Part 16 (1/2)

The ogre shrugged, then ducked through the door behind Timin. Atreus glanced at Ris.h.i.+, who was coming down the stairs to investigate the uproar.”Go with them,” Atreus said to the Mar, pointing out the door. ”Hurry... and keep an eye out for Tarch.”

Ris.h.i.+ paled. ”Tarch? I thought there was no way*””There isn't,” said Seema, and Atreus finished for her, ”But this is a strange coincidence.””And if it is more than a coincidence?” Ris.h.i.+ demanded. ”What do you expect me to doabout it?”

”The same thing you did at the icefall,” Atreus said as he shoved the little Mar out thedoor. ”We'll be along as fast as I can run.”

”Run?” Seema asked, shaking her head. ”You are not even ready to walk, and theCaves of Blue are at the far end of the basin, very high up the slope.”

Atreus started out the door after his friends. ”I'll crawl if I have to,” he promised.

In the end, Seema borrowed a yak and led the way toward the Caves of Blue.Had Atreus's thoughts not been consumed by visions of Tarch abducting the beautifulgirls of the valley, the journey would have been an enchanting one. The trails werelined with soaring birch and fir, many so large that even Yago could not have closed hislong arms around the trunks. The ground itself was blanketed with a bounteous undergrowth of blossoming rhododendron that arched out over the trail sprinklingpink petals on their heads as they pa.s.sed. Every now and then, they would cometo a golden stream snaking its way down to the big river in the center of the basin, orcross an open meadow of long green gra.s.s where a small herd of yaks grazed contentedly. After a time, they reached the terraced slopes surrounding a small hamlet similar tothe one where Seema lived. Here, they were besieged by distressed women whobegan to fill in the troubling details of the rockslide. Timin's father had awakened that morning to discover his eldest daughter, a young woman of seventeen, missing.Discovering two set of footprints leading away from his hut, he had set off at once to catch the pair. Not long afterward, the rumble of a nearby landslide had shaken thehamlet. Timin had followed the dust plume to a slope of talus*a jumbled scarp ofloose rock*beneath the Caves of Blue. There he found his father trapped under ahuge boulder. There was no sign of his sister or the mysterious man with whom shehad left Atreus was astonished by the utter innocence of the villagers. Had a similar eventoccurred in Erlkazar, the father would have a.s.sumed the worst and set off with a company of armed men to hunt down the abductor. Here, the girl's disappearanceseemed more confusing than alarming, as though they could not imagine why shewould leave without saying good-bye.

Bythetimetheyreached theother sideofthehamletAtreuswasconvincedthatTarch had found his way into the valley. He said nothing to Seema, thinking it wiser to lether decide this for herself. In many ways, they were growing closer every day, b.u.t.there remained between them a certain uneasiness he did not want to aggravateby pus.h.i.+ng her to a conclusion she would soon reach for herself. With-out exception,the women of Langdarma were as beautiful as Seema was, and it could hardly be a coincidence that two of them had disappeared since she had escaped Tarch.

As they traveled along the terraced vegetable slopes, Atreus soon found himselflooking out over the edge of the basin, to where it dropped away into greaterLangdarma The valley was even more vast than he remembered, so wide that theother side was obscured in haze, and so deep that he could see no bottom, only the far wall plunging ever downward. The impossibility of finding the Fountain of infinite Grace insuch an immense place struck him heavily. Yago and Ris.h.i.+ had spent nearly a tenday searching just the upper basin, and it could not have been a thousandth the sizeof the main valley.

Clearly, he would need Seema's help to find the fountain, but he did not dare ask.The secret loomed over their relations.h.i.+p as heavy and foreboding as the ice-bluesky, an unspoken conflict they both feared to address. Atreus had asked manytimes whether there was not some way to change his external appearance, andSeema had always sidestepped the question, invariably changing the subject to his perception of himself. He could feel her holding back, trying desperately to avoid lyingto him as she had lied about Langdarma, yet determined to keep from him someconfidence she held even more dear than the valley's existence. As for Atreus, he felt burdened with guilt, like a thief who insinuates himself into a rich man's house in orderto rob him blind. He did not see how Langdarma would be harmed by taking a singlevial of water from the Fountain of Infinite Grace, yet he did not dare broach the subject for fear that the mere asking would somehow make his task impossible.

The trail entered the woods again and continued forward over the brink of the basin,but Seema turned up a side path and began to lead them uphill. The slope grewsteadily steeper as they went. Soon, they were zigzagging up a series of switchbacks, creeping across craggy outcroppings and stealing glimpses down intothe main valley. In many ways, it was a larger version of the upper basin, with a littleless forest, a lot more barley field, and a broad blue river snaking down the center. Atthe far end, the valley gradually narrowed to a shadowy black gorge and disappeared into a wall of ice-capped mountains.

They had just reached the steepest part of the hillside when they began to hear voices chattering ahead. Seema broke from a fast walk into a run, tugging Atreus'syak along behind her. From somewhere ahead came a loud crash, followed by theclatter of tumbling stone.Atreus and Seema emerged from the forest onto a steep, jumbled talus slope. Twentypaces below, a circle of men were gathered around Yago's stooped form. Above the ogre stood an old man in a scarlet tabard, issuing commands in a thicklyaccented voice that Yago probably could not understand. By the woolen herb satchelhanging over the old man's shoulder, Atreus guessed that this was k.u.mara, thehealer Timin had mentioned.

Seema tied the yak's lead to a bush. Atreus dismounted and followed her down to the crowd. They arrived to find the head and shoulders of a gla.s.sy-eyed manprotruding from beneath a wagon-sized slab of granite. The poor fellow was lying on ablood-smeared boulder, babbling incoherently about yetis and devils. Yago stoodover him, struggling alongside several villagers to keep the huge slab from dropping onhis chest. Timin was kneeling next to the victim, presumably his father, stroking his hair and speaking gently while two other men pulled his arms. A third man hadcrawled under the stone so far that only the soles of his boots remained visible.

The victim shrieked in pain, and a m.u.f.fled voice under the slab cried out, ”Now!”

The men holding the victim's arms stepped back, pulling him from beneath theboulder. As his legs came free, one ankle began to spurt long arcs of blood. The other merely oozed from a smashed stump. k.u.mara instantly jumped down besidethe injured man and pressed one hand to the spurting ankle, fis.h.i.+ng through hiswoolen satchel with the other.

The brave man under the slab began to inch out, but Yago was having troubleholding the heavy stone. He groaned deeply, and gasped, ”Fingers... slipping!”

The villagers frowned and began to jabber in confusion, and Atreus realized they had not understood the ogre's warning. He shouldered his way into the crowd,grabbed the ankles of the man under the stone, and jerked him out backward.

”In the name of the Five Kingdoms, take care!” the hero cried, twisting around toglare up at his handler.”Ris.h.i.+?” Atreus gasped, surprised to find himself staring down at his sly guide. ”What are you getting out of this?”

”Nothing,” Ris.h.i.+, flushed with embarra.s.sment, answered. ”I am as surprisedas you are, but no one else believed Yago could hold the stone.”

At that instant, Yago cried out in alarm and jumped back. The granite slab crasheddown, shaking the whole talus slope, and Atreus thought for an instant that therockslide would begin again.

Ris.h.i.+'s eyes widened at the near miss, and he spun to glare at Yago. The ogremerely shrugged and turned away, stooping over the other onlookers to peer down at Timin's father.

”Is he gonna live?”

The father's gla.s.sy eyes grew round, then he began to shake his head in fear.

”Yeti devil!”

Yago's heavy brow rose. ”Me?”

The man tried to push himself away. ”Thief of daughters!” He sc.r.a.ped his fingersacross the rock, searching for something to throw, crying, ”Where is my Lakya?”Atreus stooped over the man. ”Is that what happened to your daughter?” he asked. ”Did a devil steal her?” When the man's gaze s.h.i.+fted to Atreus, he screamed in terror and cried, ”Devilseverywhere!”He struggled to escape, flailing around so hard that the old healer could no longerhold him. ”You must step away,” ordered k.u.mara. His glower slid from Atreus to Yago. ”Both of you.”

Yago scowled. ”You guys are the ones that asked me*”

”Please, my father means no offense,” said Timin, moving to block the injured man'sview of Yago. ”He is delirious.”

Atreus nodded and pulled the ogre away, but even that did not calm Timin's father.

”Return my Lakya!” the man screamed. ”Give her back!”

k.u.mara reached into his satchel and removed a small, clear vial. The liquid inside looked remarkably like water, save that it seemed to catch the light like a fine diamond and cast it back in a sparkling aura of radiance. When Atreus made the mistake of gasping, k.u.mara frowned and s.h.i.+fted around to hide the vial from view.

There was a small popping noise, then the sound of liquid being poured. A silvery halo rose around both the healer and his patient, and Timin's father grew instantly quiet.

This time, it was the villagers who gasped.

Atreus's heart began to pound faster. He leaned over to Seema and, as casually as he could manage, whispered, ”What was that?”

Seema hesitated, then said, *Water.”

Atreus risked a doubtful frown. ”Water?” he asked. ”No water I've ever seen*”

”It comes from a special place!” Seema hissed. ”Only healers may go there, and now you must ask no more.””Why?”Seema scowled at him. ”Because it is the Sannyasi's wish, that is why!” She moved away, kneeled down beside k.u.mara, and said, ”Is there anything I can do to help,Old Uncle?” The old man gave her a glare that could have melted granite. ”Have you not done enough already?” he asked.

Seema recoiled as though struck.

”What do you mean?”

k.u.mara nodded toward Atreus and Yago. ”It is you who brought this evil on us.” Heground a leaf between his fingers, then pushed the dust into the spurting wound on his patient's ankle and added, ”You angered Fate by trying to cheat her, and now wemust all pay.”

Atreus could not stand the sight of the tears that welled in Seema's eyes. Hesquatted down across from k.u.mara, his misshapen face taut with anger.

”Speak how you wish about my friends and me, but Seema is not responsible for this,” he said, gesturing at Timin's wounded father. ”Nor is she responsible for the missing daughters. Only a coward would blame a woman for a devil's doing.”

k.u.mara returned the threat with a black-eyed glare, then hissed three times. Aninvisible force as soft and powerful as the wind struck Atreus in the chest, knockinghim to his haunches and leaving him gasping for breath. The old healer narrowed his eyes. ”In this place, you are a devil.” He glanced atSeema and added, ”Women who consort with devils are witches.”

Seema gasped in outrage, then met k.u.mara's eyes and locked gazes. Atreussensed that some contest neither he nor the villagers could quite perceive, muchless understand, was taking place. The two healers glared at each other for whatseemed an eternity, neither blinking nor seeming to breathe, until Seema finally began to tremble.

k.u.mara sneered, then raised his chin. ”Do you hear it, Seema?” he asked.

Atreus heard nothing, but Seema's eyes darted toward the head of the basin.

”You see?” k.u.mara sneered. ”Even Jalil's ghost knows what you are.”

Seema's eyes flashed with fury, but she seemed unable to keep from turning hergaze in the direction of her own hamlet. She c.o.c.ked her head as though listening.Her shoulders slumped and tears began to spill down her cheeks. She spunaway and bounded up the boulder field, leaving k.u.mara to smirk at her back.

Atreus glared down at the old healer and said, ”If Seema did bring evil to Langdarma, she is not the first There is enough wickedness in your heart for ten devils.” k.u.mara did not even look up. He simply hissed, and Atreus felt an invisible handpus.h.i.+ng him away. Yago scowled and started to step toward the healer, drawing a.n.a.larmed murmur from the crowd of villagers. Atreus quickly raised his hand.

”Seema wouldn't want that.”

He motioned Yago and Ris.h.i.+ to his side and led the way a short distance up the taluspile. He spent the next several minutes glaring down the slope while k.u.mara tendedto Timin's father, until he finally felt calm enough to speak.

”That old terror is right about one thing,” he said. ”Tarch followed us.”Yago's eyes grew round with fear, though it would have shamed the ogre to admit this, and Ris.h.i.+ shook his head. ”Such a thing is impossible,” the Mar insisted. ”You were not conscious, so you do notknow*”