Most of the fires were now banked for the night. Just enough torches burned to light the main paths. Heading uphill, Evvy kept to the shadows. She did make certain that the sentries noticed her, though they didn’t stop her. There was no point in getting shot by a nervous warrior because she wanted a quiet walk. In any case, she stayed inside their lines.
She made her way to the hilltop where a broad slab of slate thrust out over the northern slope like a shelf. Sentries were posted on the ground below, their eyes to the north, and on the western edge of the ridge, but they were nice enough to let Evvy have the stone to herself. She sat with her knees up, arms wrapped around them, staring at the road they would take in the morning.
A sliver of moon shone down on everything, turning it the color of ghosts. She wondered how many human ghosts might be walking on that landscape soon. Would she be one of them?
She would not let the enemy take her again. She promised herself that. Rather than fall into the torturers’ hands a second time, she would turn herself into stone all the way. There would be no little piece of Evvy left behind to wake up to agony. She would join the rocks of Gyongxe forever.
She was so absorbed in her thoughts that she did not hear anything until Briar lay on the stone beside her. He said nothing, only crossed his arms under his head and regarded the sky. Evvy found she couldn’t think of dying in his presence. Instead she let herself trickle through the slate under them and on down through the hillside rocks, naming them to herself. Before long Rosethorn and Parahan silently joined them. Both chose to sit cross- legged on the slate, their eyes on the silvery northern view.
Souda was the last to reach them. She carried a silk quilt in her arms and shared it with Evvy, who was shivering. Eventually Briar squirmed under a corner of it, too. Except for that, none of them moved until Parahan began to snore. That startled laughs out of the women, Briar, and Evvy. Without discussion they woke him and returned to their tents for what remained of the night.
20
BEFORE THE GATES OF GARMASHING, CAPITAL OF GYONGXE
Evvy and Luvo were seated by the morning campfire when Rosethorn and Briar emerged from Souda’s tent. Both of them wore armor.
“You,” Rosethorn said, pointing to Evvy. “Armor. Now. We’re battle mages today and for the duration. We’re under strict orders to stay away from the healers and save our strength for fighting.”
Briar wandered over to Evvy and Luvo as Rosethorn returned to Souda’s tent. “Not that General Sayrugo’s happy about it.”
Evvy frowned. “Why not?”
“No matter what Parahan and Captain Rana told her about what we did back in Snow Serpent Pass, she doesn’t see how plant mages can be of use on a battlefield. That goes a hundred times extra for somebody who isn’t even a certified stone mage.” Briar reached out to tweak her nose, but Evvy was having none of that.
“
“Probably no good with a whole army,” Briar said. “But if you make the horses of a line of archers skid and skitter because the stones under their feet are moving, you can probably keep them from shooting plenty of us.”
“Oh,” Evvy said, realizing he was teasing her. “Oh, right.”
“Armor,” Briar said, and pushed her toward her tent.
She was struggling with the ties of her cuirass when Briar came in with a plate of
“What about you, Luvo?” he asked. “Are you going with us, or are you riding in a wagon?”
“I will stay with Evumeimei,” the stone creature replied. “Between us we will not be heavier than an adult of your kind. A horse should carry us both easily. What else will you bring today, Evumeimei?”
“Only my alphabet,” she replied. She looked at the packs that had been found for her among the extra supplies. They held the clothing and odds and ends supplied by Sayrugo’s people and the clothes Luvo had given to her. “I don’t know what to do with those. They’ll just get in the way if I’m fighting.”
“Her things can go with mine and Rosethorn’s, please,” Briar told the soldiers who had come to pack up the tent. Evvy grabbed the shoulder bag with her stone alphabet and the rocks she had collected recently and slung it over one arm. Briar lifted some silk scarves that had been offerings from an open pack and held them close to his eyes. “Look at these, Evvy. Someone gave you doubled silk. One of the village weavers I talked to on the road says this kind of cloth is a way to send messages. The arrangement of these slubs — these bumps — in the weave, that’s code. They aren’t mistakes at all.”
She thought he’d lost his mind. “We’re going to war and you want to talk about
Then he pulled her over and kissed the top of her head. “Lakik and Heibei turn their faces against Weishu and all his mages,” he murmured. Evvy rested her face on his shoulder and nodded. “I wish we could call on that ancient sea that used to be here to swallow his whole army.” He was trembling. Evvy wanted to comfort him, but she didn’t know how.
“I will help you,” Luvo said from the ground beside them. “Together Evumeimei and I will teach these lowlanders a thing or two about the stones of Gyongxe.”
Briar looked over as Evvy picked up Luvo. “Good. Weishu in particular needs the lesson.” He slid his hands around Evvy’s and attempted to lift Luvo from her hold, only to find the rock creature was far heavier than he looked. “I don’t understand! How does Evvy carry you?”
Evvy resettled Luvo, balancing her friend on her hip. “We worked out a thing in my magic,” she explained. “I imagine my bones are granite, and it’s easy. He’s really not that heavy, now. He’s at his lightest.”
“His lightest is fifty pounds if it’s an ounce!” Briar cried, laughing.
“I can be far heavier,” Luvo said.
Briar took a breath. “Let’s go. Jimut’s waiting with our horses by now.”
Rosethorn was waiting with Jimut and the horses as well. “There you are. Luvo, you’re riding with us?”
“I am going to help Evumeimei,” Luvo said.
Rosethorn raised an eyebrow, but she made no remark.
Jimut handed the reins of Briar’s horse to him and Rosethorn’s to her. Evvy looked around for someone to hold Luvo.
“I’ll take him,” Jimut said as he passed the reins of her mount over. Here.” He held out his hands.
“He’s heavy,” Evvy warned. She passed Luvo to Jimut, who staggered.
“She warned you,” Briar said.
“You did warn me,” Jimut acknowledged as he regained his balance. “How will you keep him in the saddle with you?”
Evvy mounted her horse. Once settled, she knotted the scarves she’d put around her neck and passed them over her head, shoulders, and arms. When they were around her waist, she held her hands out for Luvo. Jimut passed him over. Evvy quickly twisted both scarves around her friend several times, encasing him up to his head knob. When she was done, Luvo was snug in his cocoon and the scarves were tight around Evvy. He would remain where he was unless Evvy fell from the saddle.
“Nice,” Briar said with approval. “But you know, if Luvo stays with us much longer, we should work something out that’s more permanent.”
“Do not concern yourself,” Luvo said comfortably. “I am certain I will return to my mountain soon.”
Evvy looked down at him, feeling a pain around her heart. She didn’t want Luvo to go. She liked him. She felt safe with him. If anything could withstand the emperor, surely it would be a mountain. Yet what could a street rat like her offer him? He had gods for friends, not to mention the inhuman curiosities that were his friends
