Logar met with Nine Claws in the little campsite we had taken over, his hand clamped on Deamar’s shoulder. The older man looked grave as he kept his son in place. For his part, Deamar was glaring at the ground even if the rest of his demeanor indicated he just received the worst dressing down of his life. As soon as they had stepped into our area the jeers and taunts from the mob that had been growing nearby quieted. I wouldn’t be surprised if the most obnoxious of them were the ones who had lost their homes to “the incursion”.
“My partner is not good at saying no to his loved ones and he is even worse at being separated from them.” He thrust Deamar a step forward. “Our son has suffered for it.”
“I—” Deamar tried to interrupt but Logar cut him off by simply tightening his grip. I wished I could silence Deamar just as easily but there was no way I’d voluntarily touch him and my expressions tended to incite him into speaking more.
Malady looked thrilled at the display from her place just behind and to the side of Nine Claws while the whisper woman’s own expression was carefully neutral. I avoided glancing over to where Prevna stood next to Jika, though even I could tell with barely a look that the latter was struggling to stay upright with her support. My stomach twisted, but I ignored the unpleasant feeling as I finished scoping out our group—I had done what I had to. Kuma had a pinched expression on her face, like she didn’t exactly agree with what was happening but she felt obligated to witness it all the same.
No one else stood with us. Tike and Klus had apparently made themselves scarce since returning to the village and the pair we had brought here seemed to be following a similar notion. With all the attention we were drawing that was probably the smart move, but I was glad for the distraction.
“Now my partner has failed to say no again and our people will suffer for it,” Logar said.
Nine Claws waited for him to explain why any of it was her problem.
He continued, “They blame you for how the fire dancers came early this year and so close to our home. For the fights that have broken out. For nightmares and shame and grief.”
“And?”
“And while I might understand why our pasts might push us to those sentiments I still wish for my people to have a future. It seems our isolation has caused many to forget the true potency of the goddess’s wrath.” Logar looked down at Nine Claws and gave her a nod of acknowledgment. “Nor that it wouldn’t take the goddess Herself to ruin us.”
Nine Claws finally smiled back him. “Wise words. What are you proposing?”
He gestured with his free hand to the mob that was trying not to grab his attention. “They are calling for your judgment. I will bring you to our Master and make sure no one interferes with the judgment.” He drew our attention back to Deamar. “We will also be judged for the same failings that caused our predecessors to flee the valleys: pride and greed.” I thought it was odd that he’d lump greed in their current failings but I didn’t want the focus to shift to me so I kept quiet. “In exchange, for your cooperation, I will take you to see what draws the fire dancers from their slumber every year.”
Deamar twisted to stare at him in shock. “You can’t.”
Logar kept his gaze on Nine Claws. “Perhaps you will find what you are looking for.”
“And if the judgment goes poorly?” Nine Claws asked.
“Our lives are as dependent on our Master’s goodwill as yours is on the goddess’s indifference.”
Nine Claws seemed darkly amused by that. “Well, we’ll make sure it goes well then.” She glanced back at the rest of us. “We have one that’s in no condition to make even a short journey. She will need to remain here. How can I be sure your people won’t get…ideas while we are gone?”
“I’ll stay.”
“I’ll watch over her.”
Kuma spoke at the same as Gard did. I squinted at him, unsettled at the idea he could have been nearby and I hadn’t noticed him. Though, at the same, I had gotten used to ignoring the village men in the short time we’ve been here as annoying background noise, given all the things they did trying to provoke us. Colt clung to Gard’s shirt hem and, surprisingly, he didn’t cower under all the glowers the mob sent their way. If they did decide to live here they’d have an uphill battle gaining the rest of the village’s favor after this stunt.
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Nine Claws nodded. “I’ll trust you both to protect your own.”
Kuma strode to Jika and Prevna and they subtle shifted who was supporting Jika. Prevna gave them more space as Gard and Colt took up the spot on her other side.
Nine Claws swept her gaze over everyone gathered nearby though her threat was clearly for the villagers. “You should know that any promise I make with your leader is forfeit should more harm come to those I’m meant to protect.”
Some of the men quailed under her warning while others seemed to grow more incensed but not a single one dared to go against her to her face. One of her spectral cats appeared by her foot, walked a few steps and then disappeared again.
“And I’m always watching.”
Jika was tucked away back into a tent, the three Pickers standing guard, even little Colt, and we followed Logar to see some creature that might have lived since the Era of Night.
We weren’t a large group. So I found myself bringing up the rear while Prevna walked in front of me. She had glanced back me once with a conflicted expression I didn’t like before she resolutely faced forward again.
Time. I had to remind myself again that she had asked for time. She hadn’t called me useless or told me to be better. I wasn’t leaving her behind for training. So this wasn’t end, I wouldn’t let it be.
Still, I found myself missing most of our journey as I watched her walk. No doubt she could feel my eyes boring into her but she only turned toward me again when we all stopped for some reason. Prevna slipped her hand around mine, squeezed, and then she was gone again, slipping forward to put Malady between us.
That was when I shook myself out of my stupidly narrow focus and looked around. We had traveled away from the village but we were still near the valley’s edge rather than near the lake where I had assumed the Dawn Crawler would be.
We were in front of another cave entrance. This one wasn’t the wide opening of the Night Cave or even something that two people could walk next to each other in. It was more of a crack in a wall, something we’d have to slide sideways to enter, with rock pressing in on all sides. I didn’t see why any beast would bother with such a place unless the great and mythical beast of the Lower Broken Spear Peaks was the size of a common burrow snake.
Logar said, “Watch how you step. The path can get steep.”
He led the way again, Deamar close behind, and everyone else after.
I didn’t want to enter. The cloying fog was bad enough, but there were certain things I could force myself to get used to. This…was not one of them. This was tighter than most of the paths in Flickermark and, from what I could see, there wouldn’t be a reprieve from the small space. Even if I forced my way in and it became too much I’d be stuck because I’d have to endure the same claustrophobic space on the way back out. Even calling it it path seemed a bit of a stretch.
Logically, I knew the narrow path couldn’t hurt me. That Logar had entered it just fine and he was much bigger than me. I wouldn’t have anyone behind me, trapping me in, preventing me from getting to the exit. It was just a link from one place to another. Nothing sinister, nothing terrible. Just stone and darkness I could see perfectly through and too little space between.
My feet moved no closer to the cave’s entrance.
Prevna paused as she took the first step inside and then I saw her feet start to move towards me, going the wrong the direction. I jerked my head up from the patch of grass I had been staring at while I tried to will myself forward.
She tried to gently hold my hand again but I pulled away. “You said you needed time.”
Her smile was pained. “You need a friend. It’s too narrow, right?”
I clenched my hand into a fist. “I can do it on my own. You don’t need to strain yourself on my account.”
She looked at me for a long, long moment before she suddenly chuckled. It was sad and exasperated and rueful all at once. “Storms! We’re a mess, aren’t we?” She rubbed her hands over her face. “Just for this tunnel, okay? You’ll let me help you and then we’ll go back to giving each other space so I can think and you can come up with other options than running head first into danger.”
I wanted to take her hand but I didn’t dare quite reach out yet. “How long will it last?”
She glanced back over her shoulder before turning back towards me with one of her knowing looks. Something in me settled when I saw that look on her face but I ignored it and kept my focus on her.
“Ten steps. Just ten steps and you’ll be through.” Prevna held her hand out to me. “Ready?”
I drew in a deep breath before letting it out, took her hand and said, “We shouldn’t keep the others waiting.”
Prevna gently pulled me along behind her so that I had crossed the impossible distance to the cave with hardly any resistance at all. Perhaps that had been all of ten steps. Something so simple I normally wouldn’t even need to think about it.
Then we had to shift sideways to enter the cursed “pathway”. As I took that first awful step inside I told myself that this was new, that there was nothing for the memories to cling to despite the feeling I was entering a place that had no easy escape. When a memory did drag at me I forced it aside with the more tactile memory of the last time Prevna had led me, hand in hand, through my fear. The fog along the shore had been oppressive in its expansiveness, in the threats it hid, but I would take that over the feeling of stone pressing into my back and stomach at the same time, of elbows and knees bruised simply because there wasn’t enough space to move, the dwindling of what light the cave entrance had to offer like a tent entrance getting increasing smaller until suddenly it disappeared and we could only see because of our darksight boons.
We inched and slid and silently cursed our way down that dark crack in a mountain until we finally reached its end. It took a lot more than ten steps but I didn’t hold the lie against Prevna. Not when it got me through and she held my hand the entire time.