Melting Stones - By Tamora Pierce Page 0,62

met was just as bad. Anyway, the earth line here is one of the big faults under the island. It's part of a web of faults under the Pebbled Sea. They feed the other volcanoes around here, and the earthquakes. And the smaller faults split off from the big ones, like, I don't know, fingers from the hand."

"A network, you say," murmured Oswin. "Throughout the Pebbled Sea."

"And the lands around them. The world adjusts itself all the time." It was getting cool as the sun passed behind the mountain. I got to my knees, wincing.

Then I felt it, far in the distance. "Oswin, grab the horses. We've got another shock coming, and it's going to be bad."

The volcano spirits in the hollow chamber were moving. They were hunting for Carnelian and Flare, miles below us. Their movement sent power rolling from the chamber, out through the faults. I wasn't going to ask myself how I knew, when they were so far down. Instead I lurched to saddle my horse. Oswin did the same, then strapped his saddlebags in place.

"Let's go on the road," I told him. "But don't mount up. We have a little bit of a wait."

"Is that so?" He soothed his horse. "You can tell even though it's not right away? No one mentioned you were a seer."

I glared at him. "I can feel them moving, that's how. There's a whole lot of them. They're looking for Flare and Carnelian."

Oswin led his horse into the roadbed. The spirits were deep under the river, pressing against the armor of stone between us and them. The earth shook. Spark wrenched against her bridle. I clung to her as stones began to rattle and move. Oswin had taken off his tunic and wrapped it around his horse's eyes. Even so, he still had to cling to the animal's bridle to keep him from running. Boulders crashed in the riverbed. I heard trees toppling. My teeth clacked together so hard they hurt. The spirits smashed against the sides of the fault, calling to Flare and Carnelian. I bit my lip. Could their bellows reach all the way to the quartz trap?

Slowly the great mass of them split. Most rolled on down the fault to the sea, hoping to find Carnelian and Flare out that way. The others returned to the chamber under the mountain. The ground quieted, and settled.

I looked at Oswin. "The sooner we get everyone out of here, the safer they'll be. It's bad to expect anything with that much power to follow a timetable."

Arguments

W hen Oswin and I returned to the courtyard at the inn, we found a mess. People clustered around a soaking wet Myrrhtide, shouting at him. Others were carrying their things back into their houses. Azaze came out of the inn, thrusting men and women aside. Oswin shoved in to stand beside her as they cleared a space around Myrrhtide.

Azaze held a poker. She looked like she was ready to use it on someone. "Dubyine, how dare you speak to a guest this way?"

A big woman armed with a ladle faced Azaze. "How dare I, Azaze? How dare you and these outsiders take us for green kids? There's gonna be no volcano! First they say, it's coming any time now! Then they say, a couple more days. I'm not fool enough to be taken by such a trick! They're going to loot the town when we go. They already got rid of the richer folk, but they're not getting what little we have!"

"Trick?!" Myrrhtide's face was garnet-colored, he was so furious. "I am a Dedicate Initiate of Winding Circle temple, and you call me a common thief?"

He'd better calm down, I thought, or he'll have a heart attack. From the look of his neck and temples, a whole lot of Myrrhtide's veins were about to explode.

"Dedicate Initiate, do not trouble yourself with this rabble." Azaze put her free hand on Myrrhtide's arm. "They aren't worth your time. I assure you, though, I will make them worth mine"

"You and who else, Azaze?" Dubyine smirked at her. "You and Oswin here? I don't think that's enough."

"I'm just wondering, Dubyine. Did you notice the earthquake we just had? What do you think that was? A whisper from the goddess?" Oswin sounded as friendly as if she offered him cake, not a bashing with a ladle.

"We've had a hundred earthquakes this year. Maybe you and Azaze are fools, but I know a thing or two. These false dedicates won't help