Kumi and Faryn joined me a moment later. The peasant clothing they were wearing didn’t detract from their beauty. Faryn’s farmer garb spun over her form and hugged her curves, while Kumi had stripped away the belly of the tunic, fastened the rest of it into a bodice, and sliced her skirts up to mid-thigh to give her the freedom of movement she was accustomed to.
Even in disguise, they looked like a million bucks.
Tymo appeared from a side door and beckoned us over to the monastery’s front doors. He handed me a map with familiar landmarks, and I glanced over it with interest. It was identical to the one Xilarion had given us. A new path had been marked into the mountain range though, one that cut across the Vigorous Zone and led to the Unwashed Temple.
“I appreciate your concession to a less remarkable set of clothes,” he said to us. “The less the people of Flametongue know of the disturbance to our order, the better. I will make sure to mention your obedience to the Hierophant when he returns from his meditative journey.”
“Anything you want us to relay to your missing brothers?” Kumi asked.
“Simply urge them to return home to their order,” Tymo said quickly. “Their dedication to their vows and their adherence to the Wandering Path should be sufficient to bring them back. I assume they’ve become absorbed with some task or another. It shouldn’t take much to have them return.” He bowed to us before extending his arm toward the doors.
I pushed them open.
Tymo bowed to us, and we entered the mountaintop Vigorous Zone a few minutes later, but there was no sign of spinedrakes above us. Nor could I spot any other creature that would give us cores.
Kumi glanced up at the sky and shivered. “I feel like they’re still out here, watching us.”
“They’re likely nocturnal predators,” Faryn assured her. “Black scales help them blend into the dark. In the daylight, they’d be easy to spot and escape from.”
Kumi sighed deeply in relief. “Thank the gods.”
I bumped her shoulder playfully. “Afraid of a little action?”
“I’ll be happier when I can dip my toes into a river or waterfall,” she said. “It’s dry and hot up here, with barely a spring or stream in sight. It’s a wonder that the monks even have anything to drink.”
“They use a well,” Faryn said. “A monk showed it to me. It’s how they keep their gardens alive and see to the needs of their bodies. Truly an astonishing place, the monastery. And it’s all the more impressive that they managed to stay hidden for so long.”
“I’ll have to ask them about the well later,” Kumi mused. “Could be a rather relaxing spot for a bath, wouldn’t you say, husband?”
“In their drinking water?” I laughed. “I don’t think the monks would appreciate that. But there’s bound to be a bath large enough for the both of us in the monastery somewhere. We could revisit our last time bathing together.”
“Without the monster attack, of course.”
“Of course,” I said with a smile.
Faryn consulted the map. “There’s a sharp path down here that should carry us most of the way into the foothills. From there, it looks as if you’ll get your wish, Kumi. We’ll be following a river to the outskirts of Wysaro City.”
Kumi’s face brightened at the mention of the river.
I took in the scenery as we descended the narrow mountain path over the next few hours. The massive expanse of Danibo Forest below us was like an ocean of leaves. Sunlight sparkled as it touched the twisting rivers carved into the valley floor below.
Faryn and Kumi made small talk as we headed downward, leaving me some space to think. The fact that the monks’ last stop was at the Unwashed Temple was too large of a coincidence for my liking. The filthy structure marked the starting point of my journey in the Seven Realms. Tolin’s tutelage was the reason that I’d met Faryn in the first place. The old hermit had even given me a letter of recommendation to Xilarion, who had inducted me into the Radiant Dragon Guild and their ways.
“Fate seems to have a sense of humor, does it not?” Yono’s voice echoed inside my head.
“Maybe,” I admitted. “But Tolin has a habit of turning up when things get interesting. I don’t think he made the monks vanish, but it still seems strange that it’s the last place that they were charged to visit.”
“Perhaps the old fool sent them onward to find another shrine to bless,” Nydarth said.
“Is he dangerous?” Choshi asked.
“He’s ancient,” Nydarth said.
“As old as Xilarion or the monks?” I asked.
“Ancient,” Nydarth replied, as though that were somehow a sufficient answer. “To survive in the Seven Realms for so long implies more than simple good health and longevity. Perhaps to his enemies, he is dangerous. But I agree with our Master. I doubt he has any ill-intent toward us, or the ascetics of the monastery.”
We reached the base of the mountain path two hours later. The merciless morning sun had hit Kumi the hardest, and her face brightened as we left gravel and slate behind in favor of green grass and trickling mountain streams. She grinned as she dipped her toes into the water, and an almost-indecent moan escaped from her throat.
“Care to wash the sweat from your limbs with me?” Kumi asked us.
Faryn unlaced the ties of her rough-spun dress, and it dropped around her ankles with her belt and satchel a moment later. Kumi stripped out of her own clothes, as easily as a snake shedding its skin, and the two women
