Spin the Dawn(61)

“Never mind that,” Edan said, letting a comfortable distance settle between us again. “You have three tasks: to acquire the sun, the moon, and the stars for Amana’s dresses. These tasks translate into three trials: one of the body, one of the mind, one of the soul. Sunlight was a trial of the body. How much suffering you could endure.”

I stroked my cheeks, still sticky with salve, but my skin wasn’t so raw anymore. “You’re only telling me this now?”

“I didn’t want you to be afraid.” He inhaled. “The hardest will be the last.”

“The blood of stars?” When he nodded, I pressed, “What can you tell me?”

“I don’t know exactly what you’ll have to face,” he admitted. “What I do know is when. Once a year, the stars open up to the mortal world.”

I knew the tale. “On the ninth day of the ninth month, the goddess of the moon is reunited with her husband, the god of the sun. Only for this one night each year can they be together. They walk toward each other on a starlit path, a bridge the god of thieves must hold up on his shoulders as punishment for once stealing the stars. When their time has passed, the bridge collapses and the stars, wrought with their pain from being apart, bleed into the night.”

“Yes,” Edan drawled. “Rather romantic, isn’t it?”

I frowned. The ninth day of the ninth month. That was forty days away. And Lake Paduan was on the other side of the continent.

“I thought it was just a legend.”

“All legends have a spark of truth. Sometimes more than a spark.” Edan shielded his face from the sun. “You should start making the shoes. Having something to do will help you recover faster. Be sure to—”

“Make them watertight,” I finished. After weeks of slowly burning to death, I couldn’t even imagine needing to protect myself against water.

“You remember.” Edan turned away and dabbed at his temples. “Good.”

I finished my jerky and licked every crumb off my fingers. My pants were so loose they sagged from my hips. If I was hungry, Edan had to be hungrier. He always ate less than I did, saying, in his proud way, that enchanters didn’t starve.

I wasn’t sure I believed him anymore.

Edan whistled, maintaining a mask of cheerfulness as he led us toward mountains too far for me to see. I worried that even if he was in danger, he’d never tell me. He was arrogant like that. Too proud to admit any weakness.

Tonight, I resolved—tonight I would stay awake and find out what he was hiding from me.





CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO


My head jerked up. Milk’s reins were in my hands, and I was in the saddle again, my legs folded just in front of her hump. I didn’t remember falling asleep.

Rubbing my eyes, I turned to Edan, then to the sky. It was just past dawn, and he was human.

I gritted my teeth. Edan had thwarted my plans somehow. There was no way I would have fallen asleep—not unless he’d…

I crossed my arms indignantly. “Did you enchant me?”

“Why, good morning to you, too.”

“Did you enchant me into falling asleep?” I demanded again.

Edan raised a hand, motioning for me to be quiet. He pulled Snowfoot to a stop, and after a rebellious second I did the same with Milk. I shielded my eyes, wishing the wind would stop blasting my hair over my face.

Edan pointed ahead.

Beyond the haze of the desert, I thought I could make out the promise of trees. Trees, flowers, colors I hadn’t seen in days. I looked down. The sand beneath Milk’s hooves had become grittier, almost dirtlike. Around us, brown and yellow bushes rustled. We were close to the end of the desert.

But that wasn’t what had caught Edan’s attention. The smoke of a campfire. Horses. Camels. Men.

“Bandits?” I whispered.

Edan waited a beat before answering. “No.”

Without another word, my companion dismounted his camel and waved at the group ahead.

The strangers had their weapons up in an instant and sprang toward us, but Edan took off his hood and made a courteous bow. “I’m Delann,” he said. Once I’d caught up with him, he touched my shoulder. “This is my cousin, Keton.”

The lie was so smooth I hardly flinched when he introduced me.

I bowed, my movements far stiffer than Edan’s. Hurriedly I removed my hat to cover my chest. I’d stopped binding it weeks ago. “Hello.”

“Orksan,” replied the leader. His skin was bronze, and he wore his dark brown hair braided with beads red as wolfberries. A style popular among Balardans.

I smiled nervously, then bit my lower lip to stop. This was not the time to look like a dolt.

“What brings you two to the Halakmarat?” asked Orksan. He hadn’t lowered his guard. His hand was on the hilt of a sword, and I wished Edan or I carried a weapon. Where was the dagger he’d brought? I didn’t see it on his belt.

“We’re leaving it, actually,” Edan replied.

Orksan eyed our trunks, amplifying my apprehension. “Going into Niyan to trade?”

“Nothing left to trade,” said Edan. “Once we leave the Halakmarat, we’re traveling the Spice Road.”

“What brings you onto the Road? You don’t look like mercenaries. Or merchants.”