Page 102 of Earthbound

‘There is no other way?’

Afa stood, the ground shaking with his anger. ‘Do you think I promise false? Centuries it has taken to write this weave. The graves with no names were some of the few bodies I experimented with. I carved them and bled them, I twisted their bones and lost their souls. Nothing, not even my own disgust, would stop me from this cause. And you are here asking if there is another way?’

Lettle’s stomach churned as her mind conjured images of his exploits. The earthquake stilled and Afa tilted his head, surveying her like a book he was analysing.

‘You are sickened by my actions? But understand this, there is only one reason I have not unravelled my binding to the earth. To undo what I have done. And nothing, not even your judgement, will stop me from this path.’

He sat back in his throne with a sigh.

‘The human magic has done you much damage,’ Lettle said once she was sure his anger had cooled.

Afa’s voice was sharp. ‘And the Fates you call to, tell me, how much damage have they done to you and your life?’

Lettle bit down on her tongue and thought of Rayan.

The knowing smile Afa gave her let her know he had read her expression well. Then he shut his eyes and murmured quietly to himself.

‘Love and power make fools of us all…’ he said in a sing-song voice.

‘The sleepwalking,’ Lettle said abruptly, her eyes sparking wide. ‘That’s you, isn’t it?’

He opened his eyes lazily. ‘Magic cannot bind the line between sleep and wakefulness. Though even then I had little control of my body–all I knew was that I needed to return to myself, to here.’

Lettle felt dizzy, like she too traversed the land between sleep and wakefulness.

‘So we must travel to Mosima?’ she asked.

‘Yes. We must unravel as well as create anew.’

‘And what of the sacrifice?’

‘An unravelling requires none; it is undoing a knot in the fabric of the world. It does not take but gives back.’

‘But creating the human bodies? That must require a penance?’

‘There will not be one, for I will speak that spell,’ Afa said dismissively. ‘And as I have said before, I am the elements of this world and I can turn it to my needs.’

Lettle stretched her left arm over the gold edge of the throne. The damaged muscles in it ached but she hadn’t noticed the pain since she had arrived in the sanctuary. It was only now in the silence that she felt it twinge.

The quiet wasn’t comfortable, but Lettle made herself savour it. She had learned too much, too fast.

And what she would learn next would be the most important part.

Afa picked up the grimoire and handed it to her.

‘I have waited a thousand years for this spell to be spoken. Will you let me teach it to you so you can share it with my descendants?’ He asked the question as if he was speaking about something small and as inconsequential as the weather.

She could say no. But that was a false choice.

So she did the only thing she could. She said, ‘Teach me.’

Chapter Twenty

Yeeran

Yeeran walked into the jail far more calmly than she felt. Her hands were clammy, and she pulled off the silk gloves that bound them.

Malak was huddled in the corner of his cell, scraps of food abandoned on a tin plate in front of him. He looked miserable, and she was glad.