“This is the knowledge,” the Ila said. “And what will this Luz give to have it? And how will you move these, Marak Trin? Tell me how you will do it.”

He was stunned. A village house could scarcely contain that pile. His voices clamored at him, Marak, Marak, Marak, and he had no idea what their desire was, or if Luz understood what he saw, or what it meant. They were the books of the aui’it, all the knowledge, all the recorded history there was.

“This is my condition,” the Ila said as the earth shuddered, a small thump, like a heartbeat. “Not the tent, not this piece of furniture. They can go to hell. Where I go, this goes. Can you find beasts enough?”

“I’ll find a way,” he said on a deep breath.

The Ila regarded him thoughtfully. “Do that,” she said, and moved her fingers in dismissal. “Do it by tonight.”

That was all.

Marak, the voices said. He tried to manage his retreat. Memnanan guided him, held the curtain aside for him, took him by the arm. He saw fire, and ruin.

By tonight.

“I need the two women,” he said to Memnanan.

“Not your father?” Memnanan asked. “Not your mother?”

“I have no time,” he said. He remembered his father’s parting with him and had no desire to see him. And for his mother and his sister there was no time.

Marak, Marak, Marak, the voices said, let loose, given sudden free rein. In his vision the rings of fire spread again and again: pools glowed red as iron in a forge, and he could all but smell the smoke.

He struggled to think and make lists. “I need Tofi. I need Hati and Norit. I need every leader of every tribe and village to meet me on the edge of the camp, on the caravan road to the south, inside an hour.”

Memnanan looked at him, then passed the order to a subordinate who waited nearby. “See to the meeting,” Memnanan said, with a wave of his hand, and that man gathered two others.

So the matter would spread, without their help. But Memnanan stood fast. “The two women. Luz’s eyes and voice.”

“One is Luz’s voice,” Marak said. “The other is an’i Keran. That tribe of all tribes will survive to reach the tower. If my mother and sister are here, let them go to the Haga. If they’re there, that’s all I need to know. They’ll be safer than I can make them.”

“And Tofi for his skills? He’s a boy.”

“Not since his father died. I want him, and his two men. He of all the masters understands exactly what’s out there. I want him to manage the Ila’s tents. Our tents.”

“Beasts to carry the books?”