The whisper women allowed the villagers some time to gather their things, though it was painfully obvious that the men didn’t think there was anything charitable about being forced out of their home. However, I was somewhat surprised they were being given any time at all. The goddess wasn’t known for Her patience, and I’d assumed that with Her presence weighing over the inner valleys that the whisper women would have pulled the men through the shadows as soon as they reached the village.

Mishtaw caught me watching the proceedings. “Would you handle this situation differently?”

“Aren’t you worried She’ll get impatient? Or that giving the villagers more time here will make them more likely to do something stupid?” I asked.

As we watched the village a man came bursting out one of wood-worked buildings. He was yelling something about all the things he had devoted his life to as he waved a wooden object in the air. It looked carved. A whisper woman followed him more sedately out of the building as he smashed the wooden object onto the ground. Then she said something and they both turned to look at the open area at the base of the village between its two hills.

All of the village youths sat or stood in that area, encircled by more whisper women. They weren’t allowed to help the adults pack for the departure. The whisper women apparently didn’t want to risk one of them being smuggled into the surrounding wilderness and the leverage they provided against the men was clear. The men had been told that if they caused too much trouble the length of the boys’ work terms would be increased by a year for every infraction or that their jobs would worsen. Meanwhile, the boys had been told that if they acted up, then their families would be split between different Carver Enclaves instead of being sent to only one.

Somewhere in all the conditions, I couldn’t help but think that there was also implied threat that whisper women didn’t have to reunite them at all. Carver Enclave locations were secret and hidden. If the whisper women refused to tell them where to find each other, or simply refused to take them through the shadows, then the villagers, both young and old, would be stranded with no way to find each other again.

And they knew it.

The man went back inside the building, but I hardly paid him any attention as my focus had caught on where Tike was sitting dejectedly with Klus curled around him. A handful of the other youths and men in the village also had crocodiles sticking close to their heels.

Mishtaw said, “Better small mercies now rather burden the Enclave with an even higher demand for supplies for the villagers. The goddess might want the valleys cleansed but it’s better to do what we can now to cause less headaches later.”

“What about the crocodiles?”

She crossed her arms. “Those that they insist on bringing along will be sedated for the journey through the shadows, but I doubt they’ll live long outside the valleys, especially with the cold season coming.”

Klus would probably be fine if he was in Seedling Palace, given how the temperature was controlled there, even if it wasn’t the humid heat of these valleys, but for the rest of the crocodiles I could see her point. Swimming through a lake of molten rock was very different from navigating the snow the cold season was sure to bring.

From the look of it, some of the men were trying to convince their crocodiles to leave them and go join the wild ones in the valley which made my stomach twist. It brought to mind a horrible image of Wren being forced to say goodbye to Chirp as a comparison or camp dogs being forced from a tribe that hadn’t managed them properly. There wasn’t a thing I could do either.

The men had to leave.

But that brought another entity to mind as well. Was it only the men who had to be purged from the valleys or would the goddess’s wrath befall the mountain spirit if she didn’t leave? Esie had said that she didn’t leave the mountains.

I didn’t want to bring her up, in case it didn’t matter, nor did I really want to return to that storming cave, but I also didn’t want Mishtaw to face the wrath of the chosen or the goddess because we overlooked the possibility that the entity was included.

“And the Lady of Calm Waters’ friend?” I asked.

Mishtaw gave me a long sidelong look. “The goddess wants the valleys cleansed of humans.” When I didn’t offer any more information she sighed. “The others have things handled here. Show me the cave and I’ll determine if we need to do anything further with this…friend from there.”

Somehow, she already suspected that there was more to the entity than what I was telling. Perhaps she had managed to hear the villager’s myth about a mountain spirit already during all the chaos. Mishtaw had a way of knowing more than she should despite not having a blessing that helped with gathering information.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Still, I kept the dreams and information about wishes to myself. When she got to the cave she’d likely learn all that she needed to about the spirit. Besides, I doubted Mishtaw could make the spirit leave even if she had every tidbit of information I pieced together. And part of me wanted her to witness the cave and the entity for herself without my own experiences clouding her expectations, to see if it was similar for her as it had been for us.

Prevna and I led her and Creed to the Night Cave. We knew the way well enough now, even if we didn’t have Tike’s experience to avoid all the dangers of the forest. Still, the predators seemed to know better than to attack us and Creed was able to cut Prevna free of a plant that had hidden just beneath the ground, only to rise up and try to swallow her whole when she stepped on top of it.

She kept a tight hold on my hand after that. I tried to keep a step or two in front her too while looking for any other sneaky plant life, but her legs were too long so, more often than not, we ended up side by side.

Mishtaw frowned when we reached the clearing in front of the Night Cave and she saw how the trees crowded away from its entrance. Creed also whistled when he saw how the jagged entrance seemed to nearly split the mountain in half.

“Stay outside and keep watch,” she told Prevna and me before holding up a finger in warning. “Don’t follow us. Nine Claws is keeping an eye as well and will come if we take too long.”

My chin lifted. “Why? We’ve entered the cave before.”

“And you got lucky. Anyone the Lady of Calm Waters calls a friend is not someone to be trifled with.”

I couldn’t object to that. Especially with how things had gone sideways every time we had entered the cave so far—and the dreams before that.

Creed clamped one hand on Mishtaw’s shoulder before they crossed into the cave. Prevna and I watched until they went around the corner and disappeared from sight.

“Do you think they’ll be alright?” Prevna whispered.

I nodded, even though I wasn’t entirely sure. When I answered I matched her tone, mindful of the spirit cat that was likely nearby. “They can take care of themselves.”

“Should we have told them more?”

“Too late now.” Then I grimaced at my sharp reply and added, “With the goddess so close, it’s probably best to speak as little as we can about it.”

I wasn’t sure how much the spirit had told Prevna after she separated us, but at least in my conversation with her it had been clear that the goddess’s didn’t take kindly to the knowledge of wishes being spread.

We sat back to back while we waited. Prevna watched the woods while I kept an eye on the cave. For all of the odd things that happened inside it, the Night Cave’s entrance wasn’t the most interesting thing to look at for minutes on end, but we didn’t want to miss the moment Mishtaw and Creed came back out.

As it turned out, we didn’t have to wait long.

About a quarter of an hour later Mishtaw and Creed strode out of the cave at a fast clip. We scrambled to our feet as they kept going past us, toward the direction of village.

Mishtaw gestured for us to follow and we listened to her silent command. Only once the cave was out of sight and a good distance behind us, did they stop and face us.

“Never step into that cave again. And if you find one like it, turn tail and run as fast as you can away from it.”

“Why?”

“Promise me.” Mishtaw’s gaze bore into us, demanding we comply.

It wasn’t like her to make a demand without an explanation or give at least a bit of reasoning when asked. I could guess why she was reluctant to do so now, but part of me still bristled at the command.

Prevna’s hand tightened around my own. “We promise. Right, Gimley?”

It took a moment’s difficulty to get the word off my tongue but I said, “Promise.”

Whisper woman and firestarter relaxed slightly once we both agreed. Then Mishtaw said, “We’ll talk more later.”

“What about the Lady of Calm Waters’ friend?” I pressed.

“She won’t bring down the goddess’s wrath on our heads. Not for this.”

Mishtaw and Creed took the lead on our way back to the village and we managed to arrive without further incident. By that point, the whisper women had rounded up the handful of men who had been posted as sentries around the inner valleys and they were the last ones gathering their things. The rest of village had what they could carry strapped to their backs or resting on the ground by their feet.

After conferring with the other whisper women, Mishtaw pulled Nine Claws aside and had a brief conversation with her. I wished I could hear what they were saying, but Mishtaw had picked her spot well to not be overheard.

Not too long after that, all the villagers were gathered up and the whisper women started taking them through the shadows paths. They started with the youths, and I watched as Deamar had a tearful goodbye with his fathers before he disappeared into a shadow. Interestingly, Tike had a handful of farewells, but none of them were nearly as intense as Deamar’s had been. Unsurprisingly, however, Tike did take Klus with him. A whisper woman with hair as white as snow touched the beast and the crocodile immediately slumped into slumber. Tike hauled Klus over his shoulders like he had when he carried him up into the tree and then they were both gone with the whisper woman ferrying them through the shadows.

The whisper women were efficient and it didn’t take long before the village was abandoned except for Prevna, Mishtaw, Creed, and me. Nine Claws and Malady had disappeared during the bustle without so much as a wave goodbye.

“Back to the Seedling Palace,” Mishtaw said.

Finding the shadows of the Seedling Palace would be easy. Prevna and I had ample practice at this point traveling back there through the shadow paths, and since we had gotten ourselves to the Broken Spear Peaks there was no reason why we couldn’t manage the distance back.

But before I didn’t have to worry about a ghost being trapped in the shadows and now, for the first time since I had left that death bringer in the shadow path, I did.