Wild Magic

› › ‹ ‹

With Ailiki trotting beside her, brushing against her now and then, Faan limped away from the Sok Circle, battered and exhausted, cursing under her breath Abeyhamal and all her works. Tbars slipped unheeded down her face.

All those women dead, burnt, heads crushed, bodies slashed and broken. Those Cheoshim boys clawed into bloody shreds. All because these cursed gods were playing their nauseating games and using people as game pieces, breaking them, discarding them. It was so wasteful, so useless…

“Fa!” Reyna waved the other Salagaum on toward the Sok and came running across the kariam. “Honey… “

Faan tried to smile, wiped at her streaky face. “Grads,” she said. “Slaughter.”

“Diyo. God business.” His mouth twisted. “We kept a lookout, honey. In case you needed us. Some still alive?”

“I don’t know. It’s a mess.”

Reyna put his arm around her, hugged her lightly. “There’s a place we’ve been staying the past few days. Come along, honey, I’ll make you some tea or something, at least you can wash your face.”

Faan trudged in silence for several minutes, glancing now and then at Reyna. He looked a lot older, gaunt and graying, his hair cut shorter, shoulder length now instead of halfway down his back, but his eyes were clear and he moved with the easy looseness of good health. “Past few days?” she said.

The sudden smile that lit his face made her feel warm and happy, brought back days she’d thought were gone forever. “We keep a step or two ahead of the Shinda

Prefecture. It’s a game of Hummer Stools, we move and they pounce two seats back.” He made a face, reached over and took her hand. “Nobody wants the Salagaum these days. It’s good to see you, Fa. I swear you’ve grown two inches on me.”

She, squeezed the hand. “I’ve missed you, Mamay.” He chuckled. “I know, hon. Even the shouting matches, hmm?”

“Diyo, Mamay, I was an idiot! I wish… I tried to talk HER into letting you come across the River.”

“Down here.” He tugged her into a wynd, began weaving between tenements at the inner edge of the Edge. “Don’t mind it, Fa. There’s too much that needs doing over here.”

“You could get killed.”

“So could you, hon.”

“Gods!”

“Diyo.”

“In here, honey.” He opened a shaky stick gate at the back of a three-story tenement, took her across the sun-baked stretch of earth that had once been a garden, unlocked the kitchen door, and led her inside.