Evvy awoke on a saddle. She lolled against someone who gripped her tight with one arm while he managed his horse with another. She looked up and back. Jimut smiled down at her. “Are you alive, brave girl?” he asked.
“I’m not brave,” she said blearily. “I’m hungry. I was with Riverdancer.”
“There will be food when you’re settled at First Circle,” he said. “I have tea.”
“Tea’s good,” she said, and fell asleep again.
The next time she opened her eyes, Jimut was carrying her through a plaster-walled corridor. “Rosethorn? Briar? Luvo?” she asked.
Someone poked the back of her head. “Nice of you to ask.” Briar was being helped along by one of Jimut’s friends. He was ashen under the deeper bronze tan he had picked up during their travels. “Where did you go to?”
“I was working on stones,” Evvy said. “Rosethorn and Luvo?”
“Luvo’s coming.” Jimut carried her into a room. Rosethorn sat on a bed large enough for all three of them. There was another bed behind a screen. Briar’s companion helped him to that.
“Healing,” Rosethorn mumbled. “The wounded …”
“The city is full of healers. Most are in better shape than you, and you made the choice to be a battle mage,” Jimut said. He set Evvy on her side of the bed she would share with Rosethorn. Nearby was a small table with bowls of barley flour mixed with butter tea and dried cheese. He handed a bowl and spoon to Evvy. She began to eat, looking at Rosethorn with silent apology for not waiting. To her shock Rosethorn reached over and rubbed the top of her head.
“You’re sure we aren’t needed?” Briar asked as Jimut carried a bowl over to him. He pointed to Rosethorn. “She’ll fuss and fret even if she isn’t strong enough to crawl.” He ate a spoonful, then set his bowl on the floor, put the spoon in it, and curled up on the bed. He was asleep instantly. Jimut began to remove his boots and armor.
Rosethorn struggled to stand.
Jimut shook his head. “I don’t mind taking care of him,” he said, and flicked his fingers at the door in a beckoning gesture. A girl who wore the undyed robe of a novice in the eastern Circle temples came in and bowed very low to Rosethorn. She placed her hands on the shoulder ties of Rosethorn’s armor, checked that Rosethorn did not object, and began to undo them. “Gods all bless me,” Jimut continued as he worked on Briar, “how many of my friends have you and Briar cared for all this time? You saved my prince’s life, too. I think you have earned some rest, and you can’t even stand up, any of you. What you did out there today — I have never seen anything like that, ever. None of us have.” He laid the armor on the floor of Briar’s side of the room so the sweaty parts could dry.
A Gyongxin man staggered through the door carrying Luvo. “Where — where will you go, old one?” he panted.
“He stays with me,” Evvy said.
Jimut put another of the small tables that littered the room by Evvy’s side of the bed. “What took you so long?” he asked the newcomer.
“The stone god weighs more than he looks,” retorted the man. “And there are many steps from the horse level to this one. All of them are clogged with people who wanted to see him.”
“It is perfectly understandable,” Luvo said. “They have not seen the heart of a mountain before. I only wish that they would have waited until I had made certain that Evumeimei is well.”
“I’m tired,” Evvy said. She set her bowl on the floor, just as Briar had done, and fumbled at the ties of her armor. Her fingers were strangely clumsy. She gave up and lay on the mattress with her head close to Luvo. “Did we catch the emperor?” she asked him.
“Soudamini and the Garmashing soldiers are chasing him,” he said. It was the last thing she heard him say.
When Briar awoke, the shutters were open. He stumbled over to look outside. If he judged correctly, it was well past noon. Rosethorn and Evvy still slept. Luvo was nowhere in sight.
He stood for a long time, eyeing the view. Their room was on the southern side of the temple, with half of Garmashing spread out below. The city he remembered had been hammered. Everywhere he saw blackened pits where bombs and fires had destroyed homes, temples, and public buildings. Holes had been blown in roads and parks. The air smelled of burning and death. People labored to drag war’s debris into piles, except for the dead people and animals. There the scavengers were having a feast. The vultures were so bold they didn’t even flinch away from the humans.
Briar turned away from the sight. He’d found a lot to admire in Gyongxe, but sky burial still unnerved him.
A look at his hands showed him that he was utterly filthy. He opened the door and peered out.
A novice sat there reading a scroll. “Sir?” he asked. “How may I assist?”
Soon Briar was soaking in a huge tub full of hot water. He got out only when he started to sleep and slipped under the surface. Back to bed for me, he thought, once he stopped choking. He was drying off when Parahan arrived.
The man wasted no time in stripping off his clothes. “Bliss,” he announced as he settled into the bath. He looked exhausted. “Souda and Sayrugo are back,” he told Briar. “They chased the imperial army as far as they dared, but the enemy got away. We’ll see if they return.”
“You think they will?” Briar asked. He put on the narrow breeches and long tunic that someone had left for him.