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Rosethorn and Briar also patched wounds on their co their ride up the pass they were cut off by Yanjingyi soldiers and had to fight their way out Rana said with grudging respect that these Yanjingyi warriors were enemies to be respected They had seen Rana and his co It was Rosethorn and her co to attack

Every day the hills around the for each bit of sun There were fewer broadleafs andto the lower slopes where wild goats and yaks grazed in between ribs of naked liranite

It did not help Briar’s peace of mind in this land of stone that Evvy twice dropped loads of rock onto Yanjingyi attackers In his head Briar knew that even if the cliffs and ridges that soared above the road were unstable, Evvy would redirect loose stone if it fell In his heart he waited for a ton of boulders to drop on hi, he sent a screen of tough ivy crawling over any area that looked like it ht be inclined to fall, just in case

After supper the night before they were due to reach Rana’s base, Fort Sambachu, Evvy walked out beyond the picket line of sentries Sergeant Kanbab caet her to co in the dark," she explained as she led Briar to the place where his student had last been seen

"On rocks," he said He didn’t need to ask

"On rocks," Sergeant Kanbab agreed She left hileam of Evvy’s yak-skin coat Briar followed Evvy until she halted on the edge of the riverbank He called for sorasses there to sprout up in case Evvy slipped and tumbled into the icy water She could control rocks, but not dirt

When he reached her, he had to shout in her ear She had chosen a spot right over a series of rapids They boo?" he cried "The enemy could be nearby! And you scared the sentries!"

"The h, her voice was perfectly clear "Not like the Yanjingyi singers do, or the Gyongxin warriors It’s inof caves and snow and vultures"

"No, thank you!" Briar shouted "I’oing back to ca to you if you ask theht," she said, as if he’d asked her to feed the cats She linked her arm in his and walked peaceably back to the cook fires with hiized to Kanbab and the sentries Briar was shivering by the tiet warm These mountains weren’t like any others they had seen She had liked the heights and the occasional glacier, but she hadn’t been strange about theout of the cliff face not so long ago, and the knowledge that, in Gyongxe, this kind of thing happened over and over Evvy had been friendly with Gyongxe’s rocks all winter What if they survived this war, and Evvy was too entangled with the stone and xe to leave? What could he say to her that would cohest mountains in the world?

FORT SAMBACHU

SNOW SERPENT PASS GYONGXE

The sunrise was just touching the river the next day when the hills in the east ended in towering cliffs They were free of the gorge Half a e that crossed the Snow Serpent River They turned south and rode across it, off thea deep streaed hill where Fort Sa LhoEvvy’s pony Her eyes were fixed on the soaring peaks ahead In the gorge the hills had obscured the hts that stood between Gyongxe and the Realms of the Sun

"See those three?" Kanbab asked Evvy, pointing to the nearestto the worshippers of La Ni Ma, our sun goddess, those yal Po, the Snow King The west one is Ganas Gazig Rigyal Po, the Snow Leopard King And the one in the "

"What does that ’?" Briar asked He wasn’t sure if Evvy even heard

Kanbab looked at Briar "I think the worshippers feel he is the most conversational of the Sun Queen’s husbands"

"The sun isn’t a queen in the Living Circle," Evvy xe, the home of many faiths Surely they told you that when you were here for the winter Gar can count, it is said People come here to build at least one temple for their faith because our realm is closest of all to the heavens, and our mountains hold theods?" Evvy wanted to know "Back hoave Briar a strange look

"Shaihun is a god of the deep desert," Briar explained "Is that Fort Sambachu or a temple?"

"It’s the fort," Kanbab said in confirainst us there and see what they get!"

Briar had to ad Its hill and its towers corassy plain for a good distance The curtain walls sloped inward and climbed the hill in steps, which would allow the archers on the highest level to shoot above the heads of those lower down Around the outer walls an ar banners of crimson, turquoise, and emerald silks