“Here.” I put Luvo on my saddlebags. “I’ll show you. I’m Evvy.”

“Jayat. The message said there would be an assistant. We’ll get you packed up in no time.”

Oswin came over to collect Rosethorn’s and Myrrhtide’s horses. Once he’d settled the dedicates’ saddlebags on their horses’ backs, he helped Jayat and me finish loading the packs. From the way he and Jayat worked, they had almost as much experience as I did. It was nice to deal with people who knew what they were doing.

They weren’t chatterers, either. In fact, they were so quiet, we could hear Rosethorn talking to Myrrhtide, even though she kept her voice down.

“I should have left you at Winding Circle. We can’t demand the royal treatment here! If they could afford all the luxuries, they would have gotten a mage for pay. They wouldn’t have sent all the way to Winding Circle in the hope that we could spare someone!”

“It’s important to demand respect,” Myrrhtide snapped. “Otherwise, people think they can get the world of you. I have no intention of sleeping in a hovel. This place they have prepared for us—I’m sure it has fleas.”

“I brought fleabane,” Rosethorn told him.

“And rats.”

“I brought ratbane, you idiot.”

“Have you brought foolsbane?” demanded Myrrhtide. “I don’t doubt this matter of poisoned water is simply one of sewage draining into their water table. I have experience of these Battle Island peasants. I know whereof I speak!”

“Should we let them know we peasants can hear?” Oswin spoke softly as he finished tying the last packs into place.

“No,” I replied. “I’d say put rats and fleas in his bed, but Rosethorn’s ratbane and fleabane are really strong.”

“They can hear you, Puffbrain!” Rosethorn gave Myrrhtide a shove. “Mount up, and be quiet. I am six months fresh from a war. You have me a sesame seed away from declaring a new one on you.” She looked at Oswin. “Forgive Dedicate Myrrhtide. He was dropped on his head as a child. Often.”

Myrrhtide turned garnet red.

“May I?” Jayat offered Rosethorn his hands so she could use them to mount her horse.

I held my breath. She actually let him help her into the saddle. I guess she was trying to be nice. “Tell me—Jayat, right? What is your place in Moharrin?”

As I scrambled onto the little mare Oswin held for me, I heard Jayat say, “I’m apprenticed to Tahar Catwalker. She’s our mage and healer. Me and Oswin will be the ones to show you all the sick places. He knows where they are, and I know where the lines of the island’s magic are. I—I guess Dedicate Initiate Myrrhtide will let me know what you need, apart from what you brought?”

“No,” growled Myrrhtide as he checked the third saddled horse. “She’s the great mage, after all. She’s in charge.”

“A great mage?” Oswin, who was starting to mount his own horse, missed the stirrup and stumbled. He stared at Rosethorn. “They sent a great mage to us?” Jayat gaped at Rosethorn, too.

“I am a green mage. That’s the important thing, and all you have to worry about, Oswin. You too, Jayat.” Rosethorn doesn’t like it when people fuss over her being a great mage. She cures diseases and destroys castles with plants, but if you ask her what she does, she’ll tell you she gardens and makes medicines and jellies. The green habit with the black stripe on the cuffs and hem that says she’s an initiate? She hardly wears it. She keeps her mage’s medallion, the one marked so people know she has power at the great mage schools, under her habit most of the time. Myrrhtide always wears the blue initiate robe for Water temple. If he could make his mage medallion glow on his chest, he would. To Myrrhtide, Rosethorn is a cat who insists on acting like a dog.

Rosethorn gathered her reins in her hand. “I would like to reach our destination and have that night’s rest before we look into your problem. May we get moving?”

3
The Mountain Is a Restless Sleeper

The road to Moharrin followed a nice river called the Makray. As roads went, it was all right. There were farms on the side that wasn’t a river. The farms had lots of cows, sheep, olive trees, orange trees, and grape vines, just as the sailors had said. It was very pretty, if you like that sort of thing. I was more interested in the stones all around us.

There was plenty of basalt, but that wasn’t special. There was lots of basalt on the ocean floor. As soon as I touched it, I sent my magic on for something new. The stone walls that hemmed the farms and orchards sparkled in my magic. The rocks were granite, specked with quartz and feldspar. I was so glad to see crystal that I let it soak a bit of my power in. The granite shimmered like heaps of jewels in the sun when I finished.

“Evumeimei.” I think Luvo had been trying to get my attention for a while, because he was making his voice boom in my bones. He knows I don’t like that. “This young man wishes to speak to you.”

Jayat was riding on my left. His eyeballs were bulging in his head. “Your rock made a mouth and it talked.” He said it as if he’d never heard of such a thing.

Well, maybe he hadn’t. I hadn’t heard of any others like Luvo.

“He’s not my rock. His name is Luvo. He’s the heart of a mountain. Only I suppose the mountain can go on living, because it’s still standing, back there in Yanjing.” I looked down at Luvo in his sling on my chest. “Isn’t it?”