The Unmaking (The Last Days of Tian Di, #2)(66)

“Then I should go to Di Shang,” said Swarn. “Perhaps I can break the Curse on the Mancers.”

“You should not go alone,” said Jalo. “It will be safer if you are accompanied by some members of the Faery Guard. Curses are Faery Magic, after all. Come to the Faery Realm and consult with the King. We must agree on a battle plan. I cannot speak for my King until he knows all that I know.”

“I’ll go back to Di Shang to help Eliza, then,” said Charlie.

“How will you find her?” demanded Swarn. “The Faery is right. We need to co-ordinate our efforts. I have no doubt there will be a role for you, too. I think that Eliza is safe for the time being.”

“Then we’ll all go together,” said Nell hopefully.

“Yes,” said Jalo. “And quickly.”

Ander looked at Nell. She avoided his gaze and he said nothing. It was agreed. The trees parted, the fog dissolved and Jalo on his myrkestra led the group across the Sea of Tian Xia to the legendary, hidden Realm of the Faeries.





Chapter


16

The winter sojourn at the oasis was a busy time for the Sorma. They hunted and plucked birds and put every part of them to practical use – skins and feathers for clothing, bags and camel saddles; meat sliced and dried and salted and then tightly packed for the long months of travel ahead; bones and beaks turned into needles and fastenings. They dried dates and pickled olives and edible plants. They collected fresh water and repaired tattered tents and worn clothing. When they set off again, it would be with supplies enough to last them their journey to another oasis. The scarred, angry-looking camels roamed freely, eating plants and drinking from the streams, and their flabby humps grew full and firm again.

Eliza met with the Council of Elders at dawn. She had bathed in one of the springs and changed into clean clothes in the Sorma style, a colourful tunic over loose trousers. The Elders sat cross-legged in a semi-circle in the Council Tent, listening carefully while she explained everything. Spoken out loud, her plans sounded flimsy and reliant on too many uncertainties, even to her. But her grandmother said simply, “We will help you,” and the others said Arash, it is agreed.

The Healers and the Spirit Speakers were called. Eliza sent the dragons circling over the dunes to keep a lookout for the Kwellrahg. She then wrote out a page of instructions for Uri Mon Lil, describing the spell of Deep Seeing and asking him to look in the Book of Barriers for the Sperre-Tahora, a complex barrier spell usually only cast by Mancers to contain a particular, named being and its Magic.

When Rom and Rea woke and emerged from their tent they were delighted to find Eliza in the camp. Even engulfed in her father’s bear hug, Eliza’s task weighed on her. There was no safe harbour for her, not even here. She noticed that Rea’s face looked lined and pinched.

“Are you all right?” she asked her mother shyly.

Rea nodded and managed a tight smile.

“You dinnay look well,” said Eliza.

“She hasn’t been sleeping lately,” said Rom, supporting her with his arm. “A bit of a relapse, in terms of...pain.”

“I know,” said Eliza. “I mean, I know why.”

She explained it to them over breakfast in their tent. Rea flexed her hand, looking at the space where her little finger was missing.

“I don’t understand why she made it out of me,” she said when Eliza had finished.

“Having it come after you was the best way to make sure I’d go after it,” said Eliza. “It’s linked to Nia through the Magic of Making but linking it to you as well is a sort of protection for her. She must have known I would figure it out, aye. I dinnay dare hurt it and so I cannay use it to hurt her.”

“Do you suppose it could provide a way to...help Rea? Get back her strength?” asked Rom, stirring the fire restlessly.

“I dinnay think so,” said Eliza. “She’s kept the power for herself. She just used the flesh and the suffering to forge the connection she wanted. I suppose in theory we could get your finger back, but I wouldnay know where to begin.”

Rea laughed weakly. “It sounds like too much trouble,” she said. “My finger is the least of what’s been cut away from me.”

“Are you sure this wizard is strong enough to do what you say?” Rom pressed on. “He seems...not very wizardly.”

Eliza shrugged. “I’ve never met a wizard so I dinnay know about that. But he has power and he’s all we’ve got.”

“I can’t imagine what it’s like to forget everything every twenty-nine minutes,” sighed Rea. “It puts my situation in perspective, doesn’t it?”

Eliza hugged her knees and rocked back and forth a bit before the dying fire. “I just wish it was already happening. Waiting is horrible.”

“Game of chess?” suggested Rom, and Eliza smiled.

~~~

Eliza and her father played chess through the morning. The concentration of it soothed her somewhat. After lunch she took a walk through the oasis, checking on the preparations of the Sorma and Uri Mon Lil’s progress with the spell. Finally, too restless to stay in the camp, she called back Ka’s dragon and he bore her up over the oasis and north along the dunes. Half a mile away, soaring over the lip of a golden dune, they spotted the Kwellrahg, flaming wings hanging, climbing with fierce determination up the steep sandy slope. Ka’s dragon veered in a sharp circle, letting out a warning cry, and made back for the camp.