Kassa and Gina looked at each other and then followed after Yoyo, who had already set off at a brisk pace. Instead of the winding lateral route that Kassa and Gina usually used, Yoyo took a narrow track that wove steeply up between the rocks. This must be one of the Herder roads, Kassa thought. The Herder People knew these high rocky slopes intimately, including many paths that would seem impassable to others.
Finally they came to a dead end at the bottom of a huge rock face. “Here we are,” Yoyo said. Gina and Kassa wondered what he meant, as they could see only a thorny shrub in front of the cliff, but Yoyo rapped a large stone beside the shrub with his eagle chaser. Tap, tap, tap. To their surprise, the stone rolled forward, as if it were being pushed from inside. Yoyo’s father, Dodo, peered out from the hole. “Are you alone?”
“Yes, it’s all right. I made sure no one followed.”
Dodo nodded and looked at Kassa and Gina. “Good. Kassa, Gina, come inside and watch your step.” His face disappeared again. Kassa sat on the edge of the hole and put his feet inside. Dodo grabbed his legs and lifted him in with surprising strength for such a small man. He pulled Gina in immediately after, and Yoyo pushed the boulder back into place from the outside.
“Isn’t Yoyo coming?” Kassa asked. From the hollow sound of his voice, he guessed that they must be in a larger space than he had thought.
“No. Someone has to stay outside to replace the stone.”
As his eyes adjusted to the dark, Kassa noticed that there was a dim glow in the hollow, cast by a luminous moss growing on the rock.
“Gina, take my hand, and Kassa, you take Gina’s.” Dodo led them slowly forward, hand in hand. He and Gina did not need to duck as they walked, but Kassa’s head brushed the ceiling, so he stooped over. To his surprise, he could feel a faint breeze.
They followed the tunnel beneath the rock and turned right. Instantly, everything grew brighter. Kassa and Gina gasped. The space in front of them could have sat about ten adults. Directly before them ran a long horizontal crack, about the width of Kassa’s head, where several large rocks came together. Through it shone a blinding ray of sunshine. The fresh breeze Kassa had sensed wafted through the crack, keeping the air in the cave fresh. A woman sat beside it, leaning against the wall. Although her back was to the light, they recognized her immediately as Balsa.
“Hello there.” She raised her hand in greeting.
Kassa stood frozen in shock. “Um, I,” he stammered, his voice catching in his throat.
Before he could finish, Gina blurted out, “We’re so sorry! We told our parents about you. We didn’t mean to, but you see, there was a piece of luisha, I guess it must have fallen from the hyohlu, and —”
Someone grabbed her hand and she jumped. “Hold your horses,” Toto the Elder whispered. He had been sitting right beside her and she had not even noticed. “Not so loud now. See that window over there? Your voices carry outside.”
Gina and Kassa took turns explaining why they had broken their promise. Balsa smiled faintly, but when they had finished, she nodded. “I see. Well, I suppose I lied a little as well, so let’s just say we’re even.”
Kassa and Gina sighed. Their legs were trembling.
“Don’t just stand there. Have a seat.” Toto gave Kassa a shove and the two of them sat down on a dry rock.
“You’re Kassa and Gina, right? Let me introduce myself properly. I’m Balsa Yonsa, daughter of Karuna from the Yonsa clan.”
Kassa, calmer now, took a closer look at Balsa’s face. Her skin was tanned and a few fine lines crinkled at the corners of her eyelids. But it was the intensity of her eyes and the frankness of her gaze that truly caught his attention.
“Are you injured?” Gina asked, noticing the cloth bandage binding her left shoulder.
Before Balsa could respond, Toto said, “She was grazed by a poisoned spearhead. Togal. As I’m sure you know, we use it against the eagles, so we also know the antidote.”
“Yes, and thanks to you the numbness has gone,” Balsa said. “It’s sheltered enough in here that I don’t need a fire to keep warm, and I’ve regained much of my strength already with the delicious laga and lakalle. I don’t know how I can repay you.”
Kassa frowned. “Weren’t you wounded when you fell off your horse?”
Balsa looked puzzled. “No. I didn’t fall off a horse. A giant of a warrior threw a spear at me when my back was turned, and I didn’t dodge it in time. Shall I show you?”
Casually she removed the cloth to display the ugly wound. Her shoulder had clearly been cut open, and the poison had turned the skin around it a vicious shade of purple.
“They used poison?” Kassa whispered. Had Dom and Kahm poisoned their spear tips? Why would they do that if they were trying to capture her and bring her in for trial? He could think of only one answer to that question. Sickened by the idea, he began to tremble. He mentally went over the words that Master Yuguro had uttered in the great hall. How many lies had he woven into that story? Even if she were a criminal, why had he tried to kill her before she had been given a fair trial by the chieftain?
“Kassa?” Gina’s voice jolted him from his thoughts. He wiped the cold sweat from his brow and looked at Balsa.
“Why did you come back to Kanbal?”
Balsa remained silent for some time. Then, with a small sigh, she said, “I came back to Kanbal for a very personal reason — to lay to rest a ghost that haunts me.” She smiled briefly. “When I was six, I had to leave Kanbal because of a conspiracy. My father’s friend helped me escape. We fled through those caves where I first met you to New Yogo. Twenty-five years have passed since then. The man who raised me died of a sudden illness, but I always felt that he had sacrificed his life for mine, and that thought never left me, no matter how many years passed. So I decided that, instead of trying to ignore this old wound, I would confront it. I chose to go through the same caves that I had been dragged through as a weeping six-year-old, this time relying on my own strength. And that was when I met you.”
Kassa frowned in confusion. “Was — was the man who raised you Jiguro?”
Balsa’s eyes widened. “How did you know that?”
“Master Yuguro gathered the clansmen and told us. He said that you blamed him for killing Jiguro and you had come here to get revenge.”