Things moved quickly after the goddess enclosed Herself within the audience chamber. After being poisoned, nearly burned alive by lava and then ensnared by a pine that had grown out of nowhere, and, most importantly, watching Heliquat claim the throne he had been so desperate to protect, Logar didn’t have much willpower or hope to stand on to refuse the whisper women’s demands.

Prevna took the Black Root poison back and then we were sent to fetch Deamar and Tike from where they were hiding out on the mountain. Apparently, the plan had been for them to come stumbling and panicked after the ceremony was completed, claiming ignorance and shock at what happened in the audience chamber while we were away. But then Mishtaw’s visit at the village had been much shorter than the villagers anticipated and Nine Claws’ cats had spied the ceremony starting, so they were unable to keep our lake crossing as slow as they planned to make up the difference.

Instead of having the throne blocked off by whatever fiery calamity the ceremony was supposed to bring forth or scaring us off, we caught them in the act. Now they had no deniability, no creditability, not even their lizard. The Dawn Crawler had bowed its head to the goddess and I doubted it would change its mind in the face of Her power.

The goddess was displeased and there was no question of what She meant when She said She wanted the valleys unsullied. All the humans in them needed to be gone as quickly as possible or face Her wrath.

The trouble was that, with the fog blanketing everything, our group and Logar were likely the only ones who knew what was happening. Deamar and Tike might not even know despite being on the same mountain.

Prevna and I found them in the hollow that Logar had reluctantly given us directions to. Deamar was sprawled out in the hollow, taking up most of the room, while he tore the grass he held into little pieces. He seemed caught between petulant anger, impatience, and uncertainty. Klus watched Tike pace outside of the hollow. It seemed like practically every other step he was glancing toward the audience chamber, trying to figure out if it was time to intercept us on the path or not, not that he could see anything but fog and tree branches.

“Did you feel that tremor?” he asked Deamar.

Deamar’s scowl deepened. “It’s not time yet. If we leave too early we could ruin it.”

If only he knew.

Though I also got the impression Deamar didn’t want to leave the hollow. Despite his impatience and clear lack of appreciation for his surroundings and company, it seemed like he was almost hoping that if he stuck around the hollow long enough we would forget about him and he’d be able to stay in the valley despite the Dawn Crawler’s will. Perhaps he thought this whole fiasco would redeem him in the creature’s eyes.

Prevna touched my arm and we slipped from between the trees and directly into Tike’s pacing path. He stopped short before a confused torrent of questions and excuses flowed off his tongue. Deamar scrambled up from where he had been lounging in the hollow as Prevna held up a hand and Tike cut himself off.

“We know about the ceremony and your part in it,” Prevna said. “Nine Claws is dragging Logar back to the village right now. Our goddess sits on the throne, here, in the valley and She wants the valleys cleansed. You can come with us quietly or we can take you back. Your choice.”

“You have no right to be here or to order us around! These are our valleys and you need to leave!”

Clearly, Deamar was in no mood to be reasonable.

I threw my knife so it sank into the mound of earth that rose up behind him, just over his shoulder. “We aren’t here to quibble. The goddess’s indifference is over, so you can come with us willing or Prevna will poison you and we’ll take you back. The only difference is if you want to have any pride left or not.”

Nor did I want to attempt dragging them down the mountainside or contend with Klus if he decided we were a threat. He might not be the biggest crocodile I’d seen in the valleys but I wasn’t sure we could restrain him without something going wrong.

Tike slumped and gestured to Klus. The crocodile left off posturing threateningly at us to curl around Tike’s feet. “We’ll go.”

Deamar whirled on him. “What? No! They’re the ones who should listen to us.”

Tike just gave him a look that asked when we had ever done that before asking, “What are we going to do here?”

Deamar opened his mouth several times but he couldn’t quite make himself say that they should hide when the rest of village could be in danger. Never mind the fact that we couldn’t ignore two people who had played a part in making the wishing ceremony happen.

A scuffle nearly broke out when we tied their wrists but Prevna used some of her Sleeper’s Kiss poison to make Deamar go limp. Tike didn’t have any resistance to give after seeing that. Once they were tied up, I collected my knife and Prevna took the poison back from Deamar. It still took him a minute find his legs again but then we headed down the mountain to find a similar scene playing out between Malady, Creed, and the villager who had taken us across the lake. Nine Claws and Mishtaw seemed busy speaking on the wind, which had grown stronger ever since the goddess cut of the audience chamber.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

Malady said something to Logar who in turn said something to the villager and that broke the villager’s resistance. Everyone piled onto the box, each prisoner on a different side so we wouldn’t have to deal with coordinated resistance, however ill thought out, on the way back.

When we reached the lake outpost, we collected the guards there into our band of prisoners, and marched the group up to the village. It didn’t take us long to gather a crowd and an even shorter amount of time for Morn to come hurrying down the main path through the village.

“What is this?” he demanded as soon as he saw his partner and son held captive.

Mishtaw stepped forward. “Our goddess is displeased. You hid a gift from Her sister, so She would have these valleys cleansed of your presence.”

“We did no such thing!”

Mishtaw raised her eyebrows at the village leader, silently asking if he really thought that mattered. It wasn’t like any of us had the power to change the goddess’s mind.

She gestured to take in our group and the gathering crowd. “You wanted us to leave? You’ve gotten your wish. All of us will leave, including your village, and any who remain will risk the goddess’s wrath because I can assure you She will not have any mercy.”

Morn looked about to protest again, more like his son than my first impression of him would’ve had me believe, but then Logar cut into the argument. “She tells the truth, Morn. The goddess sits on the throne and Master—” his mouth twisted before he corrected himself with a snarl, “the Dawn Crawler didn’t resist her at all. She called him a pet.”

Morn gaped at him, slowly processing what he said. “But…we have nowhere to go.”

Mishtaw said, “Those who would have gone for the Trial of Snow or Fog will be taken to the Seedling Palace early. However, they will no longer have the option to return here. They will have a sentence of four years work where we can watch them. For those too young or old, you will be relocated to a Carver’s Enclave. Once those that are too young reach the appropriate age they will also complete fours years of work at the Seedling Palace. Any who complete the four year term will have the choice to return to you or renew their work term. Any who go to the Carver’s Enclave will not be allowed to leave again.”

“That’s…” words failed Morn.

“I’d advise not to act against a whisper woman in the future. To go against our will can be judged as going against the goddess’s. Rebel in the Carver’s Enclave and you can be sure that your village will not be together long and that your sons will not be given assignments many survive.” Mishtaw’s gaze was colder than I had ever seen it. “Is that plain enough for you?”

Nine Claws added, “Take what small mercy we can offer.”

Morn bowed his head and choked out, “We hear and obey.”

“Good.” Mishtaw tilted her head like she was listening to the wind. “Now get low to the ground if you don’t want to be blown away.”

I crouched low as soon as she did, not knowing what to expect, but knowing better than to question her order.

The wind picked up. Faster and faster it spun around until it was tugging my hair straight to the side and it felt like it was snatching away my breath. I hunkered closer to the ground in case I really could be swept off my feet. Prevna clutched onto my pack to keep me in place, too.

All around us, everyone else was doing their best to stay low as well. Tike had slipped his arms around Klus despite his tied wrists. He clung to the crocodile, who out of all of us, seemed to be fairing the best against the wind. Creed was another rock in the sudden wind storm. He sheltered the whisper women as best he could while Malady crouched low nearby and seemed annoyed that she couldn’t do the same for Nine Claws. Logar and Deamar had reached each other at some point and also clung to each other. Morn and the rest of the villagers clung to each other groups, clearly panicked but unable to do anything about it.

As the wind swept by, more and more of the fog cleared until, for the first time since I had entered the inner valleys, I could see the sky. An expanse of blue, without a single cloud, greeted my eyes.

Once the fog was clear in the valley, the wind slowly calmed back down until it was just strong enough to lightly tug on my hair. The villagers gasped at the sky above them once they regained enough of their wits to take in their surroundings.

But the surprises weren’t done.

From the village’s homes and buildings made of wood, branches were sprouting. Pine tree branches that cast shadows on the ground and whisper women stepped from the newly made shadows. The villagers watched in horror as their secluded haven was suddenly overrun with the people they had been hiding from. Then someone spotted the ball of roots and branches hiding the audience chamber, now visible across the valley, and a new wave of despair washed over the villagers.

Nine Claws helped me and Prevna stand up before she pointed out two women striding toward Mishtaw. “The Wind Caller and the Reforester. Chosen. Normally, the Wind Caller helps fill in the gaps where the wind is low in the territory and the Reforester can only make so many branches sprout from dead wood in a day—and they don’t last forever—but due to the goddess’s interest, we were able to call on them to help take care of things here so Her ire doesn't rise further.”

Prevna breathed out, her voice barely more than a whisper, “Chosen?”

I stared.

The Wind Caller was a tall woman with black hair bound into an elaborate bun and skin a similar tone to Prevna’s. Her robes were altered like the High Priestess’s had been to reveal her blessing mark. It covered her right shoulder in five bold lines that swirled around each other before running up her neck to end behind her ear. She smiled gently at everyone even as the villagers scrambled to get out of her way.

In contrast, the Reforester was a heavyset woman with skin as dark as wet bark and graying hair. Her bless mark ran up her left leg from ankle to just past her knee. It looked like two pine branches that had grown around her calf and wove around each other.

Nine Claws had us follow her, so we stood behind her and Mishtaw when the chosen whisper women stopped in front of them. We all bowed our heads in a show of respect.

I never thought I’d be face to face with the goddess’s chosen, not like this, even when I had vowed to prove myself worthy of joining their ranks. After seeing the goddess in person, I had thought my capacity for being shocked was filled, but this only added to it.

“A purge without and now one within…it seems this area’s fortunes have changed,” the Wind Caller observed.

Nine Claws and Mishtaw nodded their agreement.

She added, “I will clear the other valleys in case there are any stragglers. Dotty will make some branches grow so our women can reach those areas quicker. The fog will likely only stay clear for a few hours. Keep that in mind as I would hate to hear some of our number fell victim to its effects.”

Nine Claws and Mishtaw nodded again, but Mishtaw added, “Understood.”

The Wind Caller turned to her companion, “Dotty? Anything?”

The Reforester shook her head slowly. “Let’s open the path for the others.”

“Of course.”

They continued past us and I wasn’t surprised when I saw the lake outpost building suddenly sprout branches.