There is a loud gasp as all the villagers assembled in a great circle around Kina and Nakali take in a horrified gasp. Kuanatuku is still seated at his throne. He slowly looks down in horror at the spear protruding from his side, mouth open in a wordless howl.
Kina doesn’t hesitate. Racing across the square, she hurls herself at the ali`i and pries the pahi from his fingers. By the time the shocked warriors are recovering their senses enough to ready an attack, Kina pulls the throne backward, tumbling Kuanatuku onto the sandy stones.
There is a thunderclap, as though lightning struck nearby, and Kina is shoved to her knees. When she looks up, she sees the strange pale advisor, still standing near his ali`i, is looking down at her with a raised hand. In his palm, Kina can see a gathering vortex of wind and light.
He was a kapua?
His markings look familiar, and now she is beginning to understand why.
Kina gathers up the pahi. Kuanatuku has rolled to his side and is trying to pull the spear from his body. All around Kina the village is mobilizing, coming toward her with their weapons. She won’t have another chance—she needs to do this right the first time.
She gets back to her feet before the kapua can gather the mana for another of his dark spells. Kina almost tackles him, throwing her arm around his neck and digging the point of the pahi into his back.
“Call them off!” she hisses in his ear. “Call them off, or you die right now, sorcerer!”
He weighs the situation for a moment, but it doesn’t take long before he raises his hands. “Hold!” he shouts to the advancing mob. “Stay back!”
“Good boy,” Kina says.
She looks over at Nakali, who has been surrounded by warriors who, suspecting she might be in on the surprise attack, have shoved her to the ground and are holding her in place by the tips of their spears.
“Let her up!” she shouts to them. They hesitate, so she pushes the pahi another inch into the sorcerer, who screams in agony while se repeats her command. At this, the warriors back off. Nakali slowly gets up, holding her broken arm tightly against her stomach.
By now, Kuanatuku has pulled the spear through his body, dropping the blood-slick shaft to the ground. He waves away assistants who try to help him up.
“You just killed yourself,” he says to Kina.
She looks at him. “Did you ever offer any different fate?”
“If you run, my warriors will hunt you down.”
“I won’t run. I’ll walk. Nakali, come on over here.”
Nakali makes her way to the throne, nearly leaning on it in her agony. She searches Kina’s eyes for some hint of a plan, but Kina just nods her head toward the forest.
“We’ll be going, now. If you want your sorcerer returned, let us go in peace.”
“You’ll kill him as soon as you’re out of sight.”
“That’s not my way. He’ll live, if you hold back.”
Kuanatuku says nothing more. Kina gestures for Nakali to follow, then then three of them—captive, captor, and erstwhile ally—head away from the village into the dense forest that surrounds it.
As soon as they are out of sight of the village, Nakali turns to Kina. “If you think saving me has changed anything-“
“You mean saving you again?” Kina says. “By my count this makes two times. I believe you owe me.”
“I owe you nothing. It is no more than any kaua should do for her mistress.”
“Well you’re wrong, there,” Kina says. “Any kaua would have let a mistress like you be speared like a hog in that filthy village square. But I’m not a kaua, certainly not yours at any rate, and I would rather give you a clean death myself than have those wretches eat your soul.”
Nakali says, “I have a spear. Perhaps I’ll kill you right now.”
“Go ahead,” Kina says. She is pushing the sorcerer along, the tip of her pahi still in his back. “As soon as you do, this kapua right here will flatten you with one of his spells, and you’ll be food for cannibals before nightfall.”
“He is a blasphemer,” Nakali says. “He steal his power from the gods themselves. I can think of no greater kapu. Once we’re away from those pigs back there, I’ll kill him myself.”
“Try it and you’ll join him in the Land Beyond.”
Nakali keeps pace with her, barely keeping her rage in check, though she doesn’t attack.
“So, sorcerer,” Kina says Hekalo, “how do we find To`o?”
When he doesn’t respond, Kina asks, “What is your name?”
“Hekalo.”
“Does Kuanatuku know what you truly are?”
Nakali cuts in. “If he’s a sorcerer, that’s all the more reason not to trust him. Their deceitful ways are known to all. How can you be sure he’s even in his correct form now? Who can say what he really looks like?”
“I guess we’ll just have to find out, won’t we Hekalo?” Kina prods him forward as they walk. “And how,” she asks, “did a sorcerer end up out here, debasing himself with cannibals on an empty island in the eastern ocean?”
“I came for the same reason anyone else comes,” he replies. “Because I heard that To`o can provide knowledge.”
Kina says, “Something tells me most of those halfwits back there came here for something else.”
Hekalo nods. “Yes, most of them heard that Kuanatuku knows how to eat souls.”
Nakali asks, “So? Does he?”
“No,” Hekalo says. “He has them all pretty well fooled. He takes prisoners to To`o, and offers them up as sacrifices.”
“He kills them?”
“Not exactly. He sets-”
He is interrupted when Nakali abruptly keels over into the bushes, crashing to the ground. Kina whirls, expecting treachery, but Nakali is motionless where she fell.
“Get up,” Kina says, nudging the woman with her foot. Nakali moans.
“I can’t. I feel too faint.”
“What’s going on?” Hekalo asks.
Kina says, “She’s in a lot of pain.”
“It’s her arm.”
Kina says, “Can you fix it?”
“What makes you think I can do that?”
“Aren’t you a sorcerer?”
Hekalo turns around and looks at her. His stringy, black hair falls down to his shoulders. “What do I get in return?”
“How about I don’t kill you?” Kina says.
“You’re already using that threat for something else. Besides, don’t you hate her?”
Nakali shakes her head. “You won’t use your sacrilegious magic on me!”
Kina says, “Quiet. You don’t have a choice.”
“You city folk are an odd lot. Let me go, and I’ll do it.”
Kina shakes her head. “Do it, and I’ll let you go.”
“Done.”
Hekalo steps over to Nakali and rolls her so she is out of the brush and flat on her back. Nakali resists him at first, but when she tries to jerk her arm away from him she cries out in agony. He lifts her wounded arm and rests it on his palms. For a few seconds he is motionless, but then Kina realizes he is quietly whispering something under his breath. It isn’t a prayer, but more of nonsense syllables strung together.
This goes on for a minute. Then he lowers her hand and falls back as if drained. He licks his lips and looks at the sky through the trees.
“Are you all right?”
“It takes,” he says between pants, “a lot of mana. And mana is very weak here.”
“I don’t see any difference,” Kina says, looking over Nakali’s arm. “How is it?”
Nakali is still on her back, her arm tight across her stomach. “Save your false concern, kaua.” She sits up and gingerly examines it.
“Glad you’re feeling better, then.”
Hekalo says, “Somewhere else, I might have been able to heal it completely. Here, all I could do was bring the bones back in line and stop the pain. She’ll still need to tie it up and not use that arm for a couple of weeks.”
“Well,” Kina says, rising to her feet, “you can wait for Kuanatuku here. As for us, we have to keep moving.”
He sits up. “Where will you go?”
Kina shrugs. “We’re looking for To`o. He’s somewhere out here, and that’s all I know.”
“I know where he is.”
Kina looks down at the sorcerer. “You shouldn’t have said that. Now I’m tempted to take you hostage again.”
“No need,” Hekalo says. He grunts and gets back to his feet. “I’ll show you where he is.”
“Why would you do that?” Kina asks, unable to keep the surprise from her voice. “I gave you your freedom.”
“And I took it. But I want to speak with To`o, as well. I haven’t been up there alone since I came to this island and convinced those mindless savages to take me as their kupuna, instead of eat me.”
“You’ve seen To`o? The God in the Stone?” Nakali asks.
“Yes, I’ve seen him. There’s a way up to the mountaintop not far from here. Kuanatuku and his men use it all the time. It’s dangerous, though. You’ll need someone who knows the way.”
Kina looks down at Nakali. The high priestess stands back up, clearly still woozy but able to walk.
“Lead on,” Kina says.
Hekalo strikes out through the trees, leading in a new direction. Before long, Kina can hear drums starting up in the village. Kuanatuku has recovered enough from his injury to seriously consider a hunt, or at least so it seems. To Kina, the sound of the drums brings up uncomfortable memories of fleeing the temple of the Ebon Flame.
“Here I am again,” she says.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
They make their way through the forest, crossing a narrow and shallow stream that babbles over smooth stones. This is the river, she figures, the one that empties out near the village downslope.
Then she sees it: a clear path, cut through the heart of the forest, leading up into the upper foothills.
“This is the path?” Nakali asks.
“It is,” Hekalo says. “To`o is up there.” He points up the slope, and through the trees, Kina can see the peak of a tall mountain.
“How far?”
“It takes most of a day to get there,” Hekalo replies, already heading up the path. “We shouldn’t delay.”
“A day?” Kina asks, horrified. “Can we manage that? We have no supplies, no water, no nothing.”
“Do we have a choice?”
Kina could see his point.
With the drums still beating in the distance, she trudges up the path after him.
Hours later, the heat of the day has built to near fever pitch. Though they are still in heavy forest, the gradual slope has grown much steeper. Kina can see high ridges rising above them, covered in dense vegetation and shrouded at their tops by layers of cloud.
“How high is this place?” Nakali asks.
“We haven’t yet reached the stairs,” Hekalo replies.
Kina asks, “There are stairs? What do you mean?”
“Stone steps. You’ll see.”
Before long, Kina can make out a strange, thin line cutting up the slope, visible even from down here. Hekalo confirms that these are the stairs. It is remarkable that they can be seen from so far away, and once their group arrives at the base, Kina can see why. The stairs are made of blocks of hand-cut stone and carefully set in even steps up the steep pitch of the incline. Time and the elements have weathered the stones and shifted some of their positions, and moss and weeds crowd the cracks between the blocks. It is clear these stones are very old.
“Who put these down?” Kina asks. She notices Nakali taking a keen interest in them, as well.
Hekalo shrugs. “Who knows?”
Kina is thinking of another set of stairs a hundred miles away or more, in the lonely, windswept pinnacles of Lohoke`a. Nakali shoots her a glance, and Kina is sure the high priestess is thinking the same thing.
The stairs make the ascent much easier. A dirt path on a slope of this angle would be perilous and slow-going. As it is, the stairs tax their endurance and force them to stop occasionally to rest and catch their breath.
Some ways up, they pass a small stream spilling down over some stones. They stop and drink. A passing cloud provides some shade. From here, they can see far out to sea. The ocean appears flat and placid from this height—what would be huge curlers breaking on the reef like peals of thunder appear from here as nothing more than calm white lines advancing slowly across a quiet sea.
“What is that?” Nakali asks.
Kina follows her gaze back down the long staircase. Far at the bottom, so small they are difficult to see, Kina spots a group of warriors stealthily emerging from the treeline and heading up the stairs.
“It’s Kuanatuku,” she cries. “He’s figured out where we’re going!”
“We must get going,” Hekalo says.
The three of them stand up from where they had been sitting on the steps. A strong wind whips at their hair.
They start up the steps, taking them faster than before. Kina repeatedly looks behind her as they go. It doesn’t seem like the warriors are catching up, though they seem to be moving as fast.
Up here, the trees are growing more scarce. They are replaced by hillocks of stone and blowing grasses. Kina can see some old carvings in some of the stones—leering faces sticking out their tongues, strange petroglyphs, patterns of holes and swirls. The markings look as old as the stairs, maybe even older.
While passing a cluster of the old stones, Kina pauses. The others rush on several more steps before realizing their companion has stopped.
“What are you doing? Hurry!” Hekalo says.
“Wait,” Kina replies. “I think I have an idea.”
She climbs over the low stone coping on one side of the stairs and scrambles through the weeds to one of the boulders. It is big, but it seems like it might be loose enough.
“Help me!” she shouts. Stepping to the far side, she leans into the boulder.
The others see what she is doing and run over to help her. The rock budges when all three of them put their weight into it. Gravel and soil rush away as the stone shifts in its centuries-old cradle.
Kina grunts, “Keep going!”
The boulder teeters and then rolls onto its top. The glaring eyes of some old carved devil on the stone look out on the world from a new angle.
It takes several more minutes of pushing to get the boulder over to the stairs and then onto the coping. Looking down, Kina can see the warriors have cleared the distance and are only a minute away.
“Hide!” she says, and the three of them duck down.
Only the wind meets their ears at first, and then Kina can hear the soft footfalls of the warriors growing ever closer.
She screams, “Now!” and stands, throwing her weight into the stone. The others do the same, and it scrapes loudly across the coping and then topples. It cracks the old flagstones as it thunders down the steps.
Kina hears screams, then the boulder is among the warriors. Some of them have ducked to the side, but it catches three of them who didn’t have time to get out of the way. They are knocked back by the rampaging stone, bodies battered, crushed, thrown.
When the boulder has finally passed the surviving warriors continue up the steps. There are only four of them, now, and they visibly seethe with rage.
“Run,” Hekalo says. Kina and Nakali need no prodding. They follow him as he continues up the stairs, the warriors only a short distance behind.
For what seems to Kina an eternity, they continue up the stairs. The top is now in sight, and Kina thinks it is the only thing that keeps them from giving up this exhausting climb and turning to face their pursuers, for better or for worse. She is relieved when they stagger up the last step.
The stairs end at a crumbling platform of stone. It is made of flagstones, also once carefully set together by human hands, though roots have pushed upward in the long years since, buckling and folding the floor in places. The three of them do their best not to trip as they run across the stone yard.
She can tell this area is built along the shoulder of a ridge, because on the far side she can see a steep drop-off. When the grow closer, she can see the escarpment is very steep, almost a sheer cliff. There is a path that exits the clearing, also lined with stones, that sticks close to the side of the bluff rising above them.
“Where are we going?” she asks Hekalo.
“The trail continues this way,” he says, pointing ahead. “Someone built a stone platform on this cliff.”
Now, she can see what is is talking about. Ahead of them, the natural path ends and is replaced by a ledge cut from the bare stone on a vertical cliff. The slope drops precipitously into a river canyon.
Nakali and Kina stop, unsure about going further.
Hekalo has continued, leaping gracefully across a gap in the ledge where the stone has broken away. When he realizes the two women aren’t behind him, he stops and looks back.
“Hurry!”
“And step onto that narrow overhang? No way,” Kina says. “There must be another way.”
“There isn’t,” Hekalo replies, exasperated. “Just jump across. It’s safe. I’ve been up here before.”
“It doesn’t look safe,” Kina says.
Nakali spits. “I knew it! It’s all a trick. He’s trying to lead us to our death.”
“If I was doing that, it would have happened a long time ago. Now, come on!”
Kina steps up the edge and looks down. The fall would easily kill her. It is nearly a sheer drop to the rocks far below.
“This is the only way to the God in the Stone?” she asks.
“Yes. These ledges go some ways along this cliff face. I know they’re old, but they are safe. There are ropes to help you. You two are light; you won’t fall. Now, please, take my hand! Hurry! They’ll be here soon!”
“Too late,” Nakali says, turning and holding out her spear toward the men who are rushing across the flagstones. “They already are.”