“Falija didn’t even ask me to come along,” I said.
Gloriana grinned. “Falija is smart. She knew you’d offer. If you hadn’t, she’d have made some reason you should. Something inside would have rung a bell or set off an alarm, and she’d have made sure you were with us. Are you scared or something?”
“Scared. Yes. Not frightened out of my wits, as I was yesterday, but quite apprehensive. Aren’t you?”
Gloriana shook her head. “I don’t see why! We escaped from Ned and Walter. We avoided the gizzardile. We met Howkel’s people, and that was fun. So far nothing awful has happened.”
I shook my head, drawing a deep breath. “Child, if someone set this up, all this weirdness and marvel, believe me, they weren’t doing it just so we could meet the Howkel family, amusing though they may be! The reason has to be a big reason, and big reasons in my limited experience almost always mean very big risks. I remain apprehensive. Now, I’m going to wash my face, then I think we’d better be going. If my other half wants to go, that is. She may not, you know.”
Indeed, Mar-agern did not.
“I know nothing about this,” Mar-agern said. “Rei said we were going to Gibbekot country.”
“I am Gibbekot,” Falija said firmly. “I was sent to gather you people up and solve a great riddle. You wouldn’t be here, right in our way, if you weren’t meant to come with us!”
“I don’t see that at all,” Mar-agern said, with a shrug. “As a matter of fact, I can’t think at all! My head is suddenly full of things I seem to know without ever having known them. It’s very difficult, very strange.”
Falija frowned for some time before saying, “Mar-agern. Let us sit out there on the ledge in the sun and talk. There are things you need to know, stories you need to hear. Then, when we have talked, you will be more comfortable with your situation. It really is a far better one than you were in just a few days ago, marked for death, as Rei says.”
Rei, who had been outside for a while, came in to add his own point of view. “By all means talk with the Gibbekot, Mar-Mar, but the Ghoss say the Gibbekot here on Fajnard want you to go with the travelers. They have omens of consequentiality.”
While Falija talked, Mar-agern simply sat on the ledge, umoxlike, head shaking as the umox seemed to do when they didn’t like a situation. I knew how she felt, as though she, I, were being stretched in several directions at once.
I went out to put my arm about my other self, saying, “Surely it’s better to move toward something than to run away from something.”
Rei said, “She’s right, Mar-Mar. The way-gate is only a short way. Take the things you need from here, and we’ll go.”
“You’re coming with us?”
“No. There’s a party of Frossians coming up the canyon where we walked. Some of our people are going to lead them astray. You should be on your way before I leave.”
Though Mar-agern was still unconvinced and certainly unwilling, there was no more argument. We collected our belongings and set out upon a narrow path up the mountain, Rei in the lead, a coil of rope over his shoulder.
To me, Margaret, rope meant climbing or some other unpleasantness, and my already glum mood deepened considerably. When we reached a fork, Rei stood for a moment, recollecting what Maniacal had told him before choosing the route. This happened twice more, on increasingly faint trails, until we stood at a narrow cleft in a rock wall that we edged through one by one…
…and came out on a rock ledge edged by a line of stones. Near enough to wet us with spray, a waterfall plunged into a lovely pool among green mosses. Dead ahead was another rock cleft holding a black, wavering pool.
“We’ve been here,” cried Glory. “We came in this way.”
“And there’s the way we go out,” said Bamber, nodding to our right where a pale light pool glimmered at the back of a rocky recess. “I didn’t see that the last time we were here.”
“We never came this far across the ledge,” said Falija. “We jumped down below.” She turned to Rei, asking, “How did we get back here?”
“If you went down there,” he replied, pointing below, “you must have taken the lowland road that leads in a long curve east and north to the hayfolk. When you left there, you took a road that went straight across the curve you’d made before, like the string of a bow.”
He turned to Bamber, taking the coil of rope from his shoulder. “I’m told it’s narrow in there. You’ll need to remove your packs and drag them through. The Gibbekot say you’ll need this rope at the other end, where the gate comes out in Thairy. They also say their people live on the heights in Thairy, but the people you need to connect with will be down by the sea.”
He waited while we filed in, Gloriana first, then the rest of us.
I came out into a sandy cave, on Gloriana’s heels. We stumbled just far forward enough to escape being knocked down as the others came through behind us. Birds murmured above our heads, drowsy sounds, as though settling for sleep, and the light on the cavern wall glowed red. Behind us, the way-gate we had just left was black and ominous. To our left, the tunnel curved around a corner, and there was another light-filled gate that went on to somewhere else. The two were really only a few steps apart, as they had been
