Vessel

She felt herself fragment as her thoughts flew apart.

Her body! She didn’t feel it!

Racing over the desert, she tried to imagine the shape of her skin and the feel of her breath in her lungs. She pictured her soul pouring into her body, shaping back into herself.

She inhaled deeply, and then she collapsed, unconscious.

She woke with her cheek pressed into the sand. She didn’t know how long she’d lain there. Her rib cage hurt. Her fingers felt numb. How long could a body function without a soul in it? Seconds? Minutes? It hurt to breathe. The sun beat down on her.

Eventually she pushed herself upright. Hands shaking, she took out the sky serpent knife and sawed the cacti off at their bases. She tipped them over so that no liquid would ooze out the cuts, and then she wrapped them in a scarf to carry back to the tent. She got to her feet, and her knees wobbled.

She sank onto her knees in the scalding sand. Sweet Bayla, what have I done? Korbyn would have been so furious with her. This time he hadn’t been here to kiss her into alertness. Liyana tried again, straightening slowly. She wobbled as she walked forward, feeling like a newborn foal. Concentrating on each step, she clutched the cacti to her chest, determined not to drop them. The thorns pressed against the cloth but didn’t pierce her skin. By the time she reached the tent, she felt the ache of every muscle and bone.

Pia rushed out to greet her. “You were gone for hours!”

Liyana handed her the scarf full of cacti. “You were right. I care too much.” She crawled into the tent and slept without dreams.

* * *

Two days passed with no word from Korbyn or Fennik.

At dawn on the third day, Liyana shot out of the tent, thinking she had heard hoofbeats from the ridge. But the ridge was empty. A knot of brambles blew across the slope.

“Go fetch more water,” Raan said behind her.

“We have water,” Liyana said.

“You are driving us crazy with your worrying.”

Pia chimed in. “Occupy yourself. The hours will fly faster. Korbyn and Fennik’s mission will take time. First they must determine where the deities are. Next they must ascertain how they are being held. And last they need to know what will free our gods and goddesses from the false vessels. It will take time.” She sounded like a teacher, talking in a calm voice to an agitated child. “Fetch us enough water so that we may bathe.”

“Very well,” Liyana said curtly.

She stalked across the desert and didn’t stop until she found a massive clump of cacti. Filling these broad leaves would keep her occupied for several hours. Dropping onto the dirt, Liyana began.

Leaf by leaf Liyana filled the cacti until their skin felt taut with water and the sun was at its zenith. Sweat trickled down the back of her neck and dried in seconds. She gathered up the cacti to begin the trudge back to camp. She wanted the first bath. She thought she had a few flakes of soap left from her family’s pack. After that, though, she’d need to find a new task to distract her from the fear that made her feel as if her lungs had shrunk and her stomach had hardened into rock.

She wished she hadn’t let Korbyn convince her to stay. It had seemed sensible at the time. Fennik was essential for the ruse of horse traders, and Korbyn was ideal for reconnaissance. Bringing Liyana, Raan, and Pia would have been an unnecessary risk. But still . . .

A hundred yards from camp, Liyana heard a melody soar into the sky. Pia! But what was she thinking? Someone would hear her! Picking up her pace, Liyana hurried toward the camp—and then she stopped as the melody swelled louder.

Pia isn’t stupid, Liyana thought. She’s warning me.

Liyana ducked behind a group of boulders. She tried to calm her breathing. Slowly, breath by breath, she dropped into a trance. She pictured the lake, filled herself with magic, and then stretched her awareness toward the tent, careful not to overreach.

She felt the plants and the rocks, the wind and the heat. She felt the birds and the snakes and the scorpions . . . and the people. Six of them were by the grove of trees. All human.

Abruptly Liyana stuffed her soul back inside her body and released the excess magic. She was panting and dizzy from the effort of working a second magic so close on the heels of summoning water. Laying her forehead against the rocks, she caught her breath.

She had to help them! But how? Her magic wasn’t strong enough to do anything useful. Still clutching the cacti, Liyana listened as Pia’s song cut off.

Unable to wait any longer, she emerged and jogged toward the grove. She didn’t see anyone as she got closer. The camp was all still there—the fire pit with the still-smoldering embers, the packs with all their supplies, the hollowed-out cacti—but Pia and Raan were gone. The open tent flap billowed in the breeze. The sand around the tent was covered in footprints. From the way the sand was churned, Liyana guessed that one of them had fought. Maybe both. She didn’t see blood, and her chest loosened a little.

Please, let them be alive.

Dumping the cacti on the ground, Liyana ran toward the hill. She clambered up it. Staying low, she peeked over the ridge.

Down on the plain of golden grasses, she spotted them: four white-clad soldiers with the two desert girls. From this distance, they looked as tiny and fragile as dolls. She wished she could reach out and pluck them away to safety. What good is magic if you can’t save anyone? she thought. She should have stayed at the tent. Maybe she could have helped. Most likely she would have been caught too, but was being left behind truly better?

She watched them cross through the field toward the encampment. Pia had said that they wouldn’t be found unless the soldiers knew where to look. Korbyn and Fennik must have been caught.

Feeling sick, she sank back behind the hill and put her face in her hands. I failed them, Liyana thought. I failed everyone. All her companions were gone now, and she was alone, just as she had been all those weeks ago when her clan had walked away without her. She might as well have stayed in that oasis for all the good she had done.

Eventually Liyana returned to the tent. She crawled inside and curled into a ball. She thought of Jidali and her parents and Aunt Sabisa and Talu and all her cousins; of Runa, the magician of the Scorpion Clan; of Ilia of the Silk Clan; and of the Falcon Clan and their despair. She knew what that despair felt like now.

But she’d come so far! She’d crossed the desert. She’d survived two sandstorms. She’d caused a bush to bloom and water to fill cacti. She’d taught a god to dance. She could not simply declare defeat!

Forcing herself to sit up, Liyana pulled her pack closer. She searched through it until she found her ceremonial dress. She fingered the soft panels and let the fabric rub against her skin, which was worn from wind, sand, and sun. Quickly, before she could change her mind, she changed into the dress. She let the soft cloth fall around her like gentle rain. Using Pia’s brush, she combed her hair, braided it, and wound it onto her head. She tucked Jidali’s sky serpent knife into her sash, and she slung her waterskin over her shoulder.

Trickery had failed. Hiding hadn’t protected them. So she was going to try the direct approach. After all, what more did she have to lose?

Liyana crossed the last stretch of desert as the sun painted the west with splashes of rose and ocher. She climbed the hill without slowing. Her skirt swished around her legs. The dying sun prickled the back of her neck. She tried not to think about what was happening to Korbyn or to the others, or what had been done to Korbyn and Fennik to cause them to give up the location of their camp. She tried not to think how ill-conceived her plan was or how little chance it had to succeed. She stood on the crest of the hill and looked down at the empire’s army.

Her mouth felt dry. She licked her lips, and she took a sip of water. There were soldiers, white-clad specks between the tents. She saw guards on horseback riding back and forth on the perimeter. It would only be minutes before one of them spotted her, silhouetted against the dying sun. Legs trembling, she walked down toward the plain.

She strode into the tall, golden grasses. She let her arms sway by her sides, and she felt the tops of the dry grasses tickle her palms. This was the world beyond the desert. The air tasted the same, but she felt as if her whole body was screaming at her to turn and run.

She glanced behind her. Far away, above the sunset, she saw a sky serpent. He caught every color of the