She nervously scrapes her fingernails across the dirt. “To the Barrens?”
“Does that bother you?”
“I don’t like the Barrens,” she answers. “It’s scary out there.”
“I know it is. But you might be Tela’s only hope.”
With a sullen expression on her face, she doesn’t say anything else. As long as I’ve known her, she’s been timid and shy. But as I learned when she once insisted that I be the one to transport her to the Mount, she can be confident and headstrong when something is important to her. I decide not to push her now, knowing that Sash has an almost sisterly relationship with her. If anyone can convince her to go to the Barrens, it will be Sash.
Another twenty minutes silently slip away before Sash zooms over a hill. The beams smear into the shape of her body and she coasts to a stop in front of us.
“What did you feel?” she asks, looking down at Maya.
“The first thing was pain from you,” Maya answers.
“I’m impressed,” Sash says. “That was two hundred miles away.”
“Then more pain and you were angry,” Maya continues.
With an accusing look, Sash moves her eyes to me. “That was at three hundred miles.”
“What were you angry about?” I ask. “You said that you understand now.”
“Just because I understand doesn’t mean I’m not mad. I’m also upset because I’m traveling around the Barrens and poking holes in my body with a spear. I’m pretty sure that’s your fault.”
When I glance at each of Sash’s hands, I’m almost unable to believe what I see. A round, quarter-inch scab is on the back of each of one. Although the wounds are already healing, probably from sap, they look like they were deep and painful.
“I can’t believe you did that,” I say to her. “Why didn’t you just think good thoughts?”
Sash glances at Maya and then back at me. “Because Maya senses pain much more than anything else, and I doubt Tela has many good thoughts where she is right now.”
“I guess not,” I agree.
Sash kneels in front of Maya. “Was that all you felt?”
“No,” she answers. “I felt more pain on your third stop.”
“Four hundred miles,” Sash says. “That was my leg.”
“I felt something else after that, but I wasn’t sure what it was. I don’t even know if it was you.”
“That was my other leg,” Sash tells her, “at six hundred miles. I went farther than that and stabbed my legs a few more times.”
“I didn’t feel those, but I’m sorry you had to hurt yourself.”
“Thank you,” Sash says. “We can safely estimate your range to be four hundred miles.”
“Is that good?” Maya asks.
“It’s awesome,” I say. “So it’s up to you. Will you help us find Tela?”
Maya scrunches her nose while thinking about her answer, obviously not in love with the idea. Still kneeling in front of her, Sash rests a hand on Maya’s knee.
“You have an incredible gift,” she says. “How you use it is up to you. If you don’t want to go to the Barrens, no one will blame you. But I know how strong you can be. Tela needs your help.”
“Will you be with us?” Maya asks.
“Every moment,” she answers. “I won’t let you out of my sight.”
“I’m going as well,” Larn chimes in from behind us.
“It could take a lot more than a few morrows to find her,” I say to him.
“We’ll take it one at a time,” he replies.
“I’ll go,” Maya announces to Sash. “I want to help find Tela.”
Sash nods her head and smiles. “I’m proud of you. If Marc approves, we’ll leave first thing on the morrow.”
Marc rubs his chin. “I don’t know if it will work, but the Pool did show Maya to Chase. Since she’s agreed to go, I approve. I don’t like the thought of Tela out there either.”
“None of us do,” Sash says.
Chapter 28
While contemplating the best way to convince the Traveler to join her, the woman observes the distant sky. Her eyes sway back and forth in almost perfect unison with the spectrum of color waving against listless gray clouds. The Traveler showed cunning in her plan to hide in the Barrens, the woman decides. It’s no secret to those of the Delta that very few of the woman’s kind dwell near the barrier to the Infinite Expanse.
A Guardian might venture far from a Gateway in hopes of catching a Murkovin who errantly steps foot in their domain. The Guardians’ lust for sap-filled blood, the desire for a few moments outside the realm of suspended time, had long been a source of fear for those who dwell in the Barrens.
“I want you to go to the Desert,” the woman says to the tall Murkovin standing beside her. “Tell my child’s Mür that the young female Traveler will be at camp with me. He’ll know the one when you describe her. But tell no one else about the Traveler. I want others to believe she’s from the Barrens.”
“You know I won’t talk,” he says. “Why do you think she’ll go with you?”
“She may not, but I have reason to believe she will.”
“I should stay until you know for sure.”
Appreciative of his desire to protect her, the woman reaches out a hand and lightly grips his arm. “It will be easier to gain her trust if I’m alone. She might feel threatened if she sees you.”
The tall Murkovin begrudgingly nods his head. “I’ve seen signs of a few others nearby. Stay alert.”
“I will,” she replies, pulling her hand away from him. “When you reach the Desert canyon, tell him I’ll visit soon. He shouldn’t show his face at camp until I do. We don’t want the Traveler to see him.”
“Why not?” the tall Murkovin asks.
“In the unlikely event that she returns to the Delta, it will be to our benefit if she believes he’s dead.”
“Let the people of the Delta feel
