CHAPTER ELEVEN

The Road Between Narbon and Deepend

B a’al’uz had no idea how he’d managed to survive the storm. He’d crouched in a corner of that cursed cabin, holding on to anything he thought might give him purchase, screwed his eyes closed, and waited for that final, crashing wave that would send the fishing boat to the bottom of the sea.

It hadn’t come.

The storm had grown immeasurably worse by the moment, the cabin had pitched and rolled until Ba’al’uz was covered in bruises and contusions from being tossed against chests and bunks, but the boat had not sunk.

Instead, incredibly, the storm calmed, the sea became unruffled, and everyone, apparently, was going to live at least another day.

Ba’al’uz had struggled on deck—only to discover that during the height of the storm, the captain had managed to lose StarDrifter overboard.

With the Weeper.

It had been a moment Ba’al’uz would never forget. Standing there on the now gently rolling deck, staring at the captain, trying to comprehend the words.

StarDrifter was lost.

The Weeper was gone.

Then the incredulity and incomprehension faded, and incandescent rage took their place. Ba’al’uz summoned every scrap of power that he could, meaning to strike the captain and the crew and even the entire damned, cursed fishing boat from the face of the sea (the fact that he needed captain, crew, and boat in order to reach safety himself just didn’t occur to Ba’al’uz in his fury).

But something had quelled his power. Something about the captain, and the five crew standing in a semicircle behind him.

Something calm. Something…protective.

They’d been encased by a charm. Ba’al’uz could not see the precise nature of it, but he could smell the Weeper about it.

The Weeper had protected them.

Why it couldn’t bloody protect itself and StarDrifter at the same time, Ba’al’uz didn’t know.

So he had quelled his power, stamped back to the cabin, and sat there for the day it took to reach Narbon.

There he had disembarked with nary a word to the captain or crew, and set himself on the road for Deepend with no delay.

Ba’al’uz wanted to get back to Aqhat with the utmost alacrity.

The loss of the Weeper was a stunning blow. What would he tell Kanubai? How could he explain it?

StarDrifter. If it hadn’t been for StarDrifter…

But he had time. It would take him weeks, at the very least, to get back to Aqhat. He could think of something to tell Kanubai.

But Ba’al’uz didn’t get weeks.

Kanubai found him the night after he left Narbon.

Ba’al’uz had been riding the horse he’d purchased in Narbon. It was late, well after dusk, and he wanted to find a nice sheltered spot—or, better, an inn—to spend the night. The horse was ambling along and Ba’al’uz was peering into the night and muttering about his ill luck in finding suitable accommodation, when suddenly the horse shied to one side, tossing Ba’al’uz onto the road, before it galloped back the way they’d come.

Cursing, Ba’al’uz managed to get to his feet. Then, just before he turned about and trudged after the horse, a movement ahead caught his eye.

He stopped, squinting as he endeavored to make out what it was.

Again, a movement, and then something frightful coalesced into ghostly form two or three paces away from Ba’al’uz.

It was the spectral figure of a jackal-headed naked man, and Ba’al’uz knew instantly who it was.

“Great Kanubai!” he breathed, terror flooding his being as he abased himself full length, pressing his face into the grit of the road’s surface. “Almighty One,” he muttered, raising his face a finger’s breadth from the dirt in order to get the words out. “How blessed I am that—”

You have lost the Weeper.

“Almighty One, I had a companion who—”

You have lost the Weeper.

“I shall retrieve it.” Ba’al’uz dared a glance ahead, and saw that Kanubai, while frightening, was still only very spectral. The god’s power was great, but not yet at full strength. Perhaps Ba’al’uz would manage to survive a little longer, after all.

Kanubai’s head wove back and forth, back and forth, as if scenting this new land.

How you have disappointed me, Kanubai said.

“I shall retrieve it!” said Ba’al’uz.

It might be too late.

“No, I will—”

I need to grow strong, Ba’al’uz. I had hoped to do it with the Weeper.

Ba’al’uz wept. He wished Kanubai would stop accusing him. He’d done all he could, and how could he have known the Weeper would prefer StarDrifter to such an extent that it wouldn’t allow Ba’al’uz to touch it?

Maybe it had known why Ba’al’uz wanted it.

“Ishbel travels to you,” Ba’al’uz said, hoping to divert Kanubai.

It appeared to work.

Ishbel…she must reach me.

“She will, she will. Isaiah is desperate for her. He said he would dispatch men to fetch her safely to Aqhat.”

I hope for your life that is the case.

“It will happen,” said Ba’al’uz, knowing that if it did not, then he was a dead man.

And if it didn’t happen, Ba’al’uz silently swore to himself that he’d murder Isaiah before Kanubai thought to murder Ba’al’uz.

I need the sacrifice, Kanubai said. So badly.

“You shall have it,” said Ba’al’uz with as much confidence as he could muster.

“If I don’t,” Kanubai said, this time using a physical voice that grated through Ba’al’uz’ entire being, “then I shall crush you.” He paused, and Ba’al’uz could feel the weight of the god’s eyes on him. “You need to reach me, Ba’al’uz. Fast. I shall give you a gift, I think.”

For an instant indescribable pain flared through Ba’al’uz’ body, and then both pain and Kanubai were gone, and Ba’al’uz was left weeping in frustration and anger in the dirt of the roadway.

The horse was gone, but as it transpired, its loss did not worry Ba’al’uz overmuch. Kanubai had given Ba’al’uz a gift, a new parcel of power that Ba’al’uz realized he could draw on to travel more quickly than otherwise physically possible. It would not allow him to fly, but it would shorten the journey by at least half.

Ba’al’uz made as much haste as he could. He knew he had been indescribably lucky in his encounter with Kanubai. The jackal god had been angry, and with every reason.

The Weeper had been so important.

There was a possibility it could be retrieved—perhaps StarDrifter was still close.

For now, however, the most important thing was to get back to Isembaard and make damn sure Ishbel had managed to get to Isaiah safely.

Ba’al’uz knew he wouldn’t survive her loss as well.

So he traveled on foot, moving south to Deepend, aided by the extra power Kanubai had infused into his being so that he moved swiftly and remarkably effortlessly.

He could feel Kanubai’s added power swarming about his mind, twisting memories and thoughts, blurring them very slightly at the edges. There were moments when he felt but mildly disoriented, and moments when he felt utterly lost within the shadows that swirled through his mind.

There were memories there that shouldn’t have been.

Stray thoughts that were not entirely his, but not Kanubai’s, either. Reflections, almost, of other people about him, and possibly other people who had traveled this road.

Ba’al’uz began to chatter to himself far too much, and other travelers who encountered him on the road gave him wide berth.