“I won’t,” Liv said, but it sounded hollow.

Samila Sayeh sighed. “Seasons come and seasons go, but youth will always think they know more than their elders.”

“And sometimes they’ll be correct.” But Liv knew she was being immature. That was fine. Perhaps it would make them underestimate her.

Something more human entered Samila’s tone when she said, after a pause, “I do hope this is one of those times.”

Then she simply turned and left.

“Wait,” Liv said to the retreating form. “That’s it? No trap? No bartering?”

“Between gods?” Samila said. “Unwilling gods at that. No. If you take his offer, you’ll know where to find him. You’ll feel him, perhaps do right now, even from here. But if I may…”

“Please,” Liv said.

“Take the time to visit your village. Whyever you came here, you’re here now. You’ll never find another good reason to visit a place so out of the way. Not with what you’ve become. You’ll regret it if you don’t go see what’s become of the places you loved.”

Liv looked at the older woman for a long moment. “Thank you. One question.”

“We’ve come all this way,” Samila Sayeh said.

“Do you hope to escape?”

The Mot fell silent for quite some time. She waved off a silent voice speaking to her. “No,” she said finally. “I save hope for things that are possible.”

“On my way here, I came through Garriston,” Liv said. “Most of those who died in the battle were buried in mass graves.”

Samila Sayeh stopped breathing.

“But some of the slum dwellers who remained thought the drafters’ bodies might be worth a ransom to their families. Especially Blackguards and… bichromes.” Liv didn’t say the name Usef Tep. She could see it was dangerous ground. Never break the emotions of those who pride themselves on logic. “Enter through the Hag’s Gate. Take the third alley on the left. Blue door at the end. Ask for Ordoño.”

Then Liv left. To burn the time until Mot was far enough away that she wouldn’t know where Liv was going exactly, she went to the dead village of Rekton. Eventually her feet took her to Kip’s old hovel—somehow unburnt. She took in his scent deeply, deeply enough to send a message for him in superviolet, wherever he was now. He was the only wild card left, the only hope for victory.

Would he even understand it? Superviolet, Kip. Who else could send you a message in superviolet? But he was half the world away, and she had not the control yet to make her message clear.

It was probably hopeless.

She unbarred a closet. What a shithole. There were little scratch marks and dark stains on the inside of the door. A rats’ nest sat on the ground, with old bones and fur and rat droppings. She’d had no idea Kip had lived in such squalor.

“Why are you crying?” Beliol asked her.

There was indeed wetness coursing down her face. Both sides. “I don’t know,” she said honestly.

Chapter 42

“We have a problem,” Conn Arthur said as his skimmer bumped ashore on the little island where Kip and the Mighty had camped. “I’ll explain as we go.”

Kip and Cruxer helped push off and jumped aboard. The Mighty’s skimmer would follow. They were off instantly, if clumsily. The Ghosts were still figuring out the skimmers.

Conn Arthur said, “There was a red wight yesterday who escaped our clash at the warehouse. Distinctive. No skin on his forearms. Several other wights and soldiers escaped as well, of course. But him… him we recognized. Name’s Baoth. He’s a former novice of Shady Grove who left us years ago. It was not an amicable parting. His gifts lay… elsewhere. Clearly he’s been exploring those gifts, and now he’s found a home for them with the Blood Robes.

“Trouble is, he recognized us. One of our scouts caught sight of him, last night. He was carrying some scroll cases. We think he’s heading back to the main army to report everything that happened here, both above and below the falls. And, of course, who we are. Regardless, we get those papers, and we get some idea of what they know.” He grunted, and it sounded like a bear huffing as it tore apart a fallen log, looking for grubs.

“And you want to go after him,” Kip guessed.

“One of our women who grew up here said she knows a river valley he’ll have to pass through tonight. It’s narrow enough we can be sure he won’t slip through our fingers there. After that, he’s gone. We don’t know exactly where the White King’s army is, and there are many paths available to him. Most of them not on the river. These skimmers are our biggest advantage right now. Here’s our chance to use their speed.”

Kip looked to Cruxer for his take.

“Anything we can do to minimize what the Blood Robes know about us…” the young commander said.

“Can we go after him and still get back to Fechín Island the day after tomorrow?” Kip asked. He’d promised to meet the Cwn y Wawr there.

“It’ll involve some backtracking, but… with the skimmers? Not a problem,” Conn Arthur said.

So they skimmed up the wide river for a few hours. Kip noticed that one of the Ghosts with the conn—a newly established bodyguard—had a white spear etched with many yellowing runes. The leaf-blade of the spear was hellstone. “That a sharana ru spear?” Kip asked.

The young man looked immensely pleased. “My great-great-grandfather was given it from the hand of Zee Oakenshield. He liked to say he should have changed history with this spear. He coated the blade with poison before the battle, and during it, he stabbed Darien Guile in the arm, but it turned out the wise man who’d mixed the poisons was a charlatan—gave Darien nothing more than an itch for three days! Later my father served in Darien Guile and Selene Oakenshield’s household. Grandpa Sé said he was worried he’d be killed for that scratch when his betters made their peace and married. But the Guile laughed about it with him instead. Kept Grandpa Sé close for many years. Even came when my great-great-grandfather was on his deathbed and laughed with him about it one last time. Great man, Darien Guile. Wish our family could have stayed with yours through the Blood Wars, my lord.”

There had been so many back-and-forths in that interminable conflict that Kip wasn’t even sure when the houses might have been pulled apart. “Well, the good news is that we’re on the same side again,” Kip said. “What’s your name?”