I have a mage kit, with rocks dedicated to spell work, like any stone mage. But my alphabet is where I store spare magic, in case of blizzards. Or in case I ran into something that milked me so dry I couldn’t even call sparkle to quartz.
I didn’t think of that as I slept. I didn’t think at all. Instead my magic latched on to my alphabet. From agate to zircon, I drained it. In my sleep I felt my strength return.
Eventually I also felt a rude foot kick my bed. It was Rosethorn. “I wish I could let you sleep, but you’ve had a full day and two nights. We’re running out of time, and half this village isn’t even packed.”
I sat up and moaned. I was stiff all over. “But I can pack us in two shakes of a goat’s tail. Why did you even wait? You could have tied me to my horse and taken me down to the ship. You’ve done it before.”
Rosethorn was pouring water in the basin. “And then what? Leave you there? Come wash your face.” She waited. Then she frowned. “You thought we would be leaving?”
I tossed away my blankets. Someone, I guessed her, had taken off my clothes and put me in my nightshirt. “Of course. What can you do about a mountain blowing up? Even you can’t stop that one, Rosethorn.” I was surprised she couldn’t see the logic of it. “Fusspot won’t be of any use, either. Plant and water mages can’t stop moving lava. We should be at sea already.”
“You would just leave everyone here to their own devices.” Rosethorn said it, she didn’t ask.
I was ravenous. Someone had left cheese, bread, and grape juice by my bed. I gulped down the juice. “What are they to me? They’re not you or Briar or anyone we care about. It’s their island, they have to solve getting off. They’re lucky I could warn them.” I stuffed bread into my mouth. It was a little dry. They must have left it for me yesterday.
Rosethorn finger-combed her hair. “You would abandon even the babies, Evvy? Even the cats?”
Her remark about the cats stung, especially around my eyes. After losing my cats in Gyongxe, I had avoided even the ship’s cats on the voyage home. What was the use of getting attached when I would leave them when we got to Emelan? Lark had offered to let me have a kitten at Discipline, but what if it got sick and died, or was killed by a wagon, or the temple was attacked?
Just because I was afraid to have a cat didn’t mean I stopped caring about them. It was mean of Rosethorn to hit me on my sore spot. “Cats die all the time,” I made myself say. In my mind I could see the dead animals of Gyongxe. I couldn’t save the animals on this island, either, any more than I could save the people. And I like animals. “The world remakes itself. We can’t stop it. We’d be stupid to stay. It’s time to save our skins.”
Rosethorn sighed. “Lark was worried about this aspect of you. I’m not so fond of people myself, Evvy, but I took my vows for a reason. There are two classes of people in the world, the destroyers and the builders. I want to build, not destroy. You need to ask yourself who you’re going to be. Deserting people like Jayat and Tahar, or Oswin and Azaze, who have worked hard to build a good village, is a step toward becoming a destroyer. In any event, you’re not getting a vote. Myrrhtide is at the lake. He’s reaching to every water mage around the Pebbled Sea. Anyone who’s close enough will send ships to evacuate Starns. Azaze sent people to warn the other villages and Sustree. And you are going to Oswin’s to help them pack. Oswin is trying to get the mountain villagers down, and Nory has her hands full with the children. So eat up and ride out there.”
I’d been stuffing food in my face while she lectured. Builders and destroyers—was this the pap they fed people when they took their vows? And I’d always thought Rosethorn was a sensible person. “We need to go,” I repeated when I could talk.
“Then the quicker Nory gets the children ready, the quicker we can leave,” Rosethorn told me.
I knew that tone of voice. When Rosethorn has her mind set, that was the end of any conversation. I grabbed my clothes. “Myrrhtide can really reach all the way to Sotat and Emelan in water? From here?”
Her smile was crooked. “Why do you think he came? It wasn’t because I find his personality charming. I pray that Tuhengri of the winds and Runog of the deep send us enough ships to be of help.” She picked up her mage’s kit. “Wash your face and clean your teeth.” She paused, a funny look on her face. “Might you talk your volcano friends into waiting until we get away?”
“Humans never cease to look for ways out of the circle.” Luvo sat up on the windowsill, watching the dawn. “Behind the ones Evumeimei calls Flare and Carnelian are thousands who press forward. They hunger for their time of glory and transformation in the open air. It is what the stuff you call magma, or lava, is made for. If Flare and Carnelian do not lead them, they will find others to do so. Those spirits will not listen to Evumeimei.”
Rosethorn shrugged. “I just thought I should ask.” She looked at me. “Oswin’s, Evvy. I mean it.”
I can’t say I dressed happily. I yanked my clothes on. If they hadn’t been sewn by Lark, I would have ripped seams. I jammed my feet into my sandals. People! Rosethorn would risk her life, and mine, and Luvo’s, over these bleaters. What if we did get them off the island in a couple of days? There was no guarantee that we would get far enough away to be safe. I saw that old-time explosion that Tahar and Jayat raised from my stones. Those flying chunks of rock looked big enough to punch clean through ships. They would kill anyone they hit. From my books, I knew that volcanoes created earthquakes, and sometimes gadolgas, the killer waves. Gadolgas might swamp a ship overloaded with passengers and their belongings.