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The sight of so many dakii put a fear in her that left Iryana shaking for hours afterward. But the pull on her mark was getting so strong that Iryana knew they had to be almost upon Thelbiz.

The tug on her mark dissipated as Iryana stepped into a clearing at the base of a small cliff, Pyetar a step behind her. It was like a great shield enclosed the area, for the wind immediately died too.

Thelbiz was waiting for her, wrapped only in that light coat made of blue cotton. His golden eyes tracked her steps with mild interest.

Without the wind to guard against, Iryana was able to pull down her scarf and face coverings.

“You took your time answering my call.” Thelbiz sounded tired.

“Traveling this time of year is slow, Your—Magnificence?” Iryana hesitated and turned to Pyetar. “How do you address a god?” She should have worried about this earlier, instead of looking like a fool now.

“Your godliness? Your divinity?” Pyetar’s voice was deep as he rattled off options.

“Spare me,” Thelbiz commanded dryly.

Iryana swallowed. “You… summoned me?”

“Yes,” he sighed, as if it had not been willingly done. “I have a warning for you and your people.”

Chapter Twenty-Six

Iryana straightened, body painfully still. “A warning?”

Thelbiz spoke quickly, like he couldn’t wait to be done with her. “Noshtiz is focusing his efforts here, in these valleys. This is where he will make his stand, and where we must defeat him. It will be dangerous for those in the vicinity. Consider this your warning that it would be in your best interest to leave.”

Anger surged in her. Dangerous? More dangerous than it already was? Worse than the last fifteen years, which had already taken so many lives? She was almost shaking.

“Why the change of heart? Aren’t we dispensable?” Iryana asked bitterly.

Pyetar put a hand on her shoulder, turning to Thelbiz. “You said we?”

“I have convinced some of the others to join me, and they have weaker hearts. It was their condition that I warn you humans.” Thelbiz glanced back into an unnaturally perfect cave dug into the side of the cliff. Now that she focused on it, Iryana could see two figures inside, sitting across from one another.

More gods.

It was hard to make them out, to determine which gods had joined Thelbiz against Noshtiz. One figure was far larger than the other, almost like a bear perched in a pose of mediation. Most likely Limhiz, god of earth. The other looked female, which could either be Mhakiza, the goddess of fire, or Voordiza, goddess of water. After the vision the fox-serpent had shown her, she couldn’t imagine Mhakiza taking Noshtiz’s side.

“Where do we go?” Pyetar demanded, pulling her attention away from the other gods.

“Away. Into the mountains? I do not care.” Thelbiz sighed impatiently, waving toward the cave. “They just want you out.”

“Why not tell them yourself? They’d listen to a god far better than me,” Iryana argued.

Thelbiz glared at her. “It takes our full attention to pull enough magic to make our armies. To direct them toward Noshtiz. Besides, you have my mark. The humans should listen.”

“Don’t you outnumber Noshtiz?” Iryana asked. “Can’t you all easily beat him together?”

“War has always been Noshtiz’s domain.” Thelbiz frowned—the expression only noticeable by the faint crinkling beside his eyes and a slight tension in his lower lip. “We haven’t recovered much of our magic yet, and what we have recovered goes straight into our armies. The more magic, the more control we have over them. Noshtiz has been preparing since before he even started this war, and even waking a couple decades before him hasn’t allowed me to even the odds. And of course, he still has followers in this world that help him.”

Iryana scoffed. “Noshtiz has followers that support what he’s doing? Know what he’s doing?” All the gods had orders that followed them, Keepers that ran their temples and scholars that studied their legacy. She had never heard of a god having followers beyond that.

Thelbiz nodded, glancing back toward the cave as if eager to return.

If he wanted followers, perhaps she did have something to offer him. “The settlement that my clan guards, they’re offering you a place at Lake Vrasho. Offering you your choice of champions.” The words sounded so cheap to her.

“How am I to have champions when you all bind yourselves to our magic on your own?” He scoffed. “Besides, if I wanted champions, I would have already found them.”

She expected as much.