Bone, Fog, Ash & Star (The Last Days of Tian Di #3)(11)

“Foss!” she said, drawing her dagger. The cliff behind them opened into steps. Fog poured up it, covering the barrier but not penetrating it. Arrows fell off the barrier and swords struck it uselessly. In the fog they saw the featureless, oblong faces of the Thanatosi, with only the slightest depressions where eyes ought to be and the slightest protrusion where a nose ought to be. Their hair floated about their heads as if they were underwater. The four companions drew close to one another inside the barrier.

“Are you sure they cannay get in?” Nell asked, clutching her notes to her as if she was protecting a beloved child. “Eliza, why is this raven on my head? Its claws are scratching me.”

Eliza jerked her head at the raven and it flew to her shoulder, disappearing as soon as it alighted.

“The barrier will hold,” said Foss. He couldn’t resist adding, “If you had some knowledge of Deep Mathematics you might have more faith in the barriers of the Mancers and how they come to be. It is like asking if the sky will fall. It is not easy to make the sky fall, is it?”

“I’ve nary tried,” said Nell primly. She glanced at Charlie. “Are you all right?”

Charlie looked pale. “It’s just strange, aye, to think that if they did get through the barrier I couldnay change. I couldnay do a thing. They would just rip me apart.”

“Fear not!” said Foss, becoming a little annoyed with all this talk of the barrier not holding. “They will not give up but nor will they break the barrier. You would be safe for a lifetime within it. Of course, that is not ideal.”

“Can you make a moving barrier?” asked Nell eagerly. “Then he could just stay in it forever.”

Foss sighed. “Those who understand nothing of Magic think anything is possible,” he said to Eliza, who smiled at him. To Nell he said, “Some permanent barriers move, but only on a set course. Charlie would not be able to set the course himself and so would not be able to move about freely. It is, as I say, not an ideal solution.”

Eliza thought privately that if the Mancers were behind this, then barriers would not keep Charlie safe for long, in any case. Any barrier that Foss could raise, the Mancers could tear down.

“I’m just trying to help,” said Nell. One of the Thanatosi went spinning by her and she moved closer to the center of the barrier, uneasy. “I dinnay think I’m going to be able to study while they’re cartwheeling all over and waving those big swords.”

“Cannay we fight them?” asked Charlie. “I mean, nay we, but you, praps?”

Foss shook his head. “I am not an expert on the Thanatosi but I have read that killing them is not a simple matter. I think it is better not to try, at least until we know more.”

“Why dinnay we try to eat?” suggested Eliza. “We’re going to be here a while.”

They made sandwiches and tried uselessly to ignore the swift-limbed assassins. The light drained from the sky, darkening behind the fog of the Thanatosi.

“I had hoped to see the hanging gardens of the Sparkling Deluder,” said Foss. “They appear in the south, no?”

“Yes,” said Eliza. “They’re beautiful, aye. Hard to describe.”

He smiled. “You have seen much of the worlds, Eliza.”

“I spose I have. Is there going to be trouble for you, Foss, when you go back to the Citadel?”

His eyes dimmed and flickered. “We shall see. I have done nothing against Mancer protocol. My continuing contact with you is encouraged by the Mancers in general as well as by Aysu. That I should act to assist your friend is entirely natural. It will depend on how powerful a faction Kyreth controls. And where Aysu stands.”

Eliza’s heart sank. She hated to think of putting Foss at risk for her sake.

“Do not fear for me, Eliza,” said Foss. “Things are…complicated in the Citadel, but I trust Aysu. It is good that she is our leader now. And whatever the consequences, I am glad to have seen even a glimpse of this world, to feel its ground beneath my feet.” He pressed his hand flat against the earth. “So different from Di Shang. It is strange. Perhaps its

because Di Shang is ruled predominantly by the laws of nature and the Magic of Mancers has its roots in nature, but I am weaker here somehow. I have less to draw on, or perhaps there are more forces working against me. I do not know.”

“But the barrier will hold?” Nell piped up.

“I can still call forth an impenetrable barrier,” Foss replied irritably. “I am a Mancer, after all, even here.”

“Good.” Nell pulled her jacket around her for warmth. “I’m cold.”

“Me too,” said Charlie. “This is awful, lah. I cannay even turn into anything furry.”

“Will you stop with that?” grumbled Nell.

None of them slept well inside the barrier while the Thanatosi pressed their strange faces to it, flashed upwards or to the side with swift kicks, running up and over the barrier on their hands, for the thousandth time bringing a blade down. They ate most of the provisions the following day and conversation was minimal. They were all beginning to be afraid that Jalo would not come.

Late in the afternoon the fog of the Thanatosi was suddenly scooped up and the assassins were flung aside in a golden net. Jalo was hurtling towards them on a myrkestra. He veered away from the barrier at the last minute, then alighted and stepped inside it at a gesture from Foss. With golden hair, ever-changing eyes, and the ageless beauty of all the Faeries, he looked entirely out of place in this bleak, rocky landscape. He made a courtly bow and kissed Nell’s hand, his feathered cloak swirling elegantly with every movement.