"Good job, Nyef," Luet said contemptuously. "They probably wouldn't have noticed us. Now we look suspicious."
" Theyalready know who we are," he said, pointing to the men approaching out of the dark street.
"Oh well," she said. "I had hoped to take the easy way in, but this one will have to do."
She grabbed his hand and half-dragged him the wrong way on Spring Street, away from the city and toward the holy forest. Nafai knew it was the stupidest thing she could possibly do. In the edges of the forest there'd be no witnesses at all. The assassins would have their way. If she imagined that Nafai had some particular skill at fighting and could somehow save them by disarming or killing the assassins, she would quickly discover the sad truth that he had never been interested in fighting and had no training along those lines at all. He couldn't even remember having hit someone in anger in his life, not even his older brothers, since fighting back against Meb or Elemak only made things worse in the end. Nafai might be large for his age, the tallest of Wetchik's sons, but it meant nothing when it came to battle.
As they moved into the darkness at the end of Spring Street, the assassins became bolder.
"That's right," one of them called out-softly, but audible enough to Nafai and Luet. "Into the shadows. That's where we'll have our conversation."
"We have nothing for you to steal." Luet's voice sounded panicked, trembling-but Nafai knew from her hand's steady grip that she was not trembling at all.
Nafai was trembling, however.
"Into the shadows," said the man again.
So they obeyed him. Plunged into the darkness under the trees. But to Nafai's surprise, they didn't stop, nor did they turn south, to skirt the forest and perhaps reenter the city at the next road. She led him almost straight east. Deeper into the forbidden country.
"I can't go here," he said.
"Shut up," she said. "Neither can they, unless they hear us talking and follow the sound."
He held his tongue, and followed her. After a while the ground began to fall away, not a slope anymore as much as a cliff, and it became very difficult to pick his way. The sky was fully dark now, and even though many leaves had fallen here, the shade of the trees was still quite deep. "I can't see," he whispered.
"Neither can I," she answered.
"Stop," he said. "Listen. Maybe they've stopped following us."
"They have," she said. "But we can't stop."
"Why not?"
Tve got to take you out of the city."
"If I'm caught here, the punishment is terrible."
"I know," she said. "As bad for me, though, for bringing you."
Then take me back."
"No," she said. "This is where the Oversold wants us to go."
It was too hard, however, to hold hands anymore-they both needed both hands to make their way down the ragged face of the cliff. It wouldn't have been that dangerous a climb in daylight, but in the darkness they might not see a drop-off that would kill them, so every step had to be tested. At least on this slope the trees were rarer, so the starlight could do a better job of helping them to see. At least, that's how it was until they reached the fog.
"Now we have to stop," he said.
"Keep climbing."
"In the fog? We'll get lost on the cliff face and fall and die.'
"It's a good sign," said Luet. "It means that we're at least halfway down to the lake."
"You're not taking me to the lake!"
"Hush."
"Why don't I just throw myself down the quick way, then, and save them the effort of killing me?"
"Hush, you stupid man. The Oversoul will protect us."
"The Oversoul is a computer link with satellites orbiting Harmony. It doesn't have any magical machines to reach down and catch us if we fall."
"She is making us alert," said Luet. "Or she's helping me, at least, to find the way. If you'd only stop talking and let me listen to her."
They were hours climbing down through the fog, or so it seemed to Nafai, but at last they reached the bottom. Grass on a level plain, giving way to mud.
Warm mud. No, hot mud.
"Here we are," she said. "We can't go into the water here-it comes up from a rift deep in the crust of the world, where it's so hot that it boils and gives off steam.
The water would cook the meat from our bones if we stayed in it for any length of time, even near the shore."
"Then how do women ever-"
"We do our worship nearer to the other end, where the lake is fed by ice-cold mountain streams. Some go into the coldest water. But the visions come to most of us when we float in the water at the place where the cold and hot waters meet. A turbulent place, the water endlessly rocking and swirling, freezing and searing us by turns. The place where the heart of the world and its coldest surface come together. A place where the two hearts of every woman are made one,"
"I don't belong here," said Nafai.
"I know," said Luet. "But here is where the Oversold led us, so here we'll stay."
And then what Nafai feared most. A woman, speaking not far off. T told you I heard a man's voice. It came from there?
Lanterns came near, and many women. Their feet made splatting noises with each step in the hot mud, then sucking noises as they pulled them out again. How far have I sunk into the mud? wondered Nafai. Will they have trouble pulling me out? Or will they simply bury me alive right here, letting the mud decide whether to cook me or suffocate me?
"I brought him," said Luet.
It's Luet," said an old woman. The name was picked up in a whisper and carried back through the gathering crowd.
"The Oversoul led me here. This man isn't like other men. The Oversoul has chosen him."
"The law is the law," said the old woman. "You have taken the responsibility on yourself, but that only moves the punishment from him to you."
Nafai saw how tense Luet looked. He realized: She doesn't understand the Oversoul any better than I do.
For all she knows, the Oversoul doesn't care whether she lives or dies, and may be perfectly content to let her pay with her life for my safe passage here tonight.
"Very well," said Luet. "But you must take him to the Private Gate, and help him through the wood."
"You can't tell us what we must do, lawbreaker!" cried one woman. But others shushed her. Luet was held in great reverence, Nafai could see, even when she had committed an outrage.
Then the crowd parted, just a little, to let a woman pass, appearing like a ghost from the fog. She was naked, and because she was dean Nafai didn't realize for a moment that she must be a wilder. It was only when she came very dose, plucking at Luet's sleeve, that Nafai could see how weathered and dry her skin was, how wrinkled and how gaunt her face.
Tou," whispered Luet.
"You," echoed the wilder.
Then the holy woman from the desert turned to the old woman who seemed to be the leader of this band of justkers. "I have already punished her," she said.
"What do you mean?" asked the old woman.
"I am the Oversoul, and I say she has already borne my punishment."
The old woman looked at Luet, full of uncertainty. "Is this true speech, Luet?"
Nafai was amazed. Was their trust in Luet so complete that they would ask her to confirm or deny testimony that might cost her life or save it, depending on her own answer?
Their trust was justified, for Luet's answer contained no special pleading for herself. "This holy woman only slapped my face. How could it be punishment enough for this?"
"I brought her here," said the wilder. "I made her bring this boy. I have shown him great visions, and I will show him more. I will put honor in his seed, and a great nation shall arise. Let no one hinder him in his path through the water and the wood, and as for her, she has borne the mark of my hand upon her face. Who can touch her after I have done with her?"