Rebecka Evertrue's Arc

Chapter 24 of 66

Makani's warning sat in the cave like a second cold. Rebecka turned away from the slot mouth and looked toward the sealed chamber behind the crystal wall. Ninka was in there. Ninka was ten. If another of Dirk's students carried the same knot, they would slip it around her daughter's throat before anyone saw them come. "How many did he teach?" Rebecka asked. Makani leaned on his staff. The crystal at its head threw green light on his cheek. "Three that I know. He liked to teach at night. Two of them still breathe." "Names." "I don't have names. I have faces." He tapped his temple. "Bring her out. She can look with me." Rebecka's stomach turned. "No." "She's the one they want. She's the one who'll feel them first." His voice stayed flat. "Better she sees them now, in here, than out there when their cord is already tied." Katia was already at the seal. She pressed her palm to the stone and spoke Ninka's name once. Lark, slumped against the wall, lifted a hand and cracked the hairline gap. Ninka slipped through. Katia sealed it behind her. Ninka came to Rebecka first. She was small in the star-patterned robe. Her eyes were tired. "I felt him die," she said. "It was quiet after." "It's not quiet yet," Rebecka said. "Makani needs you to look at two people with him. In your head. That's all." Ninka nodded once. "Sit me down." Makani sat cross-legged on the cave floor. Ninka sat facing him. He set the dreamcatcher hoop between their knees. He put one bone bead in her palm. "Hold this. Look where I look. Don't step in. Just see." Ninka closed her eyes. Makani closed his. The crystals in the wall pulsed once, low. Rebecka watched her daughter's face. A minute passed. Ninka's mouth tightened. "The tall one," Ninka said. "The woman with the burned ear. She's coming down the coast road with the riders Gran's sister sent." Rebecka's breath stopped. "Their own riders." "She rode in with them," Makani said, eyes still shut. "She waited for the escort. She'll be inside our line before she moves." "The other one," Rebecka said. Ninka's forehead creased. "Dead. In a ditch. Someone got there first." Makani opened his eyes. "Then we have one. And we have three days before she reaches this cave." Rebecka pulled Ninka up by the shoulders. Her daughter's weight was nothing. "You did enough. Back to Gran." Ninka held on a second longer than usual. "Mom. She has a doll of me already. I felt the string." Rebecka's hand went cold around the bow. "Then we cut it before she pulls," she said. "Same as I did. You name what you want from her and give it back." Ninka looked up. "I don't know her yet." "You will," Rebecka said. "In three days."