At last they were beside Snow Pine. This woman of hated Qiangguo fought like a Karvak. Blood flowed from her nose and mouth, and her robe was soaked in sweat, yet onward she battled against half a dozen unearthly foes.
Steelfox said, “I care nothing about our differences this day! You are my sister-in-battle!”
“Shut up and fight!”
“That’s not why I’m here!” Steelfox held up the crystal splinter. “Do you know what this is?”
“I can’t even stop to look at it!” Snow Pine whacked a fresh opponent. “You tell me!”
“I have no notion myself!”
“I have—no time—for Karvak riddles!”
“I have no time for your haughtiness! Gaunt wants you to have it!”
“She might have explained it, then!”
“She is busy saving her son!”
“What?”
Snow Pine paused in surprise.
This hesitation almost slew her. But Northwing and Widow Zheng flanked her, holding off a fresh assault of Iron Moths. For a moment.
At last Snow Pine focused on the object in Steelfox’s hand.
“I—I apologize, Lady.”
Snow Pine bowed low.
Steelfox said, “Just take the damned thing.”
Snow Pine did.
“Now what?” Steelfox said.
Snow Pine frowned, considering the splinter. “All right. Maybe one Monkey thing will like another Monkey thing.”
She tapped the splinter to the iron rod.
There was a sound as of a deep gong, and she gasped and released the splinter.
Before it fell to the caldera floor it shimmered and widened and took the form of a massive stone monkey, no shorter than Snow Pine, covered in hairs of dark crystal.
“Miss me?” it said.
Bone saw Gaunt raise Crypttongue and understood her gamble; he threw his arms around his son.
If she miscalculates, let the sword take my soul and not his.
The sword fell. The Bull Demon bellowed. Ruby fragments flew everywhere, cutting Bone’s flesh. But the steel did not touch him nor Innocence.
Immediately he and Innocence were snatched far into the sky.
Bone looked down and saw the caldera receding fast. Even were he unconcerned about lava, rocks, demons, and Moths, the altitude would be a killer. He would have to get control of the situation by other means.
He felt for a dagger and found none.
Yet he did feel steel. Unfortunately it was poking his neck.
“I give you a choice, Imago Bone. Die by falling, or die by stabbing.”
Bone hung there on the tassels of a dilemma. “Do you truly think, Jewelwolf, you’re good enough to kill me in one blow?”
“Astonishing, the impudence of outlier tribes.”
“I know, I know, incorrigible. Suppose I pledge our loyalty in return for guardianship of our son.”
“Honest oaths require honest men. We both know what you are.”
Innocence had scrambled fully onto the carpet and behind Jewelwolf. His voice crept over their conversation. “You . . . you are my father?”
“I am,” Bone said, and for a long, strange moment it was enough, despite all the demons and conquerors of the Earthe, to be near his son.
“I know you from paintings. And I have dreams about you . . . but . . . you abandoned me.”
The air was growing cold. “I am sorry.”
“My mother abandoned me too.”
“No! No, you must never think that. Think the worst of me. Know me for a coward, a rogue, a cheat. But know always that your mother loves you and crossed the world to find you.”
“Yet she did not find me. Deadfall did.”
“I see.”
“I have a power,” Innocence said. “I am imbued with the chi of the Heavenwalls.”
“So I’m told.”
“Some people think that makes me emperor of Qiangguo. But Deadfall says I may have a greater destiny.”
“Does he now.”
“He says . . . if I embrace it, if I trust Princess Jewelwolf’s allies . . . I can bring peace to the whole world.”
Bone bit the corner of his lip. The blade against his neck had not relaxed. Speaking had cost him a few drops of blood. “I don’t suppose bringing peace to the world involves conquering it?”
“How else?” Jewelwolf said.
“Oh, trade, education, small acts of kindness, a thousand years of sweat and patience . . . this is utterly pointless, isn’t it?”
“Lord Innocence, his life is yours to take or spare.”
“I don’t want him dead,” said Innocence, and there was a hard note in the boy’s voice that made Bone fear for many things, the world somewhat, himself least of all, Innocence Gaunt the most.
“I want him left on a mountaintop,” Innocence said. “Let him survive if he can. Let him be abandoned, as he abandoned me.”
“I do not think it wise.”
“You have given me a choice. Is the word of a Karvak so feeble?”
“It will be as you wish. Deadfall, pick a mountain.”
As they dropped low and the snowy peaks raised their icy spears, Bone estimated at what point a plunge might not necessarily kill him. Once it was reached, he said, “It is just, I suppose. But you are not the only one who matters, my son.”
He grabbed Jewelwolf’s sword.
He shrieked in pain, for he had sacrificed his palms for his neck. But he kept his grip on the sword, and the sudden shift in balance threw both him and Jewelwolf off the carpet.
In freefall he let go, trailing blood. The sword spun free, a sweep of silver and red.
He and the Karvak princess hit an icy slope and slid. She was a little ahead of him, and he shifted toward her maniacally, the cold raising fresh anguish from his hands, for now that Innocence was safe, only one thing mattered.
Jewelwolf reached the edge of a crevasse and clung to it with both hands. Bone, using all the skill of a lifetime, managed to halt just above her.
The scroll dangled from Jewelwolf’s belt, flapping in the crazy wind, and the sword slid off the edge and plunged thousands of feet, until its gleams were lost in shadow.
He grabbed Jewelwolf’s hand, pulled with all his strength. She made it over the edge.
“I—” she gasped, studying him in wonder. “This day I have learned something valuable about outlier tribes.”
“Oh?”
“You think with your hearts—and not with your heads.”
With one savage kick she knocked Bone into the abyss.
Snow Pine stared at the stone monkey. “What are you doing here?”
“What is this creature?” Steelfox asked.
“What? No, ‘Thank you, Great Sage,’ or ‘Welcome, Equal of Heaven?’” The monkey looked around. “Or maybe, ‘Please, please save our butts, Wondrous Lady Monkey?’”
“Can you do that?” Snow Pine asked.
“The real bona fide Lady Monkey? Blindfolded and with one hand. But I am not the genuine article, for that worthy is still trapped inside Five-Toe Peak. I’m but a sort of illusionary manifestation born of the endless fragmentation of her monumental ego.”
“What?” Steelfox said.
“Shorter version: I can, but I’ll need the staff.”
Snow Pine gave it to her.
“Thanks, fellow Monkey,” she said. “Now, watch a master at work.”
Northwing and Widow Zheng were surrounded by a trio of possessed Iron Moths. The shaman and the calligrapher concentrated and babbled, desperately holding them at bay. Lady Monkey leaped, took her sweet time falling, and smashed the Moths away like children’s toys.
“Aiya,” Snow Pine said.
“I feel somewhat redundant at this moment,” Steelfox said, marveling. Her peregrine falcon shrieked. “Be at ease, Qurca. Sisters-at-arms! Persimmon Gaunt let loose this . . . thing . . . for a purpose. Let us go help her.”
The four women moved as fast as they dared toward the great sto
ne of the Bull Demon. Whenever an Iron Moth got close enough to threaten them, Monkey would caper or somersault into its path, smash it silly, and leap away. Snow Pine was uncertain whether to be grateful or terrified.
They reached Gaunt, who was staring at the sky, rage on her face, tears streaming down it. Snow Pine remembered what Steelfox had said.
“Gaunt! Innocence?” She could barely speak the words. “Joy?”
“The scroll,” Gaunt said. “Jewelwolf and Deadfall are working together. They have the scroll, and I’ve seen Innocence . . . they’ve got Bone . . .” Gaunt made a fist, and it shook. “Steelfox. The balloons—”
“Yes,” said the Karvak princess. “Zheng, I need Haytham over here. Perhaps you would take his place beside the high lama?”
“Gladly.”
“More delays,” Gaunt snapped.
“We need him,” Snow Pine said.
“And we need you, Northwing,” Steelfox said. “I will need all the wind you can muster, my friend.”
Northwing looked haggard, but she said, “You will have it.”
“Let us come too,” a voice said.
It was Dolma, the woman from the Fraternity of the Hare, standing beside Mad Katta.
Katta said, “I beg the opportunity to put right some of what’s happened.”
“I too,” said the woman. “My fellows have deserted me as a traitor and are leaving this place even now. But I would make amends, if I may.”
By unspoken agreement, everyone else looked at Persimmon Gaunt.
Dolma said, “It’s said in Qiangguo that good medicine is bitter. And it is said in . . . the land of my birth . . . that experience keeps a harsh school.” She lowered her head. “Let me help.”
Gaunt nodded, looking as though she might regret her choice forever.
With the manifestation of Lady Monkey on their side, the Xembalans were defeating the Fraternity and driving the possessed Iron Moths back into the tunnels, and with the Bull Demon seemingly in shock from his encounter with Innocence, more and more Charstalkers fled. It remained dangerous within the caldera, but Gaunt was able to join Snow Pine, Steelfox, Northwing, Haytham, Katta, and Dolma aboard a flying ger.
“Where is Flint?” Snow Pine said. “And Quilldrake?”
Gaunt realized it had been a long time since she’d seen either. She shook her head. “If you wish to look—”
“No. I have to go with you.”
“There’s no fire in the cauldron,” Haytham said. “We may not be going anywhere. The demon is gone. I can do nothing.”
“The bound Charstalkers were released when we arrived,” Dolma explained. “The Bull Demon insisted. I don’t know how we can subdue one.”
“I might,” Katta said, “with sufficient time.”
“The legends about the wanderer are right,” Northwing said. “You are arrogant.”
“There are times the true arrogance is being silent about your talents.”
“Talents such as warding off age—” Northwing began.
“If that’s true, Northwing is modest!” Haytham cut in. “But I do need that Charstalker. If Katta can obtain one—”
“Perhaps he doesn’t need to,” said Gaunt and pointed the sword Crypttongue into the cauldron’s heart.
She sensed a babble of voices rise, including two that were becoming familiar to her.
<< observation: receptacle suitable for energy construct >>
—not that not that not that—
“It’s not freedom,” she muttered. “But perhaps you’ll enjoy a change of pace.”
Fire blazed from the sword, and soon a bound Charstalker regarded them all with three furious eyes.
“Let us go,” Gaunt said.
The balloon rose, and as it cleared the caldera, a fierce wind rushed it to the east.
“Thank you, Northwing,” Gaunt said.
“I see Deadfall!” Steelfox said.
“I can’t,” Snow Pine said.
“I see with a falcon’s eyes,” Steelfox said, pointing. “Look there.”
“It’s turning north,” Gaunt said, seeing the dark square. She could only discern one figure upon it, but in the distance and glare she couldn’t be sure. Her stomach clenched.
“There is a person on the mountain below,” Steelfox said.
“Can you see who?” Snow Pine asked.
“No. I can send Qurca closer—”
“No,” Gaunt said, heart pounding. “We can’t let Deadfall escape. We can come back. Agreed?”
Snow Pine nodded.
“I am in command,” Steelfox said, “but so be it. Haytham? Northwing? May we move faster?”
“You’ll have everything I have,” gasped the shaman. “But I’ll warn you, that’s not much more than I am giving you now.”
“I will seek an appropriate air current,” said the inventor, “but I can promise nothing. It is in the All-Now’s hands.”
Their pace increased. Peaks rushed by like waves on the ocean. Gaunt remembered bearing Innocence in her belly across the waters when they’d first come to the East, what seemed so long ago.
She saw him. She should not have been so certain, but she was. “It’s Innocence. Only him.”
No one answered.
Perhaps Deadfall’s peculiar power was waning. Perhaps Northwing’s spirits were kind and Haytham’s deity merciful. They were gaining.
She saw him clearly now. He turned. She could not hope that he would recognize her, but she opened the flap of the tent and shouted his name.
She saw him stare.
She saw him shake his head.
“Go, Mother! We are done! Live your life, the life you abandoned me for! I will have mine!”
“No, my son! I love you! I will never abandon you!”
“Go back to my father! I left him with Jewelwolf on the mountain!”
“Left him—there was only one! Did you not see what happened?”
“Why would I stay? I have a world to see! I am done with them, and you!”
He raised his arm and gestured imperiously.
A shockwave of wind hit the balloon. The craft careened off course, and Haytham cursed as fire from the cauldron ignited the structure of the ger. The Charstalker was still trapped, but its eyes flashed triumphantly. As Haytham strove to control the magic of the cauldron, Snow Pine, Steelfox, Katta, and Dolma swatted the fire with blankets.
“Innocence!”
But Innocence did not speak. It was Deadfall who answered, “Begone!”
“Deadfall!” Katta called out. “Hear me! You hated being a broken thing! But you were more whole then than now! Remember who you were! That carpet would never have caused such pain! Bring the boy back!”
“You never knew me.”
The carpet flared with red light, and the Charstalker within the cauldron screeched and shot through the air to enter Deadfall’s fabric.
As though freshly empowered, the carpet shot horizonward.
The balloon began to descend.
Gaunt stood staring through the ger’s entrance. The carpet was disappearing into the clouds.
Steelfox stood behind Gaunt. “I will do a thing for you, Persimmon Gaunt, that Karvaks rarely do even for each other.”
She whispered to her falcon and bade it fly past Gaunt into the clouds. Soon falcon and carpet and boy were gone.
“Can you see them?” Gaunt asked.
“Wait!” hissed Steelfox. “Help me save my vessel.”
It was as if she watched herself from a distance, as she helped the others save the ger. The heart of her was still out there.
When the fire was truly out, and the plummeting balloon was merely filled with choking smoke, Steelfox gasped, “I do not sense Qurca anymore, Gaunt. I commanded him to follow at all costs, except to return once a year to my mother’s ger. You are my sister-in-arms, and I swear by Mother Earth and Father Sky, if your son can be found, we will find him. But it will not be this day.”
Gaunt shook. It was too much. To find, to lo
se, all in the span of an hour. It was too much.
Steelfox embraced her and Snow Pine too. Gaunt sobbed the anguish of the journey and its bitter end.
Dolma, of all people, stopped her.
“This is not the end of the matter,” she said.
Gaunt mastered herself. She remembered her vision of her son accompanied by figures resembling the Fraternity of the Hare. And yet she saw only regret in Dolma’s eyes. “You are right.” She looked at her comrades. “We should go back for whoever is on the mountain.”
“That is not possible,” said Haytham. “We lack the necessary lift. All I can do is make our landing survivable. Our hot air dissipates, and we have no means of securing another Charstalker.”
“We do,” Gaunt said. “There is more than one such within this blade.”
She sent another burst of fire from blade into cauldron, even as Haytham shouted, “Wait!”
The new Charstalker’s eyes were full of feverish triumph as it shot forth from the cauldron, back to Bull-Demon Mountain. The felt around a portal caught fire, but this time the crew was well-prepared.
“The cauldron is damaged,” Haytham said. “It can still contain a fire but not bind a Charstalker.”
A memory nagged at her of black birds and eyes like sunbursts.
She searched for and found the black feather she’d carried all the way from Five-Toe Peak. She tossed it into the cauldron.
“What is that?” Dolma asked.
Snow Pine answered, “It’s a feather from a thing of power. Maybe it can let us rescue who’s on the mountain. Or . . . just maybe it can let us catch up to the carpet.”
“Which is it to be?” Steelfox asked.
Gaunt did not answer but released another Charstalker. It shrieked its way back out of the cauldron and roared out the front flap, leaving smoldering edges. “Not again!” wailed Haytham.
But the suncrow feather erupted into a crazy tangle of heat and light.
Snow Pine was first out of the smoking ger once it hit the summit, to the accompaniment of Haytham’s imaginative cursing. She was unsure of her footing, but a madness drove her on. Steelfox was only steps behind her.
The Silk Map Page 45
