Roots pulled up from the ground, unearthing themselves and spindling upward, combining and wrapping around each other to form a twisted shape, vaguely like a human, towering above, with a hood of writhing branches and a body made of roots and rotten vines. It shifted, changed before her eyes, seeming at one moment to be a single creature, then the next appearing to be many, intertwined, moving in and out of themselves; their eyes glowed green from deep inside their shadowed face, somewhere between the roots, and their voice seemed to be the voice of many voices, coming from the earth itself.
The vision ended.
She gasped as though doused with water, coughing, and rising to find Jobo looking down at her, concerned. He pressed a damp cloth to her forehead.
“I saw… a god,” she said. “I saw… I sawgiants…”
He sighed. “The monks believe them to be portents. When the barriers between the world grow weak, they say, the giants walk the earth. They bleed over into our world. They come when something has gone wrong.”
“Who are they?”
“We call them the pilgrims,” he said. “What did you see?”
“I saw a baby, crying in the rain,” she said. “I saw an ocean of crystal blue… trees… mountains… a bridge over a river… two temples, on either side. I saw a great stone well, in a courtyard… a little girl standing on a bridge.”
She drained away; her whole body felt sore. She could still hear them, whispering in the back of her mind.
“You see the great saltwater lake,” he said, “and the Temple of the Three Wells.”
“What’s there?”
“Two temples, the Temple of the Three Wells, and the Temple of the Far Earth. They are twins, on either side of a river: the three wells symbolize the precepts of birth, life, and death… and the far earth is the life-that-is-waiting.”
A sound at the door revealed the Hassho Tayu, rough-hewn cloth cloak dragging slightly at the floor. “This curse was not meant for you,” the Hassho said. “Beware. Fires rise in the west. Peace will not hold. A demon in white walks the land.”
“Do you know what it is I see?”
“They have shown you a glimpse into one possible future. The Temple of the Three Wells.”
“But what’s there?” Rui asked.
“For you, no one can know. If the god Hososhi has unveiled it, then that is where you must go.”
Jobo said: “I’ll take you there. We may be able to find passage at Harbor Slope and sail from the Unasaka coast to the capital, and from there travel along the small-roads to the temple of the wells.”
“Something evil is coming,” the Hassho said. “If the Hososhi made themselves known, it can only mean some great danger has come, and has damaged the endless barrier…”
“What of the other?” Jobo asked.
“You are not the only one the gods have cursed,” the Hassho said. “It was your friend, the Hoshiakari, who struck them first.”
Rui’s heart lurched.
“The gods always require something in return. That is why you are bound to stopping this evil that has come across the gates. But so is Sen. Bound, for ever, until it is done. Your friend is tied to this as much as you.”
Rui asked: “What will happen to him?”
“He will die. As all things do. No one can see his fate.”
Rui rose, dizzy. “Then we have to warn him—”
“Rui Misosazai.” The Hassho fixed Rui in her gaze. “There is a demon in your heart. A shroud, on your soul. It will consume you. Unless you can find a way to quell its wrath.”
“Can’t you stop it?” Rui asked, afraid. “Can’t you find a way to kill it?”
“You can’t kill it, child. The curse is in your heart. The only way to kill it… is to die.”
CHAPTERTWENTY-FOUR
