They blinked at me as ifIwas the one who didn’t understand. “I’m sorry,” I went on, shaking my head. “I’m not a sign that your creator king is coming back. That abomination outside was sent by the Deathless King to find me. If it catches up, it won’t spare any of you. That’s why I have to leave—as long as I’m here, your entire colony is in danger.”
For several heartbeats, the jair’oa were silent. Finally, the white jair’oa raised her chin. “Why have you come to our desert, Fateless?” she wondered. “No one walks these sands without cause. What are you searching for?”
I swallowed, looking at Raithe. He nodded solemnly, and I turned back to the jair’oa. “We’re traveling to the World Scar,” I told the Rememberers. “It was there that a piece of Maederyss’sloom fell to the earth. If I can reach it, if I can claim it, I might stand a chance against the Deathless King.”
“You search for the loom of the goddess of Fate.” The white jair’oa blinked. For a few heartbeats, she and the other two jair’oa looked at each other and chittered softly. I waited, stomach turning uneasily, until the two gray jair’oa drew back. The white Rememberer stood on her hind legs and regarded me in a solemn manner.
“We will help you, human Fateless,” she went on, startling me. “The World Scar is very far from here, at the farthest reaches of the desert. You will not be able to walk there, but we can use our magic to send you closer to your destination.”
“You’ll help us?” I whispered, sensing Raithe’s and Halek’s surprise as well. “Why?”
“We remember the king’s promise,” the white jair’oa said, as if emphasizing the only important thing. “We wait for him, but we know that if another Deathless rises to power, our creator king’s return will be in danger. By helping, we will be removing the one who could challenge our king when he comes back. We ask only that, once you claim the goddess’s loom, you remember the jair’oa when you face the Deathless.”
“I will,” I said, amazement and surprise still clawing at me. “But you don’t have to do this. We can leave, and the abomination will follow. If you help us now, your nest could be in danger.”
“It is already decided,” the white jair’oa countered. “The ritual to send the human Fateless and her companions across the desert will take place on Star Grub Island, the place where the king sank his soul into the waters of the lake.”
“It will take time to prepare the ritual,” one of the gray jair’oa said. “We will need to consume many star grubs to gather the magic to blink so many across such a long distance. Be patient while we prepare.” He glanced at Meeka, sitting forgotten on the stones nearby, and twitched his whiskers. “Youngling,” he snapped, and Meeka looked up, large black eyes blinking. The gray jair’oa waved a paw at us. “The Fateless will need a place to stay and rest. Will you be able to house the human creatures until it is time for the ritual?”
The jair’oa looked at me, cocking his head. “Meeka’s home is small,” he said dubiously. “And Meeka has many siblings. But humans are welcome to stay there if they wish.” He shrugged, a strangely human gesture, and wrinkled his nose. “Siblings will be bothersome, though. Ask many questions.”
“Good.” The white jair’oa nodded, leaning heavily on her crystal staff. “Go with the youngling, Fateless,” she said, looking up at me, “and do not worry. We will call for you when it is time.”
Meeka hopped up to us, looking resigned. “This way, human creatures,” he said. “Follow Meeka.”
We trailed the jair’oa back through the temple and met Kysa and the rock beetles outside, then followed Meeka between the eccentric buildings to a small hut on a corner. Through the curtained doorway, the interior was small and cluttered, with a bed covered in rags, a strangely chewed sofa, and what looked like a workbench against the wall. Bits of metal, wood, and strange components were scattered across the surface, a rickety stool sitting before it. I wondered if this was Meeka’s bench, and what the jair’oa worked on beneath the sands of the desert.
“Brother! Brother is home!”
Tiny voices filled the hut, as nearly a dozen jair’oa scurried out of the shadows and between the clutter to swarm around us. Many of them were half the size of Meeka or smaller, ears and tails twitching as they hopped and chittered and scampered at our feet, peering up at us with shiny black eyes. Little paws tugged at my sleeves, and small, furry bodies scurried around my boots, a couple even springing up to land on my shoulders or cling to my belt. I plucked one jair’oa kit off my neck and held it before my face, and the tiny sand-colored creature pricked enormous ears and cocked its head at me, bright gaze completely without fear.
Meeka leaped onto one of the bedposts to avoid the swarm of jair’oa kits, giving them the exasperated look of a tired older brother. “Human creatures can stay here, if they want,” he said, raising his voice to be heard over the constant squeaking. “Can sleep on bed.” He swung his tail out of the grasping paws of a jair’oa kit that leaped for it, taking the tuft and the lantern still attached to it out of reach. “Ifcansleep.” He actually rolled his eyes, before shaking himself and looking at us. “Ritual happen soon. Should rest now.”
I glanced at Halek, who was sitting on the floor, grinning, as jair’oa kits scrambled all over him, then at Raithe. The kahjai had a striped jair’oa perched on his arm, tugging at his gloves; he met my gaze with a wry smile and nodded.
“We should be safe here for a while, Sparrow,” he said, as the jair’oa continued to paw at him. “Why don’t you try to sleep? You haven’t gotten a lot since Damassi.”
“Yes,” Kysa agreed. The insect rider was still standing in the doorway, her expression caught between amusement and patient stoicism as she watched the squirming kits. “That is a good idea. I, however, believe I will wait outside. I don’t want the rock beetles accidentally smashing houses because of unwanted passengers.”
A yelp came from Halek, as one of the jair’oa kits suddenly leaped away from him, clutching something round and shiny in its paws. “Hey!” he called, as the rest of the kits gave excited chitters and scampered after the thief. “That was my last glowstone—ah, forget it.” He grinned and leaned back, giving me a resigned look. “It seems that my fate is to be surrounded by thieves,” he said. “If I ever make it back to troblin lands, remind me to grab a few dozen glowstones. I could get rich from how much everyone seems to want them.”
Fifteen
I awoke to the sound of breaking glass.
My eyes flew open. Inside the cramped jair’oa house, it was dark. Meeka’s family surrounded me, tiny jair’oa curled against my legs and ribs like domestic sand cats. They twitched in their sleep, never still, even when unconscious.
The sound came again, a sharp, chillingcrackthat sent a lance of fear through my heart. No one else was awake or seemed to have heard it. Raithe was nowhere to be seen. In a daze, I carefully extracted myself from the pile of sleeping jair’oa kits and walked outside.
The city was eerily quiet. The luminescent mushrooms cast a surreal purple light over the walls and roofs of the jair’oa houses. In the distance, the glass temple of the creator king shone like a massive diamond against the night.
There were no jair’oa to be seen anywhere on the roads or in the surrounding buildings, which seemed odd. Almost of its own accord, my gaze was drawn up, up, to the massive glass dome that covered the whole city.
A silver crack, gleaming brightly against the darkness, sliced its way across the crystal surface. As I watched, unable to move, the crack widened, thin spiderwebs of lines fracturing out fromthe main. Sand began to fall, like wispy curtains drifting through the air.
I drew in a breath... and the glass dome shattered, pouring sand, beetles, and the massive, rotting form of the abomination into the heart of the city.
I jerked awake with a gasp.
