Fugitive of the Sky

Chapter Forty-One: A Living Sacrifice

Trill turned out to be easy to talk to and she told Aqie funny stories about the scrapes she'd gotten into until Aqie's sides hurt from laughing. Then she'd wanted to know everything about how Mom and Dad had survived the Hunter's Strait and everything that'd happened in the past year. By the time Aqie had finished and her tears had dried, she wasn't nervous about Trill anymore.

Umakai couldn't come until sunset, and in the meantime Trill taught her all the secret stories she'd woven into all the tapestries in the room. The red one she'd sat on was the day the hunters had killed everyone except her and Dad, with the gold bits representing the golden city and hope. "Death is not the final separation, you need to remember that. Hold on to hope." Trill turned away and Aqie guessed she was reminding herself as much as her.

"You wanted me?" Umakai stepped in the door just as Aqie and Trill finished sharing an evening drink of tea.

Aqie looked up, sloshing her cup as she set it down. "Oh. Umakai! I didn't think you'd take so long." She looked up at Trill shyly. "Do you mind if Umakai and I go up the mountain before dark? I have something I need to do."

Trill raised her eyebrows. "You want to see the sacrificial mountaintop? Go on, then. I'll get a pallet from Stari for you while you're gone." She smiled conspiratorially and stood to wipe up the spill Aqie had made. "Don't stay too long. You'll want to be up and ready for tomorrow. Morning song in Larkhold is the most magnificent thing you'll ever hear."

Aqie shifted and looked at her feet, avoiding Trill's gaze. She didn't want to go see the altar, exactly, but she didn't have the courage to tell anybody what she was doing more than once. It felt like she was lying not to tell Trill, though, and it made her feel guiltier than she already was. "Okay."

Umakai looked at her sharply, a question on his face, but she didn't answer him either. "Let's go."

Guilt and fear and dread sloshed and mixed in her stomach as they walked down the torchlit halls, with the pain from the chasm thrumming just beneath. Aqie forced herself to look forward and smile and wave at the other Larkwings as they passed, even if she was still worried sick that the hunters would see them, despite all the firelight being hidden deep inside the mountain. Sometimes she irrationally wondered if the hunters who'd been chasing her for ages had somehow followed her and Umakai's family all the way to the mountain.

But that wasn't really the problem. Trill and Umakai and Ihmari had all told her the Larkwings took pains to keep Larkhold safe. She was just nervous and didn't want to think about what Adonai had told her to do. Aqie squeezed her eyes shut and prayed she wouldn't end up backing out or doing anything foolish.

"Do you want to do more walking or flying?" Umakai asked. "We can go out through several different entrances."

Aqie jumped, hand going to her clasp before she stopped it with an effort. "Oh, um, walking I guess."

Umakai watched her gravely without saying a word. It only made her feel worse. She swallowed and pulled out her braid to start fiddling with it. "I'll tell you what I'm doing when we get up there, I promise." She really wanted to clutch her kaprae right now, but the whole point was Adonai had told her she had to let go. Pain pulsed from the chasm and Aqie squeezed her braid in her hand.

He didn't say anything, but kept glancing at her as they wound their way through half-connected rooms, lit a torch for the unused caves, and finally flew through a hole to emerge in the red sky and white snow glowing on the mountain. Aqie hovered as he snuffed the torch and put it down, but Umakai didn't fly up to join her. His smile was absent as he waited for her to join him. Reluctantly, Aqie landed, dread growing as she knew she couldn't put things off any longer.