Rufus Kyuss. He sat in a simple wooden seat, surrounded by a group of what must have been guards. They, too, sat, but were alert. They looked anywhere but at Rufus. And they wore long cloaks, beneath which glinted sharp things.
Nophel smiled, pleased to witness imperfection. It seemed that the Dragarians had made a successful contained society, but still there was a need for security.
"That has to be him," he said, and then Alexia fell on him, shoving him to the ground and flipping him onto his back.
"Nophel!"
"What?" She was fading from view! "Alexia, what are you-"
"Nophel, concentrate. You're showing yourself!"
Shocked, he closed his eyes and focused, slowing his breathing and imagining his flesh fading, his shadow brightening. Alexia's grip on his arms lessened and she stood away from him, and when he sat up, the others were looking at him. Though still ecstatic at what he had given them, now they appeared gray and wan.
"I…" But he didn't know what had happened. He glanced down the slope and saw no one looking their way.
"You'll have to stay here," Alexia said. "Keep low."
"What do you mean?"
"While we go to get him, of course."
Nophel stood, still shaken. "But we need a plan."
"No time," she said. "What, you want to go and hide somewhere, plan and scheme, and when we get back find he's gone?"
He looked at Rufus Kyuss, the visitor from beyond Echo City, survivor of the Bonelands, another creation of his mother's that she had simply let go. From this distance, it was difficult to make out the man's expression, but he seemed to be accepting the offerings presented to him-eating the food, drinking the wine. He did not appear to acknowledge those who prostrated themselves at his feet.
"He seems in no danger," he said softly.
"But those Watchers told us how urgent everything is," Alexia replied. "There's no time to waste."
"Maybe," Nophel said.
"Maybe? Are you…?" She shook her head, snorting. "It's just as likely that they'll string him up and feed him his own balls as keep serving him. This could all be part of some sacrificial ceremony."
"You Blades should know," Nophel said coldly.
Alexia pressed her gray lips together. None of the Unseen looked like living people, and Nophel had to glance away.
"Stay here," Alexia said. "Keep watch for us. You have a good field of view. If there's any trouble, shout as loud as you can. They won't hear, but we will."
"Hopefully," the tall man said. "If he doesn't fade in again. Shouldn't one of us stay with him?"
"No," Nophel and Alexia said at the same time.
"I'm fine," he said. "I must have been… drifting. I'll concentrate." I haven't come this far to lose out now. I have to meet him, talk with him. I have to know what he knows, and make sure he knows what I do.
"You're sure?" Alexia said, and her voice was more friendly this time.
Nophel nodded. She smiled. And then the three Unseen started down the hillside.
It was strange watching Alexia and the other two pass unnoticed into the ranks of the Dragarians. When he'd followed Alexia through the streets of Marcellan Canton, she had moved with grace and ease, nudging or startling people only intentionally. Now that stealth had to come to the fore. The Dragarians were worshipping their returned god, and any suspicion that something untoward was happening could result in chaos.
Maybe that would help us, he thought, and for a moment he considered manifesting. Who would they bow down to then? But Alexia and the two men had already weaved their way through the Dragarian soldiers to stand before Rufus's wooden chair, and Nophel had an idea. He hoped that Alexia would be thinking along the same lines: use their fears against them. But the fact that none of them could communicate with Rufus without manifesting before the Dragarians and giving themselves away-therein lay the problem.
For a few moments the Unseen stood there as if confused. They swapped a few words, looked around, and then Alexia pulled a knife. She stepped forward and pressed it tight beneath Rufus's jaw.
He tensed in his seat, lifting himself upright from where he'd been slouched, eyes going wide and hands lifting toward his throat. The two Unseen men grabbed an arm each and held it down. And while they could not speak to him, Nophel knew for certain that Rufus understood the message.
The Dragarians had not noticed. But when the man they regarded as a god rose into the air before them, his wooden chair fading away to nothing, they started to shout. Some stood and backed away, tripping, sprawling, turning to run when they could. Others bowed down and pressed their faces into the grass. And several simply watched, their faces blank. The fearful, the devout, and the doubting. The last, Nophel knew, were the ones who might present problems.
The men used a shoulder each to carry Rufus through the crowd. Alexia kept a short sword pressed against his back, the point penetrating his clothing. To the Dragarians, he floated. They followed his progress, but no one pursued him.
Not yet.
Good, Nophel thought. That might give us a chance. But behind them lay two domes to cross and then the journey back through the Echo to the outside. And once the Dragarians realized where their god was heading, they would do everything they could to hold him back.
And maybe he won't want to leave. Nophel had not considered that. Probably none of them had. But once he managed to speak to Rufus-talk about their mother-he was sure the Bonelands man would be on his side.
They did not stop when they reached Nophel, and he followed on behind, glancing back at the chattering Dragarians.
"Move faster," he said. "This won't last long." And he was right. The observers who had only watched as their god levitated before them were leaving the crowd now, following slowly in their path. One of them had fine wings tucked around his arms and hips, another wore scaled skin, a third scurried through the grass, head raised and tongue flickering like a lizard's. These were the doubters, unafraid and questioning, and they would be the most dangerous. The devout would be too amazed.
"Run," Nophel said. "That's all we can do. Fighting won't be an option."
"We need to speak to him," Alexia said. She was still pressing her knife to Rufus's back, but running like that was awkward, and as soon as she lost contact he might start to struggle.
"Not yet," Nophel said. "We have to get completely lost first."
"I can't leave," Rufus said into thin air, but none of them could reply.
They ran silently for a while, breathing hard, and Rufus did not struggle. He sat motionless on the men's shoulders, looking straight ahead, neither helping nor hindering them in their flight.
Nophel kept to the rear, knife drawn. If it came to combat he would be lost, he knew that. And he was here for himself. If things went so wrong, he would flee alone, and perhaps later he would still be able to find the Baker on his own.
As they approached the huge arch leading into the cultivated dome, Alexia said, "By all the gods, how stupid we've been!"
"What?" Nophel asked. They were being followed by at least twenty Dragarians, and at present they were keeping a respectful distance, easily maintaining pace with the Unseen. If the time came when they decided to close in-even attack-there would be no easy escape.
"Your blood," Alexia said. "Or even ours. The White Water in yours made us able to return to the world. But we all have Blue Water in our blood, and-"
"Yes!" Nophel said, cursing himself for not thinking of that. "And because he won't even see it-"
"-it'll be easy to make him drink it," Alexia finished for him.
"But we have to get him out of sight first, somewhere we can stop and do it."
"I have an idea," she said. "Here, take my knife, keep watch, and do it as soon as you can."