“He says you bought us time with a trick you played on the volcano spirits,” Nory remarked.

“Heibei, take this bad luck and bury it,” I said.

Nory thumped me in the arm. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Don’t hit Evvy.” Meryem was licking her fingers. “You don’t hit me.”

“I like you. I don’t like Evvy. What’s hay-bay?”

I sighed and rolled my eyes, which would have gotten me a tweak of the ear if Rosethorn had been around. “Heibei’s the god of luck back home in Yanjing. I asked him for help. He’s a good god, not undependable, like your Lakik. It’s bad luck to say a thing is taken care of, even when it’s Luvo saying it.” I wasn’t as sure as Luvo that it would take time for Carnelian and Flare to see they’d been tricked. I decided to keep that notion to myself. “I’ll feel better when we’re on ships and well away from this island.”

“Your rescuers are here!” Jayat drove up in a cart that was some less rickety than the first one. The new one already held two trunks—his and Tahar’s, I would have guessed. “You kids start loading up, all right?”

Meryem was the first to start loading the cart. The other kids scrambled to help.

Treak, behind Jayat, dismounted from my horse and tied it to a tree branch. Up the road came two of the inn’s hostlers. They had a rig they could use to tow the broken cart into the village.

Jayat went to Nory. “Why didn’t you have Oswin check that thing before he left?”

“He did. He’s the one who fixed it so it would go.” Nory could pout very prettily, I saw. She also knew how to use her beautiful eyes on poor Jayat. “I believed him. Even though I knew he was half out of his mind, thinking about every little old widow on the mountain. I should have seen his mind wasn’t on the job.” Nory grabbed a seabag and lugged it over to Jayat’s cart. “Evvy’s rock says we have more time.”

Jayat looked around. “Luvo? How can this be?”

Luvo started to explain about Flare, Carnelian, and the quartz trap. I couldn’t bear to sit still anymore. From the sun’s position, I knew we weren’t leaving that night. I untied my horse.

“I’ll see the rest of you at the inn.” I wanted a look at Oswin’s map again. “Luvo, are you coming?”

“I will stay with the cart, Evumeimei. If there is a shock, I can steady the rocks under it, and reduce the effect on the wheels.”

Jayat looked at him with appreciation. “Thanks, old man. That’s kind of you.”

“What’s your rush, Evumeimei?” Nory’s eyes glittered. “Or don’t you like to be around us poor homeless waifs?”

“Nory!” Jayat looked shocked at the way she spoke to me.

“Nory’s mean to Evvy.” Meryem perched on top of the cart with the luggage, her doll tucked in her sash. “Nory thinks Evvy doesn’t like us.”

“I need to replenish my magic.” I didn’t enjoy the way Meryem’s words made me feel. Meryem thought I did like them. It’s no good liking people, not when they’re probably going to get killed. I had learned that the hard way. “You think Luvo and I know more about the volcano spirits by accident? We found them under your pond. We set a trap for them deep in the ground. Now I have to strengthen myself again. You don’t need me to get to the village. Luvo just said he can help you.” To build myself up this time, I wanted Oswin’s map with the lines of power sketched on them. It was still on a table at the inn when we had left that morning.

When no one else said anything, I mounted my horse and rode off. It occurred to me that if I left the animal in the stables, someone might take it. That wouldn’t do. Just outside the village, I dismounted and led the horse into a clearing beside a stream. The clearing was shielded from view by trees. There I removed the saddle. I tethered the horse where it could graze and drink safely, once I’d checked that the water was free of acid. When the horse lipped my shirt, I stroked its muzzle and sighed.

“I suppose we ought to be better acquainted.” I had tried so hard, since Gyongxe, not to get to know any animals well. The only exception was the dog, Little Bear, who had been at Discipline. Mostly I had blamed him because he wasn’t a cat, which seemed unfair, now that I thought of it. I checked the inner rim of the saddle. There was the horse’s name, “Spark.” A look under the horse’s belly told me Spark was a mare. “Hello, Spark. I’m Evvy. You probably knew that already. I need you to wait quietly here. We’re going to do some more running about. I’ll try to bring you some treats when I come back.” I thought, And if they won’t let me bring you aboard my ship, I get to leave you here to die.

She made a happy horse noise and bumped me with her nose. I hesitated, then gave her a rub with some handfuls of dry leaves. After I wiped my eyes—they were watering—I went on into Moharrin.

Some carts stood in the open space in front of the inn, but not many. I bet that those who could afford good carts had left already, rushing to get places on the ships. People waited in the courtyard with their bundles and their horses, donkeys, or mules, if they had them. I also saw dogs, sheep, goats, and baskets and crates with cats or birds. I turned away. I wasn’t the one to say that they probably wouldn’t be allowed to take their creatures along. The inn’s servants were carrying boxes out to pack into the carts. They were too busy to do more than nod to me and dodge the children who played in the yard. Why hadn’t these people taken the road already? Were they waiting on someone? Tahar, maybe, or Azaze.