Bo pushed Taniel aside and knelt next to the man. He touched gloved fingers to the man’s forehead and held his other hand up. He touched the air gently—a pianist performing a song with one hand.
“Yes,” Del suddenly said. The word came out as a hiss. “I’ll go.” This was a croak. His eyes came awake, like a fire coming to life in a dark hearth.
“Are you all right?” Bo asked.
“Water.”
“Get him some water,” Taniel told the old monk. He was back in a moment, and they tended to Del before helping him to his feet.
“I’ll be all right,” Del said. “I’ll go. You… you say you can stop them?”
“We’ll try,” Bo said.
“We have to get to Kresim Kurga before the solstice.”
“Do you know where they’ll be?” Taniel asked.
Del frowned up at the sky. “There is a coliseum there, built by Kresimir. It helps focus sorcery. I think that is the most likely place.”
“Excellent,” Taniel said. He pulled Bo to one side. “What did you do to wake him up?”
“Nothing,” Bo said. “I was going to touch his mind, see if there was anything there, but he came awake before I did.”
“It’ll be good to have a guide.”
Bo agreed.
Taniel stepped away. A pair of Watchers pulled a body from farther in the smoke-filled hallway—an old woman. She had not a mark on her. She might have died in her bed, killed by the smoke, too deep in the mountain to hear the battle. The Watchers left her body with the monks and turned back to search for more.
“We need to go,” Taniel said. He kept his voice gentle, but loud enough for the others to hear. “Fesnik,” he said. “Gather the men.”
Fesnik had been helping wrap yet another body. He stood up, cast a weary look about him. He seemed to have realized what they were up against. This wasn’t an adventure. This was a chase to the death against opponents far more powerful than they.
Bo was arguing with the old monk when Taniel returned to them.
“You can’t bury them all,” Bo said.
“It’s our way,” the old monk replied. His face was, as always, neutral.
“Toss the Kez over the cliff. Tend to your own if you can’t leave them packed in ice for a few weeks. You need to get down the mountain and tell Gavril what happened.”
“We’ll send someone,” the old monk said.
Bo sneered at the old man. “And your own survival? The monastery is destroyed. The nights are cold enough to freeze anything left outdoors. This is no home for you now!” His voice began to rise, and his gestures were making Taniel nervous.
“Bo,” Taniel said.
“What?” Bo whirled on him.
“Time to go.”
Bo took a deep breath and collected himself. “Take care,” he said to the old monk. There was a hint of sarcasm in his voice. “Stubborn bastard,” he muttered as he passed Taniel.
“Your friend is very tired,” the old monk said.
“He’s had a rough month.”
“He has very little left.”
Taniel scowled. These monks were a mystery. What kind of sorcery did they have at their call to have been able to fight Julene and the Kez Cabal? He didn’t see any Privileged’s gloves on any of them. He opened his third eye, fighting the nausea. He closed it again as quickly as he could and tried to blink away the blinding colors of the Else. The sorcery was too thick to make out anything.
“I know,” Taniel said. “Find some shelter.”
“Good luck,” the old monk said. He managed a smile, something for which Taniel found himself more grateful than he expected. “We gave them a good fight,” the old monk said. “They are weaker now. Make it count.”
If these old men and women could fight Julene, then so could he, Taniel decided. He took a deep breath and clenched his fist. It was time to take the fight after her.
Taniel clasped hands with the old monk and joined the waiting Watchers. They’d done what they could for the surviving monks. Some of the Watchers left their rations and spare blankets—though Taniel hoped the monks would be able to scrounge more from the ruins when the smoke died down.
Taniel did a head count and noticed Rina and her dogs were missing.
They found her at the end of the monastery squatting just outside the broken walls, examining the path up to the peak. She turned to face them as they approached. Her dogs whined and pulled at their harnesses. She silenced them