"No. No, I'm fine." He could barely choke out the answer.
"Then why did you stop? Is love-making not a Devotion to your goddess?"
"Yes, it is," Atreus answered as he rolled off Seema, but stayed beside her and continued to hold her in his arm. Even that felt like a lie. He could not tell her about the fountain any more than she could take him to it. "I'm feeling uneasy."
Seema propped herself on an elbow. "You are wondering about Jalil's father?"
Atreus nodded, breathing a silent sigh of relief, and even that made him feel guilty.
"There is no need to think of him," Seema said. "He is only a friend now, and I seldom see him."
"He doesn't live nearby?" Atreus asked.
"No, he is a healer down in the valley. No more needs to be said about him."
Seema pushed herself up and began to fold Jalil's cloak.
"Now I am a little bit sad again," she said. "I hope you will forgive me."
"There is no need," Atreus said, picking up the boy's hat. "I fear it's you who must forgive me."
Atreus waited alone on the balcony until well after dark, when Rishi and Yago returned exhausted and famished. They had spent most of the day scouring the area around the rockslide and found nothing, not even a footprint they could identify as Tarch's. The Mar had been ready to declare the hunt over and report to Atreus that he was mistaken, but Yago, knowing first hand the comforts of a good deep grotto, had insisted upon investigating the Caves of Blue.
The task had proven more difficult than they could imagine. The mouths of more than a thousand different caverns dotted the face of the Turquoise Cliff, some located nearly a mile above ground. After a cursory examination of some of the ground level caverns, many of which they happened across only after catching a whiff of musty air from behind a bush, they had given up and returned to Seema's for the night.
At Atreus's insistence, they abandoned the search for the Fountain of Infinite Grace in favor of investigating the Caves of Blue. No more girls turned up missing, and Atreus was at first inclined to attribute the basin's good fortune to the vigilance of his friends. When they found no signs of Tarch after seven days, even Atreus began to think he had been wrong about the slave master following them into Langdarma. Yago and Rishi returned to looking for the fountain, though they often made a point of passing through Timin's village to inquire about signs of the devil.
It was after one such stop that Rishi returned with news of the fountain. Grateful for his father's life, Timin had finally responded to the Mar's discreet questioning. According to rumor, the twinkling water came from an ancient temple somewhere in the main valley. The news had, at first, disheartened Atreus, but Rishi had quickly hit on the idea of searching for the temple from above. They would simply climb the canyon walls and scan the valley floor, looking for any likely buildings or streams that sparkled more than they should.
By the third day, Yago and Rishi had spotted a likely looking building not far down the valley. Atreus decided to go along, telling Seema that he was going to start hiking with his friends to strengthen his leg. To his dismay, she insisted on coming, greatly adding to the already heavy pall of guilt weighing him down. They started at dawn, intending to pass through Timin's village and start the descent into the main valley before mid-morning.
An hour into the journey, they stopped to drink from one of Langdarma's pristine streams. As Atreus kneeled on the mossy bank, the water grew cloudy and pink. He cried out and jerked his hands back, wondering if the valley somehow knew of his plan and was passing judgment on his deception.
Atreus's companions gathered along the bank behind him, staring and gasping as the water grew murkier and darker. Yago kneeled and brought a palmful to his mouth.
"Vaprak's veins!" he cursed. "Blood!"
"Blood?" Seema gasped.
Atreus stood and looked up through the thick undergrowth, searching for any sign of a predatory beast The rhododendrons remained as still as stones. The water continued to grow darker and redder. To lose that much blood, an animal would have to be the size of a dragon, and even in this dense forest a predator animal large enough to down a dragon could hardly be missed.
"Seema, what's at the top of this stream?" Atreus asked.
She glanced up at the ice-blue sky, somehow estimating their position from its mottled surface. "A herder's shed."
"Please do not tell us this herder has a daughter," said Rishi.
Seema's face grew fearful. "I am afraid he does," she said. "Two of them."
Yago studied his companions, then said, "Can't be what you're thinking. Too much blood."
"I don't think it's blood," said Atreus, "at least not the way you think."
He pointed down the creek to where it was joined by a small rivulet from a side gully. The red stain was spreading up the side gulch.
"Think we found Tarch?" Yago asked.
Atreus's only response was to start up the stream bank.
They crept through the rhododendrons, moving as quietly and rapidly as four people could through such thick undergrowth. The water continued to grow redder and thicker until the stream took on the appearance of a vein filled with dark, clotty blood. A nauseating, copper-like stench began to hang in the air, and alarming little noises began to rise from Seema's throat. When they finally reached the terraces beneath the herder's shed, it grew apparent that there was no need for stealth. The grassy pastures were strewn with slaughtered yaks, and an old woman was up near the shed, wailing and cradling her husband's smashed head.
"Seema, you'd better go first," said Atreus, recalling how Timin's delirious father had initially reacted to him and Yago. "We'll follow after you cover her eyes."
Seema nodded, then clambered over the terraces. She kneeled beside the old woman and spoke to her softly, covering her head with a shawl. By the time Atreus and his companions arrived, Seema had the story.
"She said a sharp-eared devil came for her daughters and killed her husband when he tried to save them. The beast left five minutes ago." Seema's face was hard and angry, almost ugly. She pointed into the shed. There are axes and scythes inside."
Rishi's jaw fell and he asked, "Are you saying what I think you're saying?"
Seema glanced at the destruction surrounding her and said, "Do what you must I want him stopped."
Atreus raised his brow. "We'll try," he said, "but it wouldn't hurt to call the Sannyasi."
Seema nodded, and Rishi rushed off to fetch the weapons. Yago glanced at Atreus. Though the ogre had managed to force a smile onto his jaw, Atreus could read the doubt in his friend's eyes. Shield-breaker or not, Yago was afraid. As far as he was concerned, Tarch could not be stopped.
Atreus clamped the ogre on his huge forearm and said, "We'll manage."
"Don't we always?" Yago answered. "But if I get-"
"I know… don't let the crows get your eyes," said Atreus.
Yago's behest was a standard Shield-breaker request They believed crows to be spies of Skiggaret, the fear-loving god of their bugbear enemies. Though the reminder betrayed Yago's fear at facing Tarch again, Atreus said nothing to reassure his friend. Among ogres, acknowledging another's fear was the worst kind of insult.
"You have nothing to worry about, Yago," said Seema. "There are no crows in Langdarma."
The ogre forced a smile and said, "So this is paradise."
Rishi returned with an armload of tools. He had a rope and the scythe for Yago, an iron kettle lid and a double-bladed tree axe for Atreus, and a pair of skinning knives and a net for himself. As he accepted the kettle lid, Atreus frowned in confusion.
"For the flames," Rishi explained, smiling. "I am always thinking of the good sir's safety, am I not?"
"What you're thinking is that I'll go in first," Atreus replied, "and you're right."