and Sevet are the only ones awake... he will soon be scratching on Obring's tent, and then it will be too late, you'll not make it to the mountain unobserved.)
Luet passed through the door of her tent, so sleepy that she still felt as if she were in a dream.
Why must I go down the mountain? she asked, confused. Why not just tell Obring and Sevet what Vas plans for them?
(Because if they believe you, Vas will be destroyed as a member of this company. And if they don't believe you, Vas will be your enemy and you will never be safe again. Trust me. Do this my way, and all will live, all will live.)
Are you sure of this?
(Of course.)
You're no better at telling the future than anybody else. How sure are you?
(The odds of success are, perhaps, sixty percent.)
Oh, wonderful. What about the forty percent chance of failure?
(You are such an intelligent woman, you'll improvise, you'll make it work.)
I wish I had as much faith in you as you seem to have in me.
(The only reason you don't is because you don't know me as well as I know you.)
You can read my thoughts, dear Oversoul, but you can never know me, because there is no part of you that can feel the way I feel, or think the way I think.
(Do you imagine I don't know that, boastful human? Must you taunt me for it? Go down the mountain. Carefully, carefully. The path is visible by moonlight, but treacherous. Obring is awake now; you have made it just in time. Now stay ahead of them, far enough that they can't hear you, far enough that they can't see.)
Elemak had noticed when Sevet and Obring both took extra flagons from the stores. He knew at once what it meant - that there was a plan to make a run for Dorova. At the same time, though, he could not believe that those two would ever have come up with a plan together - they never spoke to each other privately, if only because Kokor made sure they had no opportunity. No, there was someone else involved, someone who was better at this sort of deception, so that Elemak hadn't noticed his or her theft of an extra flagon.
And then, just before night, Vas had volunteered for the hated late watch, the second-to-last one before morning. Obring had taken the last watch already. It didn't take a genius to realize that they intended to leave on Vas's watch. Fools. Did they think they could make it down the mountain and across the waterless sand of the beach around the bay on two flagons of fresh water each? Not carrying babies they couldn't. They aren't going to take their babies. The thought was so outrageous that Elemak almost didn't believe it. But then he realized that it must be true. His loathing for Obring redoubled. But Vas... it was hard to believe that Vas would do such a thing. The man doted on his daughter. He had even named her for himself - would he leave her, heartlessly?
No. No, he has no intention of leaving her. Obring would leave his baby, yes. Obring would leave Kokor, for that matter - he chafed constantly in his marriage. But Vas would not leave his baby. He has another motive now. And it does not include escaping to the city with Sevet and Obring. On the contrary. His plan is to tell us that Sevet and Obring left for the city after he was asleep from his watch, and he followed them down the mountain, hoping to stop them, but instead he found their dead bodies, fallen from a cliff...
How do I know all this? wondered Elemak. Why is this all so clear to me? And yet he could not doubt it.
So he gave himself the middle watch, and at the end of it, after he had wakened Vas and returned to his tent, Elemak did not let himself sleep, though he lay still with his eyes closed, breathing in a heavy imitation of sleep, in case Vas came to check on him. But no, Vas did not come. Did not come, and did not go to Obring's tent. The watch dragged on and on, and finally against his will Elemak did sleep. Perhaps only for a moment. But he must have slept because he awoke with a start, his heart pounding with alarm. Something... some sound. He sat upright in the darkness,