Sea of Strangers by Erica Cameron

Author:Erica Cameron [Cameron, Erica]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: LGBTQ;asexuality;immortality;27 Hours;Marie Lu;epic fantasy;trilogy
Publisher: Entangled Publishing, LLC
Published: 2017-09-29T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter

Twelve

“What if it’s a katsujo?” Osshi’s question is hesitant, like even he doesn’t think he’s right.

But Tsua pauses and looks at him with curiosity. “I don’t know what that is.”

“My father… I began studying our history because of him,” Osshi explains. “When I was young he told me the ancient stories, and one was about how the Kaisubeh built the world. It was said that they poured their own blood into their creation, and it fed the soil and gave life to the animals. The story claims the rivers formed from the channels the Kaisubeh’s blood ran, and that traces of their power are still in all water, but nothing I’ve seen has ever made me think that’s true. This, though,” he says, gesturing to the clearing.

I turn that over in my mind, trying to fit it into the other stories Lo’a told us and what we’ve learned here so far as Zonna traces a glowing crack in the clearing. Nodding slowly, he says, “So they thought the rivers were the veins of the world. That’s clearly wrong, but maybe they were only wrong about the leftover power being in the riverbeds. And what happened here is… Well, if the land were a person, and this is a vein, and what Varan did to it would be like leaving someone to slowly bleed to death.”

“I—yes. Maybe.” Osshi runs his fingers through his long hair. “If what my father told me has any truth to it.”

“Clearly, it does,” Sanii says absently, eir gaze distant.

“Only in that it exists,” I protest. “It’s here, but that doesn’t mean it has anything to do with the Kaisubeh.” Really, the only thing I’ve seen that makes me think they might be real is Imaku and the effect that rock has on immortals.

If Sanii hears me, ey doesn’t respond. But then ey blinks, sharply focused on me. “You used your wards to pass through Suzu’s. Can you do the opposite here?”

“I don’t understand.” What would the opposite even be?

“Don’t think of it like a vein, think of it like a river.” Sanii’s eyes kindle with excitement, the expression so reminiscent of Yorri in a moment of epiphany it’s almost painful. “The Ryogans think of the desosa like a river and a spell its banks, right? Well, it sounds like Varan blocked the flow and forced this river to flood. The banks have been crumbling, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be rebuilt after the barricade is removed.”

“You…you think I should create a ward around this valley to seal in the desosa?” Even as I question it, my mind is spinning, trying to figure out how to make the idea work. “I don’t have enough wardstones, and even if I did, we’re back to the problem of removing whatever magic Varan worked that caused this. I’m not capable of—”

“You are. And removing the block is what we should be worried about.” Tsua is looking toward the clearing and the rolling, glowing energy seeping through the cracked stone.

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