“Hmm. Daniel Akamarino. Danny Blue?”
“I’ve been called that.” He gave her one of his second-best grins. “I’ve been called worse.”
“This isn’t going to hurt you,” she said. He raised his brows. “I need to know,” she said. “When that bronze bit came to me, it brought two tigermen with it who killed the messenger and tried damn hard to kill me.” Kori gasped, leaned against Daniel, clutching his arm so hard he could feel her nails digging into him. “Sorry, child, but you’d best know what kind of fight you’re in. Where was I? Yes, I have to know more about the two of you before we get into it about our mutual friend you know who. Yaril, Jaril, screen them.”
The two children were abruptly spherical gold shimmers. Warily, Daniel began to slide toward the door; before he moved more than a step, one of the shimmers darted at him and merged with him. A ticklish heat rambled about inside him, then focused in his head. A few breaths later, the shimmer whipped away again and was a young boy sitting on the bed, his sister beside him.
‘Jay?”
“Daniel Akamarino is like us, fetched here from another reality, he doesn’t know how or why. It’s a reality more like ours, no magic in it, no gods, their ships don’t sail on water but through the nothingness between suns.-The boy chuckled suddenly, reached out and stroked Brann’s arm. “He’s a sailing man, Bramble, not a captain I’m afraid, but he’s been just about everything else on those ships.”
Brann shook her head. “Idiot. Yaro?”
“It’s pretty much what you thought, Bramble. The girl is being driven by the Chained God who wants something from you. This Rd she’s talking about, he’s her brother, seven years old and not likely to live till eight unless something is done. When one priest dies, the god himself chooses the next and makes his choice known through fancy and extremely public signs. A little over two months ago, You-know-who’s soldiers tied Owlyn Vale’s priest of the Chained God to a stake set in the threshing floor and lit a fire under his feet and a few days after that the god told Tre he was it next.” Yaril lifted a hand, let it fall. “Not a profession with a great future.”
Kori sighed and went to sit in the mispraised chair. “Tres got maybe a week before the signs start.”
Daniel Alcamarino thought, uh huh, that explains what was bothering the boy. Kuh! Burnt to death. Me, I wouldn’t be worried, I’d be paralyzed. Gods, hah, gods tromping around interfering with ordinary people. Magic that’s more than self-delusion. Wouldn’t ‘ve believed it a few hours back. Which reminds me. “I met one of your gods, demigods whatever tonight. Two of them, actually. A ship-size mermaid and a little bald shemale with good taste in wine.” He slid the carrystrap of the wineskin off his shoulder. “Heesh left this with me. Care for a drink?”
“Tungjii and the Godalau!” Brann sighed. “Old Thngjii Luck sticking hisser thumbs in my life.”
“That’s what heesh called her. Godalau.” He squeezed wine into his mouth, held out the skin. “Tungjii, you said. Luck?”
She drank, passed the skin to the changechildren. “Point of view, my friend. Thngjii touches you, things happen. ‘S up to you to make it good or bad.” She hitched round to face Kori. “Chained God tell you where I was, or did you ask downstairs?”
“Daniel asked the girl.”
“Hmm. Our mutual friend has Noses watching the place. Dan,” amusement danced in her eyes as she swung back so she could see both Kori and Daniel Akamarino, “our own Danny Blue, he tells me he saw two with message birds in the taproom last time he went down. So Him, by now he knows you’ve got to me. Something to think about. Eh?”
Daniel Akamarino rested his shoulders against the wall, crossed his arms; he wasn’t looking at Ahzurdan so he didn’t know how closely his stance mimicked the other man, though he could feel the powerful current of emotion flowing between them; the sorceror with a version of his name didn’t look like him, so it wasn’t a matter of physical double in a different reality, but there was some sort of affinity between them; no, affinity wasn’t quite the right word, it felt more ‘like they were two north poles of, a bipolar magnet, each vigorously, automatically repelled by the other. He cleared his throat. “If I were mm whatsisname, I wouldn’t fool with spies, I’d send a squad of soldiers and grab us all. Three adults, three kids, it’s not much of a fighting force.”
Brann smiled. “He knows better, Sailor. Ahzurdan here could whiff out a dozen soldiers without raising a sweat. Yaril and Jaril, they’d crisp another dozen and me, I’m Drinker of Souls. We’re wasting time; Kori, you’ve got to get back to your folks before they find out you’re gone. So. I’ve answered your summons and got whatsisname,” a quick smile at Daniel, “on my back for it. What am I supposed to do about him and if it’s not him, what?”
“Drinker of Souls.”
“Not that simple, child. Yes, I’ll call you child and you’ll be polite about it. I would have to touch him and there’s no way in this world he’d let me get that close.” She frowned. “Is that your plan? You said you had one.”
“‘S not MY plan exactly. Chained God told Tre what you should do is get to him and get the Chains off him, then he’ll go with you to get the talisman from HIM and that means Amortis won’t do what HE says any more and we won’t have to listen to the Servants of Amortis and if they try to set soldiers on us in the Vales, we’ll beat them back down to the Plains. And Tre won’t get burnt.”
“That’s the plan?”
Kori looked at her hands. “Yes.”
Brann shook her head in disbelief. “Miserable meeching mindless gods. How the hell am I supposed to take chains off a god if he can’t do it himself, how do I even get to him?”
Eyes on her laced fingers, Kori shook her head. ‘I don’t know. All I know is what Tre said. He said there’s a way to reach the Chained God. He said the god wouldn’t tell him exactly what it is. He said the god didn’t want HIM to know it. He said you’ve got to go to Isspyrivo Mountain. He said once you’re there, the Chained God will get you to him somehow.”
“Isspyrivo. Where’s that?”
“You’ll do it? You’ll really do it?”
“If you think that needs answering, you haven’t been listening. Now. Where is that idiot mountain?”
“On the end of the Forkker Vale Finger, you can see it from Haven Cove, at least that’s what um folks say when they think the kids aren’t listening. Haven’s a smuggler’s town; it’s not something they want us to know about; we do, of course. The men get drunk sometimes at festivals and they tell all kinds of stories about sea smugglers and land smugglers; one of them was about the time Isspyrivo blew and caught Henry the Hook on the head with some hot rock. It’s a fire mountain. They say it’s restless, they say it doesn’t like folk climbing around on it; they say it kills them, opens up under them and swallows them.”
“Hmm. Let me think a minute.”
Daniel Akamarino leaned against the wall watching her. Drinker of Souls. Hmm. I think I pass on this one. It’s an interesting world; if I’m stuck here, I’m stuck, no point in getting myself killed which seems likely enough if I hang with this bunch. He slid along the wall, closed his hand about the doorlatch. “Been fun, folks,” he said aloud. “See you round, maybe.”
Brann looked up. “No, Ahzurdan, I’ll handle this. Daniel Akamarino, if you leave, you walk into our enemy’s hands; you’re a dead man but not before he finds out everything you know. I don’t want to do it, but if you insist on leaving us, I’ll have to stop you and let the children strip your mind.”
“Nothing I can do about that?”
“Not much.”
He scowled at Ahzurdan. “He’d enjoy frying me, wouldn’t he?”
“I couldn’t say.”
Hands behind him, he tried the latch; the hook wouldn’t move, he applied more pressure, nothing happened. Across the room Ahzurdan was laughing at him soundlessly triumphant. Daniel ignored him and moved back to his leaning spot. “If I can’t leave, what about Kori? How does she get back to the hostel?”
Brann nodded. “If she’s going, it’s about time she went. Jaril, take a look downstairs, see what’s happening.” The boy flipped into his shimmershape, dropped through the floor. “Yaril, scout the outside for us, see what’s waiting out there.” The girl flitted away through the ceiling. “Dan um this is going to get confusing, Ahzurdan, I want to get Kori to the hostel without your ex-teacher tracking her. Can you fog his mirror or something?”