Chapter Thirty-Five: On the Northern Bay

 

Galveston had obviously won whatever argument she’d been having with Galeon: her soldiers pushed the Wizards apart and attempted to take Kyosti away.

Kayla wouldn’t let him go. “You’ll take him now? I need him to banish this monster!”

Chapter Thirty-Four: Pain and Betrayal

Kyosti must have been in the House of Wizards for hours at that point, but the snowstorm was still raging on as Kayla led him out into the main courtyard. Wind shrieked in his ears, and he stumbled. Kayla pulled him upright again. He could hear, faintly, people yelling, horses protesting, swords and spears clanging.

Chapter Thirty-Three: The House of Wizards

 

When they had decided Kyosti wouldn’t tell them anything even under torture, they tossed him back in his cell at the bottom of the House of Wizards. Kyosti lay still, trying not to aggravate his injuries, as he listened to Kayla curse and rage at him all the way out of the dungeon.

Chapter Thirty-Two: After Passing Four Snow Markers

 

By the time Sanji returned, Kyosti, Anglorae, and John had taken refuge inside a kind farmer’s wagon. They listened to his griping about the sleet ruining his crop until Anglorae, who was peering through the slits in the wagon, called out Sanji’s name. She shook Kyosti’s arm. “She’s back!”

“Who’s with her?” Kyosti asked, his heart squeezing.

“No one,” Anglorae answered, sounding less certain. “She’s alone.”

Chapter Thirty-One: Return to Chithoobra

 

A storm was rolling in over the Ben Sea when they finally made it to the first bride to Chithoobra. Kyosti’s stomach churned as they came down the narrow track from the north to the broad road coming from the farmlands in the west. The road was crowded with people, horses, and wagons, all looking nervously at the looming clouds. Kyosti’s skin prickled with the growing iciness in the air, the smell of freezing rain and snow. It would be a cold storm.

Chapter Thirty - Interlude - To Be A God

 

Lechen often reflected on what it took to be a god.

Not because she wanted to be one, but because Tusu Nasala had so many.

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Among the Waves

 

In the end, they passed through the mountains to the other side and stood over the Ben Sea. In the distance, far away, they spied a dark shape that might be Chithoobra.

Chapter Twenty-Eight: Corpse in the Fort

 

Anglorae and Kyosti had to wade through chest-high water to reach the fort. The water was so warm they barely shivered, even after climbing back out on the other side. The air was noticeably warmer too. Scrambling around fallen arches and crawling through the sunken battlements, they made their way deeper into the ancient building. Kyosti could hear water dripping all around them, collecting in pools they had to tread through and around.

Chapter Twenty-Seven - Overlooking Nasala

 Now they were only a few weeks away from Chith-oo-bra, Anglorae and others were anxious to get there as quickly as possible. Kyosti, hiding the issue of the knife hidden at the bottom of his bag, couldn’t help dragging his feet a bit. The terrain wasn’t the easiest in this part of the world; they crossed Tenash to the shore of the Bengal Ocean, trying to stay away from the snowy south, then reached a huge strand of mountains they had to cross to get to the Ben Sea. And from there, Chith-oo-bra.

There was no easy pass through the mountains, and it took all of Kyosti’s and Anglorae’s cold-weather know-how to keep them from freezing in the short days and long nights.

Around halfway through their journey across the mountain, Kyosti found the perfect delaying tactic.

Chapter Twenty-Six: Ragfish in the Corner

 

“You’re lost, aren’t you?”

“It’s around here somewhere! I remember a strong smell of fish!”

“Kyosti, we’re by the sea. Everywhere smells like fish.”

Chapter Twenty-Five: Eagle on the Mast

 

Kyosti spent most of the voyage sick belowdecks. He, Anglorae, and Sanji huddled in their blankets for the tumultuous and treacherous trip, green-faced and wretched. John abandoned them almost immediately to run around in the sun and wind, only coming down to bring them water and food.

“What a traitor,” Anglorae griped. “I should have left him in Mardoo.”

Chapter Twenty-Four: Interlude - At the Military School

 

Kyosti played alone everyday.

Chapter Twenty-Three: In the Dark of Night

 Yella, as promised, stayed until dawn. Long after the other three had fallen asleep, snoring to drown out their whispers. He was fascinated by Kyosti’s stories of Chithoobra, and especially interested in Kayla, who had further betrayed the Innis path by joining the Wizards.

Chapter Twenty-Two: At the Inn

 

“Hot water!” Anglorae yelled, banging down money on the startled innkeeper’s table. “And lots of it!”

Chapter Twenty-One: In the Storm

 

It took them almost a month to finish their journey up to Mardoo, which was the nearest big city that could take them across the ocean. Winter chased them all the way there, but finally the wall of night receded and the snows stopped. They entered a gleaming desert that reached scorching temperatures during the day and dropped to freezing in the night.

Chapter Twenty: Bandits in the Marsh

 

They eventually left the mountains behind and dropped down into Mel Iorn, a hilly, wet country at the best of times. Now, in the winter, it was frigidly cold and humid. The usually green vegetation was gray and brown, blanketing the ground in an icy, soggy mass. Many of the streams were already frozen over or dried up, but several rivers still rushed down through the hills. On one memorable occasion, the four of them even had to cross a freezing river.

Chapter Nineteen: Deer in the Bushes

 

Anglorae groaned. “Berries? Again?”

Kyosti didn’t have to see Sanji to know she looked murderous. “You can starve, if you’d rather,” she pointed out.

Chapter Eighteen: Sunlight in the Forest Glen

 

They do, in fact, set out the next morning. The Seers are obviously anxious to be rid of them. As Kyosti had predicted, the Seers decided they would head up north into Sorn Iorn first, then catch the first available boat into Mayna or Tenash. It would be a long journey, but shorter than waiting for the long winter to pass.

Chapter Seventeen: Interlude - As The Story Goes

 Excerpt from a court testimony given by an unnamed Innis slave during the infamous case, Harbinger of Doom v. Wheel of Fortune. The occasion called for a retelling of the Innis version of Rokolo’s ascent into the heavens, and one can only hope that the slave was punished heavily for speaking this blasphemy. The mountain spoken of here is perhaps one of the volcanoes sacred to the Fiery Wolverine, as he is often associated with fire, climbing mountains, and staircases. Some suggest the guide is the Fiery Wolverine himself, although this could not possibly be true.

Chapter Sixteen: In the Top of the Highest Treehouse

 Despite the warm welcome they had received yesterday, the Seers had become distinctly unfriendly overnight. The Seer who led them answered their questions with clipped answers, and Kyosti could hear other people around them hissing and whispering. Sanji’s hands flexed on his elbow; she pressed closer to him the farther they walked.

Chapter Fifteen: The New Route

 

Kyosti was inclined to forget the argument he’d had with Sanji when the morning came, and it seemed Sanji agreed; neither of them brought up either Rokolo or the Leopard Queen as they ate their meal of pickled eggs, steamed greens and root vegetables.

Chapter Fourteen: The Difference Between Seers and Innis

 

Eventually the Seers led them to a treehouse to sleep in. The crowd they led behind still murmured discontent against Galveston and her betrayal.

Chapter Thirteen: In the Seer's Camp

 

Kyosti knew they were almost at the Seer’s Camp when the smells of civilization started to reach his nose: fires, cooking food, and latrines. He had wondered before what the Seer’s Camp would be like, how much of it would be familiar, how much of it would be foreign. The Camp, of course, was far away from Chithoobra, even if it was still in the empire. However, the Seers were descended from people who had once been Innis; he might find similarities here with the Icefields.

Chapter Twelve: Fleeting Encounter

 

Kyosti awoke.

Everything was white, and for several moments he blinked, wondering what was wrong with his eyes.

Then a winter bird nearby twittered, and he remembered.

Chapter Eleven: Destination Determined

 

Kyosti tightened his hold on Sanji's wrists until it must have been painful. “That’s not true,” he insisted, blinking rapidly. He had just been momentarily stunned, that’s all . . . this happened sometimes with snow blindness . . .

Chapter Ten: By the Prickler

 

Kyosti went north. It wasn’t ideal, because the queen would find him easier the sunnier it was, but he had this vague idea of getting to Sorn Iorn. Because of how hot and deserty it was there, the Chith Empire sent many of its Innis captives there to work; the Innis simply didn’t know how to survive in such a place, and therefore couldn’t escape. If he could pass the knife onto another Innis there, maybe they could get it back to the Icefields safely.

Chapter Nine: Revelation in the Ravine

 

Finally, the guard led Kyosti away from the silent queen and down the hanging stair to another secret door that led to the docks. There were no more words exchanged between them, and the guard left without looking back.

Chapter Eight: Interlude - Among the Ill and Dying

 

Mombasa noticed, after declaring his thirtieth patient in a row dead, that he couldn’t draw in a full breath.

Chapter Seven: The Hanging Stair

 

As Galveston said, a guard knocked on his door in the early hours of the morning. Kyosti grabbed his pack and answered immediately; he hadn’t slept all night anyway. He caressed a couple of his plants goodbye, locked his door and hid the key where Rodriguez would find it.

Chapter Six: The Farewell

 

Rodriguez sat back in his chair. The sun had dipped below the horizon, and shadows cast by a flickering candle played across his face. He did not say anything for several minutes.

Chapter Five: The Throne Room

 

Kyosti had no sleep that night. He had gotten home from guard duty after dark and then sat at his table, chin in his hand, nursing a drink while his mind whirred ever faster. It was a bleary-eyed but freshly-shaven archer who turned up at the palace gates as the sun rose above the line of the trees. The guards at the doors were expecting him, watching with curious eyes as he took the trail towards the queen’s courtroom.

Chapter Four: Upon the Wall

 

“Removed from the legion? Removed from the legion?!”

Chapter Three: Old Frenemies

 

Don’t be myself, Kyosti thought as he came under the shadow of the palace wall. Right.

He wished he could say that was the first time he had heard this advice.

Chapter Two: Cadets in Training

 

Kyosti Romalidan lowered his bow slowly, the arrow still shivering in the center of the target.

“And that’s how it’s done, soldiers,” he announced.

Chapter 1: The Mouse's Cries - A Kenji Myth

A Kenjian creation myth, collected by Richinoda Uruka, Grand Historian to the Agent, in “The Mouse’s Cries: Creation Myths from Around the World.” Since Uruka died before he reached Kenji, this myth’s veracity is greatly suspect. Supposedly he heard it from a Bridget sailor staying in Chith-oo-bra. In his own words, the sailor “looked like she had crawled out of the Glowworm Lakes themselves, a pale-eyed, pale-skinned heathen with a love of gambling.” Based on the holes and unanswered questions in this story, (which cannot be found anywhere in Kenji’s mythological archives) one can only guess that either it’s part of a much larger mythology that Uruka didn’t know about, or he omitted parts of the story.