I quickly realized my mistake with using my water on everyone’s burn wounds—I had no way to refill it. We hadn’t come across a stream filled with water instead of molten rock since the first night we had camped in the inner valleys. It seemed that the lowest point of the valley didn’t offer much in the way of a habitable landscape—which was interesting given that the goddess’s sister was the one known for creating humans and many more creatures than what Heliquat ever bothered with. If one of the two was going to make things easier on their creations I would have assumed Azabel to be the one to do it.

Instead the middle of the valley was filled with more and more streams of molten rock that merged into one large river. We had to keep backtracking and adjusting our course to try and make our way around the streams since no one was quite desperate enough to risk dipping a foot in their depths. The trouble was it seemed like we’d eventually have to cross one of them to continue on, especially with the state of our supplies, since looping around the streams was eating up a lot of time.

We were running low on food and water even though we had taken some of the dead rats with us to stretch out our supplies. Prevna had taken the first test bite after we scorched the meat but when she didn’t show any ill effects and said it tasted surprisingly normal we all dug in. No one had dared taste test the plant monster.

We were running low on fuel for fires too. Since no one was sure how the goddess would react to the unnatural trees being damaged we had stuck to tradition and only gathered up fallen branches and twigs, but since we had slipped between two mountains and into a second valley there hadn’t been many trees to gather from. And the humid heat made it much easier to find myself reaching for my water flask to take a drink to get some small bit of relief from the oppressive air.

I wouldn’t be surprised if soon we had to make a decision to search out more food, water, and fuel or keep our direct approach towards where we thought the mysterious Picker band was located and hope we made it before we succumbed to exhaustion or the fog. After all, we needed fire to roast the seeds with grounder grass and then diluted with water if we wanted to resist the fog’s madness.

Only three days in and we were already in dire straits.

I glowered at the mountains rising up around us and the bright slash of flowing molten rock visible in the distance even through the ever present fog. I had known it would take us longer than a day or two to reach our destination but part of me couldn’t help but be frustrated by our difficulty.

The mysterious band likely wouldn’t have positioned their camp too far from their main supplier of protective seeds, the Red Hands’ band. We had started out farther away on the opposite side of the Red Hands’ camp, but surely it still wasn’t such a long or difficult journey for them. Maybe a day at most to the supply outpost, if they were forced to camp further away because of the terrain and no other bands wanted to deal with them—but even that sounded too long for something so important. Maybe they knew of better, quicker ways to travel through the valleys. Most likely the hidden Pickers at least wouldn’t have to trudge around every single molten stream they came across.

I kept my complaints and worries behind closed lips as we continued forward. For now. If Nine Claws didn’t make clear that she wasn’t leading everyone into delirium and starvation soon I’d force the issue. Getting the Pickers to the hidden band as quickly as possible wasn’t worth that.

It became clear that Nine Claws was using her nine spectral cats to help scout the area around us. That was how she could continue forward with such confidence despite the fog. I wasn’t sure how she communicated with them given that I never saw one run up to her while we were traveling but I figured it might be similar to how whisper women spoke on the wind. And the cats did help us save some time since we didn’t have to go right up to a molten stream to know it was there and, from what I could tell, they helped Nine Claws map the shortest way around the obstacle. They hadn’t been able to that when we came upon the first lava stream because Nine Claws had focused most of their attention on the mob hunting us.

Our forward march was stopped simply because the river of molten rock that had been steadily growing somewhere to our right filled the gap that lead into the next valley. It might even dive into a waterfall, though that was near impossible to tell for certain with the fog ruining our view.

We stood bunched up on a small outcropping overlooking the river and the sight made Colm start to cry. He might have been trying to hold it in based on the sheer number of sniffles, but apparently this was the latest difficulty in a string of them was the last one he could take. I checked on Prevna—who looked much more stern than normal—before focusing on Nine Claws while ignoring the annoying crying.

“Back and up or just climb?”

This valley had much steeper sides than the one we entered with, so we were left with the choice to either climb what was basically a cliff or retrace our steps to the easier assent. Either way we’d have to brave the purge happening in the Cut and on the mountainside while we made our around to the third valley. If we tried to continue forward everyone would just burn to death and I had no desire to learn what that—or surviving it—would be like.

Malady looked like she had sucked on something sour and I didn’t bother trying to hold my tongue back. “The goddess doesn’t provide trials you cannot overcome?”

Then I pointedly looked toward the wide orange-red disaster below us.

She looked like she had tasted dung now that I had thrown her words back in her face and I felt a bit of satisfaction that took the edge off of feeling miserable from the heat. Prevna bumped me gently on the shoulder but it felt more like a touch of understanding and support than a reprimand for letting my tongue loose on one of the two responsible for getting us all to the hidden Pickers.

Of the Pickers with us, Jika was looking at me like I was insane for criticizing Malady and Kuma was keeping a careful eye the situation even as she kept herself out of it. Gard had knelt down next to Colm, trying to reassure him, but from the way his shoulders had gone stiff I doubted he was oblivious to the conversation.

Nine Claws was similarly half-focused on the conversation while the rest of her attention had been stolen by her spirit cats. She seemed to be content to let Malady hold her own against a Sprout.

Malady cleared her expression before giving me a slight nod. “Perhaps I should not have said that as we descended away from the goddess’s domain. Why would the goddess provide a trial in a valley devoted to Her sister?”

It felt like she had punched me in the gut so I glowered at her. No one ever took back what they said, much less admitted they were wrong unless they were forced to. And even ignoring that, she had edged on the blasphemous to suggest that there was somewhere the goddess might not control, especially a place so far within Her domain. We might all know about that Her territory wasn’t endless, but it certainty felt like it was and everyone knew better than to outright acknowledge that the goddess could have limits.

There was a long pause as we all waited for Malady to be struck down but she just stood there waiting for my response.

I had to twist her words further to make sure we didn’t all end up collateral damage in case the goddess did decide Malady had pushed her luck too far. “Indeed. Why would the goddess waste time on something as simple as a trial when She could make these valleys her own whenever She chose?”

Then I pulled my prayer needle free, undid the flap on my pant leg, and pricked my mark before offering up a prayer to goddess’s strength and wisdom. The group followed suit and Malady had her own small look of satisfaction. No doubt she had known I couldn’t have just let her words hang in the air or press my point without risking insulting the goddess somehow.

Nine Claws broke the tension with an announcement. “Eighth found a climbing path carved into the mountain’s side not far from here.”

We followed her off the outcropping and to her cat’s discovery. It wasn’t a path. It wasn’t even remotely close to the switchbacks that been carved into the cliff at the Rookery. Instead, someone had taken the long and perilous effort to carve hand and footholds into the mountain’s side. Little pockets of space that we could use to climb up the vertical wall without having to adjust to the rock’s natural surface. I wasn’t sure who had decided it was worth the effort or how they had managed it, but I was grateful for the unexpected boon. Even if the pockets were spaced out for a person taller than me.

We tied Colm to Kuma’s back with some rope from one of our packs so he couldn’t accidentally fall in the middle of the climb unless she did. Then Malady went up first with Nine Claws taking up the rear behind me. Supposedly she was going last to make sure we were protected from below but I didn’t miss the fact that she’s be having nearly as much trouble with reaching the holes as me and I wouldn’t have been surprised if she was trying to keep up the image of being a great and powerful whisper woman by not letting us see her struggle.

I had to strain and go up on my tip toes to reach every new handhold while everyone else clambered up above me with ease. My arms and legs started to ache before we were even halfway up the storming mountainside. It felt like the climb lasted longer than all of our wandering through the inner valleys put together. But I kept climbing.

I refused to be the idiot who stopped and let go simply because her arms simultaneously felt like they had been dipped in the molten streams and now weighed three times as the rest of me all on their own. Especially with a whisper woman puffing away behind me. Either I’d make it to the top or my body would give out…and I refused to let the latter happen.

Still, I was glad that we didn’t have anyone like Juniper in our group. If she had been here I was sure she would have frozen part way up even with the fog obscuring the distance to the ground and we didn’t have any convenient shadows for her to travel through to pry her off the wall.

By the time we made it up the carved path I didn’t have the strength to stand or proper move my arms. I collapsed on the ground next to the cliff, one foot still off the edge, and just hoped that my penchant for unfortunate situations didn’t make the ground crumble away beneath me. I left just enough room for Nine Claws to squeeze past me before she stumbled over to a large nearby rock and casually leaned against it.

Kuma wasn’t much better after hauling two people up the cliff, healing wounds and all. She sat with her arms dangling over her bent knees taking in deep, gasping breaths. Malady and Prevna had faired the best out of everyone though Jika didn’t look terrible either. Gard was slightly worse off than her with a hand pressed to his still healing puncture wound. No doubt reaching up had pulled at some of Mirabeth’s stitches. Really, Colm had fared the best out of everyone but he didn’t count since he been carried the whole way. Now he was keeping close to Kuma and asking whether she’d always been so strong.

I drew in a deep breath of air and relished in the fact that the fog was thinner here than it had been down in the valleys.

A scuffing sound came from between two other boulders and I shifted just enough to see the space between them out of the corner of my eye. Prevna stopped walking over to check on me and looked towards the noise too.

A boy, a young man really, since he looked to be around our age, came shuffling out from between the boulders with a spear held out defensively in front of him. “Who are you?”

Nine Claws pushed off her resting spot and drew his gaze to her. I clearly saw him swallow when he caught sight of her lips but he still stammered out, “W-what are you doing here? Why were you in the Nesting Grounds?”

Something in Nine Claws’ stance changed and I knew she hadn’t missed that he had a name for the valley we came from while the Pickers we traveled with hadn’t. More than anything that indicated he might be one of the mysterious Pickers we were seeking.

Nine Claws didn’t answer his questions. “Why are you here?”

He frowned and pointed his spear a little more towards her before flinching and rapidly pointing it back towards the sky. He looked like he wanted to say that he had asked first but apparently even a scaredy-cat Picker knew better than to cross a whisper woman.

Then he glanced to the side and gave a harsh, but not so quiet whisper, “Klus!”

A crocodile crawled out from between the rocks and curled around the Picker’s legs before opening its jaws and snapping them closed again in a clear threat.

“W-we don’t want to hurt you but I’m not supposed to let anyone pass. Normally, th-that’s for keeping the others from the Nesting Grounds but…” he trailed off.

Maybe he wasn’t scared. Maybe he was just stupid.

Who in their right mind tried to stop a whisper woman? Especially when they didn’t have black lips themselves?

“Strange. We don’t want to hurt you either,” Nine Claws said. Then all nine of her spectral cats swept into existence around her before they snapped their jaws back at the crocodile.

The boy stumbled back and tripped over his own crocodile to land on his butt in the dirt. Maybe whoever had assigned him this post was the real person without a thought in their head. He certainly didn’t seem to have even a piece of the spine needed to be a proper guard. His crocodile, on the other hand, took a threatening step forward and glared at Nine Claws.

Nine Claws ignored the creature as she stared down the Picker. “Let’s talk.”