to agree with my brother on politics, but for once he’s right,” Souda remarked.
“I will have you know that in the years I trailed the emperor like a chained monkey, I received a very good education in politics,” Parahan retorted. “You can’t ask for a better teacher than Weishu. That’s how I know Gyongxe doesn’t have enough soldiers to send against him. That’s not even counting devices of war. We fight him with no catapults, no zayao bombs. We didn’t have any pitch, for that matter. Without Briar, Rosethorn, Evvy, and Luvo to work on them, those catapults would have been the end of us. I would do anything to get my hands on the zayao formula. It’s death for anyone in the empire to sell it.”
“You don’t need to buy it,” Rosethorn said with a yawn. “It’s evil stuff, but if you truly need the formula, Briar and I both know how to make zayao.”
Souda and Parahan stared at her.
“Do you know how much my uncle paid the empire for sixty kegs of it last year?” Souda whispered.
“We’ll teach you how to make it for free if we leave you to face him,” Rosethorn announced. “But it’s evil. Once you have it, you guarantee your enemies will get their hands on it so they can use it against you.”
“Let’s not get carried away with this ‘for free’ stuff,” Briar said quickly. “If Gyongxe can pay there’s nothing wrong with that. We have a long journey to reach our ship.”
Now the twins were staring at him.
“So you mean to leave us,” Parahan said.
Briar shrugged. “We’re supposed to be on our way home now,” he reminded their friend. “If we don’t catch our ship when it makes port in the southernmost Realm of the Sun, we risk getting caught in your mons
oons. We have family at home we won’t have seen for three years if we have to wait.”
“You could make the difference between victory and slavery if you stayed,” Souda explained.
“You know Weishu,” Parahan added. “He destroys what he cannot keep.”
Briar glanced at Evvy, who had sunk almost to her nose. She was weeping silently. The others saw him looking at the girl.
Souda reached out and stroked Evvy’s hair. “What is it?” she asked gently.
Evvy sat up enough to clear her mouth of the water. “He’ll torture us,” she whispered. “He’ll whip our feet till we can’t walk and he’ll murder our friends. His people killed my cats because they were in the way. They killed the villagers and Captain Rana’s soldiers for the same reason. They don’t care about anyone.” She was shivering so hard her teeth chattered. “I want you to kill me. Don’t let him get me.”
“No one will let —” Rosethorn began, putting an arm around Evvy.
She got no farther. The door blew off its hinges and fell onto the floor. A deep, powerful voice boomed, “Why does Evumeimei weep? Who has terrified her so much that her bones shudder?”
Luvo stood at the door. For someone that’s a chunk of crystal, he looks seriously angry, Briar thought. “We were just talking, Luvo.”
“Your talk has meddled with the healing I did with her,” Luvo said. He waddled into the bathing room. Several novices peered through the open doorway, but they did not seem to want to come in. “Much rockfall singing, much time spent with Big Milk, yet now Evumeimei is as frightened as she was when I called her to me. Why? She was good when she had slept and eaten. You are her friends. What have you said to do this to her?”
“Luvo, it’s all right, I’m fine,” Evvy said. She wiped an arm across her eyes, but the tears kept coming. “We were just talking about staying for a while because maybe Gyongxe needs us, that’s all. I’m being silly.”
Briar realized this might take some time. With a grunt he lifted the rock creature up onto the bench where the women had placed their robes. When he leaned the fallen door back over the opening in the wall, he wasn’t surprised to find it weighed less than Evvy’s friend.
“Evumeimei,” Luvo said slowly, “you wish to leave here? I can find you small furry creatures. There are many of them here.”
“No!” Evvy shouted, standing up. “I don’t want any more cats! I don’t want anything that can get killed! Look at Briar, he got wounded, he could have died….” She looked down and realized she was naked. Climbing from the tub, she dragged her robe over herself and squeezed through the opening between the leaning door and the frame.
They heard a novice outside ask if she could help. Evvy shouted, “Get away from me!”
Luvo turned his head knob toward the others. “She wishes to leave this land.”
“She’s afraid to stay,” Briar said quietly. “She’s afraid the emperor will get her and torture her — or us. You did a splendid job of putting her back together after what those monsters did, Luvo.” He had to stop talking then. He was afraid he might weep.
“Only time heals such deep wounds,” Rosethorn continued. “Briar, perhaps you should take Evvy home. The First Circle Temple is the home of my religion. The obligation is mine.”
“Why don’t you take Evvy home and I stay?” Briar asked sharply, the idea of leaving Rosethorn here cutting into his heart like a dagger. “You’ve got a cool head for a long journey, and Lark is waiting for you.”
“We are all tired and hungry still, and truly, I did not mean to start a quarrel when you have helped us so much already,” Parahan said. “Come. Let us set this aside for later. Souda and I have warriors to see to.”
Briar and Rosethorn exchanged looks. “We should look in on the healers,” Rosethorn said.
“No,” Souda told them flatly. “If the enemy returns while you are still here, you are battle mages. Do what you can to restore your strength, but do not heal, please.”
“I will speak with Evvy and sing to her,” Luvo said. “If it is for the best, of course she must go home. I had only hoped to show her all of my mountain.”
Parahan climbed out of the bath and lifted the crystal creature down to the floor. “Welcome to the human world, my friend,” he said quietly. “We all have those we wish to show our favorite treasures, if only there was enough time.”
FIRST CIRCLE TEMPLE
GARMASHING, CAPITAL OF GYONGXE
Evvy didn’t stay in the room once she had dressed. The others would be asking her questions and trying to understand her when she didn’t even understand herself. Instead she fled the Living Circle temple to wander Garmashing.
There were people in the streets, all busy. Most were hauling debris out of the yards of houses and temples. The imperial army had rained stones and zayao bombs on the city for days before General Sayrugo came to distract the soldiers. Now even the smallest children helped to clean up, dumping little baskets of trash into wheelbarrows and carts. Evvy felt guilty to be loafing, but her power was still not what it had been a week ago. Even her body was exhausted: Her arms and shoulders felt like overcooked noodles when she tried to use them for lifting.
She had not considered that people might care that she was Yanjingyi now. It was hard to keep her temper when someone did and spat on the ground at her feet. Luckily this did not happen often. When Evvy saw others with Yanjingyi blood, she nodded, and they nodded back. They knew what it was like to have the enemy’s face, even if they had lived here all their lives. Evvy had seen a couple of baita temples here when they lived in the city that winter. They were built for the worship of Kanzan, the goddess of mercy and healing, and for Tuyan, the god who was heaven itself. It made sense that there would be some Yanjingyi people in Garmashing, with so many foreign temples in this country. Had they been watched, or even locked up, during the siege?
Briefly she considered going to a baita, but she changed her mind. She didn’t know how long she could wander before she got too tired and had to hitch a wagon ride back to the Living Circle temple. She did mean to walk as far as she could, though it was sad to see all the damage done to the vividly painted homes and temples. At least they had put a stop to that, she and her friends.
She stopped to stare at one untouched temple wall. It was illustrated with a number of Gyongxin figures. Since her time underground with Luvo, it seemed that every painted image she saw was moving. These had decided to rejoice in the siegeless day. An ice lion danced with a snow leopard, then leaped across it to chase a large yak. The snow leopard chose to keep dancing with a spider the size of the leopard itself, while several of a naga’s heads read a scroll and the other heads looked bored.
“Sometimes I throw pine nuts over their heads,” the God-King said, “and they get angry because they can’t catch them.”
Evvy looked him, startled. “Should you be wandering around by yourself?” she asked. “What if there are spies in the city and they grab you, or —” She blinked at what she was thinking, and her voice shook. The thought in her head was too awful: The God-King strapped up like she had been, lashed like she had been. “There are bad people in the world.”
He slung an arm around her shoulders as she began to cry. “Come here,” he said, and led her to a bench against an unpainted portion of the wall. He sat with her there, her head on his shoulder, letting her cry out the tension and fear that had swamped her. “I am protected,” he said. “You would be surprised how protected I am.” He looked at the wall paintings, which had come to stare at Evvy and pat her head and back. “Evvy, you’re worrying them.”
“I’m sorry,” she said, wiping her face on her sleeve. Rosethorn could not seem to break her of the habit. “I’m just tired.” She frowned at the God-King. “And it doesn’t seem very god-like, or king-like, to tease paintings with pine nuts,” she told him sternly. The images halted their previous occupations to make faces at the God-King.
“They tease me right back,” he told Evvy, nodding at the grim
acing creatures. “They come into my throne room when I’m hearing complaints and make rude gestures while people speak to me. They know I don’t dare laugh, or people will think I don’t take their problems seriously.” He looked like the farm boy he had once been, except for his braid rings and earrings.
“These paintings come into your throne room?”
“Not exactly. There are paintings like them in the room,” he replied. “Paintings from all over the city, for that matter. I think they trade turns tweaking me.” He offered her some of his pine nuts. “It must be your exposure to Luvo that allows you to see them in motion now. You never said you could see them when you were here before.”
“You talked with Luvo?” The nuts were nice and sweet. She had forgotten the world had good things like pine nuts.
“You three were asleep for a while,” the God-King said. “It was Luvo who told me what happened to you.” He looked away, his face shadowed. “I am so sorry, Evvy. You did nothing more than travel here to learn and to share your wonderful magic.”
Evvy suddenly had another horrible image in her head: The God-King, chained as Parahan had been chained, at the foot of Weishu’s throne. He said all she had ever done was visit Gyongxe, but all he had ever done was spend long days on his uncomfortable-looking throne, listening to people complain, or at meetings with adults who talked at him, not to him, or reading messages. Did he ever get to run and play as boys did? She felt a hand squeeze her heart.
“Has the emperor gone home?”
The God-King shook his head. “He has only retreated, and not far. He is resting and summoning his northern troops. We can only be grateful that he is also giving us time to rest and wait for more of our allies to come.”
“Will they be enough?” The war was almost a more comfortable subject than anything that had happened to her in Gyongxe.
