Chapter 9

 

Atreus woke to the murmur of voices and to the roar of a nearby waterfall. When he opened his eyes he found himself lying on the bow deck, buried beneath anavalanche of yak-hair blankets, staring at a stony mountainside looming up behind thebarge's stern cabin. The slope was grassy, steep, and strewn with massive crags offolded rock. Over the largest of these outcroppings hung the terminus of a glacier, adirty curtain of ice with a silver ribbon of melt-water arcing out from beneath it. Above the glacier, a low pall of snow clouds cloaked the mountain heights in a veil of gray vapor.

The voices continued to murmur, rippling out of the willow swamp alongside thebarge. Atreus stayed beneath his blankets, thinking it wiser not to draw attention tohimself until he gathered his groggy wits. He did not recall falling asleep, onlywrapping himself in a blanket and sitting down to sip another of Seema's potions. If the concoction had knocked him out, it had also rejuvenated him. He felt strongand rested, with no sign of fever. His wounds itched more than they ached, and whenhe ran his fingers over the lance puncture in his breast he was surprised to find italready closed. Seema's healing magic was more powerful than he had thought.

As Atreus's head cleared, he saw that he had been abandoned. Save for vacant slave chains snaking across the decks and two sets of oars still resting in theirlocks, the barge was empty, beached stern-first so everyone could sneak ashorewithout disturbing him on the bow. A familiar cold hollowness arose inside Atreus. Thiswas hardly the first time someone had taken pains to avoid him, but it was certainly themost callous. Having saved the Mar from a life of bondage he had thought they might return his kindness by helping him find his way to Langdarma, but he should haveknown better than to think any act of kindness would blind people to his humped backand disfigured face.

The willows beside the barge shook briefly, and the nose of a dugout emerged togently bump the hull. A pair of slavers jumped aboard and rushed aft, not bothering to glance forward or even to tie their boat to an eye hook. Atreus frowned, but madeno move to attack. The two men carried swords instead of whips and padded clubs,and he heard more voices murmuring out in the swamp. Fighting seemed less wisethan simply trying to slip away once the slavers entered the barge's ramshacklecabin.

But the pair did not go to the cabin. Instead, they divided and circled around it fromboth sides.

"Tarch!" yelled one. "Over here!"

"We've got her!"

A slender figure emerged from behind the cabin and began to flee up the

mountainside, her black braids and dark tabard leaving no doubt that it was Seema.Atreus threw off his blankets and pulled on his frozen boots, then grabbed Sune's map from his belongings and ran aft. As the slavers disappeared around behindthe cabin, Rishi emerged from the front door, blurry-eyed and wrapped in blankets.

"What is all this noise?" Rishi asked. "What has become of everyone?" "They left us," Atreus told him as he crossed the rear deck in two strides andpushed his way into the cabin. "Are there any weapons in here?"

The interior was murky and rank, with no bed except a pallet of filthy straw. A cask offoul-smelling grog sat in one corner, and a tangled mound of shackles and chainslay heaped against the back wall There were no true weapons in sight, but several sets of smithy's tools sat by the door,

"The barge is ours?" Rishi gasped, still trying to comprehend what Atreus hadtold him. Then we can recover the gold!"

“I'm afraid not" Atreus went to the back wall and rummaged through the chain heap. Tarch is after Seema. There are a pair of slavers chasing her now."

"All the better. While they are pursuing her, we can slip away."

Atreus whirled on the Mar, pulling a six-foot length of chain from the heap."How can you say such a thing? She saved our lives." Rishi eyed the chain nervously, backing toward the door. "I am only thinking ofthe good sir," he lied.

"I thought you were done with me," Atreus replied. He stepped over to the pileof smithy tools. "I recall something about what happens when a pretty slave girlsmiles at me."

Rishi's face darkened. "Many harsh words are spoken when people are tiredand cold, but there is no reason for us to be angry with each other. After werecover the gold, everything will be as before. We can resume our journey andfind Langdarma, certainly in a very short time."

"Certainly?" Atreus scoffed. He picked up a heavy forge hammer and steppedtoward the door. "You know where to find the gold if you want it I'm going after Seema."

Outside, the swamp was filled with calling voices, but the two slavers were notanswering. The pair needed all their breath to keep pace with Seema. She wasracing up the mountainside toward the waterfall beneath the glacier, holding her long skirt with both hands, bounding from rocks to grass tufts as lightly as agazelle.

Atreus leaped off the barge and rushed across a grassy flat to the base of the

mountain. After so much time in the swamp, the ground felt solid and good

beneath his feet, but he found himself gasping for breath as soon as he started to

climb. His legs grew weighty and slow, and they burned with fatigue. The chain

and hammer became as heavy as boulders, and his wounds began to throb

miserably. No matter how quickly he pumped his knees, he fell farther behind,

and it took an effort of will to launch himself from each grass tuft up to the next

one.

Seema continued to dance effortlessly up the slope, the two slavers clambering at her heels. Excited cries began to rise from below, and Atreus knew she hadclimbed high enough to be seen from the swamp. Tarch and his men would beswarming toward the barge now, but Atreus did not look back to see them. Withhis lungs burning and a ferocious headache pounding at his temples, it was allhe could do to keep running. Seema did not stray from her course until the mist of the waterfall began to spray her, and even then she turned only toward a driersection of cliff.

As shallow as the angle was, the two slavers made good use of it, closing towithin half a dozen steps of her. Atreus's knees began to tremble with exhaustion, and his aching chest filled with phlegm, but he forced himself to go on. What was a monster good for, if not to save beautiful damsels cornered by bestialslavers?

But Seema had other ideas. She hit the cliff at a run, leaping up to thrust herhands into a crevice so narrow it seemed a mere line. Pulling herself up with her arms, she swung her feet onto a pair of nubby toeholds and began to clamberup the rocks like a spider.

So astonished was Atreus that he almost stopped running, but the slavers were not surprised at all. Reaching the cliff only a few seconds behind Seema, they dropped their swords and began to jump, grabbing for her feet When this did not work, the heavier one cupped his hands and boosted the lighter one up. The man caught Seema by the ankle and began to tug.

"Come along ... girl," he puffed. "Don't bruise yourself. You don't want to do that, or Tarch'll start getting ideas about... keeping you."Seema began to kick, trying to free her ankle. • "Just pull her down!" urged the bottom man."N-no!" Atreus gasped, now only five paces below.

Both slavers glanced down and their eyes grew wide. Leaving his partner to hang

from Seema's ankle, the bottom man snatched his sword and stepped down to

attack. With the blow arcing down from above, Atreus had no choice but to twist out

of the way and fling his chain up in a wild, backhand block. The steel links struck with a

metallic clatter and wrapped themselves around the blade. Atreus jerked the sword

from his attacker's grasp.

In the next instant, a booted heel crashed into Atreus's jaw. He saw stars, then

his knees went limp, and he found himself rolling down the mountainside with no

memory of having fallen. He rotated onto his back, swinging his feet around to kick

his heels into a tuft of soft grass. He lurched to a stop and heard his foe clattering

down the slope above. Atreus rolled over to find the slaver almost upon him, now

holding the smithy's hammer he did not remember dropping.

Atreus staggered to his feet, head spinning and spent muscles trembling.

Somewhere along the way the sword came untangled from the chain and scattered

itself down the slope in three broken pieces. Atreus whirled the chain above his

head. The slaver slowed, circling around to approach from the side.

Head still spinning, Atreus lurched across the hill. The astonished slaver stumbled back, eyes darting toward the chain still whistling above his foe's head. Finally, he seemed to collect himself and stopped. He cocked his arm and planted his forward foot, then hurled the heavy hammer.

There was no time to duck or dodge. Atreus sprang into a charge, snapping his arm up to protect his head. The hammer glanced off his wrist and tumbled away.Then Atreus was on the slaver, swinging the heavy chain into the man's head.

The fellow's eyes went dull and gray, but somehow he kept his feet and came upwith a belt dagger. He attacked low, shooting the knife in toward Atreus's groin.

Atreus skipped backward and slapped the weapon down, bringing his blocking hand up in a vicious back-fisted strike. The slaver's jaw clacked shut He spit out thetip of his tongue and stumbled back, blind with pain and slashing his dagger aboutmadly. Atreus whirled the chain down across his attacker's wrist, entangling the fellow's arm and knocking his knife loose. The slaver howled and tried to jerk free but succeeded only in drawing Atreus closer.

Atreus grabbed him behind the neck and pulled, at the same time slamming aknee to his foe's chest. There were two muffled cracks, and the man groaned anddropped to the ground, wheezing and clutching at his side.

Atreus kicked the slaver down the slope and saw Rishi scrambling up themountainside, moving quickly despite his limp and the large bundle slung over his shoulder. Farther below, Tarch and a dozen men were just starting across thenarrow flat that separated the mountains from the swamp. Staggering along in frontof them, covering six feet a step despite a numb-footed limp, was Yago.

The ogre's face and cloak were caked with ice and mud, and a veritable copse of broken willow stalks jutted up from inside his belt and collar. He looked as if he had passed the night wallowing in the swamp, but Atreus knew better. Yago understood the value of concealment as well as any good hunter, and his camouflage suggested he had spent the night trailing Tarch and his slavers. They had probably not even realized he was there until he broke from the willows and started across the flat.

Too breathless to call out to his friend, Atreus merely waved, then scrambled up the mountainside, his lungs burning so badly he feared he had bruised them tumbling down the hill. On the cliff above, the slaver finally released Seema's ankle and dropped to the ground. She started to climb higher, looked down at Atreus, and stopped where she was.

The slaver retrieved his sword and met Atreus five paces below the cliff, usinghis uphill advantage to attack with a vicious overhand strike. Too exhausted to dodge or feint, Atreus simply dropped to the ground and swung his chain aroundin an overhand strike.

The surprised slaver stumbled forward off-balance, and the chain caught himacross the wrist, twining itself around his forearm. Atreus spun downhill, whippinghis foe overhead like a stone in a sling. The chain reached the end of its length and untwined, hurtling the fellow down the slope like a catapult The slaver hit a dozenpaces below, crashing headlong into a boulder and tumbling down the mountainญside in a limp heap: Atreus retrieved his dropped sword and rushed up the slope toSeema.

"are you..." he started to say, but was too out of breath to finish.

1 am fine," Seema replied, sounding rather aloof. "Have you injured yourself again?""I don't think so. Unless you count. . . being out of breath."Atreus turned to see Rishi taking the dagger from the second slaver's weapon

belt Instead of slitting the man's throat, he surprised Atreus by simply adding the knife to his bundle of goods. Fifty paces below, Yago was climbing up the slope,steadily opening the distance between himself and the rest of the slavers.

"I'm sorry for the trouble waiting with us caused you," Atreus said, motioning tothe barge.

"Yes, so am I," Seema said, glancing toward the two slavers lying motionlessbelow. "Be quiet now and rest. When your friend gets here we will have to move quickly, or there will be more bloodshed."

Atreus braced his hands on his knees and struggled to catch his breath between fits of coughing. His wounds were throbbing, but the pain was nothingcompared to the agony in his pounding head and burning chest. He silently thanked Vaprak, god of the ogres, for looking after his bodyguard. Without Yago, he could not imagine where he would find the strength to defeat Tarch andhis men.

Rishi arrived gasping and trembling, hardly able to hold the blanket bundled overhis shoulder.

"So you decided to forget about the gold after all," Atreus observed.

"It was... decided for me," Rishi wheezed. "But perhaps ... the gods will see fitto... leave it there until we return." "Which will not be until your next life, if we do not leave before Tarch's giant catches us," said Seema. "Tarch's giant?" Atreus turned toward Yago, who was only twenty paces below. "That's no giant, that's Yago ... my bodyguard."

Seema raised her brow at this, but seemed to take no comfort in the fact that they had an ogre on their side. She simply turned away, eyed the cliff above theirheads, and said, "I suppose you two and your ogre friend cannot climb."

"Not that!" Atreus exclaimed, astonished she would even suggest such a thing. "It must be five hundred feet high.""I suppose we must go around," Seema said, taking the bundle from Rishi."What is in here?"

"Blankets and food," the Mar replied. "Other things we might need."

Seema fished through the bundle, then withdrew the dagger he had taken from

the second slaver and pitched it down the mountainside.

"We will not need that," she said, motioning to the sword and chain in Atreus's hands. "Or those."

Atreus glanced down the slope at Tarch and his warriors. He shoved the sword intohis belt and draped the chain over his shoulders. "It will do me no harm to carry it,"he told her.

"If you must."

Yago arrived stinking of swamp mud and sweat. Too exhausted to offer greetings,the ogre simply braced his hands on his knees and filled the cold air with clouds of white breath.

"It's good to see you again," Atreus said, and clasped his friend's big shoulder. "It'sabout time." The ogre's head snapped up, then he saw Atreus's grin, gave him the evil eye, andsaid, "You could of left a boat for me!"

"Oh, you have no business blaming us for that." Rishi grinned, then added, "Wehad to get our own. Certainly, a big fellow like you should have had no trouble doingthe same thing."

Yago snarled and looked as though he would bite the Mar. Seema grabbed Rishi'ssupply bundle and shoved it into the ogre's waist. "Now that you are here, make yourself useful," she said. "It is going to be difficult enough to save all of you without wasting any more time."

With that, she whirled away and started along the base of the cliff, moving so swiftlyand gracefully that Atreus felt as if he was stumbling along after her. Rishi was almostskipping, and even Yago had to scurry to keep pace.

When Tarch and his slavers saw where the four were going, they began to angle toward the edge of the cliff and close the distance. Seema gathered her skirt and broke into a trot, and Atreus, Rishi, and Yago were soon puffing as hard as before.

They rounded the cliff with their pursuers less than fifty paces behind, then startedto pick their way up a boulder-strewn couloir—a narrow rock chute so steep that Atreus and Rishi began to grab for handholds. Seema simply leaned a littleforward and sprang up the gully as though hopping stones across a stream. Atreustried to imitate her gait and only found himself tiring more rapidly. Behind him, Yago'sheavy breath sounded like a forge bellows, and Rishi's wheezing left no doubt that hefound the climb just as difficult as his companions.

Atreus looked up and wished he had not. The couloir continued to climb at thesame steep angle for at least a thousand paces, then vanished into the clouds.

Rishi groaned. "My lungs will burst," he complained. "I cannot keep running!"

Seema did not look back, only said, "Just a little farther."

A boulder wobbled beneath her feet, and she sprang up the gully all the more quickly.

Atreus stopped beside the rock and looked back. When he saw Tarch and his menclambering into the bottom of the narrow gully, he stepped around to the upper sideof the boulder.

"Rishi! Out of... the way."

When he began to push, Seema finally stopped climbing.

"Wait!" She looked down toward Tarch, then yelled, "You must take shelter! We aregoing to start pushing boulders down."

The slavers looked up, confused, then suddenly seemed to realize what Seema was saying. They rushed back down the couloir and disappeared around the corner. Tarch merely scowled and started up the gully at his best sprint.

Atreus shoved the boulder.

The rock toppled free and rumbled down the couloir, gathering speed and

cracking into other boulders. Each time it struck, another huge stone came loose

and tumbled down the chute, until the whole lower gully seemed to be crashing

down on the slavers. Tarch flung himself at the gulch wall and scrambled up the

rocky face like a huge lizard, then clung there watching stones pass beneath

him.

Rishi whirled on Seema, panting, "Why did you warn them? We could have had them all!" "Not Tarch, and he is the only one that matters," said Seema. "Now you havehad your rest We must go again."With the rock-slide still rumbling, she turned and bounded up the gully.

Atreus and the others followed as best they could, but none of them could matchSeema's pace. She would bound ahead, then stop to urge them on, never seeming more than a little winded. Atreus grew so exhausted that he became dizzy andhad to steady himself with every step, and he noticed Rishi and Yago doing thesame. Their trembling knees started to give out at unpredictable moments, andRishi's wounded leg knotted itself into such a tight ball that he cried out in agony withevery step. Not once did Seema lose her balance, and soon she started to hang back and pull the Mar along by his arm.

Behind them, Tarch scrambled up the couloir alone, his men having decided theywere more likely to survive his wrath than the sporadic volleys of boulders Atreuskept launching. Although the rock-slides caused the slave master to keep fallingfarther behind, they were never a danger to him. Every time Atreus laid his shoulder toa loose rock, Seema would shout a warning.

They had almost reached the clouds when Rishi dropped to a knee, then collapsedagain as he tried to get up. Tarch started to sprint up the couloir, sensing he hadfinally run his quarry to ground.

"Come along." Seema tugged at the Mar's arm, "We are almost in the clouds." Rishi tried to stand, but fell as soon as he put weight on his wounded leg. "It isno good," he admitted. "I can go no farther."Tarch continued to sprint up the gully. Atreus pressed against a boulder, butthe stone would not budge."You must get up!" Seema said, then clasped her hand around Rishi's wrist andstarted to drag him up the couloir. "I do not want it on my soul if Tarch kills you."

"You should have ... thought of that before you warned him about the rocks,"Rishi said as he tried to jerk his hand free and failed. He was too tired. "You are adisloyal and ungrateful woman."

"Ungrateful!" Seema exclaimed, but she continued up the slope, dragging Rishialong. Atreus grabbed the Mar by the other arm and did his best to help. Yago brought up the rear, breathing harder than any of them, using one hand to steadyhimself and the other to hold the supply bundle.

"Why should I be grateful for what you have done?" Seema demanded. "I didnot ask you to free me. I did not ask you to kill those men."

"You were... running," Atreus panted. He glanced back, then kicked a loose rock down the gully. The stone, too small to start a slide, bounced past Tarchharmlessly. "You must not want to be a slave."

"No one wants to be slave," Seema said, her gaze remaining fixed on the cloudsabove them. "That does not mean you can kill the slavers."

"They was going to sell you," Yago wheezed. His chest was heaving from the exertion, and his orange skin had paled to a sickly ivory. "They deserved to getkilled."

The man who passes judgment on another also judges himself," Seema said.She tore her eyes away from the clouds and gave the ogre a hard stare. "I sawthe slavers do many terrible things, but they did not kill anyone."

Atreus remained silent, stung by her disapproving tone. Until now, he had simplyassumed that Seema wanted to be rescued, thinking her aversion to killing nothingmore than a healers natural distaste for death. It had not occurred to him that she might regard the slaying of her captors as an evil greater than being enslaved in thefirst place.

When Atreus said nothing to defend him, Yago scowled and said, "A person fights for himself. A person does not let others make him a slave."

"A person does not kill," Seema hissed. "It is a terrible stain on the soul, and I willnot have it done in my name.”

The words struck Atreus like a blow to the chest He forgot to watch his footing andslipped on a tuft of grass, barely noticing as Yago caught him and stopped him from sliding down the slope. Though Sune did not prohibit her worshipers from fighting—especially in defense of beauty, love, or their own lives—she did regard both warmongering and unprovoked murder as terrible scars upon a worshiper's soul. ToSeema, apparently, any kind of killing was an ugliness of spirit

Atreus scrambled to his feet and grasped Rishi's arm again. A few moments laterthey reached the clouds and entered a misty world of white air and damp rock.Seema dragged them another fifty paces up the couloir, then suddenly stopped on alarge boulder. Though he was only an arm's length away, the fog made her look ghostly and ethereal

“You will not kill again," she told them all. It was neither a question nor a command,only a statement "No more deaths."

"Now is certainly not the best time ... to debate this," gasped Rishi. "We mustkeep going, or there will undoubtedly be at least three more when we are caught..."

Seema made no move to continue up the couloir. "No," she insisted. "I must know before we carry on."

Yago growled softly, and Atreus glanced back to see his friend glaring down thegulch. It was impossible to see anything in the mist, but this was the ogre's way ofmaking plain what he thought about taking orders from strangers, though, of course, he would do whatever Atreus wanted.

Atreus drew the sword from his belt and swung it flat against the boulder. Theblade snapped with a sharp chime, and Yago groaned miserably.

"By the gods!" Rishi cried. "Have you lost your mind?"

Atreus ignored him, looked to Seema, and said, "No more deaths."

Seema looked to Yago. "And you?" she asked.

The ogre glanced at Atreus, then growled, "If Atreus wants."

"Good," she said. As she turned to Rishi, the sound of clattering stones beganto echo up through the mist "Do you also promise?"

The Mar glanced toward the sound and said, "Surely it is better for Tarch to diethan all of us."

Seema's eyes grew sad, and she stepped down off the boulder. "I must leaveyou," she said. "I am the one he is looking for, and there will be no more killing if Igo to him."

"Wait" Atreus caught her by the arm, turned to Rishi, and said, "Make the promise. I can't let Seema go by herself, even if there is to be no more killing." Rishi's eyes narrowed. "Good sir, you are a very bad liar," he said. "It is onlySeema that Tarch wishes alive. He will be most happy to kill you... and Yago."

"He will try," said Atreus, "but now that Yago's here, perhaps we can subdue himwithout killing him. Are you sure you want to be the only one trying to kill him—orthe only one left, if we fail?"

Rishi considered this a moment, grew pale, and licked his lips. He turned toSeema. "I promise."

She studied the Mar for several moments. The clattering below continued togrow louder, but it was impossible to tell how close Tarch was. Atreus had learnedduring his sea crossing that everything sounded different in fog, and the only thing he could see below was Yago's heavy breath swirling the vapor.

After a time, Seema nodded to Rishi and said, "I will take you at your word, but ifyou are lying to me....""I'll be responsible for him," Atreus assured her, casting a warning glance at the Mar. I'm sure he won't give me reason to regret it" "Never! I am being most honest arid truthful," Rishi said, turning up the couloir.

"Now may we please hurry?"

Seema caught the Mar by the arm and said, "Not that way."

She motioned toward the couloir's rocky wall, then looked down the slope.

"Tarch," she called, "you must take shelter again. We have found a loose boulder!"

She caught Yago's eye and pointed to the boulder upon which she had been standing. The ogre grinned and passed the supply bundle to Atreus. Wrapping hisgangling arms around the stone, he heaved it into the fog. The rock landed with a resounding crash and began to bound down the slope. Soon the rumble of amassive rockslide was reverberating up the couloir.

"Follow me."

Seema's voice was barely audible over the clamor of the falling rocks. She turned to the couloir wall and slipped her hands into a crevice, then scrambled upthe twenty-foot cliff in a few quick moves. Atreus could not help feeling sheepish.Seema was the rescuer now. She probably knew a thousand ways to evade Tarch, and none of them involved fighting.

With the clatter of the rockslide still masking their escape, Yago boostedRishi up, then scrambled up the wall himself. Atreus tossed the supply bundle tothe ogre and brought up the rear. Soon they were crossing the face of a rockycrag. Although the outcropping was not much steeper than the couloir, it feltimmeasurably more dangerous, with the mist-slickened rock dropping away into bottomless fog and nothing but white cloud at their backs.

Seema sauntered along the crag as though it were a balcony walkway, barelytouching its stony face with her uphill hand. Rishi and Atreus faced the rock andinched along sideways, keeping both hands on the stone at all times. Yago turned away from the outcropping and leaned back against it, crawling along likea back-jointed spider and holding the supply bundle in one hand. It was not long before a nervous rumble began to reverberate from his chest

"Yago, do you think it would be easier if you turned around?" Atreus askedsoftly. "That way you can see the rock."

"I can feel the rock." Yago's deep whisper cut through the fog like a hissing wind. Fortunately, the rockslide was still clattering to a halt back in the couloir, soit seemed unlikely Tarch would hear. "If I fall, I want to see where I'm going."

Atreus sighed and reached out Knowing it would do no good to argue, he said,"Let me carry the supplies. We don't want to lose them if you fall."Yago refused to yield the bundle. "Keep your hands on the rock!" the ogre said too loudly. "You'll fall." "Our lives depend on our silence," Seema hissed. She stretched a hand pastRishi, then added, "I will not fall. Pass me the supplies."

Yago scowled but quietly passed the bundle forward. They continued acrossthe outcropping and the sound of the rockslide died away behind them. A short time later, they heard Tarch in the couloir, his feet kicking stones and gravel downthe gully as he climbed past They all breathed a little easier, and it was not long beforethey began to hear a steady roar echoing up through the fog. Guessing that thiswould be the waterfall he had seen that morning, Atreus began to keep a watchfor the hanging glacier.

He almost didn't recognize it when they reached it The rocky crag simply ended,as though they had come to the edge of the mountain itself. Seeing nothing but grayhaze beyond, Atreus expected Seema to climb around the corner and continue on.Instead, she stepped down off the-outcropping and seemed to simply hover in thefog.

Rishi stopped and peered over the edge, his mouth gaping in astonishment."What are you standing on?"

"Snow, of course. Come along." Seema reached out with her freehand and warned,"Be very careful of your footing. This glacier is more dangerous than the hillside wehave been crossing. It is very steep, and you do not want to slide off the bottom. It-is along plunge down to the swamp."

Rishi allowed her to help him down, and to Atreus they appeared to be floating inthe fog. She turned and started to angle up the glacier it looked as though she wereclimbing the cloud into the heavens themselves.

"Be careful to step only where I step," Seema said, looking back over her shoulder."Glaciers are full of hidden perils. It is easy to fall into a crevasse or drop into the melt water underneath,"

Yago peered over the edge of the cliff into the gray haze, then looked back to Atreusand said, "I don't see no snow. Let's go another way."

Atreus gave Yago a gentle push, "One foot at a time," he whispered, mindful of the ogre's pride. "We're going in the right direction. These are the High "Yehimals, and.Langdarma is somewhere up there."

"According to those bird scratches on your map?" sneered Yago dubiously.

Despite his doubts, the ogre gingerly lowered himself over the edge. When his foot finally touched the snow, he smiled and stepped away from the crag. In theflat light, Atreus still could not tell the snow from the fog. It looked as though even anogre could walk on air.

Atreus lowered himself over the edge and started up the glacier after his companions. The climbing quickly grew steep and fatiguing, with Seema zigzagging back and forth so sharply that they seemed to take four steps to advance one pace uphill. Sometimes, Atreus could see her reason for swerving.From time to time they would encounter a looming tower of ice—what Seemacalled a serac—that seemed ready to topple over, or an abyssal crevasse so narญrow and snow-choked it was almost invisible. Other times, it was more difficult to tell what she was avoiding. Here and there a small furrow marked a buried crevasse,or a faint gurgling showed only her where a snow-covered pit opened into theriver of melt water beneath the glacier. She gave any rock a wide berth, for stonescollected heat when the sun was out and melted treacherous holes around themselves, and she always avoided exposed ice. On such a sheer slope, even atiny slip could mean plunging into a deep crevasse or slamming into a serac.

The steep climb aggravated Rishi's leg wound. He fell back to the end of theline, and soon Yago was hauling the Mar on his back. Atreus followed close behindSeema, carrying the supply bundle over his shoulder so her hands would befree in case she ran into trouble route-finding. After a time they came to a highice cliff and began to traverse along the base, looking for a way around. Atreus finally caught his breath enough to start a conversation.

There hasn't been time to thank you for staying with Rishi and me."

"You and your servant were in poor health when Tarch pulled you from theriver." As she spoke, Seema continued along the ice cliff, peering into the whitefog ahead. "I wanted to be certain you would recover."

"Still, it was kind of you not to leave with your people," said Atreus. "At the moment, my resources are limited, but if there is anything I can do to repay you. .."

Seema stopped and turned, looking up into Atreus's pouchy eyes. "If youkeep your promise," she said, "that will be enough. Besides, the others were not'my people.' They are from Gyatse and Yamdruk. I come from much higher."

The names caused Atreus's heart to leap into his throat Both places were onhis map, and Yamdruk was no more than six valleys from Langdarma.

Seema started forward again, casting a wary eye on the cliff above their heads.Atreus followed along, trying to quell his growing excitement and avoid alarminghis beautiful guide. Given her anger over the dead slavers, he was far from certain she would be eager to help him find Langdarma, especially if that happenedto be the high place from which she came.

Atreus took a deep breath, then tried to sound casual as he asked, "If you aren'tfrom Yamdruk or Gyatse, how did you come to be captured with their people?""I needed yellow man's beard," she explained. "They do not grow in my home,so I came down to search for ft."

Atreus frowned and, confused, asked, "Do you mean you have no men in yourhome?" Perhaps she came from some sort of devotional order that allowed onlywomen. "Or that your men have no beards?"

"We have men! What kind of place has no men?" she laughed. It was a light,happy sound that chimed off the ice cliff and sang away into the fog. "We do not have hemlock trees, and they are where yellow man's beard grows. It is a moss good for curing black-belly fever."

"So Tarch captured you in Yamdruk?"

It was a hopeful guess. On his map, Yamdruk was closer to, Langdarma than Gyatse. Seema grew quiet, then said, "He caught me near Yamdruk, yes. But my people do not make a habit of visiting others.""Perhaps you will allow me to repay your kindness by going to Yamdruk andcollecting some yellow man's beard for you?"Seema glanced over her shoulder warily, then shook her head saying, "The child is long dead. Black-belly fever kills quickly, and I have been gone for weeks."Atreus could not tell whether her tone was suspicious or sad. "I am sorry to hearthat," he said.

Seema was careful not to turn around.

"Yes, so am I"

They reached the edge of the ice cliff and began to pick their way up a jumble oftoppled seracs, pausing every now and then to offer Yago a steadying hand. Asthey climbed, the fog began to thin. The wind came up, the temperature dropped,and the glacier came alive with silver light and blue shadows. They cut holes in their extra blankets and wore them over their shoulders like tunics, but this did nothing toprotect their fingers and noses from the biting cold.

At last they crested the slope and found themselves looking across a vast crinkledplain of ice, bulging with pressure ridges and furrowed with concentric rings ofcrevasses. Here and there, pyramids of granite jutted up through the ice in theinterior, while long curving glaciers swept like spider arms down into the canyons along the edges. Scattered along the rim, scratching at a cobalt sky with pinnaญcles as sharp and gleaming as sword tips, were the impossibly high peaks Atreushad seen from the far side of the swamp. And there, almost directly across the icefield, were three bell-shaped spires. The Sisters of Serenity.

The crash of a tumbling serac rumbled up the glacier behind them. Atreus cast a wary took down the slope but saw only the billowing white clouds through which they had just ascended.

"Probably just an avalanche," he said.

"Just an avalanche," agreed Yago.

Rishi rolled his eyes and shook his head, and neither Atreus nor Yago lookedaway until Seema pointed toward a small glacier on the left.

"That leads to Gyatse. I will see you safely down to the valley, then return to my own home."

Atreus shook his head and told her, "We're not going to Gyatse."

He could feel that it was a bad time to broach the subject, but he did not want towaste any steps going in the wrong direction, especially not with the Sisters OfSerenity in plain sight and Tarch on their trail.

He pointed across the ice field toward the three mountains and said, "That iswhere we're going." Seema did not look as surprised as Atreus expected. "TheSisters?" she asked. "There is nothing but ice and rock there. Why would youwant to go there?"

Atreus's reply was frank. "To find Langdarma."

Seema regarded him with a combination of wariness and pity, then pursed herlips and took his forearm. "What is it you are looking for in Langdarma?" she askedquietly.

A sense of profound relief filled Atreus. "Beauty," he answered. "I have beentold I will become handsome there." Seema's eyes grew glassy. "You have journeyed all this way for nothing," shesaid simply. "You cannot find beauty in Langdarma. It is a myth, just as is Ysdar."

She touched his heart, "It exists here," then reached up to touch his face, "nothere."

Atreus caught her hand. "Don't. I know what you're doing. I've seen it all my life. You think an ugly man has no business in Langdarma." He withdrew Sune's map, unfolded it, and pointed at the valley beneath the Sisters of Serenityand said, "I know about Langdarma. There's no use lying to me, so please don't"

A clatter echoed up from me clouds below.

Rishi shifted uncomfortably on Yago's back and glanced down the glacier. "Thatwas no avalanche!" he called.

Seema ignored him and examined Atreus's map. "Someone is lying to you, but itis not me," she said, shaking her head sadly. "You cannot go to Langdarma. It is astate of being, not a place, and no man with a murderous heart may find it. I amsorry. More sorry than you can know."

"This was given to me by Sune herself." Atreus insisted and shook the map inher face. "Who do you expect me to believe... my goddess, or you?"

Seema's gaze grew stony.

"I do not know this Sune of yours, but I do know the Yehimals. There is no

Langdarma. I will take you to the Sisters of Serenity, and you will see for yourselfthat there is no valley there."