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But the vales opening all across Hemaira—none of them belong to the Idugu. I should have known that the moment I felt the connection between all those vales—that connection I likened to a giant spiderweb spreading from a singular source when I first saw it. The Gilded Ones are the gods desperately gorging on Hemairans as though the city is a buffet and this is their last feast. They’re the ones killing Hemairans indiscriminately.
The Idugu didn’t open any vale gates in the city, because theirs are all here. Thousands of them, shimmering invisibly around the palace. Hidden. In fact, if I hadn’t been in two of the Idugu’s vales before—felt the oiliness that accompanies the male gods’ presence—I would never have even known they were there.
The goddesses’ vales, I now realize, are ham-handed works of brutality. But the Idugu’s are masterworks. Delicate, ephemeral creations nearly invisible to even the divine eye. A silken lattice protecting their most important possession: my kelai.
And I can’t use any doors to get past them without alerting the Idugu to my presence.
I turn to Keita, my eyes wide. “The entrance to the Eye is covered with the Idugu’s vale gates. There’s no way we can get through. We’re stuck.”
35
“All right, let’s think this through rationally.”
After what feels like hours of staring at the vale gates but is actually just moments, Li breaks the silence with this optimistic pronouncement. Except he doesn’t see what I’m seeing. And what I see is horrific. Each vale gate is the size of a person and has tendrils that wriggle periodically, as if seeking intruders. Even worse, there’s a feeling emanating from them—a consciousness, almost. These aren’t the mindless vale gates I’ve seen before, the ones that just open haphazardly. These were made with a specific purpose in mind: trapping anyone who dares approach them. And by anyone, I mean my friends and me.
“Rationally?” I whirl to Li, my frustration bubbling up. Then I point at the feelers at the edges of one gate—the tendrils he, undoubtedly, can’t see. “The moment you near any one of these things, they snap you up, and just like that, the Idugu have you forever.”
“But there’s only one layer of gates, yes?” Keita has that thoughtful look in his eyes as he approaches me, only I’m now so frustrated, my reply comes in another growl.
“Yes, Keita, one layer. These things are prisons. They’re waiting for someone to come so they can trap them.”
“Good to know,” he says, abruptly wheeling his gryph around. “I’ll return shortly.”
As I watch, confused, he flies a short distance down a hill, then grabs a jatu who is using a terrified woman as a shield against a small reptilian vale wraith. He gestures, swiftly burning the wraith to a crisp, then points the terrified woman to safety before flying back up the hill with the jatu struggling against his grip.
Once he reaches us, he turns back to me, ignoring the jatu, who is now shouting all sorts of foul words.
“How far away are those gates?” he asks me calmly, all the while keeping a firm grip on the struggling, enraged jatu.
“Just beyond the river,” I say, pointing to the boundary of water that marks the farthest edge of the palace grounds.
“Perfect,” Keita says, tugging his gryph upward. He flies as near to the palace as he can, and then, when I call out a panicked “HALT!”, tosses the man clear across the river. “Off you go!” he grunts, wiping his hands clean.
And then he waits.
The moment the screaming man touches the air on the other side, the gates awaken, tendrils shooting forward. Within seconds, the man’s screams have turned to ugly, gutteral sounds as at least three or four gates snap him into quarters, their tendrils swallowing as much of him as they can before they disappear, leaving only open air in their wake.
“Brutal,” Adwapa whispers.
I turn to Keita, who is now returning from the river, his expression as unruffled as ever. “Well?” he asks, nodding at the vale gates. “Any of them gone? You did say they were prisons. Single-use, I imagine.”
I nod as I rush over to kiss him. “Oh, Keita, you’re a genius! At least three of them are gone!”
He shrugs modestly. “An education in savagery does have its benefits.” He glances back at the space just beyond the river. “So, was it enough for a path?”
I look at the air. Three gates may have disappeared, but that’s barely enough space for Belcalis, the smallest-statured among us, to slip through. “Perhaps three or more people,” I reply after some thought.
Before I even finish speaking, Britta and Belcalis are darting off, as are Li and Kweku.
“I’m getting the most people!” Li excitedly declares, heading toward the most brutal combatants in the area: the ones who use innocents as shields.
Britta turns back to wave at us. “Just be sure to tell us if we’re near any gates!” she shouts as the others look on in exasperation at her excitement.
The twins, Acalan, Katya, and Rian have no interest in this game, that much is evident.
Still, Britta and the others will make a path in no time, and it’s a relief. The space between the gates is already closing again, those tendrils stretching to repair the hole left behind. Which, of course, explains why the Idugu are so tired, they can’t move now: they not only have to communicate with their armies, but they also have to repair whatever traps they’ve littered around the palace. I’m certain they have much more than just these gates lying in wait for us.
“Hurry!” I call to my friends. “The path we already cleared is closing.”
