Serious conversation came over that night’s supper with Dokyi, the twins, and General Sayrugo. The discussion about the imperial soldiers in the Snow Serpent Pass, and plans to get villagers to safety along the Snow Serpent River, went smoothly. Then Rosethorn began to explain her plans.
“No!” Briar cried. “This is the most bleat-brained idea you’ve ever come up with! You can’t!” He glared at Dokyi. “Find someone else. Look at her! She’s worn-out! I won’t let you do it!”
“Such an ill-behaved child,” Sayrugo commented, looking at her pakoras — ball-shaped dumplings — with a suspicious eye. The Kombanpur cooks who had come with Souda and her troops had provided the meal to welcome Parahan.
“I am not a child!” Briar snapped.
Dokyi tried, unsuccessfully, to hide a smile behind his finger. “Such a bad student, then.”
“I’m not a student, either! Exactly! I’m certified in my own right, and she can’t tell me to go or stay anymore. She has trouble breathing up here!”
“Actually, I feel better,” Rosethorn said. She took a deep breath and raised her eyebrows. “Much better.” She had eaten all that was put before her and was taking seconds.
“There are benefits to the burden I passed to you,” Dokyi said, though his eyes were on Briar. “I will not tell you my age, because I am vain. I am older than I seem, however, and stronger, due to its influence. She is healthy enough for whatever trials the land may put before her, young man. And it is not your place to question a duty for which her vows have fitted her.”
“Enough,” Rosethorn said when Briar opened his mouth again. “Not one more word, understand me?”
For a long moment there was silence and tea drinking. Then Evvy said, “My cats can’t take any more travel. Between sleeping herbs and galloping along they’re not looking so good. I am a bit tired myself.” She rubbed her thumb along the table’s edge. “Might we stay here? I could help defend this fort and the cats would be all right. It’s a mountain fort. There are rocks I can use here, big ones. Maybe Rosethorn and Briar could do more thorns and bar the road to the pass.”
“That is a splendid idea,” the general said unexpectedly.
Everyone looked at her in shock. “It is?” Rosethorn asked.
Sayrugo smiled. “I am taking troops northeast along the Drimbakang Sharlog,” she explained. “Parahan and Souda will have two companies of my people as well as their own two hundred to ride along the Snow Serpent Road going west. We all have to move villagers to safety and fight any imperials that have come so far south. But Captain Rana’s company will remain in charge here to defend the pass and the local villagers. A barrier of thorns on the pass will make Rana’s work easier. There will be no more Yanjingyi soldiers to come through that way.”
Rosethorn frowned.
Briar smiled wryly. “I don’t think any trade will be going down the Snow Serpent for a while, Rosethorn, if that’s what’s wrinkling your face. It won’t matter if the pass is blocked.”
She nodded slowly. “We could do thorns, then. I’ll go with Parahan and Soudamini as far as the Tom Sho River, provided they don’t slow down too much alerting the villages and temples.”
“And I’ll go with you, since Evvy will be snug as a flea in an armpit here,” Briar said cheerfully. Soudamini choked on her curried rice.
“Briar!” Rosethorn cried. “Where are your manners?”
“In the same dung hole you left your bleating brains when you said you were going off without me!” Briar shouted back, jumping to his feet.
“Boy, you cannot go to the Temple of the Sealed Eye with her,” Dokyi said. “It will not be permitted.”
Briar stared at Dokyi in white-hot rage, wondering if he should tell the old hand waver what he could do with his permission.
Dokyi stood and put an arm like stone around Briar’s shoulders. “Let us confer outside,” he said agreeably.
I’m not even one of his precious dedicates! Briar thought, indignant. He did not argue. At the moment standing this close to the old man was like being close to Rosethorn when she was in the depths of her magic, only stronger, like stone.
Outside the room with the door closed, the First Dedicate released him. Softly he said, “I know that you have lived under terrible strain since you reached Yanjing.”
“So?” Briar demanded. He kept his own voice quiet. He didn’t want Rosethorn to hear, either.
Dokyi folded his hands in front of him. “I honor your care for her, Briar, but this is now something only she can do, and it concerns survival for many. She wanted you to come with her, but it is quite truly not possible. If you love her, you will help her, not hinder her.”
“Is there no one else?” Briar whispered.
Dokyi shook his head. “The task requires someone extraordinary. She is that person. Do not make her duty more painful.”
He walked back into the supper room, leaving Briar to think and kick the wall. When he returned to his seat, Evvy was saying, “The emperor has plenty of riches. He doesn’t need Gyongxe. The farming here isn’t very good. What can he want here?”
Dokyi shook his head, smiling. “But he isn’t the heart of the world. He hears Gyongxe is the spindle on which the world turns, but he does not understand it. He thinks if he takes Gyongxe, people will say that he is the spindle.”
“He thinks Gyongxe means wealth, and magic,” General Sayrugo explained. “He thinks that people build temples here to be close to magic. In truth they come to be closest to the sky, where the gods dwell. When our ambassador reminded him that five holy rivers, that feed hundreds of thousands, rise here, he only said that was interesting.”
“He must not be allowed to control our temples or to handle the gifts of our gods,” Dokyi said. “He will do what he has done to every other realm he has conquered. He will loot its treasures and destroy all the signs of its history. That is what the emperor does to his conquered nations.”
Evvy stared at the man, her eyes wide. Briar glared at him for frightening her and put his arm around Evvy.
They picked at their food in silence for a time before Parahan said, “Do you know, I would like Briar with us.” To Soudamini he said, “You must see what my friend here can do with a handful of seeds, Souda.”
“Truly?” she asked.
Evvy nodded. “There’s plenty of the emperor’s soldiers that won’t be buried with their ancestors because of what Briar can do.”
Souda smiled wickedly at Briar. “Impressive.”
Briar looked at her. Parahan’s twin was a couple of inches shorter than Briar and well curved. Tonight she wore her blue-black hair in complexly twined braids secured with gold pins. A wicked dimple accented her mouth. Briar was the first to admit he was a fool for a dimple.
“Ride with us and find some Yanjingyi dogs to fight,” Souda proposed. “Show me these skills of yours. A prebu is always welcome.”
Briar looked at Parahan, confused by the strange word. “A nanshur,” Parahan explained in tiyon.
“We’re going to have a splendid time deciding which language to speak,” Souda murmured.
Briar shoved his hands into his pockets to give himself a second to think. If he went with the twins, at least he could watch Rosethorn for part of her journey. He could see Evvy was worn-out. There was also her un-Evvy-ish drifting off as she stared at the vast mountains. Perhaps if she stayed here for a time, to feed her cats and rest, she would get used to the tall peaks and come back to herself again. With the pass closed off, and Gyongxe armies roaming in two directions, the fort ought to be safe for her.