Zaria's Arc

Chapter 2 of 3

Zaria held the map in her head. Four of the seven halls stood unclaimed. But the lines Oracle had scratched in the dust showed no distances. She knew the direction to each hall, not which stood closest. Guess wrong and she would lose days walking. Her rival would seize another hall while she wandered. She climbed the cloud stairway again, its steps glowing green and gold, to ask the one goddess who had walked all seven. Oracle Titanlock stood at the top, wiping dust from her gold mask. She did not turn when Zaria arrived. "You earned the map. You did not earn more." "The map has no distances," Zaria said. "Tell me which hall is nearest." "No." Oracle finally faced her. The mask caught the cloud light. "I give a map once. You want the rest, you win it again." Zaria set her feet. She had beaten this goddess already. But Oracle knew that now. Oracle would guard her left heel. Before they could lock, another goddess crossed the citadel floor. Red streaked her black hair. Two heavy belts hung at her waist. Zaria had heard of her in the pits below. Athena Strife. The goddess who forged belts no weak hand could lift. She stopped between them, flat-eyed. "Don't waste a match on a map," Athena said. She looked at Zaria. "You want nearest? Distance is weight. Oracle carried these halls in her feet for years." She turned to Oracle. "You know which door is closest. Your legs know." Oracle said nothing. Zaria watched her feet. When Athena named the closest hall, Oracle's weight shifted. The same tell. Her left heel pressed down, the way it did before a lie or a lunge. "The eastern hall," Zaria said. "Below the broken ridge. You flinched when she said closest." Oracle went still. The mask hid her eyes. "You read my heel again." "I read everyone's." A long silence. Then Oracle knelt and pressed her palm to the dust. She drew a single line out from the cluster of marks. "East. Two days' walk from your pits. Nearest of the four." Her voice turned cold and exact. "The other three unclaimed halls lie weeks apart. You chose the only one your rival can reach as fast as you." Zaria looked at the line. Two days. She could be at the door before the rival moved. Athena spoke behind her. "He hears about every claim. He'll come for the same door." Zaria memorized the path and stood. She had her direction now. One hall, close enough to win. But close enough meant her rival could run the same two days. She would not reach an empty door. She turned for the stairs. "Then I get there first."