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A thick blanket of clouds shrouded the moon. Oskar sat on the roof of the archives building, gazing down at the city. The twinkle of lights from houses far below looked like tiny stars, and he imagined for a moment that he was a god looking down on his creation. He managed a rueful grin. Such a thought must have stemmed from his choice of reading material.
He’d been sitting here three nights running, reading Godwars and hoping Lizzie would show up. So far, she had not. Perhaps tonight would be the night.
He summoned the tiny ball of blue light, making it just bright enough for him to read, but not so bright that he would be spotted from any distance, and opened his book. He quickly found himself drawn in by the details of the legendary war. With all the things that had changed in his life, his love of books had remained a constant. The words on the page came to life in his mind and he could imagine himself there in the midst of it all.
He’d only read for a short while when he found himself yanked back to reality by what he read.
“This isn’t right,” he said.
“Talking to yourself again?”
He jumped and dropped his book, but managed to catch it before it slid away.
“Stop doing that to me. One of these days, I’m going to fall off and it will be your fault.”
“One of these days you’ll learn to keep your eyes and ears open. You never know who or what might be sneaking up behind you.” Lizzie sat down beside him, pulled her knees to her chest, and laid her head on his shoulder.
Oskar tensed. He knew it was wrong for him to let things continue with Lizzie. Their feelings for one another were growing stronger. She had told him she loved him, and he thought he felt the same way, but he was going to be a saikur, and that left no room for a woman in his life; not even one as beautiful as Lizzie.
She caught him staring at her. “I can tell you’ve got something on your mind. What is it?”
He hesitated. What should he say to her? His first impulse was to tell her how he felt about her, but how he felt and what he knew he ought to feel for her were at odds. Would he be doing her any kindness by sharing his feelings, knowing he could never act upon them?
“Lizzie, how much do you know about saikurs?”
“I know they’re stuffy old men who wear ugly brown cloaks.” She flicked the sleeve of Oskar’s cloak. “And they spend entirely too much time with their noses buried in books. At least, one of them does.” She looked meaningfully at Oskar’s book.
Oskar managed a smile. “I’m not a saikur yet, but I hope to be.”
“That’s nice.” She cast a thoughtful look at him. “So, what do you people do, exactly? Besides walk around and look self-important, I mean.”
“Lots of things. It depends on your field of study. Some of us become healers, others scholars.”
Lizzie pretended to yawn and then dropped her head onto his shoulder and pretended to fall asleep. “Boring.”
“We don’t all have boring jobs. Some are warriors, others travel the world, gathering knowledge or working as ambassadors.”
Now Lizzie perked up. “That’s a little better. I think you should be one of those. When do we leave?”
Oskar’s insides fluttered at the word “we.” Thief or no, for such a beautiful girl to think the two of them could have a future together... Well, it wasn’t something he’d ever thought would happen to him. But he knew it couldn’t be.
“Lizzie, a saikur can’t ever get married.”
She threw back her head and laughed. “Who said anything about getting married?”
“That’s how it’s done in the town where I grew up. You find someone you,” he swallowed hard, “love and you get married.”
Lizzie raised an eyebrow. “Look around you. Are you in your village anymore?”
He looked out at the night-blanketed city and then at Lizzie, and shook his head. “I suppose not.”
Lizzie sighed. “I declare, it’s going to take everything I’ve got to whip you into shape. I’ll try to explain this to you, so listen carefully. When you are finally a seeker, or whatever you call yourselves, you’re going to take me with you. We’re going to see the world together. I’ll watch your back and I’ll be your companion.”
She put an emphasis on the last word that sent a tingle through parts of his body he preferred not to think about at the moment. He shifted uncomfortably and continued to gaze into her eyes.
“That is,” she began, wrapping her arms around his neck, “unless you don’t want me.”
His resolve crumbled. “I love you,” he blurted.
“Why wouldn’t you?” she teased. “I’m lovable.” She pushed him onto his back and smothered him with kisses.
Some time later, it might have been minutes or hours for all his muddled mind could gather, they lay side by side looking up at the night sky. Lizzie’s head rested on his arm, which had gone numb, but he didn’t want her to move. Not ever. He lay there, feeling her warmth pressed against him and listening to the soft sounds of her breathing, and wondering how long it would take him to become a full-fledged saikur. Would she wait for him?
Lizzie finally broke the silence. “Does the moon look different in other parts of the world?”
“It’s the same no matter where you go. It goes through the same cycles and everything.”
“Cycles?” she asked.
“You know: full moon, half-moon, sickle moon.”
Lizzie rolled onto her side, facing him. “And they’re the same wherever you go? That’s disappointing. You educated people take all the wonder out of the world.”
“Not all the wonder,” he said. “I once faced down a golorak and accidentally called down lightning on it.” Seeing her confused frown, he told her about the creature that could best be described as a giant frog with a tough hide and razor sharp teeth. Before he could tell the story of how he’d dispatched one of them, she punched his chest.
“That’s not a true story. Stop winding me up.” She pressed a finger to his lips and shushed him before he could protest. “I’m not listening, so don’t bother. If it were a true story, you would have told me before now.”
“It never came up before,” he protested. “It’s not as if I killed it on purpose, so it wasn’t heroic. Back then I didn’t even know I was capable of sorcery.”
Lizzie’s expression grew serious. “It doesn’t really matter to me, you know.”
“What doesn’t?”
“What you choose to do. I know how you feel about your books, and I’ll still love you even if you decide to be a boring old librarian instead of an adventurer. Of course, we won’t get to spend as much time alone together if you’re a librarian as we will if we go on the road.”
Oskar felt his face turn scarlet and hoped she couldn’t see.
“Speaking of books, what are you reading?” She picked up his book and held it up in the moonlight.
He scowled and considered pressing the issue of the golorak, but decided against it. One day she would meet his friends and they would confirm the story. “It’s called Godwars,” he finally said.
“What’s it about?”
Oskar frowned. “Um, it’s about the Godwars.”
Lizzie punched him again. “I know that, you ox. I mean, what’s happening in the part you’re reading now? Something in there got your attention just as I arrived. Whatever it was, you said it made no sense.”
It took him a moment to remember what he’d been thinking about before she and her soft lips had interrupted him. “It’s the final Godwar. It just... ended.”
“That was a good thing, right? I mean, the songs all tell of the death and destruction the wars wrought.”
“But wars don’t just end. They wind down. There are negotiations, battles won and lost, concessions made, treaties signed. But that didn’t happen here. Best I can tell, the rulers of all the nations disappeared, never to return again, and soon afterward, everyone lost the will to fight and just went home. But that’s not the strangest part.”
“What is?”
“The gods disappeared too. One day they’re leading armies, shifting alliances, and battling one another; the next, they’re gone. And I mean gone.”
Lizzie looked up at the sky and tugged at her ponytail as she considered this. “You’re saying there are no more gods?”
“I don’t know. They haven’t been seen since. What’s more, magic comes from the gods. Before the Godwars, and during them, people could do amazing things with magic, but since the gods disappeared, we can do very little.”
“But you can still do magic, so the gods are still around,” Lizzie said.
“Right. At least, that makes the most sense, but it seems like they’re far away or something.”
“Why are you reading about the Godwars, anyway?”
“I’ve been trying to learn more about the Silver Serpent. I thought it was created before or during the Godwars, but there’s no mention of it.”
“You said your friend Shanis already has the Silver Serpent, so what does it matter?” Lizzie asked.
“I don’t know,” he admitted. “Aspin told me to research it. He thinks the Silver Serpent holds the key to stopping the next Frostmarch.”
Lizzie shivered and snuggled up against him and he pulled her close. “I thought the Frostmarch was a fairy tale. I guess not, huh?”
Oskar shook his head.
“In that case, I suppose you should keep looking. I still think this Aspin fellow owes you a better explanation. You aren’t his slave.”
“I’m a novit and he’s a saikur. Besides, I’ve always had someone telling me what to do: my parents, the Van Derins, and here at the Gates it seems like everyone gets to tell me what to do. It feels natural to me.”
“If you’re good at following instructions, that bodes well for me,” Lizzie said.
“I don’t suppose you’re answerable to anyone, are you?”
“I wouldn’t say that. It’s true I have more freedom than you, but we thieves hold one another accountable through the guild. We can’t step on one another’s toes. I work the stretch between Beggar’s Cove and the Red Way. I can’t work anywhere else unless I’m reassigned. I’m mostly a rooftop girl. I slip inside houses and take what I want, but I also pick pockets from time to time. I’m not allowed to do anything that would call undue attention to my neighborhood. I can’t steal too much from the same person, and I can’t slit throats unless it’s in defense of my life. If I think someone needs killing, I have to take my case to the guild. They get to decide, and if they agree with me, they’ll send an assassin to do it. I’m not allowed.”
Oskar found it almost inconceivable that such talk could come from a beautiful girl like Lizzy, but he supposed people could grow accustomed to anything. He remembered the Lothans, who thought of war the way he thought of a rainy day—a simple, often unfortunate, fact of life.
“Are you free to leave Vatania?” he asked. “Or will the guild try to stop you?”
Lizzie considered this. “I am allowed to leave, but if I do I can never come back. We keep an eye on one another’s comings and goings. If one of our number starts meeting with the wrong sorts, we know about it. If one of us leaves, however, we have no way of knowing what he or she has been up to or for whom that person might be working. So if you leave, you don’t come back. It is known.”
“Do they know you’ve been meeting with me?”
“Doubtful. I’m good, you see, and I’ve never once given cause for suspicion. But if they knew, they’d definitely keep a closer eye on me. Of course, the Gates doesn’t care about things like local crime. It’s the constables, soldiers, and petty functionaries I need to avoid. Unless I’m cutting their purses.” She flashed a wicked grin.
“Speaking of people to avoid, there’s something I need to tell you.” He told her about Agen trying to follow her.
Lizzie sat upright. “One of your weird magical friends was after me and you didn’t do anything?”
“He’s not my friend.” Oskar felt that declaring Agen his sworn enemy would be a touch too melodramatic, so he left it at that. “And I did follow him, but when I got outside, he had already lost sight of you.”
“I told you not to follow me,” she said. “And you ignored my wishes?”
Now Oskar was completely flustered. “But you just said...”
Lizzie laughed. “You’re too easy, you know that? I’ll keep an eye out for him, but I’m not easy to catch.” She looked out at the horizon, where the thin, gray line of the sea announced the sun’s approach. “I’d better go. I have work to do and you need sleep.” She brushed her lips against his cheek and then she was gone.