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Then the water began rising out of the barrel, as if falling in reverse, and solidified into a shape that looked vaguely like a man. Two bulbous orbs that might have been eyes widened as they swiveled in Rin’s direction. Something that looked vaguely like a mouth moved. “Oh! You cut your hair.”
Rin was too busy gaping to respond.
Baji made an impatient noise. “No, you dolt, this is the new one. From Sinegard,” he emphasized.
“Oh, really?” The water blob made a gesture that seemed like a bow. Vibrations rippled through his entire form when he spoke. “Well, you should have said so. Careful, you’ll catch a moth in your mouth.”
Rin’s jaw shut with a click. “What happened to you?” she finally managed.
“What are you talking about?” The watery figure sounded alarmed. He dipped his head, as if examining his torso.
“No, I mean—” Rin stammered. “What—why do you—”
“Aratsha prefers to spend his time in this guise if he can help it,” Baji interjected. “You don’t want to see his human form. Very grisly.”
“Like you’re such a visual delight.” Aratsha snorted.
“Sometimes we let him out into the river when we need a drinking source poisoned,” Baji said.
“I am quite handy with poisons,” Aratsha acknowledged.
“Are you? I thought you just fouled things up with your general presence.”
“Don’t be rude, Baji. You’re the one who can’t be bothered to clean his weapon.”
Baji dipped his rake threateningly over the barrel. “Shall I clean it off in you? What part of you is this, anyway? Your leg? Your—”
Aratsha yelped and collapsed back into the barrel. Within seconds the water was very still. It could have been a barrel of rainwater.
“He’s a weird one,” Baji said cheerfully, turning back to Rin. “He’s an initiate of a minor river god. Far more committed to his religion than the rest of us.”
“Which god do you summon?”
“The god of pigs.”
“What?”
“I summon the fighting spirit of a very angry boar. Come off it. Not all gods are as glorious as yours, sweetheart. I picked the first one I saw. The masters were disappointed.”
The masters? Had Baji gone to Sinegard? Rin remembered Jiang had told her there had been Lore students before her, students who had gone mad, but they were supposed to be in mental asylums or Baghra. They were too unstable, they had been locked up for their own good. “So that means—”
“It means I smash things very well, sweetheart.” Baji drained his bowl, tilted his head back, and belched. His expression made it clear he didn’t want to discuss it further.
“Will you slide down?” A very slight young man with a whispery goatee walked over to their table with a heaping bowl of lotus root and slid into the seat on the other side of Rin.
“Unegen can turn into a fox,” Baji said by way of introduction.
“Turn into—?”
“My god lets me shift shapes,” Unegen said. “And yours lets you spit fire. Not a big deal.” He spooned a heap of steamed lotus into his mouth, swallowed, grimaced, and then belched. “I don’t think the cook’s even trying anymore. How are we low on salt? We’re next to an ocean.”
“You can’t just pour seawater on food,” interjected Ramsa. “There’s a sanitation process.”
“How hard can it be? We’re soldiers, not barbarians.” Unegen leaned down the table, tapping to get Qara’s attention. “Where’s your other half?”
Qara looked irritated. “Out.”
“Well, when’s he back?”
“When he’s back,” Qara said testily. “Chaghan comes and goes on his own schedule. You know that.”
“As long as his schedule accommodates the fact that we’re, you know, fighting a war,” said Baji. “He could at least hurry.”
Qara snorted. “You two don’t even like Chaghan. What do you want him back for?”
“We’ve been eating rice gruel for days. It’s about time we had some dessert up here.” Baji smiled, displaying sharp incisors. “I’m talking sugar.”
“I thought Chaghan was getting something for Altan,” Rin said, confused.
“Sure,” said Unegen. “Doesn’t mean he can’t stop at a bakery on the way back.”
“Is he at least close?” Baji asked.
“I’m not my brother’s homing pigeon,” Qara grumbled. “We’ll know where he is when he’s back.”
“Can’t you two just, you know, do that thing?” Unegen tapped his temples.
Qara made a face. “We’re anchor twins, not mirror-wells.”
“Oh, you can’t do mirror-wells?”
“Nobody can do mirror-wells,” Qara snapped. “Not anymore.”
Unegen looked at Rin over the table and winked, as if winding Qara up was something he and Baji regularly did for fun.
“Oh, leave Qara alone.”
Rin twisted around in her seat to see Altan. He walked up to them, looking over her head. “Someone needs to patrol the outer perimeter. Baji, it’s your turn.”
“Oh, I can’t,” Baji said.
“Why not?”
“I’m eating.”
Altan rolled his eyes. “Baji.”
“Send Ramsa,” Baji whined. “He hasn’t been out since—”
Bang. The door to the mess hall slammed open. All heads whipped toward the far end of the room, where a figure garbed in the black robes of the Cike was staggering through the doorway. The division soldiers standing by the exit hastily skirted away, clearing a path for the massive stranger.
Only the Cike were unfazed.
“Suni’s back,” Unegen said. “Took him long enough.”
Suni was a giant man with a boyish face. A thick golden dusting of hair covered his arms and legs, more hair than Rin had ever seen on a man. He walked with an odd lope, like an ape’s walk, like he’d rather be swinging through a tree instead of moving ponderously over land. His arms were almost thicker than Rin’s entire torso; he looked as if he could crush her head in like a walnut if he wanted to.
He made a beeline toward the Cike.
“Great Tortoise,” Rin muttered under her breath. “What is he?”
“Suni’s mom fucked a monkey,” Ramsa said happily.
“Shut up, Ramsa. Suni channels the Monkey God,” Unegen reported. “Makes you glad he’s on our side, doesn’t it?”
Rin wasn’t sure that made her any less scared of him, but Suni was already at their table.
“How’d it go?” Unegen asked cheerfully. “Did they see you?”
Suni didn’t seem to hear Unegen. He cocked his head, as if sniffing at them. His temples were caked with dried blood. His tousled hair and vacant stare made him appear more animal than human, like some wild beast that couldn’t decide whether to attack or flee.
Rin tensed. Something was wrong.
“It’s so loud,” Suni said. His voice was a low growl, gritty and guttural.
The smile slid off Unegen’s face. “What?”
