Page 63 (1/1)

When Rosethorn approached the gates, her burden set up such a high, tooth-hurting screech that Briar covered his ears, alht his reins just in time The noise only stopped when Rosethorn turned her horse away froo briefly, explaining that the ates was uncoic she bore In the end, only Captain Lango and his warriors accoht

"Unco jaws "Uncoainst each other that didn’t , or the temple is evil," Rosethorn explained to Briar and their friends over roast goat, flatbread, and cheese "Magic isn’t evil of itself, only the ends to which it’s put, like a dagger But the shape their ic holds doesn’t ic Briar knew he could have walked through that gate if he had wanted to It was Rosethorn’s burden that had put up the fuss

"No," said a voice just outside the light of their fire Ascarlet tunic worn by this teics enclose us to protect us, with only the opening at the gate to allow other ics to enter, if they are small ones" He looked at Rosethorn, then around the circle until he found Briar "We would have been forced to ask both of you to reies to you Norh your burden" -- he nodded to Rosethorn -- "is more than our spell walls can handle at any tiics now We already have two villages and their shamans, and there are always the ot to her feet and bowed Briar did the sah his sore body complained

"We understand," Rosethorn told the priest "These are things that happen in times of upheaval"

He bowed; she bohich meant Briar had to bow Then she wandered off with the priest to talkthey had done before Briar listened until he got so bored that he decided to go for a walk It would stretch his legs and give his ears so to the sentries as he passed thee boulders He didn’t remember them from the ride in, but that was no surprise, as tired as he’d been He slipped between the boulders and sat on the rocky verge, listening to the fast- else for a while It was a relief to have some time to himself

When he turned to cli paint on the sides of the boulders that faced the water and the plain Each stone showed a different figure: dragon, yak, oddess, snow cat

Then he saw motion First the painted eyes followed him, and then the painted faces

He stopped in front of the largest stone The picture on it was a nine-headed cobra It was a very big nine-headed cobra, taller than Briar by twelve inches at least The paint glowed aeven if it had held still Then the middle head of the nine, the one that bore an ornate crown, left the safe grounding of the rock and stretched forward until her flickering serpent tongue touched Briar’s nose He thought heHe was far too scared to o away," he said His voice cracked

"Briar?" That was Ji to?"

"Are there any nine-headed snakes that crawl around after dark here?" Briar called "One head is a woa," Jimut whispered He had to be close for Briar to hear him In fact, Briar was certain Jimut stood on the other, unpainted, side of the boulders "But they’re stories And the ones up here are different frorinned down at him "What do you mean?"

"In the Realms of the Sun they’re evil" To Briar’s horror Jia The three-headed goddess that was painted on Jimut’s rock stared upward as if she could see hi for Jia can be a human head surrounded by snake heads, or crowned by snakes They’re the gods of whole es," Jimut explained, "or several rivers that flow into one, or --"

Briar’s knees gave way and he knelt, unable to stay up anyain The three-headed goddess held her arinally, and stared into the distance

"You’re tired," Jio to bed"

Briar did go to bed His drea Circle werefields of dead soldiers He hen daas just a pink gleam in the sky and walked back down to the stones by the river

In the pearl-like early light, the naga queen was blue with partly scaled skin and very red lips Her coues the sae flames

"Excuse me, please," Briar said politely, "but I have to ask, were you joking around with ht? It’s addled my head a bit Well, , talking to a painting of a snake lady A very beautiful snake lady," he added hurriedly "The most beautiful I’ve ever seen" He waited, but there was no response fro