The tenth day broke with a blazing sunrise and the dreaded engine noise of cycle bandits. Krokosod symptoms were strong among the remaining few hundred tower workers.
Veda Loor took to the driver’s bench next to Maella and whipped the camels onward as a horned call of warning sounded. Cycle bandits had zoomed down from the dunes and picked off one of the slowest wagons. Circling the wagon with their strange, purple-puffing machines, Maella watched them close in and begin to take the wagon apart.
“They waited until we were close to the city,” Veda Loor said, a grudging respect in her voice, “So they wouldn’t need to carry what they took very far before selling it.”
The torchlighter wagon took off after the Library of Souls wagon. Soon the entire caravan whipped their camels into sprints. This close to Jillow City, speed was their only chance to outpace trouble and reach the relative safety of the city as soon as possible.
A hazy purple film appeared on the horizon behind them. The cycle bandits roared back into view, cutting off another wagon from the caravan. The camels brayed in frustration as Veda Loor and Dev forced their respective animals forward.
Sand turned into hardpan and finally soil. Only when scrub grass islands turned into grass meadows and crop fields did Veda Loor slow.
As they passed a guard station Veda Loor yelled for Dev to send someone to tell the guards about the cycle bandits. Once Lo returned from the guard station, Veda Loor visibly relaxed. The cycle bandits would not dare enter Jillow City territory now, Veda Loor explained.
The camels were allowed a brief break to drink at a gurgling stream and browse for some greens alongside the road’s ditch. Maella and the others quickly filled empty stomachs and storage containers with the fresh water.
Jillow City appeared as a smudge on the horizon. When it did, Veda Loor released control of the reins, knowing the camels could see and smell the city and would not waver from the path that meant rest. Veda Loor came into the wagon and put the four of them into a flurry of organizing. Planks were scrubbed, parchment stacks were tidied, and through all of it Veda Loor watched, criticized, instructed, and slapped sloppy hands with her cane.
Senta, it seemed, had taken a personal interest in everything inside the wagon and had even made an organizational suggestion to Veda Loor once or twice. Instead of infuriating Veda Loor, this made her very pleased with Senta. She put Senta in charge of more and more duties and promised to teach Senta how to read.
“There will be a place for all of you in the Library of Souls if you continue to work like this for me in there,” Veda Loor said.
“Thank you,” Maella said. She and Sethlo had spoken at length about what to do next. Their only option seemed to be to search the Library of Souls for answers about the One Door. The image that Maella had blazed in her mind from her last pattern propelled her every step and decision.
Everyone she searched for waited for her at the One Door.
Tomi had been no help. If anything, he had only drawn further into himself the more Maella and Sethlo pressed him for answers. Maella had given up, though Sethlo had not. Senta took more and more charge of Tomi, which was just as well, since Maella had plans to go after the One Door and Tomi clearly wanted no part of that.
When they were only a few hours out from the city, Veda Loor called them off the cleanup, declaring the work finished. She opened the doors, allowing blue sky and fresh air inside. The horizon had turned from a straight line into curving hills, trees, and the faintest hint of walls.
“There will be a festival when we arrive,” Veda Loor said. “There is always a festival when the licatherin arrives—”
“But there won’t be any licatherin this year,” Senta said.
“Yes, things will be very different, but they will not know it at first. Watch out for yourselves and find me in the Library of Souls. Everyone knows my name—” Her voice held a hint of anxiety.
“What are you afraid of?” Sethlo asked.
“I don’t know what will happen,” Veda Loor said, shaking her head. “The licatherin has always come back from the tower.”
Veda Loor returned to the driver’s bench, leaving the four of them to finish the march to Jillow City together. They had survived the Forsi desert but new challenges awaited them inside the city. Time ticked away and the waiting felt like an eternity.
“Let’s walk to the city walls,” Maella said finally. She could not stand to stay inside the wagon for another minute.
Senta reorganized a shelf that wasn’t to her liking, but Tomi and Sethlo joined Maella to walk on ground that was no longer sand. The feel of real soil beneath her feet reminded her of home and grass and soil and creek. Tomi walked on her left, quiet and thoughtful, as if he studied the landscape like a scientist might. His hands were at his sides and he held that blank expression again, but his eyes were not empty like before. Maella hoped the Library of Souls might have answers that explained him too—who he was, where he had come from, what had happened to make him end up in the Tower of Shadows.
“Tomi,” Maella began, not sure how to word her thoughts. Too many times over these last few days her very presence had sent him scurrying inside some internal cave or angered him.
Tomi responded to his made-up name by looking at Maella. They walked a few steps like that until finally she just came out with it. She had not told anyone else about Tomi’s angry outburst. “When we get into Jillow City, we’re going to search for your family.” She made that promise to herself as she said the words aloud.
Tomi’s gait stumbled.
He had been alone for who knew how long. He had been a Klylup in the tower for longer than Senta, and even Dev and Deep, had worked at the tower. Transforming into a Klylup had locked his age somehow at the doormaker boy he had been. She had no idea if any of his family was still alive or even for how long they might have been dead but she would do everything she could to find out the answers.
Tomi looked at Maella for a long time, face neutral, before nodding once.
Maella let out a sigh. Tomi would let her help him.
“And then you could help us,” Sethlo said, tentative, like he was feeling out the words. “Because we want to fix all this, Tomi. We do not want what happened to you to ever happen to anyone else. We need your help with that.”
“Sethlo—” Maella said, a warning note in her voice. She would never let Tomi be forced into opening a door or helping with their search. He had already gone through so much—more than she could ever imagine—and that was saying a lot after what they had experienced in Rock Heaven and the Tower of Shadows.
Tomi responded by not acknowledging Sethlo had said anything at all.
“Come on,” Maella said. “Let’s not talk about it anymore. I can’t ever remember seeing so much green before.”
This made all three of them take in the landscape and breathe in the smells of soil, grass, licatherin-free air, and rolling hills with fields and cottages tucked among them.
Accepting the change of subject, Sethlo untucked a piece of cloth at his waist and the edge of three bottles came out. He looked down at Maella and the sun hit his hazel eyes, lighting them up, making Maella’s stomach flip. They had traveled the sand for ten days with little sleep, less water, and a numbing sameness to the world, but even sand-dusted and rough-looking, Sethlo was beautiful. She felt like she could do anything with him by her side.
She looked at the bottles of licatherin and what they represented. Doors, life, addiction.
“Deep has asked each torchlighter to find the best deal for licatherin and to return with our contributions,” Sethlo said.
“Let’s sell the licatherin oil as soon as we get into the city,” Maella said. “Veda Loor told me where we could find a merchants’ square.”
Sethlo turned his eyes onto the ground and Maella felt the loss of light from his eyes.
“I agree we should sell it, but we should wait a little while. People will find out that no licatherin came from the tower and its worth will go up. We could ask whatever price we want and get it.”
Maella thought about that and knew he was right, but also wrong. “You saw what happened these past ten days. When Jillow City finds out there is no licatherin do you think people will pay us for the licatherin or take it from us by force?”
“I will not let them—”
“Against an entire city of people headed for krokosod? Even you will not win,” Maella said.
Rotting fences began to dot the rutted road. Trails snaked away from the main road and the land began to curve as they crossed gentle hills. Cropland appeared on both sides. People worked the rows, wearing hats and loose clothing to protect themselves from the sun. Water gurgled along a ditch that edged one side of the crops and it was the most beautiful sound Maella had heard in a long time.
City walls soon rose into view.
Stone.
Maella’s breath caught in her throat. Her hands became itchy. For the briefest moment she thought the stone was the same as the stone from her doors. But she soon saw the stone was not the same. Her doors always showed pitted bluish-grey stone. The city walls were clearly made from red stone.
Caravan survivors plodded forward while camels announced their presence. People in the fields stopped and soon waved at their return. Many left aside their tools and headed for the gates. The walls of Jillow City loomed overhead, at least six stories tall, on either side of the gate.
They were leaving behind the Forsi desert and would soon pass through the Jillow City gates. A part of Maella wanted to test scaling the city walls like she had walked the pipes just to take in the view and know once and for all that she had conquered the tower and the desert. Secrets and mysteries and—most importantly—answers waited inside. She would know all of it and she would use it all to find the One Door.
“I think I could climb that,” Sethlo said, interrupting Maella’s thoughts.
Maella laughed. “I was thinking the same.”
Sethlo held her hand and they walked through the city gates, secure in each other’s presence, as people cheered for the caravan’s return.