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She hurried down the alley, surveying the flat brick of the buildings on either side, the empty windows above. The killer’s presence had hollowed her out so thoroughly that she struggled to muster enough will to draw on her own magic. But she didn’t need magic to know that something was deeply wrong with the city.
When she was nearly to the end of the street, her neck prickled and she stopped. Turned.
The cat still watched her, eye gleaming green in the shadows. But other than that, the street behind her appeared empty, so Sirsha walked on.
16
Aiz
The Southern Ocean boiled and raged, and the Ankanese ship should have been nothing but broken boards at the bottom of the sea. Instead, it cut a steady path south, riding the frothing waves the way Sail pilots rode the winds of a blizzard.
Aiz fixed her gaze on the southern horizon, welcoming the slap of wet on her face and the wind tearing at her hair. The ship’s captain had shown her to her quarters, given her soap and a bucket of water to wash, and fresh clothing. Kegar was behind her. She must now determine what lay ahead.
“You have the rhythm of the sea.”
The seer spoke from beside her, still in her deep green robes. Aiz stepped back, watchful.
“I am Dolbra.” The seer inclined her head. “We promised Cero to take you wherever you wished to go after we round Cape Timdra tomorrow. Consider well, for once you decide, we will not change course.”
Aiz had expected to fight Tiral, not escape Kegar. But Mother Div’s will had set her on another path, and it was not fully illuminated. Perhaps Aiz wasn’t ready to face Tiral. Mother Div would want a worthy opponent for her foe—and Aiz wasn’t that. Yet.
“Why did you decide to help me?” Aiz stalled for time. If there was one thing she’d learned from the Nine Sacred Tales, it was that Mother Div communicated her will in a myriad of ways. Through visions, certainly, but also through signs. One simply had to know how to interpret them.
Dolbra gripped the railing as the ship crested a large wave, and spray broke over the deck. The bones of her knuckles pressed tight against herskin. For a moment, within her hood, the seer appeared almost skeletal.
Around the two of them, the odd silence of the ship deepened.
“I saw you,” Dolbra whispered.
“Saw me where?” Aiz said.
“They mustn’t hear.” Dolbra’s gaze raked across her countrymen all over the boat. “They mustn’t know, for our people are to remain neutral in all things. But you appeared in my visions, Aiz bet-Dafra. You grasped an ancient wind in your hand and swallowed it. It bloomed through your chest and took form as a woman with her hands raised. Your cleric, Div.”
“Your people,” Aiz said. “They know of Mother Div?”
Dolbra nodded. “She visited centuries ago. Much of what she said was lost. But she told us her Nine Sacred Tales. She is not a holy figure for our people. But she is respected, for she knew the power of foresight. Look—”
Dolbra gestured up to a star burning low on the horizon.
“That is Malitha, which rises for rebirth and for destruction,” she said, before drawing an invisible line to another star. “And when Jiragh is in direct line, that is a return. A change.”
A chill swept up Aiz’s arms. It was a star that led Mother Div to a new homeland long ago—the evening star.
“But there are other stars I see,” Dolbra breathed. “In dreams, the seers delve beyond what the human eye can perceive and into the empyrean. There, constellations beyond our sky emerge.” The seer stepped closer to Aiz now. “The Reaper rose once before, more than one thousand years ago. It rises again. When I look at you now, I see—”
“Holy Seer.”
Aiz started, for she’d been so fixated on Dolbra’s words that she hadn’t noticed the ship’s captain approach. She was small and fair-haired, with a stony gaze.
“Holy Seer, it is time for the sunset orison.” The captain settled her hand on the seer’s shoulder. “The crew awaits.”
Dolbra seemed to come out of a daze at the woman’s touch. She joined the rest of the crew, and they tipped their heads to the sky while Dolbra hummed. For a moment when everyone else faced the stars, Dolbra seemed to look across the ship at Aiz.
Her gaze pierced through the Kegari girl. Haunted.
Aiz wondered what Dolbra saw.
That night, Aiz pulled out the book she’d stolen from Tiral.
