Azaze snapped bony fingers under my nose to get my attention. I think she did it several times before Rosethorn kicked me gently.
“I could have kicked her myself, Dedicate Rosethorn,” Azaze said. “Evvy, if we give you slate and chalk, can you draw maps? Where this chamber is compared to the village, and the lake, and the mountain? Where these cracks are?” Azaze turned a beaded ring on one of her fingers. “It will be easier for the council to follow what you’re saying if you have even a crude map.” She pointed to the table behind us.
I hadn’t seen the big slate and the tray of colored chalks that lay on it. Someone must have brought them out while I was eating. I took some flatbread and walked over to the slate, thinking while I chewed. Drawing maps of places I had gone in my magic was something I had studied at Winding Circle. I sketched a view of the mountain and the lake from the side, as if I’d cut Starns in two.
I was concentrating so hard I didn’t hear Oswin go out and return. I did notice when he plopped his saddlebag on the table next to me. “Here. Maybe this will help.” He undid the straps and took out a leather tube. He pulled a roll of papers from the tube. He thumbed through them, muttering to himself. “Margret Island, no, Lore Island, Karl Island, Sustree, Sotat—ah!”
He selected a paper and spread it next to my slate. It was a really good map of all Starns. I whistled my respect. It had the usual things, like roads, towns, and rivers, but it also showed the old lines of power that Jayat and Tahar once used. There was even a trick of coloring that showed ridges and gorges.
“Will that help?” Oswin weighted the corners with plates and cups.
“A lot, thanks!” I said. “Where did you get this?”
“Oh, I did it. It’s useful.” Oswin told me.
I smiled at him as he put Luvo on the table next to me. “Useful for somebody who goes around fixing things?”
“And I guide people over the island for coin. If they pay me extra, I try not to get them lost.”
“Did you draw all those maps?” I asked him.
“No, only the ones for this island and a handful of our neighbors. The others I bought. I wish I were traveled enough to have done the others myself.” Oswin put the other maps away.
I had a feeling I’d touched a sore spot. I looked at Luvo. “How far under the mountain was I? I figure three and a half miles, but you’d know better than me.”
“Three and three-quarter miles straight down, Evumeimei.”
“But you weren’t there, Master Luvo,” commented Oswin. “You said you weren’t.”
“But I am in her mind now, Oswin. I can feel as she felt then. Having learned this measurement of yards, miles, and feet, I am better able to tell than she how far she has traveled under the earth. She is better at it than she was, but it is harder for meat creatures.”
“Meat creatures?” Oswin asked.
“He means living things like people and animals. I am trying to think, you two.” I worked carefully to finish the half-view of the chamber.
“Now a map of the area around the mountain?” Luvo suggested as I picked up another slate.
I nodded. “The one with the cracks in the earth. I don’t know if Flare and Carnelian can split one wide enough for many of the spirits to escape. Even one could do a lot of damage.” I felt a draft on my back and turned around.
10
Telling the Council
Jayat came in with the oldest woman I had ever seen. Maybe she was as old as Luvo. Her skin could have been smoked and stretched over her bones, it was so brown and tight. Her eyes were like black jet beads. She wore a small turban of a nasty, bright orange cloth. It didn’t even match her pink and yellow plaid dress. That was tied at the waist with a brown sash, and she wore a ratty green shawl over the whole mess. She went barefoot, her toes more like roots than human feet. Her hands were knobby, too. She clung to Jayat with one and clutched a cane with the other. She looked right at me.
“Lakik help you if you lie, girl.” Her scowl would frighten street dogs. Her voice crackled like grease in the pan. “If you do, every louse and flea I have taken off others will become your new friend.” She glared at Azaze. “You summoned all the council for the rantings of a disobedient child? You sent Jayat to drag me out of my nice warm bed?”
“And over to the nice warm seat by the fire, Master.” Jayat handled her as if she were made of eggs. Gently he helped the old crosspatch to a padded seat the kitchen girls had brought out. It was set beside the hearth. He didn’t seem like he was dragging her.
If Azaze was frightened, she didn’t look it. “Dedicate Initiate Rosethorn of Winding Circle, Dedicate Initiate Myrrhtide, this is our mage, Tahar Catwalker. Tahar, sit down before you fall down. The tea is made just as you like it. The girl whose tale has alarmed us is Evvy. Her companion—the little fellow, the green and purple crystal one—is Master Luvo. He is the heart of a mountain, but not locally, as I understand it.”
Mage Tahar snorted. “Our mountains know better than to get up to such mischief.” She squinted up at Rosethorn and Myrrhtide, who were bowing to her. “Stop that. Both of you have more power in your thumbs than I have in my whole body. We all know it. I can’t say much for the temple’s way of raising a child, if Jayat speaks true. Stealing horses, running all over without leave—”
“Oh, she’s done worse.” Rosethorn’s face was straight when she said it. “Spying, fighting, stealing, insulting people of great rank…But how can you manage young girls these days? In this case, Mage Tahar, Evvy has done us a favor. Without her warning, we die. We might yet if this council does not act quickly.”