“Why?” I finally ask.
“We think they must have gotten wind of the message Nomi sent to Jiran, asking him to meet about your proposal for the ice line,” Teren says. “They’ve never monitored communication from Crystal Hollow before, as far as we know, but—”
“Before, they didn’t know there was a rogue sage hiding here,” I finish.
“Yeah.”
“What are they doing?” Zan asks.
“I don’t know,” Teren says. “Nomi sent me up the mountain as soon as we saw them coming in and was going to intercept them herself, so—”
“We’d better go, and fast,” I finish grimly.
“Eraya was with them,” Teren warns me. “I don’tthinkthey’ll use violence in public with her at the front, but—”
“There are more ways to damage than breaking,” I agree softly. “Zan and I will go—” I doubt he will be separated from me right now “—but you should stay here.”
“No.”
“I’m sure you got up here because you’re wearing the scale talisman, but I put enough wards on the mountain to prevent the priests—”
“No, Yora. People need to see how the priests are with me, someone they really know. That’s the whole point of me revealing myself. I’m not staying.”
Argh. “Fine, we don’t have time for this. But we’ll have to go faster than you can move, so I’ll carry you—”
Zan twitches reflexively, and I pause.
“Better not,” he says in a pained voice.
Okay, maybe this possessiveness thing will be a little annoying after all. “Fine, whatever, but no matter how fast Teren got here we don’t know what the priests have been doing. We need to gonow.”
Zan nods shortly. “Start. We’ll catch up.”
I take him at his word, and I zip out of the house.
Eventakingourraceto pick blackberries into account, this is the fastest I’ve ever run down a mountain. With a kata to enhance my reflexes, I practically fly down.
Carrying Teren on his back, Zan quickly paces me.
The trip down the mountain usually takes us an hour, but this time we’re moving at inhuman speeds so fast we manage it in minutes.
Still not fast enough, a voice in my mind says, because the Order has still had time to work.
They’ve always had time to work.
What can one person do against a whole institution?
We’ll find out, I think grimly.
Because I’m not just a person.
I’m a sage.
And if they test me, they will feel the wrath of gods.
IfeeltheSageof Compassion before I see her. Predictably, she’s in the market area—there’s a different set of evening stalls, apparently. Rather than issuing a proclamation—unless she’s already done that—she’s talking with just a single group of people from Crystal Hollow.
With Nomi at her side.
