After a few hundred yards we came to another stand of trees whose leaves were whole. The rest of us hid on the banks of the river while Rory and Gael went hunting, leaving Bolt to defend the four of us—still badly injured, but his gifted body was performing a miraculous recovery.
I watched the leaves, each shift in the breeze conjuring images of black, but they were still green when Rory and Gael returned a couple of hours later wearing the uniforms of Caisel soldiers. They carried five more sets, along with several lengths of river reed.
We marched along the river, pretending to be one of the patrols until the sun touched the horizon to the west.
Bolt brought us to a stop. “We have to get into the water. In less than half an hour these fields are going to be crawling with Cesla’s troops.” He handed me a length of hollowed reed. “Gael will stay with you. Rory and I will safeguard the queens and Mirren.”
“We’re too far away,” I said. “I’m going to drown.”
Gael put her arm around my waist. “I will make sure you don’t. Just remember to stay below the water and breathe normally. You don’t have to swim. You just have to float.”
There was no point in arguing. No one there understood that slipping beneath the dark surface of the water was too much like stepping into the darkness of the forest. I took my first step into the river, surprised at its warmth. I put the reed to my mouth and the water, murky with rain, slipped over me, blotting out the light. We stayed there for an hour until the sky turned black. Then Gael’s hand grabbed my belt and we drifted with the current, my feet slipping from the bottom, taking any sensation of motion away. I tried to focus on keeping everything still, as if I were a living piece of driftwood. Time stopped.
Questions came at me in the dark, accusing. Would I be able to call the Fayit? I shoved the thought away.
But even if I was able, would they consent to help? I didn’t know. Did they have to answer the summoning and give aid or did the calling only give them the opportunity? If the Fayit were anything like their human descendants, they might very well refuse. Worse, I might find myself summoning beings who’d long ago gone insane from their self-enforced isolation.
I pushed that doubt away, but others took its place. Drifting like a piece of human detritus in the river, I had no distractions I could use to hide from them. Lulled by the water, random memories passed through my mind.
Even in the depths, I could tell when the current took us beneath the city wall. The water chilled, lacking the memory of the sun that would have warmed it. Then I struck iron. Gael lifted me above the surface, and I found myself in a shallow air space created by the arc of the stone wall over the water. Black iron pitted by age and elements blocked our way into the city. A moment later the rest of our party surfaced, gasping and shaking the water from their eyes.
“We’ve hit the water gate,” Gael said.
Bolt’s eyes narrowed. “I was hoping they wouldn’t have one, but it’s probably just as well. The city would be impossible to defend without it. I’m going to see if there’s a way through.” He took a few deep breaths and dove.
Bereft of light, I shivered. Time passed while my doubts returned to assail me. “It’s taking him too long,” I said. “How long can you hold your breath?”
She shrugged. “I’ve never tried it, but I’ve seen even ungifted swimmers stay under for three minutes or more.”
I looked at the water. Despite my enforced familiarity, I still couldn’t see it as anything other than an enemy.
Bolt surfaced, cutting my reflection short. “There’s no way through. We’re going to have to make a gap.”
I looked at iron bars as thick as my wrist. “Even you can’t bend that.”
Bolt nodded. “Not alone, but there are three gifted here and two more with partials. We just have to bend it enough to wiggle through.”
Mirren and I moved to one side while Bolt gave instructions, positioning each person and telling them where to brace their hands and feet. By the time he was done, Erendella and Herregina faced each other like human spiders suspended sideways, clinging to the bars. Bolt, Rory, and Gael each took three deep breaths and dove to grab the bars beneath the queens.
I didn’t see or hear any signal, but I saw Erendella and Herregina strain until veins corded in their necks. Still they pulled, working against the iron until their skin turned red. Then Bolt, Gael, and Rory surfaced, gulping air with shaky breaths.
“It moved,” Bolt said, “but not enough.” He looked at me and Mirren. “We’re going to need your help. Can you take the surface positions?”
I nodded, feeling like a boy lending his strength to the blacksmith, but I grasped the bar, determined to pull until my heart burst if I had to. Erendella and Herregina submerged beneath us. Bolt, Gael, and Rory went even deeper. One of them must have hit the bar of iron I held with their dagger. I felt it vibrate. I threw my weight against the pitiless metal, pushing with my feet against one bar while I pulled with my hands against the other until I thought my back would break.
I didn’t stop until Bolt broke the surface, gasping for air on the far side of the gate. Hands gripped the bars as Gael and the rest broke free of the water, sucking air and trembling. One by one we slipped through, floating just beneath the surface with our reeds once more. It was only a moment before Gael’s hand tightened on my belt and I lurched,
