clothing and spices and several of Priya's precious scrolls wrapped in silk and leather. As the afternoon shadows lengthened, Mai nursed Atani and afterward told Tuvi she would like to go up to the altar and make a dusk offering.
'Best you wait until morning, Mistress. I don't want you walking back at night, even with torches.'
In matters of security, his command was Anji's command. It was not worth protesting. Let a few days pass in peace, and then she could negotiate for the daily prayers.
At dawn, Atani's hungry fussing woke her. She put him to the breast, his suck pulling an intense wash of pleasure through her body. Miravia slept restlessly beside her. Over in one dim corner, Sheyshi snored.
After Atani's demands were satisfied,Mai dressed, slipped on her sandals, and stepped down into the clearing. Priya was already up, seated on the porch cross-legged, watching the sky lighten. She smiled as Mai took in the high mountain cliffs and peaks that surrounded them, rock and snow so sharp in the clear air that it seemed an archer standing in this clearing might easily pierce their high majesty.
Their group was a small one: Miravia, Priya, and Sheyshi, of course; Chief Tuvi and twelve Qin soldiers, men Mai trusted. No one else.
Most of the soldiers were already up, hacking back jabi bushes, digging waste pits, repairing a corner of the barracks shelter. Two headed into the forest with bows and spears. She called Tuvi over, and with him beside her and a pair of sentries pacing behind, followed the stream down to the lip of the great ravine where water spilled into a vast gulf of air, its spray lost in the wind. A pair of rainbows shone so strongly the colors shimmered. Far below, to the east, the land tumbled out to become the barren plain that edged the distant Olo'o Sea, little more than a glimmer hazed out by the rising sun.
'It's so beautiful, isn't it?' she said as Atani cradled his head against her breast.
Tuvi said nothing, and when she looked at him, he was rubbing his chin as he examined specks in the sky. He wasn't admiring the beauty at all. He was searching for threats.
'I would like to go make an offering, Chief.'
'Yes,' he said at once. 'But just you and Priya, Mistress.'
'In case Uncle Hari comes out to greet us? I know we're the only ones besides you who can know.'
He took the baby and together they walked back to the clearing. Sheyshi still slept, but Miravia had awakened; she'd slept poorly because of the strange noises and the brisk mountain air, nothing she was accustomed to.
Mai kissed her, laughing. 'We'll be back soon enough. Then I'll show you the market.'
'The market? What market?'
'The one we'll build with sticks, like a child's toy house. We can pretend we are bargaining!'
'You're horrible,' cried Miravia. Then she saw the men digging. 'Mai! Are you telling me I have to relieve myself in a ditch?'
Laughing, Mai bundled Atani up and set off with Priya and Tuvi, two soldiers walking rearguard. This late in the year, there were scant offerings to be found along the path, but just as they reached the top and she feared she would have to approach the altar empty-handed, she caught sight of a spray of white flowers off in the trees. She handed Atani to Priya, found a stout stick, and beat a path through to a massive knot of branches, the ground subsiding under a heap of leaves and disturbed ground. A few flowers still clung, bold white stars like the eyes of ghosts.
She shuddered, stepping away from the churned up ground as if it might erupt with a terrible demon. She snapped off a spray of flowers, careful not to take them all, and beat her way back to the path.
'Some animal's been digging back there,' she said to Tuvi. 'I never thought there were wolves or big cats here.'
'We'll keep our eyes open,' he said, moving on.
They came out of the tangled forest into the clearing with its ruins and waterfall. The falls' spill down the high cliffs was soft in this season. Instead of churning the water, it merely spread and rippled around the cliff. The broad pool had a dark, almost black sheen, like sheets of best-quality silk dyed to the color of a moonless night.
'Just let me see first,' said Tuvi.
He walked through the maze of fallen walls and along the ledge past the thinned curtain of spray into the cave behind. Priya found a patch of shade by the high cliff wall and sat with the baby. The sentries waited at the path's opening, half hidden by the trees.
Mai walked to the water's edge. The fluid lapped the stone, its slight rise and fall like the pressure of breathing in and out. How strange the water appeared, not like water at all. Blood might appear so, somewhat viscous and, when she bent to brush her fingers along the surface, faintly warm to the touch. Not cold, as
mountain water draining down from the icy peaks ought to be; as the pool had been during the rains. Its touch stung her fingers, and she winced and withdrew her hand.
'Mistress? You forgot me!'
Aui! Here came Sheyshi, flapping and wailing as she ran in her graceless way past the sentries, who stepped back hastily to let her pass. Priya looked up and, horribly, did not move to come rescue Mai.
'You forgot me, Mistress! I want to pray, too.' The young woman, tears streaking her face and a bit of snot running from her nose, hurried up to her, a hand clutching her right side as though she'd caught a stitch from running.
'You were asleep, Sheyshi. I thought it kindest to let you rest. We'll pray again at dusk-'
Sheyshi had a knife in her hand, slid out from the wrapping of the taloos she wore.
She had a knife in her hand.
'Even you, so kind as you believe you are,' said Sheyshi in a voice Mai did not recognize; it was some other woman's voice, cold and hostile. 'Even the captain, so clever as he thinks he is. You could only see the stupid slave I pretended to be.'
It was not a sharp pain but more of a punch up under the ribs, hard and final. Like Anji's face when he'd seen her in Dast Olo coming off the boat from Ushara's temple. Strong and sudden, that blow. Hadn't he purchased her? Didn't she belong to him, and him alone?
/ will not die.
Mai grabbed Sheyshi's arms and pushed. Pain flared as she jerked away, Sheyshi stumbled back, and Mai was free, blood pouring down the front of her taloos.
Sheyshi lunged. Mai staggered back, not dodging fast enough — she had no soldier's training — as the blade grazed her hip. She kicked and punched, connecting with Sheyshi's shoulder, then retreated into the shallows. The ledge of rock was slick under her feet, water curling up her legs as if to taste the blood leaking down her body. Sheyshi easily absorbed the blow by spinning as swiftly as a soldier, almost lovely as a desert cat is lovely, springing for the kill.
Priya's scream stabbed the air. 'Mai!'
What if Sheyshi went next for the baby? She was mad.
Not mad. She knew exactly what she was doing.
Men's shouts rose, answering Priya. Footsteps pounded on the stony earth.
Sheyshi plunged forward, and Mai threw herself to one side; the knife scraped along her ribs, the sound vibrating through her flesh. The bright morning hazed dark.
No. No. No. She would not die.
She shoved Sheyshi with what remained of her strength, but the cursed woman only fell back a single step; she was possessed of a demon that infused her face and her eyes and heart; she was a monster concealed behind a human face, which had burst forth to eat its meal.
An arrow's flight hissed, and its head sprouted through Sheyshi's shoulder. She caught herself on a tumble of rocks, the knife still in her hand.
'Who are you?' gasped Mai, trying to escape through the shallows but her legs no longer worked.
'I am your death. So the captain's mother has ordered. So I, slave of the palace, obey.'
The water was staining with skeins of pink being sucked into the black depths beyond. Chief Tuvi was running, but he was so slow. One more thrust of the knife would finish her. He would not get here in time. If she took a step back-
Her foot caught on a heavy chain, and her legs gave way. Where the ledge ended she fell into deep water. A
