“That’s one of the things I love most about you. Your endless quest for the truth.” Sam wrapped his arm around my waist and hugged me close. “Well, they do live longer than humans. It appears that they’re effectively immortal—until they’re killed. There are a few we think are as old as Heart. Maybe older.”
“Maybe that’s why they’re so afraid of the phoenix song.” I glanced toward my flute case. “It seems to me those who think they’ll never die are the most afraid of death.”
“In some cases.” He brushed a strand of hair off my face. “And sometimes we finally grow wise enough to understand life is a gift that can’t—shouldn’t—last forever.”
“And the phoenix song . . . ends life?”
Sam shrugged. “I don’t know. The translations from the book are all over the place. Builds and destroys. Life and death. Consumes. Or maybe it’s none of those things.”
Maybe it was all.
His mouth brushed my cheek, then he leaned forward to ladle bowls of soup for each of us. “You played your flute for the dragons twice. What did you play?”
“My songs.”
He shot me a look. “They’re not—”
“I know.” I gave him the most innocent smile I could muster.
He chuckled and shook his head. “And hold your flute up straight while you’re at it.”
I grinned and accepted a bowl. “First I played my minuet. Then I played the one from the demonstration on market day.”
“None of mine.” Mostly he looked curious, but there was a tinge of hurt in his voice. “Why?”
“I wanted to do it on my own. With my music.” It hadn’t been completely on my own. The sylph had been there, as well as Sam’s influence. “I just needed to do it myself, as much as I could.”
“I understand.” His mouth turned up in a half smile. “I was curious if they’d reacted to the music at all, if there was anything in it we could use to figure out the phoenix song.”
“Whatever it is, it’s not in my music. It’s not in any of the parts you helped me clean up.” I closed my eyes, remembering sitting at the piano with him, music resounding around the parlor until it overpowered all my senses and made my whole body vibrate with life. “I’ll do what I said I would before: listen to your music and read the scores. Make note of any trends.”
Stef and Whit came in while we were washing our faces. They both looked grim and exhausted.
“I’ve been intercepting a few messages from within Heart.” Stef held up her SED. “Three dragons were sighted just north of the city, landing in Templedark Memorial. No one has mentioned canisters, but if anyone goes out there . . .”
“Maybe Acid Breath will think to hide them.” My optimism sounded forced even to me.
“Maybe.” Stef checked her SED again as she sat in front of the soup. “Guards have been on alert since the dragons flew over yesterday. They’re worried about another attack. Usually it’s a small attack followed by a much larger one, but these have broken the pattern. The same three dragons have come by twice and not attacked either time, so as you can imagine, Deborl is telling people everything they’re afraid to hear.”
Whit nodded and filled bowls for both him and Stef. “Deborl is saying the dragons are coming because of Janan’s ascension—they want to stop him—but Janan will protect them.”
“By now, of course,” Stef went on, “everyone publicly opposed to Janan’s ascension has left or been thrown in prison. So everyone Deborl is talking to is happy to listen to him, or too afraid not to.”
How many people were opposed? Enough to be worth attempting to contact them? Or free them?
“Has there been any talk about what Deborl sent Merton to gather?” Sam asked.
Stef glanced at her SED and scowled. “Nothing about what it is, just that he’s obtained the item and is on his way back to Heart. We’ll be hearing more about whatever it is pretty soon, I assume.”
Great. So whatever Janan needed to help him ascend, he had coming. “I wonder what it is.”
“It sounds like he went a long way to get it—and lost five warriors while he was out—but that’s all I can tell you.”
“Well, there’s not much point in staying here. Menehem’s machine is broken. We’re not getting any more poison. Is anyone opposed to heading back to Heart tomorrow?”
When everyone agreed, I pulled off my boots and outer clothes and got into my sleeping bag, leaving room for Sam. But I couldn’t stay awake long enough to say good night. As soon as I settled on my pillow, I was asleep.
Over the next several days, we kept to the forest as much as possible, always looking up for air drones patrolling the roads in and out of Heart. The snow-covered trees were darkening, turning black where the ground beneath them grew hotter and cooked the roots. Everything was weirdly silent without birdsong and animals chattering and creeks bubbling just out of sight. The forest was dying around us.
Every night, we all went over the temple books, looking for anything about Janan, phoenixes, and dragons. Anything we didn’t already know. Sam and I went over music, but so far nothing stood out. As for when we reached Heart, Sarit said she had a plan.