The Smoke-Scented Girl (34 page)

“You know the Despot is moving closer every
day. If you go east, you will end up walking into the middle of our
army. It’s unlikely they will simply let you pass.”

“I know, but I don’t see that we have any
other options if we want to use the weapon and not kill Kerensa
doing it. It shouldn’t take more than four days’ journey, allowing
for climbing the mountain. The storm’s starting to abate, and we’ll
ride out as soon as we can. We’re both tired of this freezing
barn.”

“You’re sleeping in a barn? Evon, I had no
idea your situation was so primitive. Do you huddle together for
warmth?”

Evon grinned. “We do at that. But we would do
that anyway, since it turns out she loves me.”

Piercy’s jaw went slack. “Evon...that’s
incredible. I’m thrilled for you both, though she’s clearly
deranged to think of you as a viable romantic prospect. I trust you
are treating her with the respect she deserves?”

“I won’t say it isn’t hard, but we’ve both
managed to keep our baser desires in check, thank you for
asking.”

“Now I’m glad I didn’t come with you. Romance
is very well, but watching other people moon about after one
another, even if it is my best friend and my almost-sister, is
positively exhausting. Though I assume her affections have spurred
you to even greater effort?”

“You assume correctly. I won’t let her die,
Piercy. I just need to understand this thing better. The magicians
changed their volunteer; maybe I can work out how to reverse that
change.”

“I don’t understand how Kerensa could have
ended up with the magic. No one took her to Nystrantor,
correct?”

“I think she’s a descendant of the volunteer,
and that change was something that gets passed on to children, like
height or eye color. Isn’t it sad, that that woman’s name didn’t
get recorded anywhere? She was incredibly brave.”

“I know I would have trouble walking into one
of those places of power voluntarily. Are you certain it’s safe,
dear fellow? There are tales of people wandering into one and
wandering out fifty years later. Your solution might be too late to
stop the Despot.”

“Kerensa says Nystrantor is fairly well
known. No time alteration, just the burning lands. Not that it
isn’t dangerous. I’d say I’ll be careful, but at this point I’m
desperate enough to risk anything.”

“I’ll tell you to be careful anyway, Evon.
Stay in contact. The magicians are still trying to track you, and
Mistress Quendester is furious with me that I won’t provide them
with your location. I am, naturally, devastated that I cannot help
the war effort, but since you won’t tell me where you are, I have
no way of using the mirror to discover that.” He winked. “Mistress
Gavranter has lectured me quite sternly on my recalcitrance. She
speaks repeatedly of your stubbornness and her hope that it hasn’t
gotten you into trouble on your journey, which I interpret to mean
that she wishes you luck.”

“Thank you for convincing Mistress Gavranter
to let you be my contact. She means well, but she would want
updates more frequently than I have information.”

“I am still endeavoring to discover a way to
get you and Kerensa close to the Despot without being killed. Our
information on his forces increases, sadly because said forces draw
ever nearer, as I believe I’ve mentioned.”

“Well, you now have more time to figure it
out. I’ll speak to you again tomorrow night, all right?”

“Yes, and I will attempt to learn more about
the location of Dalanine’s forces as well. Don’t let your mooning
about cause you to forget our appointment. Perhaps I should task
Kerensa to remind you. She is probably less likely to be distracted
from the essentials despite her affection for you.”

“I don’t know. She thinks I look like a
warrior out of Alvorian myth.”

“By the Gods, is it as bad as all that? You
two deserve each other, and I mean that in all seriousness.” Piercy
smiled. “Good luck.”

“Thank you.” Evon glanced over his shoulder.
“Were you listening to all that?”

“I was, until you told Piercy that I love
you,” Kerensa said, “and I got distracted thinking about that. We
do moon about a little, don’t we?”

“I spent a great deal of time wishing you
felt for me what I did for you, so I deserve to do a little
mooning.”

“The storm’s let up to the point that I think
we can leave,” Kerensa said, coming to sit beside Evon. “Is there a
road to Nystrantor?”

“Most of the way.” Evon took out the map. “We
go a little farther south to here, to this village, and buy
supplies. Then we take that road there that leads east into the
mountains. From there we have to find our own way to the burning
lands, assuming we can also evade the army. If we move quickly
enough, we can pass through before they come far enough south.”

“I’m worried about your safety,” Kerensa
said. “I should be immune to the fire, but you won’t be.”

“Unless you’re
not
immune because your
fire came from the same place.”

“I hadn’t thought of that. I guess now I have
to worry about both our safety.”

“Time enough for that when we get there.”
Evon stood and offered her his hand. “If you’ve packed everything,
I suppose we should say goodbye to our oh-so-gracious host.”

No part of the old woman made an appearance
when they knocked on her door, and Evon forbore to leave her any
more money. He hoped he had enough left to supply them for the rest
of the now extended journey. They rode back across the fields under
a light sprinkling of snow and watched the southern sky clear as
they rode in its direction. The winds had prevented much snow from
building up, though Evon only recognized the road because it was a
long, mostly straight stretch of snow through which no stalks of
yellow dead grass protruded. Kerensa took charge of the map, though
they didn’t need it as long as the road remained clearly marked.
She held on to Evon’s waist and leaned against his back, and he
marveled at how different it was now to have her riding behind him,
occasionally laying her cheek against his shoulder and hugging him
tighter. It was hard to remember that they were riding into danger
and possible death.

They reached the village by midafternoon and
Evon, reluctantly, took two rooms at the town’s lone inn. The
memory of waking up next to Kerensa that morning made him long to
represent her as his wife so he could share her bed again, but the
way his body responded to the idea made it unlikely that he would
be able to restrain himself, and by the look in her eye Kerensa was
thinking the same thing. So he called her his sister, and offered
her his arm instead of his hand, and hoped his eyes didn’t give
them both away. They bought staples, long-lasting foods like cheese
and apples, and stowed their purchases in Evon’s room for
safekeeping, then ate supper and went to their separate beds. It
took Evon a long time to fall asleep, and when he finally did he
was plagued by dreams of Kerensa bursting into flame and taking him
with her, over and over again.

More snow was falling when they left the next
morning. Evon hated the snow. He couldn’t remember a time when the
world wasn’t made of snow. His hands were freezing inside his
gloves, which was stupid because gloves were supposed to keep your
hands from freezing. He pulled his ugly hat down over his ears and
glowered out at the world over the horse’s head. He knew that
horses were reasonably intelligent, but whoever had sold him this
one must have laughed himself sick at unloading it on Evon, because
it was surely one of the stupidest creatures ever given breath by
the Gods. If he didn’t goad it, it would stand in the snow until it
froze to death. He should have sold it and bought a better one.

“Evon,” Kerensa said. “Look at me.”

He turned his head and was utterly surprised
when she pressed her lips against his. The cold tip of her nose
rubbed across his cheek. He automatically put out a hand to keep
her from overbalancing and falling off the idiot horse, and felt
his bad mood melt away. By the Gods, but he’d needed that.

“You had the most unpleasant expression on
your face,” Kerensa said, “and I thought you shouldn’t be allowed
to go on thinking whatever horrible thing you were thinking.” She
sat back, and Evon made a noise of protest. “We don’t have time to
stand around kissing, Evon.”

“We have a
little
time.” He took the
horse off the road and dismounted, then lifted Kerensa down and
circled her waist with his arms. “And I like this way better.” He
pushed her hood back from her face and proceeded to kiss her all
across her face and exposed neck while she laughed and pretended to
struggle to free herself. Eventually he found his way to her lips
and they kissed, slowly and intently, until Kerensa lifted her head
and said, a little breathlessly, “Feel better now?”

“Much.” Evon rested his forehead against
hers.

“That’s good, because someone’s coming and I
don’t want us to be a spectacle for everyone’s amusement.”

Evon turned to see riders approaching from
the direction of the village. There were four or five of them,
coming along slowly, but as Evon watched they broke into a run. He
boosted Kerensa back onto the horse and mounted, moving further off
the road. If they were in such a hurry, better to let them pass
now.

“I wonder why they started running suddenly,”
Kerensa said. Her words made Evon feel uneasy. He fumbled around
until he found his quizzing glass, gestured and said,
“Solto
spexa.”
The lens glowed with a greenish light like the belly of
a firefly, and Evon held it to his eye. It felt as if he’d leaped
forward to stand near the riders, and he swallowed against the
lurch in his stomach. Five riders, their faces hooded against the
cold...and one rider with a red beard that spilled over his collar.
Valantis.

“It’s Speculatus,” he said, shoving his lens
into his pocket and kicking the horse out of its mindless stupor.
“Hold on tight.”

Stupid the horse might be, but it had a turn
of speed that had Evon hoping Kerensa wouldn’t be flung off. They
galloped down the road, the horse’s footing unexpectedly sure on
the frozen ground beneath the snow. “How are they faring?” Evon
called out.

“I think they’re drawing closer,” Kerensa
replied. “Where are we going?”

“Away,” Evon said. “Get out the map and let’s
see what’s ahead.”

He felt her moving around, one hand clutching
his waist, the other spreading the map across his back. “Evon,
there aren’t any villages for miles,” she said. “What are we going
to do?”

He cursed. “They’ll kill me and take you
back. We should choose our ground, see if I can’t eliminate a few
of them.” He didn’t say that Valantis was likely to have brought
magicians, or that they’d be prepared for him to attack. He was
desperately running through spells in his head, trying to find ones
they wouldn’t know to defend against.
Presadi
, but that was
one target at a time, and the others would be on him in seconds. If
he knew how to use
solto olficio
or
solto spexa
against another person, those would be disorienting...but “if” was
pointless now.

Kerensa still held the map against his back.
She shifted to look behind, then said, “I have an idea, but it’s
dangerous.”

“More dangerous than those five men?”

“It’s possible
danger versus certain death.”

Evon felt the horse stumble a little and drew
in on the reins slightly. “What is it?”

“There’s a place of power only a quarter mile
from here.”

“That could kill us all by itself!”

“Maybe. But they certainly will. There’s no
name, so I don’t know anything about it, but I think it’s worth the
risk.”

Evon pressed his lips close together. “How
close are they?”

“It will be a race to get there ahead of
them. And there’s no guarantee they won’t follow us.”

Evon nodded, then flicked the reins to urge
the horse back into a full-out run. “Let’s just focus on getting
there.”

Now he crouched low on the horse’s neck and
felt Kerensa grip him as if she were afraid of falling off, which
was probably true. The rough road and the horse’s speed made Evon a
little afraid of falling himself. He imagined he could hear their
pursuers’ horses drawing nearer, though he knew that was impossible
because if they were that near, they were near enough to cast
spells. He risked a glance over his shoulder and saw that they were
about a hundred yards away, and they were gaining. One of them
raised a hand, and Evon shouted,
“Retexo!”
just in case,
nearly falling off the horse with gesturing over Kerensa’s head,
but either the magician’s aim was bad, or he was just too far away,
because nothing happened.

“Turn off the road now!” Kerensa shouted.
“Right, right! Turn right!” and he yanked on the reins and the
horse veered right, stumbled a little over the verge, and took off
running across the field. If it broke a leg now, they were
finished. But though its gait went erratic, it didn’t step in any
holes or trip over fallen branches, not that there would be any
branches in the middle of this treeless, horribly exposed stretch
of land. In the distance, a copse of trees, their branches bare and
spiky, stood huddled like travelers crouched around a campfire.
“How far?” he called back to Kerensa.

“We’re nearly there. The silver dot is
starting to vibrate. I don’t know what that means.”

“It might be reacting to the presence of free
magic. Not something we can do anything about. Keep your head
down!”

Flames burst up on their left, melting snow
and producing a huge cloud of steam.
Forva
. He twisted
around quickly to look at their pursuers, only about a hundred
yards away now, faced forward long enough to make certain the horse
was still pointed in the right direction, swung around and tossed
the same spell back at them. One of the riders, unfortunately not
Valantis, screamed and fell off his horse, beating at himself and
rolling in the snow to put out the fire that engulfed him. Evon
grinned, though he knew he couldn’t count on that kind of luck
again.