“Shai!” As the raft slid away from the river, rocking in the current, Yudit pressed to the railing, the others crowding behind, their faces fading into the night. Then he heard their voices as they began to chant.

I sing to the mountain,

Mount Aua, who is sentinel

who guards the traveler

who watches over us.

He carries us on his shoulders

because he is strong, kissed by the heavens.

We survive in his shelter.

The river’s voice drowned theirs. His face was wet with river mist and tears.

He ran to the winch and found a place to slide in with the other laborers, pushing pushing pushing until his shoulders ached and his legs strained, until the mechanism caught and the rope, sighing, slackened. They were safely across. The men grunted and, straightening, rubbed their lower backs.

“Thanks for that,” they said. “Eihi! You’ve got good shoulders on you. Want our job?”

“Good fortune to you,” he said, and stepped out from under the platform, remembering suddenly the envoy of Ilu who had known he could see ghosts. He scanned the docks, the road, but all he saw were the slouching guards and, strangely, a pair of lights weaving up and down in the heavens like candles carried aloft by drunken soldiers.

The envoy was gone.

Far away, horns blatted, and drums beat an angry rhythm. He stared toward the far bank, but of course he could not see it, nor hear the creak of wheels and the patter of feet as they headed downriver along the road. Not out of danger, never that, but away from the worst if their gods chose to be merciful.

The envoy had told him, You’re veiled to our sight.

You’re the only one protected against the demons, Bai had said.

Veiled against demons, Shai thought. They can’t eat out my heart the way they eat out the hearts of others. He brought the wolf ring to his lips as he thought of his clan, of Mai, of Tohon, of the children. Even of Eridit. He thought of Hari, whose spirit was still not at rest.

Even at a distance of several mey, he heard a steady rumbling rising from the city: treachery on the wind.

I can fight them.

He headed back toward the city.

50

“Brought your shadow along, eh, Nallo?” said the vendor, scooping fried eel into her bowl.

She had walked down from Clan Hall into Toskala to haggle over a bed net, since no such item had been issued by the hall. With her purchase draped over her shoulders, she had stopped at her favorite stall for her favorite snack. Pil hung at her back.

“Sure you don’t want some?” she asked him.

His shrug meant no.