Song of Ashes

44: Out of Reach

The next morning, Sarka tried to scrape together the makings of a breakfast, but there was nothing to be had but dry rice and flour.

"Here," Konn said, putting two coins into her palm. "Buy us some yeast for the bread, some apples, and potatoes-plus whatever else you can get for the coin. Do you remember where the market is?"

"Yes." Sarka looked down at the coins, frowning. Should she offer to pay for some of the food, too? She was staying here, after all. She thought of the coppers hidden in her satchel with her sewing things, and her selfish heart twinged. She said nothing.

"Good. Be careful. I will attend to the worshipers this morning, and when you return, perhaps you will remain in the temple so I can apply myself to the God-Song for a while."

Sarka took up a basket from the shelf and slipped out of Atai's temple through the back door. It was quite a walk to the market, but the morning was cool and pleasant, and there was plenty to occupy her mind as she walked.

How would she find Kogoren's God-Song, she wondered? She had no way to know where it had gone. If it had been kept in Kogoren's temple, it should have been destroyed, but that the goddess still lived was proof that the book still existed somewhere. Perhaps someone yet loyal to her had secreted it away. Perhaps one of the Beloved...

The Beloved. Sarka wondered if Tayo might have the answers she sought. He could travel by means unknown to mortal men; if he did not know the book's whereabouts, he might be able to search for it and even bring it back to Sarka in Galdren.

She arrived at the market, her head swimming with possibilities, and muddled through the challenge of shopping with virtually no knowledge of the local currency. The only coin she had spent thus far was a copper on her bath; here, bewildered by the mouth-watering array of meats, produce, baked goods and dairy, she hardly knew where to begin. But she wasn't stupid, and her close-fistedness prevented her from being taken advantage of. Indeed, she started her haggling so low as to offend the merchants, but she walked away from the market with a basket full of goods and a few coppers still in her pocket.

On her way back to Atai's temple, Sarka stopped at a fountain and sat, setting her basket on the ground by her feet.

"Tayo," she said.

To her surprise, he appeared almost in the space of the same breath, crouched on the cobblestones before her. He looked up at her and spoke into her mind. Sssarka.

The sight of him turned her cold; she could see the cobbles through his body. "Oh."

He raised his brows, frowning at her. "You called me?"

"I did not actually expect you to come." Sarka grasped for her composure-and for a way to ask him what she needed to know. "Tayo, I have a question."

He waited.

"There is...a possibility I am exploring. A way to free you. But it requires something I do not have."

"What is it?"

Sarka lowered her voice. "Kogoren's God-Song. Do you know where it is?"

Tayo cocked his head.

She hesitated. She did not want to reveal Konn's past; she did not want to put him in any danger. "I heard that it was kept in a temple on the Queen's Crest. It should have been destroyed in the Cataclysm, but Kogoren still lives. Is it not true that a god must die when her God-Song is destroyed?"

The creature said nothing, but his expression seemed to acknowledge the truth of Sarka's words.

"I need to find her God-Song. It must be somewhere in the ashlands, but I can't go back there. Even if I could, I don't know where to look."

"The God-Song is not in the ashlands," Tayo said.

Sarka frowned. "How do you know? Have you looked for it?"

"I do not have to. I have seen it. It is in the Opal Realm, guarded by the Beloved in Kogoren's Bone Palace."

Just like that, Sarka's hopes dissipated like dust in a wind. She let out her breath in a sigh and slumped back against the fountain, looking up at the sky. "The Opal Realm."

"It is the-"

"I know what it is: a place well beyond my reach."

Tayo was silent for a moment. When he spoke again, he changed the course of their conversation abruptly. "The gods there know you."

Looking at Tayo again, Sarka asked, "What do you mean?"

"You are the woman who challenged Kogoren. The one who broke her laws. In the Opal Realm, all the gods whisper your name."

A shiver trickled down Sarka's spine, a sense of foreboding.

"Not all of it is simple gossip. Lord Jalea, the God of the Crescent, has petitioned Lord Atai for your head."

Sarka stood and took up her basket. All at once, she needed to be back in Atai's temple and off of the street. She began to walk, glancing over her shoulder and half-expecting to see the strange deity whose likeness had been carved onto the figurehead of The Crescent. That wooden likeness now lay at the bottom of the ocean.

Tayo did not follow her, but she heard his voice clearly in his mind as she left him behind: Lord Atai protects you for now, Absssconder, but you must not waste time. I cannot guard you against the gods.