I’d rather dive into a volcano than drown, any day.
“How many people have left already, Luvo, did you see?” I asked.
“Quite a few. Those with carts and horses. They assembled and took the road at dawn. I watched them from this window.” Luvo hesitated for a moment. “Evumeimei, many villagers came to those with wagons and begged them to take their children. I could see that there was room for at least one or two little ones. Still, many of those in the wagons refused. Some held off the others with sticks and whips.”
I growled and put his cloth carry sling around my shoulders. Then I tucked him into it. “The rich only look after themselves. They don’t care if the poor are left to die. Let’s hurry Oswin’s tribe along.”
I took him down to the stables, saddled, and mounted my horse. We passed carts and riders on the road. They were all on their way out of the valley. I ignored them and looked at the land itself. Now that I had seen the first volcano in the vision spell, I spotted traces of the ancient crater it had left. It surrounded the lake, forming the rim of tall hills and the spire of Mount Grace. Many of Jayat’s lines of power had been cracks in it. They led from the shallowest parts of the crater down into the great chamber where I had met Carnelian and Flare.
All this time the old volcano’s remains had been asleep. Then magma began to fill that hollow again miles below the ground. All that power slowly building in the earth…It gave me the shivers.
Once I reached Oswin’s, I found a patch of grass for my horse. I unsaddled it and left it to graze there. The door to the house stood wide open. A boy whose hair went in every direction but down was wrestling a wooden box across the yard. He was on his way to a rickety cart tied together with rope. “Don’t…expect me…” He heaved his crate into the cart and stood there, panting. “To do anything for you. I promised Oswin I’d load this Lakik-blessed thing.”
“Lakik don’t bless things, unless it’s with fleas or maggots.” That’s what Briar always said, and he’d gotten me in the habit. “I’m looking for Nory, anyway.”
“I’ll pray for you,” he said. “She’s inside, herding kids.”
“Which one are you?” I asked.
He was already dashing around the house to the back. His hair bounced like storm-tossed branches as he ran. “Treak!” he called.
So that was furniture-breaking Treak. He didn’t look crazy.
I banged on the open front door. Nobody answered. I heard yelling upstairs, so I followed the sound. There I found Nory and the girl she had called Meryem the last time I visited. They watched as four boys tore a room to pieces.
“I don’t care if you can’t find every toy,” Nory told the boys as she clung to Meryem. “Even if you don’t have everything you want in those bags I gave you, we leave at noon.” She turned to me. “What do you want?” Her blue-gray eyes flashed dangerously. “If it’s Oswin, he’s helping the widow who lives by Bottdik Pond. Up the main road and turn by the split willow. There’s only one way to turn, and one split willow.” She walked down the hall, towing the howling Meryem. She must have realized I hadn’t moved. She halted and glared at me. “Why are you still here?”
I sighed. “I was told to come make myself useful. If you want me to go away, fine, but Rosethorn sent me to help.”
She cocked her head at me. “And you brought your toy rock for comfort?”
Luvo poked his head out of his sling. “I am of use in my own way.”
If Nory was impressed, she hid it pretty well. “All right. Give Meryem a bath and dress her in clean clothes.” She thrust the little girl into a room off the hall. “You have a tub in there. The water’s probably only warm by now. She has clothes, and brushes for her hair, and soap, and towels.”
“What good does a bath do?” I asked. “She’ll only get dirty again on the road.”
Nory propped her hands on her hips. “Meryem has bad dreams about soldiers killing her family some nights. She had the dreams last night. When she has the dreams, she has accidents. I cleaned her up as best as I could, but unless you want to carry her on your horse, you’ll give her a bath.”
I didn’t want to carry a girl who’d wet herself with me. I guess that meant I’d have to wash her.
Nory frowned at Luvo. “I haven’t the foggiest idea about what use you might be. You can’t pack.”
He said, “I can watch those boys and guide them in their choices of items to take. They obviously require supervision.”
Nory smiled crookedly. “That they do. Suit yourself. Watch them all you like. If you actually watch things. I have a hundred questions, I suppose, but the other girls are probably fussing and there’s Oswin’s things to pack.” She trotted up the stairs to the garret. I put Luvo on the floor and watched him go back to the room with the boys. Then I went into the bathroom with Meryem. She stood next to the large tub, scowling at me.
I scowled back. “Don’t think you can out-stubborn me. My magic comes from rocks. I might as well be one myself as far as stubborn goes. Dirty clothes off and into the tub.”
She broke to my left. I stepped back, close to the door, and grabbed her by her shift. Since she was dirty anyway, I dumped her into the tub, clothes and all. She thrashed and wailed as I pulled the shift off. Now both of us were soaked. I grabbed a handful of gloppy, homemade soap, and tried to put it in her hair. Meryem got in a lucky head butt. She jammed my hand up into my face.