Fevered Star (Between Earth and Sky, #2)(71)

“My thanks.” He waved Ituya away. “And find me when Chaiya returns, no matter where I am or what I’m doing. It’s important.”

“Of course, Lord.”

Once his man was out of sight, Okoa slipped off his gloves, tucked them in his belt, broke the seal, and read. He recognized the style of the script, the shape of the glyphs. They were written by the same hand that had penned him a letter before the Convergence. That message had read, Storm, Betrayal, Friendship.

He looked again at the new message in his hand, so similar, only now it said, Storm, Friendship, Survival, and there was a curving line like a rounded roof and, under that roof, the sigils of the Sky Made clans. He understood what it meant—together, the Sky Made as allies survive the storm.

The note ended with the insignia of a place in the Maw, a column of flowers on a single stalk, and a note that the runner would return to fetch him should he wish to come.

He leaned against the wall, bewildered and intrigued.

Was this the same Sun Priest? Had she somehow outlived all her counterparts and was now in the Maw? And even more surprising, did she think he, a son of Carrion Crow, would be her ally against the Odo Sedoh? It was bold. And foolish.

Because now he knew where to find her.

He grimaced, uncomfortable with the idea of hunting her down. He had liked the Sun Priest he met on the day of his mother’s funeral, thought her different and promising. That was when he had dreamed of peace between the clans. Only now that the Odo Sedoh had come, his dreams were those of war.

Not war, he told himself, independence.

The aviary was quiet, all the patrols in for the evening and the birds roosting.

He grabbed a clay bowl from a nearby shelf and filled it from the water barrel. He dug into the bag he always wore at his belt and retrieved a handful of grubs. He offered them to Benundah.

“I am sorry I ever doubted you.”

She cawed once, a reprimand, but took his peace offering. Using his fingers, he dribbled water from his bowl onto her wings and began to groom her. He plucked the loose feathers and set them aside for the new mantle he was making, having gifted his old one to the Odo Sedoh. Once he had removed all the loose quills, he ran fingers across her lustrous plumage, smoothing the water across her feathers. It was more a bonding exercise than necessity, as the crows groomed themselves, but both man and beast found it soothing.

“I do not deserve your trust, but I would ask you this thing.”

He looked into her eyes, brimming with intelligence, and wished again he could hear her voice the way the Odo Sedoh could. But for all his desire, he was no god.

“Go find him, and bring him back. I would speak to him before I decide anything.”

The great crow clicked softly, tapping her beak to his cheek. He nodded and stepped back, letting her go. She flapped her wings, spraying him gently with water, before she launched skyward. Once she was gone, he took a blanket from a peg along the wall, found a shadowy corner of the aviary where the reeds were fresh, and settled in to wait.





CHAPTER 22


CITY OF TOVA (COYOTE’S MAW)

YEAR 1 OF THE CROW

Take a friend where you find one.

—Exhortations for a Happy Life



Even with Naranpa’s healing powers, it took a full day and a half for Denaochi to recover. She had wanted to take him back right after the bloodletting ritual that had almost killed him, but Sedaysa had insisted that he stay and that Naranpa stay with him.

“It is too cold, and he cannot walk that far,” the boss of the Agave had declared.

“I can send word for the Lupine to send men to carry him.”

“Carry a boss through the street like a child?” Her mouth had turned down in disapproval. “What if someone sees?”

“Those who wish him ill have already seen.” Naranpa meant the bosses themselves.

“There are enemies everywhere.” Sedaysa dismissed Naranpa’s unsubtle reprimand. “Best not to show weakness.”

It wasn’t so much Sedaysa’s persuasions that convinced Naranpa, rather that Naranpa was aware that it might be best for her to stay inside and out of sight, too, not knowing if there were crows somewhere in the city looking for her even now. But she did have Sedaysa send a runner back to the Lupine to tell Zataya that Denaochi was alive and on his way to well. And Naranpa drafted letters to the Sky Made matrons and the Carrion Crow captain asking them to come to the Lupine the next evening, and she would send the same runners at the hour to escort them. She had hesitated before deciding to send a letter to Carrion Crow. Asking them to come had certainly not been part of the original plan she had discussed with Denaochi. And part of her worried that the captain might send the Crow God Reborn in his stead, and that would be the end of her. But if she could send one to Golden Eagle and not expect assassins to answer, she could send one to Carrion Crow. It was a risk, but she felt it was one worth taking. She would not unite Tova under the banner of the Sun Priest once again without taking risks.

“I’ve invited the others to meet you,” Sedaysa declared, as Naranpa sat dozing beside her brother’s sickbed.

“Pardon?”

“Pasko and Amalq. You remember them.”

Pasko she remembered as the man in red with the speckled feather headdress. He had been the first to claim a knife. And Amalq had been the woman in blue beside him.