Chapter 7

Chapter

Seven

" A head!"

Marieke tensed at the call, her eyes flicking uneasily ahead, even though she couldn't see through the covered side of the wagon.

"What is it?" she asked the young boy sitting beside her. "Do you think there's been another storm?"

On the seemingly interminable trip from the capital, they'd already passed through the destruction left by two separate storms, more vicious and devastating than any Marieke had seen before. They'd also seen a vast plume of smoke that suggested Marieke's region wasn't the only one to suffer from fire. It seemed Solomon hadn't exaggerated in what he'd told her.

"I'll check." Her companion, the underage son of one of the merchants who made up the caravan, climbed across crates of goods to peer through a gap at the front of the wagon. "Nah, I think it was a happy call. I think we must be close to—wait! I can see the ocean!"

"Sun and shade, that's a relief," Marieke said, letting her head drop back against the wagon's side. "I can't wait to be back on my feet." She hadn't enjoyed traveling the route to Oleand's western coast by wagon nearly as much as she had on horseback.

That may have had something to do with the company, of course. It was impossible not to think of Zev as she traversed the same route they'd traveled together.

Well, not exactly the same route. Those traders with means enough to establish a water route between the fractured kingdoms had set up their Oleandan base a fair distance north of where Marieke and her group had met their boat last time. They'd still traveled a long way south by land, but she'd been given to understand that the sea voyage would take half a day this time.

With all the merchandise to load and organize, it actually took considerably longer. But Marieke wasn't complaining. She'd been fortunate to barter passage on the journey for a very low rate by offering her assistance. Using her songcraft to keep the goods stable in the wagons and load them more securely on the ships was a small price to pay to get to the southern kingdom.

And to escape Ondford before the Head Instructor and other council members realized that she was gone.

When the ship finally reached Aeltan shores, Marieke felt her tension rise. The stone wharf that provided access to the ruined city of Port Taran loomed ahead. Memories of her last visit to this place swirled around her. She'd thought she wanted answers, but she hadn't been ready for what she and Zev had found there.

She watched her traveling companions as they disembarked, wondering if any of them would have questions of their own when they saw the damaged city. But why would they? Answers were only likely to be seen by those looking for them. And no one showed any tendency to wander off to explore Port Taran. The group was channeled straight from the wharf along a newly marked route that hadn't been there when Marieke last passed through the town. It led to a small tent settlement that had sprung up just south of Port Taran. It was evidently the new base of trade between the countries, such as it was. No doubt it was intended to be temporary, until a more permanent solution could be found for the deteriorating bridge.

In any event, the new system seemed to be keeping everyone out of the ruined city with its unsettling hints about the past. Even Marieke wasn't tempted to wander through the streets of Port Taran again. She felt no need to check whether Jade's messages were still there. No doubt they were—outlasting their creator, if her guess about what had happened to Jade was correct.

The onward journey from the trading camp to the capital city of Tarandon was smooth, if tedious inside yet another wagon. By the time they arrived, Marieke longed for nothing more than to secure lodgings and collapse. But her funds were limited, and she didn't know how long she would be in Aeltas. She couldn't afford to spend her coins too freely. It was early in the day—she intended to make her inquiries at the academy then leave the city. She knew she wouldn't be able to reach the canyon before dark, but she was guessing that lodging in the countryside would be cheaper than in the capital.

After taking her leave of the trading group, Marieke made straight for the building that housed both the Aeltan Academy of Song and the Aeltan Council of Singers. She felt incredibly free as she looked up at the blue banners with budding trees worked onto them in bronze thread. Here in Aeltas, no one had reason to be suspicious of her or hold her at arm's length. She could ask questions freely, without worrying about who was watching, and who the conversation would be reported to. It was depressing that she felt more wary and unwelcome at her own academy, where she'd graduated not so long ago after giving a good account of herself. When had it become that way? She'd never felt watched or restricted when she was a student.

Pushing these thoughts aside, she tried to look like she was supposed to be there when the guard at the gate asked her business. A slight twinge of guilt went through her as she told him that she was visiting a friend at the academy. Friend might be stretching the truth. But she and Veronica, the student who'd been assigned to show her around on her last visit, had gotten along very well. Marieke was hopeful that she'd be well received.

As Marieke strode across the courtyard, her attention was drawn to a small building just outside the council center. She hadn't noticed it last time, but now it was impossible to miss, because of how much it was buzzing with activity. A long line had formed in front of it, and every so often someone ran in or out of the back area.

Driven by curiosity, she redirected her steps for a closer look. She cleared her throat as she came alongside the person at the back of the line.

"Excuse me. What's this line for?"

"For the new message station," the young man said. "I'm not sure if I've come at a bad time of day or if it's always this busy." He smiled in a friendly way. "Not that I'm surprised it's popular. Anything new always is."

"What's new about it?" Marieke asked, watching with interest as a young woman wearing the blue uniform of an employee of the Aeltan Council of Singers darted out of the building.

As Marieke and her companion drew slowly closer to the front of the line, her ears caught a faint hum of song, and her senses picked up the stirring of magic in the ground beneath her .

"Are the messages powered by songcraft somehow?"

"That's right." The stranger nodded. "Magical communication used to be available only through privately hiring a qualified singer, and it was too expensive for everyday use. But the council has now opened up an official system of song-powered post. It's regulated, and much more affordable."

"That's quite the innovation," said Marieke, impressed. Oleand didn't have anything like that. "Why the change, I wonder?"

"Word is that since the bridge has been out of action, there's been a lot of study and energy channeled into improving magical methods of communication," the stranger said. "This is one of the benefits that's come out of it, I suppose."

"So you can send messages from here into Oleand?" Marieke asked, amazed. That would be very useful to her. "How far can they reach?"

"Not that far," the man said. "But I hear there's a similar station set up near the broken bridge, where they send messages just across the canyon." He jutted his chin out by way of pointing to a sign next to the message station, which they were now close enough to read. "As it says there, fifteen leagues is the current limit. But I think they're hoping to extend it."

Marieke nodded thoughtfully. "I suppose they'll need to set up more bases for stopover points in order to do that," she murmured. "They'll probably send the letters in stages, rather than trying to send them halfway across the country in one go. It would be difficult to ensure the magic remained steady and consistent so far away. And I expect they'll need employees proficient in guarding songs to send protection along with the post." It was all very interesting.

"You seem to know a lot about this topic," the stranger commented, eyeing her .

"No, I'm just guessing," Marieke said absently. "I'm a singer, but I've never been involved with a project like this."

"You're a singer?" he repeated, sounding impressed. "I suppose you could send a letter on your own."

She smiled. "Not reliably. There's a reason private singers charge a lot for communication. It requires the right type of study. Anyway, I'm not sending a letter at present, not if they can't reach into Oleand."

It was a shame—she really needed to let her parents know that she'd left the country and was safe, just in case the Head Instructor sent someone looking for her and scared them with his inquiries.

With a wave at the helpful stranger, she continued on to the only entrance to the academy that was open to the public. She knew there was a welcome desk inside, where she should be able to inquire after Veronica.

She gave her name with a little bit of trepidation, but was gratified only about fifteen minutes later to see Veronica coming down the corridor, looking surprised but pleased.

"Marieke! This is unexpected. Pleasantly so, of course."

"I'm glad," said Marieke, with a slightly awkward laugh. "I know I'm imposing, just stopping by uninvited like this. But I happened to be back in Tarandon, and I thought I'd take the opportunity to look you up."

"I'm happy you did," Veronica assured her. "Do you have time to stop for a bit? You've caught me at a good moment—I don't have any more classes until after lunch. Should I make a tea tray to take to my room?"

Marieke glanced behind her, where sunshine poured in through the open doorway. "Actually, do you want to go for a walk? I need to visit the market while I'm here, and I could use the company to make sure I don't get cheated like the clueless foreigner I am. "

Veronica laughed. "No great risk of that. But sure, I wouldn't mind a trip to the markets. Come with me while I grab a satchel."

Marieke followed the friendly Aeltan down the hallway, an unexpected wave of wistfulness washing over her as she took in the bustle of the academy. This was a different building in a different country, but the feel of it was so much like her own academy. Watching students hurry past, chatting as they clutched books to their chests, felt very reminiscent. Life had been much simpler when she'd been a student. The Oleandan farmland had started to show signs of deterioration, but nothing anyone was overly concerned about at the time. And she'd had no reason to doubt those in authority, either among her instructors or the Council of Singers.

She frowned to herself as she waited outside Veronica's door for the other girl to re-emerge. She was now convinced that there was some dishonesty about the distant past in the country's leadership. She was also suspicious of the Head Instructor's intentions toward her. But as she reflected on her years at the academy, she still believed that her instructors had generally been authentic and well-intentioned. She also thought of the times she'd appeared before the council, and how not everyone had been equally reactive to her. Something was amiss, but that didn't mean the whole system was corrupt. For all she knew, most of the council might not even be aware of what she'd discovered about the singers' coup.

The hard part was figuring out who or what was affected.

"All right." Veronica's smile was cheerful as she rejoined Marieke. "Let's go."

The two girls chatted amiably as they walked out of the academy, Marieke deftly steering the conversation to what Veronica had been up to since their last meeting rather than her own adventures. She cast another glance at the new message station as they passed, noting that the line was a little shorter now. Her steps faltered slightly, but she pushed on, scolding herself. She was being silly. He didn't want to receive a message from her.

Veronica guided them past the closest market square, explaining to Marieke that they'd find better prices at the next one along.

"Excellent," Marieke said. "I'm all for being frugal."

"Yes." Veronica looked at her sideways. "So what kind of supplies are you looking for?"

"Well, some non-perishable food, for a start," Marieke said. "And maybe a rope."

"A rope?" Veronica raised an eyebrow, but didn't press when Marieke failed to elaborate.

They reached a smaller market than the first one, although it was still bustling with activity. Under Veronica's guidance, Marieke spent a few of her dwindling coins on a slim but sturdy rope, a supply of food, and a flint. The trading group had kindly given her a water skin, and she filled it at the public fountain in the center of the small square. All of this Veronica watched without comment. It was only after she'd insisted on buying herself and Marieke iced sweets, and they'd perched on the broad rim of the fountain to enjoy them, that she turned to her visitor with a businesslike air.

"So. Marieke. What's going on with you?"

"Nothing much to report," Marieke said lightly. "I spent some time at home with my parents, but I didn't want to stay there indefinitely. Still looking for more permanent work, life of a graduate, you know."

"And you came back to Tarandon thinking you might have better luck finding employment in songcraft here?" Veronica asked, frowning.

Marieke paused, casting her eyes around the pleasant square. "Not exactly, but it's not a bad thought." She didn't have any growing reputation as a troublemaker to worry about here. And she did like Aeltas. It was still thriving, unlike Oleand.

Guilt pulled her up swiftly at the disloyal thought. She wasn't going to abandon her country, at least not while it was being eaten away at by an unidentified, insidious magic. Maybe if the situation was ever resolved…

But even that thought seemed faithless, so she pushed it aside.

"If not that, then why are you here?" Veronica asked bluntly. "Marieke, are you all right? Are you in some kind of trouble?"

Marieke looked at her warily. "Why would you ask that?"

Veronica's eyes held a rueful mix of amusement and sympathy as they passed over Marieke's form. "Have you taken stock of yourself lately? You seem on edge, Marieke. And, I'm sorry to say it so plainly, but you're a bit of a mess. You look very…travel-worn."

Marieke scrunched up her nose, recognizing from Veronica's delicate tone that the other girl had phrased it more kindly than her appearance deserved.

"Well, I did just arrive with a trading convoy from Oleand," she argued. "I came straight to the academy. I don't even have lodgings yet."

Veronica didn't answer, just regarding her with steady patience until Marieke let out a sigh.

"I don't know if I'm exactly in trouble, but I'm not exactly…not in trouble."

"What does that mean?" Veronica demanded.

"I honestly think you'd prefer me not to explain," Marieke said dolefully. Again she felt that rush of wistfulness for her days as a student, happy and busy and blissfully ignorant that she might be learning a false version of history. "At any rate, I have no reason to think I'm in either danger or disfavor here in Aeltas."

"But you are in Oleand?" Veronica pressed.

Marieke shrugged. "It's a little complicated, and I'm not confident that even I understand what's going on. But it's safe to say our Council of Singers won't be offering me the job I hoped would come from my place on the delegation here."

"I'm sorry." Veronica's brow was furrowed in concern, and Marieke hastened to clarify.

"I haven't done anything wrong. I'm not running from the law or anything."

"I'm sure you haven't," Veronica reassured her. "I wasn't thinking that. But I'm worried about you. You're here all alone, buying provisions for a journey, giving me vague answers…where are you going, Marieke?"

Marieke bit her lip, teetering for a moment before impulsively spilling the beans. "To Sundering Canyon." The words were abrupt. "I suppose someone should know where I'm headed in case I never come back."

Veronica's stare conveyed nothing but bemusement. "You mean the crossing? Why wouldn't you come back from there? You know the bridge is closed, right? You're not going to try to go across it anyway, are you?"

"Not the crossing." Marieke shook her head. "I'm going to try to get into the canyon itself."

"But…why?" Veronica still seemed more confused than concerned. "What's the point of trying to get into a barren gorge?"

Marieke let out a slow breath, stalling for time as she tried to decide how much to tell the Aeltan girl. "Have you ever heard of people living down in the ravine?"

Veronica's surprise seemed genuine. "No, I haven't. "

"Well, they're down there," Marieke said. "And I believe their presence is fairly well known in that region."

"How do you know for sure that they're there?" Veronica asked.

"Because when I fell into the canyon on my previous trip, I saw them," Marieke told her. "In fact, I was taken captive by them. One of them freed me, but not to help. He got me to follow him, then tried to kill me."

"Marieke!" Veronica's eyes were wide.

Marieke shrugged. "It ended up all right. I escaped and managed to get out of the canyon."

"With the help of that farmer," Veronica chimed in.

To Marieke's annoyance, she felt her cheeks heat. She'd forgotten that she'd mentioned Zev to Veronica.

"Yes."

"I can hardly believe this," Veronica said, shaking her head. "If they tried to kill you, it should really have been reported to the Council of Singers."

"It was," Marieke said. "I told the leader of my delegation, and she passed it on."

Veronica frowned. "And yet all this time later, I still haven't heard about these people living down there?"

Marieke hesitated. "I guess they have their reasons for keeping the information to themselves."

Veronica didn't look satisfied with this answer, which was heartening in itself.

"What do you know that you're not telling me, Marieke?"

"So, so many things," Marieke said frankly. "But I doubt you want to know half of them. I will say this, though—the people in the canyon hate singers. The one who tried to kill me was so upset about my escape that he followed me out of Sundering Canyon and back to Oleand, where he tried to finish the job."

Veronica looked horrified. "Mari! That's terrible. Is that why you're here? Are you running away from him?"

"No." A shudder went over Marieke as she remembered the sight of Gorgon's body lying in the gardens outside her academy. "He's dead now."

"I don't understand," Veronica complained. "Any of it. Why would the council keep these people's existence a secret? Why would you want to go back down there if they tried to kill you? Why would people want to live in a ravine in the first place?"

"I can't speak for anyone else," Marieke said, smoothly sidestepping the topics she didn't want to dive into. "But I'm going down there because I want answers. There are some things that aren't adding up in Oleand, and I think the people down there know things we don't know up here."

"And you want these answers enough to die for them?" Veronica demanded.

"I'm hoping it won't come to that," Marieke said, a chuckle rising at the look of outrage on Veronica's face. Clearly her friend thought she'd lost her mind. "Remember, the one who tried to kill me is dead now."

"Still…" Veronica twisted her mouth to one side. "Marieke, I don't think you should go into the ravine. Definitely not alone. Maybe I should go with you."

Marieke laughed outright at that. "Veronica, you're a dear, but there's no way I'd let you do that. Don't you have your final exams soon?"

"Well…yes," Veronica admitted. She gave a swift grin. "And to be honest, I don't relish clambering into any gorges." Her expression grew more serious. "But I really don't think you should do this alone."

Marieke shrugged. "I don't have anyone to come with me."

"What about the previously discussed farmer?" Veronica's expression was sly enough to tell Marieke that the other girl hadn't missed her slight flush earlier. She could hardly miss the more fiery one rising after her latest words.

"There's a story there," Veronica pressed, studying Marieke's face. "I guess he made quite an impression in the day he was with you."

"It was more than that," Marieke admitted. "We actually ran into each other again, back in Oleand. We sort of traveled together."

"Did you now?" Veronica was suppressing a grin by the sound of it. "What exactly did this traveling entail?"

Marieke gave her a dark look, but she couldn't sustain her sternness in face of Veronica's twitching eyebrows. A self-conscious smile escaped her, even as her heart ached with the longing to unburden herself—it would be such a relief to tell someone about what had happened with her and Zev. She didn't know Veronica that well, but maybe that was all the more reason to confide in her.

"All right." She raised her arms in a gesture of surrender. "I thought there was maybe something there." She frowned a little to herself. "No, I know there was something there. He kissed me, after he…well, saved my life, actually."

Veronica's eyes were as round as coins. "This is all sounding very exciting and very romantic. I hope you don't think you can leave me without details."

Marieke sighed. "It's not so easy to tell details. There's just…so much story behind it all."

"At least tell me what he's like," Veronica pressed.

"He's…" For a moment Marieke struggled to answer. How to put Zev, with all his indefinable presence, into a few words? "He's honestly not like anyone I've ever met. There's this quality to him…this confidence and self-assurance. It's something that needs to be experienced, not told. Judging by his demeanor," she waved her hand in a vague gesture, "by the feel of him, you'd say that he's direct, straightforward, solid. No pretensions or affectations. But then what he actually says is so cryptic. He's always giving away as little as possible."

"You've fallen hard," Veronica commented. She said it without mockery, stating it as a simple fact.

"I don't know if I'd say that," Marieke protested, her cheeks heating once again.

"Whether you'd say it or not makes no difference, Mari," Veronica pointed out. "You've obviously spent a lot of time thinking about him since you've been apart."

Marieke stayed silent. That much she could hardly deny.

"Why don't you contact him?" Veronica urged. "Instead of going on some wild quest in the canyon."

"Because our lives are too separate," Marieke said. "He's the one who chose to walk away. His home is here, and my…" she caught herself before saying fight , "life is in Oleand."

"And yet…" Veronica let the words hang in the air for a moment before finishing, "here you are. There's a reason for that."

"Yes," said Marieke briskly, ready to turn the topic. "And that reason is that I wanted to ask you something. Or at least to ask someone at the academy." She smiled disarmingly. "And I only really know you."

"What is it?" Veronica leaned forward, protecting her clothes from her iced sweet, which had been neglected in favor of their conversation and was now dripping.

"It's about storytelling song," Marieke said. "Do you know much about it?"

Veronica shook her head. "Not many people do, do they? It's such a difficult area of study. I took an aptitude test—everyone does at our academy—but I didn't have the skills to progress."

"I took a similar test," Marieke said. "And I also didn't progress. But…" She frowned. "But I've recently heard about a ne w aspect of storytelling song that I wasn't familiar with. Something to do with asking questions."

"Questions?"

Marieke nodded. "Someone told me that for some people, when they ask questions, magic pools toward them. Apparently it's a branch of storytelling song."

"Oh, that does sound familiar." Veronica squinted in an effort of memory. "I think it's called sifting song at our academy. Because you learn to use magic to guide your questions so you can sift through the information and find what's valuable."

"Did you study it?" Marieke asked.

She shook her head. "It's a branch of storytelling song, like you said. We learn what the basic categories are, but we don't learn to actually do it unless we pursue storytelling song as an elective."

"We also learned the basic categories," Marieke said, troubled. "And I don't remember any mention of sifting song, or anything that sounds like it."

"From memory, it's one of the aptitude songcrafts," Veronica said. "One which only a few singers actually have the right ability to pursue. I believe it's quite rare. I'm pretty sure no one in my year level identified it in testing."

"Aptitude songcrafts sometimes happen without training, right?" Marieke said. "The singers with the relevant aptitude can sometimes do it without meaning to or even realizing it?"

Veronica shrugged. "So I've been told, if the aptitude is strong enough. I've never experienced it myself."

Marieke said no more. A short time ago she would have said the same, but now she wasn't so sure. She certainly had plenty to think about. If she came out of Sundering Canyon in one piece, maybe she should see if the storytelling instructor at the Aeltan Academy of Song would be willing to meet with her. Maybe even let her take the aptitude test. She hated to think that Instructor Oriana might have been dishonest about her results, but…it hadn't escaped her notice that there was an irony in her having been constantly ribbed by her instructors for asking too many questions.

Ribbing that had been perfectly amicable until she started asking the wrong type of questions. Or the right type of questions, depending how one looked at it.

How would Jade look at it, she wondered soberly. If she'd known it might cost her life, would she still have pursued her questions?

Marieke pushed these troubling thoughts aside with a sigh. She stood, and Veronica did the same.

"I suppose we'd best get moving," she said. "You need to get back to the academy, and I need to make the most of the daylight. I think I'll try to catch a public coach toward the bridge, if they still run. Apparently there's a message station there where I can send a letter to my parents."

"Yes, I believe there is," Veronica confirmed, leading the way back toward the academy.

Marieke nodded. It would be a good place to start her exploration of the canyon. After all, it was the precise area where she'd encountered the monarchists last time. She didn't voice all this to Veronica. The other girl seemed to have been distracted from Marieke's purpose by the subsequent conversation about Zev and sifting song. No need to remind her.

They parted ways at the academy door, Marieke intending to hurry to the coach house Veronica had told her about. But her steps faltered slightly as she crossed back through the open yard of the council building. The line at the new message station was smaller now.

For a moment, she wrestled with herself. She wasn't any more excited about going into Sundering Canyon alone than Veronica had been on her behalf. But Zev had been clear that he wanted no part of her fight to save Oleand.

She straightened her back. He might have been clear on his course of action, but she'd been clear on hers, too. Hadn't she promised herself when he left that it wouldn't be the last time she saw him? Hadn't she promised herself that she knew what she was willing to fight for, even if he didn't?

With a purposeful motion, she redirected her steps toward the bustling little stand. If nothing came of it all, it wouldn't be because she hadn't tried.