The Quantum Cartographer by Kristen Keenon Fisher

Author:Kristen Keenon Fisher [Fisher, Kristen Keenon]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781532015397
Publisher: iUniverse
Published: 2017-03-21T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 16

AND HERE, CARVE YOUR WILL FOR THE STARS TO SEE …

OLD KRESSYA

The colorful peaks of the old city rise in the distance. Nija and Eserae step off of the rickety float and into shallow water, their clothing soaked. The young seafarers look at one another and breathe deeply before walking inland onto the sunbaked sand.

“I never thanked you for what you did back there—for saving me,” Eserae says.

“You don’t have to,” Nija says. “I owed you. And I’m not even sure what happened back there. But I guess now we’re even.”

“Even? Oh, I don’t think so. It’s three to one by my count.”

“Oh really? You’re counting?”

“I’m simply stating an observation.”

“Well, okay, let’s see. There was the time we first met, in which I completely had the situation under control but appreciated your concern. Then there was your courageous but slightly suicidal plan to rescue me from imprisonment.”

“Mm, don’t forget incredibly successful.”

“To my never-ending gratitude, yes, it was. But that’s only two. When was the third?”

“On the way to the Province. The guard who didn’t find your insults as amusing as I did went to silence you for good. Luckily, I was there to change his mind. You, being blindfolded and defenseless as you were, may not have noticed how I saved your life—yet again.”

“You were there the entire time?!”

“Long enough. We ambushed a couple of guards and persuaded them out of their uniforms. Then it was simply a matter of looking stiff and ill-tempered. It took some creative encouragement, but after your friend relearned bipedal movement, it went off without a hitch. Kind of.”

Nija chuckles and scratches his forehead. “I should’ve warned you—he’s a hard one to manage,” Nija says of Serros. “Fate has granted him the luxury of amnesia. Or as he likes to say, ‘a life free of regret.’”

“Unless fate comes distilled in a glass bottle, I don’t think it had anything to do with his absence of mind.”

The sounds of the old city greet them as they get closer.

“When you grabbed me and we …” She pauses, unsure of how to explain what happened near the Province. “It felt like being in two places at once.”

“I know—I felt it too. I don’t know why it happened or what it was.”

Sky-fallen, he thinks. Not long ago those words were reserved for others. He can’t believe it. How can one day, one moment, call into question all others before it?

“We should find Tresthi—she’ll be at the temple when the sun falls. But first, we should get you some dry clothes.” Eserae grins at Nija, whose wet hair lies matted on his face. “There are quarters not far from here.”

They soon approach a multilevel structure with randomly shaped openings, no two alike; overlapping rooftops of a variety of casts, and folding stained-glass windows. Nija and Eserae head up a spinning staircase that leads past a cubed dwelling to an overreaching ovular one.

“Not as contrived as the new city, but it has an acquired taste,” Eserae says, gesturing for Nija to enter first.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.