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And expose the gate, I thought.
Without the gate, there will be no more sorceresses, no more Sisterhood of
Weavers. No more enslavement of
Kasim and the others who are desperate enough to live in that valley.
I wondered what Tamar would say about that idea. Or Zivar. Or Alibek, for that
matter.
Well, we can t free the river and have the gate stay open. It would make it
far too easy for another person with an inner gate to stumble through.
Zivar had almost finished the necklace now; Tamar bit her lip and averted her
eyes. One link undone, Zivar closed her eyes for what seemed like mere
heartbeats, then closed the final link.
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She opened her eyes: the djinn hovered beside her. Break my chains, Zivar
said sharply. There were four sharp snaps and the chains fell away. Her eyes
alight, she looped the spell-chain over her head and leapt to her feet.
Stealing a spell-chain, you said? Kidnapping Kyros? Let s do it. Come on.
I took a moment to rob the guard of her sword and boots, and tie her with her
own belt. Kasim left her and joined me in my mind again.
Up, he said, and we ran for the stairs.
W
e came up the stairs into the heat of the day. I could almost see Zivar s
fever rising off her like steam; I
wondered if my own was as visible to her. There was no one at the top of the
stairs.
Up, Kasim urged again, and I
saw another staircase across the hall and followed it.
Up.
He was scouting ahead; I could feel him leaving, returning, and leaving again.
It made me feel dizzy and a little sick or maybe that was the sudden heat, and
the ache of hunger in my stomach.
We emerged onto a small balcony, a fair way up.
Now what?
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I asked Kasim.
Send the slave for a palanquin, he said.
Take it and get out of here.
Send the slave the djinn
for a palanquin, I said to Zivar. I turned to Tamar. Where s the
spell-chain you want to steal?
I think it s there, she said, and pointed.
It was one of the needle-like towers that rose up, built by djinni and
inaccessible except by palanquin. She was still speaking saying something
about gates and the magias but I found my own thoughts seized by a flood of
memories that weren t my own.
Yes
, I thought, and I wasn t sure if my certainty came from myself, or from
Kasim.
There. It s there.
Let s go, I said.
We need to wait, Tamar said, eyeing me nervously. We still need the
palanquin.
I tried to nod crisply. Well, of course, I said. Tamar exchanged a glance
with Alibek; I ignored it.
It seemed to take hours for the palanquin to arrive. The one that arrived,
finally, was scarlet and gold silk, and very small. It was as luxurious inside
as any larger palanquin the interior walls were lined with blue and green
silk, embroidered with golden pictures of fish. We piled inside and the djinn
took us up. It took us up fast
my stomach lurched and my ears felt as if they were underwater, then suddenly
out again. Tamar pressed her hand to her head. Then we stopped. There s a
djinn out there, just outside the window, Zivar said. Lauria?
I drew aside the curtain and looked out. There was a djinn; it hovered in the
air just outside the window. We were just out of reach.
Can we move in a little closer? I asked.
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Zivar looked out and mulled it over. There are djinni who were bound by
sorceresses who are now dead. It s still risky to tell them to kill someone,
because sometimes they kill the holder of the chain, but there are times that
the dead chains are used that way. If you re right about what s up here, this
will be one of those times. If we come too close, it will kill us.
I have to touch it in order to set it free.
Yes. Zivar sighed. We could just get out of here, you know.
I met her eyes for a moment. She was nervous, but I could see excitement
lurking. You don t really want to do that, I said.
Zivar looked out at the djinn again, then at me. Lean out, she said. We ll
hold you.
Tamar and Zivar pinned my legs. Alibek took my left hand, bracing himself
against the edge of the palanquin. I
inched forward, leaning out toward the djinn. I found myself looking straight
down at the ground.
That is a long way down, I thought, and was momentarily almost overwhelmed
with nausea.
A long, long way down.
The people below me were so small I could barely make them out; the flying
birds below me looked the size of insects.
Just pretend that s what they are bugs, crawling things. A tiny world, not the
distant real one. Don t imagine falling& hitting&
I reached for the djinn. It was still beyond my hand. We need to be a little
closer, I said.
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Carefully, so I don t fall. I heard Zivar s voice murmuring to her djinn.
Despite her instructions, we moved with a lurch, and I felt
Alibek s hand tighten on mine.
I ve trusted my life to my worst enemy, I thought. I didn t dare look up at
Alibek; I wasn t really positioned right to look at him, anyway.
All he has to do is let go. The weight of my fall would pull my legs away from
Zivar and
Tamar.
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