On top sat a pair of golden yaks, kneeling across from each other and facing a great alabaster altar inlaid with a thousand-spoked wheel of gleaming silver. At one end of the altar sat three elegant vessels: a bronze brazier with incense smoke still rising from its heart, a glass butter lamp with a tiny flame still flickering on its wick, and a jade vase with a single hibiscus blossom still rising from its mouth. At the other end sat three plain objects: a loaf of steaming rice-bread, a tin caster filled with fresh cinnamon, and a sandal-wood lute still resonating from the touch of its last player.
In the center of the altar, resting on its side between the two groups of sacred objects, lay what Atreus had come so far to find, a platinum cup rimmed in sapphires and rubies, from whose mouth spilled a perpetual stream of glittering silver water.
Rishi clutched Atreus's arm and whispered, "Good sir, your wisdom and faith are the measure of all men!" The Mar glanced over his shoulder. "If I may suggest a small precaution, we should see to Seema with every haste."
Atreus tore his eyes from the altar and scowled down at Rishi and said, "See to her?"
Rishi winced, then held a finger to his lips. "Quietly, good sir," he cautioned. "I am sure it will only take one scream, and then the Dweller will come running."
Atreus glanced back at Seema, who was standing at the base of the dais as awestruck as he. "Why would she do that?" he asked.
Rishi raised his brow, genuinely surprised. "Is it not obvious?" he whispered. "Your goddess sent you here to steal the Fountain of Infinite Grace… that is how you are to return the shining water to Erlkazar."
The Mar's sly logic stunned Atreus. It was an elegant solution to an otherwise impossible problem, but for the one detail Rishi had overlooked.
"Sune would never want such a thing."
"Want what thing?" asked Seema, finally drawn out of her reverie.
Rishi glanced at Yago, then cocked his head meaningfully in her direction. Atreus scowled and shook his head.
Getting no answer to her question, Seema stepped to Atreus's side and asked, "What is all this whispering?"
"Nothing for you to worry about," Atreus replied.
He was careful not to look in the direction of the alabaster altar, but Seema's suspicions were already raised. She glanced at the toppled cup, her eyes lit in understanding, and she grabbed Atreus's arm with surprising strength.
"You would steal Langdarma's beauty?"
"No," Atreus said, and covered Seema's fingers with his hand. "Sune would not want me to. The last thing she would want is to spoil a place like Langdarma."
Yago rolled his eyes and quickly looked away, but his skepticism was not lost on Rishi.
"What do you think, my friend?" asked the Mar. "Is this Sune not a jealous goddess, who might very well resent this stream of beauty pouring forth from her ancient rival's temple?"
The ogre gave a grudging shrug. "She's fickle enough," he said. "I wouldn't put anything past her."
Seema paled, turning to call the Dweller.
Atreus pulled her back, clamping a hand over her mouth. "You have nothing to worry about," he assured her. "Even if Sune did want the fountain, how could we get it past the Dweller? I'm sure it would frown on us stealing the source of its shining pool."
"How would it know until it was too late to stop us?" asked Rishi, smiling.
The Mar bounded up the dais and snatched the cup off the altar, eliciting a muffled scream from Seema. "Put that back!" Atreus ordered.
"Have no worry, I am not stealing the cup," said Rishi. "I am only demonstrating how such a thing might be possible, in case the good sir should in his own judgment consider it necessary."
"I won't"
Rishi paid Atreus no attention, began to descend the dais, and said, "You see?" The Mar stopped two steps above, holding the cup sideways so that the water continued to pour out at an even rate. "In this manner, we could advance all the way to the stairs above the Pool of Gems, where we might wait until the Dweller wandered away on its business. Or perhaps we would send someone to distract it while the others fled with the Fountain of Infinite Grace."
"How do we escape Langdarma before the Sannyasi catches us?" Atreus asked, more to prove the impossibility of Rishi's plan than because he was really interested. Or so he told himself. "From what little I recall, the Passing was something of a challenge."
Rishi's smile grew confident "Langdarma is difficult to enter, but easy to leave," he said. "Yago and I learned of many exits while we were searching for the fountain."
Seema's body stiffened. She began to struggle in Atreus's arms, going so far as to bite his palm. He winced, then pointed his chin at the altar.
"Put it back," Atreus said, feeling Seema's chin grow slick with his blood. "Sune didn't send me here to steal the fountain or anything else."
Rishi's eyes hardened and he demanded, "Do you never think of anyone beyond yourself?" He glanced back toward the alabaster altar. "I am sure that any two of those treasures would make me the wealthiest bahrana in the Five Kingdoms!"
"I'm tired of telling you." Atreus caught Yago's eye, swung his chin toward the Mar, and said, "Feel free to break an arm if he doesn't give it to you."
Instead of rushing to obey, the ogre asked, "You sure about that?"
"What?" Atreus gasped, astonished by Yago's disobedience. "You can't be with him!"
Yago scowled, clearly insulted. " 'Course not!" he said. "I'm just trying to figure out why you want to stay ugly for the rest of your life." The ogre glanced at Rishi and added, "He's right about Sune. You know he is. I didn't come all this way to see you go home empty-handed."
Atreus fell silent, weighing the ogre's opinion and hating himself for it. To even consider the possibility that Sune had sent him after the cup was a betrayal of Seema's love, yet the way she continued to struggle in his arms made it clear that she believed he had already forsaken her. He glanced down and noticed his blood drops falling into the stream of sparkling water and turning into little beads of gold. Everyone but him, it seemed, knew exactly what the goddess expected.
"On my heart," Atreus growled. "How I wish I could stay."
"But the Sannyasi will not permit it, and so he deserves what he shall receive." Rishi smirked, then started back up the dais. "Come along, Yago, and help me retrieve the rest of the treasure."
"No," Atreus said, closing his eyes. "Don't do it."
Seema stopped struggling, astonished, and Rishi spun on his heel, spraying her and Atreus with a stream of shining water.
"What?" the Mar demanded.
Atreus opened his eyes again. "We came to fill the vial." He pointed his chin toward the cup. "Put it back."
Rishi glared at Seema icily, clearly blaming her for the loss of his fortune. A crafty gleam came to his eye.
"You are very clever, good sir. If the water loses its sparkle again, we can always return for the cup in the morning. But how will you pay me with all your gold lost in the river? Even the clothes on your back are not your own."
Seema tensed at Rishi's words, but she did not resume her struggle. Though even Atreus could not say what he would do if the water lost its sparkle again, he sensed that Seema hoped as much as he that he would not have to make the choice. He glanced in Yago's direction and nodded.
"Give me that!" Yago's gangling arm lashed out, ripping the cup from Rishi's hands and inadvertently turning it upside down.
It was as though the ogre had punched a hole in the bottom of a lake. A raging torrent of water poured from the mouth of the chalice, instantly sweeping the legs out from under Atreus and Rishi and sweeping them down the aisle.
Fearing the Mar would take advantage of the situation, Atreus released Seema and grabbed Rishi instead. They tumbled a dozen paces down the aisle, before Yago finally thought to right the cup. The torrent ended as swiftly as it began, depositing Atreus and his captive among the moldy-smelling rugs on a meditation platform.