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Those were the three she had seen together before, but the fourth was new. Voordiza. It would be four against one then.

The last goddess was almost Mhakiza’s opposite. She was soft and curvy, with the palest of blonde hair that fell in straight sheets to the floor, pooling around her white woolen dress.

Iryana took a slow breath as she watched Voordiza; the goddess’s presence did strange things to her magic. It was like the water magic inside her sensed its rightful master, curling excitedly like a kitten begging to be scratched. This was the goddess who could soothe her magics. The goddess who had apparently sent Noshtiz on this path with one of her visions. She’d damned Istri but could be Iryana’s savior.

“We have a quest for you,” Thelbiz declared, not even opening his eyes or stopping the stream of power.

Iryana’s attention jerked to him. “A quest,” she stuttered, disbelieving. “We’re trying to save our people from your war, and you want to send us on a quest?”

Thelbiz clicked his tongue. “You offered to help before, did you not?”

Iryana hesitated, glancing at Pyetar. He looked equally unsure. How could they weigh the wellbeing of their own people against the needs of the gods?

“What is the quest?” Pyetar asked, his deep voice more gruff than usual.

It wasn’t Thelbiz that answered, but Voordiza in her soft, airy tones. “It seems Noshtiz has set his followers to using his magic at one of his wells to create some kind of new creature to help him.”

“They can do something like that?” Iryana gasped. “Just utilize the magic from the well?”

“It would appear that Noshtiz has found a way to allow it,” Voordiza answered.

“The point is that we do not have the time to hunt this well down,” Thelbiz added, “nor the spare magic to fight it if the creature comes to life. We need you to stop it before it’s created, and we need you to do it now. Before it’s too late.”

“Where is this well? How far?” Pyetar asked, brow deeply furrowed.

How much time could they really spare? The 18th still needed to be convinced to retreat, the Dovaki Post strengthened against the earthquakes, and fortifications built to help them survive the coming weeks.

“We do not know. Close—within a week or two for your travels, I would guess,” Voordiza mused.

Iryana’s eyes blew wide. “Weeks?”

“There are half a dozen metal wells within that range,” Pyetar growled, clearly trying to keep a rein on his frustration. “That we know of. There literally isn’t enough time to check them all, even if we could leave our people.”

“I’m sorry,” Iryana told the gods reluctantly. “We can’t be away for that long. Our people need us. There is too much to do. You’ll have to find someone else.”

Thelbiz sighed languidly, eyes still sealed shut in concentration. Not one of them had budged from their position or so much as turned toward them. “If this is something we can’t spare the magic for, do you think this is something we could just ask of anyone? You’re double-forged, surely you can feel how strong that makes your magic. Without you, any party we send might not have a chance.”

Iryana swallowed, but Pyetar answered before she could. “She can’t use her magic. It’s killing her. And our people really can’t spare us.”

“We can make it worth your while,” Thelbiz offered.

Limhiz spoke for the first time, his words deep as thunder and rough as tumbling rocks. “If you do this for us, I can spare a little of my magic to make you something that will protect your people from the shaking earth.”

Iryana blinked, weighing that.

“And,” Voordiza added slowly, “I can settle your magic afterward, so that my magic inside you no longer fights with Noshtiz’s. I would offer to do it now, but once I settle your magic, it will lose some of its strength, and you will need all the power you can get. Noshtiz’s Steelsworn will not be an easy challenge.”

The Steelsworn—she’d seen that name before. In the papers on Karvek’s desk.

“They use my magic for Noshtiz’s gain,” Mhakiza seethed. “It’s perverse.”

She considered their offer. The temptation was so strong. If she could protect the post from earthquakes, it would help a lot and improve morale. Might even be enough to tempt the 18th to join them. And the ability to soothe her magic, to know she could use her forgings freely without risking leaving her clan without an heir, would be a tremendous help. But still…

“We still don’t know which well to go to,” she reminded them. “It could take months to search them all, and that would be too late.”

“That is true,” Voordiza said, unworried. “But she knows.”

Iryana looked to Mhakiza, but she remained silent. “Who knows?”