The man who passes judgment on another also judges himself,' Seema said. She tore her eyes away from the clouds and gave the ogre a hard stare. 'I saw the slavers do many terrible things, but they did not kill anyone.'
Atreus remained silent, stung by her disapproving tone. Until now, he had simply assumed that Seema wanted to be rescued, thinking her aversion to killing nothing more than a healers natural distaste for death. It had not occurred to him that she might regard the slaying of her captors as an evil greater than being enslaved in the first place.
When Atreus said nothing to defend him, Yago scowled and said, 'A person fights for himself. A person does not let others make him a slave.'
'A person does not kill,' Seema hissed. 'It is a terrible stain on the soul, and I will not have it done in my name.'
The words struck Atreus like a blow to the chest He forgot to watch his footing and slipped on a tuft of grass, barely noticing as Yago caught him and stopped him from sliding down the slope. Though Sune did not prohibit her worshipers from fighting-especially in defense of beauty, love, or their own lives-she did regard both warmongering and unprovoked murder as terrible scars upon a worshiper's soul. To Seema, apparently, any kind of killing was an ugliness of spirit
Atreus scrambled to his feet and grasped Rishi's arm again. A few moments later they reached the clouds and entered a misty world of white air and damp rock. Seema dragged them another fifty paces up the couloir, then suddenly stopped on a large boulder. Though he was only an arm's length away, the fog made her look ghostly and ethereal
'You will not kill again,' she told them all. It was neither a question nor a command, only a statement 'No more deaths.'
'Now is certainly not the best time… to debate this,' gasped Rishi. 'We must keep going, or there will undoubtedly be at least three more when we are caught…'
Seema made no move to continue up the couloir. 'No,' she insisted. 'I must know before we carry on.'
Yago growled softly, and Atreus glanced back to see his friend glaring down the gulch. It was impossible to see anything in the mist, but this was the ogre's way of making plain what he thought about taking orders from strangers, though, of course, he would do whatever Atreus wanted.
Atreus drew the sword from his belt and swung it flat against the boulder. The blade snapped with a sharp chime, and Yago groaned miserably.
'By the gods!' Rishi cried. 'Have you lost your mind?'
Atreus ignored him, looked to Seema, and said, 'No more deaths.'
Seema looked to Yago. 'And you?' she asked.
The ogre glanced at Atreus, then growled, 'If Atreus wants.'
'Good,' she said. As she turned to Rishi, the sound of clattering stones began to echo up through the mist 'Do you also promise?'
The Mar glanced toward the sound and said, 'Surely it is better for Tarch to die than all of us.'
Seema's eyes grew sad, and she stepped down off the boulder. 'I must leave you,' she said. 'I am the one he is looking for, and there will be no more killing if I go to him.'
'Wait' Atreus caught her by the arm, turned to Rishi, and said, 'Make the promise. I can't let Seema go by herself, even if there is to be no more killing.'
Rishi's eyes narrowed. 'Good sir, you are a very bad liar,' he said. 'It is only Seema that Tarch wishes alive. He will be most happy to kill you… and Yago.'
'He will try,' said Atreus, 'but now that Yago's here, perhaps we can subdue him without killing him. Are you sure you want to be the only one trying to kill him-or the only one left, if we fail?'
Rishi considered this a moment, grew pale, and licked his lips. He turned to Seema. 'I promise.'
She studied the Mar for several moments. The clattering below continued to grow louder, but it was impossible to tell how close Tarch was. Atreus had learned during his sea crossing that everything sounded different in fog, and the only thing he could see below was Yago's heavy breath swirling the vapor.
After a time, Seema nodded to Rishi and said, 'I will take you at your word, but if you are lying to me…'
'I'll be responsible for him,' Atreus assured her, casting a warning glance at the Mar. I'm sure he won't give me reason to regret it'
'Never! I am being most honest arid truthful,' Rishi said, turning up the couloir. 'Now may we please hurry?'
Seema caught the Mar by the arm and said, 'Not that way.'
She motioned toward the couloir's rocky wall, then looked down the slope. 'Tarch,' she called, 'you must take shelter again. We have found a loose boulder!'
She caught Yago's eye and pointed to the boulder upon which she had been standing. The ogre grinned and passed the supply bundle to Atreus. Wrapping his gangling arms around the stone, he heaved it into the fog. The rock landed with a resounding crash and began to bound down the slope. Soon the rumble of a massive rockslide was reverberating up the couloir.
'Follow me.'
Seema's voice was barely audible over the clamor of the falling rocks. She turned to the couloir wall and slipped her hands into a crevice, then scrambled up the twenty-foot cliff in a few quick moves. Atreus could not help feeling sheepish. Seema was the rescuer now. She probably knew a thousand ways to evade Tarch, and none of them involved fighting.
With the clatter of the rockslide still masking their escape, Yago boosted Rishi up, then scrambled up the wall himself. Atreus tossed the supply bundle to the ogre and brought up the rear. Soon they were crossing the face of a rocky crag. Although the outcropping was not much steeper than the couloir, it felt immeasurably more dangerous, with the mist-slickened rock dropping away into bottomless fog and nothing but white cloud at their backs.
Seema sauntered along the crag as though it were a balcony walkway, barely touching its stony face with her uphill hand. Rishi and Atreus faced the rock and inched along sideways, keeping both hands on the stone at all times. Yago turned away from the outcropping and leaned back against it, crawling along like a back-jointed spider and holding the supply bundle in one hand. It was not long before a nervous rumble began to reverberate from his chest
'Yago, do you think it would be easier if you turned around?' Atreus asked softly. 'That way you can see the rock.'
'I can feel the rock.' Yago's deep whisper cut through the fog like a hissing wind. Fortunately, the rockslide was still clattering to a halt back in the couloir, so it seemed unlikely Tarch would hear. 'If I fall, I want to see where I'm going.'
Atreus sighed and reached out Knowing it would do no good to argue, he said, 'Let me carry the supplies. We don't want to lose them if you fall.'
Yago refused to yield the bundle. 'Keep your hands on the rock!' the ogre said too loudly. 'You'll fall.'
'Our lives depend on our silence,' Seema hissed. She stretched a hand past Rishi, then added, 'I will not fall. Pass me the supplies.'
Yago scowled but quietly passed the bundle forward. They continued across the outcropping and the sound of the rockslide died away behind them. A short time later, they heard Tarch in the couloir, his feet kicking stones and gravel down the gully as he climbed past They all breathed a little easier, and it was not long before they began to hear a steady roar echoing up through the fog. Guessing that this would be the waterfall he had seen that morning, Atreus began to keep a watch for the hanging glacier.
He almost didn't recognize it when they reached it The rocky crag simply ended, as though they had come to the edge of the mountain itself. Seeing nothing but gray haze beyond, Atreus expected Seema to climb around the corner and continue on. Instead, she stepped down off the-outcropping and seemed to simply hover in the fog.
Rishi stopped and peered over the edge, his mouth gaping in astonishment. 'What are you standing on?'
'Snow, of course. Come along.' Seema reached out with her freehand and warned, 'Be very careful of your
