Page 213 of The Cradle of Ice

THE BLOOD BATHS OF X’OR

Long ere the Stone Gods were carv’d, the steemyng springs & bubblen pools of X’or were bless’d by the Graces obove. If yoeu wyssh a miracle, yoeu wil find it here.

—A promise from an old touting card found in a dead man’s pocket (writer unknown)

82

KANTHE STROLLED THROUGH the gardens and pools of X’or. A soft morning breeze off the Bay of the Blessed stirred the flowering trees, disturbing pink and white petals. They floated in the air all around him. Small crystal chimes, hanging from those same branches, rang in notes so quiet it felt like a lover’s whisper in the ear.

“It’s all so beautiful,” Frell noted.

The governess of these baths, Abbess Shayr, smiled and offered a small nod of thanks. Of the imri class, she wore a handsome white robe, but there was no embellishment. Still, the purity of that whiteness was as resplendent as the finest gown. The only blemishes were the few pink petals clinging to it, which added a humble charm.

Her features were unlined, but her hair, bound in braids about her head, was as white as her robe. She looked ageless, as if she had always been here.

She lifted an arm to encompass the grove. “The baths of X’or have been a place of healing and succor for over two millennia. The Talniss trees around us were here long before the town was ever established.”

Kanthe gaped at the bower overhead as it dappled the sunlight. The overlapping layers of canopies looked as if they never stopped climbing into the sky. Easily, it would take ten men with outstretched arms to encircle a single Talniss trunk.

Rami strode beside him. Like the three of them, he wore sandals and a simple gray shift that fell to the knees and was belted in crimson. “It’s said the very air of X’or has curative properties.”

Kanthe inhaled deeply, appreciating the spicy fragrance from the trees.

Curative or not, he did feel far calmer, especially after the days of terror and bloodshed. They had arrived in the arrowsprite from Qazen yesterday as the last of the latterday bells were ringing. Aalia had received word from the council that they would be arriving this morning to visit the emperor and to discuss her claim as future empress. They had wanted to come last night, but she had told them that her father was exhausted and needed to rest.

Still, after the attack in Qazen, the council had dispatched two centuries of guardsmen to secure the emperor’s private palacio. Overhead, a dozen swyftships patrolled the skies. And X’or itself was insulated and well protected. The impenetrable Nysee Bog, with its sucking mud and viper-infested waters, spread to the north, while the rest of the shoreline was tall unscalable cliffs.

In some ways, Kanthe and the others had delivered themselves into a sweet-scented prison.

As if highlighting this fact, Abbess Shayr led them past a seaside overlook. The land fell away in a scrabble of high cliffs. The view opened across the bay to the towering spread of the Stone Gods. The tiny islands, carved into all thirty-three of the Klashean deities, marched off across the waters. The sails of a few ships and pleasure barges wended their way through that pantheon.

Kanthe remembered his own journey among them.

It’s like I’ve come full circle from where I started.

Rami pointed to one of the sculpted atolls. It was a robed woman whose arms lofted high a stone bowl, holding it toward shore. Rainwater glinted from its basin, as if it were another bath.

“The Goddess X’or,” Rami introduced, confirming a connection between the goddess and this town. “She who heals the sick and comforts those heavy of heart.”

The group continued onward, climbing over an arched stone bridge, one of dozens. It forded a silvery brook that spilled over the cliff’s edge in a long waterfall. A glance upstream revealed a chain of pools, some bubbling and steaming, which climbed in a series of cascades throughout X’or.

The nearest pool showed a half dozen bathers. From the frolicking and moans and unabashed flashes of skin, apparently there were all definitions of healing and succor to be found among these baths.

He turned away, but Rami nudged him with an elbow and nodded with a raised brow toward the pool.

Kanthe pointed ahead and reminded his friend, “We came to see how others are healing.”

Rami shrugged, glancing back. “We should take time to do some exploring together.”

Kanthe imagined he wasn’t just talking about testing the variety of baths.

Ahead of them, Abbess Shayr motioned to the next bridge. “The blood baths are up ahead.”

They followed her to a stream that ran crimson. She diverted them away from the cliffs and up a path that led through the trees and followed those dark waters. As they traveled, the trees grew ever larger.

“This is the most ancient of our Talniss groves,” Abbess Shayr informed them. “It protects our sacred baths.”

A short distance later, the stream split off in seven directions to wide black pools steaming with crimson waters, the famous wellsprings of the blood baths. A few were open to the bower, their surfaces covered in petals. Others were enclosed and hidden within marble temples, from simple to ornate.