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"Even so" He led her into the fog

"Where are we going?" she called, but the mist deadened all sound She could not even see him, a step ahead of her, only kneas there by the pull of the arrow’s shaft against her pal In six steps she stu her shin She stood on a staircase lined by ing from a stone flower that bore twelve petals The , sleek cat with a toothy yawn, or so of the two: she couldn’t tell which Soolden-brown dapplings and succulent green tongues, lacy black curling ears or gold-petaled flowers rayed out from their circular eyes On either side of the staircase lay the broad expanse of a vast pyramidal structure, too steep to cli white, as stark as the fog Here and there, paint had chipped away to reveal gray stone beneath

She followed the old sorcerer up the steps Despite everything, this staircase up which they toiled nagged at her It see fro on a steep incline, surrounded by those ghastly, powerful faces The stair steps went on, and on, and on, until she had to stop to catch her breath She unsealed the water jug and sipped, cooling her parched throat, but when she offered the jug to the old sorcerer, he declined He waited patiently for her to finally get up and go again At last, they came to the top of the pyramid

At her back, below and beyond, lay the dense bank of fog Before her lay another city, sonificent city by the lake but no less impressive for its courtyards and platfors e pyramid they now stood on Every stone surface was painted with bright olden phoenix, burning arrows clutched in the jaws of red snakes crowned by feathered headdresses The city lay alive with color and yet was so quiet that she expected ghosts to skirl down its broad avenues, weeping and

Wind brushed her Clouds boiled over the hills that htning Thunder boomed, but no rain fell She couldn’t even s shiver on her skin Her hair rose on the nape of her neck

"It’s not safe so high where lightning ht strike," remarked the old sorcerer

He descended at once down stair steps so steep that she only dared follow hi sireat pyramid, a line as abrupt as a knife’s cut

Thunder clapped and rolled Lightning struck the top of the pyraue buzzed with the sting of its passing Her foot touched earth finally, dry and cool

She knehere she was

Long ago, when she was a child, when she and Da had fled froh an ancient city In that city, the wind had s Vast ruins had lain around them, the skeleton of a city that had once clai the avenues, she had seen the faded re walls Wind and rain and ti only the tired grain of ancient stone blocks and a few scraps of surviving murals, faded and barely visible

The ruins had ended at the shoreline of the sea as abruptly as if a knife had sheared them off