Page 72 of Sightwitch

Then, as Captain came toward me, I screamed the only words I could think of—words he’d sung to me before.

“The maidens north of Lovats!

None ever looked so fair!

When they catch your eye, you’ll fall in love,

So everyone beware.”

He stopped his approach. I did not stop mine. On and on, the bell rattled in my grasp, and on and on I hollered.

“The maidens north of Lovats!

Are as strong as ten large men,

With minds as sharp as hammered steel,

When they fight they always win.”

He crumpled to his knees, and the winds answered in kind. Softer, softer they spun.

“The maidens north of Lovats!

If ever one you meet,

Turn hide and run the other way,

Or a blighter you will be!”

I sang the final line, and the pustules smoothed on Captain’s face. The lines of tar shriveled and shrank.

I stopped ringing the bell, and as the last wind whispered away, the final shreds of darkness swirled into nothing. Familiar blue eyes met mine.

Then Captain bowed over, breath heaving, and rasped, “Thank you, Ryber. Thank you.”

Y2788 D41

MEMORIES

The Exalted Ones found us. They found the doors, and I fear the world is ending.

There is no time. The ice comes for me, and I must write. Lisbettoldme I must write.

Five hundred and two people. That was all we got through the door from the Scorched Lands and into the underground city.

Then the Exalted Ones came. They used the door from the Windswept Plains—a door that none of us were guarding. The Six, the general, and I were too busy coordinating the movement of a hundred families through the cavern.

The only warning we had was a rumble through the earth. Saria felt it first. I saw her frown, then stride away from our spot at the rear of the group. “What is it?” I called after her.

Then the earthquake hit.

After that, my memory is a mess of broken moments. Of falling to my knees, then heat barreling over me—so hot, my hair caught fire and my eyebrows singed off.

Of screams, frightened and shrill, as people fled. A dropped satchel. A forgotten book.

Of the Exalted Ones loosing magic and war cries that hummed with fury, betrayal, revenge. Each emotion spilled over me. Solid.Real.

What had we unleashed?