Page 52 of Embrace the Serpent

It was bone-dry. And someone had decided to store three bags of grain in the dead center, apparently having given up on the well ever filling with water.

The shopkeeper’s daughter dragged the bags aside and turned to me expectantly. “Well? Can you fix it?”

I drew close. At her feet was a silver disc set into the stone. It looked almost like a compass, with four stones, each set at a cardinal direction.

Two aquamarines to attract groundwater. A large freshwater pearl to purify it. And a moonstone, with a blue-green sheen anddotted with inclusions. I’d heard of a few rare moonstones that were said to affect tides. Interesting to use one inland, on ground water. Perhaps it had once influenced the river?

All the stones were loose. It seemed like someone with rudimentary knowledge had tried to reset them but had done so with thick and clumsy prongs that held the stones too high and kept them from connecting with the metal. The pearl needed a new bezel entirely. Veins of gold and bronze threaded through the thick silver in a ropelike pattern, but the once-fine work had settled and separated.

“You said it sometimes works. When it does, is it after landslides or quakes?”

She nodded.

“I can fix this,” I said. “But I’ll need a fire.”

In the matter of an hour, the blacksmith had been woken up, and I was set up in his smithy. His forge was named Lula, and she was a fine lady, or so he told me. It was overkill for what I needed, but he handled melting the metals for me, the edges of his mustache smoking as he bent over the fire.

I’d made molds for the stones out of wax, and cast them in a mix of silver and gold. I looked up from my work once when food was placed before me and found a dozen villagers poking their heads in through the window and the doorway.

I ducked my head and got back to it, listening to the blacksmith chat with them. The villagers were more white-haired than not, and it seemed like they’d been left behind when the Imperial Road had been built. Their children had mostly left for better opportunities.

The chatter melted into background noise as the work drownedout all else. I pulled apart each piece and felt the hands of the jewelsmith who had first crafted it, showing me the original intent behind every whorl and line and joint. It was like being in the company of an old friend.

It was beautiful work, practical and elegant in its simplicity. I’d never worked on something like this, something good and helpful. Rane’s words echoed through my head, when he had come to the garden to convince Galen and said the job he had wasright, unlike the frivolous trinkets I spent my days making.

Perhaps this was the kind of thing he meant. A calmness sank into me, right into my bones.

I worked late into the night. I didn’t have to: the shopkeeper begged me to rest, and when that didn’t work, his daughter told me to be smart and pace myself so I could eke a few extra nights of shelter out of them. But it was precisely because I didn’t have to that I couldn’t bring myself to stop. When had I chosen a job myself, made something because I wanted to?

Dawn was only a few hours away by the time the last bit of the disc was engraved and polished. I stretched, stepping over the blacksmith’s feet. He was out cold on the floor, like he’d nodded off while keeping watch. Three other villagers were sleeping, sitting along the wall, their heads propped on each other’s shoulders. Grimney had curled up on the lap of the little old man in the middle. The fire in the forge had burned low, and I stoked it so they’d stay warm.

I padded across the street to the Inn and Trading Post and found a low cot already made up for me. My knees brushed the edge, and sleep took me before my head touched the pillow.

I was shaken awake.

“You must get up,” said a trembling voice.

My vision swam into focus.

The old shopkeeper glanced over his shoulder. “People are looking for you.”

“Who?” I said blearily. “Does he have silver hair?”

“I couldn’t tell. They’re all wearing Imperial uniforms.”

I was suddenly wide awake. “Imperial Guards? Looking for me?”

“Yes. They had a description, and they called you Saphira.”

That was specific enough. The dusty panes of the window showed five Imperial Guards striding down the street. How had they found me? I’d gotten rid of the tracker stones. But that didn’t matter now—I had to go. The shopkeeper handed me my boots, and I laced them quickly. “Grimney and my tools—they’re at the blacksmith’s.”

“We’ll get them to you.” He hurried me to my feet. “Go out the back door. Someone will meet you at the stepwell. There’s a pass that cuts up the cliff.”

Mention of the stepwell made me stop. “Wait. I’m almost done, I just need to place the disc. Have them bring it to me.”

He frowned like he would object, but then said, “Fine. Go.”

The way to the back door wound through teetering stacks of gizmos and relics that sprouted from the floor like fanciful stalagmites. It creaked open, and I squeezed myself out into the pale dawn light.

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