Crossroads of Canopy (Titan's Forest #1)(105)

Unar had loved the three men for their urge to find freedom, their hunger for justice, even as she killed them. What did killing matter anymore? She couldn’t enter the Garden. There was no difference between two deaths and five. She climbed down further, until her face was level with the ventilation hole.

“Esse,” she called down the hole, coughing. “Stop burning whatever it is you’re burning. I have Ylly’s granddaughter. I’m coming inside.”

The living wood flexed and shivered. It opened for her, transforming into a stairway, the arched opening a smaller replica of the Great Gate. She swung herself down into it, withdrawing her spines from the tallowwood, and walked down two dozen steps to stand in the small room where she’d slept with Issi, Ylly, Oos, and Hasbabsah.

They all stood there, now, Issi in Ylly’s arms, gaping at Unar. Esse stamped distractedly on some ashes, but Bernreb and Marram held long knives, showing no signs of recognition.

“Are they controlling you, Unar?” Marram asked softly.

“No,” Unar said. “Your amulet protected me. Thank you. You should take it back now.” She lifted the cord over her head, handing the bone amulet back to Marram, and also held out the younger Ylly for Bernreb to take.

Bernreb looked to Esse, who nodded briskly, before putting away the blade and lifting Ylly’s small body away. Unar sagged immediately, sitting down, hard, on the steps she had made.

“What happened?” Marram asked, slipping the amulet over his head. “Is that really Ylly’s granddaughter? Did you catch her? Did she fall?”

“She didn’t fall,” Unar said. “She can’t fall. Odel protects her, even though he’s dead now. Ehkis, the rain goddess, is dead, too. I don’t know what happened to Ilan, goddess of justice, Protector of Kings, whom Kirrik had captive. I didn’t see her, or the man, Sikakis, who carried her.”

“Two gods.” Hasbabsah deliberated. “Maybe three. It is the most they have managed in some time.”

“But still futile,” Esse said, stamping.

“We know, Esse. It is why we left them,” Marram said.

“They wanted Oos,” Ylly said, sharing a glance with the younger, darker woman.

“To keep her captive,” Marram said. “To use her, as they used Unar.”

“Is that true, Unar?” Oos asked. Her long hair, gleaming and springy, hung in two cord-gathered bunches over her breasts. Her neckline was embroidered with seedlings that Unar thought were symbols of the Garden, but as the smoke cleared, she recognised as night-and humidity-loving Understorian epiphytes. Her huge eyes were fearful, and her voice quavered. “Did they use you? Or are you with them? How did you get through the barrier? Where is that little girl, Frog, who went with you?”

Unar stared at her. She didn’t answer. Couldn’t answer. She was my sister, and I killed her.

“Oos,” she said, “I’m going back to get Sawas. She’s at the House of Epatut.”

Thank you for sending Marram after me.

“Mama,” baby Ylly said.

“Yes,” Unar said. “I’m going to get Mama and bring her here.”

“This is my house,” Esse said loudly.

“We have room,” Bernreb grumbled, peeling a black grape for the younger Ylly, clearly already taken by his newest guest.

“We have room,” Marram said, his grey eyes sparkling, “if Unar will consent to form some added rooms, just as she has formed this magnificent staircase.”

“I can make more rooms,” Esse scowled. “That’s not the point.”

“Oos,” Unar said, ignoring him, “I can take you back up through the barrier. I know the way through, but you must come now if you’re coming. Servant Eilif is dead. Once they choose another to take her place, there could be no room left for you.”

Oos exchanged glances with the older Ylly again.

“My place is here, Unar. My place is with Ylly. My feelings are for her. I couldn’t give her up, any more than I could give up music a second time.”

Unar shrugged. She abruptly felt too tired to do more than mumble. Oos, who had once accused her of having feelings for Aoun, would be the one to find love and happiness. Oos, who came to the Garden because she liked butterflies and flowers, not in search of the greater things Unar had craved.

“If that’s what you want.”

“Somebody help Unar to the hearth room,” Hasbabsah said sharply. “She needs food and rest.”

“No,” Unar said, struggling to her feet. “I have to go back through the barrier before the residues of Canopy fade. Just get me some new clothes. Please.” She could pass through the barrier, alone, if she didn’t wait. Otherwise, she would have to carry Audblayin back through it, tearing another hole. Who knew how many demons might pass through this one? Could the Garden’s wards keep a chimera out?

“You’re going to fetch my daughter?” Ylly asked. “You’re going to bring Sawas here? What about her slave’s mark? How do you know it will vanish, as mine did? What about the sickness that almost killed Hasbabsah?”

“You don’t need to worry about that,” Unar said. “I don’t have Audblayin’s soul, but the goddess and I are very close now.” She had hardly noticed when her healing of the child outside the Gate removed the mark pressed into Ylly’s tiny tongue.