Talismans, I knew, were made with the blood of mages.
“Do the Ess Noti also pursue new technologies?”I asked, though I already sensed the answer.“Adjacent to magecraft.Talismans and the like.”
Scieran shook his head.“That, I do not know.It has been years since I was in contact with the outside world, and I do not make a habit of interrogating fugitives who pass through my gates.”He raised an amused brow.“Unless they are Aeadine, pretending to be Usti, and are, at most, days ahead of their pursuers.”
My smile was brittle.“Understood.We will leave tomorrow.”
“Thank you.”
TWENTY-FIVE
Four Moons
MARY
Iexpected to reunite with the men as soon as I’d finished my bath and dressed, but instead I was met by the Sunjani novice and led into an underground passageway.
Nerves, settled by the bath, prickled back to life.
“Where are we going?”I asked in Mereish, supplied by Tane.
The Sunjani blinked at my change of language.“Your Mereish is very good.”Her own was pleasantly accented, with the light vowels and soft stops of her native tongue.“My name is Nitha.”
“I’m Mer,” I said, using an Usti form of Mary.
I was aware that my facial structure was staunchly Aeadine, with the broad cheekbones, small mouth and nose common to the midlands, but the chances of her recognizing that were slim, and the Usti ancestry I claimed was notoriously mixed.
“Where are we going?”I repeated, hoping to distract her.
“I am taking you to the Oruse.Our shrine.”Nitha turned her attention back to the tunnel ahead.It wasn’t as dank as I expected, the floor and walls dry and brightly lit with oil lamps on silvered iron hooks.“You must pay your respects.”
Hidden in my bones, Tane stirred.Whatever I sensed lies this way.Mary, it feels like another ghisting.
Samuel said there was ghisten wood here.
I do not speak of doors and lintels.This ghisting has not been harvested.
But we are nowhere near a Ghistwold.
Precisely.
Curiosity deepening, I asked, “Have my companions already paid their respects?”
“Your friend with the pale hair will join us soon.”
“Not the others?”
Nitha wasn’t a terrible liar, but there was evasiveness in her eyes as she said, “They were not summoned.You will see them at table, regardless.”
Perplexed and more than a little wary, I fell silent.
The tunnel was long enough for me to recognize we must have left the monastery grounds.We reached another set of stairs that broadened as they rose, each rock-hewn step worn with age and smooth in the lanternlight.We passed several monks in low, smiling conversation and two novices with empty baskets and scuttling feet.They all nodded to us, but kept their eyes from my face.
“Why won’t they look at me?”I asked.Surely noteveryoneat the monastery was in hiding and would act the same way.
“The Saint summoned you but has not seen you yet,” my guide said.
The beginnings of suspicion began to trickle between Tane and myself.
