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A VISIT BY THE SKY GODS

T earloch’s hands moved to my shoulders. His eyes looked hungry as he studied my face, then his gaze lifted to my hair and I realized he was seeing someone else, not me. When his head bent toward mine, I was tempted to let him kiss me just to see what it would be like. But without warning, a youth began to wail beside us, jerking us both out of that fraught spell.

“I don’t want to die,” he cried. “Why do we have to die?”

Moments ticked by. The dragon continued north, and frightened screams marked its progress. Cluster by cluster, people near us began to move again. Slower, less determined than before, as if that dragon had doused what little spark of hope they’d been grasping. Anyone trying to put the prophecy out of their thoughts had been reminded.

It wasn’t just the children who were weeping now. Few bothered to put on a brave face, except for closely watched parents.

“Yora, you’re shaking,” Tearloch said, and rubbed the outside of my arms. Again, I should have stepped back, but I couldn’t.

“Asper,” I said.

He was half-distracted by the crowd pushing past us now. “What?”

“I’m Asper, not Yora.”

He scowled at me, then his eyes widened. “Forgive me. A slip of the tongue.” He stopped rubbing. “Can you walk?”

I nodded. He took me by the hand and pulled me along behind him. Weaving between families and wagons of all sizes, we finally reached his friends waiting by the side of the road. Minkin was tucked under Sweetie’s arm like she was hiding from the rain, but she stepped away from him when she saw us coming.

She leaned to look behind me. “Where’s the girl?”

“With her family,” Tearloch answered. “Everyone all right?”

The four of them nodded. Tearloch released my hand and tilted his head toward the city. “Let’s make up some time.”

Minkin smiled at me and grabbed my arm as we hurried to keep up. “Glad he brought you back,” she said, as if that had been Tearloch’s intention. But I knew better.

He’d gone back for Yora.

* * *

As evening descended, the scare from the dragon faded and I stopped shaking. The space on the road grew sparse, and to make headway over our fellow travelers, we followed others who were forging their own way about fifty feet east of the worn path. We also grouped closer together. Minkin walked between Tearloch and Sweetie. I walked between the brothers.

“You know what they call them, don’t you?” Bain asked the group at large. “Sky Gods. Not to their faces, of course. The king’s Guardian Riders.”

“They think awfully highly of themselves,” Dower said with a snarl. “I’d bet the king doesn’t know his men are out here terrorizing his people.”

“In any case,” Tearloch said, “they’re hunting for the blue dragon. Probably not concerned with anything else, let alone crying babes.”

Sweetie snorted. “I’ll admit, I thought for a moment that gray dragon was blue. Terrible time of night for discerning colors.”

As the city grew closer, we had to get back onto the road to join the line of people waiting to be allowed into Sunbasin. The queue seemed as long as the city seemed wide, but there was nothing we could do about it. Uniformed guards patrolled up and down both sides of the line, barking orders to people who largely ignored them. They warned that the gates would close when the sunlight was gone, so people were prepared.

We inched down the road for another hour, and when the last of the orange and pink faded from the sky, the line stopped moving. All around us, folks settled on the hard byway and tried to make themselves comfortable for the night. With no alternative, we did the same.

The road’s surface was a combination of packed red dirt and black stone—primarily, the heartstone of Hestia that had bubbled up to the surface. Black molten stuff that was fairly giving with the heat of the day, but as the night air cooled it, it would turn hard and unyielding. An uncomfortable bed was an easy price to pay, however, for the energy one could derive from contact with Hestia herself.

At least for me.

I pulled out my glow stone and sat it beside me. Immediately, it brightened to full power. I covered it with the edge of my robe so I didn’t draw attention to myself. Here and there, others were doing the same, gathering their groups around their lights for a quick meal. Many stretched out and closed their eyes. Voices lowered.

Minkin was delighted when her stone lit up as mine had done. The men slyly did the same, hiding their lights beneath their packs.

I explained, “Tonight is the Moonless Quarter. The heartstone’s power is many times stronger than usual.”

Tearloch urged us to move closer together. “I’ll take the first watch. Trust no one.”

“Who would want to plunder our pockets?” Dower said with a grin. “They’d find only stones…and leaves.”

It was a clever jibe, and I laughed lightly along with everyone else. Then I patted my pockets and kept my secrets…

When the others seemed to be asleep, I carefully removed my shoes under the shelter of my robes and put my feet flat on the heartstone. I splayed my fingers against it as well, hidden by my generous sleeves. And inside me, where no one could see, I imagined my bones and my body being infused with the revitalizing lifeblood of Hestia. My heart began beating in rhythm with hers. The roots stretching deep into her soil tingled in my skin, enticing me to lie down and be embraced, cradled, in their arms.

And as happened four times each year, when neither moon rose, I was renewed. No need for sleep. No need for food. I was perfected—in body, at least. As Demius often said, character could never be perfected no matter how long one lived, so there was no use striving for that now.

I folded my arms and leaned forward to rest my cheek on my knees. The mob on the road was a mix of some people asleep, others unable to do so, and still others on the prowl. The varying degrees of vigilance felt like a whirlwind around me, thanks to my reborn, hyper-alert state. All I could do was wait until morning and hope my sensitivity lost its edge.

As my senses took in all around me, emotions repeated. Fear and belonging. Very few among the throng were alone. Everyone clung to the people they most cared about, or they were on their way to reunite with them.

Everyone had someone…but me.

My renewal, coupled with the dragon scare, lit a fire in my very soul. I wasn’t ready to die alone. In fact, I refused to die at all. I wanted more time. I wanted more life. And I wanted all these children to live a good long while. Which meant, whatever the prophetess saw, I had to stop it.

And the only one who would know how to stop it was Moire, the prophetess herself.

A shiver ran up my spine, telling me someone was watching. And the taste of that shiver had a name—Tearloch. I raised my head and found him staring, just as I knew he would be. By his expression, I could tell he’d been watching my little ritual.

I whispered so I wouldn’t wake the others. “A little trick I learned from my master.” Then I shrugged, as if to say it was nothing at all.

He kept on staring, inhaling, exhaling. I could almost taste him in the air. When his gaze fell to my lips, my heart stuttered. Adrenaline poured into veins already filled with lightning. If he crossed the short distance between us and kissed me, I would ignite and shatter into a thousand stars, no matter whom he mistook me for.

And I would regret it. So I turned my head and lay my cheek back on my knees…and pretended to sleep.

An hour passed. I listened to a brief conversation between Tearloch and Bain as the latter took over the watch. But only moments later, there was movement on the far side of them. The next closest Hestians were two sharp-eyed men who kept entirely to themselves. But now, two others had joined them.

“The city wall is unfinished,” whispered one of the newcomers. “The gates don’t matter. We can enter on the east. Tomorrow might be a different story. As soon as the gap is filled, all gates will close for good.”

I watched the party of four gather their belongings, slink across the road to the left, and disappear into the night. I turned my head to find that none of my own party had missed the exchange. While still seated, we quietly gathered our things then waited for Tearloch to give the order. It was another ten minutes before he stood and followed the path our neighbors had taken.

We were watched, naturally, by those who thought we might be thieves. But no one followed when we crept off into the night.